Page 144 of Just This Once

He was sleeping like the dead. Like someone who’d never had problems sleeping at all. And it was beautiful.

Hewas beautiful.

Unconscious, there was a softer edge to him that made him look younger and almost innocent. All his seasoned, worldly, and shrewd cynicism must reside in his eyes, I decided, because with them closed like this, one could almost think he still believed in love and thought good would overcome in the end.

Smiling softly at sweet, sleeping Parker, I whispered, “I love you either way. Jaded or pure or anywhere in-between. You’ll always be my Grumpy.”

He didn’t stir, so I knew I hadn’t woken him. Reaching out, I caught a tendril of his hair between my fingers and played with it for a moment before letting go and crawling out of bed.

After visiting the bathroom and taking my morning rainbow of pills, I stepped back into his room, only to tip my head curiously. This was quite a room.

One whole wall seemed to be composed of windows with shades over them, and they wrapped around the sides. Then there was a couch and living room area with a back wall that made up a mini kitchen and bar. The place didn’t look like a bedroom at all, but more like a whole apartment or—I went to the window blinds and peaked out—a pool house.

A concrete pad surrounded a full-sized in-ground pool, and beyond that, an enormous awning connected to the main house with deck chairs and side tables sitting under it.

I blinked at the mansion on the other side of the pool and had to wonder why he’d brought meherelast night. Was this where he broughtallthe girls he took home? Did I not rate a stay in the big house?

I glanced back at the bed, chewing on my lip, and something in me melted when I saw him.

It didn’t matter where I rated on his scale. He’d cared enough to bring me home with him and nurse me through the night, and I loved him for that.

Turning back to peer out the window, I studied his house and tried to learn more about him from its architecture alone. This was a part of Parker I knew the least about—what he did away from the seven—and it felt foreign to me.

That huge mansion just didn’t vibe with the man whose arms I’d slept in last night at all. It seemed like something he’d bought because it was expensive and luxurious with a good resale value, not because it washim.

That pool was pretty sweet, though. I might have to take a dip in it before he kicked me off the premises. As I wondered if any pastfriendsof his had left a suit behind that I could wear, I glanced down at myself and lifted my eyebrows.

DidI need a swimsuit?

Parker was a single bachelor. His entire backyard was surrounded by a huge-ass stone fence and tall shrubbery.Peering out the window into the cloudy morning that wasn’t even full sunlight yet, I couldn’t spot any nearby houses whose neighbors could spy out their upstairs windows at me. So…

Decision made! I was adding a new item to my bucket list.

A giddy surge of uninhibited spontaneity took over, and I bolted barefoot toward the door, even as I peeled off the panties I was wearing and streaked buck-ass naked into the morning light. The sunrise was reflecting a golden gleam off the calm surface of the water, and I laughed aloud as I raced forward.

There was a diving board on one end, so I headed in that direction. Without slowing my pace, I dashed onto the board and hopped once to make it bounce, then I leaped out, doing a toe touch before bombing into the water with a huge splash.

I came up, simultaneously cursing and gasping.

But what a complete rush. Every pore on my body felt awake and alive, but every pore also felt how extremely cold early morning water was. Yikes. I would’ve thought this Texas heat would’ve warmed it to at least a mild tepid, but nope. The night had left it cool and invigorating. Goosebumps prickled my flesh, and my nips went hard enough to use as a shiv.

I swam the whole length of the pool once, determined to see this through. But it was so freaking cold, and I’d gotten very sensitive to temperatures lately. I’d make myself sick if I tried to make another pass.

So I set my hands flat on the patio edge before hiking up a knee and climbing out. Water streamed off me, and I spent the first few seconds wiping it from my face and squeegeeing wetness from my hair before I dropped my hands, able to see again.

And the first thing I saw was a child standing under the overhang to the main house, gaping at me with an open mouth and wide, unblinking eyes. He was wearing a pair of swimming trunks and had a towel hanging over one arm as if he’d beenplanning on coming out here for an early morning swim as well. The other arm was half gone, amputated just below the elbow.

Not expecting to seeanyone, much less a boy who was a complete stranger, I screamed and lurched in reverse, tripping and stumbling until I fell right back into the pool, windmilling my arms and legs ungracefully as I went.

Water enveloped me, invading my mouth and nose. I broke free of the surface a second later, sputtering and screeching. And the boy continued to just stand there as frozen as a statue as he stared at me with shocked fixation.

“What the hell?” Someone shouted before I could ask the kid who he was and what he was doing here.

With a gasp, I covered myself with my hands as best I could, only to find a bare-chested Parker in his sleep pants as he raced from the pool house to see what was happening.

“Parker!” I gasped, more relieved to see him than I’d probably ever been. “Get me a towel. Hurry.”

Completely ignoring the request, he stepped closer to the edge of the pool and squinted down at me. “Are you…naked?”

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