“You finish up here,” he told Anthony. “I’ll go get ahold of them.”
He jogged up the dock and onto the boat, hands sweating with nerves. Although he wanted to talk to Sierra in the worst way, he knew that was stupid. They couldn’t be friends, and she was not the kind of woman he needed to get mixed up with. Even if she had already held his attention for longer than anyone except Vanessa. That didn’t matter. She was off limits.
Checking the log below deck, it said ‘S. Burns and guest.’ Must mean Sierra and her new boy toy. Did she plan to go snorkeling just to rub the man in Parker’s face? She was fiery and a bit difficult, but he hadn’t expected her to be that catty.
With slightly shaking hands, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number next to S. Burns’s name.
It rang four times and Parker thought it would go to voicemail, but then a breathless voice whispered, “Hello?”
Parker’s heart clenched down. Was she breathless because of what that man was doing to her? Did he interrupt an intimate moment?
Clearing his throat, he attempted to sound hearty and joyful. “Miss Burns? This is Parker McCallister. I’m calling about your reservation aboard my boat today? We shove off in a little under a half hour. If you aren’t here, you’ll lose the money already paid.”
“Parker?” A soft sob came through the phone. “I wish I was there with you. Did Neal show up? Did he say anything about me?”
Neal must be her new man. “No. I haven’t seen him.” Although Parker wanted to stay frustrated and jealous, he couldn’t ignore the fact that Sierra was clearly crying. “Are you okay, Miss Burns?”
She sobbed again. “Not really. How do I get to the doctor’s office here on the island?”
“Doctor? What happened?” He couldn’t help the way his heart dropped or the sick feeling in his stomach. He cared about Sierra, even if it wasn’t right or proper.
“I-I-I ummm...”
She paused for such a long time that Parker’s unease turned to dread.
“You what? Sierra are you okay? Tell me what’s going on. Did that guy hurt you?”
A disgusted snort came through the line. “As if he’s the one I need to fear. No, Neal didn’t hurt me, but I did have an accident.”
“What kind of accident?”
“The kind where I shattered that glass coffee table in the bungalow. I have glass all over my body. I pulled some pieces out, but can’t reach others. I think I need stitches in my arm.” Her voice was soft and Parker strained to hear her over the waves splashing against the hull of the boat. “So, where is that doctor? Can I call the car service to pick me up? Or maybe they won’t help me. I no longer have any money. Well, I have a little until Cece cancels my credit card.”
Cece? What did her mom have to do with her going through a coffee table, and why didn’t she have money? They were rich. “Are you sure this was an accident you had, Sierra?”
She made a scoffing sound in the back of her throat. “At least you’re calling me Sierra again. I guess that’s an improvement.”
It seemed she wouldn’t answer the question, which had Parker even more concerned. Who shoved her through a glass table?
“Where are you right now?” he asked. “Still at home?”
“No. That won’t be my home again. I’m walking along the beach, over by the spa area. I know I’m not supposed to stay on this beach, but I have to sit down. It hurts so bad. I don’t know if I can keep walking. My back is killing me and the dried blood itches.”
Well, at least Sierra was consistent. Still breaking the rules.
“Let me call Paige into work. Don’t move. I’ll be right there to get you.”
* * *
The pain was a lot worse now that the initial shock had worn off. Sierra lay on her stomach, letting the warm sand soothe her as the sun beat down on her battered body. She hadn’t had an opportunity to look into a mirror, but judging by the strange looks people gave her when they had passed her on the beach, she must look a mess.
It was hard to tell how much glass might be in her skin, or if she was being a total wuss about it and there was nothing wrong. Her arm really did need stitches, though. The bleeding wouldn’t stop and dots of dark blood had leaked through the silk wrapped around it.
She should have told Parker to go out with his boat and just give her the number for the car service, but she was glad he hadn’t given her a choice in the matter. And it wasn’t because Parker was the person most likely to piss her mom off that she wanted him with her. She really wanted to see him. Having him be the man to come to her rescue, and not someone like Neal, felt right.
