The Beginning of Us (108 page)

“I could never hate you.” I gasped when he flipped me onto my stomach, pushing me face first into the bench of the limo.

“You will. But that anticipation, the beautiful knowledge that when I enter a room, your body will tremble. One look from me and your legs will shake. A graze of my finger against the back of your neck or down your arm, and you’ll be panting at my feet.” His deep voice caressed my ear, his hips grinding against mine.

“I like being at your feet,” I blurted out, momentarily surprised at my confession.

He chuckled. “All in due time, pet. Although I have no patience, with you, I’m willing to be as patient as possible in order to make you see that this is right. That I am here. For you.”

His big body wrapped around mine, pinning me beneath him. If we could stay like that for the rest of our lives, it would make all the shit in my past worth it.

“Hmm…you like it when I pin you down.”

I nodded.

“You’re doing so much better.” Parker brushed the hair off my nape, linking our fingers. We laid there in silence for what felt like an eternity. “Don’t be scared of what my cottage has to bring. I made it for training purposes but now I know that it was made for you.”

I rolled over onto my back. “For me?”

“I’ll show you. I’ll reveal parts of yourself that you never thought existed.” He brushed a hand in the collar of my shirt, rubbing his thumb over the top of my breast. “I’ll make it so you give me your heart,” he said softly.

Those words. Those beautiful words. Deep and melodic when they left Parker’s mouth. And that was when I realized it. Something I swore to myself that I would never let happen again. As I stared into his beautiful green eyes, I knew. I was falling in love with him.

TWELVE

“Troy. You home, babe?” I yelled as we entered my apartment.

Parker followed me to my room, placing my bags by the closet.

“Hey,” Troy said from his doorway. “What are you guys doing home so early?”

“We had a minor setback,” Parker mumbled.

“What’s wrong?” Troy asked as Patrick came up behind him.

“Hi Patrick.” I introduced him and Parker and went back to packing some clothes in my gym bag.

“Devin showed up.” Parker grabbed my bag, holding it open while I searched through my drawers.

“We were at Parker’s business dinner and that’s when everything happened.” I explained that Devin just wanted to mess with my head but he didn’t actually do anything.

A part of me probably could have missed him. If Parker wasn’t in my life, I would have. Even after everything Devin had done, the insecure part of me would crawl back to him.

“Are you okay?” Troy asked, biting his bottom lip.

“I’m…I’m alright. Oh. We saw Greyson Mercer today,” I told him with a smirk.

Troy’s eyes lit up.

“Who’s that?” Patrick asked from the doorway.

“Only one of the hottest men I have ever laid eyes on.” Troy sighed and clutched his chest.

I smiled and shook my head. A sense of relief washed over. Although I had been running for the past several years from a man that I thought loved me, a man that took everything from me…these small moments with my best friend helped turn the scared little girl inside of me into the woman I was today.

“Well, lover. You will just have to introduce me to this fine specimen,” Patrick said, waggling his eye brows.

“Wait...” Troy walked up to me and grabbed my shirt from my hand. “What are you doing? Trying to distract me with hot men so I don’t notice you packing?”

I reached for the shirt when he pulled away. My eyes narrowed. “Troy.”

“Tell me what’s going on,” he demanded, placing his hand on his hip.

“Tell him, Keely,” Parker said in that Dominant tone of his that I had grown to love.

“I’m staying with Parker at his cottage for a couple of days.” I pulled the shirt from Troy’s grasp and shoved it in my bag.

“Why?” His face paled. “Do you think Devin will come here?”

“I don’t know but I need to get away. I need...I don’t want him near you,” I said softly, hugging Troy around his middle.

He cupped my nape. “But—”

“Keely,” Parker said firmly. “Can I talk to Troy for a second? Alone.”

I met Parker’s stare and nodded. I went to walk by him when he grabbed my hand.

“Do you trust me?” he whispered in my ear.

“Yes,” I said without hesitation.

“Good.” He kissed my head and gave me a light smack on the rear. “Now take Patrick and give us a minute.”

