And then I noticed Parker. He stood anxiously in a black suit. He wore black pants and a black jacket with a black shirt underneath. He even wore a tie—black and silver plaid. He looked refined and dangerous. His dark eyes gleamed in my direction. He cleared his throat nervously and handed me the flowers.
I wasn’t sure what to feel, but about a thousand emotions lanced through me. Curiosity, nervousness, and unbridled lust, to name a few.
I wallowed in the emotions. After not feeling them for so long, this felt good. Parker felt good.
“What’s all this about?” I asked, stepping aside to let him in. I set the flowers on my dining table situated near the door.
He took my hands in his.
“You look extraordinary,” he murmured. His voice caught nervously. His nerves were making me nervous.
“So do you. I’ve never seen you so dressed up.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so dressed up.”
I giggled. I couldn’t picture a time he would have been apart from school dances or maybe a wedding.
“Look, Jimi. I didn’t do this right the first time. I let other people talk me into something that I knew wasn’t right. But I need to correct that mistake. And this time, it’s just you and me. There’s no one else here to judge or to report back or to see what’s happening. Just us, okay?”
“Just us,” I echoed, sublimely confused at the direction of this conversation. It was the suit. He was jumbling all of my thoughts standing there in a suit, looking so goddamn handsome that I had to force my eyes to blink.
I didn’t want to miss a nanosecond of Parker James in a suit in my foyer.
He took my hands in his. His were ice cold, which was unusual for him. He always radiated warmth.
“I love you,” he said, the nerves in his voice subsiding to a deep and genuine sincerity. “I think I loved you the second I first saw you when your dad asked me to watch over you, and the more time I’ve had the honor of spending with you, the deeper I’ve found myself. I’m in this forever, Roxanna.”
He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my lips. “I don’t want some stupid fake engagement, and the second I did it, I knew it was all wrong,” he continued. “I want to marry you. I want to be with you. I want to protect you forever. I want that ring that symbolizes the lie off of your hand.” He paused, and he pulled the ring off of my finger. He set it on the table as I held my breath.
“I want you to wear the ring that I chose for you, not the one George picked up. I want this to be real, because I’ve done a hell of a lot of thinking over the past two weeks, and I know that my life was empty until I met you. You fill it with laughter and energy and strength, and I want that. I want you. Forever.”
Parker knelt down on his right knee. My heart raced in my chest.
This was different than the last time. Last time was in front of a crowd of fifteen thousand people at Raleigh’s Walnut Creek Amphitheater.
This time was real. This was just for us. This was in the privacy of my home. This was Parker declaring his love for me, telling me he wanted to spend the rest of his life committed to only me.
He flipped open a jewelry box that he’d pulled from his pants pocket.
An oval diamond was horizontally perched over two thin pave-diamond encrusted bands that twined together. The ring screamed Vintage to me. It suited my tastes completely, as if I’d gone myself to choose it.
It was perfect, but Parker was even more perfect.
Just like before, I didn’t care about the rock—even though it was just right for me. I cared about the commitment. And I knew my answer before he even asked the question.
“Jimi, will you—”
“YES!” I shouted before he had the chance to complete his question. He slipped the ring onto my finger.
I knelt down in front of him and wrapped my arms around him. Somehow our mouths crashed together to seal our commitment. He held me in his arms for one sweet moment, and then the sexual tension always present between us crashed down on me.
I pushed his jacket down his arms and he pushed my dress up to my waist. He manhandled my breasts roughly as I cupped his cock through his pants. A sexy growl of lust rumbled up from his chest.
Clothes flew in random directions and somehow sealing our commitment with a kiss turned into sealing our commitment with sex.
He pulled on my panties until they snapped clean off of me, and I fumbled with his zipper while I fondled him through his pants. His heavy groans matched my loud moans. It had been too long, and there was too much pent up emotion between the two of us. Somehow I ended up beneath him.
He helped me with his zipper and he sprung free from the cage of his pants. I stroked his cock slowly. A long and slow growl emitted from him. He looked down at me through heavily lidded eyes. “You’re the last woman I want to fuck for the rest of my life,” he said, and then his cock slammed into me.
My head hit the floor behind me, but I didn’t care. When Parker was inside of me, that was all that mattered. He repeated his thrusting rhythm, driving me closer and closer to orgasm within mere seconds of his entrance. He had the right formula for satisfying every need I had, and that was only part of what made him perfect for me.
“Oh my God,” I yelled as his lips met my neck. He grinned as he continued pumping into me.
“Fuck,” he muttered, thrusting up and lingering inside of me as he came. It was too quick, but we’d been apart for too long.
He drove me into my own orgasm, and then his mouth found mine for a slow and sensual kiss, a heady contrast to the fast fuck he’d just given me.
We collapsed together on the floor. Parker drew a pattern of circles on the back of my hand. I was totally worn out and sated, and even though I was lying on the floor, I never wanted to move. Ever.
“I can’t wait to love you for the rest of my life,” Parker whispered against my hair.
I melted into the floor. Creating the perfect rhythm with words was his career as a songwriter, but hearing those words aimed for me out of his gorgeous mouth was overwhelming. And the ring on my finger was proof I’d get to experience his words every day for the rest of my life.
twelve
It was sooner than I’d planned, but we were on our way to my dad’s house. I figured I’d have at least one night with just Parker before we ventured out into the real world again.
I had no interest in seeing Jadyn, but it wasn’t really my choice. If I wanted to see my father—which I did—I was stuck seeing her, too. And I needed to see my dad. I needed to know what was going on, even though I had a pretty strong feeling that he wasn’t going to tell me a damn thing.
I had a bad feeling. Parker had apparently texted him when I went into the bathroom to freshen up, and he invited us over. He was having a small dinner party, just a couple of friends—Mikey and some girl he was seeing, and Keith and Vanessa. As popular as my dad was, he tended to keep a tight circle.
Which was why it was so surprising that he married a goddamn porn star.
I wondered not for the first time how he’d even met her. It was silly to think about that because anyone could meet another person pretty much anywhere in the world. And when you are Gideon Price, you’ve got access to anyone you want.
Apparently he wanted Jadyn. I still didn’t get it.
But it wasn’t my decision to make.
I sighed.
“What’s wrong, future wife?”
I couldn’t help my smile. “Nothing’s wrong. I just wanted to stay in with you.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I feel like I need to tell your dad about our real engagement.”
“I’m shocked he doesn’t already know.”
“He knew it was coming. I talked to him about it.”
I watched his eyes as he focused on the road in front of us. Bruno followed behind us, as usual.
I’d noticed Tim hadn’t left me alone much after that, and as much as I wanted to be annoyed by that, I just wasn’t. I appreciated everyone around me feeling the need to protect me. A few months earlier, it may have been a different story.