The whine of an engine sounded nearby and then stopped. A shadow fell over her and a moment later Parker knelt in the sand next to her head. “Holy shit! How in the hell did this happen? Your back is bleeding in lots of places. This can’t have been an accidental fall! Who did this to you?”
Tilting her head sideways in the sand, she no longer cared if she looked sexy enough for him. Besides, judging from the crease between his eyebrows, the normally easy-going guy was pissed off right about now.
“It’s no big deal, Parker. It was an accident, but I do think I need that doctor.” She pushed herself up to her knees with a grimace. “Thanks for coming to get me. I’m sorry about the other people who signed up for snorkeling today, though.”
His fingers softly caressed her cheek and Sierra shuddered with relief at the kindness she felt coming from him.
“Don’t you worry about that. I have great employees. They’re more than happy to pitch in during an emergency.” He stood and then reached for her uninjured arm, pulling her upright beside him. “You’re all that’s important right now.”
With a nod, she leaned forward and kissed his cheek quickly before he could avoid her lips. “Thanks for that. How far away is this doctor of yours? I hope he has great drugs.”
A smile quirked Parker’s lips. He reclaimed her hand and helped her up the beach. “Let’s get you onto my four-wheeler, and I’ll have you in a drug haze in no time.”
* * *
Parker paced the waiting room at Dr. Carl Peterson’s clinic, waiting for Betty, Carl’s wife and nurse, to come out of Sierra’s room and tell him everything would be okay.
Whatever had happened to Sierra did not look like an accident—even if she continued to avoid his questions. Someone must have pushed her through that coffee table for her to hit it with enough force to shatter the thing. The question was, who? Parker had thought it was Neal, but after the things Sierra didn’t say, but the fact that Cece was with her...
Was it possible the formidable Mrs. Burns did this? Not that he would put it past her. She was pretty horrible it seemed. Then again, he expected her to be horrible to him, a worker and beneath her since he made an honest living. To do something like this to her own daughter? He couldn’t imagine it.
Parker wanted kids more than anything. His job would be their protection above all else. If Cece Burns didn’t feel that way, why did she have Sierra in the first place?
“Parker, you can stop pacing.”
He looked up, watching as Betty pulled her long blonde hair into a loose ponytail at the base of her neck. “Is Sierra okay?” he asked.
“Yes. She’s fine. Shaken and in pain, but okay.”
“What happened?”
Betty sighed. “I can’t tell you any of the particulars. You know that.”
“But she did tell you?” Parker would get to the bottom of this, one way or another. He wasn’t afraid of Mrs. Burns. All he had to do was tell his father how awful she was and get her kicked off the island.
However, that might mean Sierra would go with her. Parker wasn’t ready for that yet.
“She wants to see you,” Betty said, pulling him from his dark thoughts. “She’s a little loopy on the pain medicine Carl gave her, but she still hurts even with that. That was a lot of glass to pull out. She could use a friend right now.”
Sierra wanted to see him? B
etty didn’t need to say that twice. With a polite nod, he rushed to the examination room they’d taken Sierra to nearly an hour earlier.
As he stepped into the room, Parker took a deep breath to steel himself against how bad she might look. It was bad enough out on the beach, with streaks of blood on the bare spots of her back and random glass shards twinkling in the bright sun. Things probably couldn’t get any worse, actually.
Her face was pale and drawn as she lay resting on the exam table on her side. It looked altogether uncomfortable to him, but she appeared to be sleeping. A long white bandage wrapped her left arm, and Parker wondered how many stitches they gave her.
One of the hideous paper gowns doctors always used these days covered her bikini. She had her back turned to the wall, so Parker had no idea what the medical team had done there or if she had more stitches.
He shut the door softly behind him, trying not to disturb her, but Sierra’s eyelids fluttered open.
