The heat between us builds, and sweat mists over my chest and runs between the boxed squares of my abs and down the side of my neck as I pound long and hard into her slick center. Her eyes are closed tight while her head tosses from side to side with each deep plunge.
“Parker, honey, I can’t. I can’t . . .” Her head presses into the mattress, her chin coming up, and her mouth opens in a silent scream before she mewls, “Gaawwwd.”
“Yes. You. Can.” I grind my teeth and double my efforts by dipping a hand between our bodies. I use two fingers to rub fat circles around the little kernel of nerves peeking out of its hiding place, already swollen from her last orgasm.
“Par . . . ker!” she screams, and I cover her mouth with mine, wanting to drown in her taste and muffle her sounds at the same time. When I pull back, I focus all of my attention on finishing deep inside my woman.
I press into her until my thighs burn with the effort and my forearms can no longer hold out. I let go of her legs and let her wrap those sexy limbs around me. I slide my arms under her back until my hands reach her shoulders, where I cup them. My head goes right into her neck as my abdominals work to keep fucking her.
Just keep fucking her.
Just keep fucking her.
Until everything burns with lust, love, need, want, and all the spaces in between. “Love you. Love you. Love you.” I grip her shoulders and snap my hips. She rides each thrust with me, her arms wrapped tight around my back, her heels digging into my ass.
“Yes, honey, let go. Just let it go.” She holds me close as I heave into her, trying to merge every inch of my skin with hers. Trying to mold us into one being as my orgasm races up my spine, scores through my chest and down to my groin, powering out my dick in fiery jolts, coating her insides, marking her as mine in the most primitive way possible.
All mine.
I groan long and low, easing my cock in and out in slow, unhurried movements, working out the rest of the aftershocks. Skyler holds me through it, her grasp never lessening, staying with me to the very last second. When it’s left me and there’s nothing but the sweet euphoria of being spent left behind, I let all the air out of my lungs and roll us over so she’s splayed on top of me.
Sky snuggles against my chest, most of her body a dead weight, except her lips moving over my skin at random, wherever she can reach. One of her hands is trailing up and down my rib cage in teasing, soothing strokes. I’m not sure if the act of petting me is soothing her or me, but I love it all the same.
“How you doing, Peaches?” I cup her ass cheek tenderly, my other hand around her neck.
She hums, lifts up her head, looks me dead in the face, and says, “Now, I’m really hungry.”
I burst out laughing, and before long, we’re a pile of naked limbs, giggling, kissing, and whispering promises to one another about a future we’re both committed to having. Once we’ve settled, having slaked the lust that overtook us during our semiromantic dinner, I get up, put on a pair of pajama pants, and go into the kitchen to make my woman her favorite.
A peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a fat glass of cold milk.
3
SKYLER
“Morning, Birdie,” I hear from a few feet behind me.
I grin and place the powdered sugar over the perfectly grilled bread in front of me that’s loaded with heated maple syrup. The pretty sugar dust is the final touch on my self-proclaimed famous french toast.
“Voilà!” I spin around and present the plate loaded with three thick slices of my homemade specialty.
Tracey smiles and presses her hand to her chest. “For me? Aw, you shouldn’t have.” Her voice changes to a poor interpretation of a southern accent. “Nah, you absolutely should!”
I chuckle and set the plate in front of her as she settles on one of the stools. “Coffee?”
“Absolutely!”
“Coming right up.” I smile, happy that Tracey seems to be in a good mood this morning. I still need to talk to her about my plans with Parker and our future, so she understands that nothing is changing. She may think we’re moving too fast, but the two of us hashed it out last night and believe we’re on the right path for us. In the end, that’s all that matters, and as my best friend, she needs to support me in this decision or keep quiet and let me make my own mistakes, if that’s what she thinks I’m doing.
I gear up to bring the topic up until my phone buzzes on the counter. I glance over and note Wendy’s calling. Now that the wedding is only a couple of months away, things have really heated up in the planning phase. As her maid of honor, I want everything to be absolutely perfect for her big day.
I grab the phone and lift it to my ear. “Hi, girlie!”
“Guess what?” she screeches happily into the phone.
“What?”
“You’re going to be thrilled. It’s kismet, I tell you!” She continues yapping cheerfully in that way she does, which I find makes her more endearing.
“Well, if you’d tell me, I’d know and could possibly agree with you. Is this about the wedding?”
Tracey’s eyebrows rise up, and I cover the phone with my hand and whisper, “Wendy and Mick.”
“Thank God,” she mumbles, and shoves another bite of french toast into her mouth.
I frown and turn around, not wanting to see her sour face.
“Wedding shmedding! This is about a certain someone looking to buy a house in a certain gated community that’s only four acres down from me and my McMansion!” Her voice rises along with her excitement.
My heart patters out a chipper beat. “No way. There’s a home available?”
“Just came up today. I was walking Lauren, and my girl likes to roam. Having been in a cage for two years of her life, she needs to be free. As in, the stretch of open road ahead of her needs to be long. And since I want my baby to have whatever she needs, Mick and I take turns doing her long morning walk—”
“Wen . . . the point? I’m dying here!” I cut her off, knowing that Wendy loves her beagle mix, Lauren, to distraction. The girl can go on for days on end about her baby, and she hasn’t had her very long. I guess when it’s right, they just make your world better. I know Midnight and Sunny have done that for Parker and me. They’ve made us a family, and that alone is priceless.
