Take Me Down

by Phillips, Carly

  The question was, did she want to learn when doing so involved them getting closer?

  * * *

  After an uncomfortable trip to the garage, where Parker hovered and Matt definitely realized he was the odd man out, Emily drove her car home. Parker disappeared with her dad, who wanted to give him a tour of the property, and she spent the day relaxing by the fire with a good book.

  Later on, she headed to the kitchen to make dinner, a plain roasted chicken with vegetables and red potatoes. Then she decided a pie was in order and found herself peeling apples for a good part of her afternoon. Parker seemed to be busy, maybe with work, because he was on the phone when he returned with her dad, joined them for dinner, where he raved over her food, and then disappeared into his room again, saying he had calls to make.

  The next couple of days were business as usual. Emily woke up early, baked, and Parker showed up to help her load the car and take her goods to Harper’s. Sometimes they stayed and shared a cup of coffee, sometimes they went back to the inn, where she prepped for the next day.

  Both he and her dad seemed busy, but where Parker was concerned, she minded her own business. He was here taking a break from his reality and he deserved not to be bothered by the people surrounding him. Even if she was insanely curious as to who he was talking to and what he was doing. In fact, the more he kept to himself, leaving her alone and not backing her against cars to kiss her, the crazier she became.

  What happened to the man who’d told her he was jealous of her date with Matt? Who’d sat next to her at Harper’s and gotten close enough to drive her insane with his hot body and masculine scent? Who’d said there was a lot to like here?

  She glanced down at the bowl she’d been mixing … and had gotten lost in thought and forgotten to continue. “Dammit!”

  Why did she care if the man was all but ignoring her? She didn’t want him in her life, right? He was a city guy who liked to control things around him and she was finished with men like that. He’d be leaving eventually and she didn’t need to get attached and end up with a broken heart.

  So really, it was all for the best.

  Wasn’t it?

  * * *

  Once he had a purpose, Parker immersed himself in the job he wanted to do at the inn. After taking a tour with James, making notes in his phone on what needed updating, renovating, and outright replacing, they spoke about who James wanted to hire. If he chose to give the job to locals, Parker was happy to do so. He wasn’t interested in taking over, just paving the way for the man to have the inn of his and his wife’s dreams. And he hoped Emily didn’t bust his balls in the process.

  He noticed that James hadn’t gone out of his way to fill her in on his plans, so Parker didn’t offer up the information that he was funding the renovation himself. That was between father and daughter, a place he did not belong. He wasn’t comfortable withholding the news but it wasn’t his to provide.

  As for Emily, Parker had given a lot of thought to his conversation with James about her past relationship. She was obviously recovering from a serious situation that had hurt her a great deal. Parker himself seemed to trigger her, and coming on like a caveman wasn’t going to help matters. As a result, he’d started to give her space to figure out if she wanted to get involved with him while he was here. In the meantime, he felt useful for the first time in a long time.

  But as the days passed, he found it harder to keep his distance from Emily. Waking up and walking downstairs to the smell of her delicious treats baking in the kitchen, finding her hustling around the room, hair in a high bun or ponytail, adorable strands hanging around her face, sometimes humming, sometimes dancing to music in her earbuds as she worked, left him with a constant hard-on.

  He stood in the doorway, watching her swivel her hips to whatever beat she heard in her ears, when his cell phone rang, startling her and causing her to drop the spoon she’d been holding. She glanced over and shot him an annoyed glare, then bent to pick up the utensil, giving him a perfect view of her ass as he answered the phone without looking at who was calling.

  “Yeah?” He was annoyed at the interruption.

  “Parker?”

  “Sebastian. What’s up?” He hadn’t spoken to his younger brother since he’d gotten to Colorado. “Everything okay? Ashley good?”

  “All fine. No worries. Ethan’s just giving the rest of us hell because you’ve finally taken a vacation. What gives?”

