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“Soooo,” he started, his voice growing husky as he slowly walked them forward. “Your body is an instrument, huh?”
Her laughter turned into a choking sound in the back of her throat. “Shut up, you snoop,” she coughed. He laughed, his voice close to her ear.
“Hmmm, want me to play you a song, Paige?” he teased. She began struggling against his hold.
“That’s it, let me down. I’m gonna kick you in the balls,” she stated, pulling at his wrists. He chuckled.
“Don’t deny you want me, baby,” he joked. She made a gagging sound.
“Don’t make me puke.”
He dropped her abruptly, making her stumble. She'd barely caught her balance when he slapped her on the ass. She whirled around to face him, but he was heading up the stairs, pulling off his t-shirt as he went. She held still while she watched him walk away. It didn't matter how often she saw him naked, his body still took her breath away.
“I’m sure with practice, you could someday be as good as me,” he called over his shoulder, shocking her out of her fantasies.
She threw her sandal at his head.
*
“SO, YOU GUYS WANNAdo something fun this weekend? This regular at the club offered to take me and some friends on his boat, we’re gonna go check out North Deer Island. Should be great. The weather is looking to be hot, so I’m thinking skimpy bikini for you, Paige, and an even skimpier one for you, Park.”
Paige laughed, picturing Parker in a pair of bikini bottoms. Joey smiled innocently at everyone, batting his eyelashes. Parker rolled his eyes and chuckled.
They were sitting on the patio of a hotel restaurant, facing the ocean. The heat had become stifling during the days, but at night the cool breeze off the ocean made everything nice. The moon was full and bright, giving the beach a ghostly glow. Paige liked Galveston a lot, she'd been having a really good time. She stared out over the ocean, smiling sadly.
“We can’t, buddy. Sorry,” Parker said, toying with his water glass. Joey sat up straighter.
“What do you mean, why not?” he asked, looking between the both of them. Paige turned her smile towards him.
While taking a shower, Parker’s phone had rung. They were a little busy with each other and had ignored it, but after the fourth call in a row came through, Parker had finally leaned out of the spray and looked at his screen. All four calls had been from his uncle Richie. Parker had hopped out and Paige finished showering alone.
When she'd wandered into the bedroom, Parker had been standing in front of his bed, staring down at the mattress. She'd walked over and he'd wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him. She'd been a little surprise, but then he'd told her that his Uncle Richie had to come home. Something was going wrong with one of his latest investments and he needed to be in Galveston. Parker and Paige were of course welcome to stay, but ...
But Paige knew they wouldn’t stay. It was like their little cocoon had been busted open. The absent Uncle Richie was flying in the day after tomorrow, he'd wanted to give them a heads up. Paige wasn’t ready to meet him and Parker seemed to already know that. She realized he was very good at figuring out what she was and wasn't ready to do. He'd let her go and without another word, they'd gotten ready to go to dinner.
“We gotta hit the road. Richie is flying in on Monday. We’re gonna head out tomorrow,” Parker explained. Joey looked at them with disgust.
“Doesn’t that just figure. I start getting all attached and you just take her out of my life. Whatever. Where are you guys gonna go?” he asked, loudly slurping his drink.
Parker glanced at Paige. They hadn’t discussed this, had been kind of scared to talk about it. Somewhere along the line, Paige had started thinking of Galveston as their final destination – and Paige didn’t have final destinations. She just kept wandering.
If she’d bothered to really think about it, she would've assumed Parker would immediately head for Seattle, dropping her somewhere along the way. But the thought of Parker driving off without her, the mental image of him driving away in his crappy car, made her almost hyperventilate.
Not yet.
“West,” she suddenly said, her voice too loud. Both men looked at her like she'd just spoken in Swahili.
“West?” Parker and Joey asked in unison. She nodded, swallowing thickly.
“Yeah, West. Sort of. Check out Carlsbad in New Mexico. Then up to Utah, over to Nevada. I haven’t been to Las Vegas since I was twenty-one,” she said quickly, just saying anything that popped into her head. Parker stared at her, wide eyed.
“Ooohhh, Vegas! You guys have to call me when you get there, maybe I can take a weekend and come party with you! Your life sounds so exciting, you should write a book, Paige,” Joey urged.
She gave a nervous laugh and nodded, but kept glancing at Parker, who was just staring at her. She twisted her napkin in her hands. She shouldn’t have done that, should have waited till they could talk it over. Maybe he did want to get going, go see his family. Hell, maybe he wanted to stay and see his uncle.
She didn’t know because she hadn’t asked.
They ordered dessert, and had a couple more drinks. Joey promised to stop by and see them before they left the next day. At the car, he hugged Paige hard. “Just trust him, okay? He’ll take care of you,” he whispered in her ear. She frowned at his back when he walked away – it upset her. She didn’t need to be taken care of; she could take care of herselfjust fine. She didn't need anybody.