“Oh yeah, anyway, Lauren and I hit the end of the street to the left and saw the neighbor come out to walk their dog. We got to talking, and she told me they were going to put their home on the market by week’s end. And girl, the house is phat. It’s not as big as ours, because it’s more like a house you’d find on a farm in Savannah, Georgia. It has a huge wraparound porch in the front, and it’s all one story. Still, it’s around twelve to fifteen thousand square feet, so it’s not small; it’s just not forty thousand like ours.”
“My goodness . . .” I gasp, imagining my man sitting in a rocker on his porch, his dog at his feet with his children by his side.
“How much land?”
“Five acres. We have twelve, but it runs the line of our property. It even has a separate two-bedroom guesthouse, with a separate driveway and garage, that’s about eighteen hundred square feet on its own, separate from the main home’s square footage.”
“No . . .”
“Yes! And get this . . .” Her voice rises in pitch.
“Stop. Wendy, I’m getting too excited.” I can barely say the words since I’m losing my breath.
“Babe, it’s yellow with white trim. I swear they pulled that house right out of a farm in the South and plopped that sucker down outside of the city limits of Boston.”
Parker’s dream house.
“When can I see it? Are they putting it on the market now? Parker and I are leaving tomorrow for Madrid.” I bite into my lip and worry a lock of hair around my index finger.
“Well, then, it’s a good thing I made an appointment for you to see it after work today. Told the owner I have a great couple who would be interested in buying it right away, if the house is right
. She was totally down with that since she was hoping to get it on the market ASAP. Turns out her only son and his three children are moving to Florida because he’s career military. She wants to be near the grands. Her husband already found them a new home.”
“This sounds too good to be true!” I whisper, my heart now pounding against my chest, making it even harder to catch my breath.
“I know. We might be neighbors! Our dogs can play together and have doggy dates, and when we have the babies, since Mick is working hard to get me prego, our kids and dogs can have playdates!”
“That would rock!” I bite into my lip harder and imagine Sunday dinners with Mick and Wendy and our combined families, the Ellises coming over to spend holidays and birthdays. The guys and whatever women they settle down with popping over to play football in the yard, or basketball in the driveway. “I’ll need to get a basketball hoop.”
“For sure! You’ll have so much space you can build a barn and have horses if you want!”
Horses.
“Wow. Wendy, I’m freaking out over here. I can’t wait to tell Parker!”
“You think I’m putting a lid on this news when he gets into the office? Girl, you are crazy. I’ve already put the meeting on his calendar. Just be down at five, and we can head over. I’ll introduce you to the owners, and we’ll go from there.”
“Thank you, Wendy. This is such great news and timing!”
“Word. Oh! Parker just stopped in my office. Gotta go talk to your man! Eeek!”
I hang up, laughing and grinning like a loon.
“What’s going on?” Tracey asks, an odd expression on her face.
“Wendy just found out there’s a farm-style house in the gated community they live in. It’s top-notch, Fort Knox–type security but open land between houses. Neighbor of hers is moving to Florida and going to put it on the market. Her finding out early means we’ll get first dibs. Everything I ever wanted is working out perfectly.” I hug myself and spin around. “And just so you know, when I’m done with the A-Lister movies, I’m going to take a serious step back from acting.”
Tracey drops her fork onto her plate and wipes her mouth, and her gaze turns cold. “Excuse me?”
I nod, grinning. “I want to focus on building a life outside of acting. One with Parker. I was actually thinking of maybe even opening an acting academy in downtown Boston. Work with less fortunate kids and teens who show some talent for the craft. Help them get their foot in the door.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? Less fortunate kids. Donate to a fucking charity for crying out loud.” Tracey’s voice is brimming with anger.
I tilt my head back and place my hand on the counter to brace myself for the sudden onslaught of fury I’m feeling coming off her in waves, directed right at me. “I told you years ago that, eventually, when the time was right, I’d slow down. Focus on other things I want to do.”
“Skyler, now is not that time. You’re at the peak of your career. Everyone wants you. Do you have any idea how many scripts come across my desk? I don’t even look at them unless they’re in the ten- to twenty-million-dollar range or higher.”
“But what if the role is on my wish list? Especially in the theater?” I had given Tracey a wish list of directors I wanted to work with, parts I wanted to play, and even some theater I wanted to do if the right role came about.
“Sky, the theaters can’t afford you,” she says dryly. “It’s a waste of your time.”
“Not if it’s a role I want. Tracey, you know I worked long and hard on that list. Come to think of it, you haven’t put anything I’ve requested in front of me for a long time. I did several of the Angel movies, which were fun, but it’s not like they were hard to play.”
She scoffs. “Maybe not, but you made a mint off each one, and they helped keep you at the top. Big budget is the way to go. Keeps us both in penthouses and the upper echelon of the industry.”
