Chapter 15 #2
“And my knickers aren’t in a twist,” Lara responded, her face looking slightly bewildered, though I don’t know why she was confused.
She’d been around Mila and me arguing for years.
This was nothing new. Unless of course she had reason to believe she knew why I was so agitated.
Something in me froze as I thought about her realizing there was more going on here.
Was she realizing that perhaps I had feelings for her?
I shook my head slightly at the thought.
How could she know? I didn’t even know what sort of feelings I had for her.
And if anything, she was bewildered by the fact that I was even sitting here, listening to their girl talk in the first place.
“Just tell me the story again.” I rolled my eyes impatiently. “What did Frank—I mean, Luke—say that has you wondering if he’s a good guy or not?”
“I don’t know if I should bother repeating the story now,” Mila said with a glare.
“Why are you telling the story?” I gave her a look. “Isn’t this something happening in Lara’s life? Shouldn’t she be the one asking me?”
“Are you saying that’s the reason why you weren’t listening in the first place?” Mila rolled her eyes. “Because I was telling the story, as opposed to Lara?”
“That’s exactly why.” I nodded sternly. “Who can take you seriously, Mila?” I looked over at Lara. “I’m listening. Feel free to go ahead.”
“Um, it’s okay.” Lara looked at me awkwardly and I just wanted to take her into my arms and kiss her and tell her to forget Luke.
“Lara, just tell me. After all this, I really want to know,” I muttered, feeling frustrated.
“So sincere, Parker.” Mila rolled her eyes and stood up. “I’m going to get another bottle of wine. Does anyone want anything?”
“Some chips and dip,” I hollered. “And some beers. I don’t want wine.”
“How am I supposed to carry wine, beer, chips, and dip?” Mila looked at me. “Do you see a third and fourth arm connected to my body?”
“I wouldn’t be shocked, since you are deformed looking.” I laughed at Mila’s glare. “But no, you can do what all regular humans do in these situations.”
“What’s that?” She had such a curious expression on her face that I had to stop myself from calling her a dumbass. What did she think I was going to say? How many different solutions did she see to this problem?
“What’s it worth to you?” I asked her with a grin.
“Parker! It’s not worth anything.” She glared. “Just tell me.”
“Okay, well . . .” I paused for dramatic effect and laughed at the anticipatory looks on Mila’s and Lara’s faces.
“Just say it,” Mila groaned, and I put my hands in the air.
“Well, the secret to carrying it all back . . .” I said, pausing some again before continuing, “is to take two trips.”
“Two trips,” Mila repeated after me, dumbfounded, as if not fully comprehending what I’d said.
“You’re an asshole, Parker.” She shook her head, and I laughed and gave Lara a look.
Lara was trying not to laugh, and I gave her a small wink as our eyes met.
She started laughing then and a small rush of warmth spread through me at her laughter.
My heart expanded for a few seconds as I looked at her and I wondered momentarily if this was what love felt like.
What would it be like to feel this lighthearted happiness on a daily basis? Was that even possible?
“I guess you can start telling him the story as I go and work as the scullery maid,” Mila said as she left the room.
“So . . . ?” I looked at Lara with a soft smile, trying to ignore the bitter feelings that were starting to emerge as I waited for her to tell me about the dick she was dating.
“I don’t have to say anything.” She shook her head and I could see that she was embarrassed. “It’s really not much.”
“Look, I don’t mind,” I said too roughly, so I made a big scene of clearing my throat so that she would think that the reason I sounded annoyed was more related to being sick as opposed to being extremely annoyed.
“Well, if you’re sure,” she said uncertainly.
“So go ahead, spill it,” I said, trying not to grit my teeth and ask her instead why she hadn’t returned my texts or messages.
“So Luke and I went out last night,” she said hesitantly, and it took everything in me to not tell her to just get on with it.
I didn’t want to hear her story. I didn’t want to know anything about Luke.
I didn’t want to hear her story at all. I didn’t care if she never saw him again.
I didn’t care if I never heard about him again.
He could drop off a cliff and die for all I cared.
“Continue.” I nodded, keeping all my other thoughts inside.
“So everything seemed to be going well,” she continued softly. “We had a lot of good eye contact, which is a good thing, right?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. If he wants to get in your pants, I said inside.
“So we were joking around and I thought everything was going really well.” She paused and I watched as she nibbled on her lower lip.
