Chapter 61 Parker
PARKER
Irace into my room with trembling legs, my cell ringing again.
Whoever it is, whatever it is, it can’t be good.
Dread sits heavy in my stomach, eradicating any previous good feelings I had from my moment with Linc in the kitchen.
Fear floods through my veins the second I see Mom’s name on my screen.
I snatch it from my nightstand, swipe to connect the call, and press it to my ear.
“Mom?” I all but cry.
“Hey, sweetie,” she sings.
I frown.
“What’s wrong?”
“Huh?” she asks in confusion. “Nothing’s wrong.”
“Then why are you blowing up my cell like someone has died?” I ask, collapsing on the bed in relief.
“I just wanted to talk to you. I know it’s your day off, and you haven’t responded to any of my messages or voice mails, so…” She trails off, hurt evident in her tone.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, feeling like a chastised child. “Life has just been chaotic.”
“I know, sweetie. Between you and Rett, I can barely get a reply these days.”
Sadness wraps around me. I don’t want to distance myself from my parents, but unfortunately, I have a life now. A busy one that distracts me from touching base with them as often as possible. It also doesn’t help that I never know what time zone or country they’re in.
“I’m so incredibly proud of you both. And I can’t wait to see you. Give you both a big squeeze.”
A smile curls at my lips—not just at the thought of a hug from her, but also the image that pops into my head of my not-quite-five-foot mom hugging my giant of a big brother. It’s like a kitten trying to hug a bear.
“I know. I miss you guys too.”
I saw them briefly for the holidays, but no sooner had they arrived home than they set off again.
“Well, lucky for you, we arrived home a few hours ago.”
“What?”
“Parker, do you not even read the messages or listen to the voice mails I leave you?”
Guilt descends.
“It’s been a hectic few days, Mom.”
“I’m sure it has,” she deadpans. “So can I assume you know nothing of the table I have reserved for tonight?”
“Uh…”
She chuckles down the line.
“Seven at Papa’s Steak House.”
“O-okay,” I agree, my head spinning with all this information. I know it’s my own fault, but still.
“You can come?” Mom asks hopefully.
“Yeah, Mom. I can come,” I agree, excitement already fluttering.
Tears burn my eyes at the thought of seeing both of them.
I feel like I’ve coped okay these past few weeks after my life went up in smoke. But now they’re so close, I realize just how badly I need to see them.
“I’ve booked the table for four. Feel free to invite your new roommate.” As Mom says that, heavy footsteps thump my way before Lincoln appears in my doorway. He’s showered already and standing there with just a towel wrapped around his waist, the ink covering his torso still wet.
My chin drops as I stare at him.
Fuck, he’s hot.
And…mine?
“Parker, sweetie, are you still there?”
“Y-yeah,” I stutter.
“So, tonight…”
“Can I let you know about the fourth person?”
“Of course. I can’t wait to see you later. I want all the details about your new job. We’ve been watching all the games, spotting you by the bench on the TV.” I groan. “So proud, sweetie. You have no idea.”
“Are you in town for our next game?” I ask, knowing full well who it’s against.
“That’s one of the reasons, yes. I wasn’t going to miss a chance at seeing both of my babies down there, doing what they love,” she coos.
A mixture of excitement and anxiety collides in my stomach as I think about Linc facing off against Rett in a couple of days.
It’ll be the first time either of us has seen him since I moved in. Since we started dry-humping in his kitchen…
“It should be a good game.”
“With Linc and Rett playing? It’s guaranteed. I love watching my boys.”
My heart squeezes as I think of how Mom treats Linc like one of her own. She always has. He’s been a part of the family for as long as I can remember.
I lift my eyes from his abs and meet his curious gaze.
My stomach rolls. Are we going to ruin everything by doing what we’re doing?
“Me too,” I muse.
“So, seven tonight, yes?”
“Yes, I’ll be there.”
She squeals. “Oh, I can’t wait. Wear something pretty.”
I chuckle. “You got it, Mom. See you later.”
As I hang up and lower my cell to my lap, Linc continues to hover, looking like a GQ model in my doorway.
“Your parents are in town?” he asks excitedly.
“Yeah. They’ve invited me to dinner tonight.”
He pushes from the doorframe and moves closer.
“And you don’t want to go?” he asks, reading my expression.
“No, of course I want to go. It’s just…she invited my new roommate to join us.”
His footsteps falter.
“They still don’t know?” Something darkens his eyes. Hurt.
Fuck.
“I’ve barely spoken to them, as Mom was more than happy to point out. It just…it hasn’t come up. And also, I didn’t think it was a conversation to have over the phone. They’d tell Rett and—you haven’t told Rett either,” I point out.
Guilt flickers across his face, and he swallows thickly.
“Tomorrow night,” Linc mutters.
“We have to tell him.”
“Uh…”
I can’t help but laugh at his hesitation. “Lincoln Storm, are you scared of my big brother?”
“Would you think differently of me if I said yeah, a little?”
I shake my head, pushing to my feet and moving closer to him.
“You stepped up and took care of me in his absence. He’ll respect that.”
“I’m not sure he’ll respect what we did in that hotel room. Or what just happened in the kitchen,” he deadpans.
“No, probably not. But we don’t have to tell him everything.”
“You ashamed of me, pretty girl?” He quirks a brow.
