2. Hope
2
HOPE
R ecognizing Parker’s sarcastic drawl anywhere, I straightened and spun around with a gasp.
And there he stood, all six glorious feet and three inches of him.
But God, he’d gotten even hotter in the past year and four months since I’d last seen him.
Hair could do such wondrous things for some people, I swear. He’d let his sandy brown mess go wild and unkempt, and he’d lost his razor while he was at it.
The untamed look totally did it for him, too. The man was, like, sex personified, I kid you not.
My stomach dipped dramatically, not used to being in the presence of such magnetism, and it took me a moment to swallow and pull myself back together after the little ogling session my mind went on.
But soon enough, I was able to scowl at him and growl, “You’re early,” in an accusing tone.
Parker merely lifted his brows. “And here, I thought I’d get bitched out for being too late.” Hitching his chin toward my departing seatmate, he asked, “That the creepy fucker who kept touching your leg?”
“Wow. How’d you guess?” I asked dryly.
“Hmm,” he murmured, slipping his hands into his pockets as he eyed the guy speculatively. Then he started away, adding, “Excuse me for a second.”
“Hey. Where do you think you’re—?” I blinked, gaping at him as he sauntered calmly toward the man as if taking a leisurely stroll in the park. “Grumpy!” I scolded harshly, hoping to call him back.
But all he did was casually slip a hand from one pocket and flip me off over his shoulder, letting me know I didn’t tell him what to do, as he kept walking, not even glancing back at me.
“Ugh.” I rolled my eyes and hurried after him, abandoning all my luggage. “What a stubborn, pain-in-the-ass, moronic?—”
I didn’t get to finish my grousing because Parker pleasantly called, “Hey, man,” to the other fellow as he waved him down.
My seatmate paused and turned back, lifting his brows curiously. “Yes?”
Parker flashed him a charming smile and held out his hand. “The name’s Parker,” he greeted.
Because, of course, he would want to shake the hand of the person who’d just bullied me, and probably commemorate him too. Take him out to lunch, buy him a trophy, all that jazz.
“And you are…?” Parker asked as my seatmate shook his hand with a confused squint.
“Devon Roark,” the man answered slowly before tipping his face in question. “Do we know each other?”
“Not at all,” Parker told him with a sly smirk. “I just needed your name, Devon Roark.”
“Oh? Why’s that?”
Fed up with whatever cat-and-mouse game Parker was playing, I hissed, “Parker!”
Both men turned. Devon’s eyes widened in surprise and some amount of horror while Parker merely scowled as if irritated by the intrusion.
“Give me a goddamn second,” he said, holding up a finger to pause me. “I’m almost done here.”
Folding my arms over my chest, I cocked my hip and sent him a dark scowl. “You are un-freaking-believable. Do you know that?”
“What?” he asked cluelessly, lifting his hands. “Like I was just supposed to ignore the fact that he knocked you to the ground? I don’t fucking think so.”
“It was an accident,” I seethed.
Parker scoffed, unconvinced. “He didn’t act very sorry.”
“Ah, hell,” Devon breathed from the other side of Parker, finally clued in to the fact that Grumpy and I knew each other well. Motioning toward me, he asked, “She’s your girlfriend, isn’t she?”
“No. Devon, man.” Parker shook his head sadly at Devon’s terrible deductive powers and then sent him an apologetic wince. “Not even. It’s so much worse than that. She’s like family.” Leaning closer, he lowered his voice. “And no one’s allowed to be a bigger dick to my family than I am, so I’m really sorry, buddy, but… I hope you didn’t like your life too much.”
Brow furrowing in confusion, Devon shook his head. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing much.” Parker shrugged as he patted Devon’s arm companionably in farewell. “Just that I’m going to ruin you.” And turning away again, he waved over his shoulder as he walked off. “Later, Roark.”
Behind him, Devon’s mouth fell open as he watched Parker stroll back toward the luggage claim. Then his confused gaze transferred my way. “What the fuck does he think he’s going to do to me?”
I gnawed on my lip and sent him a worried cringe before saying, “I’ll get him to back off.”
Whirling away, I hurried after Parker. But when I reached his side, he only chuckled. “Yeah. Good luck with that, Langston. You can’t stop me from destroying him.”
I didn’t say anything, just swallowed thickly as he pulled the first piece of luggage from the claim. But for a moment there, it was hard for me to concentrate.
Being defended like that wasn’t a common occurrence for me.
I mean, I knew he’d only done it because of Alec, but still. There was this lump in my throat I couldn’t seem to swallow down.
Listening to him stand up for me had been sexy as hell.
Arousal buzzed through my veins, and I kind of wanted to grab him by that messy, gorgeous hair and kiss the crap out of him.
Not about to let him know that, though, I drew in a deep breath before mildly asking, “Feel better now? You’re back to being the biggest ass in the room.”
“Right where I belong,” he told me with a wicked wink. “On top.” He turned back to the next piece of luggage, only to pause and straighten, frowning at how many bags were left. “This shit isn’t all yours, is it?”
