19. Danny
19
DANNY
P arker: Can I be both?
I’ve read and reread those four words at least a thousand times, and I still have no idea what exactly she wants from me. I’ve told her I want her to be mine twice, and she’s rejected me twice. What the fuck else does she want? Does she expect me to hang around being her personal fucking booty call, but then refuse my touch in public like she’s ashamed of me?
When I left the garage, I was so fucking angry. She came to me the night before. She came to me . But when I kissed her, she acted like she was mortified to be seen with me. It might sound conceited, but I have never had a woman be ashamed to be seen with me before. Normally they want to drape themselves over me like they’ve become my own personal human blanket, but Parker, the only woman I’ve ever wanted to take everywhere with me, isn’t interested in my touch outside of the bedroom.
When she got back from work and texted me asking where I was, I told her someone called out sick and I was covering, but that was a lie. I didn’t want to have to see her, and I didn’t trust myself not to go to her during the night if I stayed at home, so I volunteered to do the annual kit service and hauled ass to work so I could hide like a fucking pussy.
I figured more time away from her would be good for both of us. But when she sent me a picture of her drawer full of toys and asked me to tell her what to use, it just made me more confused than ever, and honestly, that pisses me off.
I want to go full-blown Barnett Bulldozer on her, and it’s taking everything I have not to lose my shit and lock her in my house until she understands that she belongs to me. Only I don’t think she does.
Parker: Can I be both?
What the fuck does that even mean? I told her she was mine twice, and twice she never said a word, so why is she asking if she can be my woman and my best friend now? Is she just jerking my chain? Does she just want to keep me dangling as a convenient hard cock?
I couldn’t sleep after she texted me, and now it’s barely five a.m., and I’m forcing myself not to think about her by focusing on the world’s most boring and repetitive task. Usually we draw straws, and whoever gets the short straw has to pull an extra shift to do the kit service, but I volunteered because I’m hiding from the girl I’m in love with.
I’m a fucking pussy.
The rest of my team arrives at seven a.m., and Oz, Anders, and Buck all flash me concerned looks when Walt, the second team leader, tells them why I’m here early.
We’ve barely had a chance to start our usual team meeting before we get a call out and spend several hours fighting a fire at one of the big factories on the other side of the valley.
One of their machines caught fire, and the flames quickly spread, tearing through the large warehouse space and destroying everything in its path. Luckily the employees were only just arriving to start work, and no one was hurt, but the factory and most of the production equipment were destroyed.
Our shift is crazy busy for the next three days, so it’s our last full day before Anders and Oz finally corner me in the bunk room, matching concerned expressions etched across their faces.
“We’re worried,” Oz says bluntly.
“About what?” I ask.
“You,” Anders says.
“I’m fine,” I growl, waving away their concern.
“Bro, you’re obviously not fine. What happened?” Oz asks.
“Nothing happened, I’m fine,” I try to assure them.
“Is this about Parker?” Anders asks, the only person who’s aware of my feelings for her.
“Parker?” Oz questions. “What about her? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine, as far as I’m aware.”
“As far as you’re aware,” Anders says slowly, his brow furrowing.
“She was fine on Friday when I saw her.” I try for a light, nonchalant tone and fail, instead sounding angry.
“Woah, okay, back the fuck up.” Oz laughs. “You and Parker are a thing now? Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”
“Because we’re not a thing,” I growl.
“Are you sure of that?” Anders prompts.
“Pretty sure.” Nodding, I exhale, lifting my hand to scruff at my hair.
“So that’s it?” Anders asks.
“I have no fucking clue,” I sigh.
“Okay, you two are obviously talking in subtext right now. So, someone explain things to me,” Oz demands.
“I love her. She doesn’t love me,” I say succinctly.
“She what?” Oz sounds so shocked, it makes a smile tug at the corners of my lips.
“First night she came to town to interview with Penn and Bay, some stuff happened, and the next day I told her I wanted her. She didn’t say a word.”
“Fuck,” Oz rasps.
“Some more stuff has happened between us, and then on Thursday night she came to me, she crawled into my bed, and it was fucking perfect. The next morning, I went to the garage to go and see her. I kissed her, and she acted like she didn’t want to be seen with me. I asked her if she was mine, and all I got was fucking radio silence again.”
“If she came to you, then she wants you,” Oz argues.
Sucking in a sharp breath, I shake my head. “She wants the D, but she doesn’t want to be seen with me afterward.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Anders says calmly.
“Keep her on the D until she’s addicted,” Oz suggests like that’s a normal fucking thing. “Or put your baby in her. You could go the Barnett route and kidnap her until she gets that kidnapper love thing. I think that’s worked for at least a couple of the brothers.” Oz snickers.
“I don’t want to force her to want me.”
