by Jewel E. Ann
“Yes, I’m staying with Levi.”
He grabbed a glass of water, giving her a quick glance over his shoulder and a wink at the mention of his name.
Parker wet her lips as her eyes continued to roam along his tan, muscled body.
“Is something going on between you two?”
She found her brain thinking, What would Levi say? “Yes. There’s definitely something going on between us.”
Levi leaned against the counter giving her a look that doubled her heart rate.
“Well … when are you coming home? Have you found a job? It’s insanely hot there, isn’t it?” Janey had a tendency to ramble when she got nervous. She was very nervous that her dream of having both of her girls living across the street from her could be ruined by a guy who lived in another part of the country or a job that wasn’t in the Janey-approved radius.
“I just got here. I haven’t had time to look for a job yet.” Within seconds, the aroma of coffee filled the room. Parker took a deep inhale.
“Parker …” Janey sighed.
“How’s Piper?”
“She’s good. Tomorrow they’re putting an offer in on the Westmans’ house.”
She closed her eyes and nodded slowly. “Of course they are.”
“I thought you’d be happy. That means they won’t be staying with you much longer. That means you can come home.”
Grunting a laugh, she opened her eyes to Levi standing in front of her, a mug of coffee in each hand. Parker twisted her lips. She had her phone in one hand, and her other hand held the blanket closed around her naked body. The smile on Levi’s face said he knew that too. He shrugged as he started to pull the mug away. Without a second thought, she let go of the blanket. It fell open. Levi’s eyes took advantage of her predicament.
“I’ll come home when I’m ready.” Parker snapped her fingers.
His eyes shot up to hers, a cocky grin pinned to his face. She gestured for the coffee. He handed it to her then sat on the coffee table in front of her, sipping his coffee with a front row view. Parker drew her knees to her chest. Levi frowned.
“But soon?”
“Tell Dad hi. I have to go. We’ll chat later.”
“Tonight?”
“Maybe. Or tomorrow.”
Janey sighed. “You’re killing me.”
“Love you.” Parker pressed end and tossed her phone aside. “How’s the view?”
Levi sipped his coffee. “Spread your legs just an inch.”
“You do realize this is really hot coffee. I could spill it and have severe burns. You should be fetching a robe for me or holding the blanket over me, but instead you’re wondering what you might see if I spread my legs an inch. What does that say about you?”
He twisted his lips, keeping his eyes low just in case her legs drifted apart. “It says I can’t think straight when you’re not wearing clothes. It says I’m a guy and I want to fuck you so badly right now.”
Parker’s brows shot up.
Levi met her gaze and shrugged. “Anything else would be a lie. This is the point where you throw that hot coffee in my face or slap me and then grab your clothes and stomp out slamming the door behind you.”
Most of his words held sarcasm, but a small part of his tone conveyed pain. He wasn’t insulting her. Levi wanted her, even if his honesty made it sound a little crude.
They continued their stare-off for a few more seconds. Then Parker took another sip of her coffee and spread her legs a generous inch. Levi’s eyes dropped to her legs, and he swallowed hard without taking a sip of his coffee.
“I like this sofa.”
His tongue made a lazy swipe along his lower lip. “Uh-huh.”
“So last night was good.”
Levi chuckled, dragging the pad of his finger along his lip as he nodded slowly.
“I should go exploring today. Check out the area. Do you have a good bus system?”
His eyes lifted to hers. She grinned.
“I have a car,” he said as if his mind were stumbling out of a daze. A naked Parker daze.
“I’m not taking your car. What if you need it?”
“I have a spare.”
“A spare car?”
“Yeah.” He took another sip of his coffee.
“One person needs two cars?”
“Yes. In case I need to loan one to you.”
“Liar.”
He grinned behind his mug. “Yes, I’m lying and not that well. I have two just because I can. There. I said it. Totally self-indulgent. Living in excess while people are starving.”
She snapped her knees together. “I think I liked you better when I thought the boutique hotel was a splurge that you’d have to pay off over several months.”
Levi’s eyes locked on her legs, lips pressed tightly like he showed up to his favorite restaurant just as the sign flipped to closed.
“I’m pretty giving.” His enthusiasm hit ten percent at best.
“Look at me and elaborate, please.”
“I don’t like to brag.” He shrugged.
Parker brushed her lips along the rim of the mug. “I’m all for humbleness, but right now I think you need to brag, just a little, to redeem yourself in my eyes.”
“I fund a few scholarships for kids wanting to go into the arts. I’ve designed buildings like libraries and community centers and also paid for part of their construction. Then just the normal stuff—veterans’ programs, donations to charities for autism, clean water initiatives in third-world countries. Stuff like that.”
“Stuff like that, huh? That’s some good stuff, Levi.”
He stared into his coffee. “I suppose.”
“Well, my charitable contributions consist of volunteering to prepare and serve meals to the less fortunate over the holidays. I donate most all of my old stuff to Goodwill or The Salvation Army instead of selling it, and I give blood. Oh … and I always buy Girl Scout cookies. But … I think you have me beat.”
