Right now, they had a party to host at the hot new restaurant. The life of a quarterback’s girlfriend was never easy. But then again, the life a private investigator’s boyfriend wasn’t a stroll in the park either. There was an element of danger in both their occupations, but Riley balked at her comparison that him throwing a football for a living was even remotely perilous compared to her chasing criminals. She countered that a physical injury on the field would be no less distressing to her if he were to get hurt. It was one of the many things they agreed to disagree on. Respecting each other’s opinions was what made their relationship work. Well, that and the chemistry they had was off the charts. There was never a dull moment with the two of them. And she loved it.
* * *
Riley couldn’t help but smile as he helped Parker out of his car in front of their condo building. She looked gorgeous tonight in her pink, off-the-shoulder dress that showed off every curve and those killer long legs. Well, she looked gorgeous every day, but tonight was different. She’d ditched her more practical garb for something sexy and elegant. Parker had been on fire tonight. She was charming, funny, and commanded the room. Dining with his football friends and their girlfriends in the private room at a lovely restaurant had been the perfect end to a high-tension day. The guys loved to get together and rehash the game, but it was Parker’s winning play at stopping the thieves fleeing the stadium with their stuff that was the hot topic. If he had to be upstaged by someone, he was glad it was his unpredictable girlfriend with a pension for finding trouble around every corner. She’d often forget that a lot of PI work was observing, not diving into action. She joked that she was a “running PI” to his “running quarterback” status. He didn’t find that very funny.
He slipped his arm around her as they walked toward the entrance, loving how good she felt pressed against him. He knew it was tough being the girlfriend of a famous quarterback when she didn’t like the publicity, but she was making the effort. She valued her privacy and didn’t care for having cameras in her face. He’d been with women who loved being on his arm, but Parker had always been different. She rejected the glamorous lifestyle, and he loved her for it. She was in the spotlight more than she wanted, but when she had to be, she shined like a diamond. She grounded him and made him focus on the important things in life. Being a great football player and a better human being. He couldn’t ask for a better mate, even if she did drive him crazy with her reckless action-heroine antics. He didn’t want to lose her.
“George. Can you have someone park this in my spot in the garage?” Riley handed him the keys.
“Sure thing, champ.” The concierge took the keys. Riley tightened his grip on Parker and headed for the elevators. “I had a great time tonight.”
“Me too.”
“I’m glad you didn’t have to chase anyone out of the restaurant tonight.”
“Ha ha.” She swatted him with her purse. “Can we table my ‘stern talking to’ until tomorrow? I am really enjoying this nice mood, and I don’t want it to end.”
“OK.” He kissed her on her temple. “Truce until tomorrow. We did have a delicious meal and great conversation.”
“I’m never going to forget that chateaubriand as long as I live. It was delicious.” She groaned. “I’m pretty sure my palette was upgraded tonight. That was next-level cuisine. I may even become one of those foodie snobs who only eats the finest foods that I can barely pronounce.”
“Well.” He raised an eyebrow. “I wish you were that enthused about me. You never say meeting me was a life-changing event.”
“That goes without saying.” She smiled. “No fancy meal could ever replace you, no matter how silky and decadent.”
“Nice save.” He laughed. “Did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight?”
“Several times,” she mused. “Which makes me think I dress like a lumberjack the rest of the time.”
“No, it’s not that. You don’t normally care how you look.”
She gave him a warning look.
“I mean…” He ran a hand through his hair. “It’s that you don’t always get so—”
She folded her arms across her chest. “For the sake of salvaging this evening, I’m going to do you a solid and say quit while you’re ahead if you want to get lucky tonight.”
The elevator doors opened. “This isn’t going well.”
“Tell me about it.” Parker stepped onto the elevator.
He stepped in behind her and held up his security key card to the elevator panel sensor. “Parker.”
“Yes?”
He took a deep breath. This wasn’t going well. He was usually so smooth. But this was what she did to him. His smooth, charming ways had gone out the window since getting involved with her.
“What I’m trying to say is that as beautiful as you are, you never stop amazing me. OK, I’ll cop to being a randy idiot the moment I saw you in that dress. But it’s more than that. It was seeing you so at ease this evening. You looked like you enjoyed being there and it wasn’t some kind of obligation.”
“Of course, I had fun this evening. I was with you.” She dropped her scowl, and her facial features softened. “I know we haven’t spent much time together since the regular season ended, but I want to change that. And hanging out with your teammates isn’t so bad. The ones with steady significant others are nice. The singles one party too hard.”
“Yeah. I know.” He smiled. “I like the group of us that got together tonight. I was thinking, as soon as the season is over, and you finish the recertification courses for Regency, maybe we could take a vacation.”
“I’d like that. Any place special in mind?”
“You pick the destination. But I wouldn’t be offended by a private island with a nude beach.”
“You are determined to get a picture of your schlong plastered online.” Parker pressed the button for her floor. “Didn’t Trey’s sex tape scandal teach you anything? There’s no such thing as privacy these days.”
“I learned that you should make sure you take all the dirty tapes you’ve made with an ex before the break up to avoid an embarrassing revenge porn scandal.”
