Chapter Two – I’m On Fire
Chapter Two
Parker
I’M ON FIRE
Performed by Bruce Springsteen
FIVE YEARS AGO
HER: If you’re available tonight, we’re having a bonfire at the beach. Feel free to join.
HIM: Will country music be blasted?
HER: Perhaps. But I’m not in charge of the music selection. I’m sure you could convince Rae to blast some of the crap you like that makes my ears bleed.
HIM: Or she’ll torture us all with her reggae.
HER: Reggae is growing on me.
HIM: There is absolutely no hope for you, Ducky.
HER: At least I’m willing to explore. You’re the one who refuses to change your mind once it’s set on something.
Fallon laughed at something her friend said as they returned to the beach from the restrooms. Her full lips were spread wide, eyes crinkling, as she tossed her long braid behind her shoulder.
Her hair was wet from the outdoor shower, and it had turned the color of deep honey or a warm whiskey.
The setting sun behind her shot it with amber highlights, giving her a halo and turning her into an angel.
Except, if she was an angel, she was more likely an archangel than the sweet, sitting-on-a-cloud kind. She’d have a fiery sword and armor, and she’d battle the world for her cause .
She’d always been that way, even as a kid, defending those she loved, the land she’d inherited, and her home with a fire absent from many of the adults in her life.
She may only be nineteen, but she’d seen more and taken on more responsibility than anyone I knew. But I was the only one in the crowd of college kids she’d gathered today who knew it.
Since coming to San Diego last year, Fallon had pulled on a different persona.
It was as if she was actively trying to forget her roots, trying to pretend she was just like everyone else when, really, she was an heiress.
The owner of a five-thousand-acre, five-star resort near the Sierra mountains.
It was under her mom’s guardianship at the moment, but when Fallon hit twenty-four, it would become hers.
As she approached the firepit her friends had built, half a dozen guys she called friends followed her with their eyes.
I watched them, fury building at the lust on their faces.
I hated it. Hated knowing exactly what was going through their minds because it went through mine all too often.
I wanted to shut them down, just like I shut my own thoughts down.
As Fallon took the beach chair next to me, I glanced over and nearly choked on the sip of water I’d just taken.
When I’d arrived at the beach, she’d been in a wetsuit, riding the waves on a magenta surfboard. I’d joined her, and we’d gone back and forth from shore to the outside and back for nearly an hour before we’d both called a halt.
Now, the suit was gone, revealing a tiny-ass bikini and miles of warm skin.
It wasn’t the fact it showed all her lean muscles and soft curves that had me choking.
I’d seen those before—seen them and tried to tame the beast inside me that wanted to touch and lick and savor them.
But tonight, it was the fact her fucking pale-blue swimsuit was practically transparent that had me pulling my T-shirt over my head and tossing it at her.
“Cover up,” I snarled.
Her eyes went wide as she caught the black cotton shirt. “Excuse me?”
I leaned toward her, placing my mouth close enough to her ear that I caught that enticing scent of her. Salty seas and wildflowers. Heaven and hell. “You might as well be wearing nothing, Ducky. That suit is fucking see-through. ”
It was still light enough that I could see the hint of color that bloomed over her cheeks as her eyes jerked down to her body and saw exactly what I had. What every fucking guy here had seen—rosy tips and hints of hair darker than the strands on her head.
She pulled my T-shirt over her head, dragging her hair out from the collar. By the time she met my eyes, she’d already recovered from the embarrassment. She shrugged. “It’s not like I’m showing something anyone here hasn’t already seen.”
My thoughts went dark. What the hell did she mean? They’d all seen her naked?
Fury and jealousy coursed through me.
She read my expression and laughed. “I didn’t mean they’d all seen me , Parker. You know better than that. I just meant female bodies in general.”
But I didn’t know it, did I? She was a sophomore in college.
She’d dated guys. She’d been texting me about the dates she’d been on since high school.
She’d asked me questions she should have asked her mom, but her mom wasn’t always in the right state of mind to answer them.
Lauren had been on a cycle of opiate addiction and recovery ever since I’d first met her.
All I knew was that I was grateful Fallon had never asked me about doing the actual deed. I wasn’t sure I could have handled knowing she was closing the deal with some guy who didn’t deserve her, who hadn’t earned the right to be at her side.
I wasn’t sure anyone would.
Not even you, dickwad , my conscience screamed at me.
Fallon turned to her friend who’d sat down on the other side of her. “You were right, Rae. Twenty dollars was too good to be true for my swimsuit.”
Her friend was curvy and tall with black hair that she kept wound tight in miles of tiny braids, held back with a thick band.
She’d been Fallon’s roommate in the dorms, and they’d moved to an apartment off-campus this year.
The last time I’d been in it, the place still had the bare-bones, second-hand vibe of starving students.
I was pretty damn sure not even Rae knew the truth about the size of Fallon’s bank accounts.
“Is it pilling already?” Rae asked.
“See-through,” Fallon said, quirking a brow at me. “Parker didn’t seem to appreciate it.”
“Parker needs to let the rest of us have our fun,” a guy across the firepit said with a sneer.
My muscles bunched, ready to leap across the flames and plant my fist in his face.
It was Will’s hand on my arm that stopped me. “Let it go, Park,” my friend said under his breath.
I whipped my eyes to Will’s face. The natural highlights in his dark-brown hair were the same color as the fire burning in front of us.
Thick and wavy, he had cowlicks that caused it to stick up in strange places whenever it wasn’t shorn down to his scalp.
Today, it was a mess from our time in the water.
He had his arm around a slim, warm-skinned woman with brown eyes, bright-purple hair, a nose ring, and tattoos dancing up both shoulders. I wasn’t crazy about Althea, but Will was head over heels in love with her.