I glanced between him and Troy who looked concerned as much as he probably should have felt. He chewed his bottom lip. The movement almost made me giggle coming from my gorgeous best friend.

“Under normal circumstances, I’d probably be really excited that you asked to be alone with me,” Troy told Parker. “But right now, it’s making me nervous as hell.”

“I love you. You know that right?” I asked Troy.

He nodded and let out a heavy sigh.

I left my room and closed the door quietly behind me before making my way out into the hall. Finding Patrick standing by the large patio window, I walked up to him.

“I don’t know who this Devin guy is, but know that if you need anything, I’m here,” Patrick said, crossing his arms under his chest.

“What did I ever do to deserve friends like you three?”

“Honey, Parker is not just your friend.” Patrick gently nudged me in the shoulder. “He loves you.”

I scoffed. “Yeah. Okay.” But a part of me wondered if it were true. I sure as hell knew that I was falling in love with him but I also knew that it was too early to tell him. He needed to know everything before I allowed those three words to slip from my mouth.

“Keely, come sit.” Patrick took my hands and guided me to the couch, sitting me down beside him. “Now sweetheart. I may not be the best person to say this but Parker…I’ve read the tabloids, I’ve seen the shit they’ve written about him but as the saying goes, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

“Most of the crap in the tabloids are lies.”

Patrick hesitated. “Have you seen what they’ve written about you?”

“Um…no. I saw one thing but that’s it.”

Patrick sighed and handed me a folded up magazine. “I’m not giving you this to hurt you. Honest. But I want you to be warned before whatever this is between the both of you turns serious.”

“Why? You hardly know me. Why do you care?” I asked, taking the magazine from him.

“Because I love your best friend and he loves you. You’re family.” He shrugged.

My eyes welled, my heart swelling with happiness. I threw my arms around his neck, squeezing him tight. “Oh I am so happy for you! Does he know? Did you tell him?”

Patrick laughed. “Yes.”

“What did he say?”

“He told me that he loves me too,” he said, his eyes sparkling.

I clasped my hands to my chest, a soft sigh leaving my lips.

“Well at least someone made her happy,” Troy said, coming up behind us.

My cheeks heated when I caught Parker’s gaze.
He
made me happy and he knew it too.

“We should go,” Parker pointed out, pulling me from the couch.

“Thank you. All of you. For everything.” I looked up at Troy. “I don’t say that enough.”

He gave me a hug and kissed my head. “Talk to Parker.”

My heart jumped. “What did you tell him?” I whispered.

“Nothing but he knows that you’re keeping something from him.” Troy released me and walked into the kitchen. “I’m going to stop by the cottage in a couple of days. Parker gave me the address.”

“Okay.” We all said goodbye before Parker and I headed out to the limo. “How long is the drive?” I asked, sliding onto the cool leather seat.

“About two and a half hours. I wanted it as far from the city as possible.” He pressed a button on the intercom. “We’re good to go, Jones.”

“Roger that, sir,” came the deep reply.

I leaned against the back of the seat, watching the world pass us by. The tension in the vehicle grew thick and I knew Parker was waiting for me to say something. But I couldn’t. Not yet. As selfish as it was, I wanted this moment of happiness with Parker to last for a little bit longer. I hadn’t been happy in years. Looking over my shoulder every chance I got, I grew paranoid that Devin would come find me. Now that he had, I felt stronger with Parker by my side.

I rummaged through my bag and pulled out the magazine that Patrick had given me while Parker worked on his tablet.

The tabloid was your typical piece of junk. What celebrity slept with whom, how much money they were making, how Parker Reed continued to sleep with his assistants until he got bored and moved on. Wait…what?

My eyes scanned over the words.

Parker Reed. Young self-made entrepreneur has more money than brains.

His assistants aren’t any better.

Keely Price, assistant to the rich business man bit off more than she could chew.

Does she realize that all of Reed’s past assistants have been in the same boat as her? Bought. Used. Paid for. And dropped when he got bored.

How long will it take for this one to figure out that he’s only using her for his pleasure only?

“Parker,” I said softly, my heart racing.

“What?”