“You’re not forcing her, you’re just creating an environment where she can’t run away from you,” Anders says, shocking the hell out of me.
“You think this is a good idea?” I ask him incredulously.
“I think the two of you are dancing around your feelings for each other. You love her, Danny, you’re all fucking in, and I think she loves you too. Maybe a little forced proximity is exactly what you need.”
Looking between my friends incredulously, I shake my head, blinking to see if I’m hallucinating because there’s no way Anders, of all people, would actually suggest I kidnap Parker and keep her a prisoner until she loves me back.
“I can’t even with you guys. I’m not a fucking Barnett, and kidnapping is a felony.” I laugh, forcing a lightness I don’t feel into my voice, as I brush past them and get back to work.
By the time the B team has arrived to relieve us, I’m grateful that Parker will have left for work by the time I get home. I’m not ready to see her yet, because I still have no idea what the hell I’m going to do or say to her.
A part of me does want to give into my baser urge and just tell her she’s mine and refuse to accept anything else, but I don’t know if the risk of losing our friendship is worth it. I’ve even considered if agreeing to a friends-with-benefits situation might be worth it, because now that I know what she looks, feels, and smells like when she’s coming on my cock, I’m not sure I can go back to simply being platonic with her.
But if I can’t have all of her, I’m not sure I want just the parts she’s willing to give me. I want to own her. I want to possess her. I want to consume her, and I know I’ll be miserable if I have to spend the rest of my life holding back.
Her scent hits me the moment I open the front door, and my knees almost buckle with the punch of lust that barrels into me. Closing my eyes, I get myself under control, bypassing the living room and heading straight up to my bedroom.
The door is open, so I know she’s been in here, but I don’t care. I’d want her in here all the time if she was mine.
There’s something sitting on the bed, and as I close the distance, I see two Polaroid pictures and a Post-it Note. The note says:
Pick one. P xoxo
One of the pictures is clearly Parker in an innocent looking white panties and bra set, the other is a similar but slightly more risqué set, only it’s black.
Blinking, I pick up the two pictures, then the note. “What the fuck?” I whisper. Dropping my bag to the floor, I take the pictures and note and walk out of my bedroom and into hers. Laying out on the bed are the two underwear sets. The white set is as innocent as it looks in the picture, only in real life it’s much more sheer than it seems in the Polaroid. Sitting on top of the white set is a vibrating egg and a remote, and on top of the sexy black set is a small butt plug.
A garbled laugh of surprise bubbles from my throat as I stare at the things she’s set out for me to choose from. I don’t really know what this means, but I can’t help smiling. The angry, wounded male in me says I should walk away, but the possessive, slightly controlling man that wants to pick what she wears and how she gets to come is intrigued by this game she’s challenging me to play.
Leaning down, I scoop the plug and the black panties and bra off the bed and put them away. Then I take the remote for the egg and drop it into my pocket.
Turning, I start to walk away, but then I stop, go back to the bed, and grab the bra. Putting it back into her dresser, I find the cropped white T-shirt she was wearing in the very first picture I saw of her sitting on the hood of her car, and lay it out next to the panties and egg.
Going back into my bedroom, I write out my own note and then place it on her bed.
Just these, nothing else. D xoxo
Despite my anger and confusion, I’m a bundle of excited nerves for the rest of the day while I count down the hours until she gets home. She said we needed to talk, but talking doesn’t seem to work out too well for us. Actions do seem to speak louder for us, so for now, that’s all I want from her and all she’ll be getting from me.
Instead of cooking, I order Chinese food, then wait. When Bay texts me telling me she’s just leaving, I turn on the gaming console and insert the new game I bought for us to play. My dick is rock-hard at the idea of her sitting beside me on the couch in nothing but tiny see-through panties, the T-shirt that’s been the star of far too many of my wet dreams, and a vibrating egg sitting in her cunt waiting to be turned on.
I hear the burbling engine of her car enter the street, but I don’t get up to watch her climb out. Forcing myself to concentrate on the game, I don’t look up when the door opens or when she steps into the house.
“Hey,” she says, her voice sounding wary.
“Hey. I ordered Chinese for dinner, they didn’t tell me how long it’s going to be, but you should have time to take a shower.”
“Oh.” She sounds disappointed, but I don’t look in her direction, and it takes every ounce of my self-control to keep steering my car around the streets of the city the game I’m playing is based in.
I refuse to turn and look at her, but I hear some shuffling, then the sound of her kicking off her sneakers, before the stairs creaks as she starts to climb them. Swallowing thickly, I manage to stay looking at the TV, even though I have no idea what’s happening in the game.
Exhaling the moment I hear her bedroom door closing, I sag against the couch cushions, then adjust my hard dick. I don’t know what she was hoping would happen when she put those pictures on my bed. If she’s only interested in us being purely sexual, I’m going to need to figure out what the fuck I’m going to do. But she made the first move this time. She played my game for a week, so I’ll play hers. Then when we’ve finished playing, we’ll see who the winner is.
