Page 134 of Just This Once

“Sure.” Parker scoffed as if he disagreed before he held up a pair of bunny ears. “Number two. Dugger.”

“Actually,” I countered. “I think that’s number three. Or four. Possibly even number five. And whataboutSneezy?”

“Stop fucking flirting with him.”

“What?!” My mouth dropped open, and I tried to step back, but Parker gripped my arm to keep me close. “I wasn’t flirtingwith Keene. If you didn’t notice, he was on the veryoppositeside of the bar when you summoned me up here, and he was trying to get into some other girl’s pants. Multiple girls’ pants, in fact.”

“But you were hanging all over him before that and laughing the entire way through that damn dance you shared. Then you demanded asecondkiss on the cheek from him and slapped him on the fucking ass. How doyoudefine that kind of behavior?”

I shrugged with a cringe because when he put it that way, I’d probably call it flirting too. But it hadn’t meant anything. And Keene had known that.

“I don’t know,” I muttered petulantly, sending Parker a short frown. “We were just having a little fun.”

“Well, it stops. Now,” he ordered me.

“No, it doesn’t,” I stated firmly. “You can’t tell me what to do. Besides, I havemanyreasons for giving him special attention. And none of them have anything to do with you or getting your approval. Why do you care, anyway?”

Instead of answering the last question, Parker scowled. “Many reasons? Just whatarethese reasons?”

I sniffed. “None of your damn business.”

“Hope,” he ground out in warning.

“Oh, for the love of God. Fine,” I muttered just to get him off my case. “He’s Alec’s closest friend, so I decided I didn’t want him to hate me, which he genuinely does if you haven’t noticed. So I’ve been sucking up to him and trying to wingwoman him in the attempt of getting into his good graces. And besides”—I gave a cringing shrug—“I think Alec really likes Xander. So I’m trying to distract Keene from getting too close to her so my brother has a better shot.”

Parker’s eyebrows lifted as if he were actually impressed by my reasoning, but when he opened his mouth to reply, I spoke over him, hooking my thumb over my shoulder and motioningback toward where everyone else was. “Plus, he’s a damn good dancer. So am I allowed to go back out to him now?”

“Oh, you’re not going back to him.”

“Excuse me?” My mouth fell open in outrage. “If I want to befriend him, I’m going to fucking befriend him.”

His brows arched in disbelief. “Believe it or not, darlin’, youcanbefriend that idiot without laying a single finger on him. I’ve been his friend for over a decade now, and you’ve officially touched him more tonight than I have in all ten of those years put together. So stop…touching him.”

“Oh, jeez.” I rolled my eyes. “You’re such a piece of work. Do you know that? You can’t just come in here and boss me?—”

He grabbed the front of my shirt and shut me up by kissing me again.

Our mouths crushed together roughly, only for him to soften the contact almost immediately, even as his hand plowed through my hair a moment later to clutch my braid in a brutal grip. His lips plundered and stole every thought from my head.

I streaked my hands up his chest, then under his arms and down the back sides of his torso before smoothing them around and gripping his ass, encouraging him to press his erection against me.

When he did, I broke my lips from his with a gasp, and he started to kiss his way down my neck.

He gripped my hips and lifted me onto a nearby counter so he could step between my thighs, but my tulle tutu caused him to scowl down in confusion for being in his way.

Furrowing his brow, he shook his head and looked up into my eyes. “And what’s with the fucking song?”

“Song?” I repeated in a daze, pretty sure I didn’t even know what a songwasanymore. Or my name. “What song?”

“The song! The fucking song you had Younger sing.”

“Oh.” I started to cringe, only to catch myself and lift my brows in utter innocence. “What about it?”

Parker narrowed his eyes. “Are you serious right now? Why did you have to go and pickthatgoddamn song?”

With a loose, careless shrug, I alluded, “Because I like it.”

He growled, looking pissed. “Well, you know what you’ve done now, don’t you?”

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