I met his gaze and threw the magazine at him. “Care to explain this?”

He frowned, his eyes moving back and forth over the words. “Well, this is something that I never thought we would discuss.”

My mouth dropped open at his casual words. “What the hell does that mean?”

His jaw clenched. “I have a past, Keely. You know that but I don’t care what this article says.”

“So are you telling me that you’ve never had an assistant before me?”

“No.”

“Did you fuck them? Is that your thing? You hire women to be your assistant so they can spread their legs?”

His gaze darkened. “I don’t need to hire women for them to spread their legs,” he bit out.

My back stiffened and I slapped the intercom. “Jones, take me home.”

Parker pushed my hand out of the way. “Don’t you fucking dare!” He grabbed my wrist, spinning me towards him.

“Let. Go. Of. Me,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Or else what, Keely? Yes, I’ve had assistants before you. I fucked them as well. Is that what you wanted to hear? Do you want all the gory sweaty details? Want me to tell you how many women I’ve had? Hmm?” His eyes darkened to the point of black.

A cold draft washed over me and all I could do was stare into the depths of his furious glare.

“Do you want to know that I never gave them a safe word? I just took what I wanted from them because they were whores, Keely. They were easy. You,” his grip on me tightened, “you were a challenge and that excited me. You’re still a difficult puzzle for me to put together. But I will. I promise you that. But that’s not the reason I hired them.”

“So why aren’t they your assistants anymore? Huh? Tell me that,” I demanded, shoving out of his grip.

“Because I couldn’t trust them. They tried to force their way into my heart even though I knew they only wanted sex. I knew you were attracted to me from the very beginning. I could smell your arousal.” He leaned in, his mouth mere inches from mine. “I could sense it.”

“How?” I asked, licking my dry lips.

“The scent of your perfume got stronger. My voice turned you on,” he purred, brushing his mouth along mine.

Ignoring the electric shock that passed between us, I struggled against him. “Why are you still with me, then? Why not those other women?”

“They wanted to bring me and my company down. They wanted to destroy me.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this?” I asked.

“It wasn’t your fucking business,” Parker growled.

“Is that the reason why you hired me? So you could fuck me?”

A wicked grin spread on his face. “I didn’t need to hire you for that. I knew in time that you would allow me to fuck you. I just wasn’t expecting it so soon.”

I gasped, gearing up my hand to slap him.

In a quick move, he grabbed my hand and pushed me to the floor of the limo. “Hit me and see what I do to that beautiful body of yours,” he growled, holding my wrists tight between us.

“You can’t do to me what hasn’t been done already, Parker,” I said, struggling out from under his grip.

His nostrils flared, the muscles in his thick neck tightening. He pinned my hands above my head, forcing his hips between my legs. “Don’t you ever
fucking
compare what I do to you to that
fucking
bastard.” His voice was calm and even but dripped with pure and utter venom. “I gave you a safe word. Use it. For once in your fucking life, stand up for yourself and don’t give in because you feel like you have to.”

A lump formed in my throat and I looked away.

“Look at me.”

I ignored the firm demand, squeezing my eyes shut. If only there was a place in my mind that I could go to. A safe place. A place where no one else existed. Just me and me alone. It would be quiet. Real. And it would help heal me from the onslaught of the impending wrath that I knew I was about to get from Parker.

My body tensed, waiting for him to strike. It had happened so many times before with Devin. It got to the point where I would create an imaginary world, my happy place, and go there. At one point, I didn’t come back until Devin threw ice cold water on me.

“Keely.”

My mind jumbled with thoughts of the past, now and the future. My dreams, hopes and goals.

“You are nothing but a toy. A pawn. An object for my pleasure and use only. No man will want you, princess, after I get through with you.”

My heart raced, my back arching as I fell deep into the scene playing before me.

“You like the pain I give you. You like seeing my marks on your body. You can deny it all you want but I know there’s a sick freak deep inside of you. My little slut. I will ruin you. Destroy your hot little body.”

“Keely, damn it! Snap out of it.”

The voice. So far away.

“
Keely
.”