24. 24 Parker
24
24 PARKER
TRULY MADLY DEEPLY
“So, tell me,” Gigi said, dancing her fingertips over my bare shoulder.
“Hmm?” I looked behind me, where she was curled against me, propped up on one elbow, and smiled. Her short hair was disheveled from my fingers, her lips swollen from…well, everything else. My face heated at the memory, and I turned my head into my pillow so she wouldn’t see.
“Don’t go to sleep on me, Samuels.” She found a sensitive spot near my ribcage and tickled. I squirmed and she laughed, a warm and husky sound that sparked along my spine and settled low in my belly.
How, I thought. How could I still want her? After…well, after everything that just happened?
Everything.
God, it was everything.
Here, in the afterglow of what could only be described as a revelation, I hadn’t even begun to process. What we’d done, what had changed between us. What would happen next.
And I didn’t want to.
Not yet, anyway.
I’d save that for Tomorrow Parker.
Tonight Parker wanted only to lay in Gigi’s arms, to bask in the fire of her gaze. For as long as I could. Until the real world came calling. For now, it could wait.
I sighed and sank deeper into the pillows. “I’m not sleeping.” I arched into her, new aches making themselves known. “Though, you couldn’t blame me if I was a little tired.”
She hummed, and it was filled with such self-satisfaction I had to roll onto my back to see her face. The grin curving her lips—lips I now knew intimately—echoed the sentiments of her hum. “What?” She widened her eyes as if to play innocent. “Can you blame me if I’m a little proud of myself?”
I laughed and pulled her face to mine. “No.” I planted a kiss on her lips. “I cannot.”
She kissed me back, drawing it out with slow strokes of her tongue, wringing a whimper from my throat. I felt her smile and I planted my hands on her shoulders, pushing her away. “Are you gonna always be this insufferable now?” I asked, even as another laugh tumbled from me.
“Here’s the thing.” She tucked the sheet around my naked chest and smoothing my hair back. “You did not see how gorgeous you looked as you came.” Her thumb stroked my bottom lip, eyes lingering there. “You did not feel how tight you were around my fingers. You didn’t taste—”
“Okay, okay.” I put a finger to her lips, face burning even hotter. “Point taken. Although…” My eyes dropped to her mouth, heart stuttering in my chest. “I’d like to experience all those things. You know…when I…I mean…”
She kissed my fingertip, bringing my fumbling to a halt. Then, she pulled my hand away from her mouth and held it in hers. “We’ll get there.”
My gaze snagged on hers, and I searched the deep brown pools. For what, I wasn’t sure? Disappointment? Frustration? But what I found there was something much more earth-shattering.
Wonder.
She was looking at me with such wonder in her eyes. As if she couldn’t believe I was really here. As if she’d blink and I’d be gone.
My heart swelled. I nodded, unable to gather words to respond. She nodded, too, placing my palm against her chest.
We stayed like that for a few quiet seconds, her heart beating beneath my hand, quick and erratic, until she broke the trance. Dropping her gaze, she swallowed, the sound audible in the quiet room. Her thumb traced a path over the back of my hand, back and forth, back and forth, as she watched it.
“Hey,” I whispered, flipping my hand over to take her fingers in mine. “Is something wrong?”
She glanced up and smiled, but it was fleeting. “No, no.” She looked back down.
I sat up, tucking the sheet around my chest. Panic flooded my veins, whooshing in my ears. “Gigi.”
Something in my tone must have alerted her to my alarm. Eyes shooting to mine, she sat up, too. “No, really.” She placed a hand on my arm. “Everything’s fine. I promise. I just—”
“Tell me.”
She sighed, a defeated sound. “What happened with Halle?” She wound her fingers together in her lap and fixed her eyes on them. “You were on a date with her, and then you were on the sidewalk outside the bar, and then we were here, and…” She shrugged and glanced up. “I don’t know. Maybe I don’t need to know. I just…want to know.”
“Oh.” I scooted up on the bed and rested against the headboard, tucking the blankets around me.
It was a fair question. More than fair, really. Honestly, I was surprised we hadn’t talked about it yet. But now? After… after ? It felt like a splash of frigid water on my naked, sensitive skin.
I wasn’t thinking of Halle. I hadn’t thought of Halle since I crashed into Gigi outside of Heathcliff’s. Since before that.
But she didn’t know that.
She watched, face unreadable, each furrow in her brow tangling knots in my gut.
So, yeah. It was a fair question.
“The date was fine,” I started, pulling a lock of hair over my shoulder. Gigi’s eyes followed the action. “Perfectly lovely, really.” I twisted the lock as my mind replayed this evening.
Halle had been at the restaurant when I arrived, she’d pulled my chair out for me, complimented my outfit. The conversation was easy and fun. Not a single complaint. Not a single reason to object.
Except…
I shrugged and shook my head, lifting my eyes to find Gigi still watching me. “She wasn’t you.”
Gigi smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “You said that already.”
“And I meant it.” I pushed to my knees and closed the distance between us, modesty be damned. Putting my hands on either side of her face, I tilted her face upward until her eyes met mine. “You want to know what happened? You really want to know?”
She nodded, a chunk of vivid hair falling into her eyes. I brushed it back and lowered myself so that we were face to face. “We had a great time. One of the best dates I’ve ever been on.”
“Phew, that makes me feel so much better. I’m glad we had this talk. I—”
“And then,” I cut in, dragging her gaze back to mine. I waited until our eyes met to continue. “She walked me to my car, we said goodnight, and she kissed me.”
Gigi’s eyes flickered. I could feel her pulse thrumming at a hummingbird’s pace beneath my fingers. Her lips parted, but I kept talking before she could speak.
