Understanding Beauty (The Beauty Trilogy Book 2)

by Raven Scott

  I look down at the floor and sigh. “Sadly, the end result is that you’re here and Theodora isn’t, though.”

  Ronnie finally looks up at me, a flood of tears streaming down her face. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

  I nod and look to the judge. “No further questions, your Honor.”

  Ronnie breaks down in sobs and her attorney requests a recess until Monday morning. As soon as the judge leaves, I throw everything in my briefcase and turn to Rogen. “Meet me at my office.”

  He nods and we hurry out to the cars. My office isn’t far from the courthouse and as we head past my assistant, I tell her to take messages for the rest of the afternoon and not to bother me. She knows how hard this case has been for me.

  Thankfully, my office only has one window and a solid oak door and solid walls. As soon as Rogen steps inside, I close the door and flip the lock. His eyes widen as he looks from the door to me.

  “Baby?”

  The tears welling in my eyes sting as I walk up and run my hands up the front of his shirt. “Kiss me.”

  Gently, he grips the side of my neck. “Talk to me, baby, please.”

  I shake my head. “I don’t want to talk. Just make me forget how bad this sucks, please.”

  “Parker, I—”

  “Please, Rogen?”

  He groans and slams his lips into mine, pulling my body flush against him. I fumble with the buttons of his dress shirt, desperately wanting to feel his skin against mine. He pulls his lips away with a growl and practically rips my jacket off, throwing it onto the desk as I pull his shirt from his pants and slide it down his arms.

  Pulling my shirt over my head, he leans in and sucks on my neck, biting it gently and causing me to moan. “You’re so fucking beautiful, baby.”

  “Rogen, I need you,” I whimper against his shoulder, racking my nails down his back.

  In moments, I’m kneeling on the couch, gripping the back as Rogen pounds into me relentlessly, holding my hips so tight I’m afraid they’ll bruise.

  “Come on, baby,” he says through gritted teeth and I let go, cumming so hard it drains my body of all my energy. Rogen groans my name as he cums, wrapping his arms around my waste as he pulls out of me and sinks down to the floor, taking me with him.

  Laying on his back on the floor, he pulls me on top of him and gently runs his fingers through my hair. “I don’t think I’ve ever made love to someone at their job, Parker.”

  I snicker and kiss his chest. “Next is your office.”

  He laughs and holds me, letting me rest my head on his chest. “Can you take the rest of the day off?”

  I hum, tracing one of the tattoos on his chest. “I can do whatever I want.”

  “Good. Let me take you out to dinner. Then home so I can make love to you on every surface in the flat.”

  I groan at how good that sounds, and then we spend the rest of the day doing just that.

  He takes me to dinner at my favorite pub and then we do some shopping in town, and when we get home, he literally fucks me from the front door to the shower and twice in my bed. By the time I pass out, wrapped in his arms with my head on his chest, my whole body aches deliciously.

  I wake the next morning still aching like I ran a marathon. Stretching in bed, I smile as my muscles protest. Rolling over, I find Rogen’s side of the bed empty. I sigh, wishing I would've rolled to him being next to me. I can’t imagine a better way to spend a Saturday morning.

  A woman’s laughter from the kitchen makes me sit upright in bed and a moment later the door opens and Rogen comes in with a smile on his face.

  “Good morning, beautiful. You might want to get up and get dressed,” he says, coming over to lean across the bed and kiss me.

  He’s wearing nothing but basketball shorts and I want to take them off . . . with my teeth.

  “Who's here, babe?” I say as I get up and grab a tank-top and shorts out of the dresser.

  “Your parents woke me up knocking on the door an hour ago,” he says, strolling back out of the bathroom wearing a t-shirt with his shorts. “I made them some tea and offered them breakfast, but they declined the food. I made you a plate, though, and put it in the microwave.”

  My whole body goes rigid as he comes up behind me. “My parents? Are you serious?” I spin around on him, my eyes flaring.

  His go wide. “Uh, yeah. Is everything okay?”

