My throat felt suddenly dry, and I tried to swallow deeply without much luck. Jasper’s words were making me feel all kinds of freaked out.
Because he’s right.
“How do you know?” I asked him quietly.
“I’ve never seen you act like this,” he said simply.
That’s because I have never acted like this… ever…
“You took a girl to see Nona? That’s huge… you were going to bring her home after knowing her five minutes… and not a hotel, but here… home. I think you can figure it out, man.” J turned and began to saunter away. “She’s good for you, Park… that’s gonna be the best song you’ve written in years,” he called back over his shoulder.
He was right about that too. I had a knack for knowing when I was onto a winner, and right now, I was. But this was Charlotte’s song. I didn’t care how many millions it might make me, it was for her – and I decided right then and there that I’d only record and release it if she wanted me to.
No matter what happens between us.
“So, I heard something about you yesterday,” Kenleigh stated, totally out of the blue as I put the finishing touches on her makeup.
She looked flawless, as always, although it had little to do with the products that I’d just applied to her face, or the well-practised skill I’d used to do it. Kenleigh was just one of those women who always looked perfect. I’d seen her right out of a gym session, and she was still stunning. I guess that was why she was one of the highest paid fashion models in the country.
“Did you now?” I deadpanned. I glanced across the room at Hannah, but she was too busy creating some interesting-looking up-do on Harriet’s head to notice my impending interrogation.
“Now you know I’m not one to listen to idol gossip…”
I refrained from rolling my eyes. Kenleigh was a sweet girl, but she was the undisputed queen of gossip. If there was something going on in the world, then Kenleigh knew about it.
“But word on the street is that Parker Sloan has bagged himself a sweet little red-headed makeup artist.” She waggled her brows at me.
She was watching me like a hawk through the mirror as I busied myself touching up her already perfectly styled brows.
“Can I give no comment?” I answered with a grimace. The last thing I needed was Kenleigh Houston all up in my business.
She giggled lightly in that cute girly way she had completely nailed. “I knew it was going to be true,” she replied gleefully. “One look at you and I could just tell.”
“You’re not going to warn me off him, are you?” I asked her cautiously. Kenleigh might have been a gossip, but she’d always been pretty good to me and she’d looked out for me when I’d needed it. She was actually one of the few who had stuck by me and Hannah through the whole Stephen debacle.
“Warn you off Sloan?” She waved her perfectly manicured hand at me like the idea was ludicrous. “Hell no, honey, that boy is damn fine.”
I blushed.
“I heard he’s crazy about you, Lotte.”
I laughed. He’d certainly displayed some crazy tendencies. My mind wandered back to that first night in the club. He wasn’t just crazy, he was bat-shit crazy. But I was quickly learning that I loved that about him.
“You really like him, don’t you?” she mused, and I realized she was still watching me closely.
I sighed.
May as well give her something to talk about.
“I do… but we had a fight,” I confessed.
“I heard, saw the pictures… watched the videos.” she replied without missing a beat.
My jaw dropped. Nothing was private in this business.
“You’ve obviously resolved things,” she prompted.
I nodded and couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. “Fine. He’s won me over, is that what you want to hear? That already I’m falling in love with a man who happens to be the most famous musician in the world right now?”
She giggled again and squeezed my hand as she stood up, seemingly impressed with herself for getting the answer she wanted. “I’m off to hair,” she answered with a cheeky smile. “It’s good to see you smiling, babe.”
I shook my head in disbelief as Kenleigh strolled over to Hannah, and took Harriet’s spot on the chair.
Harriet came and took up residence in the seat in front of me. “So…” She smirked. “Parker Sloan, huh?”
I groaned.
It was going to be a long day.
“Lover boy is here again!” Hannah bellowed from the living room. “I’m going out, you two make me sick.”
I caught sight of her grin as I hurried out to get the door.
I swung it open and there he was. Again. The exact same as the last four nights.
The male sex god in front of me smiled his best panty-dropping smile, the one with the dimple, and I let out a breath I didn’t realise I’d been holding.
“Hey, legs,” he said simply, but his eyes said so much more…
It’s good to see you.
I’ve missed you.
That’s what my eyes would have been saying if they could talk.
He turned me to total mush. I couldn’t seem to remember what I used to do with my spare time before I met this man.
What did I think about before I had his ice-blue eyes and sexy smile to daydream about?
I couldn’t remember that either.
Parker had only been in my world for a few short days, but he was making his presence firmly known.
I surprised him by reaching forward and wrapping my arms around his neck, landing a kiss on his perfect, cocky mouth.
His hands found my waist and wrapped me up tight like he was afraid I’d run away.
“Hey,” I breathed.
He ran the tip of his nose slowly up and down mine, before lowering his mouth to kiss me again, deeper this time and until we were both gasping for air.
Oh wow.
My head was spinning, all thoughts of Parker.
His soft lips… his addictive scent…
“I missed you,” he murmured quietly.
“I can tell,” I whispered back.