He set his coffee aside and hers too. Then he kneeled in front of the sofa, palmed her ass, and pulled her to the edge of the couch. She wrapped her legs around his waist and draped her arms over his shoulders.
“I think you’re amazing.”
“Thank you. I think you are too.” She teased the back of his hair. “Especially now that you’ve redeemed your humanity.”
A small grin tugged at his lips. “I’m glad you’re here,” he whispered over her lips. “And by here, I mean in my condo. Not walking the streets in the rain after midnight.”
Parker’s hands went straight for his messy hair. “It wasn’t raining when I left.” She kissed one corner of his mouth. “It sorta came out of nowhere.” She kissed the other corner of his mouth.
Levi bit her lower lip, dragging it through his teeth, and then kissed it. “That’s how I feel about you. And now that you’re here, I’m going to go out of my fucking mind if you leave me in the middle of the night like that again.”
“Are you being bossy with me?”
“No. I’m just looking out for you. And now that your mom knows you’re staying with me, I feel even more obligated to make sure you don’t drown in a monsoon or get mugged in the middle of the night. And not answering your phone didn’t help my situation.”
She grimaced. “It died.”
“Mmm, I see.” He glanced over his shoulder at the kitchen clock. “I have a little bit of work to catch up on. We should get showered.”
“We?”
Levi stood with her wrapped around him. “Yes, we.” Wearing a playful grin, he carried her to his shower, turned on the water with one hand, then shimmied out of his boxers without letting her feet touch the ground.
She giggled when he stepped into the steamy walk-in shower with jets shooting at them in all directions. He consumed her with a kiss, deep and unhurried, as he pressed her back to the wall. After long minutes of exploring her mouth, Levi pulled back and peered at her with hooded eyes. He guided the head of his cock to her opening and sl
id in a fraction.
“Feel that?”
She nodded, still breathless from the kiss.
“How does it feel?” He guided her hips down another inch.
Parker closed her eyes and moaned. “Warm … and …”
“And what?”
Pressing her hand to her chest, she opened her eyes and waited for him to look at her. “Can I say something?”
He nodded, eyes narrowed a fraction as drops of water clung to his eyelashes.
“How I feel about you, it hurts in here.”
The slightest flinch flashed across his face. Then he pressed his lips to her hand. “I’m going to take the pain away … you’ll see.”
He plunged into her the rest of the way.
“Levi …”
“How does it feel?” He kissed her neck.
“Levi …”
Gripping her hips, he set the pace.
“Like a drug,” she whispered just before her mouth crashed to his, catching the ultimate wave of addiction.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“So this is where you do your thing?” Parker inspected Levi’s office filled with a fairly sparse desk, computer, drafting table, and his favorite designs tacked to the walls. They weren’t in fancy frames, just randomly pinned here and there. It made them feel more personal and less showy.
He liked having Parker in his life. The big question remained: how would he keep her? Levi also liked how she feathered her fingers over things like she needed to feel her surroundings as much as she needed to see them. More than anything, he liked how she familiarized herself with his body using the same touch that left him caught between wanting to fuck her senseless and curl into a ball purring like a cat.
“Yes. I do my thing in here. I like the view.” He nodded to the window and the sprawling city of Scottsdale.
She studied his designs on the wall. He studied her, shaking a proverbial head at how she managed to flip his world upside down. He knew it the moment he opened the bedroom door after the funeral and saw her holding his mom, stroking the hair of a woman she’d met only that day.
Raw humanity. It’s not something one acquires over time. It’s who they are to the deepest depths of their soul from the moment they take their first breath. That’s what Levi’s life was missing. Until Parker.
“I took your dog for a walk, unpacked your suitcase, sorted your clothes into machine wash and dry-clean only. If you tell me where to take them, I can do that for you too. And what about groceries? I can shop for you. Is there anything you won’t eat? Allergies? Must-haves?”
“Why did you unpack my suitcase? And sort my dirty clothes?”
She turned to him, arms crossed over her chest. “Earning my keep until I find a job. I did that sort of stuff for Sabrina. I’m freakishly good at it. Efficiency is my middle name.”
Levi leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers behind his head. “Parker Efficiency Cruse. Interesting.”
She rolled her eyes. “Might as well be.”
“Why?” He chuckled. “What is your middle name?”
“Joy.”
He bit his lips together. “That’s … uplifting.”
“I think my mom lost a lot of blood during labor. It’s the only explanation for giving identical twins names that both start with the same letter and vomiting the middle names Joy and Faith.”
“Piper Faith?”
“Yup. So out with it. What’s your middle name?”
“Joseph after my dad.”
“Well, that’s lackluster.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure he was wearing Levi’s Jeans that day too.”
Parker giggled. “Shut up.”
“I can’t have you doing my laundry and grocery shopping. That doesn’t feel right.”
“Well, I’m not going to let you give me shelter and food without doing something to contribute.”
