Page 70 of Reckless Encounters

Parker glances from me to the piece of glass in his hands and emotion passes over his features, like he’s realizing something for the first time. The way he looks at me is enough to have my stomach fluttering every damn time.

He swallows thickly. “Yes, exactly.” His voice sounds huskier than it should over sea glass, and now I’m wondering if this is about the shiny orange treasure at all.

Looking back to the glass, he clears his throat, regaining his footing. “I didn’t want to be like all the others. I wanted my piece to stand out like the single orange piece in the vase with all the blues and greens.”

I love that he wants this small token to always serve as a reminder of him in my grandparents’ house. A little pang in my chest fires off at the fact it will also be a constant memento of my time with Parker, but in all reality, he won’t be easy to forget, no matter how brief we are.

“My grandmother is going to be ecstatic with this find. You’ll be her new favorite.” I smile, remembering the day she added the first, and before now, the only piece of orange glass to her collection.

“I feel like I’m about to get brownie points.” He smiles at me, and I love how carefree he appears right now, toes in the sand, linen shirt opened and blowing in the breeze. “Better yet, I bet she’ll make you share your cake with me.”

I reach up and twist his nipple. “We will see about that.”

“You little brat,” I hear him growl, and I take off running down the beach. He catches up to me way too easily. “You are lucky I have this prized possession in my hand, or I’d really toss you in that ocean.”

“Whatever,” I say playfully, rolling my eyes.

“Be glad their house is big; I’d hate for them to hear their sweet little granddaughter getting her ass spanked tonight…because it’s guaranteed to happen.”

“Promise?” I bite my lip as I smirk up at him.

He leans down, tugging my lip from between my teeth with his own. His bite sinks into me just slightly, but then his lips are on mine, kissing me thoroughly, making my body hotter than any summer sun ever could.

When we finally pull back for air, he whispers, “Is that promise enough?”

“Yeah, P,” I whisper, and he takes my hand in his, interlocking our fingers. My toes tingle with the thought that he just full-on kissed me in public.

What would a life with Parker outside of closed doors be like?

Too good to be true.

“Parker,” my grandmother gasps. “You sweet, sweet man. You outdid yourself with this.” Taking the orange sea glass into her hands gently, she examines its uniqueness.

“It’s my new favorite!” she declares, shrugging her shoulders toward me. “Sorry, Ava. I’ll always love yours too.”

“Wait, you are the one who found the other piece of orange she has?” He grins, eyes searching mine as my lips twist to the side.

I’m not sure why I didn’t tell him on the beach. Maybe my stupid little heart was whispering it was cosmic, and I was scared he would ruin that thought for me.

“I will admit, I have a few others in my bedroom, but they were all found by Frederick and I. Ava was the first person to ever find one and gift it to me for my vase,” Grandma says, placing his in the vase next to mine. The bright orange pops against the turquoise beside it.

“She was about seventeen and had a rough week, so she came to spend some time with us. She took lots of walks that weekend. I assumed she was meeting up with one of the boys down the beach who she used to hang out with. Until she brought home that piece of orange sea glass with tears in her eyes.”

I remember that day like it was yesterday. That was the week I truly realized my parents had no care in the world for my wants and dreams in life. At that time, I wasn’t even sure they loved me. Now I know their love just comes with terms and conditions.

“Again, at first, I thought she was crying over the young boy she had spent some time with earlier that summer.”

Ew, heck no. That only consisted of about three dates, which were beyond ick, and I haven’t seen him since. I can’t believe I am sitting here, letting her tell Parker all this.

“But that was the weekend I took my blinders off and came to terms with the fact my daughter wasn’t the mother my sweet Ava needed,” she says, pulling me in for a hug. “Ava has a huge heart, and she deserved so much more than she got from them growing up.”

I swallow the emotion threatening to surface from how vulnerable I felt at that time of my life.

“Why did the sea glass make you cry?”

Parker’s question surprises me, but I answer honestly. “That little piece of washed-up glass brought me so much happiness during a time of turmoil when I felt so unloved by two people who were supposed to love me always. And that’s when it hit me. Money doesn’t buy you love; it doesn’t buy you happiness.” And right then, at seventeen years old, I knew that was a motto I would live by. “So I came in, told my grandmother everything, even that I didn’t care what my parents said; I was going to NYU when I graduated at the end of that year and I wasn’t going to do what gave me prestige. I was going to do what made me happy.”

Parker doesn’t say anything as his eyes trace my face in wonder, almost like he is trying to imagine that upset seventeen-year-old girl having her teenage epiphany.

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