“Relax,” I told him. “It’ll fit into the back of that big-ass truck of yours, no problem.”
“Except I didn’t bring my truck,” he argued, turning to send me a disgusted scowl.
My mouth fell open in horror. “You traded your truck?”
But I loved his truck. It was so…Texas. He was not allowed to get rid of such a monstrous piece of mastery.
“No, I still have the truck,” he assured.
I squinted before realizing, “So you bought a second vehicle on top of that?” Shaking my head in confusion, I wondered, “Why?”
“ Third vehicle,” he corrected before he lifted one shoulder. “And because I could.”
“Oh, good Lord.” I rolled my eyes and huffed out a breath as I removed the last bag from the claim. “You really need to find a charity to donate some of that money to, you know.”
Since becoming a millionaire when he was twelve, due to the automobile company paying him off for an electronic malfunction that had caused his parents’ accident, Parker had probably doubled his net worth four times over or more. He was wicked smart with stocks and bonds—or whatever money-making venture he meddled in. Maybe he was some kind of broker. I really didn’t know. Nor did I care. All those financial games went right over my head; I just knew he had more money than he knew what to do with.
Sending me a dry glance, he answered, “Trust me, Thane gives me a list of charities to help out frequently .”
“Sounds like Thane,” I said, taking in all the luggage surrounding us with my hands on my hips. “So what do we have to work with, then? Some flashy, cherry red two-seater?”
“It’s a burgundy , four-door Lucid Air,” he retorted, seemingly pleased that I was wrong about something, only to frown at my bags. “Are you just visiting or fucking moving back to town?”
Refusing to answer that, I wrinkled my nose. “What the hell’s a Lucid Air?”
He arched a single eyebrow. “I guess you’ll find out.” Then his scowl returned as he glanced around the airport. “We need one of those luggage cart things.”
“I’ll get one,” I answered readily and hurried off before he could return to the subject of how long I planned to stick around Westport.
“Hey!” he barked, clearly not wanting to stay put and play babysitter to my things.
But I waved over my shoulder, promising, “I’ll be right back.”
“Hope—”
I ignored him as I scampered away.
Five minutes later, I returned with a smile as I pushed my cart toward the scowling man with his arms crossed over his chest and his foot tapping.
“Thanks for watching my stuff,” I told him cheerfully as I paused next to him.
He narrowed his eyes as I reached for the largest piece of luggage.
“Your phone rang.”
I blinked, not realizing I’d left my purse with him as well. Whoops.
“It was Paul.”
I glanced up in surprise, wishing he hadn’t dug into my personal belongings to check the caller ID. What the hell else had he snooped through?
“Did you answer?” I asked slowly, holding my breath and praying.
He lifted curious eyebrows. “Was I supposed to?”
I exhaled, assured that meant he’d left well enough alone. And I went back to loading the cart.
“Who’s Paul?” he pressed, not moving a finger to help.
“Why do you care?” I challenged, glancing over with lifted eyebrows.
“Good point.” He shrugged one shoulder, proving he didn’t give a shit as he glanced away in boredom. “You about ready yet?”
Gritting my teeth through an oomph as I slung the last of my load onto the cart, I blew a stray curl out of my eyes and answered breathlessly, “Yep. And might I add, thank you so much for the hand.”
Arms still folded over his chest, he sent me a dry frown. “I said I’d pick you up from the airport, not carry your shit all over kingdom come.” Turning, he added, “I’m parked this way.”
“Great,” I countered, mean-mugging his back as he strode off. “Lead the way.”
Letting me push my own cart, he snapped his fingers and added, “Keep up, Langston.”
I huffed, only to get distracted by his ass in those jeans. Because damn, boy. He was like a crime against nature, I swear. Bitter, angry men should not be allowed to look so fine.
Shaking my head sadly, I hurried into gear and gripped the handle of the cart, but as soon as I gave it a good push, I realized, crap, this was going to be more work than I’d anticipated.
I refused to call Parker back for help, though. I would do this on my own.
By the time we’d reached the exit, my legs were shaking and my arms were screaming in misery while sweat poured liberally down my back.
From there, it felt as if he’d parked a mile out. Black spots dotted my vision, and I had to be half a breath away from passing out cold when he finally slowed to a stop, announcing, “This is me.”
Taking in the electric luxury sedan he paused in front of as he produced a key fob from his pocket, I pulled up short and immediately started to shake my head. Then he pressed a button and the trunk began to open.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I claimed, knowing there was no way all my luggage would go in there.
“Yeah. Good luck with that.”
He glanced over to smirk, only for the leer to die on his lips.
“Shit, Langston,” he exploded, actually stepping toward me with worry lacing his features as he yanked control of the cart from my slippery, sweaty hands, even though we’d already reached our destination. “Ohio weather clearly didn’t acclimate you to the Texas heat.”
I knew my face had to be a bright red after my exertions, and sweat was…everywhere. But damn, he definitely didn’t mince words, did he?
“Screw you,” I panted, still trying to catch my breath before I jerked the first bag off the cart, determined to show him how capable I was.