“Parker? You’re really still here?”
He rushed to her side, taking her uninjured hand gently and stroking his fingers across the back of it. “Of course, I’m here. I wouldn’t leave you.”
She blinked owlishly, as though she had a hard time focusing on his face. “Why not? I’m a bad person, an ungrateful brat. I don’t deserve any kindness.”
Her voice had a childlike quality to it and it sounded as though she recited something told to her many times previously. It had to be Cece. Was this why Sierra was so determined to break all the rules? She was trying to break away from her mother’s iron-fist ruling?
Leaning down, he placed a soft kiss against her forehead. “Don’t say that, Sierra. Whoever told you that is the one who doesn’t deserve kindness. And they don’t deserve to be around you.”
She blinked slowly. “My eyes are heavy. I need to go to sleep, but the nurse said I could leave now.”
“I’ll take you home.”
“Home?” She expelled a drawn-out sigh. “That sucks. I have no home, and no family. I don’t want to see her again, but I have nowhere to go except right back to her and beg for forgiveness. Just like before. Like always.”
“Like always?” Parker clenched his jaw tightly and blew out a hard breath. “You’ve had accidents like this around your mom before?”
“Get real, Parker.” She snorted. “What accident? She shoved me, and I ended up in a hospital again. She hates me. I don’t know what I ever did to her. I guess just being born and taking some of Dad’s attention off her. Not that he ever stops her from doing this.”
Parker held himself very still. What he really wanted to do was find out where the Burns were right now and go rip them a new asshole for hurting her. He knew it wouldn’t solve anything, and would be bad for McCallister’s Paradise and the rest of the family.
That didn’t stop him from wanting to, however.
When he felt able to speak again, he intentionally softened his voice so it wouldn’t come out harsh and angry sounding. “Why do you put up with that, Sierra? You’re a grown woman. Just get away from them.”
A single tear fell down her cheek and she sniffled. “If I was stronger, I would, but I don’t have any money of my own. They control everything, even my paychecks. I’m afraid I won’t survive long being homeless. I know nothing about the real world. Only my little condo and my father’s business. I know nothing else. I can’t do it, Parker. I have to go back and beg her to forgive me. It’s my only choice.”
Was that why she asked about jobs? Maybe Sierra wasn’t just using him before, but was desperate to find a way to escape her mother. And instead of questioning why she wanted to know about working, he’d thought she was playing games and let himself feel hurt.
All along, Sierra was the one getting hurt.
“You don’t have to go back. Let me help you,” he said, softly stroking her shoulder. “We’ll figure this out together.”
She shook her head and pushed herself into an upright position, wincing when she moved. “There’s nothing you can do. I have to go back to the bungalow. I don’t have the money to rent another room. That means I have to make up with her. I have to admit that I’ve been a horrible brat and I’m sorry.”
She seemed to lose several years off her age as she said this. No longer was Sierra the confident woman in her mid twenties Parker had met on the beach gleefully breaking rules. Instead, she was a lost child, scared out of her mind. Whatever her mother had been doing to her, it was going to stop. Now.
“It’s not the only way.” Parker sat next to her and carefully put his arm around her shoulders to hold her close. “Until you feel better, you’re coming home with me. We’ll figure out what to do about your future later.”
Chapter 8
Sierra tried to roll over to a better position. The movement caused pricks of sharp pain to flare on her back and she opened her eyes, suddenly wide awake. Even with the pain medication, she could still tell she’d been battered.
When Parker put ointment on her back after a brief shower, he said a bruise darkened a line across her shoulders. Likely from where she struck the metal frame of the table. That was painful enough, but didn’t even include the pain from multiple cuts down the length of her back and arms, nor the twelve stitches along her left inner forearm.
Cece definitely did a number this time. Sierra shuddered to think what might happen when she eventually returned home. Her mother was sure to be pissed. Cece would get a pound of her flesh for Sierra mouthing off and then disappearing.