  I roll my eyes. “You have been hanging out with my folks half-naked and now I’m going to have a million questions to answer.”

  Rogen huffs as I move around him to brush my hair and attempt not to look like I spent the whole night fucking him. I’ve never been open with my parents about my sex life and they never saw Dalton or I in any state of undress or anything like that. My mother likes to pry and I’d rather she save that shit for Cannon since he doesn’t mind talking about his sex life. He never has.

  I didn’t even go to my folks when I lost my virginity. Cannon is the one who helped me make an appointment when I was seventeen and needed to get birth control and all that shit, not my mother.

  Rogen steps into his room as I head to the kitchen. My mother and father are sitting at the island sipping tea and both light up with smiles as I join them, heading over to grab coffee.

  “Parker, you look simply beautiful,” my mother coos before taking a sip of her tea.

  I walk over and stand across from them. “Thanks, Mum. What are you guys doing here?”

  “We were shopping and figured we’d come see if you wanted to grab an early lunch.”

  Before I can answer, Rogen comes into the kitchen fully dressed with shoes on. My brows pull together and, without looking at me, he walks over and kisses my forehead quickly. “I gotta run out. I’ll see you when I get back. Mr. And Mrs. Helding, it was wonderful to see you.”

  I stare at his back until he turns the corner, the front door opening and closing.

  “Is he okay, sweetie? You all didn’t have a tiff because we showed up, did you?”

  I finally look at my mother. “What do you mean?”

  “He just seemed very upset just now. When we were having tea before you got up, he was so happy and smiling. He thinks very highly of you, dear.”

  I close my eyes and groan. Shit. Rogen and I have talked about a lot of things, but I’ve never really gone into detail about how private I am from my mother on relationships and why. And he just tried to make an amazing impression and I gave him the cold shoulder.

  Fuck. He needs to come home so I can fix this.

  26

  After my parents left with my decline for lunch, I texted Rogen and asked him to come home. When an hour went by and he didn’t respond, I called. He didn’t answer.

  By nine in the evening, I’ve called everyone and they either didn’t answer or hadn’t seen him. As I pick up my phone to get dressed to go find him, the front door opens. I rush through the kitchen and sigh in relief as soon as I lay eyes on him.

  The moment he looks up, I start sobbing. His brows pull together and I run, slamming into him and wrapping my arms around his neck, holding him so tight I might cut off his airway, but I don’t care.

  “Parker, what’s wrong?”

  “I’ve been calling you,” I say through sobs. “I thought something happened to you. You wouldn’t answer and no one had seen you. I thought I—”

  “Oh my god, Parker, I’m sorry,” he whispers, holding me tighter as I cry harder, burying my face in his neck.

  Rogen lifts me up and I wrap my legs around his waist, sobbing the whole time as he carries me into his bedroom.

  He sets me on the bed and kneels in front of me. As soon as he lets go, I start saying how sorry I am. “I didn’t mean to upset you this morning. It wasn’t you or us, I swear. My mom is just nosy and I’ve never liked it, and—”

  “Parker, slow down. Take a breath for a minute and calm your nerves.” He reaches out and tucks my hair behind my ear, which makes me cry even harder.

  “I’m so
sorry, Rogen, I didn’t mean to make you leave.”

  “Shh, baby, shh. I was upset. I thought you didn’t want your parents to know about us, that you were ashamed of this, and that hurt.”

  My eyes snap up just as a tear falls down his cheek. Grabbing both sides of his face, I wipe the tear with my thumb as another falls from his other eye. “No, Rogen, no. I swear. I love what we have. I’m so proud to be with you. I’ve never been ashamed of you.”

  “Parker,” he says on a strangled breath as he reaches up and cups my face. “I can’t imagine my life without you. I care about you. So fucking much it hurts.”

  “Rogen,” I whisper as I lean forward and kiss him with all the energy I have in my body.

  Rogen shuffles closer to me and I scoot to the edge of the bed until he’s pressed against me. His tongue dances with mine and I fall into everything he is. I let everything I feel for him explode around us.

