Page 51 of Wish You Would

I blinked, wisps of lust dispersing. “Sorry.” I tossed a smile Dante’s way. “Guess I’m more tired than I thought.”

“All the more reason for you to get your ass out of here.” He looked pointedly at the door.

“Okay, all right.” I backed closer to the exit. “You’re right. You’ve got this.” I grabbed the handle and pulled. “You know how to reach me if you have any questions.”

“Which I won’t.” He grinned. “Goodnight, boss.”

I grinned back and exited the building, locking it behind me to prevent anyone from coming inside while he and the kitchen staff finished up. Stepping back, I placed a palm against the Heathcliff’s logo on the door. A raven in a nest of thorns. A swell of pride surged through me. We’d come so far in the last seven months or so. Vaughn and I had rebuilt the family business into something reflective of the current generation of Murphys, and it was thriving again.

It was a good feeling.

With one last fond pat against the door, I turned away. Starting up the walk, I dragged in a lungful of the crisp spring air and exhaled it in a white cloud before my face. As the cloud cleared, I caught sight of someone walking toward me. Out of habit, I tightened my grip on my bag and veered to the right to give them berth.

As they neared, however, their form took a familiar shape. A silhouette of curves and long hair. I slowed, narrowing my eyes. Had I summoned her with all my remembering? Was she really there, or was this a hallucination?

I stopped walking and watched as she approached with fast, sturdy steps. The streetlights caught the glint of her eyes, the glisten of her hair, and my lungs ached from holding my breath. Once she was close enough, I spoke. “Parker? What—”

Whatever I’d been about to ask fell from my brain as she reached me. Because without so much as a hello she thrust her fingers into my hair and pulled my mouth to hers. For the second time in as many days, Parker Samuels kissed me.

But, unlike the first time, there was nothing sweet about this kiss. Nothing hesitant. It was sure, it was seeking.

It was everything.

Winding my arms around her waist, I kissed her back, opening my mouth against hers, granting her the access she all but demanded of me. She stepped forward, backing me up until I leaned against the brick of some building or another. Her hands left my hair to trail down my face, cupping my jaw as her lips gentled on mine before, all too soon, pulling away.

I shivered and opened my eyes. Relief blossomed in my chest. She was still there. In front of me, looking like a dream with her flushed cheeks and kiss swollen lips. I reached out, laying my palm against her cheek. I hadn’t imagined her.

But…why was she here?

Leaning my head back against the wall, I narrowed my eyes, reality creeping in. Damn reality. Always ruining things. My hand fell away from her face as I forced the question from my lips. “What are you doing here?”

Parker laughed. “If you have to ask, maybe I didn’t do this right.”

My pulse quickened, hope a living thing inside my chest. I tried to tamp it down. “So…date didn’t go so good?”

Her blue eyes sought mine, searching. I could feel her heart beating against my chest, an erratic rhythm that matched my own. After a long moment only filled with our ragged breaths, clouds in the cold air between us, she answered. “She wasn’t you.”

Something inside me broke then. Shattered into a million little pieces. The restraint I’d so desperately clung to dissolved. Leaning up, I kissed her. I kissed her like she was air and I’d been drowning in the bitter cold sea. I kissed her like she was dry land.

A small sound left Parker, and then she was kissing me back. It was the cumulation of all the want, all the denial, every single moment of maybe that had passed between us from the moment we met.

Because, yeah. I had to admit to myself now, with her soft body molded against me, her lips drinking me in, that there was always something about her. Something that pulled me in, called to my wandering heart.

There was always Parker.

“Can we,” she murmured against my lips, “maybe take this somewhere else? You know, not on a very public street?”

I laughed and dropped one last kiss on her mouth. “Mine or yours?”

She pulled back and my body went cold from the loss of her heat. Her lips twisted. “Simon is probably waiting up for me, even though he said he wouldn’t. So…”

I laughed and pushed away from the wall, holding out my hand. She linked her fingers through mine and smiled a shy little smile. Lifting her hand to my lips, I kissed her knuckles. Her smile widened, and my heart damn near floated out of my chest. With one last quick kiss, I pulled her forward. “Mine it is.”

My place wasn’t far from downtown Port Agnes. Fifteen minutes, usually. Ten or less when there wasn’t much traffic.

We made it in eight.

Putting my car in park, I killed the engine and climbed out, rounding the front end to open Parker’s door for her. She looked up as the door opened, the porch light illuminating her face, and my brain went blank.

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