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There’s nothing new, and I hate that. I don’t know what Allison is up to today, but I want to go to her after this. I need to be inside of her, to feel her wrap around me and to hold her. I need to taste and smell her. I need the relief that only comes from being with her.
My mother’s office door opens, and I watch as Parker makes her way out. Her eyes find mine, and her lips curve up into a grin. Parker is also warm and inviting. Wells really got lucky as fuck when he stumbled across her.
Standing, I move toward her. She wraps her arms around me in a hug. “Hey,” she exhales against my ear.
Smiling, I jerk my chin in her direction after taking a few steps back. “Hey, Park, you doing good?” I ask.
She smiles. “Could be worse. I could still be sick,” she says, placing her hand on her belly.
“My niece or nephew giving you a hard time?” I ask.
She smiles softly, her entire face completely relaxed. She reaches out and touches my arm, her gaze never leaving mine.
“No, the baby is good. I was sick for a while, but I’m okay now.”
“I’m glad.” I give her a wink.
“Dinner this weekend?”
Lifting my gaze past her, I connect with my mother’s. She dips her chin in a nod. I don’t know why I’m even looking to her, because these dinners happen every week, like clockwork, and she would have something to say, a lot of angry somethings to say if I didn’t show up.
“Of course,” I mutter. “You know I’ll be there. I’m always there. It’s you who doesn’t always show up.”
Parker laughs softly. “This one was making me sick, but I’m good now and ready for some amazing food. All the amazing food.”
“Both of my daughters-in-law are pregnant, and I have nobody to drink wine with anymore,” my mother calls out.
“I’ll drink wine with you, Mom,” I say.
She lifts her hand, waving my words away with a shake of her head. “You’re a man now. One of them. You can’t hang with the girls anymore,” she mutters.
I can’t stop my laugh from bubbling up. She’s right. No more hanging with my mom. My dad always requires my attention, as much as I would rather fucking hang with the women sometimes because their conversations are usually more interesting and educational.
“Hendrick?” Parker calls out. Shifting my attention toward her, I tilt my head to the side. “Are you ever going to bring Allison to family dinner?”
Flicking my gaze away from hers, I find my mother watching me, analyzing me. I know she’s trying to figure out exactly what I’m thinking in the moment, and if I were a betting man, I would say she’s figured it out.
“Not this week,” I reply.
Parker thankfully doesn’t push it and leaves a few moments later, saying goodbye to my mother and me both a few more times before she heads down the hallway and toward the elevator bank.
“Come on in my office, son,” Mom murmurs.
She knows I’m not here for pleasantries, that I need to see her, to speak to her. I need her ear, her voice, and maybe even her opinion. Possibly her advice, too.
Chapter
Three
HENDRICK
“You think that your father and brothers won’t respect you if you don’t marry a virgin?” my mother asks.
I’ve been in her office chatting with her the past thirty minutes. I know she’s probably got another appointment coming soon, but I have to talk through this. It’s been bothering me immensely.
“I earned that,” I say. “I was offered a girl for payment today.”
My mom nods, her eyes finding mine. I expect her gaze to be full of judgment, but it isn’t. She’s been part of this world for so long that I guess this shit is just expected at this point. Although, I have to breathe a sigh of relief that she doesn’t know everything that happens in our world, or more specifically, my world. But she knows enough.