“Luckily, you don’t have to worry about things like that anymore.” She smoothed the lapels of his suit jacket.
“Yes, indeed.” He kissed her. Madcap sex romps with crazy chicks were a thing of the past. He was a one-woman man, and he loved it. He loved her. For the first time in his life, he was in a committed relationship with a wonderful woman who loved him for him. The arrogance he wore on his sleeve had dissipated. Seth had warned him that once he was comfortable with his abilities on the field and had the love of a good woman, there would be no need to tell the world how great he was.
He looked at the elevator’s number display. Parker had pushed the wrong button. He stabbed at the button for his floor. “Babe. Remember? We’re staying at my place tonight.”
“I know. But there’s something I need to pick up before we go upstairs.”
“Can’t it wait?” he said with strain in his voice. He didn’t want her going to her place. Tonight was a monumental night for their friends Wyatt and Avery. Wyatt was going to propose to Avery tonight at her place. Wyatt lived just across the call from the ladies, but he was having some renovation work done in his condo to expand the study into a bigger home office. He said he didn’t want paint cans, drop cloths, and hammers to be in the backdrop of the most important moment in their lives. Riley didn’t want to ruin their moment with an intrusion. He was so proud he’d been able to keep the secret from Parker. If he blabbed, she’d surely tell Avery. They were close, and he knew she’d want to give her a heads-up.
“It’ll only take a minute.”
“Whatever you need I can go get it later.”
She gave him a suspicious look. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” He caressed her arms. “I just want to get to bed.”
“OK.” She shrugged. “But I was just wanted to pick up something I bought
the other day at the Erotic Boudoir.”
“The Erotic Boudoir?” He raised an eyebrow. They were an upscale lingerie shop that also sold sexy trinkets, creams, and oils. The hot pink fuzzy handcuffs she’d bought a couple of months ago were still hanging off his bedpost. “What did you get?”
“I guess you’ll just have to find out tomorrow.” Parker put her arms around his neck. “But I will give you a hint. It would go nicely with that helmet you keep in your bedroom.”
“Really?” Damn. Now she’d really piqued his interest. The bell dinged, and he looked up as the doors opened. They were on Parker’s floor. Maybe he could send Wyatt a quick text before they entered the apartment. “OK. If you insist. But I have to check something first.” He took out his cell phone and scrolled his contacts app, but he couldn’t stop Parker before she darted down the hall to her place.
He caught up to her and put his arm around her again as she searched her purse for the keycard to open her door, they could hear what sounded like the cork popping off a bottle coming from Parker and Avery’s apartment. Parker scanned the keycard for the door and turned the door handle.
“Wait!” Riley said.
“What is going on with you?” Parker asked as she opened the door.
Riley peeked over her head, and Wyatt and Avery were all smiles. Wyatt had a champagne bottle and two glasses in his hands.
“Parker! Riley! We have wonderful news.” Avery came rushing over with her hand in the air. “Wyatt proposed!”
“Oh my gosh! Congratulations!” Parker gave her a hug, then closely inspected the eye-blinding rock on Avery’s ring finger. “And boy did he. Wyatt, did you go to a diamond mine and carve out this doorknob yourself?”
“No, unfortunately I was unoriginal. I went to the best jewelers in town.” Wyatt laughed.
“Congrats, Wyatt.” Riley went over and gave him a hug. He hated to interrupt, but he felt good seeing the pleased grin on his friend’s face. He’d been planning it for months and wanted everything to be perfect.
Wyatt smiled. “Thanks, man. For all your help with the ring.”
“That’s what friends are for.” He hugged Avery. “Congrats, Avery.”
“Thank you.” She gave him a good squeeze. “I hope you know you’re both in the wedding party.”
Parker smiled. “We’d be honored.”
“I just opened the bottle.” Wyatt began to pour the champagne. “I’ll get two more glasses.”
“No, we don’t want to intrude.” Riley’s voice raised an octave. It was their moment, after all. And he wanted to grab that Erotic Boudoir bag and head up to his place.
“Don’t be silly.” Avery wagged a finger at him. “You’re our best friends. We want to celebrate with you.”
“OK,” Parker grabbed Riley’s hand. “We’ll go get them.”
Riley couldn’t help but smile as he looked back and saw Wyatt had stopped filling the champagne glasses long enough to give Avery another kiss. The look on his face was one of happiness, contentment, and anticipation about the future. The influx of constant nervousness over the past few weeks had paid off. The relentless hunt for the perfect ring. Flying to Philadelphia to have the talk with Avery’s dad. The hard hurdles had been successfully maneuvered, and they were on their way to happily ever after.
Parker was basking in the glow of the celebratory moment too. At least she was until he came out of his haze long enough to see her glaring at him.
“What’s wrong?”
“You helped Wyatt pick out the ring? You knew about this?” Parker put her hands on her hips. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I promised Wyatt I would keep it quiet, and you would have blabbed to Avery,” he said cautiously. He still wanted some sexy time later, and this was dangerous ground.
“I can keep a secret.”
“I hate to break it to you, babe, but Mackenzie can keep a better secret than you.”