“Trace, I don’t give a crap about being at the top. I care about the craft. Why do you think my muse was having such a hard time when you hired Parker?”
“A mistake I’ll never forgive myself for,” she says with a hint of malice in her tone.
“What? Are you insane? Tracey, Parker coming into my world was the best thing to ever happen to me. He’s everything I could ever need or want, and when we get married, not if, I’m going to suggest we start on having our family right away. Something about my man and the way he loves his family tells me that he’s likely not going to have a problem with this decision. Things are changing. I don’t want the huge roles unless they’re parts I want to play and do not take me away from my new family for months on end. I won’t do it.”
“You can’t mean that. Sky, you’re in puppy love. This will pass, the same way it did with Johan.”
“No, Johan was a drug user and a cheat. Parker is neither of those things.”
“Give it a few more months. All I’ll have to do is offer him a payout and a line of coke the same way I did to Johan. He’ll show his true colors just like the hunky, weak model did.”
“The same way you did to Johan . . .” My throat dries up instantly as if powdered concrete has been poured down my esophagus.
Memories of Johan and Tracey sharing whispered conversations back in the day flit through my mind. Her stopping by randomly to drop off a package to Johan. The women he cheated with always were low-level actors or extras from one of my movies.
My neck prickles and heats as the dryness in my throat makes it hard to breathe. I swallow a few times and breathe through my nose, trying to calm the panic teasing the back of my neck. I rub at the sore spot on my chest. “Trace, did you—”
“Supply Johan with his taste for coke and women?” She smiles evilly. “Yeah, Birdie, I did.”
A wall of flame couldn’t have burned me any more than her words just did. “Wh-wh-why would you do something like that? He was all I had after my parents died.”
She snorts. “He was all you had? Sweetheart, that man was weak as hell and proved it every time he fell in love with the white lines I made available to him instead of being with you. He wasn’t good enough for you. Those women? He fell all over them when they were put in his presence. Like I said, weak. You needed to scrape him off. I just helped make it possible. I’m always looking out for you, and I always will.”
Tears fill my eyes as I realize the magnitude of my best friend’s betrayal. “Tracey . . . I can’t . . . I can’t believe you. H-how could you do that to me? I thought . . .” I shake my head as a tear falls. “I loved him.”
Her gaze narrows. “And then you learned he wasn’t worth that love. Don’t you see I saved you from a lifetime of misery?”
I wave my hands between us. “This is not okay. I don’t even . . . I don’t know what to do with this information. You’ve crossed the line . . .” I choke on a half sob, needing to go somewhere else, just get away.
Tracey stands, her light eyes narrowing on me as I back up. “Birdie . . .”
“Don’t call me that!” I screech. “You hurt me. You destroyed what I had with a good man.”
She shakes her head emphatically and keeps moving toward me as I’m moving away.
“No. Sky, just think about it. If he was worthy of you and your commitment, he would have never cheated on you. He wouldn’t have snorted crap into his brain. Just because I made it a little easier to get it doesn’t mean I’m the one at fault.”
“You contributed to his problem, his addiction!” I shriek, and run my hand through my hair, pulling at the strands, embracing the pinch of pain that helps bring me back to the here and now.
“When you’re rational, you’ll think this through.” Her tone has moved into the mothering one she uses when I’m panicking. “It’s my job to protect you. I always have your best interests at heart. Ever since I took over your management when your parents died in the freak boat explosion, I was there for you. Got you the best-paying jobs. Made your career something you could be proud of. T
hat we can all be proud of. That was me. I’ve always put you first. Always. Even when you told your mom you wanted to stop showbiz. I was there, making sure you made the right decision. I took care of you, and I’ll always do that because it’s my job, Sky, as your manager and your best friend.”
Everything she’s saying is heartfelt and gut wrenching, but I’m confused, and it’s twisting my head into a jumble of emotions. I’m unable to wrap my mind around the years of lies going back to what I feel is her betrayal. “You never told me about Johan. I had to find out on my own that he was using and cheating.”
She nods, but her expression is one of sadness and concern. “Because if you hadn’t, you would have never let him go. I’m so sorry you had to go through that awful time, but I was there for you, wasn’t I? Held you while you cried. Gave you a place to live. Made sure you were busy as could be and focused on much healthier things, like building your career and empire.”
Actually that’s true. She did take care of me. Helped get me on my feet when my parents died, and then took me in when I caught Johan cheating and using.
Still, I can’t fathom that she’d help him destroy himself and our relationship. It doesn’t make sense, and I’m not sure what to think or believe right now.
“I think you need to go.” I swallow and firm my chin. “You need to leave my house.”
“You’re kicking me out?” Her expression telegraphs her shock.
I narrow my gaze and inhale deeply. “You don’t live here. You came unannounced. It will be no trouble at all for you to find a hotel or go back to New York. Frankly, Trace, I can’t look at you right now. I need to think.”
She approaches me and holds out her hand. “Sky, you don’t mean that, and you don’t need time to think. I only did what I did to protect you from a man I knew wasn’t worth your time or energy. I knew he would hurt you terribly, and he did. At least you didn’t marry him and have his children. Then where would you be?”
International Guy: Volume 4 Page 3