Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
PARKER
I added look into Ben to my list. It wouldn't be hard to get his information. The school district listed teacher information even if it was only their school email addresses. It was enough for me to start with, but it wouldn't hurt to get some context from Molly first.
"So Ben. Has he been teaching with you for long?" I filled the silence as we waited in my truck for the tow truck driver to show up.
"A few years. He started after me."
"Is he a third-grade teacher like you?"
From the little I had learned from Elle, the two of them shared students. Elle taught two subjects and Molly taught the other two. There were other teachers in their grade, but they worked as different pairings.
"No, he's a gym teacher."
"Ah." I left it at that, but of course Molly didn't. She turned to face me with an upturn of her lips.
"Are you jealous?!"
With an arm hanging over the steering wheel, I raised my brow. "Do I have a reason to be jealous?" It wasn't really an answer, but I was curious to see what led to that question.
"No. I don't even know why he made that comment about lunch. The gym teachers have their own teachers’ lounge on the other side of the school. He rarely comes to ours unless their soda machine is broken."
So the man was trying to get under my skin. Even more reason to look into him. He had a crush on my wife. That was easy enough to see.
"So you're not interested in him?"
"Oh my God." Molly lightly slapped my arm. "You are jealous. And you sound like Elle. Ben doesn't like me. He's just a nice guy."
I also added talk to Elle about Ben to my list. I was interested in her opinion now that I knew she had similar thoughts to mine. "You didn't answer my question."
"No, I'm not interested in him," Molly huffed. "There's no reason for you to be jealous. I married you, didn't I?"
A chuckle slipped through my lips. "You realize that's not the best argument, considering we were both drunk when we said our vows."
My wife waved me off. "Doesn't matter. I didn't ask for an annulment, and I agreed we should see where this goes. I wouldn't have done that if I was interested in another man."
Fair point. "And just for the record, I don't get jealous. I just happen to be protective of what's mine."
And whether Molly wanted to admit it or not, she was definitely mine.
"Does the Army breed possessive men? Rhett's the same way with Elle."
I let a cocky smirk transform my face. "I think it's a quality they require when you enlist."
Molly shook her head but changed the subject. "The tow truck just pulled in."
I already knew that. I clocked it before it even made the turn into the parking lot.
My head was on a swivel even if it didn't look like it.
It was part of that possessive gene she commented about.
There was no way I was letting anything bad happen to her.
She was my wife, and her safety was my responsibility.
"Give me your keys. You can wait here while I get this straightened out."
"So bossy." Molly rolled her eyes but handed me the keys anyway.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to me. "You'll learn to love my bossiness." I got out of the truck with a smile on my face, but I didn't miss the way her jaw dropped before I had turned away.
I made quick work of getting the tow truck driver situated. I got the name of the body shop he would be dropping it off to and grabbed Molly's purse and bag off the front seat.
"Did you need anything else from your car?" I asked as soon as I got back in the driver's seat.
"Uh, nope, that's everything."
"Then let's get home." I winked at her, fully realizing I used the term home to mean a place we lived together. We might've been taking things slow, but I was about to kick it up a notch.
The fifteen-minute drive to her house was silent. I couldn't tell if Molly was stewing or simply didn't want to talk. I did notice she was mutilating the corner of her lip again.
It wasn't until I pulled into her driveway and put the vehicle in park that I realized I couldn't take it anymore. "Are you going to tell me what I did to upset you?"
"Why do you think I'm upset?"
I scoffed, "Because you were silent the whole way home and tortured your lip like it personally offended you."
"That's the second time you said home like that."
Ah, so it was about that. "I did, and I sure as hell hope one day soon we are calling a place together home."
"What happened to taking things slow?"
I looked at her through one eye. "Apparently I suck at it." I leaned back between the seats and pulled a box back with me. "I planned on surprising you after work, and I brought you a little something."
I handed it over and waited for her to open in. "Chocolate?"
I simply lifted one shoulder. "What woman doesn't love chocolate?"
A small smile curved up on her lips. "Do you routinely buy chocolate for women you're trying to impress?"
Ouch. My hand flew to my chest. "No, you're the first. Before you, I didn't date.
Don't get me wrong. I was no saint, but my way of finding a woman was by picking her up at a bar.
Then we would go home, fuck, and maybe they would spend the night if they didn't leave right after.
I wasn't an asshole. I made some of them breakfast, but it was never more than that.
There was no second round. If I saw them out again, I turned down their advances. Once was always enough."
I took a deep breath. "You're different though and not just because I married you.
I want to spend time with you. I want to date you.