Already, her phone had been going crazy with calls from her mother’s cell. Of course, not until later in the afternoon. Likely once the golf game finished and Cece learned that Sierra never met up with Neal. Sierra wished it was motherly concern driving the calls, but she knew better.
After the sixth call, Parker had shut the phone off and taken it out of the room, telling her to get some rest. It was hard to sleep well when any movement woke her. And then her mind spun with the worry of facing Cece again.
Not to mention what Parker must think. Ever since meeting him, she’d fantasized about getting into his bed. However, she assumed it would be with her wearing a lacey negligee and five-inch screw me shoes. Not bruised and battered, wearing nothing more than Parker’s t-shirt.
With a sigh, she tried to roll again, hissing with pain and muffling a moan with the back of her hand. She finally made it onto her right side, but the throbbing continued and tears ran down her face.
A squeaking sounded near the doorway and a sliver of light shone into the darkened room. “Sierra?” Parker called. “You awake? I thought I heard you cry out.”
She could finally see the clock from her new position and noted it was after two in the morning. “Did I wake you?”
The light filtering into the room became brighter and Parker’s footsteps padded across the thick carpet. The bed sunk in with his weight. “I wasn’t sleeping well anyway. It’s been six hours since your last pain pills. Here, take these.”
She greedily snatched the pills and swallowed them dry, hoping they kicked in fast.
Parker lay next to her and slipped his arm carefully behind her head. “Here, drink this.” He lifted a glass with a straw to her lips, propping her head up slightly.
Sierra sucked up the water, suddenly thirsty. When the cup was nearly empty, she allowed the straw to fall from her mouth and rested her head fully against Parker’s arm. “Thanks for taking care of me.”
Parker twisted to place the glass on the nightstand, then carefully crossed his arm over her stomach. “I’m happy to do it, but I wish there wasn’t a reason to. Why did your mom shove you, anyway?”
Biting her lip, Sierra turned her face toward Parker’s, breathing in the scent of his faint cologne and wishing he would just run his work-roughened hands across her body and forget he asked that question. How could she explain it? “It’s not important.”
“I understand if you don’t want to talk about it.” His tone of voice didn’t say he understood all
that much, but Sierra decided to take him at his word. How could she tell him her mother did this to her because of him?
Parker had caused her to want things she never seriously considered before. Sure, she had longed to get away from her parents in the past, especially after the occasional punch from her mom. The threat of taking her trust fund and leaving her penniless had always stopped her from actually doing anything to rid herself of Cece. Seeing Parker made her realize that even those born wealthy could work for a living, and not all of them were uppity, snooty assholes, either.
Parker shifted his arm beneath her head and removed his other arm from her body. “I should let you get back to sleep.”
It felt cold outside his embrace, and Sierra shook her head. “Please stay with me. It’s been a long time since someone held me. Can you just...” She paused. Parker just holding her wasn’t what she really wanted, but it was all she was up for right now. “I like you a lot, Parker. I want to get to know you in whatever time I have before I get kicked off this island due to having no money. Can you stay with me?”
His coarse thumb stroked across her bottom lip and Sierra pursed her lips to kiss the end of it. “Please.”
“You don’t need to beg me,” he said softly. “I would do anything you asked.”
Cautiously, not wanting to ruin the moment and have him withdraw from her again, Sierra rubbed his bare chest with just the tips of her fingers. “I wanted you to kiss me yesterday, and you didn’t. I thought maybe...”
His thumb moved, smoothing down her eyebrow and then rubbing across her cheek. “I wanted to kiss you. More than I care to admit.”
“Then why did you leave?”
“I shouldn’t be seeing you,” he said. “Not socially. You’re a guest here. I’m one of the owners. I can’t mingle with you, no matter how much I may want to.”
Diving Into Love (McCallister's Paradise Book 2) Page 6