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“Pfft. That’s what friends are for. I’ll let you go. Sorry again.” We say our goodbyes, and I slip my phone back onto the bedside table before snuggling back into Parker’s warmth.
“Who was that?” Parker asks, his voice rough with sleep, running his fingers over my hip.
“It was Kate confirming the party. I completely forgot to mention it last night. We’ve organized a little party for Easton. Seb and Kate are hosting.”
“You arranged a party for him?” he asks, his voice full of surprise and emotion.
“Well, yeah. I knew you were upset about him having to spend the day with his mom, so I thought we could have an extra day to celebrate.”
“You’re incredible, you know that?” he asks as he cups my face and pulls me in for a spine-tingling kiss. The things this man does to me, I swear.
Groaning, I pull back. “Parker. Don’t tempt me. I need to go before East wakes up. I’ll meet you at Seb and Kate’s later, okay?”
By the time I get home, I’m cutting it fine. I’m meeting my mom in forty minutes, and I need to make myself look less like a dirty stop-out.
“Lookie, lookie. What do we have here?” Alice teases, leaning against the doorframe with a cup of coffee in one hand.
“Don’t start. I’m going to be late to meet with my mother, and she won’t let me forget it,” I despair, heading to the kitchen to grab a coffee of my own. I have a feeling that I’m going to need it.
“Could be worse,” she says with a Cheshire cat smile on her face. “She could have caught you doing the walk of shame.”
“I need new friends,” I shout back as I rush to my room to get changed. The sound of Alice’s laughter follows me as I check my watch and curse.
Making it with minutes to spare, I avoid the third degree from my mother, and breakfast is relatively painless. The conversation is light and relatively safe, and if she notices I’m tired, she doesn’t mention it.
When I arranged to have breakfast with my mother, Easton’s party hadn’t been planned. If it had, I wouldn’t have met up with her. She likes to talk, and getting away is always a mission.
When the waiter asks if we want coffee after we finish our meal, I’m quick to decline and ask for the check.
“You’re in a hurry today. Is everything okay?” she questions, quirking a perfectly sculpted brow at me.
“Yes, fine.” My voice sounds odd, even to me. I’ve always been a terrible liar.
“Are you ditching me for a guy?” Her face lights up at the prospect. She’s probably already planning the wedding in her head.
“No. There’s no one.” I feel like dirt as soon as I say it, but I don’t want her to meddle in Parker’s and my relationship. As soon as she finds out he’s wealthy, she’ll be pushing him for his intentions and trying to arrange dinner parties.
But he’s not no one.
He’s kind, thoughtful, witty, honest, a loving father…he’s everything.
And he’s swiftly become the one.
14
PARKER
“You realize she’s lying, right?” Summer glances up at me with narrowed eyes. “The woman is a total psycho.”
“Yeah, but Blake Lively is hot, and she can get away with anything in my book.” Although I’m teasing, and she’s aware of it, Summer rolls her eyes and shuffles to the other end of the couch.
Planting her feet on the side of my thigh, she pushes slightly to hammer the point home. “Guess you have a type, huh?”
The pursed grin doesn’t hide the hint of jealousy in her remark. It’s cute the way it scrunches her nose when she licks over the front of her teeth with a hiss. With her hair knotted on top of her head and no makeup, she looks young. Maybe younger than her actual twenty-two years. And damn, with those freckles of hers on full display over her flushed cheeks, thirty-three has never felt so…old.
“You think I have a type?” I ask, grasping each of her feet in my hands and raking my thumbnails down the arch.
I love the way it makes her squirm, causing her expression to lighten.