  Pulling at his neck without breaking the kiss, Rogen crawls up and pushes me back on his bed. His lips slow on mine and he moves across my jaw and down my neck. Sitting back, he stares down at me as he pulls his shirt over his head and then pulls my pants and underwear off. I sit up enough that he can get my shirt off and then lay back down as he drops his jeans to the floor and kicks off his shoes.

  I use my arms to crawl backward to the middle of the bed and Rogen kneels, leaning down to kiss up my stomach softly and slowly. His hard-on skims my clit and makes me moan.

  “Baby,” he whispers in my ear, nipping at the lobe.

  I arch my hips so he can sink into me.

  Slowly pushing himself in until our hips touch, I grip his biceps as he pulls out and sinks into me just as slowly again.

  “Let me make love to you, baby,” he says, staring into my eyes, consuming me so much that all I can do is nod.

  For the next hour, that's exactly what he does. Slowly and sensually, Rogen and I make love like we never have before. By the time we collapse next to each other, covered in sweat and out of breath, he’s touched every inch of me with his hands and lips and I’ve done the same to him.

  Pulling me onto his chest, he sighs and kisses the top of my head. “I’m sorry that I made you worry tonight, baby. I didn’t mean to do that.”

  I nod and rest my arm across his chest, curling my hand over his shoulder. “I’m sorry for making you feel the way I did. I don’t ever want to make you feel like that again, Rogen. I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s alright, baby. Miscommunication happens. Next time, no matter who upsets who, no one walks out, okay?”

  “Okay.” Just as I kiss his chest, my stomach growls loudly.

  Rogen sits up and looks down at me. “Did you eat dinner?”

  I bite my lip and shake my head. “I was worried and forgot to make anything today.”

  “What do you mean 'today'? Like you haven’t eaten at all?”

  “No. It’s okay, it’s late. I’ll get up early and make us a big breakfast.”

  “Absolutely not, babe. Grab a shirt,” he says, pulling his arm out from under me to get up and get shorts out of one of his drawers. “My woman isn’t going to bed without eating something. How’s chicken salad sound?”

  My stomach growls again and Rogen throws me a dirty look. “That sounds great.”

  He turns and heads out of his room, and I get up and look through his closet, finding the biggest t-shirt I can. By the time I pad into the kitchen, Rogen has a container of leftover chicken breast out on the cutting board along with celery, spices, rye bread, mayo, and a pitcher of tea.

  Sliding onto one of the chairs, I keep my eyes on him the entire time he’s making food. I don’t deserve a man this wonderful, but I’m glad I have him. Rogen is such an amazing person, and I don’t even think he knows just how amazing he is.

  Rogen turns and throws two pieces of bread into the toaster. When he turns back around, he stops and looks up at me. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

  “Come here,” I say softly, turning in my seat.

  Rogen walks around and steps between my legs, and I don’t hesitate as I reach up and pull his lips down to mine.

  When we break apart, he smirks down at me. “What was that for?”

  I shrug. “Just because.”

  Rogen softly touches the side of my face and leans down to kiss me again.

  I sigh in contentment, my heart completely full. Now to get my stomach the same way so I can drag this amazing man back to bed.

  27

  Tomorrow is the reading of the verdict. Not how I’m looking forward to spending my Monday morning. Tonight, though, Rogen went above and beyond to give me a good evening. I went out early to visit Dalton and, after about an hour, I came home and found my house full of people unpacking groceries to cook together.

  Collins and Cannon, Rogen, plus Rain and Rowan.

  I kind of wish he would have texted and warned me since I went to the cemetery in a pair of leggings and a very ratty, stretched-out, faded t-shirt that hangs off one shoulder. I stand at the archway to the kitchen, leaning against the wall, just watching them.

  Cannon is at the stove, Rogen is at the end of the island closest to me with his back in my direction, Collins is chopping veggies on the side closest to Cannon, and Rain and Rowan are opposite her prepping Margarita glasses.

  My eyes don’t really leave Rogen’s back until Collins glances in my direction and squeals. “You’re back early! Damn, and ruined the surprise.”

