She’d been so bold and playful with me, teasing me. Emma had always teased me a bit. Lucas and I were forever poking fun at each other the way best friends did and Emma would join in. She and Lucas were close—Lucas had never resented her presence, the way a lot of older siblings did—he kept her around and included her—and so Emma and I had been pretty close, too. Just by proxy.
But that night… she’d had an edge to her. She’d been daring in a way she’d never been before. And I’d seen her in a new light.
Fuck, the way she’d looked as she’d swum in the water, every bit of her on display, her wet underwear doing just about nothing to hide her…
God. I could feel myself getting hard, now, in the present, just as I had back then. She’d kissed me, rubbed herself up against me, and I’d been powerless to resist her. I’d laid her out on the grass and tasted her all over. I’d sucked on those full, luscious breasts, and licked my tongue into her slick pussy. She’d been so responsive, clutching at the grass and at my hair, whimpering and moaning my name. She’d flooded my mouth as she’d come and I’d never felt more triumphant in my life.
“Please,” she’d begged me. Her eyes had been so dark and wide in the moonlight. “Please fuck me, I want you so badly, Parker, I’ve wanted you for years.”
That had shaken me to my core. Years? And I’d had no idea. I’d been blind the entire time. Without a clue. She’d just been little Emma, Lucas’s sister. I’d thought that I was the same for her, just Lucas’s best friend, but apparently not.
And, well, it had been flattering, okay? Fucking flattering to know that this beautiful, whip smart young woman had chosen me to pine after all this time. Emma was a catch, even if she didn’t know it, and I’d been so fucking hard it had felt like I could use my dick to pound nails.
“Are you sure?” I’d asked. I’d been pretty damn certain that Emma hadn’t ever been with anyone else. I’d never even heard of her going on a date with someone. News traveled fast in our little town, especially among bored teenagers, so if someone was hooking up with someone else, people tended to know about it, and real fast. But I’d never heard anything about Emma.
Emma had nodded. She’d looked excited, determined, not at all scared. Just like with her plans to get into an Ivy League, once Emma had an idea in her head, she didn’t let anything stand in her way. I found it admirable—both now and back then.
“I’ve thought about this,” she’d confessed to me, pulling me to her to kiss me. Her kisses had been soft and sweet like melted chocolate. “This isn’t just—a random impulse. I want it to be you. I want my first time to be with you.”
That had sent me reeling and I’d kissed her desperately after that. Who the fuck wouldn’t want to fuck someone after hearing that? I hadn’t ever wanted anyone so badly before. I hadn’t wanted anyone as badly since then, either.
I’d just eaten her out but I had wanted to take my time with her, make sure that she was really ready for me. I’d slid my fingers into her, finding her so slick and open for me already. Emma had been so fucking eager, arching her hips up into me, spreading her legs, thrusting down onto my fingers.
“Please,” she’d begged me, over and over. “Please, Parker, please!” She’d said my name like it was the only word that really mattered and it had driven me insane.
I’d had three fingers into her by the time I was ready to fuck her. Emma had been on the edge of orgasm again, her voice thin and desperate, her eyes glazed, her mouth dropped open, her chest heaving. I’d rather have her be impatient and orgasm again than have her not be ready enough—better safe than sorry when it was someone’s first time.
When I’d pulled my fingers out and lined myself up, Emma had whined and grasped for me. “I want… I want…”
“Next time,” I’d told her, not sure what she was asking for. Later on she’d told me she’d wanted to return the favor, stroke my cock—that she’d worried she was being spoiled and lazy—but I’d just laughed when I’d heard that. It was her first time and I’d wanted her to feel special.
It had taken every bit of self-control in me to move into her slowly, to take my time, sliding inch by inch into her. The urge to just… fuck inside of her was insane. But I’d gritted my teeth and held back, held it in, until I could feel her adjusting, comfortable.
“You ready?” I’d asked her.
“I’ve been ready,” she’d grumbled, but then I’d kissed her and had soothed away her frustration.