“Maybe, or maybe I’m stopping you from ending up with a broken nose, or worse.”
“I can hold my own against Rett, babe,” he counters.
“Are you sure?” Rett is a D man, and he’s built. I swear, every time I see him, he’s bigger. He’s intimidating, even to his friends and family.
“I play with guys like him multiple times a week,” Linc argues.
“That’s different.”
“Yeah,” he confesses quietly, his eyes dropping down the length of my body before slowly moving all the way back up. “He’s going to kill me.”
“We don’t have to tell him yet. Not everything, at least. We can tell everyone I’m living here, that you took me in in my hour of need, and then the rest can follow once we know what’s happening.”
He takes a step forward, closing the space between us.
“I know exactly what is happening,” he states confidently before wrapping his hand around the back of my neck and drawing me in.
“You can wait as long as you want to tell people, but I fear I might just give it away. Now I’ve started, I’m not going to be able to stop.
” He seals his words with a kiss that has my toes curling into the carpet beneath me.
I melt into him, my hand sliding down his still-damp back until I can grab his ass.
He groans, thrusting his hips into me, proving his previous words to be true.
With his tongue teasing mine, he walks us backward until my calves hit the bed. Then he lifts me effortlessly from the floor and climbs onto the bed with me in his arms.
He settles me on my back and then shuffles between my legs.
Fire licks at my insides as my heart races.
His kiss doesn’t falter. It goes on and on as if he’s making up for all the years we haven’t been doing it.
But despite our position, he doesn’t push for more.
His restraint and desire to take this slow only make me burn hotter for him.
“Linc,” I moan, wrapping my legs around his waist in an attempt to get us closer.
“Pretty girl, you’re drive me crazy,” he groans, dropping to my side and pulling me into his body.
We make out like a couple of teenagers for the longest time. Our hands roam, learning each other’s bodies, tracing the lines and ridges.
It’s the thing my teenage dreams used to be made of.
And now it’s happening.
Lincoln Storm is in my bed, wearing only a towel, and his hands and lips are all over me.
It’s a heady feeling.
Throwing my leg over his hip, I pull us closer, gasping the second I feel him hard beneath the towel.
He pulls back from our kiss, his lips swollen, his eyes as black as the night, and his chest heaving.
Christ. I did that to him.
Tracing my finger over the intricate ink that covers his chest, I take in each piece that I’ve seen many times before.
I already know the reason behind many of them. But there are a few I’m yet to discover.
His breathing is labored as he watches me explore his body. His abs jump as I trace the lines of his six-pack.
I shift, allowing myself to continue down the design I’m working on, but as my leg moves over his, his towel becomes untucked. One side falls to the bed while I shamelessly continue pushing the other side away, leaving him exposed to me.
“Babe,” he warns as his hard cock bobs between us.
I stare at him. Hard and beautiful with moisture pooling in his slit.
Shuffling closer, I fully hook my leg over his hip, lining us up.
His mouth attacks mine as his length grazes my pussy.
Without breaking our kiss, he rolls me onto my back and settles between my thighs.
Oh yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
He pushes up, holding his weight on an arm planted on either side of my head.
His breath rushes over my skin as his eyes bounce between mine.
“I’ve dreamed about making you mine again every goddamn day for six years,” he tells me quietly, honestly.
“Linc,” I breathe, blown away by everything he’s confessed today.
“I know you can’t say the same, but that night was the best night of my life.”
He shudders as I drag my nails gently down his back.
“I learned a lot that night,” I tease.
“I shouldn’t have done it,” he counters, his conscience getting the better of him.
“I begged you.”
“And I discovered just how powerless I am when you start doing that,” he teases.
I roll my hips, letting the head of his cock drag over me. The thought of him painting me with precum has my inner muscles clenching around nothing.
I want him.
All of him.
No barriers or holding anything back.
Just him. And me.
“Linc,” I repeat.
“Yeah, pretty girl. What is it you want?” he teases, his own hips moving now, driving me wild.
“I’m on birth control. I’m clean, I—”
“Me too. I haven’t been with anyone since I was tested.”
I swallow thickly, wanting this so badly I’m terrified.
“This wasn’t how I planned it,” he confesses.
“You…you planned it.”
Biting down on his bottom lip, he nods almost shyly.
I smile, desperate to know what he was planning, but also on the brink of losing my ever-loving mind with the way he’s teasing me.
“A do-over. The way it should have been.”
I shake my head. Who is this man hovering above me, saying all these incredible things?
“Linc, I—”
His watch starts buzzing and he groans, dropping his head to my shoulder.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“That’s my alarm. I’ve got to go and meet my agent.”
“Really?” I balk.
“Really. He’s got some endorsement deals he wants to talk to me about. I’ve already put him off a few times.”
He dips low to steal another kiss before sitting up between my thighs.
Holy cow, I need a camera, because wow…just wow.
His hair is a mess where I’ve run my hands through it, his lips are still swollen, his chest still moving rapidly, and then…those V lines and what they lead to just waiting between my thighs.
I will never ever forget this image for as long as I live.
When I find his eyes again, I discover he’s just as distracted by my spread thighs.
“So…uh…” Ripping his gaze away from my pussy, he finds my eyes as his hand shifts to rub his neck. “About this dinner with your parents.”
“Uh-huh,” I mumble, unable to find any words.
“What time is it, and do I need to wear a suit?”