Page 59 of Mother Parker
Did that mean Parker was interested in me?
Or maybe he was clueless that this was a date, and he really thought I wanted to get to know my employee better.
Crap. Maybe I should have made it more obvious.
“Great. Would you like to come to my place? I cancookfor you.”
Parker stared at me with a shell-shocked expression that made me want to reach up and touch his face, but I stopped myself.
“Okay. Yeah. Sounds good,” he said after moments of silence and when I thought I’d finally gotten my answer.
“Great. Great. It’s a date,” I said.
“I guess,” he replied.
I nodded and smiled, but my insides were about to burst.
Did I really have a date with Mr. Dorothy tonight?
Maybe he was still confused about what I meant.
Or maybe, he really is interested in me.
Only one way to find out now.
FOURTEEN
PARKER
Why am I doing this? I shouldn’t be here?
And yet, here I was. Standing at my boss’s front door—well, the back door since I was behind the café—dressed like an idiot in a fresh pair of black jeans and a black T-shirt and waiting for him to answer the door.
Of course, I could use my key and open the door myself since I had access, but it felt wrong to let myself in.
I didn’t know why I said yes. I didn’t dodateswith men. It just…wasn’t something I did. I wasn’t fucking gay, so why the hell was I here?
I guess the same hell that had made me almost kiss him.
Whatever this was, it wasn’t good. It wouldn’t help my hopeless case or stop me from fantasizing like he wasn’t a man and I wasn’t acting like a pubescent boy.
What are you really doing here, Parker? What? Are you hoping to quiet down those weird feelings by having dinner with him? Or are you hoping to get lucky so you finally appease the curiosity that’s been bugging you all your life?
I shook my head. Whatever curiosity that had been, it was in the past. I’d been with multiple women since then. I simply wasn’t gay.
“Hey.”
The door opened, and he peeked his head through with a beautiful face that looked like the light after a storm.
Shit. What is happening to me?
“Why didn’t you let yourself in? You’re lucky I heard you,” he said, opening the door wide, ushering me in, and through to the stairs that led to his apartment.
When I got to his apartment door, I stopped and waited, watching him as he climbed those steps looking…effortless, and he looked at me like I deserved kindness and joy.
“You do know how to open doors, don’t you, silly?” He pointed at the doorknob and smirked.
I couldn't breathe.
