I clench my teeth and purse my lips, thinking over her words. I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that she’d enable someone to hurt themselves and me in the process.
“You need to go.” On that note, I dig into the drawer that has my dogs’ leashes. “Come here, guys!” I holler out. Both Midnight and Sunny run into the kitchen and jump playfully around my legs as more tears threaten to fall. I clip on their leashes and head toward the elevator.
“Sky, Birdie, come on, let’s talk about this.”
I turn around and put my hand flat out in her direction as she is advancing toward me. Midnight growls and puts his little ten-week-old body in front of me like the guard dog he’s becoming. Sunny whimpers behind me, and that pisses me off even more. Her scaring my baby like that. She’s had enough shitty things to get past in her life at the puppy mill. The last thing she needs is to be scared by someone who’s supposed to be my family.
“I don’t want to hear it. You’ve said quite enough. Now I’m telling you: I need time to think, to be alone. You need to pack up your things and get a hotel or go back to New York.” My voice is firm, and for a split second, I’m proud of myself for being direct and straightforward about my feelings instead of cowering and hiding out. Parker would be proud of me too.
Parker.
I need him like I need air and water to survive.
Tracey huffs dramatically. “Fine. I’ll leave, but I’m not leaving Boston. I’m going to be here when you get back from your trip, ready to talk when you’ve had some time to realize that everything I’ve ever done, I’ve done for you. Because I love you. Because I care more about you than anyone else in this world. Once you’ve had time to think about that, you’ll realize it’s true.”
She takes off down the hall, and I tug on the leashes, get in the elevator, and press the button for the IG offices.
“That’s intense, baby,” Parker says as we walk hand in hand around the park near his office. Each of us has a leash with a pup on the end of it; this time Sunny is being walked by her daddy, and I have Midnight. I’ve just finished telling him the explosion of information that happened earlier and how broken I feel over it.
“You’re telling me.” I pout and focus on the breeze through my hair and the sun glinting off my man’s lush, sandy-brown hair, which brings out some slight coppery tones. The tortoiseshell Ray-Bans he’s wearing fit his business-casual style to perfection.
“At least for now she’s out of the house. Besides, we’re heading to Spain tomorrow evening, taking the red-eye so we arrive first thing the next morning. You’ll have plenty of time to work out how you want to handle Tracey before we get back.”
“Uh, did you talk to Wendy?” I ask, switching gears.
He stops as Sunny sniffs a bush. Midnight gets in on the sniffing action, only he chooses to pee on it for good measure.
Parker grins. “About the house. Yes. What do you think about it?”
“It sounds perfect for us,” I respond wistfully.
“I agree. Though, the comps in the area are putting it at a hefty ten to twelve mil, and that doesn’t include the community fees or yearly taxes, which are going to be steep.”
“Honey, if we love this house, I want to buy it. We’re setting up our life together, and I have twenty times more money in my account than—”
He presses two fingers over my lips. “Shh. I’m trying to let go of this macho need to be the one to provide my woman with the world.” He moves his hand to cup my cheek, and I nuzzle into his palm.
“But I want to provide you with the world too,” I whisper, and pout.
“It’s taken me a long time and a lot of talks with Royce and Bo to accept the fact that you are always going to make more and have more invested than me. The nature of your job makes it so. Still, I need to do my part. So, here’s what I’m thinking . . .”
I smile so wide, thrilled with the fact that he’s willing to put his machismo aside and compromise for our future.
“I’ll pay the twenty percent down to get things going. I’ve got the cash. You can pay the remainder so we don’t have a mortgage payment.”
“Honey . . .” I gasp as tears prick at the backs of my eyes, knowing this is costing him but loving more than anything that he’d take these steps for me.
“Ah, ah, listen . . . ,” he warns.
I nod and press my lips together.