“See? Making me sick.” Han’s voice came from behind me, ruining the moment.
“I’m not even sorry,” Parker replied as Hannah wriggled past us.
“See you lovers later,” she called over her shoulder. “Don’t wait up!”
I peered around Parker’s side. Hannah was sneaking off down the hallway looking like an absolute sex kitten in a black slinky dress and stiletto heels.
“Where are you going?” I demanded.
“Out…” she replied with a wave of her hand as she disappeared around the corner.
Parker and I had never been completely alone together. Just the thought of having no buffer between this man and me made me nervous as hell.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want alone time with him… I did.
God, I do.
But I was nervous. It wasn’t any great secret that Parker had been with his fair share of women. One quick Google search would probably have shown me a stream of them – not that I’d ever look. Just the thought of Parker being with someone else caused a lump to form in my stomach and my throat to go dry.
I’d never been a jealous girlfriend type, but that very thought alone had made me want to punch something.
“You’re nervous,” Parker observed.
I wasn’t aware he’d been watching me. My eyes were still fixed firmly on the spot where Hannah had disappeared from.
I tried to play it off with a nonchalant huff, but it came out as a very unladylike snort instead.
Parker chuckled and I felt the vibration through our touching bodies.
“Shut up,” I grumbled into his chest.
“It’s okay, baby, I won’t bite,” he taunted as I tried to escape his hold, my face flaming red. “Well… not hard anyway.” He added the cliché statement with a smirk, still holding me tight.
I don�
�t know why the hell I was freaking out over this.
I’d had sex before. Plenty of times… and there was nothing to say that tonight would be the night for Parker and me anyway.
But there was this… energy… simmering between us that I couldn’t deny any longer.
I knew it.
He knew it.
Hannah obviously knew it.
Maybe it’s time to do something about it.
“You’ve never told me about your parents?” Parker asked casually as he sat his beer down on the coffee table.
We’d made dinner together, well, I’d made dinner and he’d distracted me the entire time. We’d eaten, cleaned up and now we were on the couch, listening to music and having a drink.
“Haven’t I?” I murmured as I sipped on my cider.
I knew damn well I hadn’t. I’d told him all about my older brothers, but I’d deliberately left my parents out of the conversation.
“You know you haven’t,” Parker replied softly. He was getting too good at reading me already, I don’t know how he knew, but he seemed to have a sense for when something was hitting a nerve for me.
“There’s not much to tell.” I shrugged.
He nudged my knee with his hand, wanting me to look at him.
His ice-blue eyes were probing when I did meet them. “I’d like to hear it anyway.”
“Okay…” I agreed reluctantly. “But I was being serious – there really isn’t much to tell… I barely saw them growing up. My dad’s a really successful businessman and my mum is like one of those Beverly Hills housewives, all glitz and glam but she’s got no real substance.”
All about appearances.
“They had Tyler when they were really young, and the twins when they were in their mid-twenties. I have no doubt that they planned never to have any more kids. Mum had a tummy tuck and all that nonsense. Anyway, I came along six years later, a total surprise. The boys were already being raised by nannies, so I just got added to the pile.”
“That’s really sad,” he replied softly.
I shrugged again. “It’s all good. I got a lot of love from Floyd, Louis and Tyler… we didn’t need them. Mum and Dad were always more concerned with jet setting, meetings and money than they were with us.”
“When did you last talk to them?” he asked. He was playing with my fingers, which he had intertwined with his as I talked.
“Ummm…” I thought about it. “I think it was when all the Stephen drama went down…” I nodded, acknowledging to myself that I hadn’t heard from them since. “Yeah, Mum called to tell me that I was tarnishing their reputation and that they were both disappointed in me.”
Parker gaped in disbelief and I nodded.
Yes, my parents are that awful.
“Yep. That was it. Ty snatched the phone from me, told Mum to go fuck herself and instructed Dad to go help her.”
I let out a giggle. I may have had shitty parents, but I had the best brothers.
Parker laughed at that too.
“They made sure we had nice clothes and fancy electronics, but all we ever really needed was the one thing we never got… money and status can’t replace love.”
“They sound like dicks,” Parker stated.
“They are.” I grinned in agreement.
“How’d you turn out so good, legs?” He nudged me again.
I rolled my eyes at the nickname he’d dubbed me with. “You know, I do have to thank my mother for my love of cosmetics. She had the best makeup collection. And sometimes, not very often, but sometimes, she would show me how to use some of her stuff. I can still remember it, back when I was about eight years old, perched on the side of her bed, watching her apply her makeup with such skill. I think that was when I first fell in love with it.”
Now it’s my life.
“So, I guess I do owe that to her,” I acknowledged.
“I wish she could have given you more, babe.”
“Me too.” I sighed. “But I had three oversized men-children to look out for me instead. I did okay.”
Parker chuckled. “I’m intrigued to meet these guys one day.”
