Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 87015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
“You don’t know my dating history.” He winked.
“I drew a few conclusions from The Vers.” I reached over and held his waist, not really thinking about my actions other than wanting to comfort him. But Parker sucked in a sharp breath and stepped back. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to get in your pants. I’ve heard sex doesn’t happen after marriage anyway,” I teased. “I was just going to tell you I’m serious. I might not want the same things you do…or even understand it on an emotional level, but you’ll find the guy for you. It would be too big a tragedy for you not to.”
His eyes turned stormy again. They did that sometimes when he was thinking. “That was…sweet.”
“You keep talking to me like that, and you’re gonna make my crush on you grow.”
He rolled his eyes, but it was clearly done teasingly. “You don’t have a crush on me. Stop saying that.”
“How do you know?”
“You said yourself you’ve never felt a romantic connection.”
“Does that mean I can’t have a crush? Crushes aren’t based in true emotions. They’re interest and sexual attraction. Curiosity. I can see a beautiful man across a crowded bar, watch him lick his lips, and wonder what they taste like. See him stare off into space like he has a million things on his mind and wonder what he’s thinking. I can be attracted to him, wonder how his brain works, and want to put the pieces of him together. That’s a crush to me. I’ve been crushing on you since the first night we met.”
His breathing came faster, his chest rising and falling in short, rapid pulls. “Stop trying to seduce me.” He swatted my arm, and I laughed.
“Ouch. You’re violent, and I wasn’t. It’s not my fault you’re attracted to me too. All I’m saying is, a crush is different from whatever it is that makes people fall in love. Hell, maybe I’m just broken that way.” I shrugged.
He frowned. “You’re not broken.”
“Thanks, beautiful.” I grinned.
“Are you going to keep calling me that?”
“Unless you ask me to stop.”
He looked away. “It’s getting late. We should bring the rest of my things in, and then maybe you can show me my room.”
“Whatever you say, beautiful.” I added the endearment again because he hadn’t asked me to stop.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Parker
This was the first time I’d ever been nervous to record an episode of The Vers. It was the first one after coming back from Las Vegas, and I was going to have to talk about my marriage…and pretend to be madly in love with Elliott. The lying was hard for me, but more than that, it made me feel lonely…planning to say things I wanted to feel, that I should feel about my husband, but one drunken mistake had taken that away from me.
It had been an interesting couple of days staying with Elliott…well, I guess I should say living with my new husband because that was the situation. He’d been on his best behavior, and I’d been baking up a storm and spending extra hours at Beach Buns, but so far, so good. We stayed out of each other’s way and were polite—like roommates. I was roommates with my husband. Fuck my life.
“How you doing, sweetheart?” Marcus asked. We recorded in a studio at his place. Marcus’s parents were wealthy as hell, and he was too. He’d made a lot of money in real estate while they had made theirs by becoming one of the most sought-after architecture firms in the state.
“As good as can be expected,” I replied.
“Don’t get your feelings involved.”
Ouch. “Way to cut to the point.”
“It’s true. I know you, and I don’t want you hurt. I can’t pretend to understand why the two of you are doing this, but you need to protect yourself, Park. You know you. You know your heart. It pulls people in. That’s how we’re all who we are to each other, but that big heart of yours, that need for love, it also makes you vulnerable.”
His words were similar to what Corbin had said to me—about me being the reason our friend group was together. I didn’t know about that, but he was right about me being vulnerable. When we needed someone to sit us down and tell it like it is, Marcus was the one we went to. He didn’t have a fake bone in his body, and while sometimes I didn’t want to hear what he had to say, it came from him loving us and wanting what was best for us.
“I’ll be careful. Elliott is hot, but I know what this is.”
He nodded, then pulled me in for a quick kiss to the temple just as Declan and Corbin walked in.
“What? I missed a hug? That’s not fair,” Corbin said.
“What’s wrong?” Declan asked.
“Nothing’s wrong. You know how Marcus is. He’s always playing the mother hen.”