Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 86364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
As I spoke, an old memory popped up in my mind of the time during elementary school that I’d won first place in a mathematics competition. It had also been the first year without having my nanny there to herd me away from my father. I’d thought earning a big blue ribbon in something respectable like math would earn his approval. It wasn’t as if I’d earned it for something he didn’t value such as being able to run fast or drawing well. This was math. Cold, hard, logical math.
My heart had pounded so hard in my chest, it was nearly shaking my entire slender frame by the time I’d worked up the courage to knock on my father’s study door.
He beckoned me inside with his low, stern voice and I almost froze in the hall. I walked in and stood in front of his desk, my spine and shoulders straight. My ribbon held in my trembling hand, I quickly told him about the competition and how I’d come in first ahead of all the other kids in my grade. He didn’t even blink. Just stared at me with those dead, cold eyes. Seconds ticked by and I regretted every word out of my mouth, the decision to see him, possibly even my birth.
After what felt like minutes, Howard grunted and lowered his eyes back to his book. “Next time you wish to speak with me, submit a request in writing detailing your reason before coming to my study. I don’t have time to waste on your nonsense. You’re dismissed.”
I scurried out of the room after a soft “Yes, sir,” feeling like an unwanted fool.
That was the last time I’d ever sought him out or tried to share some bit of my life with him. From that day on, we’d been two strangers living in the same house. After graduating high school, I’d immediately moved out and had only spoken to him once after graduating college. Despite the distance I’d put between us, I’d never been able to shake the fear that I would one day turn into him.
“Yep. My first instinct was correct.”
I blinked at Parker as if coming out of a trance. Thinking about my father and my childhood always seemed to wrap me in a block of ice that felt impossible to escape. But Parker had pulled me free with a sentence. “What?”
“When you first mentioned that your father was cold toward you, I’d wanted to kick him in the balls. Now I really want to kick him.”
A slow smile spread across my lips, and I breathed a deep sigh, as if shedding the last of those old memories. Sebastian was the only one of my friends to have ever met my father. His reaction had been pretty similar to Parker’s.
“There’s no point. He’s not part of my life, and you’ll never have to meet him,” I reassured him.
“Okay, but the offer still stands. I don’t care if he’s a crusty old man. I’ll still kick him square in the nuts.”
I had nothing to say to that, so I returned to eating my steak while a warm feeling spread through my chest. From there, we skipped the rest of my childhood and we turned to talking about college and various other random adventures.
After dinner and a leisurely walk around Fountain Square under the warm glow of the fountain and the bright lights of the surrounding skyscrapers, we returned home, where I followed him up to Joy’s bedroom so we could check on the sleeping angel.
We strolled out together and Parker attempted to pull me to his bedroom with a sexy smirk, but I dug my heels in, not following.
“Huh?” he whispered as he returned to my side.
“Not tonight.”
“Really? You don’t think the perfect date should be capped off with bedtime fun?”
I slid my hand along his jaw and threaded my fingers through his silken hair at the back of his head, pulling him down for a slow, soft kiss that had him melting into me. Normally, nothing could stop me from a night of sex and cuddles with this amazing man.
“Later, but not tonight. I want to show you that I am interested in more than sex with you. I want us to be together. A couple,” I murmured against his lips.
“Declan Foster, you are a very dangerous man,” Parker declared, but he said it with a grin.
“I am when I want something, and what I want right now is more important to me than anything else in the world. Sex can wait.”
19
PARKER CAIN
“Hello?” Declan’s slightly confused voice rang out through the house from the foyer. My heart skipped, and an electric frisson of excitement skimmed along my arms. Declan was home from work right on time.
I scooped up Joy from her bouncy chair and plopped her on my hip. “Ready to see Da-Declan?” I caught myself at the last second and replayed in my mind what I’d almost blurted out. Had I almost called Declan Daddy? Good grief, I was losing my fucking mind.