“I mean, the last man totouchme in that way was him. And I don’t want him to have that. I don’t want his touch on my skin. I want yours.”
My breath stalls, and I blink.Seven years?
“Are you saying you haven’t…done anything with anyone else since…that night?” I ask, needing clarification.
Since me.
She sheepishly glances at her lap. “Yeah. That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
Relief floods me. The fact that she’s even entertaining the idea of us in that way. But I can’t cross the line. Not tonight.
“Firefly…”
She pushes up to her knees, putting her eye level with me. “I don’t want to think about what happened. I just want to feel you again. I need to feel you, Parker.”
Her strained voice has me wrapping my arms around her waist. She climbs onto my lap, her eyes hooded while those pouty lips land on my jaw. Slowly, she slides them across my skin, landing a soft kiss at the corner of my mouth.
My hands glide up her sides, then stop before I pull back to look at her face. “You want to feel me?”
She nods.
“I’ll make you a deal. You get my arms. My mouth on yours. You get my whole fucking heart, Laik. But that’s all tonight. I want to give you everything and I will. But not like this. Not after the day you’ve had.”
She studies me, her eyes turning from slightly disappointed to complete adoration.
“Your heart is mine?”
I smirk and grip her chin lightly. The same way I used to do when she would ask me questions she should have known the answers to. “It’s always been yours, Firefly.”
Then I do what she asked. I kiss her.
Chapter thirty-eight
Laiken
Featherlight kisses trickle down my neck, causing me to squirm against a solid body as I wake up from the deepest sleep I’ve ever been in. Parker grins against my skin, his arms tightening around me when I try to break away. The sun is up, and my bladder is screaming.
“Where are you going?” he murmurs.
“To pee.” I squirm again. “And I need to check my phone in case Ivy called.”
“Fine,” he grumbles.
I roll out of bed, glancing back over my shoulder. He slides his arms up under the pillow, his bare back on clear display. A smile spreads across my face. He was always the initiator. Always the one to haul me away at any moment during those summers just to have a minute alone with me. Didn’t matter where. Then here I was last night. The one asking. The one initiating. And he shut me down. Which only made me love him more. The thought warms me all the way to my toes.I love him.I never stopped. And as soon as everything settles, I’ll tell him.
After a quick trip to the bathroom, I tiptoe back to the bedroom to find it empty. I frown but hear the faint sound of Parker’s voice coming from the living room.
I follow the sound, stopping just outside the threshold as he hangs up his phone. He sighs, running his hand through his wayward hair.
“Hey.” I cross the room, curling my hands into the sleeves of my hoodie.
“Hey.” He opens his arms, and I go right to him. “Sorry about that. Ryder called. Had an update from Memphis.”
“That was fast.”
“Yeah. Apparently, Memphis is on his shit. Especially when it involves harm to a woman.” He runs a hand up and down my back. “Hungry?”
I nod. “Yes, but I want to go get Trace first. Then maybe donuts?”
