Total pages in book: 16
Estimated words: 14883 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 74(@200wpm)___ 60(@250wpm)___ 50(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 14883 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 74(@200wpm)___ 60(@250wpm)___ 50(@300wpm)
She tips the glass of water to her lips and almost chokes. “That’s so juvenile.”
“I know. Not my proudest moment.”
Piper finishes the omelet and sets it on a plate. She opens the air fryer, pulls out the frying basket, and drops the sausages before pushing it back and turning the dial.
She wipes her hands on a small dish towel and sits across from me. With a shrug, she picks a warm cinnamon bun and takes a bite. “I’m not proud of how I behaved, either, and there’s no way I can justify it. I was defensive and combative. I can be an asshole sometimes.”
“Sometimes?” I smirk and she throws a piece of the cinnamon bun. I catch it in my mouth.
She laughs and claps slowly. “Impressive.”
“My mouth can do wondrous things.”
“Huh. I know.”
“No, you don’t know half of it.”
“Don’t I?”
And so I spend the rest of the day showing her… after we have breakfast, of course. I don’t want to let them go to waste, especially since it’s the first meal she’s made for me.
Maybe I always knew it would come to this. That she’d be mine eventually. It was only a matter of time. Maybe that was why I kept pining for her even though she openly disliked me and mocked my advances.
Maybe deep down, I knew down to the marrow of my bones that she’d belong to me and only me.
Nobody’s gonna come between us, maybe except Thor, but she’ll grow to love him. That I don’t doubt.
4
PIPER
Parker’s veiny hand grips the gearshift and guides it to reverse. He glances at the rearview and side mirrors before draping an arm over my seat. We stay silent as he looks behind us, reversing out of the parking lot, and driving me on the way to work.
I never understood how women found men who drove manual transmissions sexy. But right now, I have to clench my thighs and swallow back a whimper because of how hot and wet he makes me feel. I don’t know who this woman is taking over my body, but I can’t say I’m mad.
In fact, I enjoy how refreshing everything feels. Refreshing, exciting, and fun—words I never would have used. Until Parker.
When we reach the highway, he grabs my hand and links his fingers with mine.
“You should learn how to drive a car, Piper, you know, for emergencies and stuff.”
I run a fingernail along his hairy but corded forearm. I’ve wanted to do this since that day in the elevator. “How sure are you I don’t know how?”
The side of his mouth curls up. “You always ride shotgun, and your free parking space is always empty.”
“Oh my God, Parker. How long have you been watching me?”
His face splits into a huge grin. “Long enough to know you don’t like going out on weekends unless it’s for groceries. Your favorite colors are pastels—pastel pink, pastel yellow, pastel blue. You don’t wear black. You like high heels and don’t own any flats except a well-worn pair of rainbow flip-flops. You never have food deliveries, and your online orders are minimal.”
Parker squeezes my hand. “How am I doing so far?”
I lean back in his plush seat and laugh softly. “That’s so creepy, but is it weird that it’s turning me on? Just how obsessed are you with me?”
“Good question.” He runs his tongue along his bottom lip, his forehead creasing. “I guess part of the reason was because you kept ignoring me, and I took it as a challenge. I wonder if I’m gonna miss that feeling.”
“What feeling?”
“A one-sided obsession. An unrequited love.”
“Are you gonna get bored now that you already have me?”
He levels me with a dark look. “Never. With Thor as my witness, I promise you that the only time you ever have to scream is when I’m buried balls-deep inside you.”
I smack his arm, and he just laughs. “Okay, seriously. You don’t like driving?”
I take a deep breath and look out the window, at the other cars, pedestrians, and shops lining the street. “No. It gives me anxiety. Honestly, I’ve never gotten around to applying for a driver’s license. Maybe one day I will, and I’ll buy those cool self-driving cars.”
“Cool and self-driving cars don’t belong in the same sentence, baby. Now as someone whose love for muscle cars runs deep, I am deeply offended. Respectfully, get out.”
We both burst out laughing, and my chest constricts when I realize I’ve never been this happy. Never. Not when I graduated at the top of my class, not when I received multiple scholarship offers, not when I got a job offer straight out of college, not when I got promoted to a senior position barely a year after being hired.
I always threw 100% of my focus and attention to my goals, and growing up in a household with parents who thought it was financially unwise to go to college, I only had one goal—to succeed and prove them wrong.