  His gaze on Emily, who was pouring batter into muffin tins, Parker couldn’t help the grin that lifted his lips. “Let’s just say I found something better than family business to occupy my time.”

  With the earbuds in, she didn’t so much as flick a glance his way to indicate she’d heard him.

  “Hah. Switzerland finally made a decision.”

  Parker rolled his eyes at that damned nickname his family had thrust upon him, first because of his time on the slopes and later because he was the most laid-back of the siblings, letting them make decisions around him and staying neutral unless he had something earth-shattering to say.

  “So you finally found a woman who does it for you. Let me be the first to congratulate you,” Sebastian said. “I was beginning to think celibacy was going to be your permanent state.”

  Parker rolled his eyes. “Shut the fuck up,” he muttered to his brother.

  Sebastian laughed. “Come on. Someone has to give you shit and Ethan’s too busy being an ass.”

  Parker shook his head. “What are we going to do about him?” he asked, concerned about his oldest sibling.

  “We’ll intervene when you get home. When will that be?”

  Not any time soon, Parker thought. “Couldn’t tell you. But I’ll be in touch,” he promised Sebastian, as Emily slid her muffins into the oven and closed the door.

  “Okay, take care. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, which leaves the field pretty wide open with whoever this woman is.” Sebastian disconnected the call and Parker slid the phone into his jeans pocket.

  Emily’s back was to him and Parker decided he’d had enough distance. He’d intended to give her a chance to come to him but she wasn’t that type of woman. He’d just have to offer her an out should she want one.

  Walking up behind her, he slid his hands over her waist and pressed a kiss to her neck, inhaling the sweet scent that was Emily when he wasn’t smelling chocolate or the baked goodness that surrounded her.

  “Yum,” he whispered in her ear at the same time he pulled her against him.

  “Parker!” She jumped in surprise, but instead of jerking away, she leaned back into him, her ass pressing against his groin.

  He swallowed a groan, willing to put up with the discomfort in order to be near her. “I don’t want to keep my hands off you,” he whispered against her ear.

  “Then don’t.” She turned in his arms, facing him. “You’ve been avoiding me.” Hurt flickered in her pretty brown eyes, an emotion he’d never intended to put there.

  He slid a finger over her cheek, stroking the smooth skin. “I thought you needed time away from me.”

  Her lips pursed in a pout he wanted to kiss away. “What I don’t need is you making decisions for me.” She locked her fingers around his neck, meeting his gaze. “Everything about you makes me nervous but maybe that’s a good thing. I need to face my fears, right?” she said, more to herself than to him.

  “You’re afraid of me?” That didn’t sound like a good thing.

  She shook her head. “I’m afraid of what you remind me of.” She paused. “Who you remind me of. But that’s not fair. So for the time that you’re here, I’m going to try to be more open-minded.”

  He nodded in approval. “I appreciate that. I never want to be someone who frightens you.”

  “You don’t.” She spread her fingers through his hair and his body sensitized at her touch.

  He inhaled long and hard, the scent of cinnamon reaching his nose. “What are you baking?” he asked.

  “Oh, I see.
You just want me for my goodies,” she said with a grin.

  He chuckled, low and deep. “That I do,” he said, just not elaborating on which of her goodies he desired most.

  “I’m making cinnamon rolls.”

  He nuzzled her neck, enjoying being this close to her. “Let me take you out.”

  “Like on a real date?” She sounded excited at the prospect.

  “Yeah. Like on a real date. What’s your favorite restaurant nearby?”

  She tipped her head back and met his gaze. “Hmm. There’s a steak place in the center of town. Gabriel’s. It’s our nicest restaurant. Which isn’t saying much. Nice jeans are perfect. I don’t need anything more than that.” She eyed him warily, as if expecting him to disagree.

  He patted the tip of her nose with his finger. “Just because I’m from Manhattan doesn’t mean I need an upscale restaurant to make me happy. It’s more about the company than the place. And you’re all I need to enjoy the night.”

