Chapter 21
DELANEY
I couldn’t take it anymore.
Doubling down on the whole anticipation theme, Parker didn’t so much as touch me as we shared a glass of wine in front of the fire, watching as snow continued to fall outside.
When we shared leftovers for dinner with no hope of ordering out in this storm, he answered all of my questions.
Asked some of his own. But was, unfortunately, the perfect gentleman.
At one point I considered making the first move myself, but it became almost a test of wills. I could restrain myself as well as the next guy. Parker being the next guy in this particular situation.
But enough was enough.
“What do you think?” I asked him as we cleaned up the kitchen. “Time for that spiked hot cocoa now that the sun is down?” Before he could answer, I bolted from the kitchen and up the stairs, calling down, “Last one in their suit is a rotten egg.”
Nothing like a bikini to push the balance of power a bit.
Changing into my suit, I took a peek in the full-length mirror. As much as I wanted to cover up with a towel, that didn’t jive with my goal of getting Parker to make good on his chair lift promises. Instead, I grabbed a towel and carried it out of the bedroom with me.
His bedroom door was closed across the hall. Peeking over the balcony and not seeing Parker downstairs, certain he was inside, I walked to the door and lifted my fist to knock. At that exact moment, his door opened.
Standing in front of me with nothing on but his bathing suit, Parker also carrying a towel, whatever I’d planned on saying to him fled straight out of my head. He looked me up and down, as I’d just done to him.
Remembering the sweet torture of the past few hours he’d put me through, I decided a taste of his own medicine was in order. Spinning from him, making sure to give Parker an unobstructed view of my backside, I hurried away and smiled to myself, hearing Parker’s mumbled epithet.
“Hot chocolate and Baileys?” I asked, pulling two coffee mugs from the kitchen cupboard.
“Something tells me I’m being punished,” Parker said as he emerged from the stairwell into the kitchen. I’d lit a candle on the center of the island, and with just a few lamps and the fireplace for light, the place was even more romantic now than it had been with a view of the storm.
“Maybe a little,” I admitted as I made our hot chocolates. “I think I want a ski chalet. I’ll admit that was never on my bucket list, but this place just has such a vibe.”
“A multi-million-dollar log cabin with a clear view of Crystal Peak? I’d say that’s probably on most people’s bucket list, skier or not.”
“Would you rather this view or the one at Heritage Hill? Of the lake?”
Finished with our drinks, I turned to catch Parker staring at my ass.
“Can I suggest a third option?” he said as I handed him a mug.
“No.” I laughed. “Has to be one of those two.”
He made another sound, and maybe, just maybe, Parker was regretting his “anticipation of pleasure is often as good as the pleasure itself” stance.
“I’d choose the lake.”
With what I was sure was the biggest smile on my face, I grabbed a towel with my free hand and made my way outside, immediately regretting not having wrapped it around me first. It was freezing, but thankfully the porch roof kept most of the snow away.
Stepping through stray flakes, I made it to the hot tub.
It was only after we both scrambled into the tub that I realized it had magically uncovered itself. “When did you take the cover off?”
“When you were in the bathroom, just before you suggested coming outside,” he said, taking a sip of spiked cocoa.
I did the same, watching how falling snow was reflected in the white bulb lights. So pretty. And then I looked at my companion.
An even better view than the snow.
His bicep muscles flexed as Parker raised the mug to his lips.
“You had the same idea as me?” I asked.
“Ripping off your bathing suit and having my way with you?”
“No,” I teased. “Coming out here.”
“I did,” he said. “Great minds and all that.”
I tilted my head to the side. “We really do have a lot in common.”
“Tell me what else you like to do in your spare time.” He took another sip. “Besides your art.”
“I like to read. And hang out with my friends. Eat Mom’s homemade meatloaf. Girls’ trips. Drink wine and vodka sodas. Hit the gym. Stuff like that.”
“Any outdoor activities?”
I thought about that one. “I did have a good time skiing today. I can’t believe I went on two intermediates.”
“I can. You’re a natural.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“How’s your cocoa?”
