Page 15 of Playing the Pucking Game
She shakes her head, her arms locked around her middle.
She looks utterly defeated.
I want to help, to do something…anything. But there isn’t anything I can do or say to make this situation any less dire.
I stand there, feeling useless.
My cell burns a hole in my pocket.
I should ring Nova. My sister would know exactly what to do.
Casey would as well, but I don’t want to disturb them. If Parker wanted to go there, she’d have directed me there.
I run my eyes down the length of Parker's body, and it suddenly hits me that she has nothing.
Only the clothes on her back and the clutch I placed on the dresser.
“The bathroom is fully stocked. I know it’s not your usual, so just send me a list and I’ll get whatever you need.”
“No, you don’t need?—”
“I’ll go and grab you something to wear for tonight.”
Before she can say anything, I dart out of the room and straight into the one next door.
After a quick rummage through my closet, I grab one of my old Vipers T-shirts and a brand-new pair of boxers. I swing bythe kitchen for a bottle of water and some crackers, just in case, and make my way back to her.
I knock, because every now and then I can be a gentleman, but when I don’t get a response, I let myself in anyway.
I half expect to find her curled up in bed already, but instead, I discover a pile of discarded clothes on the floor and the bathroom door ajar. The sound of the shower running fills the air, my grip on the clothes in my hand tightens.
There is a naked woman in my apartment.
And not just any woman. Parker fucking Donnelly.
I knock on the bathroom door before continuing to the bed and lowering my T-shirt and boxers to it.
“There are some clothes on the bed,” I call through to her.
I don’t know if she hears me or not; I don’t hang around to find out. I don’t need any more temptation to crack the door a little wider to see if I can catch her reflection in the mirror.
I shake my head as I walk away.
It’s the Parker Donnelly effect.
No other woman on the planet drives me wild the way she does.
And what have I done?
Invited her into my home.
Twenty minutes later,I’m showered and in bed naked, staring up at the ceiling and questioning my life choices.
Parker Donnelly is in my home with nothing more than the clothes on her back.
Well, no, that’s not true.
Right this moment, she is probably wearing a Vipers T-shirt that has my name across the back.