  A smile lit up her face. “Then I’d love to go out with you.”

  More than pleased with her response, he leaned in and sealed his lips over hers, moaning at the sweetness he tasted there. She tangled her hands back into his hair and kissed him as he backed her against the counter, his dick settled into the cradle of her hips, pressing hard into her.

  “Your father,” he muttered, trying to be aware that he wasn’t in the right place to make out with the man’s daughter.

  “He’s out for breakfast with a friend. He won’t be home for hours.” She tugged on his hair, urging him to stop talking and resume kissing.

  He did as she silently requested, recapturing her mouth and thrusting inside. What happened next was an immediate dueling of tongues and grinding of hips, the desire that they’d been holding in check boiling over. He rocked against her, taking his cues from the soft sighs and moans coming from deep in her throat.

  He eased one hand between them, lifted her apron, and unbuttoned her jeans, sliding his fingers beneath her panties, coming into contact with bare skin.

  He swore at the heat and slickness that greeted him, his cock throbbing against the harsh denim of his pants. Gritting his teeth, he focused on her, his fingers gliding over her smooth skin before settling on her clit.

  Her hips bucked and she groaned, pulling tighter on his hair. “Easy, sweetheart. I’ve got you.”

  As he began to circle his finger over the tight bud, her dampness eased his way as he worked to bring her higher. She shuddered against him, her hips circling in rhythm with his increasingly harder caress.

  He wanted to see her come for him. Wanted her to come hard. So when she got too deep into her head and fears, she’d remember this. Him.

  He licked at her lips, continued kissing her while he pinched her clit and she screamed, a sound he caught in his mouth, as she shook and trembled against him.

  He lifted his head in time to see the rosy glow in her cheeks and the dazed look in her eyes as she came back to reality. Damned if a part of him wasn’t proud of that look and fucking aroused by it.

  He kissed her nose, slid his hand out from her pants, and helped her pull herself together, buttoning her jeans and straightening her apron.

  Grinning, she smoothed his hair with her fingers. “I made a mess.”

  She could pull his hair any time, he thought. “You good?”

  She nodded. “I need to clean up. The kitchen. I mean I need to clean up the kitchen,” she said, her blush a sweet and refreshing difference from the more experienced women who propositioned him back home.

  “Well, I’ll leave you to it. Oh, and Emily?”

  “Yes?” She brushed a stray strand of hair off her face.

  “Thank you. I’ll keep the memory of you with me all day.” He lifted his hand and slid his fingers into his mouth, licking first one, then the other, taking in the flavor that was all Emily’s. “And block off tomorrow night for me. I’ll be making reservations at Gabriel’s.”

  Her eyes wide at his actions, she nodded. “And I’ll be looking forward to it.” Her voice was husky.

  She was shaken. Just how he wanted her. Off-kilter. For him.

  * * *

  Emily’s body tingled all day and well into the night. Her dreams included Parker and his talented hands skimming over her body in myriad ways. He hadn’t shaved since he’d arrived at the inn and his scruff was even sexier than his clean-shaven look and kissing him was delicious. She woke up in the middle of the night in a heated sweat, knowing he was in the room across the hall, then found it impossible to fall back to sleep.

  So when noise woke her up in the morning, the one morning she didn’t have to bake, she was exhausted and in a pissy mood.

  She pulled on a pair of sweats and a hoodie and walked out of her room, heading downstairs, where she found her father talking to a man wearing a hard hat. The noise above her continued.

  “What’s going on?” she asked, confused.

  Her father glanced at her, looking sheepish. He turned to the man, who she now recognized as William Cartwright, a contractor. “Can we talk more later?”

  “Sure thing.” He nodded and headed out the door, closing it behind him.

  “Dad? What’s going on? It sounds like they’re working on the roof.” She pointed to the ceiling above them.

  Her father nodded. “We need a new one. You know that. We leak in every rain or snowstorm.”

  She bit the inside of her cheek. “But we don’t have the money.”