“She kissed me,” I repeated, “and all I could think about was you. Your lips. Your hands. The way my entire body comes to life when you touch me.” I reached for her hands and laid them against my naked chest, where my heart was beating so hard against my ribcage. “You feel that? It’s you, Gigi. All you. Only you.”
She didn’t speak, didn’t move. The only sign she’d heard anything I said was the rapid puffs of air escaping her parted lips.
“So, yeah,” I went on, closing the space between us. I settled onto my knees in front of her, naked, exposed, and so, so nervous. “It was a good date. But she. Wasn’t. You.”
The words were barely out of my mouth when Gigi shot forward, pulling my mouth to hers.
A surprised squeak left me, but I caught up fast. Framing her face with my hands, I kissed her back. I kissed her fiercer and hungrier. I kissed her with everything I had. And then I kissed her some more.
Pushing her onto her back, I leaned over her, our lips never parting. Her hands slid down my bare back, sending shivers through me. “You,” I gasped against her mouth, “have shaken my world, Gigi. Everything I thought I knew. Everything I thought I wanted.” I dragged my lips over her jaw and she turned her head, granting me access to the soft skin of her neck. “My whole world, turned upside down.”
Her fingers dug into my back as she pulled me closer. “I could,” she managed as I dropped biting kisses down her neck and across her collarbone. “Say the same about you.”
I lifted my head to find her already looking at me. As our eyes locked, she reached out, placing her palm against my cheek. “My whole damn world.”
Something inside me flared so bright, surging me forward, urging me onward. I kissed her deeply, brushing my tongue over hers, reveling in how she opened for me, responded to me. Her legs wound around my waist as she arched closer, the scrape of her jeans against my skin sending urgent signals to my brain.
“Off,” I murmured, reaching between us for the button on her pants. “Now.”
She nodded and tangled her hands with mine as we fumbled with the button fly. Laughing, we fought with the offending piece of clothing, until finally— finally —we slid them from her waist and down her legs. Gigi kicked them the rest of the way off, and then she lay beneath me in nothing but a bra.
We stilled then, face to face. Every inch of me that touched her naked skin lit up like fireflies in the middle of July. I wanted more.
Holding her stare, I slid down her body, letting my own nakedness glide over her. She watched me, chest rising and falling with quickened breaths, eyes dark and burning. When I reached the apex of her thighs, I settled there, lying on my stomach, and lifted my brows in question. She nodded, reaching down to tuck my hair behind my ear, and I closed my eyes, leaning into her touch. Then, with one more look into her eyes, I lowered my head.
I was tentative at first, running the very tip of my tongue along her bare seam. The salt of her skin, her earthy sent, permeated my senses, and I clenched my thighs as my own body responded. Glancing up, I watched Gigi’s face as I parted her legs wider, as I pressed a deep kiss against her, as her slick heat spilled over my tongue. Her head dropped to the pillow, a low groan slipping past her lips. That was all I needed to hear.
Closing my eyes, I deepened my kiss, mimicking the way she teased and taunted me earlier. Her every reaction became my guide. She arched her hips when my tongue grazed over her clit, a sharp gasp escaping her lips, so I pulled the tiny bud into my mouth, flicking my tongue over it again. Her legs draped over my shoulders, her heels digging into my back. Bracing my hands on her butt, I dug my nails into her soft flesh and swirled my tongue over her, and my chin slickened with her arousal. Her every reaction was an aphrodisiac, a reward.
And I liked rewards.
“So good,” she murmured, fingers threading through my hair. “You feel so good.”
At her praise, little thrill shot up my spine. Opening my mouth wider, I kissed her again, lavishing attention on every fold and crease, all while sliding my hand closer, seeking access with my fingers.
“Yes,” she hissed, parting her thighs further. “Please.”
I pulled my face away enough to watch her expression as I slid a finger into her, the liquid heat enveloping me causing liquid heat to pool between my own legs.
“T-two fingers,” she managed, voice tight. I obeyed. She bit her lip, cheeks stained a bright pink, as I slipped another finger inside. And, my goodness, was she stunning.
“Remember,” she said, “how I touched you?”
I smiled against her sweet heat. Of course I remembered. I crooked my fingers. She gasped, fists full of bedding. That was the cue I needed to know I was doing something right. Sucking her clit, I sought the tender spot inside her and put pressure there. Muscle memory, I thought, clenching my own thighs together. My body remembered exactly how she touched me.
I wanted to make her feel just as good.
“Ju—just like that, baby girl,” she whimpered, heels digging harder into my back as she raised her hips and rocked against me. I found the rhythm she sought and held steady, listening, watching, tasting her as she came undone. “Yes, yes, oh, my god , yes,” she moaned, bracing her elbows on the mattress as she arched her back. “Don’t you dare fucking stop.”
I didn’t. Instead, I sucked her harder, giving her the push she needed, and—
“Oh, fuck. ” She threw her head back, a long moan flying past her lips as her body clenched around my fingers, as her thighs tightened around my face, as she rode the waves crashing through her. I held on, wonderstruck at the feel of her pulse from the inside, the taste of her pleasure on my tongue.
I couldn’t help it. I smiled.
“Where,” Gigi gasped as she came down, “the fuck did that come from?” She fumbled for me and I obliged, climbing back up the bed to face her.
I smiled wider, pride a living thing in my chest. “What can I say?” I said with a shrug. “I had an excellent teacher.”
She laughed breathlessly and pulled my face to hers, kissing me in a messy tangle of tongues. When we parted, she was grinning, a glint in her eyes. “Oh, sweet Parker,” she said, fingers gliding up my abdomen to cup my breasts. “I have so much more to teach you.”