But Parker ripped the bag from my grip, saying, “I’ve got this. Just get into the AC and cool off.”
I didn’t have the energy to lift another thing, but I tugged the bag right back out of his clutches and glared, operating on pure willpower alone. “I can do it myself,” I ground out. “Why don’t you go cool off, princess?”
And hoping to use the power of momentum, I swung the bag around, willing it to land neatly in the trunk. Where it belonged. Except I accidentally rammed it into the back of the car instead.
“Jesus,” Parker cried. “Take out my taillight, why don’t you?”
“It’s fine,” I snapped, refusing to look at him so he wouldn’t see the chagrined cringe on my face. Because shit, that had not been what was supposed to happen.
Finally getting the first piece of luggage into the trunk, I reached for the second, only to grunt under the weight of it. I tried to use both hands, but I still rammed the wheels against the lining of the trunk before losing my grip on the whole thing and watching it tumble clumsily inside.
“Fucking hell. Will you just stop already?” Parker exploded, hovering directly behind me. “You’re going to break something.”
“Oh my God!” I growled. “If your pricey little Lucid Air can’t handle this , then it’s a piece of—” I spun around to face off with him, only to forget whatever I’d been about to say.
Because Lord have mercy; he was just so stunningly handsome.
Plus, he was, like, right there, all up in my space.
Still crowding behind me so he could check his precious car for damage, he was only inches away. And his mouth was the first thing I saw.
For the next good bit, that mouth was all I saw.
It was a thing of beauty, though. How could I not look at it?
His lips might be too pretty for such a stark, masculine face, but he had this light growth of hair circling them in the same dirty, grungy, sandy brown color as was on his head that helped harden them into a living masterpiece that made my stomach tighten with immediate desire.
My breasts went heavy, and I swallowed thickly, trying to tamp down the arousal flooding my system because I knew he could tell I was attracted.
I’d broken my sentence off too abruptly, sucked in a breath too sharply, and stared with way too much captivation to hide it.
He jerked back in surprise and he blinked at me, clearly startled by the sudden awareness arcing between us. Lips parting, he scanned my face as if absolutely boggled by the realization that I was no longer that ten-year-old girl he’d bitched out in grief group a decade before. I was a grown-ass woman now, with a grown-ass body, a body he could have sex with.
When he didn’t immediately respond, just returned the stare, I held my breath, wondering if he’d act on it.
I mean, it was Parker. Even if he did make a move, I couldn’t reciprocate. He was way too much of a jerk, and from what Alec said, he was pretty shitty to the women he did get involved with—the scores and scores of women he got involved with and then just dropped flat whenever he grew bored and was done with them.
Besides, he was my brother’s friend . That would just be weird and awkward afterward.
For however short of an afterward there might be.
But could you blame me for wondering? And daydreaming. And wishing. I mean, he was just so…Parker.
An image filled my head of him hauling me against him and plowing his hands into my hair as he smashed our mouths together. My veins filled with a hungry need I didn’t think I’d actually ever experienced before.
I physically ached. It was heady and pulse-pounding, and the insistent throb brewing between my legs made me want to just…maul him.
Until he furrowed his brow into a scowl, as if irritated by my proximity. Because that’s all I was to him: an irritation, one of his best friend’s annoying, pain-in-the-ass sisters.
I exhaled in a rush, forcing myself back to reality—where no way in hell would Parker Ohrley have any interest in me , and I definitely wouldn’t have anything to do with him—and I pinched my lips tight before muttering, “Do you want to arrange the luggage?”
“Yes,” he bit out moodily and gripped my hips, making my body shudder in distressed arousal. But all he did was pick me up so he could set me to the side, out of his way. Then he stepped toward the trunk and bent down to shift things around, grumbling and cursing as he used way more violence than I had to shove things where he wanted them to go.
I probably would’ve made a scathing comment about his forcefulness, but my attention got a little too distracted by his ass. It was just so tight and shapely; I wanted to reach out and grip it.
“Fucking odd-shaped bags,” he grumbled, dusting his hands off on his thighs as he straightened to cast me a condemning glance for daring to have deformed luggage.
“You’re doing great,” I told him with all the sarcastic cheer I could muster as I sent him two thumbs up.
He narrowed his eyes and moved to the back passenger side, where he ripped the door open and grabbed two more pieces to load. And he kept filling the trunk and back seat until they were both full.
With a sigh, I crossed my arms over my chest, wondering what he was going to do now since there were still two pieces of luggage left on the trolley. But Parker shocked the shit out of me when he went to the hood and opened a freaking frunk before shoving the last of my luggage into the storage space there.
I blinked, trying not to be impressed as he smirked triumphantly my way. “Done.”
I lifted a single eyebrow and snickered snidely. “Great. Satisfied now?”
“My life is finally complete,” he deadpanned, even as he glanced down at the top button on my blouse as if searching for cleavage.
I blinked, startled that he would initiate the awareness between us this time, and I wondered?—
But no. He couldn’t be interested back. Could he?
As if answering my silent question, he sniffed in indifference and turned away without a word to head toward the driver’s side door.
Guess that was a definite no.