He grins and continues. “I will pay the property taxes and community fees due each year. You can furnish it how you want as long as you keep in mind the fact that your man is not a girly man. I do not do pink in my bedroom. In a tie or a dress shirt, sure. In the bedroom or the primary living spaces . . . no dice. Seeing as you have an eye toward comfort over cost, I don’t think we’re going to have a problem. However, I buy our bed. My woman will be made love to and fucked within an inch of her life in a bed I paid for. End of. That’s my deal.”
“Deal!” I squeal, and jump into his arms so completely he has to catch me by the ass, and I wrap my legs around his waist. I kiss him wild and for a long, long time until I hear the camera clicks going off in the background. I pull back, still smiling, knowing I’m making a spectacle and not caring one iota because Rachel and Nate will make sure the paps don’t approach, though there’s nothing we’ll be able to do about the pictures.
“You realize this little move is going to be on the cover of every tabloid from here to Timbuktu?” His eyes sparkle with mirth, but he’s gotten used to being the center of attention around me. He just ignores it or goes with it. Another reason he’s my perfect other half.
“Did my man just agree to a compromise on a home purchase and buying a new bed that’s ours, not his or mine?”
He nuzzles my neck and kisses me there while breathing me in. Parker is such a scent whore. “Yes, I did.”
I slide down his body, but he keeps a firm hand on my ass, making no bones about the fact that he will grope and touch me any way he likes regardless of who’s watching. Hell, he probably does it because the whole world is watching. Staking his claim, fulfilling that little bit of caveman I know hides inside of him and comes out with some of his overly alpha tendencies.
“I can’t wait to go see this house! I’m hoping beyond anything that it’s the right one for us. It’s, honestly, ideal timing and near Mick and Wendy, which makes it even better. It’s also close to your work and where we’re doing most of the shooting over the next couple of years.”
Parker kisses my forehead. “It sounds perfect, but don’t get your hopes up. I don’t want you sad our entire trip to Spain.”
“Not possible. I’m going to be with you. No matter what, we’ll have a blast.”
“That’s true. Come on, the pups are getting antsy the longer we don’t move.”
I look down at our dogs and realize they’ve twisted themselves up in one another’s leashes. Once I’ve gotten them situated, Parker loops an arm around my shoulders and we continue our walk.
“You feel better?” he asks, referencing the mood I was in when I arrived with a broken heart and on the cusp of a panic attack.
“In your arms? It’s pretty hard to feel bad, honey.”
He snickers. “I mean about Tracey.”
I shake my head. “I don’t like knowing the lengths she went to in order to break Johan and I up. I mean, he wasn’t the right man for me, but what’s to say she wouldn’t try to do that with you and me?”
Parker laughs out loud and squeezes the ball of my shoulder. “Oh, Peaches, let her try to get between us. She’ll have the fight of a lifetime. Although, if you think about it, she’s never been anything but cordial to me. She hasn’t offered me drugs, women, or money of any kind.”
“Maybe because she knows those aren’t vices you’d succumb to . . . thank God.” I frown and remember how much it hurt when I found out about Johan’s cheating and drug use. It broke me into pieces that took a long time to heal.
“This is true. I’m not sure there’s anything she can do or
would want to do. She might think we’re moving too fast, but she’s never hinted before that she didn’t like us together. She set up those media interviews, did press releases on our relationship. To be fair, I’m not getting the vibe that she’s going to be my best friend because, in truth, I’m the one lessening her time with you. Except she also knows I’m not trying to get between the two of you either. I’m sure this will all blow over, and regardless of which way that wind does blow, whether it brings you two closer or farther apart, I’ll be there for you, right by your side, keeping you standing.”
“I kind of wish we weren’t walking through the park with the paparazzi on our tail,” I huff with a little drama.
He chuckles. “And why is that?”
“Because I’d really like to jump your bones right now.”
His eyes flash with a heated desire I recognize intimately. He dips closer and presses his lips against my temple. “Good thing my office has extra-thick walls and a comfortable couch. Wouldn’t mind tipping your tight ass over the arm, pounding you hard from behind, tickling your little hole with my thumb while I do it.”
