Skin Deep

by Daniels, A. J.

  “Is this seat taken?”

  She looks up into a set of the most gorgeous blue eyes she’s ever seen. Recognition dawns when she realizes those same eyes stared back at her across the bathroom stall at Gotcha’s night club.

  “N-No,” she stammers.

  When he sits down she takes that opportunity to look at him in the light of day, without the strobe lights.

  He’s wearing jeans similar to what he wore that night. Her mouth waters at the memory of him bent at the bar and the perfect way those jeans hugged his ass. Then the feel of him inside of her later that night. The guy looks like he’s built of solid muscle.

  Her eyes take their time roaming up the solid expanse of his chest, noticing the way his black T-shirt pulls tightly across his shoulders and exposes his arms.

  Those arms look like they’re made to give the most amazing hugs. You know, those hugs that make you instantly feel safe. Like nothing in the world could touch you as long as you stay curled up in them.

  When she is finally able to draw her gaze away from lusting over the man’s arms, his lips are tugged up on one side, and amusement dances behind his eyes.

  “Parker,” he sticks his hand out for her to shake.

  “Danielle or Dani. My friends call me Dani.” She didn’t mean for all of that to spill out but she couldn’t help it. The man makes her nervous, and when she’s nervous she either completely stops talking or she spews verbal diarrhea.

  There’s no happy medium for her. She wishes there were. If he notices he doesn’t let on. He just smiles at her, then his eyes move down to the glass of whiskey she’s playing with.

  “Do you plan on drinking that or just playing with the glass?” He quips.

  She sighs. “I haven’t decided yet.”

  “What’s there to decide?” He raises an eyebrow.

  “I had a shit day. If I drink it, I may not stop at just one.”

  “So why order it?”

  She looks over at him and into his blue eyes. For some reason she feels like she could tell him the truth. Which is weird, right? Not only did she just meet him a couple of days ago but she fucked him in the bathroom stall at a club, didn’t ask his name, and now here he was, looking all sexy and shit.

  “Out of habit, I guess.”

  “Ah well tell you what. If you have just that one drink. I’ll make it my personal mission to make sure you don’t have any more while we sit here.”

  “That easy, huh?” She grins.

  “Yep. And I’ll even tell you a lame pickup line I heard today.” He lifts his shoulders in a shrug. “It might make you laugh.”

  “Pretty sure of yourself,” she says, amused.

  “There’s one condition though.” He leans his elbows on the bar looking over at her.

  “And what’s that?”

  “If it does make you laugh, then you go out to dinner with me Friday night.”

  “And if it doesn’t?”

  “Then you go out to dinner with me Friday night.”

  She giggles. “Oh, I don’t know. Those are some pretty tough conditions. You sure you can handle it?”

  He beams. “Those are the conditions.”

  “All right, let’s hear it.”

  He leans in closer to her, whispering in her ear. She tries to ignore how good he smells, but it’s useless. It’s intoxicating, like spent gunpowder and worn leather; it’s pure man. It should be illegal, just how good he smells.

  “Were you forged by Sauron? ’Cause, baby, you’re precious.”

  She throws her head back and laughs. It’s the only way she can think of to move away from him and not make it look awkward. But, seriously, she could bury her nose in the crook of his neck and just inhale his masculine scent all day along.

  “Did you just use a Lord of the Rings pickup line?”

  “Sure did.” He grins.

  “That’s impressive.”

  He laughs. “You should’ve seen my face when the old lady at the coffee shop said it to me this morning. I think my jaw hit the floor.”

  She laughs, and it’s a good belly laugh. One she hasn’t experienced in a very long time. It feels good.

  “I think I earned my date, right?”

  She shakes her head, but there’s a smile on her face, “You did. Give me your phone.”

  She extends her hand toward him with her palm up. He obliges, placing his iPhone in her waiting grasp. When she’s done entering her information she gives it back to him, stands up, and gathers her coat from the back of the bar stool, along with her purse.

  Before making a hasty exit, she briefly turns back to him. “It was nice meeting you, Parker. You made the rest of my day seem not so bad after all.”

  Before he can manage to get a reply out, she’s already walking out the door. Her drink is still sitting on the bar, untouched and forgotten.

  She grins when her phone pings with a new message.

  Parker: Glad I could help. I’ll pick you up at 6 p.m.

  …

  Tonight couldn’t have come any faster. It’s only been three days since Parker saw Danielle at the pub, and she’d agreed to dinner with him. Three days that seemed to drag on.

  He hated lying to the guys about having to work late tonight but he didn’t want to tell them about her yet. He wanted her to himself for a bit.

  She was different from all the other women he’d introduced to them. None of his relationships, if you could call them that, lasted more than a weekend. He liked the freedom of not being tied down. But one look into those eyes and he already knew he was going to be out his element with this woman.

  She opens her condo door, and a corner of her mouth quirks up in a smile when she sees him.

  “Hi! How’d you get in the building?”

  “Somebody was leaving as I was walking up. I saw your name and condo number on the buzzer.” He shrugs his shoulders, returning her smile.

