Chapter Six
Perri
I have never been much of a nervous nelly before.
Even though I changed majors several times, struggled to find a career that fit me, moved at least three times in four years, and made a hundred bad decisions, none of them made me nervous. Not the way this decision has me nervous, at least. For most people that might be a clue that it might be a bad decision. I am not most people—feeling this nervous excitement is new for me.
“Relax, pet,” Parker coos as my leg bounces beneath the table, “we will get through tonight together,” he promises, his big hand wrapping around my thigh, the bouncing stopping right away.
Parker calms me in a way nothing ever has. My thoughts slow down when I am with him, my tension seems to melt away, and my thoughts feel clearer. Almost like my own form of Adderall. I am addicted to the way he takes control of things, making me feel completely taken care of. My mother took care of me most my life but the way he cares for me is different.
Being here now is an example. We are waiting for the Commander and my mother to show for dinner. He said we should be there waiting for them, not just show up on time. Commander would expect us to be on time—so showing up before them will go a long way with him. In a new dress he bought for me after watching me try a dozen on, and him looking mature and handsome in a nice, casual suit, we look good together as we wait.
Beneath the table, his fingertips walk slowly up and down my bare thigh, reminding me he is working to calm me. And reminding me I have no panties on. He decided I would go without a bra tonight too, though he did pick out some sexy sets when we were shopping. His reasoning was he may not want me wearing any—easier access, he said—but I should be in nice, frilly ones when I do slip some on.
“I am not scared,” I whisper as his fingers skim over the inside of my thigh, “just excited. Well, that is a lie I guess I am a bit scared—I don’t know Grant the way you do. Mother will not be surprised, I am always letting her down,” I sigh the words out, shaking my head at myself.
Parker slaps a flat hand at my bare sex, and I muffle a shout. When he slides a look my way, I know he is chastising me for my negativity. He bends his fingers to run two of them through the wetness his slap caused, smirking. I flush and bow my head against his shoulder, my blood pulsing in my veins as he slowly strokes me beneath the table.
“How is figuring yourself out letting someone down? Don’t talk that way about yourself” he tells me, bending to kiss at my ear, “no more negative thoughts, pet. I just won’t have it.” He declares, chuckling when I whimper as his fingers slide inside of me, curling to wiggle teasingly.
“Yes, daddy,” I whisper against his throat, forgetting we are out in public.
“Good girl,” he praises roughly, sending a hot rush of pleasure right to my center. “That’s daddy’s girl,” his voice is pleased and darkly deep and I shudder against him.
When he pulls his hand away, I want to cry out. I watch him suck the stickiness from them with a wicked gleam in his eyes and feel an orgasm start to bubble inside me. Whatever this man has done to me I never want it to stop. It really feels like I popped a powerful pleasure pill when I met him and have been riding the buzzing wave of it ever since.
“Hey toots!” My mother singsongs her usual greeting and I jump.
Glancing up, I see my mother and my new stepfather joining us. Grant pulls out her seat for her like a gentleman as he eyes us with a furrowed brow. I start to straighten to hide how I was just curled around Parker. One look from him tells me that would be a bad idea. I find myself wondering if he would punish me and if might like his style of punishment.
Parker grins because as always, he can read my mind it seems. Beneath the table, he gives my thigh a squeeze. Just the weight of his warm palm on my skin calms my anxieties and I melt back against his thick arm, wrapping both of mine around his bicep. Grant sees this and his brows shoot up into his hairline. I want to laugh at how stern but silly he manages to look but think better of it.
“Sir,” Parker greets him with a nod before he grins at my mother, “Mrs. Scott, pleasure to meet the woman who caught the Commander’s eye.”
“Not all I caught, lieutenant,” mother cheekily replies, winking at him, “hope I caught everything else too. What do you think Commander?”
“Married you two weeks after I laid eyes on you, darlin’, I would say you damn sure caught it all,” he teases as they moon at one another.
Laughing with them, I nudge a stunned Parker as he gapes at his boss in clear surprise. I would bet he has never seen Grant Scott this laidback or lighthearted. Sliding me a look, he makes his eyes huge and mouths“what the fuck”before turning back to them with a blank look. I laugh again and grip his hand beneath the table, lacing our fingers together tightly.
Taking a deep breath, I wait for them to notice I am wrapped up in Parker both figuratively and literally. Mother orders some of her favorite wine and Grant suggests a salad with fresh local grown greens and fruit and chicken from his own farm. When I lay into him about killing the chickens he raises, he promises he only kills the ones he does not name.
By the time that salad arrives—I do feel bad for the chickens, but the salad looks amazing, so I nod when Parker offers to plate me some—we are laughing like old friends. When he pours me a glass of wine, mother goes still, watching us with a narrowed gaze I know all too well.
“Wait a minute...Perri James,” mother middle names me so I sit up straight but refuse to move away from Parker, “what is...this, whatis thisthat you two are doing over there?” Pointing at us with a strawberry on her fork, her dark brows hike the same way the Commander’s did earlier.
“Mrs. Scott, Sir,” Parker speaks up before I can, sitting forward as if sharing a secret, “I am absolutely besotted by Perri,” his voice is calm, his words careful as he gives my fingers a squeeze beneath the table, “I spent today with her and... well, sir, I would imagine as quickly as you two got married, you can imagine how I am feeling after meeting Perri,” he reasons as he presses another gentle squeeze against my fingers.
For a moment, I think they do understand. They glance at one another and share a smile, talking without words before their gazes swing back our way. Then I know I am wrong. Even if mother does understand—I have never mentioned a man before so this must be important—it is clear my new stepfather does not.
“Oh, no, I cannot imagine,” Grant crosses his arms on the table, sitting forward to lean close to Parker, “asked you to do one thing for me, Bird. One goddamn thing, see to it she was taken care of for the day. I left you with her less than eight hours ago. Now you want me to believe that in that time, the two of you...what...found some great romance. She is twenty-two. Young and naïve. What the hell are you thinking, Parker?”
Parker clears his throat, wilting just a little beneath the brunt of his bosses’ fury. I shrink back, afraid he will back down. Afraid all he said today was just bullshit to get in my panties. Totakemy panties, as a matter of fact. I glare at him until I feel those gentle squeezes on my finger. I blink at him as he stares back at his boss and realize something I’d never have imagined.
Someone else is asking me to care for them. He needs me right now and it takes me a moment to grasp that. To realize I want to take care of him more than I want to be taken care of. I feel a surge of protection for him and wonder if it’s the same way he felt about me when we met today. He mentioned wanting to take care of me right from the start, wanting to keep me safe and to himself. Right now, I feel the very same way.
Paker will tell them I am coming to his place because we want to be together. He will fight his boss and my mother. He will take care of me the way we both want. To do that, he needs me to tell him I want him to. Tears mist my eyes because how can this be happening so quickly between us? How can we be feeling this way at the same time?