I swallowed hard, trying to calm myself down, and did exactly what my best friend since the Naval Academy had told me.
I let it go. The twenty-something loser on the other side of the fire wouldn’t stand a chance if I decided to take him out, but I wouldn’t end my SEAL career just as it was taking off by getting arrested.
“Music, Rae!” someone demanded, and Fallon’s friend pulled a portable speaker out of her beach bag. She whipped through screens on her phone, and reggae filled the air. The beat was steady and sensual, turning the lighthearted day at the beach into something darker. Needier.
Rae pulled Fallon to her feet, and they started dancing. My T-shirt rode up along Fallon’s thigh, giving hints of that blue bikini, and I fought my body’s reaction to it. To her. To a woman I was here to protect and nothing more.
Eight years ago, I’d promised our dads I would always look out for her and keep my hands to myself while doing it.
She’d been in danger that day, targeted by men who were coming for her dad, and I’d been a green Academy cadet who thought he already knew everything about protecting people. Except, I hadn’t known shit, and the moment I’d left, the moment I’d turned my back, Fallon had nearly died.
I wouldn’t let that happen again on my watch. When I was deployed, there wasn’t much I could do about it, but she’d always be safe when I was here.
The sun dropped below the ocean, the waves crashed along the shore, and the breeze drifted in, bringing the scent of salt and seaweed with it.
Nights on the sand always brought back memories of not only BUD/S—where we’d been stuck in the moonlight, shivering and quaking with a RIB boat held above our heads—but also of my first mission as a SEAL.
The silence had been heavy after we’d landed and made our way up the darkened beach until it had been broken by gunfire.
I looked over at Will to see his face had turned serious as well. Would we ever get used to the memories? Or would each mission weigh us down a bit more? Would coming home always feel like we’d lost something of ourselves while we’d been gone?
As the night progressed, alcohol appeared as if from nowhere, and people started to pair off.
Hands were held. Kisses turned sultry. Most of the college kids here weren’t old enough to buy the booze they were drinking, and neither Will nor I could afford to have a furnishing alcohol to a minor charge, so I stood up and stretched.
Will did the same, bringing Althea with him.
“Time for us to go, Ducky,” I said to Fallon.
She spun in the sand, a smile on her face that hit me dead center in the chest like an arrow. Goddamn, why did she have to be so beautiful? She glowed with an energy, a vibrancy, that seemed to light up the night.
“You’re in town for a few more days, right? I’ll see you again before you ship out?”
I picked up her bag. “You’ll see me tonight. Let’s go.”
She huffed out a laugh. “You’re not the boss of me, Kermit.”
I just shouldered her bag, picked up her phone from the cup holder of the beach chair, and slid it into the sweatshirt I’d tugged on after giving her my shirt.
“Nothing here for you tonight,” I said, glancing around at the alcohol and entwined couples.
She put her hands on her hips. “I’m not twelve, Parker. No one sent you to watch over me.”
“One call, Ducky. One call, and I can guarantee Rafe will make sure there’s someone here watching you permanently,” I growled.
Rae’s eyes shot back and forth between us, a frown appearing between her brows. Fallon’s face paled, and she stepped closer, mouth drawn tight at my mention of her dad. She leaned in and whispered, “You know I don’t talk about that here. No one knows.”
Instead of arguing with her, I simply picked her up and tossed her over my shoulder like the sandbags they’d had us haul in training.
“Parker!” she squealed, pounding on my back.
I looked at Rae. “You coming?”
Rae’s lips twitched, and she pointed to the guy sitting in a chair next to hers. “No, I’m staying with Joren tonight.”
“Be safe, Rae,” I said and turned on my heel to follow Will and Althea as they picked their way through the sand toward the parking lot.
Fallon was still pissed, hollering and spitting like a wild cat, her hands smacking my ass.
“You realize that’s going to hurt you more than me?” I said, and she gave out another snarl of irritation.
Will was laughing as he opened the passenger door of his sports car for Althea. “I’ll see you tomorrow on base, Baywatch. Have fun with that.” He waved at Fallon.
I wouldn’t have fun in the way he implied. That was the last thing I’d do.
At my truck, I set Fallon down. When she went to sidestep me, I caged her against the back door. “Stop.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. “You tossed Dad at me, but what would your father say if I sent him a text saying you were manhandling me?”
“If you told him the truth about the entire situation, he’d likely applaud.”
She blew out an exasperated breath.
Our gaze remained locked, heat zapping between us, and I felt that tug deep in my chest again. She wet her lips, and the simple motion sent a pulse through my groin. An unacceptable reaction .
She was the one who broke first, looking out at the ocean.
The sound of the waves mingled with the music. Heady and strong.
Whispering temptations I’d never give into.
“I don’t want you here as my bodyguard, Parker,” she said. Her voice was low and husky, and when she turned to face me, the look in her eyes almost brought me to my knees.
Desire. Wild flames of it. Enough to consume me with just a single glance.
The pulse in my dick pounded furiously.
I ignored it.
“I’m not here as your bodyguard. I’m here as a friend, and a good one wouldn’t leave you alone with a bunch of drunk guys who only have sex on their minds.”
She raised a brow. “Maybe I have sex on my mind too.”
Her gaze fell to my lips, and the urge to give her what she wanted, what we both wanted, was far too strong. Far too dangerous.
I stepped to the side and yanked open the passenger door of my truck.
“Tacos will have to do for tonight.”
She rolled her eyes but climbed in. I tossed our shit into the back, and as I walked around to the driver’s side, I adjusted myself in my shorts.
It was a good thing my team would be deployed soon.
If I had another month here, I might just break. I might just be a goddamn SEAL who rang the bell and gave in to the undertow that was Fallon Marquess-Harrington.