Parker Security Complete Series

by Camilla Blake

  The look of relief on his face almost made my heart melt.

  “I am so happy to hear you say that,” he said. “I was so nervous thinking about telling you, but I knew I had to. Thank you for understanding.”

  I went over to him and he wrapped his arms around me. I closed my eyes and pressed my face into his chest, inhaled deeply. I couldn’t really explain what I was feeling, other than it was this sensation of true connection—like we were soul mates, had known each other in previous lives. Yes, yes, I know, a bunch of New Age, quasi-spiritual bullshit, something you’d read on a goddamn teabag, something I would’ve rolled my eyes at or laughed about if I’d heard anyone else say it.

  “I know how silly this is going to sound,” I said, “but I swear, I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. And it honestly kind of freaks me out. But… it’s also something that I feel I need to acknowledge.”

  He gazed into my eyes, and I saw the way his lashes curled at the ends, in a way that my lashes never would. He had such smooth skin. I brought my hand up and touched the side of his face, and he lowered his head toward mine and we kissed. It was one of those long, slow kisses that made you lose all track of time. Lose all track of everything, in fact, except for this incredible feeling, this surge of pure, unadulterated pleasure. He cupped the sides of my face, ran his hands gently down my neck, lightly over my collarbone. I touched his sides, felt his smooth skin stretched tight over sleek muscles, and my mind cleared enough for the momentary thought: How the hell did I end up with a guy like this? This sort of thing just didn’t happen to girls like me. We paused in the kiss so he could pull his shirt off, revealing a sculpted torso, an abdomen as solid as a tabletop. I had never really been one to drool over someone’s physique, but how could I not, in this situation? Now that he was so up-close, right here, underneath my fingertips?

  I felt his hands go to the hem of my shirt, start to lift, but then he stopped and looked me right in the eye. “This okay?” he asked, and I nodded, touched that he would take the time to check in and make sure that things weren’t going too fast. I was trying to exercise restraint, but I felt as though I was overcome with this insatiable need to rip off all my clothes, do the same to him, and jump on top of him. Who was this person? Where the hell were these feelings coming from? But there was nothing I could do to stop them. I wriggled out of my shirt as fast as I could, then reached around and undid my own bra, threw it to the side. I grabbed his hands and put both of them on my breasts, moaned out loud as he squeezed them, played with my nipples. I didn’t care if I sounded stupid, or if I had a foolish look on my face. I felt completely unselfconscious. I was overtaken by the feelings, by the sensations he was giving me, and I would follow that feeling anywhere. Clothes would only serve to get in the way, so it seemed obvious to shed them, now. I did just that, and helped him do the same. I dropped down to my knees, and took him—well, as much of him as I could—into my mouth.

  “You don’t have to—” he started to say, but then his voice got caught in his throat as I took him deeper into mine. He ran his fingers through my hair, tugging lightly. I wrapped my arms around the back of him and squeezed his ass, could tell just from the feel that he had the sort of bubble butt that would make guys and girls alike swoon.

  Giving head had never been something I’d been particularly interested in doing before. Sure, I’d done it, but it had been more out of a feeling that the person was owed, because they’d just gone down on me. It had certainly never been anything I would say that I enjoyed—until now. Right now it seemed like the best thing on the face of the planet. And Shep had no qualms in expressing just how much he was enjoying what I was doing to him. I looked up and saw that his eyes were squeezed shut, his jaw clenched. A groan escaped from his throat, followed by another.

  “Goddammit,” he said. “Holy shit, what are you doing to me—that feels so good.”

  And because he was enjoying it so much, I was able to enjoy it, too. I enjoyed it in a way I never had before, and would’ve happily continued except he eventually pulled me up, picked me up, and carried me into his bedroom.

  “Though I have the most understanding of roommates in the whole world,” he said, “I’d rather not have them walk in on us in the middle of this.”

