“If you’re not going to just enjoy it, I’ve only got one option for you,” Cori said.
“What? I’ll do anything.”
Cori held up the tray. “Lots of shots.”
* * *
Of course he’s falling for her,” Noah said, pulling the cards out of the game box. “I think we were all already half in love just from what Rudy told us about them before they ever got to town.”
Evan laughed. “Yeah, except I think Rudy thought we’d pair up differently. He thought Ava and I would be good for each other, and that Brynn could be the sweetness Parker needs, and that Cori could make you have some fun.”
Noah looked up. “I’d say it’s all working out pretty well as is.”
Evan nodded. He was sitting back in his chair, his beer bottle cradled in one hand, the picture of nonchalance. But he was watching his friend carefully. “Me too. Obviously. Of course, there’s the little issue of Brynn needing to date five more guys before this is all over.”
Noah frowned. “Six guys. She’s supposed to date six guys before it’s over.”
“Then you’re sticking with the assertion that the time you spend together doesn’t count as dating?” Evan asked. “You’re not guy number one?”
Noah shook his head and started shuffling the cards. “We’re not dating.”
“Right. You just spend all your free time together, socialize together, don’t socialize with anyone else, scowl at any guy who tries to talk to her for more than five minutes, and stare at her like a love-sick puppy dog whenever she’s not looking. And sometimes when she is looking,” Evan said.
Noah didn’t actually refute any of that. He just said, “We’re friends. I’m getting to know her so that I know which guys I should set her up with.” But he didn’t make eye contact as he said it. He was very busy shuffling the cards that said things like a funeral and Denzel Washington and smelly. And that basically didn’t need shuffling.
“What about the love-sick puppy dog thing?” Evan asked, clearly not willing to let Noah just ignore that part.
“Every guy who meets her looks at her that way,” Noah said, lifting a shoulder as if it was no big deal. “Every guy looks at Cori that way too, in case you haven’t noticed.”
“I’ve totally noticed,” Evan said. “Which is why I make it crystal clear that she’s taken. Kind of like what you’re doing with Brynn.”
“That’s not what I’m doing.”
But there wasn’t a guy in Bliss who dared do more than smile at Brynn and hold doors for her and ask her how she was. Because Noah was big, and he was an ex-Marine, and he’d made it clear, albeit nonverbally, that Brynn was his. Even if he hadn’t exactly meant to.
“You haven’t set her up with one single date yet,” Evan said. “How long does getting to know her take?”
“We don’t all think we know everything important about someone after just a few days,” Noah said, obviously referring to how quickly Evan and Cori had bonded.
Evan shrugged. “Well, it’s only taken Parker about four months with Ava. How come you’re still getting to know Brynn?”
“Parker knew a lot about Ava from Rudy,” Noah pointed out.
“You didn’t know a lot about Brynn from Rudy?” Evan asked.
Noah’s frown darkened. “Rudy didn’t know Brynn very well.” The look on Noah’s face was one of protectiveness and almost anger. Considering Noah had been as close to Rudy as Evan and Parker had, the anger was interesting.
Evan obviously read the situation. It was better not to provoke the big guy who made a living taking things apart with tools that Evan and Parker had never even heard of. “So you think Parker is pretty much screwed?” Evan asked. “I mean, the second I kissed Cori, I was a goner. I didn’t know it, but there was no coming back from that.”
“Yeah, I think he is,” Noah said arranging the game cards for the third time.
“I wonder how long it will be before he realizes it,” Evan said.
“Well, you needed us to tell you that your mini-panic attack and indecision about having sex with Cori was because you were in love with her,” Noah reminded him.
Evan nodded. “So should we just tell him?”
“You mean before he asks us?” Noah asked.
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know. He’s not very good about taking advice,” Noah said.
“That’s because I know better than either of you about most things,” Parker said dryly, finally inputting into the conversation. He was seated across from Noah, even if it seemed that he wasn’t even in the room. He had a beer in his hand too and was half listening to his two best friends run their mouths.