My stomach fluttered at the mention of the future. I don’t think Parker even realized what he was doing when he said things like that. It was always, ‘one day I’ll take you to this great little place’ or ‘we’ll go there when the weather warms up’ or ‘I can’t wait to teach you this’.
He was making hints at a future between us left, right and centre. And I liked it, more than was probably wise.
This wasn’t reality – having every evening together wasn’t how a relationship between the two of us would work. I was so busy with the business and he was an international best-selling musician who probably had tours and concerts coming up all over the world.
Shit. Tours…
That reality hit me like a slap to the face. I hadn’t even considered Parker going on tour before this moment… some musicians spent months and months on the road.
Where would that leave us?
“You’re panicking.” Parker tightened his grip on my hand. “Do you not want me to meet your family?”
His voice sounded more hurt than I would have expected.
“No, of course you can meet them,” I reassured him quickly. “It’s not that… I was just thinking about you going away on tour.” I blushed. “I was thinking that I’ll miss you.”
His features relaxed, the tension between his eyes easing immediately and a wide easy smile graced his lips.
“Well, babe, you are in luck.” He grinned in that cocky way that made him look sexy as hell. “I don’t have any tours on the cards. Just some local shows and a few to fly out to, but those are only a couple of nights max… I’m over touring – it’s a lonely life.”
“Well… good,” I answered lamely, having inadvertently revealed more about my feelings than I intended to with my previous statement.
He grinned like the cat that got the cream, and I knew I was about to get a hard time.
“You’d miss me,” he boasted, sitting his beer down and leaning forward like he was ready to pounce.
“You make a big deal about this and it’s the last compliment I’ll ever give you,” I warned him, scrambling back away from him until my back hit the arm of the couch.
“You’d really miss me,” he carried on, seemingly oblivious to my threat.
I squeaked as he lunged, closing the gap between us. He landed with a soft thud on top of me, his toned arms holding the majority of his weight off of me.
“Admit it,” he demanded, rubbing the tip of his nose up and down mine in that way I already loved.
“I’d miss you,” I admitted, my voice husky.
God, I would miss you…
“It’s okay, legs…” he murmured. “I’d miss you too.”
“Arms up,” he instructed softy.
I lifted my arms up in the air and he grasped the hem of my t-shirt before lifting it slowly over my head and arms, breaking the tense connection our eyes had made.
He sucked in a deep breath and I felt myself blush.
I was so god damn nervous.
It’d never been this way with a man for me. I’d never felt this… bond that I felt with Parker.
We connected on a level I hadn’t even known existed.
“You are so beautiful,” he murmured as he stepped into my body, giving me my first real taste of his skin against mine.
His shirt had been the first thing to go the minute we’d set foot inside my bedroom, and I could safely say that I’d never seen a sight so faultless in real life.
It was pure heaven. He was warm and soft, yet rock hard at the same time.
My whole body tingled at the contact and I shuddered.
“God, Charlotte.” He huffed out a breath. “I haven’t even touched you yet and I’m already losing my mind.”
I nodded in agreement. I don’t think either one of us had ever stood a chance at resisting this.
I reached down for h
is belt and undid the buckle. His button and zip were the next to be undone, revealing the top of his black boxer briefs.
“Give me a minute,” he mumbled, clasping my hands in his and halting my progress.
I looked up at him and nodded. I didn’t know why he wanted me to wait, but I didn’t care. I knew I’d wait forever if he told me to.
“Stay here, legs.” He waited for me to nod in acknowledgement.
I wasn’t going anywhere.
No way.
I was too far gone.
He strolled over to the docking station on my cabinet and slid his phone into it.
He hit play and turned slowly around. A beautiful, soft acoustic melody floated through the room from behind him. The sight of him walking towards me with his jeans undone and low on his hips was enough to make even the most innocent of girls have dirty thoughts.
He stopped right in front of me, eyes blazing and it was as though he was baring his soul to me.
“Is this your sex playlist?” I asked as I reached up to wrap my arms around his neck.
He shook his head softly. “No.” His voice was rough.
I tilted my head back to look up at him in question.
“It’s my Charlotte playlist,” he whispered. “These are your songs.”
Oh my…
I’m totally and utterly gone.
His fingers, calloused from years of playing the guitar, skimmed lightly over my skin, and suddenly I felt like an instrument. The look in his eyes told me that he knew exactly how to play me.
“Parker…” I whispered, unsure of what else I could say. He was so unexpectedly sweet and thoughtful.
And so damn sexy...
He tugged my hands from around his neck and placed them on the band of his jeans, instructing me without words to pick back up from where I left off.
I gripped the rough fabric in my hands and tugged down, his black jeans skimmed down his legs and he worked his way out of them, kicking them free. He stood before me in nothing more than his black boxer briefs and I’d never felt more aroused.
My body was shaking with desire and I wasn’t even out of my clothes yet.
Parker obviously felt that it was time to remedy that situation; he reached for the band of my yoga pants and crouched down in front of me, tugging them down with him.
Paper, Scissors, Rock Page 9