  “About that…” He gestured for her to come over to the sofa in the center of the family room and take a seat.

  She settled in warily and he eased down beside her. “I got the money to fund a full renovation.”

  She blinked. “What? How?”

  “Parker offered the money. I didn’t want to take it but he insisted. He said I could pay him back with interest and I gave him free room and board. It’s the least I could do.”

  Parker. The man she’d decided she could trust. The man who’d given her an intense orgasm with his fingers alone. That Parker.

  She felt as if she’d been punched in the stomach. “What the hell?” She’d told him she was worried about her father. That he belonged in Florida with her sister, where he’d be more relaxed and healthier.

  Yet here he was, thinking he knew what was best, throwing money at a situation he knew nothing about.

  The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.

  “Em.” Her father called out her name, bringing her out of her thoughts. “It was your mother’s dream and mine. I want this.”

  Her dad had been a good accountant, solid with numbers. Not so much with reality. He held on to dreams sometimes like a little boy, without thinking through the details and full ramifications.

  “Who’s going to run it?” she asked. “I can’t prep and bake at the same time. There’s cleaning, laundry, meals, snack food, being there for the guests…”

  He ran a hand through his hair, messing it up so it stood in spikes. “One thing at a time, okay? I want to see it through.”

  “So you can get more money for the property when you sell?” she asked hopefully.

  “I’m not ready to discuss that right now.” He rose to his feet. “I have a lot of plans to fix this place up and that’s where my focus is at the moment.”

  She suddenly felt like her life was spiraling out of control. She jumped up to her feet.

  “Em?”

  “I’m going to put on my sneakers and go for a walk,” she said, needing fresh air.

  “Honey, it’s going to be great. I promise you. You just need to relax.”

  She shook her head. Relax. Right. From owing Parker money to her father’s sudden desire to run the inn … she didn’t know what to think or feel.

  But she did know she was angry at Parker for butting into her family, where he had no business getting involved. She strode to the side entrance, where she kept her shoes, and pulled on a pair of sneakers along with her jacket and headed o
ut the door just as Parker pulled in, driving her dad’s car.

  She met him as he exited the vehicle.

  “Hey, beautiful.”

  She clenched her jaw, determined that his charm wasn’t going to work on her right now. “What’s going on with your rental, by the way?” she asked him instead of saying hello.

  He narrowed his gaze, a flush rising to his face. “I told the rental company to come deal with it on their time.”

  “Because you’re staying here for a while.”

  He shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. “Yes … you knew that.”

  “But I didn’t know you were giving my father money to fix this place!” She raised her hand toward the top of the inn, where men were working and banging as they put on an entirely new roof. And that was just the beginning of Lord knew what her father had in mind. Or Parker, for that matter. She had no idea how involved he was in this whole venture.

  He groaned. “I didn’t think it was my place to tell you. It was your father’s.”

  “Then how about it wasn’t your place to offer him the money to begin with?”

  “Why not?” He leaned against the car as he studied her. “Because what you want for your father isn’t what he wants for himself?”

  Put that way, she didn’t like how it sounded. “I just want what’s best for him. Did he tell you he had a bad case of pneumonia this year that put him in the hospital?”

  “No.”

  “Did he discuss his plans for how he would run the place once you fund it? Who would cook, clean, take care of the guests alongside him?”

  “Well … no. But I assumed he had a plan that was in place when he bought the inn with your mom. And he seems pretty damned healthy to me. People get sick but they don’t always die.”

  She narrowed her gaze. “You suck.” Hurt and angry, knowing he’d hit on her greatest fear for her father, she spun and started to walk down the road, needing to be alone.

  “Emily!”

  He called her name but she didn’t turn around.

  “Emily, wait.” He rushed after her, catching up to her easily.

  She headed down a path she’d discovered when she needed a break from taking care of her mom and walked on. Parker kept pace beside her, not talking but not letting her be alone, either.