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“I’m fine,” I repeated quickly. “I mean, I probably would’ve had a complete breakdown and panic attack all over him, but this other guy showed up and chased him off.”
Parker blew out a relieved breath. “Thank God.”
I scowled petulantly. “No, not thank God, because I should’ve been able to get rid of him on my own. He left as soon as my hero showed up, so I’m sure I could’ve rebuffed him with only some strong words. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. Damn it. When am I just going to get over this already?”
“El,” Parker said softly. “You were raped.”
As always, the mere word caused me to choke up and tighten inside myself until there was only darkness and me, alone together in an endless room, where I had to try to calm down and not fall into a million pieces. It felt as if it took me a millennium just to breathe. But I finally did, and I slowly realized I was okay. I was safe. I wasn’t in distress. Everything was fine.
When I returned to the outside world again, no time had actually passed. Parker was still there and still watching me as he added, “You’re not going to get over that anytime soon.”
Tears flooded my cheeks. Closing my eyes, I pressed the sockets into the caps of my knees, and I hugged my legs tighter against my chest. “But I’m tired of always being so damn scared and weak.”
When Parker gently touched my shoulder, I flinched in surprise. And his hand immediately fell away.
He let me cry for a couple of minutes without saying anything. Then he sighed. “I know you’ve rejected this idea the past five dozen times I’ve suggested it, but maybe you need to see a real therapist. This is not my area of expertise. Yes, I help people with some personal issues, but mostly I’m used to working out ways to organize bill-paying strategies, writing up resumes and cover letters for jobs, balancing damn checkbooks. I am not qualified to—”
“Please,” I begged him, lifting my face. “Don’t make me go to anyone else. It took me a year to build up this much trust with you. I can’t start over with someone new.”
I’d never even intended for him to find out about my personal issues. I’d just been so tired of being such a nervous wreck all the time. I had thought a life coach could boost my confidence in other areas so that I could deal with this on my own. But Parker had always been so freaking intuitive and persistent; he’d figured out where my problems stemmed from within the first three sessions. And he’d had no mercy; he’d come up with ideas to tackle my fears directly.
“Hey, you know I’ll be here for you as long as you need me,” he assured softly. “I’m just saying, a therapist on top of these sessions might—”
“I’ll think about it,” I cut in quickly, letting him know I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Then I sent him a short, apologetic smile. “And anyway, I think you’ve helped me quite a bit for not being qualified as you put it.”
“Hell, yes, I have,” he encouraged. “Just this morning, in fact, I would’ve sworn you were completely over—hey.” He frowned. “You really were full of pep this morning. And after the night you had, too. What…?” His brow furrowed before he sent me a slow grin. “I think I’m going to want to hear more about this hero you mentioned.”
“There’s not much to say,” I mumbled, back to blushing and avoiding eye contact. “Because it turns out I already kind of knew him. He, uh, he’s her brother.”
Parker made a face. “Her?”
I widened my eyes at him. There was only one her I’d ever talked about to him. A moment later, he caught on and nodded. “Oh. Okay. You mean, the other woman.”
I cringed. “Technically, I think I would be considered the other woman.”
He wrinkled his nose and shook his head, completely disagreeing. Then he said, “So this guy was—”
“Her brother,” I finished for him. “Yes.”
“Wow.” He soaked that in a moment before cocking his head to the side as if confused. “So he helped you? And he knew who you were, right?”
“Yeah. Strange, huh?”
With a shrug, Parker murmured, “Meh. Sounds like a decent thing to do to me.”
“But he thinks his sister and I are—”
“If a man has a single good bone in his body, hell yes, he’s going to step in and help if he sees a woman getting harassed, whether he likes her or not.”
“He reminded me a lot of you, actually,” I decided suddenly.
“Me?” That perked my life coach to immediate attention. With a lift of his brows, he said, “Oh, so you’re saying he was incredibly handsome, huh?”
I laughed and shook my head. “You just had to go there, didn’t you?”
“Wait, wait.” Squinting at me and trying to read my thoughts, Parker’s mouth fell open with a horrified gasp. “Holy shit. You think he’s better looking than I am? El! What the hell?”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s—oh my God. You’re ridiculous. Comparing the two of you would be like comparing apples and oranges. Because you’re all raw and rough and masculine, while he’s—”
