Chapter 24
Parker
I’ve been riding a high since Lily and I kissed. I’ve had a permanent smile on my face since it happened. My coworkers noticed and have given me so much shit but I don’t care. I’m truly happy and not just faking it for the first time in years.
When Lily left for school, I would go back to the spot in that empty field by myself and just lay in my truck bed looking up at the stars hoping she would come back to me. Wishing on every single light in the sky that she would be back. But she didn’t.
Instead, she stopped replying to my texts, and when she came back home for Thanksgiving it was like a switch flipped. She didn’t want to talk to me, avoided me at all costs. Even when I tried, she told me to go away.
And I did.
Like an idiot.
A young, dumb idiot. I thought it would be best, whatever her reason to put more distance between us would be better for both of us. It’s what she wanted, and I always give her what she wants even if it’s not what I want.
But she’s coming back to me.
“Franki, please be nice to Lily. I don’t need to scare her away even more than I already have,” I tell my feral kitten who responds with a hiss.
Yesterday, she stole a piece of cheese right off my plate I was eating. Then looked at me like I’m the problem.
I hear Lily pull up and go outside to meet her in the driveway. She gets out of her car and looks up at my house.
“What?” I turn to look where she is to see what she’s staring at.
“I just realized I’ve never seen your house.”
“Good thing that’s going to change.” I smile.
“I’m here for one reason, and one reason only,” she states, firmly. “You said please.”
“Is that all it takes? Because I’ll get on my knees and plead for you every day.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” She smirks.
I want to pull her into me and kiss her senseless again. The temptation is so overwhelming, but I manage to stop myself. Instead, leading her inside and crossing my fingers we aren’t about to be greeted by Franki launching herself at my face.
“What exactly is the cat emergency?” Lily asks as we walk inside. The little orange devil sitting on the edge of the counter with her tail wrapped around her paws.
Technically there’s no emergency, it was just an excuse to get you over here.
“Look at her.” I stretch my hand out in the direction of my cat.
Lily raises an eyebrow, looking at Franki then back to me. “She seems fine.”
“She’s lying.”
“Right.” She nods, walking over, and putting her hand toward Franki who sniffs it, bumping against her fingers and then allowing Lily to run her hand along her fur. “Seems perfectly fine to me.”
“That’s what she wants you to think, and then when you least expect it she attacks.”
Lily and Franki seem to give me the same look that indicates they think I’m crazy.
“Yeah, I guess she just doesn’t like you because she’s fine with me.” Lily starts petting her with both hands, and I can hear Franki’s purring from here.
I reach out to try and pet her as well, but she bats at my hand with her paw.
“I like you,” Lily says affectionately to the kitten.
“What about me?” I raise an eyebrow.
Her face twists. “I’m still deciding.”
“You know you never told me what happened to make you hate me.” I fold my arms across my chest. I didn’t plan on confronting her about whatever changed between us, but I can’t help it.
Lily isn’t a stranger to giving me mixed signals, but she always ends up making her feelings extremely obvious. Her face always gives away how she’s truly feeling. Except lately because she kisses me, then ignores me. Comes over but acts like there’s still bad blood between us.
If we’re going to have any chance at anything then I need to know what I even did.
Lily scoffs, looking only at Franki. “You know exactly what you did.”
“No, I really don’t, so if you want to enlighten me, Lil, that would be great.”
She looks at me, the fight is back in her eyes. “I call bull shit.”
“You can call it anything you want, but I still don’t know what I did. It’s like a switch flipped one day, and it’s never flipped back.”
“I saw you, okay?” Lily snaps.
“Saw me? You’ve seen me lots of times.”
She groans. “Oh my God you’re so annoying. I saw you practically dry humping Bree when I came home from school after a month.”
I rack my brain trying to remember what she’s even talking about. I went out a lot after she left because I was lonely and trying to fill an unfillable void, but I didn’t touch another woman like that.
“Are you sure it was me?”
My question is clearly the wrong one to ask.
“Oh my fucking God, Parker, I’ve known you my entire life, of course it was you! And don’t act all innocent when everyone in town knows what a whore you’ve turned into without me.”
I clench my jaw at the reminder of my fake reputation around town. It’s never bothered me; I never cared until this very moment. For some reason I can’t even find it in me to deny it right now.
Partly because she’s even hotter when she’s a little mad at me.
“I don’t know if you remember, but you’re the one that left,” I goad.
“And you don’t seem to remember that you had no problem jumping into bed with the first girl you saw!”
I step closer to her. “I was upset.”
“Yeah? So was I, but I didn’t fall on the first dick I saw. And trust me, there were plenty of willing dicks around.”
I shouldn’t be biting back a laugh, but she’s so worked up, and it’s adorable. Especially when she’s so so wrong about what she saw.
“No? You just waited to flaunt your shitty boyfriend in my face.”
“Well, I had to see you all over Bree fucking Sherman. I came back because I missed you. I was willing to come back home and stay. But that changed real fucking fast.”
I stand up straighter because this is the first I’m hearing that from her.
“You what?” I close the distance between us, our bodies less than an inch apart. She’s trapped between me and the counter but doesn’t seem to mind.
“Yeah, okay. I came back willing to stay. But then I saw you with her and I realized I was alone in my feelings.” Her anger seems to be fading, and the sadness is taking over. But I refuse to let it.
“You’re wrong,” I insist. “You’re so wrong about everything.”
“I wouldn’t say everything. I’m usually the one that’s right about everything,” Lily grumbles.
“Well not this.” I hesitate for a second before admitting something I never thought I’d have to admit to her, or to anyone. “I haven’t been with anyone since you.”