“Honey . . .” I shiver in his hold, my mind flashing with the seductive imagery he instigated with his filthy promise.
“I think my girl wants to get herself fucked over the couch in my office.” He chuckles.
“Yeah . . .” The word comes out in a throaty, needy, single syllable.
“Time to go, kids.” He takes my leash and his own into one hand and leads our dogs back toward his office.
“Seems I didn’t do what I promised last night. It’s only Thursday baby, not Tuesday.”
I grin all the way back to our building, my mind on his leather couch, my panties soaked, and my heart so filled with love I can barely catch my breath.
4
PARKER
“It’s perfect.” I stare in awe at the yellow home with white trim. Around the entire house is a full-size wraparound porch reminding me so much of my grandparents’ home I can hardly speak as the memories flood my brain.
Skyler nudges my bicep with her nose and wraps her arms around my waist, staring at the house. “What did you think of the inside?”
The sun is setting as I scan the house. There’s an open field in front that seems to go on for days until it hits a huge wall of trees separating the edge of the property from the next.
“Hmm.” I stare out at the landscape as the sun streaks color across the treetops and grass. I can easily imagine playing Frisbee with our dogs. Soccer and football with the guys and my future children. Skyler setting up a blanket and lazing in the sun in one of her flirty little sundresses.
“The inside?” She eases my chin toward the house.
I shrug. “It has a lot of antique furniture in it.” I make a stink face, and Skyler giggles against my side.
“Yes, and it will all be removed in the next four to six weeks. It has seven bedrooms and four bathrooms. A huge den. A game room. A man cave that doubles as a fully finished basement. An open kitchen and dining room. Two good-size living rooms and an entryway. A beautiful pool, firepit, fountain, and garden already growing veggies. And I asked Rachel what she and Nate thought of the guest house. They love it. It’s bigger than their apartment with room to have a child. Something they’ve been talking about.”
I wrap her in my arms and lift her chin up with my thumbs so I can look into her eyes. “Do you want to live here with me, make a home, build a life, bring our babies home here?”
“Real or fur?” she teases.
The act of caressing her nose with mine is instinctual. “Both,” I whisper against her lips, then kiss her softly.
She hums into my mouth and nods. “I feel at home here, and I can tell you’re in love with the view.”
I grin and kiss her again. “My woman knows me well.”
“Yes, I do! And I’ll make the inside something you’ll never want to leave to go to work,” she promises.
“So, we doing this? Buying the farm so to speak?”
She grins wide. “Yeah, honey. Let’s do it.”
“All right. We’ll get things started. Come on, let’s tell the current owners the good news and contact our Realtor.”
“We have a Realtor?” she asks with surprise.
“Wendy set us up with Mick’s. They’ve already drawn up the paperwork.” I chuckle. “Wendy was that confident this was the house for us.”
“Seriously?”
I nod. “We’re going to have a ball of wild on our hands with her living just down the road.”
Sky smiles wide. “I sure hope so. I’ve always wanted a nosy, well-meaning sister. Looks like I’ll be getting one.”
I rub her arm as we head up the stairs to meet with the owners, who’d given us some privacy by staying inside while we talked outside.
“Peaches, your world just exploded with friends and family,” I remind her, knowing how much everyone in my life loves her.
“Best decision of my life,” she murmurs, and bites at my bicep.
I stop and loop an arm around her waist, plastering her front to mine.
“What did you say?”
“Parker Ellis, taking you to bed was the best decision of my life.”
I can’t stop my laughter. “I’m pretty sure I took you to bed.”
She shakes her head. “No way.”
“Yes way.”
“I jumped you the first day,” she says with a determined pout as we continue walking.
“Yes, but I didn’t take advantage. You were drunk. I was drunk. That would not have been chivalrous.”