When the food arrives, I’m glad for the distraction. Grabbing plates and silverware, I lift the boxes of Chinese out of the bag and line them up on the counter, grabbing two bottles of beer before I climb onto one of the stools and wait.
I know we’d be more comfortable on the couch, or even at the dining table, but if she does as I told her to and only comes down in panties and a tiny shirt, then I don’t want a table to block my view of her.
My dick twitches excitedly when I hear her bedroom door open and the sound of her footsteps moving across the landing. After I took the remote for the egg toy, I did a bit of Googling and found the instructions on how the toy worked and the settings.
Pushing the button to bring the egg to life, I increase the vibration to level three and smile as I hear a shocked squeak come from upstairs.
Pushing the remote back into my pocket, I start to open the boxes of food, blatantly turning to watch her as she starts to descend the stairs. My hand freezes mid-air when she steps off the last step then turns toward me.
My eyes land on the shirt first. It’s just a hint too tight, hugging her tits and displaying her hard nipples that are clearly visible through the fabric in the most perfect fucking way. The shirt ends just below the curve of her breasts, and I’d lay money on the fact that if she lifts her arms into the air, there’d be a pretty epic view of her underboob.
Ignoring her face for the moment, I follow a path down her body, taking in the soft curve of her stomach and hips, then the tiny sheer white panties that are clinging to her bare pussy. A groan slips from my throat when I notice that the fabric has become even more sheer in the places that are already wet with her arousal.
Discreetly slipping my hand into my pocket, I find the speed button on the remote and press it three times. The moment the egg reacts, she throws her arm out to the side, finding the rail on the stairs and gripping tightly. A desperate whine slips from her lips, and unable to stop myself, I allow my eyes to lift to her face. She’s always beautiful, but as the egg pulses and vibrates inside of her, she looks wildly sexy. Her hair is wet, making her curls look glossy, lush, and dark. Her full, shiny lips are parted in a silent gasp, and images of the way she looked as she sucked our combined arousal from my dick fill my mind.
“Food’s here,” I croak.
Her eyes flare with excitement, then narrow in confusion. Did she think I’d jump her the moment I saw her dressed like that? I could, but I won’t, I want to drag this out and see what her endgame is.
“Do you want noodles and rice?” I ask, forcing myself to turn away from her delectable body and back to the food that’s going cold.
“Noodles, please,” she says sullenly.
Nodding, I scoop food onto both of our plates, completely ignoring her as she lifts herself onto the stool beside me.
“How’s your week been?” I ask, not really caring but needing to make small talk.
“It’s been okay. Busy. How was your week? We didn’t really get a chance to talk much.”
“Yeah, we don’t really take our cells with us when we go out on a job. The chance of losing them or them being damaged is too high. Plus, we all need to be present and aware, not distracted, so we tend to leave them at base.”
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” she agrees, picking up a pair of chopsticks instead of the fork I got out for her and starting to eat.
“Chopsticks?” I question, allowing myself to look at her again.
“It took me years to learn how to use them.” She shrugs.
We eat in comfortable silence for ten minutes, but I can’t help glancing at her bare legs and the growing wet patch on the fabric that’s covering my pussy from me. When the food is almost gone, I slip my hand into my pocket and change the setting on the remote, then smirk as Parker freezes, then visibly shudders.
“Oh fuck,” she pants.
“Do you want the last of the sweet and sour pork?”
Keeping my hand on the remote, I turn to look at her, then increase the speed again, watching as her eyes roll and her fingers turn white as she holds the counter so tightly. If it weren’t marble, I’m sure there’d be marks in the stone.
“N-n-n-no,” she gasps.
“Okay,” I say, keeping my own voice calm and relaxed. “I started playing the new game I ordered. Do you want to try it? We can do missions together,” I suggest calmly.
Her lips part, but her eyes squeeze shut, and for a minute I wonder if she’s about to come. Changing the setting again, I reduce the vibrations and watch as her eyes snap open. Glaring at me, her chest heaves up and down. “Seriously?” she snaps.
“What?” I ask, forcing obliviousness into my tone.
“Urgh,” she whines, slipping down off the stool, grabbing her plate, then stomping into the kitchen, muttering to herself under her breath the entire time.
Stifling my laugh, I collect my own plate and the leftover food and follow her into the kitchen. Putting the boxes in the refrigerator, I lean past her, close enough that my back is pressed into hers, my hard dick poking her as I rinse my plate off in the sink.
“Danny,” she says breathily.
“What’s up, Parks?” I ask, keeping my voice level and calm.
“Urgh.”
This time, I can’t help it, I laugh.