“And another thing, I don’t—What?”
“I haven’t slept with anyone since you left.” My mouth feels dry at my admission.
“There’s some loophole, right? Like since you used a condom it doesn’t count or something?” she squeaks, looking down between us, seeming to notice how little space I’ve left.
I shake my head. “Nope.”
“But you’ve done other things. Like everything else…right?” she whispers the last word, and I can’t tell if she’s hopeful for my answer or scared.
Again, I shake my head.
“You’ve…kissed someone else though?”
“Almost, but no.”
“But that means…you…and me, we’ve…I—” she stutters.
“That you’re the only woman I’ve been with, yeah. First, and last, Lil. It’s always been and always will be you.”
Her jaw drops, and before I can fully register what’s happening Lily is launching herself at me. Her arms wrap around my neck, and her lips are on mine in a searing kiss.
I pull her into me, gripping her waist roughly, and holding her body against mine. My hand slides up her back into her hair, gripping the soft strands at the root, pulling a moan from her. I swallow the noise greedily as my tongue invades her mouth. She opens for me easily, and I grip her harder.
She gasps when I move my mouth to her jaw, then to her neck, kissing and nipping at her skin, trying to take as much of her in as she will let me. She moans again when my teeth graze the spot on her throat that’s always been sensitive. I smirk, knowing it hasn’t changed.
Lily’s voice is breathy when she speaks as I continue tasting her skin. “I guess since it’s been so long for you, you’re a bit out of practice.”
I scoff, pulling back and seeing the sassy little smile on her face. “I am not.”
“It’s okay if you don’t remember how to do it or are a little quick to the trigger, I won’t give you shi—” She cuts herself off with a sharp moan when I tighten my grip on her hair, yanking it while she anchors herself with her hands on my shirt.
“I’ll prove to you just how out of practice I am,” I practically growl.
Using my hold on her, I flip her around, pinning her against the counter. Her hands slap onto the stone to keep herself steady. I drop my chin to her shoulder, moving her hair away from the side of her face to speak directly into her ear, keeping my voice low.
“Do you think I don’t remember how to make you come?”
Her fingers curl on the counter, but there’s nothing for her to hold onto. “No, you probably lost your touch.”
I chuckle darkly. “Trust me, I could never lose my touch.”
“Prove it,” she breathes.
I rest one hand onto her stomach, holding her in place, pressing my groin against her ass.
I’m sure she can feel how hard I am, and how much I want her.
I may end up coming just from the feel of her if I’m not careful.
My mind has played all the memories of her for years; feeling the real thing again may make me lose it.
My other hand snakes down to her waistband, grazing the skin just under the fabric, waiting to see how she’s going to react. If she’s going to slap my hand away or want more.
I push even further, now feeling the soft fabric of her underwear. I can feel how wet she is already, and I can’t help but bite down on her shoulder to stifle a groan.
“Are you scared?” she goads, thrusting her hips forward the smallest bit to try and coax my hand further.
“Not at all.” I cup her over her underwear, rubbing my palm over her clit. She cries out, and I feel the way her knees buckle, but I keep her upright with my body pressed against hers. “Tell me something, Lil, could he even make you come? Or was I the last?”
She turns her head to the side, her lips quirked. “Do you want all the dirty details?”
I scowl. “No. I want to make you forget everything that isn’t me.” I move her underwear to the side, running a finger along her entire soaking slit. When I make contact with her clit she moans, pushing against me. I move back down, pressing the tip of a finger just inside her.
My hips thrust involuntarily, my dick wanting to be the one feeling the tight wetness currently trying to engulf my finger. “Oh fuck, Lil,” I groan.
I push my finger in even deeper, and she moans, leaning back against me. Her soft voice breathes out, “Parker.”
I close my eyes for the briefest moment before opening them, not wanting to miss a single second of this moment with her.
“Yeah, Lil, tell me how it feels.”
She whimpers and the sound almost has me ready to combust myself. My free hand moves up her body, cupping her breast in my hand and she arches against me even more.
“More,” she pleads, and I swear I’ll give her anything she wants or needs. When she’s in my arms, I’ll lay down my life to give her anything in this world.
I push a second finger into her wet heat, and groan against her ear at the feeling. She grabs onto my arm, and for a second, I think she’s going to push me away. But she just holds me against her even tighter. When her head turns to the side, I waste no time crashing my lips onto hers.
She opens for me on a gasp, and I thrust my tongue in at the same time my fingers do the same.
I taste every inch of her mouth while fucking her with my fingers.
She reaches back, wrapping an arm around the back of my head, pulling my hair to hold me closer and kiss me deeper.
She meets my tongue with her own, rubbing them together while our moans mix along with the wet noises coming from my fingers in her pussy.
My palm makes contact with her clit and I work her body harder while our mouths stay sealed together. Lily’s cries get louder, and I know how she feels when she’s close. Especially when I curl my fingers inside her and she moans so loud it breaks our kiss.
“You going to come for me?” I ask, already knowing the answer with how she’s moving against me.
“Fuck, Parker,” she moans. It’s the best sound I’ve ever heard.
“Yeah baby, what do you need?”
“You, more, please,” she pleads seconds before I feel her tighten around me, and she’s coming with a loud cry.
I try to hold back my own orgasm, I really do. But the combination of feeling her, hearing her, and it being Lily—My Lily back in my life again—I don’t stand a chance, and I’m groaning with my own release right into my pants. Thrusting against her ass once as I come.
We’re both breathing hard, and when she turns to look at me, the smirk on her face has me ready to kiss her senseless again. Even more when she speaks. “Guess I was right, your stamina can use some work.”