Chapter 8 #3
“Ryker, I have no idea how you remained best friends with Parker for all these years.” Mila looked at her fiancé. “It seems to me that you are suspect yourself for being his best friend.”
“What if I told you I only stayed friends with him to be close to you?” Ryker said dryly, and Parker groaned out loud.
“Dude, why are you feeding her this bullshit?” Parker shook his head.
“You don’t know it’s bullshit,” Mila said and then laughed. “Though even I think that was a bullshit line, Ryker Walker.”
“Hey, hey, don’t attack me now.” He put his hands up and laughed. “Help me, Lara.”
“How can I help you?” I grinned back at him.
“Can you guys be quiet, please?” A portly guy sitting in front of us turned around and glared at us. “The movie is going to start soon and I don’t need to be listening to your commentary.”
“Yes, sir.” Parker saluted him and we all laughed.
The guy gave us one last glare and a huff and turned back around.
I looked over at Parker, who winked at me again, and I giggled as we all sat there in silence.
I felt Parker reach over and rub my leg and I looked up at him in surprise.
He gave me a small wink and I slapped his hand away.
He then grabbed my hand and I looked at him in confusion.
Thumb war? he mouthed, and I nodded with a smile.
“One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war,” I said quietly as our thumbs tackled each other’s as if we were still little kids.
I tried my hardest to hold his thumb down, but not because I wanted to win.
I tried my hardest because I didn’t want the game to end and for me to lose the contact of his hand, which was so warm and silky that it was making me feel things in places I hadn’t felt things in a while.
“That movie sucked,” Parker said as we left the movie theater. “I need a beer to get over how much it sucked.”
“I agree, it wasn’t that scary.” I laughed as I walked by his side. “I wouldn’t mind getting a cocktail to get over my lack of fear.”
“Hey, guys, as much as we’d love to join you for a drink, Ryker and I have plans early in the morning, so I’m not sure that that will be possible.” Mila made a face. “Have a drink on me, though.”
“You’re not coming?” I looked at her in disappointment, my heart racing. As much as I wanted to spend time alone with Parker, and we had plenty of times already, it felt weird to be going to a bar, just the two of us. It almost felt like a date. Though I knew it wasn’t. At all.
“Sadly, no.” Mila shook her head and her eyes stared into mine with a glint.
My heart started racing as I realized she was doing this on purpose.
She was trying to get me to make a move.
A real move. I knew it was time to just see if it was ever going to go anywhere, but the whole moment was just scaring the shit out of me.
“Where shall we go, Lara?” Parker looked at me with a questioning look. “You’re not going to flake out on me as well, are you?”
“Would I do that?” I laughed, my heart fluttering.
He wanted me to come? I tried to tell myself he didn’t really care if I came or not.
I tried to tell myself all he wanted to do was grab a drink and he didn’t care who was coming with him, but it was hard to tell myself that when all the hope in me was praying to God that it was because he secretly had feelings for me and wanted to spend the evening with me.
“I hope not.” He gave me a winning smile and then turned to Mila and Ryker. “Okay, well, it was good seeing you guys. I’ll get Lara home safely.”
“You’d better.” Mila pointed her finger at him and then she looked over at me. “You sure you want to go out with Parker?”
“Sure, it’ll be fun.” I nodded and she winked at me and I tried not to laugh in giddiness.
“Ready, Lara?” Parker grabbed ahold of my hand and pulled me away from Mila and Ryker. “Let’s leave these two lovebirds to figure something out. And let’s go and get a drink. Bye, guys.”
“Bye, guys,” I repeated to Mila and Ryker as I gave them a small wave goodbye, wondering what I was getting myself into.
“You want a glass of wine?” Parker asked me as we walked into a crowded bar.
“I think I’ll have a cocktail, actually.” I laughed. “A cosmo, thanks.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “Wait here for me and I’ll be back.” He looked toward the packed crowd in front of him. “Unless you’d like to join the meat market with me?”
“No, I’m good here, thanks.” I smiled and readjusted my bag strap on my shoulder. “You go ahead and get the drinks. I’m thirsty.”
“Anything to oblige you, my dear.” He grinned and continued on his way to the bar.
I stood there watching him for a few seconds and then looked around me to check out the scene.
There was a good mix of people, ranging from mid-twenties to mid-forties, and there seemed to be a lot of singles flirting with each other.
I watched two girls who were checking out a particularly good-looking blond guy and trying to make eye contact with him, but he didn’t seem to notice them at all.