  He kicked the door shut with his foot and then lightly placed me on the bed, my butt right near the edge. He knelt down and put my legs over his shoulders, his hands on my inner thighs. For a moment, I felt self-conscious—he’d flicked the light on when we’d first come in and now I was lying here on full display. But before that self-consciousness could really take hold, he lowered his face and he pressed his tongue against me, a gentle but firm movement that literally made my breath catch in my throat. He swirled his tongue slowly, up and down, back and forth, and then worked a finger inside of me, all while keeping his tongue in constant motion. I writhed, grabbed the sheets, bit down hard on my lower lip, trying to control the sounds that were coming out of me. My hips rocked and my whole body tingled. He very clearly knew what he was doing and I felt a tidal-wave sensation threatening to overtake my entire awareness.

  My inner thighs were slick and I could feel wetness underneath me. My breath came in short, heavy gasps. He brought me right to the edge. One more stroke, either from his tongue or his fingers, would’ve sent me over, but it was like he knew exactly where I was on the curve of climax and he let up. He slid me back further onto the bed, reached over to his bedside table, and pulled out a condom.

  He slid the condom on and I lay back on the bed, my whole body tingling in anticipation. He stretched himself out over me, kissing my mouth, then gently nipping the soft skin at my throat. I arched my back, trying to align myself with him—the only thing I was aware of now was how badly I wanted him inside of me. Needed him inside of me. I imagined I felt similar to how an addict must feel: that drive, that need for something, only that one specific thing capable of quelling that desire.

  I felt him press against me, and he felt so big, for a second I panicked; I didn’t know how he was going to fit. And if he did, was it going to hurt? But he had made sure I was good and ready, and he went slowly, easing in, rocking his hips, and my body seemed to just open up and take him in. There was no pain at all, just a delicious stretching, the feeling of being filled to capacity. Filled in such a way that I didn’t even know I needed. We both let out a shuddering sigh once he was all the way in; he lay there for a moment and didn’t move. He looked into my eyes, brushed some of the hair off my forehead, and smiled.

  “You are incredible,” he breathed, and then he let his eyes close and he slowly began to move. I moved along with him, rocking my hips in a downward trajectory as he was coming up, maximum penetration. My body seemed to move of its own accord; I could hear myself making sounds that I never thought I’d make. Animal sounds. Wild sounds, like some sort of primal creature. The good feelings kept coming. I raked my fingernails down his back and he shuddered, started to move faster. I held on tight and went along for the ride. I couldn’t describe the feelings even if I wanted to; it was like nothing I’d ever experienced before, not with any guy, ever. Not even close. That my body was even capable of making me feel this good seemed like a miracle, the sort of thing you might want to shout from the rooftops. But instead, I squeezed him, wrapped my legs around him, bit into his shoulder, curled my toes, and let out a shriek that made it sound like I was being murdered, as every ounce of good feeling burst through me. Fireworks exploded across my vision as I felt Shep’s muscles tense, and he pounded into me harder, and then he came, too, and we held on to each other like we were about to get swept out to sea. In a way, it felt like that was exactly what had just happened—we’d gone to the edge and over. And it was a glorious feeling.

  “Holy hell,” he said, rolling off of me.

  “I think something just happened to me,” I said.

  He turned his head without lifting it. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. Better than okay. I just… wow. I don�
��t think I’ve ever felt like that before.”

  A warm, peaceful feeling was settling over me. Not as intense, but just as nice. Shep pulled me close to him, and I nestled in, entwining my limbs with his. I’d never been one for snuggling, but all I wanted was to be close to him. And he certainly didn’t seem to mind.

  The next morning, we got up and had breakfast together. Shep was heading over to the gym to meet with his trainer, so I said goodbye to him and then caught an Uber home to get ready for work. My inner thighs were sore and I felt like I might be walking a little bowlegged, but just thinking about last night put a huge smile on my face.

  I had just finished brushing my teeth when I heard my phone ring. I hurried over to it, thinking that it might be Shep. It wasn’t—it was Jenn. “Hey,” I said.