It had been fantastic, teaching her how to kiss. Emma had later admitted to me that she hadn’t had a ton of experience with that, since it had all been disappointing for her and had never been the person she’d really wanted. She’d been so soft and eager, letting me coax her and control the kiss, showing her how to do it.
Emma had clung to me as we’d made love. I’d kept my thrusts slow and deep, careful, not wanting to overwhelm her or hurt her. Emma had made delicious noises the entire time, gasping, moaning, crying out my name. It had been goddamn ecstasy when she’d come and I’d felt her tighten around me, a hot velvet vice. I’d followed her only three thrusts after, kissing her savagely, my tongue fucking into her mouth just as my cock thrust into her pussy, my entire body throbbing with it.
“Was that good?” I’d asked afterwards, as if there had been any room for doubt with the way that Emma was kissing me and clinging to me. But I’d been only twenty and I’d wanted to make sure.
“Perfect,” she’d promised me.
Even now, I got hard thinking about it. I wrapped a hand around my aching cock and stroked it hard and fast, remembering that first time. Far from the last that we’d been together. We’d been unable to keep our hands off each other and I was still shocked that nobody had ever caught us having sex back in the day. We’d been the definition of ‘horny teenagers’, even though I technically hadn’t been a teenager anymore at the time.
Fuck, I bet she was even hotter now, sexier now, with a few years under her belt. I shouldn’t be thinking about this—she wasn’t married, there was no wedding ring, but she had a kid and she was my roommate now—but oh fuck, she was still so fucking hot. And I couldn’t erase from my mind the way she’d been that first night, wet and dripping from the water, the way I’d licked the droplets off her skin, the feel of her breasts in my mouth…
I came hard, spilling over my hand, my vision going white for a brief moment.
Fuck. I had no idea how I was going to handle this situation.
I woke up to the sound of footsteps.
My brain went from groggy and half-asleep to alert in half a second, and I sat up straight, listening intently. Yes, definitely footsteps. Someone was in my house.
Sliding silently out of bed, I crept to the closet and grabbed my baseball bat. I hadn’t played in years, but I’d kept it around while traveling as a handy deterrent from people trying to steal shit from my hostel or hotel room, and now I kept it in my closet for an occasion just like this one.
Creeping out into the hallway, I tried to follow the sounds. I couldn’t quite tell where the person was—there seemed to be—maybe two people?
There was definitely someone in the living room. I could hear the hard patter of their feet as they moved along the hardwood.
With a yell, I brandished the bat and leapt out from the hallway.
A small child stared up at me, confused. “Who are you?”
I stared back at her, equally confused. She was a cute kid, with green eyes and dark hair and looking about four years old. Adorable, really. But what the fuck was she doing in my—
“Are you kidding me!?” Emma yelled, appearing from behind me, and I jumped in surprise, nearly dropping the bat.
“You’re threatening my daughter with a baseball bat!?” Emma demanded. “In your boxers!?”
It was true. I had cleaned myself up after my little, ah, alone time last night, and I’d put on some boxers. Thank fuck that I had, I didn’t want any little kid seeing me naked. But it still meant that right now, it
was the only thing I was wearing.
“Put some damn clothes on,” Emma snapped.
My face flushed. I hadn’t been this embarrassed in years, possibly ever. Of course, Emma and her kid, who else could it be? Why would someone be trying to rob my house in broad daylight?
Feeling like the world’s biggest idiot, I dove for the bedroom and rushed back inside.
8
Emma
I couldn’t believe it. This was the welcome we got from Parker? He yelled at my daughter while brandishing a baseball bat?
Okay, yes, it was early, just a little after eight in the morning, but we were used to getting up early. I had to, so that I could get Ally to her daycare and then get to work on time. And I had to get everything moved in today so that I could start work tomorrow. I didn’t want to leave boxes lying around or have to pay for a hotel or storage unit, or pay movers. And I wasn’t going to make Parker do any of that, that would be rude.
