by A. C. Arthur
“I don’t know about all that,” he said with a shake of his head.
His hair was cropped low, neatly shaped up, just like his goatee. This man was practically dripping with swagger. He was finer than any man should be, kissed better than Adriana had ever imagined being kissed and was exactly what she’d convinced herself to steer clear of. Suddenly her hands were shaking, her idea of coming here to tell him first threatening to be a big mistake.
“Look, I don’t want to hold you up, so I’ll just say this and get out of your way.” She cleared her throat. “Jaydon just told me that Thad Vestinosiv wants me to star in his next movie. They’re sending the script to my apartment and I just need to get there to pick it up and start reading it and then I can let her know if I want to fly to Paris to read for the part. So again, thank you for giving me the opportunity, I really appreciate it and I’m having a great time on the show. I’m really excited about this opportunity. It’s what I’ve always wanted. And thank you again, Parker.”
Before she could stop herself or replay all the reasons why she definitely should have stopped herself, Adriana was across the room, throwing her arms around Parker and hugging him tight. The words had come from her in a rush, building as she came closer to the end like an engine that had been gathering up steam. She’d felt as if she were going to burst if she didn’t get it all out, saying it aloud for the first time making it somehow more official. And then he’d been there, looking so fine and so…this was crazy. She tried to pull away.
“You don’t need to thank me, Adriana,” Parker was saying as he’d wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her tight against him. “This was all you. From the first moment I saw you, I knew it was you.”
She didn’t know what to do with her hands. At first they’d been flat on his back, but when she’d attempted to pull away, she’d stopped touching him. Only they were still touching. Her body was pressed closely to his and warmth poured through her body like somewhere, somehow a damn had finally broken. She shivered with that realization.
“Parker,” his name escaped in a breathy whisper.
He pulled back only slightly, still holding her against him but now looking into her eyes. She’d looked into his, blinked and then looked at his lips.
“You’re going to be wonderful in that movie, just like you are in Indiscretions and I’m going to be in the front row watching you at the premiere,” he said.
She couldn’t stop staring, watching intently as his lips moved, her body trembling at the deep timbre of his voice.
“I…ah…thank you,” she managed finally, her voice still too low, too soft. But her gaze, finally rising to his eyes once more. They were darker, like smoke.
“Don’t say that again,” he told her. “You don’t owe me any thanks.”
She didn’t owe anyone and she shouldn’t feel guilty. Those words rolled around in her mind right alongside his. “I want to…I mean, I want you to know that I appreciate you taking a chance on me,” she whispered.
“I would do it again, and again, Adriana. I would, ah hell, if I don’t kiss you…”
He didn’t have to finish that thought and Adriana didn’t have to listen to the warring words in her mind. She wrapped her arms around him once more, her hands going to the back of his neck this time. Adriana only had to tilt her head upward and Parker was lowering his lips to hers. Heat soared quickly, potently through her body, hitting every targeted spot—her nipples, her clit, the back of her throat because she felt like she would die of thirst if she didn’t finally quench the need he’d birthed inside her.
His hands were everywhere, gripping her ass, rising up her back, cupping her neck, and then sliding down her bare arms until he was cupping her bottom once more. The kiss was deep and hungry, all tongues and moans, sucking and hissing. Her hands moved over the back of his head, over the smoothness of the closer-cut portion of his hair, down to the hard line of his shoulders where she squeezed tightly as the frenzy grew deep in the pit of her stomach.
“I cannot…stop thinking…about you…” he spoke in jagged spurts, between kissing and licking along her jawline, down the length of her neck.
She arched in his arms, gasping when he hiked one of her legs up, locking it around his waist. He was kissing down her chest now, the heat of his tongue stroking the skin between her breasts, as if she’d worn the halter top dress specifically for this purpose. She gripped his head tighter, held him in that spot, grinding her center against him like some wanton hussy. When her eyes fluttered open and she saw the white of the ceiling, she also saw another time when she’d been looking up, praying, hoping…
“Adriana,” his voice cut right through that memory, pulling her successfully back into the present and her heart beat wildly with relief.
He’d moved too, turning and lifting her until they were now lying on that couch, the one she’d looked at the minute she walked into his office. He was on top of her, pushing the billowing folds of her dress up, so his fingers could scrape along her bared legs.
“You’re killing me,” he groaned when he cupped the bare cheek of her ass, his fingers splaying until the second she knew he felt the ban of her thong. He moaned again. “Dammit! You walk around like this all day.”
“I…what?” She was panting as he thrust between her legs, the thick length of his erection pressing through his pants, sending spikes of intense pleasure straight to her clit with a pulsating that she swore echoed throughout the room.
“I want to rip this dress and this…whatever this little piece of nothing is, off you right now! I want to be inside of you, buried so deep.”
“Parker,” was all Adriana could say because damn she wanted the same thing.
He was so hard, her hands moving feverishly over him, from his shoulders, down his back, to the way she could feel his ass dimple when he thrust into her. Yes, she wanted him. She wanted Parker Donovan buried deep inside her, taking her to another place, a great place that could quite possibly make her forget everything else. Everything in her past.