I want to know what it's like to see you after work each day.
And yes, I want to call someplace a home with you.
If that's moving too fast, well then, I'm not sorry for that. "
I didn't have the slightest idea when everything had changed. It was sometime between flying home that day and my conversation with my team this week. But I think it had more to do with her ignoring me for a week. It gave me plenty of time to wonder what could be.
Molly no longer looked upset by that. In fact, she appeared almost happy with my words. She gestured over her shoulder. "Let's get inside before my neighbors think we're weird just sitting here."
"Yes, ma'am."
I was out of the truck and at her door before she could open it on her own. I was a gentleman even though I never had a good example of that growing up.
Molly took my outstretched hand, with a smile, and we walked up the sidewalk to the front door together.
"Yoohoo." An older woman whistled from somewhere behind us.
"Oh, no," Molly groaned.
"What is it?" I stopped us and looked around. I was right about it being an older woman. A lady who appeared to be in her late seventies was shuffling across the street in a track suit straight out of the eighties.
"That's my nosy neighbor, Ms. Betty. She's going to talk our ear off if we don't escape her quickly."
I smiled down at her and winked.
"Oh, Molly." The older woman waved her arms in the air. "Who's the nice gentleman you've got there?"
"Ms. Betty is it? The name's Parker. I'm Molly's husband."
That stopped Ms. Betty in her tracks and almost caused the old woman to trip on the curb. I stepped up just in time to catch her. "You good?"
"Did you say husband?"
"Yes, ma'am. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get my bride into the house so we can spend some alone time together." I gave her a dazzling smile but used the time the woman was in shock to hustle Molly inside.
My wife had the good sense to keep quiet until the front door was closed. "I can't believe you just said that to her."
"What? it's the truth."
"You just implied we were coming in here to have sex."
"We'll get to that part. Just maybe not tonight." I stepped away before my dick decided to kick my ass. It was fully on board with what I said to the older woman, but unfortunately he wasn't going to get what he wanted. Not tonight anyway.
"I'm going to go change into something more comfortable. Make yourself at home in the meantime."
If a break was what she needed from me, then I would let her have it. For now, anyway.
I moved farther into her house and took everything in. The woman liked color, that was for sure. She also liked to be surrounded by stuff. No wonder she had balked at my place. We were the complete opposites in that regard.
"So this is what you meant by clean chaos?"
I walked around her kitchen. No dirty dishes in the sink. No food lying around. The garbage wasn't overflowing. Mail on the counter. More gadgets than any one person could possibly need spread across every free space.
The same could be said of the living room. Nothing was dirty, but there were more pillows and blankets than space.
"I told you our lives were different."
I turned to find Molly leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest and one foot over the other.
She was in a pair of sleep shorts with a slouchy sweatshirt hanging off one shoulder and fuzzy socks all the way up to her knees. She looked damn adorable with her hair high up in a ponytail and her face free of makeup.
"Is this your normal routine after work?" It was the complete opposite of how she showed up at my house yesterday, looking like a sex kitten.
"It is. And it was my plan before I knew we were going to hang out. Figured there was no reason to change it up. Well, maybe a little. I had every intention of heating up a microwavable dinner. I guess we can order something instead." She smirked at me.
"Not a fan of cooking?"
Molly shrugged her shoulder but didn't move from her position. "I do it when I need to, but it gets boring cooking for one."
"Then, by all means, let's order something."
"Any preferences?" Molly pushed up from the wall and walked into the kitchen where she opened a drawer and pulled out a stack of takeout menus.
"Nope. Whatever you order is fine by me, but I do have to ask. Paper menus? I thought everyone used the internet these days."
"You forget I like stuff."
That was her only reply before she grabbed one menu from the stack. "Phone, please?"
I tugged mine out of my pocket and handed it over. "The code's seven four five two two three."
"Just like that? Do you give your passcode out to everyone who asks to use your phone?"
I got close enough to her that I could smell her perfume as I leaned to whisper in her ear. "Nope. Just to my wife." I could feel her shiver.
I forced myself to step back before I escalated things to a point of no return. I wanted her again but not until I convinced her to stay with me forever.
When I glanced down at her hand, I noticed she wasn't wearing her wedding band. I took her hand and rubbed the spot where the ring should be sitting. "Have you worn it since you woke up that morning?"
She shook her head but looked at my hand as well. "Have you?"
With our hands still linked, I dug under my shirt with the other and yanked a chain out until it fell heavy against my chest. "I wear it next to my heart every damn day until you're ready for it to be on my finger again."