Page 64 of Heartless

God.

I clenched my thighs together under the water but it did nothing to ease the tension I felt there.

“Keep your hands where I can see them, Madison,” Parker teased when I didn’t react to his speech and my head snapped up to look at him. He had a smug look on his face that I wanted to erase.

“You’re messing with me.”

“Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not. Who knows?”

“Two can play that game.”

“That’s what I’m hoping for.”

I smiled as innocently as I could and started talking. “I have always imagined a scenario with a guy that I wanted to…” I stumbled at the word.

“Fuck,” Parker said for me.

“Yes. I want to but I can’t. He is like a forbidden fruit.” I straightened up a bit, enough for my breasts to be visible over the surface of the water.

“Yeah?” He breathed out, his gaze moving over my chest.

“Yeah,” I whispered. “It would be inappropriate. So wrong. Which only makes me want it even more. So much that I can’t control myself anymore.”

I tilted my head up and Parker leaned over me. I had him exactly where I wanted him so Icontinued.

“And then because I can’t control myself anymore, I get up and walk over to where he is sitting. I lift my dress and straddle him. He’s hard and I start to grind myself into him,soaking the fabric of his pants…”

Parker’s cheeks were pink at that point, his breathing ragged, and he completely missed the fact that I repeated his words from two minutes ago. He looked at me through hooded eyes and asked. “And then what?”

“And then,” I whispered close to his mouth and jumped from the water with two handfuls of water that I deliberately spilled over his crotch. “Then I dragged him into the bathroom and he had me against the sink. At Clementine’s bachelorette party. It was my high school boyfriend. Hottest guy I had ever seen.”

The lust in Parker’s eyes morphed into a mix of hurt and anger I could live with. He had ignored me for a week when I hadn’t done anything wrong. He deserved this.

I got out of the tub and put on my robe. “Let me know if you need help with the dog.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Madison

We had Sheila and Matthew Scott’s wedding three days before Christmas and I had a blast. The gardens looked amazing, the guests had fun, and the staff did a good job. Sheila turned out to be a fun bride. Even though she wanted her wedding day to be a spectacle, she completely let go after the ceremony and just enjoyed the party.

At the end of that long day, I felt proud. I made it. I came to California a jobless woman forcing a man who hated her to do something he didn’t want to and yet I made it. The success made me think about starting something on my own. No boss, no other name attached to the business. I could do it. Where to do it was another question. I wanted to go back to New York. To my apartment. To the city that had been my home for more than a decade. But something in my gut told me I should think about staying in California.

The only thing I didn’t like about the wedding was Parker’s absence. I assumed he would come to check up on things. Congratulate the happy couple. The groom had been a client for years. Or maybe express his gratitude for my work and efforts. But no. Parker chose to hide and sulk again. I began to suspect it was his pattern. He disappeared for the important main events and then sneaked out from the Blue Diamond, barely acknowledged his previous absence, and acted like he didn’t miss anything.

So when the day after the wedding he showed up at my doorstep with a smile on his face I wasn’t surprised one bit. Annoyed? Yes. Surprised? No.

“Good morning,” he bent down to let the puppy run into my villa and basically invited himself in with that, so I just moved to the side to let him slip in.

“It’s noon,” I bit out.

He shot me a look over his shoulder. “I assumed you wanted to sleep in today. After the wedding yesterday.”

There it was. The nonchalant way he mentioned the wedding made me want to punch him in the face.

“Everything went great, by the way. Not that you care.”

That gave him pause. “It’s my hotel. Of course I care. I talked to Ryan this morning. He was impressed.”

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