“So, waiting a few days later until I made it so by jumping in the shower with you, and you had no choice but to take advantage, was?”
“Totally.”
She laughs as I hold the door open for her.
“I think we should put in our offer and take this discussion back to the penthouse. I’m feeling a wild case of naked wrestling is necessary to put this disagreement to rest.” She smirks and steps through the door.
I grab her around the waist and slam her ass against my semi, dipping my lips close to her ear. “Deal.” I hum against the skin of one of the places on her body that make her sigh. “Whoever wins gets to tie up the other and do whatever they want to the other’s body.”
She gasps in my arms and rubs her ass back against me with more intent. “Hmm. I’m feeling a little winded, I might not fight at my best,” she teases, still rubbing her pert ass in dizzying circles against my much harder lower half.
I have to bite down on my cheek not to go fully erect against her sumptuous booty. “Figured you might want to throw this round.”
She hums again, and the sound threads through my body like an arrow shooting straight for a bull’s-eye. She one-ups the sensation by reaching back and strategically wrapping her hand around my cock through my slacks, giving it a playful squeeze. “Maybe I’m feeling generous.”
I tilt her ass and hand away from my body, knowing that the owners could catch us in a precarious position at any time. “I’m thinking you’re feeling greedy to be worked over.”
She grins wide and cocks an eyebrow. “I guess you’ll just have to find out.”
“Looking forward to it, Peaches.”
Interlacing her fingers with mine, I lead her into the kitchen area, where I can hear the owners laughing over a cup of coffee. One day, that will be us.
When we arrive in the room, two gray heads come up and look at us with smiles.
“We’ll take it,” I announce, and their smiles get wider, but neither is as brilliant as my woman’s.
“I cannot believe you did this. Rented a freaking jet?” I growl and take one of the lush, camel-colored leather seats on the private plane.
“Do these seats go all the way back?” Bo asks Skyler, who’s trailing behind him with our dogs.
She grins, and I frown, still pissed that she chartered a private jet to and from Madrid so that she can bring our dogs.
“Yes,
they do, Bo, but there’s also a couch that folds out bigger if you want.”
Bo shakes his head and takes a captain’s chair farther back in the belly of the plane. “Naw, I’ll save that for the two of you if you need it.” He waggles his brows suggestively.
“Bo, simmer down. We’re not going to fuck out in the open on a plane.”
He lifts his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “Whatever. It’s cool, man. Just leaving your options open. I have total noise-canceling headphones I could put on. Do whatever you gotta do.”
I can feel my nostrils flare as my irritation rises.
Skyler continues with fighting her side of our current disagreement. “Honey, I couldn’t leave our babies behind for a week or more. I’d miss too much of their lives.”
Rachel and Nate lumber onto the plane and pick a couple of chairs at the very front. “Baggage is loaded, and the captain is ready to initiate takeoff,” Nate grumbles as he settles into one of the chairs, then sighs deeply.
“Plus, we needed to book three tickets extra for me, Rach, and Nate.”
“We talked about having Wendy watch the pups for us,” I remind her for what feels like the thousandth time.
She scrunches up her nose. “Honey . . .” She picks the seat next to me, and both dogs jump up on the small love seat across from us and get comfortable. She grabs the blanket hanging over the side of the loveseat and tucks in our dogs. They immediately close their eyes and yawn. They’ve had a lot of activity today and need the rest. Watching them get settled cools my ire a little but not much.
“It was too soon to leave them. They’ve already had a rough go at life. We can’t let them feel abandoned, plus Mick and Wendy are just getting settled with their fur baby, Lauren. I just . . .” She sets her cool hand over my forearm. “I couldn’t be without them. Not yet. I haven’t had enough time with them, and when I get back, I’m going to start filming the first A-Lister movie. This really isn’t a big deal. I mean, I’m technically part owner of this charter line anyway. We’re not even paying for these, if you really think about it.”
International Guy: Volume 4 Page 4