Page 117 of The Wrong Quarterback

And I couldn’t argue with that.

Parker’s face softened. “Do you need anything while I’m gone, baby?” His voice held that low, easy tone, the one that usually made me melt.

“For you to let me go,” I immediately said, more to myself than to him. He flashed a quick grin, that irresistible, boyish charm trying to batter at my heart.

“Impossible.” He moved closer, his fingers lightly grazing my cheek as he brushed a stray hair from my face. The gentle warmth in his touch sent a pang of doubt spiraling through me, tugging me in two different directions.

I didn’t know how he could be both the protector and the affectionate lover while also being the man who could trap me in a world of his own making. It was like there were two people beneath his skin, and I wasn’t sure which one would come to the surface next.

I wanted to ask him, to see if he could explain the pieces that didn’t fit. But as his hand lingered, and he leaned down, pressing a soft kiss to my forehead, my questions tangled up in my throat.

“I don’t know how I’ll ever forgive you for this,” I whispered, a tear sliding down my face. “I thought you were my hero and now…”

“There are villains and there are heroes, and then there are men who are in between,” he said idly, softly stroking my cheek as he stared at me like I was his whole world.

“And which one are you?” I whispered.

“Depends on what your answer is, Casey,” he mused. “Because there’s no world where you’re not mine. Whether you give me you…or I have to take you, it doesn’t change the outcome.”

“Which is?” I asked, even though I was quite sure I knew the answer.

“That you’re going to be mine until the day we die and for all our lifetimes after that. There’s no me without you.”

“That’s crazy,” I told him in a hitched voice, a swarm of mixed emotions in my chest because I was pretty sure I should be running.

He smiled, and the swarm of mixed emotions took on a glittery haze, something that always happened when he looked at me like that.

“No baby,” he finally murmured. “That’s called true love.”

And I wasn’t sure I could argue with that.

“Don’t leave the house,” Parker cautioned me that night when he’d let me out of the basement, and he was about to leave for the hotel that the team spent the night in before home games to make sure no one got in trouble.

“I have cameras at every entrance…and watching the windows on the side. Iwillleave my hotel to come find you.”

I scoffed. “And what if I tell someone before you do.”

He grinned, and he didn’t have to speak the words out loud for me to understand him.

Who would believe you…

What did it say about me that a little thrill went through me at his confidence…that he had everything planned out…a way to handle every circumstance.

I was becoming more and more convinced that leaving him was not really a possibility.

I was also becoming more and more convinced that…I liked this. I actually liked this twisted game of control. To see the depths he’d go to keep me.

For my entire life, I’d wanted someone to see me. I hadn’t expected it to come in this form, though.

But maybe broken thingsneededextraordinary measures to fix them.

Maybe Parker Davis was exactly what my broken soul needed, because he’d hold me tight enough that all my broken pieces would come together again.

“Make sure you watch the game tomorrow,” he ordered, dragging me out of my thoughts before he pulled me in for a breath-stealing kiss.

“I’m not going to,” I called after him as he strode to the door. He threw me a dazzling smile over his shoulder.

“Beautiful little liar,” he said.

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