I grinned to myself as I watched one of the girls flick her hair and stare him down, but still he didn’t look at her.
And then, because this is how life always goes, the hot guy looked up and stared at me.
And because I’m awkward in these situations, I just continued to stare at him with the grin on my face.
When I realized we were making eye contact, I looked away quickly and I could feel myself blushing.
“Hi there.” I heard a deep voice right next to me and I looked up and saw the hot blond guy, who was even better looking closer up than he had been from a distance.
His hair was a deep gold and his eyes were big, bright, and a piercing blue.
His face held a golden tan and his pearly white teeth were perfectly even as he smiled at me.
“Hi,” I said with a small smile. I looked over his shoulder and saw the two girls glaring at me.
“Waiting on a friend?” he said, looking around him before he looked back at me.
“Kinda.” I nodded. “You?”
“I just came for a drink. By myself.” He smiled again. “It’s been a long week.”
“Work?” I asked him.
“Yeah.” He nodded and fake shuddered. “I’m an attorney and I’ve been in the middle of the most tedious document reviews for the last two weeks.”
“Sounds painful.”
“It was. My night is looking up now, though,” he said, his eyes twinkling as he looked at me. “Would you like a drink?”
“Oh, my friend went to get me a drink,” I said and looked toward the bar to see if I could see Parker. I felt weird saying he was my friend, but what else could I say? The man I love who doesn’t care about me? No way.
“Oh, okay.” He nodded and his expression became thoughtful. “My name is Tom, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Tom. I’m Lara.”
“Lara,” he said with a grin and then held his hand out.
“Something amusing about my name?” I asked curiously as I shook his hand.
“My sister’s favorite doll when she was growing up was called Lara,” he said with a smile.
“Oh.”
“I have fond memories of the name.” He laughed. “She used to make me play house and I was Lara’s favorite uncle.”
“Well, that’s good, then.” I laughed. “I can’t say I have any similar stories about Toms, though I loved watching the Tom Sawyer movie when I was younger.”
“Aww, I haven’t seen it. I’ll have to check it out,” he said and then he took a step closer to me. “So, what do you say about getting out of here?”
“Getting out of here?” I swallowed quickly. Tom had gone from zero to a hundred in less than ten seconds.
“Yeah, maybe we could go grab a bite and talk?” He leaned over and whispered in my ear.
“And maybe we could have some play time.” I felt his hand on the small of my back and I froze.
Damn! He was smooth and I had totally not expected the immediate come-on.
He’d seemed so sweet and nice in the two minutes we’d been talking.
“Um, I, um . . .” I stuttered, not knowing what to say as I felt him tapping my ass. “Hey,” I said as I jumped slightly.
“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.” He grinned. “You have a nice ass.”
“Uh, thanks,” I said, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.
“So, what do you say to maybe going back to my place?” he said with a wink and a quick lick of his lips.
“Hey, what’s going on here?” Parker arrived back then with our drinks, and I could have thrown my arms around him.
“Can I help you?” Tom looked over at Parker with a frown.
“I’m wondering if I can help you?” Parker’s face was unreadable as he stood there. “Lara, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I nodded, not really sure what to say.
“Oh, this is your friend?” Tom looked at Parker and then back at me. “If he’s looking for a gay bar, this isn’t the place, but maybe when we head to my place, we can drop him off at Out of the Closet. It’s a hot spot for men.”
“Excuse me?” Parker’s voice was deep and I knew he was pissed.
“Oh, sorry, you’re not gay?” Tom said with a shrug and I felt his hand on my back again. “Want to dance before we leave?”
“Leave?” Parker’s voice was louder and angrier as he stared now directly at me. “What’s going on, Lara?”
“Um, nothing,” I squeaked out, not really knowing what to say. “We just met,” I explained lamely.
“I saw her beauty from across the room and had to come and say hello,” Tom said, licking his lips again. “Especially when I saw the grin she was giving me. Your lips are beautiful,” he said as he stared at me. “So full and juicy, oooohhhmm.” He winked at me.
My face grew bright red as I stood there.
“I think you need to leave.” Parker looked at Tom. “Like, now.”
“What?” Tom blinked at him. “What are you talking about?”
“Lara and I are here together on a date. You need to leave.”
“She told me she was here with her friend,” Tom said, looking annoyed. “Seems like she isn’t considering this a date, dude.”
“You’ve got thirty seconds to move before things get nasty,” Parker said, his voice low. “And just so you know, I punch very much like a man with over two hundred pounds behind him.”