  “How’s it going?” she asked.

  “I have some news,” I said. I decided I might as well just tell her—I didn’t want to keep things a secret from her. And I just felt too good about everything; it would be nice to share something happy with her.

  “News?” she said. “What? I knew your voice sounded different!”

  “Well… I met someone.”

  She let out a happy squeal, so loud that I had to hold the phone away from my ear until she stopped.

  “Oh, my God—are you serious?” she said. “You’re not just telling me that, right? So I’ll leave you alone?”

  “No, I’m not just telling you this. He’s a real, actual person. And…” I could feel the smile on my lips, the way my cheeks were getting warm. “It’s actually going really well. Way better than I ever would have imagined.”

  “Oh, Lena, I’m so happy for you! Who? Tell me about him! I want all the details.”

  I gave her the CliffsNotes version, leaving out the part where we had slept together. I mean, if she’d asked I wouldn’t have lied, but I also wasn’t going to start discussing what happened in any great detail or anything—I wasn’t one of those women. I had never understood the whole concept of “kiss and tell.” I knew plenty of guys did it—and Shep very well could be one of them—but sex was such an intimate act; why on earth would you want to go and relay every minute detail of it to someone else, after the fact? I didn’t care how good the sex was—I wasn’t going to be dishing on it.

  “Well, I don’t think it needs to be said, but I’ll say it anyway: I can’t wait to meet him! Can I tell Gary? He’s going to be so excited and happy for you. We’ll have to do a double date. We’ll get someone to watch the kids and we’ll go out somewhere nice. Do you think he’d like that?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure that’d be fine. I mean, things are still a little new and everything, so I’m not sure if we’re going to be doing any double dates quite yet, but when we do… that’d be good.”

  She let out another happy squeal. And it did feel good to talk about it with her. We hung up a few minutes later, presumably so she could go tell Gary.

  I finished getting ready and then headed into work. I had a bunch of emails I needed to respond to, as well as a contract to write up. I just needed to focus on my work and get it done; once that had happened, then I could let myself daydream about Shep as much as I wanted. But it was so easy to slip into the daydream! I didn’t even have to close my eyes, and I could easily recall just how it felt to be underneath him, or to have him in my mouth, or to feel his mouth against mine, his hands on my breasts…

  “Hey, Lena, do you have a minute?”

  I jumped at the sound of Drew’s voice. He was standing there in the doorway, a slightly annoyed expression on his face. Had he been standing there for a while or something? Had I really been that caught up in my thoughts that I hadn’t noticed?

  “What? Sorry,” I said. “Sort of lost in thought here. Yeah, I’ve just got to send this email.”

  He nodded. “Why don’t you come down to my office when you’re done with that? There was just something I wanted to speak to you about.”

  I glanced away from the computer screen to look at him. The tone of his voice was hard to read, but it didn’t sound like this was going to be a call-in for a friendly chit-chat.

  “All right,” I said. “I’ll be down there in just a minute.”

  I finished writing the email and hurried down to his office, trying to figure out what it was he wanted to talk to me about. Had I done something? I hated thinking like this, that uncertainty, though I knew I’d find out soon enough what this was all about. But everything was fine, wasn’t it?

  “You want to push the door shut?” Drew asked.

  I gave him a quizzical look but did as he said before I sat down. “An unannounced private meeting, shutting the door… I feel like I’m about to get in trouble. Except I don’t think I did anything wrong.” In fact, I knew that I hadn’t done anything wrong, yet the nervousness was still seeping into me, settling around my consciousness, making me wonder if perhaps I really had screwed something up so badly and just didn’t realize it. I hated doubting myself. I tried to do it as little as possible.

  Drew sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He fiddled with the pen holder. He produced a paperclip seemingly out of thin air and began to bend it. This was odd, because Drew was not a fiddler. He did not get antsy or nervous. He told things like they were. So, the fact that he did seem to be a little fidgety right now and didn’t really want to tell me whatever it was he had called me in here for just compounded my trepidation. What the hell was going on?

