Lukas
Igenuinely contemplate staying in bed with Parker until someone sends a search party, but eventually, she decides we should get up and go to work. I don’t want her to take the splint off and she agrees to let me help her shower. I tie a plastic bag over her hand, and she has to hold it up out of the spray of the shower while I shampoo her hair. Somehow, I keep my hands from wandering too much, but I honestly couldn’t tell you how.
Helping Parker get dressed is a whole other adventure. I’ve never put a bra on someone, and it is significantly more complicated than taking one off. Fumbling with the little hooks, I accidentally lose one side and end up swearing as I wrestle it back into place. She laughs uncontrollably at my grumping, but I enjoy the hell out of situating her tits in the cups. She finally pushes me back a step when I start playing with her nipples.
“Those are fine the way they are,” she tells me with a grin. “Believe it or not, I’d rather not have the high beams on all day.” She manages to slip her dress on without my help before stepping into her panties and pulling them up with just the one hand. I could have helped with that part if she’d asked, but I don’t mind watching either.
“Am I going to get to keep these today?” she asks with an arched eyebrow.
“We’ll see.” I sweep my gaze up and down her body, leaning in to kiss her neck and giving her a little bite at the junction of her neck and shoulder. Parker shivers, a little moan stuck in her throat.
I reheat our breakfast and we eat while Cujo watches forlornly from next to his bowl of dog food. Clearly, he prefers my sister’s takeout version of mealtime to dry food.
“You think he’ll be ok here today?” Parker asks, looking at the enormous dog.
“Yeah, I’ll come back and check on him and we can take him to dinner tonight. Gran won’t mind.”
Parker grins at me, her coppery hair drying into soft waves. “I almost forgot about dinner. What are you doing at the shop today?”
I clear my throat. I thought about this for ages last night after she fell asleep. “I thought I’d let Asher cover the shop, and I’d go get the rest of your stuff from your… tiny house. I don’t want you going back over there unless you really need to. Besides, I need to get my bike. I kind of abandoned it.”
She stops chewing her mouth full of pancakes and stares at me for a beat before swallowing roughly. “Are you sure you want me to move in—?”
“Positive,” I interrupt. “But I’ll keep telling you until you believe me. I want you to live with me. Besides, what would we do with our ill-gotten gains?” I ask, gesturing at Cujo. “I don’t want to split custody,” I say, winking at her. “So you’ll just have to stay here with us and put up with endless orgasms.”
Parker blushes, the color spreading to her hairline. “Well, I can’t argue with that.”
“And that’s why I love you,” I say, kissing her before standing to collect our plates. I add some leftover eggs and bacon to Cujo’s dish. He wolfs them down, giving me big, grateful eyes. “I am going to spoil the shit out of you,” I tell him before I catch Parker staring at me through half-hooded eyes, a soft smile on her face. “What?” I ask innocently.
She shakes her head, looking down. “Nothing. You’re just a big softy and that’s why I love you.”
I drop Parker off at work, making sure she gets inside okay before calling my brother. He’s grumpy about it but agrees to help me shuttle my bike back from Parker’s rental before opening the shop on his own.
He’s in a huff when I pick him up in front of his house. “This is insane. You know that, right? You can’t fall in love with someone in less than two weeks. And asking her to move in with you? It’s not rational.”
I shrug at him, unbothered. “Say what you want, man. But I’m crazy about her. This is the right thing.”
“How the fuck can you be so sure?”
I shrug again. “I can’t explain it. I just know.”
Asher scoffs and spends the next five minutes talking about the business. When we get to Parker’s place, he takes my spare helmet and gets on the bike, shaking his head at me.
“Insane,” he mutters.
I grab the key that Parker gave me and the stack of boxes I stashed in the back of the truck, tucking them under my arm as I head to her shed. Just looking at the damn thing pisses me off. Nobody notices me or says anything as I unlock the front door and go inside. I strip her bedding and toss it in a box with a small bag of laundry. I empty all the little cabinets and by “empty” I mean I pack up half a bag of coffee, a couple slices of bread, some peanut butter, and a single can of soup. Her little fridge has half and half. That’s it.
Once I find all the odds and ends and pack them up, I’m left staring at two small boxes sitting on the floor. I’m shaking mad. I’m mad at myself for not noticing this before now, but she has nothing. These boxes, and the clothes at my house, are all Parker has in the damn world, and most of this is just bedding.
I’m all for keeping life simple, but the clothes and bedding are cheap and scratchy. Her laptop is a beat-up piece of shit and all of her food is some weird off-brand that I’ve never even heard of. She’s done what she has to in order to get by, but in the process, she hasn’t been able to treat herself to a single quality thing.
With a sigh, I double-check to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Spoiler alert, I didn’t. Carrying her boxes to my truck, I catch her douchebag neighbor looking at me out a window. I jerk my chin at him and keep walking. He ducks away. Part of me wishes he’d come out looking for a fight. I’m in the mood to fuck something up and his face would do just fine. Not that Parker didn’t do some damage already. I didn’t miss his black eye and swollen cheek.
I make a couple of phone calls on the way home, hitting up my sisters for more favors. If it was for anyone else, I probably wouldn’t bother, but I want things to be perfect for Parker. Not just today. Not just for her birthday. I want to give her everything she could want. Anything that would make her happy.
Cujo greets me at the door, winding his massive bulk around my legs like the world’s largest, drooliest cat. He’s so strong he nearly knocks me over. The big brute might look intimidating, but he’s practically overflowing with affection. It’s easy to see why Parker fell in love with him; I certainly don’t mind having him around. He follows me around as I unpack Parker’s boxes. It takes all of ten minutes.
“Come on, bud,” I say to him, opening the front door. I grab the cheap little leash the vet gave Asher yesterday and head to the truck. He jumps up in the backseat on his own and rides with his head out the window all the way to the pet store. I let him sniff up and down the aisles, grabbing the bag of food he seems most interested in and every toy he picks up. He gets a new, black leather collar and a matching leash. The last stop is the engraver for his tags.