“That’s not true. Being discreet and covert is my stock and trade. I—”
“You are an awesome private investigator and a credit to the security community, but when it comes to family, you have loose lips.” He pulled her close and kissed her. “But I love you anyway.”
“Don’t think a good kiss is going to make me forget you just said I’m a blabbermouth.” She glared at him.
He grinned. “On the contrary, a good kiss has gotten me out of plenty of tough spots with you. It got me out of doing the dishes the other night.”
“You rat.” She swatted at his arm.
“I tell you what. Later you can cuff me to the bed and have your way with me. Teach me a lesson. I’ve been a bad boy.” He bit back a smile.
She flashed him a wicked smile. “No, I think you deserve a real punishment. We could go skydiving, finally. I do recall you chickened out twice.”
“Because I like my body intact. Not scattered in a million pieces all over Dallas.”
“Come on, let’s get some champagne. I’ll let you know what your punishment is going to be when we head upstairs later.” She tugged on his hand and led him into the living room.
While Wyatt and Avery were the perfect couple, complementing each other in every way, they were nothing like him and Parker. There was a titillating push and pull to everything he and Parker did. The chemistry between them sizzled because they argued and fussed. They challenged each other, and in the process, it challenged him to explore his feelings. The idea of forever with one person was foreign to him not too long ago. He was Riley Sloane, the handsome, hot quarterback for the Tomcats who loved the camera. He’d had a public persona of being a trash-talking bad boy who loved the media frenzy around him when he was winning or dating someone famous. He’d cultivated that image in college, and that kept the spotlight on him.
Who was he if he wasn’t that guy? Now that Parker had entered his life, he’d toned down on the bravado. Parker was special to him. He’d never felt so deeply about someone, and he didn’t know if it was pride that wouldn’t let him admit that he was, for the first time in his life, in unfamiliar territory.
Tonight, he looked forward to seeing Parker in that lingerie and a night of sexy antics. But there were times like these when he was envious of Wyatt for putting his heart on the line and claiming a future with the woman he loved. He took a sip of his champagne. Everyone was having a good time, but it suddenly felt heavy in the room. He’d never looked too far into the future, but ring hunting with Wyatt had spurred unexpected feelings in him about how he loved Parker and wanted to be with her.
Parker’s smile brought him back to the moment. Perhaps it was time to have a talk about their future. He had the feelings, now all he had to do was put the love he felt into words that would make her want to take their relationship to the next level.
* * *
The last thing Parker thought she’d be doing after the last hectic couple of weeks she’d had was looking at baby clothes in the Rotten Apples kids’ clothing store. It wasn’t what she’d had in mind when she’d picked up Mackenzie for her ladies’ weekend with her and Avery. But as soon as they passed the adorable store display, they couldn’t resist going inside. There was always something cute to buy for the zillion kids in the family.
Riley could have used a little retail therapy right now. Despite giving it their best shot, the Tomcats hadn’t advanced after the last game. She was heartbroken Riley wasn’t going to another Super Bowl. They’d played so well the entire season. But he was taking it in stride. After taking the time to process the loss and a heart-to-heart with Seth, he seemed to be resigned to letting it go and getting ready for the next season.
He’d been a little pensive, and she’d attributed it to the season winding down. But this morning she wasn’t so sure. They’d had a lovely evening together, but as they readied for bed, he seemed like he wanted to say something to her but didn’t know how. He did things like that. He shot from the hip in every other aspect of his life, but he was careful with her when he talked about his feelings. She
appreciated that he took the time to express how he felt about her. It showed that his words were deliberate, and he’d committed to what he was saying and in his actions.
Parker held up the light blue, striped onesie with the angel halo on it that said Spoiled Rotten for closer inspection. She’d already bought a ton of things for Derek and Charisma’s son Derek Jr., but she couldn’t resist buying one more thing for Avery and Wyatt to take on their trip to Philadelphia. It was a joyous time in their expanded family universe. There was something about new life that lifted everyone’s spirits, just like weddings made everyone excited about the future.
Avery and Wyatt were getting married, and it filled her heart with joy that her friends were taking the next step in their relationship. It was obvious they adored each other. They both were working toward having fulfilling careers. Avery would be a doctor in the near future, and Wyatt had blossomed when he went to work in the PR department for the Tomcats. Parker was equally elated when Avery asked her to be her maid of honor.
It seemed like eons ago they’d become friends and roommates. They’d shared so much in that time. Avery was so supportive of her when she decided being a police officer wasn’t for her anymore. And she was Avery’s cheerleader to help her through the rigorous demands of medical school.
She’d seen the way Wyatt looked at Avery the other night when they were celebrating. He was a man in love. Wyatt and Avery would settle into married life well. It’s not like they were her and Riley. While their best friends were mild-mannered, Parker and Riley were full-throttle in their crazy adventures. Their combustible chemistry was sexy and enthralling. Riley was unpredictable and fun. He’d toned down on the arrogance, but there was still a cockiness there that was sexy as hell. She liked a man who was sure of himself, and when Riley was on the field, there was no rival to his skills. She never knew what trouble they’d get into next and she loved it. There was no danger of them having a serious talk about where their relationship was headed or marriage in the foreseeable future.
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