But besides, Parker should know it was us! That was his reaction to hearing us moving around, to think we were some kind of threat? Jesus Christ.
I hurried Ally into the bedroom and told her to start unpacking her stuffed animals. Ally was resilient, she didn’t seem to be bothered by the whole thing, but this was not how I wanted her to meet Parker for the first time.
With Ally taken care of, I knocked sternly on Parker’s now-closed bedroom door. We were going to have a talk about all of this.
Parker was now in sweatpants and a shirt, and he definitely looked contrite so I supposed that was something, but I wasn’t ready to let him off the hook just yet. “What the hell was that?”
“That was me being woken up from a dead sleep by someone moving through my apartment.”
“You forgot we were coming!?” I couldn’t believe this. “Parker, we literally spoke yesterday. This wasn’t exactly out of the blue.”
“I thought you would call or knock.”
“You gave me a key, remember? I didn’t need to. I figured you were still asleep so we’d just work on the unpacking. I start work tomorrow, I need everything ready. You need to behave appropriately, there’s a child in the house with you now, and that means you can’t just go—flinging a bat around or sleeping basically naked.”
“I didn’t know she was here, Jesus Christ, Emma, lighten up for two seconds. It was a misunderstanding. I get that I’m not exactly your favorite person right now but it’s really not a big deal. We figured it out, it’s fine, your daughter didn’t even seem scared of me, I’m sorry, it’s all good.”
Part of me knew that I was being a bit unreasonable. That I was probably overreacting and that I wouldn’t be quite as harsh on someone else if they weren’t Parker. But now that I’d made my statements I wasn’t about to back down. I didn’t want Parker to have the satisfaction of being right, I wanted to get one up over on him. After he’d abandoned me…
I cleared my throat. “Just don’t do it again.”
Parker seemed to be starting to nod in response but I didn’t see the rest of it, turning and walking out and back to my room.
Ally was playing with her stuffed animals instead of putting them away, and I smiled at her. “You having fun?”
“Uh-huh.” Ally smiled at me. “When will my bed get here?”
Ally’s bed, and most of her other stuff, was still back at our family home. I couldn’t bring all of that up with me and stick it in a hotel room. Lucas would help bring up all of that stuff later, but right now we still had a lot to unpack. “Soon,” I promised her.
“Was that Parker?” Ally asked. “Your friend? Is he always crazy like that?”
I had to stifle a smile. If only she knew the kind of crazy stuff Parker would drag Lucas into when they were teenagers. “No, he’s a good person. He just didn’t know we were here, he thought we were coming to steal things.”
“Oh, that’s silly!” Ally grinned and made her stuffed giraffe gallop.
“I agree, I think it’s very silly too.” I sat down next to her and Ally made her giraffe gallop up onto my lap.
“Do you like Parker?” Ally asked, and my heart just about stopped—until she went on. “You seem angry with him.”
Ah. She didn’t mean like Parker, she meant did I just like him as a person. Given that her first impression of the two of us was me snapping at him, yeah, it was a fair question for her to ask.
“I like Parker,” I promised. “I’ve known him for a long time. But when you know people for a long time that means you can tell them when they’re being silly.”
“Like Auntie Van and Uncle Lucas?”
“Exactly like that! They’re silly a lot of the time, aren’t they?” I ruffled Ally’s hair. “So I told Parker to stop being silly and he listened.”
“Is he going to be here all the time?”
“Yup! That’s what a roommate is. They’re someone you share your home with.”
Ally nodded. “Parker was your friend?”
“Yes. Well, mostly Uncle Lucas’s friend. They were always spending time together.”
Ally looked contemplative, sucking on her lower lip. “Uncle Lucas never talked about him. He talks about all his friends.”
Ah, crap. I didn’t know how to explain the whole… up and leaving in the middle of nowhere thing to Ally. How could I explain to a four-year-old that Parker had left for Europe without a word, almost in the middle of the night like a ghost, just running and saying it’s a family thing, I have to go, and that it had hurt both Lucas and me? I didn’t want her to be angry with Parker, and I didn’t want her drudging up old business. I was having a hard enough time not bringing it up myself.