I stared at her lush pink lips for a few seconds and tried just to think about how they would feel on me, sucking.
I felt myself growing hard at the thought.
What would she do if I reached over and pulled her on top of me?
Would she let me take her again? Did she want that as well?
Maybe that would make her forget Luke. Maybe that was what I needed to get over the craziness in my head again.
Maybe I needed to have her again. She was still in my blood and I hadn’t had my fill of her.
I wanted to touch her, feel her, wanted to be inside of her.
“Yeah, continue,” I said, trying to distract myself from where my thoughts were going. I wasn’t going to be able to stop myself from getting carried away if I kept thinking about making love to her. And I knew the last thing I needed to be doing was trying to seduce her again.
“Well, it was weird,” she said. “The mood just really changed at one point and I don’t know why.”
“What do you mean the mood changed?” I asked her, genuinely curious. Was it over between her and Luke already? I couldn’t help feeling smug and happy inside at that thought.
“Well, the smile left his face and he started talking about how he had to go home,” she said softly.
“Oh?” I gazed at her. “What happened right before that?” Yup, it was over! I wondered if it would be too much if I asked her to come over to my place to watch a movie?
“Honestly, I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Nothing. I don’t remember anything happening. We were just talking. I didn’t say anything untoward, I don’t think.”
“Hmm, that doesn’t make much sense, though.
Something had to have been said for his mood to change.
” I pretended like I still cared about the conversation while I thought about sliding inside of her from behind.
I wondered if she liked doggy style. Who was I kidding? What woman didn’t like doggy style?
“The conversation was fine, I thought.” She sighed and I could see a hurt and confused expression in her eyes. “We were just talking and then I got a text message.”
“Ooh, did you check your messages during the date?” I asked her. “That might have pissed him off.” I wondered who had texted her? Was it another guy? I frowned. Was she talking to more than one guy online?
“I didn’t check anything.” She shook her head. “I didn’t want to be rude, so I didn’t check.”
“Okay.” I frowned. So maybe she was really into this guy if she wasn’t even checking her messages on the date.
For some reason, this displeased me even more and I tried to shake the feeling off.
I couldn’t believe my mood was going up and down with the conversation.
What was wrong with me? Was I becoming a girl?
“Yeah, I hate when guys are on their phones on dates, so I never do it,” she said softly.
“Yeah, that’s rude. A clear sign of disinterest,” I said, as I gazed at her fingers in her lap, remembering when they’d been on me, touching me and teasing me.
“Yeah.” She nodded in agreement. “But yeah, he wasn’t on his phone and I wasn’t on mine. Though we both heard my phone beeping a couple of times.”
“Hmm, okay, and that’s when everything changed?” I said, though I didn’t really want to continue the conversation.
“Yeah.” She nodded. “And then basically at the end of the date, he told me he had to go and run some errands, but earlier he said that he wanted to take me to get ice cream.”
“Hmm, that’s weird.” I gave her a look. “So something turned him off.”
“Yeah, I mean, I didn’t ask him about the ice cream again. I figured if he wanted to extend the date he would have brought it up, since he already knew that I was down for it.”
“So then what happened?”
“Well, then he paid, walked me to my car, and left.” She made a face.
“And left?”
“Yup—no kiss, no hug, no nothing, not even eye contact, really.”
“That’s weird.” Had they kissed before? Jealousy stirred in my stomach. Had her tongue been in his mouth? Had he touched her? I felt my hands curling into fists at the thought.
“Yup.” She nodded. “I just don’t understand.”
“And the date started well?”
“I thought it was going fantastically.” She made a face. “But maybe I have absolutely no clue.”
“Well, no, I’m sure you do. Maybe he got the vibe that you weren’t into him, or maybe he realized that you’re a good girl and you weren’t going to sleep with him, which actually would make a lot of sense because maybe that’s why he chose to forgo the ice cream.
Maybe he was thinking the ice cream would be used for something else later that night.
Maybe he had no plans to actually eat the ice cream. ”
“What are you talking about?” Lara looked confused.
“I mean, maybe the ice cream was going to be used in the bedroom for a different sort of dessert.”
Oh? Lara mouthed the word, looking at me with wide eyes. I felt a surge of happiness at her response. They obviously had not slept together if this was her response to my ice cream comment. I wasn’t sure why that made me so happy, but it did.