  A smile overtakes my face and Rogen spins around, grinning like a school boy. “Hey you,” I say, keeping my eyes on his. He sets the knife in his hand on the counter and quickly wipes his hands on a towel. Walking over to me with purpose, he presses his body flush against mine and leans down, capturing my mouth with his.

  In the background, someone lets out a wolf-whistle and I chuckle against his lips. “What’s all this for?”

  Rogen rests his forehead against mine. “I wanted you to have a good night before the verdict tomorrow. So, we decided on tacos, fajitas, and margaritas.”

  Running my hand up his chest, I hum and pull his lips back to mine. “That sounds perfect.”

  Rogen takes my hand and leads me over to the island, directing me to slide onto the chair that’s between him and Rain. As I sit down, Rain leans into my shoulder and gives me a smirk before turning to Rowan as she sits a blender on the counter.

  I sit and laugh at the banter between everyone as they cook and make drinks, happily taking a strawberry margarita when it’s finished. Rogen is the only one who doesn’t get a drink, so I quietly get up and grab one of his beers out of the fridge. Opening it, I set it in front of his little work station.

  He leans over and gives me a soft kiss, mouthing the words thank you.

  I wink at him.

  “Alright, meat is almost ready,” Cannon announces before turning around to quickly kiss Collins on the head. “Who’s hungry?”

  Everyone, myself included, cheers playfully. While Cannon and Collins get the cooked food on plates and in bowls, the other four of us clean up the dirty dishes on the island and set the dining room table. It’s been a while since we’ve had a big sit-down dinner.

  Cannon sits at one end and Rogen the other, Collins and I taking seats next to each other, closest to our guys. Rain and Rowan sit opposite us. Before anyone can dig in, though, Cannon lifts his glass in the air.

  “To great friends that became family, and to loves that will last a lifetime.”

  Cheers and agreements echo throughout the room and we all clink glasses, setting them down and digging into the food. Knowing that tomorrow is going to be a hard day regardless of the outcome, I stare around the table with a smile, thankful that I have these people in my life. I don’t think I would have made it the last year and a half without them.

  Especially Rogen.

  By nine o’clock, the dishes are cleaned up and we’re hugging everyone goodbye. As much as I want to keep hanging out late into the night, Rogen insisted we let eve
ryone get home and get some sleep. One of the things I have come to love about him is that he knows what I need even when I don’t.

  “I’m going to go get the bed ready, baby. Make sure you lock the front door, okay?”

  I nod as he kisses my temple and heads to my bedroom. Locking the door, I set my glass in the sink and head back to join him. The bathroom door is cracked with a small flickering light radiating from inside and soft music playing.

  Walking in quietly, I gasp a little. The lights are off but there are candles on the edge of the tub, which is running and filled with bubbles, and there are more candles on the sink with a little dock playing music. Rogen is standing next to the tub in nothing but his boxers.

  When my eyes meet his, he crooks his finger for me to come to him. I do without hesitation, and he kisses me softly before gently helping me out of my clothes. After he strips me of everything, he takes off his boxers, shuts the water off, and helps me into the tub.

  I wait for him to get in and then sit down between his legs, settling back against his chest and closing my eyes with a sigh. “You’re too good to me sometimes, Ro. You know that?”

  He cups water in his hand and gently lets it trickle across my chest. “Nothing I do would ever be good enough for you, baby. I’m just glad you want me anyway.”

  I turn my head so I can see his face. “You know that’s bullshit. Everything you do for me is so much more than I deserve. You are the only person who knows me the way you do, inside and out.”

  He kisses my forehead and sighs. “And I could say the same about you, Parker. You’re my perfect match in every way.”

  Just like the last time we bathed together, we lay there until the water is almost cold, until Rogen insists on washing my hair and then gets me out of the tub and dried.

  Climbing into bed, his body covers mine and he lets me get lost in him until I’m too exhausted to move. Finally, I roll over and curl up with my head on his chest. “Rogen?”