“You are. My original offer still stands. I’ll pay you to be a person in my life. You name the price.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What does that mean? Tell me what a day as ‘being the person in your life’ might look like? I still can’t wrap my head around it.”
Levi shrugged. “You’ve been doing it since we left Iowa. You’re great at it! A total natural.”
“I haven’t been doing anything.”
“You’ve shared meals with me. Traveled with me. Conversed with me. Walked the dog with me.”
“Had sex with you.”
“Nope. I’m not going to pay you for that. Not a line I’m willing to cross. That you do for free or not at all.”
“You’re paying me to be a companion?”
“Sure.”
“You have Rags. He’s your companion.”
“He sucks at carrying on a conversation. We don’t agree on politics or religion.”
Levi enjoyed watching her try to remain serious but fail miserably as she turned her back to him to hide her grin. “I’m going to turn my résumé into as many television and radio stations as possible. The market has to be much larger here than in Des Moines.”
“Larger? Yes. Easier? No.”
“Are you trying to discourage me?”
“Nope. Just doing my thing … spewing out shit that a better man would have the ability to not say. Maybe you should go shopping or something before I get any more real today. This is exactly why I can’t talk about the serious stuff with Rags. I don’t want to hurt his feelings. He’d probably start marking his territory all over my condo.”
“You’re scared.” She plopped down in his office chair, propping up her bare feet on his desk as he swiveled toward her on the stool at his drafting table. “You’re scared I’m going to ask you more questions. Probe you for honest answers. You’re afraid of offending me, pissing me off. Aren’t you?”
“Afraid? No. That word doesn’t begin to cover it. Scared shitless comes closer, but even it feels too mild.”
“What are my chances of getting a job around here in my preferred field?”
“Parker …”
“Tell me. If I didn’t want your honesty, I wouldn’t have asked.”
Releasing a heavy sigh, Levi rubbed his temples. “With no experience?”
“Yes.”
“Without having a prominent connection to someone with pull?”
“Yes.”
He scrubbed his hands over his face and mumbled his answer.
“What? I couldn’t understand you.”
His hands flopped to his lap. “Zero.”
Eyes wide, she nodded once. “I see.”
“I have connections. I can get you—”
“No. I don’t want—”
“My help. I figured.”
“You think I should take your help?”
“Parker, let’s not do this.” He fisted his shaky hands. He’d had this kind of conversation too many times before. It always signaled the beginning of the end.
She dropped her feet to the floor and leaned forward. “I want to do this. I want to have a conversation with you about finding a job. A real job. Not a hired companion job with no actual responsibility.”
“Yes!”
She flinched.
Levi cringed. “I’m sorry. That is the truth. I don’t want to have this talk with you, but if you want to, knowing I could say things you don’t want to hear, then I have no choice. Yes … I think you should accept my help. Not because we’re sharing a bed, just because it’s smart. In a perfect world, every résumé would stand a chance. But that’s not our world. Your résumé will sit at the bottom of a pile and die. Even if it had twenty years of experience on it. The only way anyone in the industry will even read your name at the top is if someone tells them to read it. Fair? No. Life? Ab-so-fucking-lutely.
“I can’t guarantee you a job. But with no experience, there’s no way anyone will give you an interview even if they looked at your résumé. What I can get you is an interview. Then you’ll have to sell the hell out of yourself. You’ll have to give an Oscar-winn
ing performance and make them see something worthy of taking a chance on. That’s on you. We’re all just looking for a chance to prove ourselves in life. I can’t prove you to anyone, especially since we’re sharing a bed. But I can get you a chance.”
“It would still feel like I’m sleeping my way to the top.”
Levi chuckled. “The top? Newsflash, you wouldn’t be starting at the top. Even if you win the job lottery, it will be an entry-level position fetching coffee for some peon that’s been there two years longer than you. Nobody’s going to put you on live television tomorrow. Experience, that’s what you need.”
“And fetching coffee is what kind of experience?”
“It’s character building.”
Her jaw dropped. “Oh, so I don’t have character?”
“You have the best character. But they don’t know it. They want to see it for themselves. Patience. Hard work. Dedication. Coffee. Cream. Sugar. Pick up said peon’s dry cleaning. Shouldn’t be an issue, you already offered to do it for me.” Levi smirked. He should not have done it, but he found her sexy as hell when she balled her hands and gritted her teeth.
“You’re making fun of me. I see your stupid little smirk!” She stormed out of the room.
Any other man would have gone after her and made amends by lying through his teeth. Levi envied that man. He had no choice but to wait for her to come to him … or leave. That part made him ill to his stomach.
*
Parker spent the rest of the day exploring the Waterfront district, dipping in and out of boutiques for refuge from the relentless heat and grabbing iced cappuccinos at three different café’s over the course of the afternoon. She checked her phone like a baby monitor, but Levi never tried calling or texting her. Day two in Arizona seemed premature for their first fight.
By five she headed back to the condo with no clue what she would say to him. Rags greeted her at the door and so did the aroma of Italian herbs, soft music in the background, and pans clanking in the kitchen.
“You cook?”