  “Everything okay?” I asked. “Because I’m getting a feeling like things are not.”

  “Look, Lena,” he started. “We’re all really happy for you, that you’ve met someone you like. I want you to know that, first and foremost. So what I’m about to say really doesn’t have anything to do with that at all, even though it might sound that way.” He paused. I didn’t say anything because I was having a bit of a hard time believing my ears. He wanted to talk to me about my relationship? What the hell was this? Did they somehow know about last night? How would that be possible, unless someone had slipped some sort of recording device into my purse or something? Which no one here would do. At least I hoped not. “I hope you can understand why this isn’t exactly an easy conversation for me to be having with you. You know me well enough to know that I stay out of my employees’ personal lives, and so long as you’re not doing anything illegal or that is going to reflect poorly on our company, then I’m all for it.”

  “Right,” I said. “So, what am I doing that’s illegal or reflecting poorly on the company?”

  “It’s not what you’re doing,” he said. He finally stopped fidgeting with the pen holder and folded his hands, placing them down on the ink blotter on his desk. “And I’m only telling you this because I think you should know. Remember when you told us Shep’s name? And you said he had a twin brother? Holden Parkington?”

  “Yes.”

  “That name sounded familiar to me then, but I couldn’t place it. It just came to me, though, the other day. He attacked this guy I know, Silas, one night over some girl whom apparently Holden thought was his. Silas was out at the bar and had just been talking with her, nothing serious, but Holden and some of his friends jumped him later when he went out to his car. And while I don’t have irrefutable proof about this, the Parkingtons are rumored to be meth dealers. Unsavory people, to say the least.” He pursed his lips. “There. I just wanted you to know that. I wasn’t sure how much you knew.”

  I exhaled, feeling my shoulders relax. “Actually,” I said, “I already knew all that.”

  Drew couldn’t keep the surprised look from his face. “You did?”

  “Well, not the part about Holden beating up your friend.”

  “He was the brother of a friend of mine. Well, more like an acquaintance, but I remember when it happened. It was some time ago now, but it was pretty bad, Lena. He was in a coma for two days. He went after him with a tire iron.”

  “Your friend never pressed charges?”

  “Oh, he did. He didn’t want to because h
e was afraid of repercussions, but he did. Unfortunately, the Parkingtons seem to have some ties with some corrupt law enforcement, so he got off on probation. And this was years ago, too. But regardless, I doubt that he’s changed his ways. It takes a special sort of person to go after someone with a crowbar like that. And I mean, not to get all paternal on you or anything, but it’s not really someone that I’d want you hanging out with. Not that I don’t think you can take care of yourself,” he added quickly.

  “He seemed all right when I met him,” I said, though Holden did have that certain look in his eye that Shep did not—the look of someone who was capable of doing something really crazy. I could certainly see him going after someone with a crowbar, or a machete, or a hair dryer, for that matter. But what was I supposed to do? Break up with Shep because his brother was unhinged?

  “So, you knew this already? About what the Parkingtons were into?” Drew asked, the surprised look still on his face.

  “Yes. Because Shep told me. He wanted to be upfront about it, and I appreciated his candor. As I appreciate yours now, because I know that you’re just looking out for me. But Shep isn’t involved in that stuff the way his family is. He doesn’t live on their compound; he doesn’t have anything to do with any of that.”

  Drew gave me a skeptical look. “You sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure. I wouldn’t be going out with someone who was manufacturing meth. You know that, Drew. I’m definitely not into that sort of thing. But I can promise you, I know for a fact that Shep doesn’t have anything to do with it. He lives in the city; he works at a bar; he focuses on training for fights. You know, professional fights, like the ones George has. Not some back-alley street brawls or anything. He’s an upstanding guy, actually. I wouldn’t get involved with someone who wasn’t.”