Or not.
It was the “or not” that had her going still, the rapid beating of her heart attributed more to the fear, the worry and eventually the guilt.
“Stop,” she said quietly at first and then with more force, “Parker, please stop!”
Chapter 6
He stopped.
Like he was about to run smack into a concrete wall, Parker pulled back. He moved off of her, brushing his hands down the front of his shirt and straightening his tie.
“I apologize,” he said before clearing his throat. “I don’t normally have women on the couch in my office. That was a little out of control.”
A grave understatement, he thought, looking over to see her pulling her legs closed and turning so that she was now sitting up on the couch. He wanted to curse but instead clenched his teeth and flexed his fingers because hell, he still wanted to touch her. She’d felt so soft, so willing, so right in his arms, against his touch. The moment she’d wrapped her arms around him his mind had taken off. The kisses from last night came flooding back, the illicit dreams he’d been having about her, were suddenly brought to life. He’d had to kiss her again and then when he had, it was all about touching and the intense punch of lust that had soared through his body and mind from that point on.
Dammit! He was going to take her right here in his office, on his Italian leather couch, with at least sixty of his employees just outside his door. He dragged a hand down his face, taking a deep breath.
“I’m really sorry,” he told her again, this time reaching out to touch her shoulder.
She moved, just slightly, so that his hands slipped off of her slowly. Shaking her head she took a deep breath and smoothed her hair back from her face. It was hanging free today, falling down her back and around her bare shoulders. Parker swallowed, resisting the urge to lean over and kiss her right there, on her shoulder blade.
“I just wanted to tell you my good news. I didn’t mean to…” She
shook her head.
“No. I know you didn’t mean to. And I didn’t either.” Parker sighed, hating that he felt like an ass for wanting this exceptional woman in his bed. He also hated that his family’s disapproving gazes from earlier in the monthly meeting, were now flashing before his eyes, like the ultimate warning.
“Look, its wonderful news and I’m really happy for you. So,” he said standing and brushing off the unnerving feelings and thoughts rushing through him at the moment. “Let’s celebrate. I’ll take you out for a fabulous dinner, possibly some dancing afterwards and maybe I can do something to prove to you that I’m not an inconsiderate, horny jerk.”
When she looked up at him and smiled before saying, “I never called you a jerk,” Parker knew he was in real trouble.
He not only wanted her in his bed, but he wanted that smile—the one she’d just given him, that one that cast a golden light in her dark brown eyes and soared like a blazing arrow landing with astonishing accuracy to the center of his heart—for himself. Every morning when he awoke he wanted to see that smile staring back at him. At night after a long day’s work, he wanted that smile to greet him the moment he arrived home. He actually trembled with that thought. He, Parker Donovan, had trembled for a woman.
“Okay,” he said, extending his hand to her. “Let me show you what kind of guy I really am, before you start considering that I may be just another jerk trying to get you into his bed.”
She looked at his hand for a moment, as if she were either studying it for more defects, or seriously contemplating the idea of going with him. He didn’t like it either way. So Parker did something else he’d never done for another woman in his life, he stooped down in front of her, letting his hands rest on his thighs as he looked at her.
“I won’t lie to you, Adriana, I’m extremely attracted to you and the moment you say the word, probably before you get the word entirely out, I’m going to take you to bed and make slow, sweet love to you.”
She sucked in a breath and he hurried to continue.
“But not until you say so. Never without you being perfectly clear on what you want. I think there’s something here,” he continued. “Something very strong between us and I’ll be completely honest with you by saying I’m ready to act on it. Damn, I’m so ready to act on it. But I understand if you may not be ready, if you want to think about it more, or if you need me to stand on my head or jump from a mountaintop before you believe how serious I am about this thing, about me and you.”
She laughed then. That perfect Adriana laugh that was throaty and addictive. He smiled and gave into the urge, reaching out to touch the soft strands of her hair, watching as those silky tendrils sifted through his fingers.
“No mountaintops,” she told him. “I’m afraid of heights.”
#
“I’m a businessman by day and a sport’s fanatic by night,” Parker said to Adriana as he returned to the living room where he’d left her to answer the door. “I am not a cook and I don’t even try to fake it.”
“Your honesty is admirable,” she replied, standing up to take the bag he’d been holding under his arm while his hands were full with two huge pizza boxes.
“’A man’s strength is in his integrity.’” he quoted. “That’s what my dad always says.”
“Your father’s a very smart man,” she said and reached into the bag taking out the napkins, paper plates and the two large Caesar salads he’d ordered.
On the glass coffee table that usually held some insanely expensive vase with a silver and black design that matched the rug and the lamps, he opened both boxes of pizza and inhaled the glorious smell of melted cheese and an array of meat toppings. The vase was on the floor beside the couch, a fact that would probably drive his decorator to drink and his mother insane.
“This salad looks great,” Adriana was saying.
