Page 42 of Must Have Been Love

And I brought it all on myself. Dear God, what have I done?

thirteen

HUDSON

I storm over to the door, ready to unleash the wrath of God onto whomever is on the other side, while simultaneously willing my hard-as-steel erection to go down.

Running my fingers through my hair in an effort to make it look like the most beautiful woman at this party hasn’t spent the last five minutes tugging it, I take a deep breath and open the door.

Parker is standing on the other side. “Been looking for you everywhere, man. Tried to call, but you weren’t answering.”

My phone is in my jacket pocket. On silent. “What’s up?” I ask, distracted by the knowledge that I almost got to slide inside the woman who’s been messing up my mind for the past few weeks.

“Ayda fell asleep on Autumn. She took her back to your place. Said to enjoy the party, she doesn’t mind staying there and babysitting.”

There goes my father of the year award. Autumn had insisted on watching Ayda this evening, along with her friend Francie, because she wanted me to – in her words –have a blast at the after party.

To be fair, I’d decided to give it an hour before I scooped my kid up and headed home. But then I got distracted – first by Sylvie who stalked me down, then by Skyler doing the most impressive air dive I think I’ve ever seen.

And now by her body. By all of her.

It hasn’t escaped my notice that I can still taste her on my tongue.

“She should be the one enjoying the party,” I tell him, but he’s not paying attention. Parker is looking at my waist, which seems a really fucking weird thing to do until I realize my shirt has been pulled out of my pants, and it’s more than a little crumpled. Saying nothing I tuck it in. “She’s the one who organized it after all,” I continue, like nothing has happened.

He’s still giving me a strange look though.

“I’ll go take over,” I tell him. “I’ll send her back.”

“Sure. I’ll walk you over.” Parker nods.

Shit. “Actually, I have a couple of things to sort here,” I lie smoothly. “It won’t take long, but I don’t want to hold you up. I’ll meet you there.”

“It’s okay,” Parker replies, as easy going as always. “I’m happy to wait.” He goes to walk into my office but I block him with my body. He blinks, surprised.

“No need,” I insist. “I don’t want to hold you up.”

But instead of leaving, Parker tips his head to the side. Then he leans forward and picks something off the cotton of my shirt.

A brown hair. He lifts it up and inspects it like it’s a diamond ring.

“Ayda’s,” I say.

He smirks at me. “And did she give you the hickey, too?”

“What?” I touch my neck. “What hickey?”

Parker points at my throat. “That one,” he says. “Say hi to her from me, whoever she is.” Then he turns on his heel and walks back down the hallway to the door that leads to the reception area.

I’m still touching my neck with one hand when I close the door once more, turning to face my desk.

Skyler is still hiding behind it.

“Did you give me a hickey?” I ask her. Before she can reply, I walk over to the mirror on the opposite wall to inspect my neck.

And there it is. The telltale redness on the skin.

She walks over to where I’m inspecting my throat. Her bodice is laced up again, though she’s still holding her panties.

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