  “Well, do you want to come in? Nic and Jess aren’t home. I just have to grab my purse and keys.” She steps back and opens the door wider but doesn’t wait around for his decision before she turns away and walks towards what he assumes must be her bedroom.

  Her place doesn’t look at all like what he would’ve pictured a woman’s place to look like. Except for the throw blanket strewn across the back of the couch and the two colorful pillows, the furniture is all clean, sleek lines, and all the same black color—the kind of furniture you’d find in a modern furniture store.

  His gaze lands on the 70-inch TV attached to the wall and trails down to the entertainment centre where he can make out a PS4, an X-Box One, and multiple pairs of 3D glasses.

  He may have just found the woman of his dreams.

  When she walks back out of her bedroom in those tight as fuck skinny jeans and black heels, it’s all he can do to not say fuck it and suggest they stay here and order in.

  On the one hand he’s excited to show her off, but on the other he’ll have to kill any man who so much as looks at her.

  When she bends down to pick her purse up off the floor, he struggles to hold back a groan.

  “So where are we going?” She straightens back up and turns to face him. Her hair piled up in a messy bun with tendrils framing her face makes her light eyes pop even more against her dark hair and olive skin.

  “If I tell you then where’s the fun in that?”

  “Fair enough,”

  “You ready?”

  She grabs her leather jacket from the hallway closet then leads the way to the front door.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Parker pulls his black Lexus RX 350 up to the curb of a well-known seafood restaurant. Blue’s is usually always booked up and takes reservations six to twelve months in advance. Ashley’s a little impressed and a bit intrigued as to how he was able to get them a table tonight.

  Jogging around to the passenger side of his car and opening the door for her, he offers his hand to help her out.

  “Thank you.”

  “How do you fee
l about seafood?” he asks, resting his hand on the small of her back and leading her into the restaurant.

  “Love it. I grew up eating fresh seafood straight off the boat.”

  “Hey, Parker,” the hostess greets as they approach her stand.

  “Anne.” He hugs her. “How’s Bella doing?”

  “Much better now, thank you.”

  “Glad to hear it.”

  “Your table is just this way.” Anne grabs two menus and leads them over to their table in a secluded area of the restaurant.

  “Your waiter will be right over, but can I get some drinks started for you?”

  She orders a pinot grigio, and he orders a whiskey on the rocks. Anne writes down their orders before walking over to the bar and back to the hostess stand.

  “Come here often?” Ashley teases, glancing up from her menu.

  Parker slowly puts his menu down on the table, looking over at her. “Not really. Anne and I grew up together, but we lost touch in tenth grade after her family moved away. We ran into each other again at the hospital last year. Her little sister, Bella, was having her appendix removed, and my grandfather had broken his hip.”

  He shrugs. “I stayed with Anne in the waiting room while Bella was in surgery. We kept in touch after that.”

  “Was there anything between you two?”

  She mentally chastises herself for asking the question. It wasn’t any of her business if Anne and Parker used to be involved.

  “Me and Anne? No. I only ever saw her as a little sister. A few weeks after we reconnected at the hospital, her husband, Carl, left her. Anne was working here at the time, trying to make ends meet while raising her sister. I offered to stay with Bella on the nights she had to work. As a thank you, she told me there’d always be a table reserved for me whenever I wanted to eat here. I haven’t taken her up on the offer until now.”

  “It’s just the two of them?”

  “Their parents died in a car crash two years ago. Anne was twenty-two so she was able to take over guardianship of Bella.”

  The waiter comes by with the drinks and takes their order. He orders calamari for them as a starter and a lobster for himself, while she orders the seafood fettucine.

  “Wow, that’s a lot for a twenty-two-year-old to take on.”

  He nods. “It was, but she didn’t want Bella to end up in the system. Bella was three at the time of the crash. Most families who adopt are looking for newborns. Bella would’ve jumped from foster home to foster home. Anne took over guardianship, picked up a second job, working at the local library before she comes here for the dinner rush.

  “She’s also enrolled in online classes and is doing her nursing practicum at the hospital during the week. When I heard her story I didn’t mind staying with Bella those nights Anne had to work. She’s a good kid. Sometimes if Anne has to work at the library and then pulls a double shift here Bella will just stay the night at my place.”

  He brushes it off like it’s no big deal, but it is. Not many people she knows would’ve stepped up and helped someone like he has with Anne and Bella.

  Her heart breaks for the little five-year-old who lost both parents in the blink of an eye, but she’s amazed by the strength Anne has shown in taking care of her sister while working two jobs, attending classes, and going through a divorce.

  Dinner goes by in a blur. She doesn’t remember eating any of her meal, but it must have been amazing because when the waiter comes back to collect their dishes, there isn’t a speck of food left on either plate.

  The conversation between them is easy. There are no awkward pauses, and it turns out they have a lot in common. He confesses to seeing her gaming systems back at the condo and expresses an interest in going one-on-one in Call of Duty. She teases him that she’d be able to kick his butt so they agreed that one-night he would bring over pizza and they’d play.

  He leans back in his chair as his eyes roam the restaurant. “Shit,” he says, laughing.

  “What?”

