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“Yes!” She wiggled away from me and sat up, pulling her clothes back into place. “How was work? How is Parker doing?”
“Good. You trained her well.”
“She’s happy to be busy. It helps.”
I nodded, rubbing my hand over my wife’s back. She’d had a hard time of it, with her family kicking her out for getting pregnant. I knew she knew a lot about dealing with sadness and pain.
“Parker’s coming to stay with us a few days. Shane’s going out of town. I couldn’t say no.”
“Of course, you couldn’t,” she said with a smile. “Pate will be thrilled.”
She gave me a look.
“So you’ve seen them together?”
I sighed. I didn’t need to ask who she meant. All the girls had some romantic notion about Parker making Shane a better man. They hadn’t seen him staring at her like he wanted to eat her alive.
Literally.
“He’s been there for all her shifts this week.”
“Seriously?” She stared at me. “Do you think Cass is right?”
“About what?”
“She thinks Parker is in love with him. Sees something the rest of us don’t.”
“She cares for him. I know that. He, on the other hand . . .”
“What?” I knew Michelle was worried about her friend getting hurt. I sighed.
“I think he’s more than in love with her. Obsessed almost.”
“Oh, good,” she said, seeming unconcerned. I stared as she grabbed fresh panties and tugged them up those insanely perfect legs of hers.
“Good? You sure about that?”
“I trust Parker’s instincts. If she loves him, then he’s not who we all thought he was.”
I nodded slowly.
“I think you might be right about that. I’m still worried about the girl. He’s a complicated guy. He’s got demons.”
“But they haven’t . . . ?”
“Hell, no. That man was so pent-up I thought his head might pop off.”
She giggled.
“Okay. Good. We have to help them get together, Mase.”
“Now Chelle, I’m not sure we should meddle . . .”
“Like Cass and Kelly didn’t meddle with us?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean the night of Kelly’s birthday party.”
I remembered it well. It was the night I finally gave into the inevitable. The night we almost broke the damn kitchen counter, we were screwing so hard.
“What about it?” I growled, deciding it was time to go for seconds.
“They basically forced me to dress sexy and make you jealous.”
I grabbed her and rolled her to her back, nuzzling her neck.
“You did that on purpose, you minx?”
“Yes.” She wiggled beneath me. “It worked, didn’t it?”
“Yes. It damn well did.” I bit her neck and pushed her skirt back up. “And now you’re going to pay for it.”
It was a damn good thing we had that white noise machine going. Because my wife made a lot of noise for the next hour. I made her suffer a bit before letting us both reach our pleasure. It was a lot slower the second time but just as intense.
It always was with us. It always would be.
I left her sleeping and made dinner for the kids, walked the dogs, and spent half an hour petting the cat. He got cranky if he didn’t get more than his share of attention.
Maybe the plan does have merit, I thought. I should just let the ladies do what they thought was best. Just look what their meddling did for me.
Shane didn’t stand a chance.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Parker
I rolled my neck under the stream of pulsing hot water. I’d worked so much this week and my body was protesting. I wasn’t used to being on my feet that much or the upper body workout required for lifting trays of beer and food.
And I loved every freaking minute of it.
And that wasn’t even the craziest part.
The craziest part was Shane.
I’d thought he was going to kick me out. Hate me. And he had acted different. But he didn’t exactly push me away either.
He had been there at The Jar for every shift. He drove me there, waited while I worked, and took me home.
Every single time.
I kept telling him he didn’t need to do that. That I would be okay. But he wouldn’t listen. In fact, we barely talked at all. He just took me to work and stared at me.
Then as soon as we got home, he would take off again.
It hurt when he left. I had to admit that it hurt. But I knew deep down that he cared about me. Maybe even a lot. I hoped so, anyway. I wasn’t sure how he cared yet either, but I was hoping it might be the same way I felt about him.
Because I was in way over my head.
But the stakes were too high. I was afraid to ask him what he felt. Afraid he might say I was just a little girl, or not his type, or that he just didn’t like me that way. So I kept my head down and worked. I was saving up money to get my own place in case I was wrong about him. I couldn’t stay here and want him this badly.
