Page 85 of Mother Parker
“I’m sorry, Hwan. I’m so sorry. I know you can take care of yourself, and I didn’t mean to imply you couldn’t. I just…couldn’t stand the idea of you in danger, all alone up here. If anything were to happen to you, I’d never forgive myself. I was only trying to protect you. That’s my job. To keep you safe,” he said.
I tried to say something, anything, but I was too dumbfounded because I honestly didn’t believe he’d come after me, let alone apologize.
“You were right. You can’t hide away and let them win. But I also know I couldn’t sleep if you were here on your own. So…”
He dropped his backpack on the floor next to me, and it jump-started my oxygen supply.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m staying here until we catch those assholes. If you don’t mind,” he said. “I know you can take care of yourself. Probably better than I can, but I’ll be honest. I’m quite selfish, and I’m only doing this so I can sleep better at night.”
All the shit from before, all the crap I’d thought of him, all the assumptions I’d thought were wrong, they all dissolved, and that skip in my heart returned tenfold.
Fuck. Stop it, heart.
“Sleep. Hm. Is that what we call it now?” I asked him.
He shrugged.
“I didn’t want to presume that what happened last night would happen again,” he said.
“Presume? Don’t go talking sexy to me, Mr. Dorothy, or I’ll have to ravish you,” I said, feeling the rumble building inside me.
“Do your worst, Mr. Rose,” he said.
The rumble spilled out of me, making me tremble with desperation.
I grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him into the apartment and onto my mouth. I just hoped I wasn’t pulling him into my heart too. I did not have time to fall in love. Especially with everything going on.
EIGHTEEN
PARKER
“I’m exhausted,” Hwan said, sprawling over the couch like dead weight.
I went to the edge where his legs were hanging like the Wicked Witch of the East sans the house and pulled his shoes off. He let out an almost erotic moan, which continued as I took his socks off.
The big sigh he let out gave me comfort that I could offer him just a little relief after such a stressful day.
“I don’t even have the energy to pull away,” he mumbled.
“Why would you pull away?” I put the shoes on the rack by the door and his socks in the laundry basket.
“Because my feet must stink. No. No must. They do. I can smell them from here,” he said.
I shrugged.
“They don’t.”
“Liar.”
“I’m not lying.”
“Then suck my big toe,” he said, shoving his foot in my face or trying to anyway.
“When I’m in the mood to barf, I will,” I told him, flicking his leg off me and towering over him so I could give him a big smack on the forehead.
“See? You did lie,” he said.