  His blue eyes find her emerald ones, and there’s a hint of amusement playing in them. “We’re the last ones here.”

  She lets her eyes gaze around the restaurant as well, and he’s right. They’re the only customers in the restaurant. Anne is over at the bar talking to the bartender, but there’s no one else in sight. “So we are,” she says giggling.

  “I like that sound.”

  “What sound?”

  “Your laugh.”

  “Oh.” She feels a blush creep into her cheeks.

  He pulls his wallet from his suit jacket and throws some bills on the table. She’s not great at math but even she can tell there’s way more there than what their meal would have cost.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here.” He stands offering her his hand.

  As they’re about to push through the front door of the restaurant Anne stops them.

  “Parker?”

  “What’s up?”

  “Um, I got asked to work a double on Wednesday during the day. Usually Bella would be in school, and then Mrs. Smith from next door would pick her up and keep her until I’m done, but she’s going out of town the day before to see her sister and . . .” Anne starts fiddling with the cuffs of her shirt like they’re the most fascinating thing in the world.

  “I can pick up Bella. It’s no problem, Anne. I told you if you ever needed help I’d be happy to entertain her for a few hours. Plus, I owe that munchkin a few rounds of Little Big Planet.”

  Anne’s head snaps up and she grins. “She doesn’t like that game this week. She’s all about the Paw Patrol TV show now.”

  He groans, and Ashley tries very hard to keep in the laugh that’s threatening to spill out at any moment.

  That is something she’s got to see. Actually, she’d pay to see that. This big macho man sitting on his couch watching animated puppies in uniform rescuing baby sea turtles.

  His eyes snap to hers. “What’s so funny?”

  “Picturing you sitting on your couch watching Paw Patrol.”

  Anne is giggling next to her, too.

  “Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, but when you meet Bella you won’t be laughing anymore.”

  “Wait, what?” The smile instantly slips from Ashley’s face.

  “You heard me. You’re watching Paw Patrol with us.” He jokes.

  “Ah, no, I’m not. I just met Anne. She probably doesn’t want a strange woman hanging around her kid sister.”

  Anne shrugs. “If Parker trusts you, then I’m fine with it. Bella would probably love having another younger woman around since she has to spend almost all her time with Mrs. Smith when I’m not there. She’s great and all but she’s getting pretty old now.”

  His mouth lifts on one corner, and now he’s doing everything he can to not laugh at her failed attempt to get out of babysitting.

  Before she can think of another way out of it, he places his hand against the small of her back and leads her out of the restaurant and to his car. The gentle touch of his hand on her lower back is enough to cloud her mind and suddenly she’s not sure what she was about to protest against.

  Damn, this man

  How is it possible he can distract her so easily with just one touch?

  She tries to steal a glance over at him in the darkness of the car. His one hand is thrown lazily over the steering wheel while the other rests on the gear shift in between their seats. He even makes driving look sexy.

  He has long, calloused fingers and manly hands. The kind of hands she’s dreamt about caressing her body. Doing dirty things to her. Her pussy clenches and there’s a damp spot on her panties from the memory of his hands devouring her at the club.

  She does the only thing she can think of to try and distract herself from thinking those thoughts about the man sitting next to her. She starts humming and grins when he takes his eyes off the road for a split second, looking over at her in horror.

  “Are you—”

  “Paw patrol. Paw patrol. We’ll be there on th
e double . . .”

  He groans when she starts singing the opening lines of the show and then chuckles. “I’m not sure I even want to know how you know the opening song.”

  She shrugs. “I used to babysit with my best friend last summer, before I got my current job.”

  “And what’s that?” He pulls into an empty parking at the beach and cuts the engine before turning in his seat to face her.

  “Right now I work in restorative justice but I’ll be graduating with my master’s in psychology this semester.”

  He’s trying extremely hard to pay attention to the words coming out of her mouth but all he can focus on are her lips and wanting to kiss her again.

  The air crackles with unbridled attraction. Her breath hitches when he gently strokes his thumb over her lips, but the sound of waves crashing on the beach breaks the tension in the car.

  He pulls away and exhales. “Come on.” Stepping out of the car the salty ocean air immediately assaults his senses and he inhales it deeply.

  Home.

  The only time he’s ever felt at home was when he was out on the ocean, on his board riding wave after wave for hours on end.

  Back in high school Parker, Jay, and Mike would get up at the ass crack of dawn and come down to catch some waves before heading to their classes for the day. He doesn’t remember when it all changed, but it’s been years since any of them were on a board.

  “It’s so peaceful out here,” she says when he comes up behind her, wrapping his arms around her belly.

  “I love it here. I used to sneak out and come surfing when I needed to clear my head.”

  He takes a hold of her hand, intertwining their fingers and leads her further down the beach to a more secluded area. He opens the backpack he grabbed from the car and lays down a blanket then motions for her to sit.

  When she’s comfortable he hands her one of the beers he brought and sits down behind her, placing his legs on either side of hers. She shivers and leans back into him.

  “Cold?”

  “My feet are a little.” She laughs, moving further back into him. “I threw my heels in the car when I saw where we were. Heels and sand don’t make a good combination.”