“Delish. Almost gone though.”
“Good.”
One second, I had a coffee mug in my hand. The next, it was gone. Parker put both of our mugs on the top of the tub’s flat surface and, on his way back into the hot tub, reached for me.
“I didn’t have straddling you in the hot tub on my bingo card when I decided to come on this trip,” I said.
Wrapping my arms around Parker’s neck, I adjusted my legs, finding it a surprisingly comfortable position. And one that told me exactly how much Parker wanted this as much as me.
“No?” He reached around my back, pulling me closer. “I did.”
With that, Parker kissed me.
Finally.
And it wasn’t just any kiss but one that consumed me, entirely. Our lips melded together, tongues both insistent, as Parker pulled me even closer. Not surprised to feel the straps of my bikini come undone and my bare breasts surrounded by water, I grasped at Parker’s hair just as he pulled back.
“I want to see that pretty face,” he said, Parker’s thumbs rubbing over my nipples. “When I make these hard beneath my fingers.”
“You are a dirty boy, Mr. Parker Scott.”
“And I’m gonna get a hell of a lot dirtier,” he said, playing with me. I pushed against his hands, wanting to feel them cover me.
Parker complied.
“Tell me,” I said, liking the verbal foreplay more than I could have imagined. Who would have thunk it? Nice Parker, a dirty boy.
“The second this hot tub turns off, I am going to lift you out of here, carry you to my bedroom and dry you off. I’ll make sure to save your sweet pussy for last so I can spend some extra time there.
And then I’m going to make you come first with my fingers, second with my tongue and a third time?—”
The hot tub shut off.
Making good on his words, Parker lifted me to standing. He was out of the hot tub, towel around his waist, before I could hardly register what was happening.
“Time to go, cupcake,” he said, standing on the platform and holding out his hand.
I took it.
Before I could climb all the way out, he picked me up as if I weighed as much as one of the errant snowflakes that had made its way into the hot tub. Grabbing my towel, he handed it to me and carried me—literally carried me—into the house.
“I thought it was a figure of speech,” I said as Parker made his way inside. “I’m not a bride, you know,” I teased.
And for the briefest of seconds, I imagined what that would be like. Parker’s bride.
Geez Louise, slow down there, Delaney.
“Oh, I know exactly what you are,” Parker said as he climbed the stairs. Shivering, I pulled the towel up over my shoulders.
“Do tell,” I said, unable to look away. His eyes were usually warm, but right now, they blazed with need. The fact that I did that to him made me want this even more. As if such a thing were possible.
“You are”—he pushed his bedroom door open with his foot—“smart. Funny. Bubbly. Creative. Sexy as hell.”
He put me down and immediately grabbed the towel to dry me. “And mine tonight.”
Parker didn’t seem to be cold despite the fact that he was still wet. Thankfully, a bedside lamp allowed me to see every line in his stomach, every flexed muscle as his hands worked their magic all over my body until he tossed the towel to the side.
Tearing my bikini bottoms off, Parker groaned as he looked at me.
“You are goddamn perfect, Delaney.”
With the same speed and efficiency as he’d dried me, Parker did the same to himself, taking off his wet bathing suit and tossing it onto the towel.
I looked down.
Very erect. “You are kinda perfect yourself,” I murmured a second before finding myself carried once again, this time to the bed.
Putting me down, Parker climbed in next to me. As he pulled me toward him for a hard, demanding kiss, I wasn’t surprised when his hand began at my shoulder and moved down, cupping one breast before going lower, and lower.
Slipping one finger inside, he began to move it to the same rhythm as his tongue. Soon, a second finger joined in the fun and Parker had me writhing beneath his movements. I didn’t want to know how he was so skilled at this.
“Mmmm.” I couldn’t get enough of him, pushing my hips against his fingers.
“Do you remember,” he said, breaking the kiss and whispering into my ear, “what I told you in the hot tub?”
Swallowing, I made a sound that was maybe sort of a “uh huh” but more just a moan.
“Good, because you are so fucking wet for me, Delaney, that I’m pretty sure three times is just going to be a start. I’m going to make you come so many times tonight that you’ll wonder how such a thing was even possible.”
