We didn’t understand each other, but fighting wouldn’t make a difference.
So, now we barely talked about it, and when we did, we never ended the conversation with a solution that would work for everyone.
I wanted a good relationship with my brother, rather than losing him after everything too.
“I have good news for you,” Ryan said, not responding to my comment.
“I could do with some.”
“I figured as much. Parker needs someone to decorate his apartment.”
“Really? Why?”
“His place is like a concrete box. It’s boring as fuck. And he’s finally snapping out of his ... whatever it is that stops him from being normal about it.” He laughed. “I suggested you take the job. It’s a white canvas for you to do as you please. I know you love that stuff.”
That sounded like fun. Ryan was right. I loved working from scratch rather than taking something that already existed, or making one room fit with the rest of the house.
“Do you have time for it?” Ryan asked. “He’ll pay you.”
I didn’t really have the time. I had my hands full with Richmond, and Barnett wasn’t an easy client to come back to when he snapped his fingers for my services again. But a blank canvas ... And payment to boot. I could use that, even if it meant working overtime. And it wasParker Conrad. A hell of a name to have on my portfolio.
“If he’s a paying client, I can squeeze him in,” I agreed.
“Good, I’ll let him know. And, Em, don’t let Mom get you down too much, okay? I know she’s in a shit place in her life, but she did it to herself. It’s not your job to fix her life.”
“Thanks, Ryan,” I said without commenting on his mean approach. I’d told Mom to give Dad some time. Maybe that was all Ryan needed too. “I’ll see you soon.”
We ended the call, and I drove to my apartment.
Decorating Parker’s apartment would be fun. Especially if he was paying me—I could use his penthouse as another portfolio piece. With both Tony Richmond and Parker Conrad under my belt as a designer, I could get higher-profile clients.
That was the dream—I wanted to be one of those luxury designers that catered to the rich and famous.
With a little bit of help from Richmond and from Parker, I could get there. And seeing Parker again would be a bonus—he was a great guy, and it’d been a while since I’d seen him. He hung out with Ryan a lot, but it had been a while since I’d joined their party.
What a way to end the day. It almost erased the bad taste in my mouth after I’d seen my mother.
4
PARKER
“Whatdoyouwant,Parker?” Emily asked. Her dark-brown hair hung loosely over her shoulders, and she wore a silk robe that hid her mid-thigh. The robe gaped a little, showing a lace bra.
My cock grew and strained against my pants at the sight of her. She was delicious, curvy in all the right places, perfectly in proportion, and so fucking hot. I’d thought that since the day I’d met her. It was hard to imagine she was Ryan’s twin sister. When she stood in front of me, dressed like that, it was hard to imagine her as anything other than mine.
“What do you mean?” I asked and swallowed hard.
She was asking me about the house, wasn’t she? The walls, the décor, the paintings ... that was what we were talking about. She wanted to know what I wanted, not what my body wanted.
But fuck, it was hard to focus with her looking like a goddess, ready for me to scoop up and carry to my bedroom like a caveman. Fuck the house and whatever the hell needed to be done to it.
“You know what I mean,” she said in a breathy voice and took a step closer to me, her lips parted. She looked up at me with those big doe eyes, and I slid my eyes down to her lips. They were perfectly ruby red, and I could just picture what they would look like—and feel like—wrapped around my cock. She’d roll those big eyes up to me, and holy fuck, I couldn’t imagine anything more incredible.
She lifted her hand and brushed her finger along my jaw.
“A man like you should know what he wants by now,” she said. She stood on her toes and brushed her lips against mine.
I groaned and grabbed onto her, trying to kiss her. But she was suddenly on her knees in front of me, undoing my jeans. I glanced down and pushed my hands into her hair. She smiled up at me, her face hot with lust that echoed the need that grew within me. I wanted to fuck her.