He was also half listening for Ava’s voice and footsteps.
Which meant his friends were absolutely right. He was screwed. But he already knew it, so he was still ahead of these two.
Evan hadn’t realized his feelings for Cori went beyond lust and friendship until Parker and Noah—and Hank—had helped him see it. And Noah was still sitting there holding bright red and green playing cards, getting ready for another game night, after stitching cushions and painting walls and arranging tartlet pans full of pie-scented wax crumbles on the tables at the pie shop, and thinking that he and Brynn were just friends. Noah hadn’t even known what a tartlet was before Brynn had come to town. And none of the guys had heard of wax crumbles, scented or otherwise. Noah was in deep. But the guy was mentally tough. Clearly. His denial was almost as strong as his feelings for the sweet, nerdy triplet.
So yeah, Parker was aware of his feelings for Ava. He knew that things had gotten complicated. Somehow, in the midst of avocados and cinnamon, he’d developed feelings for her.
Actually, the feelings had probably started somewhere in the midst of her throwing him out of her kitchen on the very first day, and the way she’d stomped into his kitchen the next day demanding to know the difference between whisking and beating.
Okay, actually, it had probably started somewhere between Rudy telling him about Ava organizing Rudy’s assistant’s desk on her first Take Your Daughter to Work Day when she was twelve, and his story about Ava asking for a briefcase for her fourteenth birthday.
And it had gotten official when she told him she’d been taste-testing cinnamon and nutmeg and reading about apples. The colored tabs on her pie filling report hadn’t hurt either.
The door to the kitchen swung open just then, and Cori emerged with a tray full of shot glasses.
Parker gave her a big grin as he saw the cinnamon sticks poking out of the glasses. Cori could plan a party in thirty seconds. She loved a theme, so when he’d suggested game night, said “What about Apples to Apples?” and requested apple pie shots as the drink, Cori had nearly swooned. She’d taken over organizing game nights ever since the first one, when Ava had rolled out beer and chips and dip with poker. It had been fine, of course, but Cori couldn’t tolerate boring or “typical”. Which meant even Apples to Apples was going to have a twist or two.
If nothing else, there was no way Ava was going to sit across from him and ignore him. If he had to make pie jokes and insert the word “apple” into every other sentence all night, he was going to have her attention.
Which was just one more indication that he’d gone around the bend. He was perfectly content without attention. He’d certainly never worked for a woman’s attention before. He hadn’t really had to, he supposed. But he’d also never met a woman who was as complex as Ava Carmichael.
He should really settle down with a Bliss girl. They were mostly sweet and uncomplicated, and at least eight out of ten of them could bake a fucking pie.
“Where’s Brynn?” Noah asked.
Evan smirked, as though he’d just been waiting for Noah to ask.
“She’s Skyping with Jeffrey,” Cori said. Jeffrey was one of Brynn’s lab assistants and was the guy keeping things going in her absence.
Noah frowned. “How long have they been on?”
Parker just shook his head. Noah
was jealous of some scientist geek from New York who was talking about microbes with Brynn via Skype. Yeah, he was going to handle her dating experiment really well.
“About an hour?” Cori said. Then she got a sly look in her eye and added, “All I heard was giggling when I went by.”
Noah got to his feet and started for the stairs. Cori burst into laughter as his foot hit the bottom step. “I’m kidding,” she called after him. “Brynn doesn’t giggle.”
“Yeah, she does,” Noah shot back and stomped up the stairs.
Evan, Parker, and Cori all shared wide-eyed looks.
“Damn,” Cori said.
“What?” Evan asked, reaching out and pulling her into his lap. “You like guys who get all possessive and growly?”
She wrapped an arm around his neck. “Well, yeah. Duh. All girls like that. At least within reason.”
“I can be possessive and growly,” Evan told her, pinching her ass.