I was so close to number one already.
“Parker,” I said softly.
“Louder,” he said, his thumb circling as his fingers worked me.
“Parker, please.” My hips thrusted up toward him.
So close.
“Louder, cupcake,” he whispered.
That did it. Exploding into his hand, I let go so completely that, if we did have neighbors, they’d have heard me call his name.
That he did that with his fingers wasn’t something I could comprehend at the moment.
Kissing me as he pulled out, Parker’s lips soft and soothing now to match the ebbing throbs that were fading quickly, he suddenly broke away again.
“I’m glad you remember,” he said, sliding down in between my legs. “Look at you. Dear God, those breasts. And hips.” His hands moved to each body part he talked about. “Your legs are so smooth, just like this,” he said, leaning down and kissing me at the top of my bikini line.
“Where did you come from?” I asked as his kisses moved lower, and lower.
“Hamlin. New York.” Another kiss. “Pretty sure I told you that,” he teased, his hands moving to the inside of my thighs. They paused. “If I remember correctly, I promised to make you come this way only after you begged me for it.”
Remembering his exact words on the ski lift, I asked anyway. “Really? I don’t recall.”
“I do,” he said, Parker’s voice low and husky. “Say please, Delaney.”
His mouth was no more than an inch or two from me. Seeing him between my legs this way, the aftereffects of an orgasm that he’d brought on with his damn fingers… I almost said the word. But didn’t, just to torment him back.
Smiling, I lifted my chin in the air and braced myself for his reaction.
“If you want me to bury my face in this sweet pussy of yours and only come out until the last time you called my name sounds like a whisper… say please.”
Man, he was so dirty.
I loved it. Absolutely, unequivocally loved it.
Rather than waiting for Parker to pull my legs wide, like he’d promised, I did it for him. Looking down, he groaned. Closed his eyes. And then played dirty.
Parker’s tongue started in the corner of his mouth and, as he opened his eyes and stared directly at me, it glided across his lower lip.
Enough was enough. The sight of him between me, licking his damn lips…
“Please.”
Making good on his promise, Parker pushed my legs so they bent at the knees and opened me even wider.
And then absolutely plunged his tongue inside me without warning.
It was only a second later that he withdrew and began to use his tongue to play me like a fiddle.
Gripping the sheets, I tossed my head back, unable to watch him anymore.
I couldn’t possibly be ready to come so quickly already.
But I was.
His tongue pressed, circled and licked in ways I never even thought possible. “Parker, please,” I said, not caring if I begged. Wanting to. Wanting him to make me come again. “Holy shit, are you serious right now?” I managed.
In response, he increased the pressure, his thumbs rubbing circles on my thighs as his tongue absolutely ravished me. Lifting my hips, I asked for more without words.
I couldn’t talk anymore.
My legs began to shake. The tension built and built, and the only thing I could hear was the pounding of my own heart. And maybe the moans of pleasure that may have included a few more cries of Parker’s name.
And then everything came apart. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the comedown that took longer than usual. I had never, ever, ever come that hard in my life.
When I finally did open my eyes, Parker was gone. It only took a second for me to realize he was reaching for a condom on the nightstand. I watched as he unwrapped it and slowly covered himself, not something that I’d usually associate with being erotic, but this time?
It was the way he looked at me.
“Now that,” he said, climbing back into the bed, “was hot.”
Words escaped me.
“Let me try to remember what I promised you. Oh, yeah, I never did get to finish, did I?”
I shook my head. “No. You didn’t.”
“What I meant to say was that the third time will put the first two to shame. That I would fuck you like you’ve never been fucked in your life.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“Delaney?”
“Uh huh?”
“I’m waiting.”
He was waiting for me?
“For?”
“For you to give me permission.”
“To fuck me?” I managed, not usually one to use that particular term. Parker apparently brought out my dirty-talking side too. Kind of.
“Yes, cupcake. To fuck you. And then later, to make love to you.”
As if I could speak. I nodded my head, and Parker came down toward me.