“It was just a long time ago,” I told her. “We haven’t seen Parker in a long time. He’s been busy. But he’s here now! And he’s a great person, you’ll have a lot of fun with him. It’s too bad we’re in the city so he can’t teach you how to catch rabbits.”
Ally gasped, her eyes going wide. “Rabbits?”
I nodded. “You know how there’s lots of bunny rabbits back at home, in the woods?”
Ally nodded. She loved seeing those rabbits when we went on a walk through the forest. There were a lot of little trails through the trees in Rehoboth, not official hiking trails but just paths that had been worn through from people walking along them over and over through the years. There was this one area that always had plenty of rabbits, and Ally was always wanting to pet them. I’d told her that was where the Easter bunny lived.
“Well, Parker and Uncle Lucas were always up to trouble, and so one time they decided to release a bunch of rabbits into a school assembly. Assembly’s where everyone in your school goes into a big room and sits down and listens to someone talking about an important subject, like safety.”
Ally nodded.
“So Parker went out into the woods with Lucas and me, and I didn’t think he could do it. I kept telling him that he wasn’t going to make it work.”
They’d set up a bunch of rabbit traps, filled with carrots to lure the rabbits in. I kept telling them they were going to get eaten by a bear or something and if that happened they weren’t allowed to blame me, because I’d warned them.
“Parker set up traps, but the rabbits were smart. They’d find ways to get the food without getting stuck. So Parker waited in the bushes for hours, and when the rabbits went into the traps to get the food, he pounced on them and grabbed them.”
I lunged at Ally, grabbing her like she was a rabbit, and Ally shrieked with delight. I tickled her and she giggled, twisting around, trying to escape me. She was laughing so hard by the end that I had to stop, and I hauled her into my lap.
“So,” I said, as Ally’s giggles subsided. “He did catch a bunch of rabbits. He showed up to the house covered in mud and grinning with all these rabbits in a cage! So he and Uncle Lucas waited until assembly, and then they released all the rabbits! They’d taped carrots to the underside of the chairs where the teachers were sitting. It was pandemonium.”
I could st
ill remember everyone’s faces as a bunch of hungry rabbits had been let loose, gunning for the chairs of the teachers, who were freaking out. The principal had demanded to know who had done this but of course nobody knew besides me, and I certainly hadn’t been about to tattle. Not on my brother and the guy I had a major crush on. Lucas would’ve never let me hear the end of it.
Ally giggled. “Do you think he’ll catch a rabbit for me?”
“Oh, no. Because we can’t have a rabbit here, remember? But maybe another pet later on.” Ally had always wanted a pet but I really didn’t have time to look after a pet as well as my daughter. Maybe if I ever found someone to be my life partner… found someone to share my life with…
But that was a possibility I hadn’t even really considered. There wasn’t anybody in Rehoboth, and sure there might be someone in New York City of all place, but who had the time for that between my job and my daughter? It was best to not even think about it.
Besides, Ally should be older to have a pet so that she could help take care of it. If I got her a rabbit or a cat or something now, she wouldn’t really be able to help much with feeding and training and all that. And pets could be surprisingly expensive.
Maybe someday.
“Parker sounds fun,” Ally said, beaming up at me.
“He is fun,” I promised her. At least, I hoped he would be for Ally. I could put up with whatever so long as we got to stay in this lovely apartment and so long as Ally liked it and was having a good time.
We’d just have to wait and see.
9
Parker
What the fuck had that been all about?
Yeah, okay, so it might have been stupid of me—definitely stupid, honestly—to forget about my new roommate moving in and assume that I was being robbed. In broad daylight. And maybe I should’ve been more patient with Emma and understood why she was so upset. It was her young, impressionable daughter who was getting a crazy almost-naked guy yelling at her with a baseball bat, after all.
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