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I sit down in the chair behind her desk and turn on the computer, but it tells me I need a password and I can’t even begin to guess what it might be. So, I absent-mindedly start flipping through the bills Parrish has organized in a little divider on the edge of her desk.
“What the hell are you doing?”
I knock over the divider, I’m so startled, sending papers and envelopes scattering everywhere across the floor and the desk. I start trying to gather them up, without looking up at Parrish, who is standing in the doorway, tapping her foot impatiently.
“I uh… I was just looking for… I mean, I was… I thought I would…” I can’t believe the incoherent way I’m babbling right now, like a nervous teenager standing in front of his prom date. And I never was a nervous teenager, even when I went to the prom. But I just can’t bring myself to make eye contact with her, knowing that the minute I do, it will make everything real. But the tapping of her foot is making my heart beat fast, and I know I can’t keep staring at the knotted wood of her desk forever.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make a mess,” I say as I stack the bills in a pile and take a deep breath. Why the hell is she making me so edgy? I spend my days arguing with the CEOs of billion dollar corporations, and my nights dating models and actresses. Yet, one minute alone in a room with Parrish Monroe and I’m babbling like an idiot.
“If you didn’t mean to make a mess, why were you digging through things that have nothing to do with you?” She’s glaring with a vengeance, and her crystal blue eyes are piercing directly through me.
“I was just trying to get a feel for how things are operating here now. You’re doing an amazing job, Parrish.”
She scoffs. “Gee. Thanks. Here I was, waiting around for ten years for your approval so I could feel validated, and now that I finally have it, my daughter and I can ride off into the sunset like Shane.”
“Okay, Sarcasmo. I was just trying to pay you a compliment. You don’t have to bite my head off,” I say as I stand up from the desk.
“You’ll be lucky if that’s the only thing I bite off,” she mutters under her breath. My jaw drops involuntarily.
“Hey! Ho! Let’s take the threats of violence down to a level two, huh? I’m sorry I got in your way. I’ll leave.”
Parrish steps in front of the door, blocking my exit. “So, you’re just going to run away again? You’ve been here five minutes and you don’t even have the balls to stay here and face me? To say anything? Your mom and dad may’ve let you off the hook, but that won’t be happening with me, bucko. You’re not going to run away from me again.”
“You listen here, Parrish Monroe…”
“McCormick,” she says, staring me down like a rider facing down a bucking horse. “My name is Parrish McCormick. Remember? Do you remember Matt? Do you remember anything, Hawk?”
Every word she says is like a knife to my gut, pushing me to take a step back farther and farther until I bump into the desk, and fall back on to it. I steady myself on the edge, knocking over a cup of
pens in the process that goes scattering everywhere.
“What do you want me to say, Parrish? What do you want me to do? Go back in time and be less of an asshole? I’m afraid I can’t do that, no matter how much I wish I could. So, what are we going to do? Spend the next month avoiding each other? Do I need to wear a suit of armor in case you decide to try and castrate me? I don’t know what to do. You tell me. Tell me, Parrish.”
She stalks over to me, and pokes me in the chest. “Maybe I have the right, Hawk. I think anyone would agree that I’ve earned the right to be furious with you. To hate you.”
I can see the fire in her eyes, but at the same time… the tension. All of that old tension is back. The tension that rippled between us when we were teenagers, that kept me away when she married my brother. I wrap my hand around her finger and hold it there, not letting her move even when she tries to pull away from me.
“Let me go, you stubborn mule,” she says with a jerk of her hand. When I don’t let go, she reaches up to slap me, but I grab that hand too. Now, I’m holding both her hands, and she’s staring into my eyes, her cheeks burning red, her beautiful lips quivering.
God, I never expected Parrish to still be this beautiful, and suddenly, I’m completely overwhelmed with all of the same old feelings I felt for her when we were kids. So much of our lives have changed since we last saw one another that night of her high school graduation party. She married my brother, for one. They have a child together. I know that I shouldn’t be thinking this way about Parrish, I shouldn’t be awash in memories of her that night in the barn, but I can’t help myself. She’s not only survived the trauma of the death of her husband, but she’s thrived and is now a successful businesswoman, running my family’s ranch without anyone’s help. Her independent spirit only makes her more enthralling.
She struggles a little, trying to pull free again, but for some reason, I can’t let her go. And I can’t free myself from her gaze. Business could not be further from my mind as I take in her beauty, her skin, her scent.
“I have never forgotten our night together,” I offer. “Nothing has ever matched the passion I felt for you.”
Parrish looks at me warily. “I loved your brother with all my heart. He gave me my world and brought me Gracie. I miss him every minute of every day. Don’t walk in my office and start right away with this crap, Hawk.”
She pauses, awaiting my response.
“I understand,” I whisper, letting her hand go with a tired sigh. “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up. I’ll get out of here.” I stand up from the desk and start to make my way toward the door.
But then, suddenly, Parrish stands up and walks over to me, reaching around my waist from behind. She gives away no hint of hesitation or regret as she begins to unbuckle my belt, plunging her hand into my pants. Her fingers brush my cock, which instantly responds to her touch as I harden for her. With a firm grasp, she pulls me out of my briefs so my manhood is peeking out the top of my pants.
Parrish turns me around and leads me against the couch in the far corner of the office. “Sit,” she commands.
I obey instantly, sitting down and sliding off my pants, almost tripping in the process. Parrish doesn’t flinch. “I want to see if you still want me as much as you did then, or if those were just pretty words.”
She frees my cock from my briefs as she slides them down to my ankles. I am fully erect and completely exposed in front of her. She pauses to take in the sight of me, watching my stiff dick twitch slightly in anticipation.
