Page 24 of Parker
“Yes and no.” A sad smile crosses his lips. “They agreed to us being wed within five years.”
So that’s what I am, a detour on his route to the altar. A final stop off. I screw up my face, trying to work out the math. “What age are you?” It seems crazy I haven’t asked him this before. We’ve been sharing a bed for over a week. With his coolconfidence and charm, I’d assumed he was older, in his early thirties.
“Twenty-eight.”.
“You were meant to be getting married this year?” His face falls as he pushes the next words past his lips.
“Tomorrow,” he mumbles. “I was meant to be getting married tomorrow at the Glasgow Cathedral.”
My jaw drops as I look at him, stunned into silence. Tomorrow. Not next month. Not next year. Tomorrow. I thought I’d left my panic attacks in the prison yard, but right now, every breath I take tastes of betrayal.
“Joel, when did you cancel the wedding?” My heart feels as if it will explode any minute, and my hands shake of their own accord. “Joel,” I prompt.
“Six weeks ago,” he says, and I relax slightly. “It’s not so much canceled as postponed. Eliza and I decided we needed to be sure. It’s an enormous commitment.” Six weeks. Better than tomorrow, but not great. Still, postponed isn’t exactly canceled, is it?
“No shit, Sherlock,” I spit out. “So, you’re still together?” My mind reels at the realization. I will not be the other woman. Sickness bubbles in my throat as I wait for his answer.
He shakes his head. “No, we’ve taken a break. But she wants to go through with the wedding. I didn’t realize she’d developed real feelings for me. We always agreed that if we went ahead with the marriage, we would be free to pursue our own relationships. Our marriage would be purely transactional. Three months ago, she told me that she wanted us to be exclusive, she loved me, and wanted a real marriage. I can’t give her that.”
Taken a break. The phrase makes me uneasy. It’s a soft landing with unfinished business, rather than the clean break I hoped to hear.
“If you don’t marry her, what happens?”
“Our families will be at financial war. Every business deal and every conversation will be focused on ruining each other. My parents will probably disown me.”
Sitting on the side of the bed with his head in his hands, he looks miserable.
In my world, parents disown you for going to prison. In his, they disown you for falling in love with the wrong person. The stakes are just dressed differently.
My heart breaks, and I wrap him in my arms. We may have only been together a matter of days, but I love this man. It kills me to see him so distressed.
“I told my mother last week I won’t be marrying Eliza. Being shackled to a marriage where one partner is invested and the other is merely there because they must be isn’t for me.”
“What did she say?” I whisper, dreading the answer.
“She told me to be at the church tomorrow at eleven. They’ll all be there, and if I’m not there, then they will come and drag me to the altar. It was my duty as a Parker to marry her.”
My eyes hold his for a moment—they are filled with pain for him and his family. “The afternoon we met was the day I told my mother. I had to go to a meeting so I wouldn’t drink. And then I met you, and it felt like fate. I’d never been so attracted to anyone before. You got me, and I couldn’t let you go.” He strokes my face softly as he speaks, willing me to believe him.
“No wonder your mother was acting like a lunatic,” I say quietly. “Well, I suppose it would be best for us to get out of town before tomorrow then.”
His eyes widen as he looks at me. “You’re not leaving me? I drop this bombshell on you, and you want to run away together.”
I could run. The sane thing to do would be to protect my heart and walk away before this gets more complicated. But then I look at him, the man who has accepted my dark past without flinching, and I know I’m already in too deep.
“Mr. Parker, may I remind you, you’ve moved a woman convicted of manslaughter into your home within days of meeting her. Who you met through an alcohol dependency meeting, I may add. We both have complex stories to tell, but I know one thing.” I smile sexily at him and run my hand over his inner thigh. I watch as his cock hardens instantly beneath his boxers. “You’re the best fuck I’ve ever had, and I’m not letting you go without a fight.”
Chapter ten
Parker Fashion House, Glasgow
Joel
The boardroom is packed, bodies sweating beneath expensive suits. It’s a Friday afternoon, and my father has summoned us without warning. Anyone with an ounce of responsibility within the business is to attend an impromptu meeting today. The day before my supposed wedding.
In the corner, a mannequin stands draped in white silk. A wedding dress. No doubt a message about the wedding I won’t be attending.
I circle the room, nodding to each person. They speak politely, but don’t invite conversation.