She kissed him and then said, “Can you get some tattoos too?”
Evan arched a brow. “You like Noah’s tattoos?”
“Uh, I might be in love with you, Mr. Stone, but I’m not dead.”
“Is that a yes?” he asked, getting a little growly even as they sat there.
“All girls like Noah’s tattoos.”
“Is that right?” Parker asked. Did that include Ava?
“Even Ava,” Cori said with a nod, as if reading his mind.
Parker felt a little growly himself suddenly.
The kitchen door swung out again, and the hot, long-legged blonde who emerged this time was the one that he’d like to pinch on the ass.
11
Ava was carrying a martini glass with a creamy brown liquid in it—a chocolate martini, Parker knew—and he got the message loud and clear. She wasn’t drinking his fucking apple pie shots.
Yeah, well, that was too subtle anyway. If Noah could stomp up the stairs because Brynn was Skyping with some guy, then he could absolutely do what he was about to do.
He might end up carrying his balls home in a to-go bag, but it was worth the risk.
Because the thing was…he might owe her an apology.
Ava wasn’t the type to run and hide, and the fact that he hadn’t seen her in three days wasn’t just making him itchy in a place he couldn’t seem to scratch, but it worried him.
“Hey, Boss,” he greeted, still sitting back in his chair, just watching her.
“Hi, Parker,” she said. “Evan.”
“Hey, Ava,” Evan said. He cast a glance at Parker. “So, our theme tonight is apples, huh?”
Parker rolled his eyes. Yes, it had been his idea, and yeah, the theme was on the nose—at least for him and Ava—but Evan couldn’t be content to just let it be. He had to point it out.
“I guess so.” She sipped from her martini glass, making her point subtly. Okay, so she didn’t feel more fond of apples now. That was…not okay.
Parker got to his feet. “Since Brynn and Noah aren’t down here yet, can we talk for a second?” he asked Ava.
She met his gaze directly. He realized he should have expected nothing less. “I don’t think we need to talk,” she said.
“Then I’ll talk.”
“I’d rather just get going on the game. I have work to do tonight.”
Her tone was don’t push me, but now she wasn’t meeting his eyes, and Parker simply couldn’t not push. That was the problem. Now that he knew how she looked and sounded when she came, now that he couldn’t look at a stick of butter without getting hard, now that he’d seen her pitch eggs against the wall because she’d discovered that she liked breaking things, he was, most definitely, going to push her.
He moved around the table. “Boss, I really hate to do this.”
“Do what?”
He took her glass from her, tipped it back, swallowing the rest of the contents—and hopefully clearly making the point that he didn’t really fucking care what she was drinking, it wasn’t making this go away—and set the glass on the table. Then he bent, lifted her over his shoulder, and headed out of the dining room, through the living room, and into the room she’d commandeered for her office.
He was, however, impressed that she didn’t even yell as he carried her through the house.
He kicked the door shut behind him, deposited her on the floor, and then, without stepping back even an inch, looked down at her.
“Parker, I—”
“I just want to say I’m sorry.”
That clearly surprised her. She stopped, and a crease appeared between her eyebrows. “You’re sorry? For what?”
“I wanted to make it so that you smile when you walked into the pie shop kitchen. If that’s not what turned out, I’m sorry.”
Her mouth fell open and she stared up at him.
He didn’t resist the urge to tuck her hair behind her ear. “I realize it got a little intense and deep. It was supposed to be fun and silly and hot. I should stop trying to predict how things will go when we’re together because it never turns out that way. But anyway, I hate that you’ve been avoiding the shop and me. I’m sorry.”
She snapped her mouth shut, opened it again, then shut it again. She frowned. She took a deep breath. Then she blew the breath out and said, “Well, you’re right that I’ve been avoiding the shop, but that’s not why. I walk into the pie shop kitchen now, and my heart pounds and my nipples tingle and my panties get wet.”