He took the one she handed him, looked at it and agreed. “But the pizza smells awesome. My favorite is the meat lovers because I’m a die-hard carnivore. I also ordered a traditional pepperoni just in case you’d like to take this slow.”
She spared them a quick glance, then proceeded to open the salad box. “I’ll just have this first.”
For all that Parker was the laid back and casual Donovan, he was also damned observant.
“Okay, I’ll make a deal with you,” he said leaning forward to refill their wine glasses. “We both have a slice of pizza and then we eat these salads that are so tantalizingly healthy.”
He hadn’t looked back at her, but proceeded to take two of the paper plates, putting a slice of the pepperoni on a plate for her and the meat lovers on a plate for him. Sitting back he extended the plate to her, saying, “Deal?”
Her fingers tightened on the salad container as she looked at the pizza then up at him.
“It will be delicious, I promise. And then I’ll eat that entire salad. We’ll eat them together and maybe watch a movie. I’ll even succumb to one of those girlie movies. I have a few only because Regan thinks it’s funny to keep bringing them over here and mixing them in with my DVD collection. She’s annoying like that. I’ll bet your siblings annoy you sometimes too.”
She’d taken the plate from him while he’d been talking and Parker didn’t miss a beat, but immediately lifted his slice to his mouth for a bite. He was chewing when she said, “Renny was the worst. He had this thing for snakes when we were young and he’d put them everywhere. One time Gabriella, she’s the youngest, and I had just come from the pool. We were dripping wet and laughing about something as we came into the kitchen to get a drink. We both went to the fridge at the same time. Gabriella opened the door and two long and extremely disgusting snakes fell from the top of the refrigerator onto the floor. We screamed and ran through the entire house because every room we went into there was another snake and another one until finally we headed for the front door where Renny was rolling on the floor laughing.”
Parker laughed, then tried to stifle his amusement, when he saw her cutting her eyes over at him. “That sounds cool. I mean, cruel,” he said unable to keep from laughing out loud again.
“Yes, I’m sure that’s exactly what you meant,” she said with a shake of her head.
“But seriously,” he said even though he was still smiling. “I wanted an alligator when I was thirteen but my mother forbade it. Regan looked like she was going to faint when I asked that day at the dinner table which made me want it all the more.” He chuckled again, taking a quick glance at her to see she was chewing her first bite of the pizza.
“My mom’s from Brazil. She’s visited the Amazon rainforest more times than I can count and I don’t think there’s one animal there that she’s afraid of. So Renny was encouraged to care for his animals. I think mom thought he might one day become a veterinarian,” she continued before taking another bite.
Parker smiled inwardly. “But he didn’t. He’s the sculptor right? I think Savian bought a couple of his pieces over the holidays when he was in New York. He gets a kick out of going to all the art galleries and listening to classical music and all that kind of stuff. Me, I’d rather go to an amusement park and ride the roller coasters, or skiing, I love skiing in the winter.”
She nodded, finishing off another bite. “Alex and his girlfriend Monica, were stranded by a blizzard at a ski resort one New Year’s Eve. That’s how they hooked up.”
“Really? I guess that’s the next best thing to skiing in the winter.”
She smiled again as Parker finished off his slice. He was just about to reach for another one when she cleared her throat.
“Ah, I think the salad is up next,” she told him.
He looked back at her plate, surprised to see she only had another two bites left before she would be finished. She had a healthy appetite. He’d seen that last night, but he’d also seen how she always contemplated the choice of whether or not to eat. That concerned him, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. He’d also assumed the rum from the mojito the other night ha
d bothered her in some way, so he’d opted for a bottle of wine for tonight.
“Sure, let’s do the salad next.”
“If you’re not a cook, do you just order takeout all the time?” she asked after they’d had a couple bites of their salad.
Parker shook his head. “Don’t think I’m any less than the macho man you’ve been privy to seeing all this time, but my mom cooks like she’s feeding an army on Sundays. We usually go over to my parents’ house or to my aunt and uncles after church for dinner. Either way my mother cooks and she packs up the food and sends it home with me. I usually have more than enough for the week.”
“Are you kidding?” she asked him with humor in her tone. “You’re a thirty-year old man. You run a multi-million dollar television network and you drive a boss-ass Porsche, but your mother still cooks for you.”
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a mother wanting her son to eat healthy meals. She figures that since I’m taking my time finding a wife she has to continue to take care of me.”
“But you had a wife,” she replied quickly. “You were married to Jaydon and she’s beautiful and confident and smart. Why on earth would you let her go?”
The lightness of the conversation shifted quickly. Parker had decided to bring Adriana to his place to celebrate her good news, rather than going to a fancy restaurant because she’d said she wasn’t up to the paparazzi that sometimes found her when she was out in public. He’d been able to relate to that because as a Donovan in the media business, he and his Miami family had shared in the same type of trepidation from time to time. He hadn’t taken her into the kitchen because the last time a woman had been in there with him, it had been Jaydon when she’d stopped by to tell him that she wanted her back.
Now, they were talking about his ex-wife, and Parker was uncomfortable. He was extremely uncomfortable.