Her words took a bit to sink in. But when they did, he crowded close, his gaze burning into hers. “Is that right?”
“It is.”
“And that’s why you stayed home?”
She swallowed. “Yeah.”
“You don’t like tingling nipples?”
“Not when I’m supposed to be doing other things.”
“You couldn’t do other things?”
“I could. Technically. But…I didn’t want to.”
Damn. He blew out a breath.
“What?” she asked, studying his expression.
“I just know how much you like to do other things.”
She shrugged. “Yeah. I do. Usually.”
“So you hid out instead of coming over?” He moved a little closer. There wasn’t much air between them anyway, but he needed to be in her personal space. Completely. “I’m very happy to help with tingling nipples. And wet panties.”
Now she blew out the breath. “Yeah, I hid out.”
“You don’t seem like the type.”
“I’m not.”
He really liked that confession. His lifted a hand to her cheek. “I burned garlic bread today and left the cream out last night so it was ruined.”
Her mouth lifted on one corner. “You don’t seem the type.”
“I’m not.”
She shook her head, her tiny smile dying. “I don’t like being discombobulated. At all. Not even a little.”
“And you don’t feel that here at the house?” Because he sure as hell was thinking about her everywhere he went.
“No. I mean, I was still a little distracted, but I didn’t think of you every time I took a deep breath.”
He really liked that every breath at the shop made her think of him. But he wasn’t so sure he liked that she could get him out of her mind when he could still conjure the taste, smell, and feel of her even in the center of Main Street in the middle of the day.
“Huh.” He started backing her up until her butt hit the edge of her desk. He cupped her face and then leaned in and kissed her. It started sweet and soft, but that only lasted a few seconds. They both opened their mouths at the same time, their tongues tangled, and like a spark to dry kindling, every molecule between them seemed to ignite.
But after a few seconds, she put her hands on his chest and pushed. “Whoa. I know what you’re doing.”
“Kissing you.”
“And trying to make it so I think of you here too.”
“Yep.” Damn right, even.
“Parker,” she said softly. “I
…need…space. Breathing room. Some ability to do something productive over the next eight or whatever months.” She looked almost pleading as she grabbed his forearm and squeezed. “I can’t be mooning around and distracted and thinking about the cute boy next door to the point that I can’t be…me.”
Okay, whoa. If he’d been expecting her to get all snotty and frosty and haughty—and he had been—she’d just swiped the rug right out from under him. This kept happening. Every time he thought he knew her, thought he knew what to do, how to handle her, she did…this. She became real and vulnerable and…amazing.
“You don’t think you can be you and have tingling nipples at the same time?” he asked, trying not to let on that he felt like there was a vise around his chest. He wanted her. So fucking badly. And it had nothing to do with the black three-inch heels she was wearing. Well, maybe it had a little to do with those. He knew those made her feel confident and kick-ass. He also knew she didn’t sleep in them. Well, he was ninety-six percent sure that she didn’t sleep in them. Which meant, she’d needed to feel kick-ass tonight, in her own house, playing board games with her friends.
Because of him.
Fuck.
“I’m definitely not used to having tingling nipples just because a guy smiles at me a certain way.”
His entire body tightened with her admission this was all new for her. And the idea that he affected her like this. “I would give up my favorite kettle for a chance to bend you over this desk right now,” he told her.
That startled a laugh out of her. “Wow, that’s something.”
“You have no idea.” He took a breath. “But I hear you. I fucking love that I’m getting to you, because, Boss, you have absolutely gotten to me. But I hear you. So— ” He went on as she started to respond. “Even though it might kill me, I’m not going to do anything with your nipples or panties. Right now. In here. But you have to pick a room in this house—I don’t care if it’s the laundry room or the basement storage closet or the attic—but I am going to kiss you again before I leave tonight.”
She wet her lips, her cheeks slightly flushed. “And will my nipples and panties be involved?”
High Heels and Haystacks: Billionaires in Blue Jeans, book two Page 16