“COFFEE’S READY!” ANGIE sing-songed as she wove in, out, and around the furniture and boxes crammed into the great room of Parker’s Sedona house. They were weeks from moving into their new home and far as she was concerned, it couldn’t happen fast enough. The packing and planning were fun. Sort of. But she’d had enough and just wanted to get the actual move over with and start their new life.
The life where they were a couple. Parker and Angelina, often referred to as the sexy lawyer and his Desert Angel. She’d waited a long time for this. Practically her whole life since that was how long she’d loved her older brother’s best friend.
A pair of strong arms snaked around her waist and scooped her backward until she collided with a large, muscular chest. Momentarily stunned as all the oxygen whooshed from her lungs, Angie squealed when she felt Parker dive in and maul her neck.
Laughing, she tried to squirm in his hold and turn around, but he held her firm. “Better put your glasses on, old man. The breakfast table is over there!”
He simply grunted, she supposed it was a laughing grunt, and continued to make a meal of her neck and shoulder.
Coming up for air, he chomped down on her earlobe and muttered, “Sexy smartass. My favorite flavor.”
The old man and the smartass. Angie sighed. Her life was next to perfect.
“Oh, cut it out, Counselor,” she simpered. A naughty wiggle of her butt against the front of his jeans was supposed to be for effect. Until he grabbed hold of her hips and forcefully ground against her. Uh, hmmm. Someone wasn’t fucking around this morning. Maybe she should have taken care of the good counselor’s morning wood before they left the bedroom.
Day late and a dollar and a half short. Shit.
“Honey, I’m being serious. Stephanie could walk in at any second.”
Parker groaned, and his hold slackened. The realization they weren’t alone was slowly sinking in. They’d been screwing like oversexed bunnies for months—all in the privacy of his off-the-compound house. In fact, it wasn’t even a little bit unusual for Angie to greet Parker at the end of the day with drinks and her tits on full display. Her favorite greeting-him-at-the-door outfit was an indecent little skirt, one of those schoolgirl uniform get-ups that barely covered her ass, and nothing underneath.
Having Stephanie as a stayover guest certainly put a crimp in their debauched style.
Ugh, he groaned. “You’re right, of course.” She felt the reluctance rolling off her virile lover in waves as he let her go and took a step back. “Don’t want her fiftieth to start off with an eyeful of you getting your freak on.”
“Me?” she squealed with outrage. Smacking him on the shoulder, he smirked at her and shrugged.
“Desert Angels like their sex wild. Off the hook. Unchained.”
God. Could his drawl be any hotter? Angie giggled. “Yeah, well be that as it may, I wasn’t the one roaring like a bull last night. The bathroom is tile, y’know. That sort of noise carries through the whole house.”
Parker grinned. One of those big, happy, shit-eating grins he did so well.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have seduced me in the shower.”
Making a deliberate pouty-scowl, she pushed some hair behind her ears and sniffed like an affronted nun. “If that was a seduction, sir, then we really need to talk.”
She knew her eyes sparkled with amusement when she saw the same mirrored in his.
“I believe being told to get my naked ass into the bathroom and ready to be thoroughly used for someone else’s pleasure in no way qualifies as seduction.”
“Depends on how you look at it.” He chuckled.
Angie laughed in his face. “Take the Dom cap off, Mr. Sullivan. I know you like to think you have a willing sex slave waiting on your dick and call”—she smirked—“but a girl has to do what a girl has to do when her man gets up there in years.”
His eyes flashed dangerously.
“Angelina Marquez. Dick and call? Where do you come up with this stuff? Are you angling for a spanking? ‘Cause let me tell you, baby girl, keep up those old man jokes and we’re gonna explore some real punishment. I’m beginning to suspect you’re not showing your master the proper respect.”
He quite literally hiked up his pants and snorted like a cartoon character. Parker Sullivan knew how to make her laugh better than anyone did. Damn him.
Crossing her arms, a deliberate ploy she knew perfectly well plumped her boobs in a way that made a silent statement, she applied some amusing shade with a soft hand. “How amusing that you see yourself as a master.”
Snap.
He stared her down. She lasted a good minute before giving in. He had this way of making her … she shivered. But god forbid she surrender without also making him laugh.
When her eyes lowered and she heard the unmistakable inhale of virile-victory, she wanted to strangle his alpha ass but dropped to her knees instead.
“Forgive my impudence, oh lord and master,” she pleaded with barely disguised laughter.
“Oh, for god’s sake, Angie,” he barked with an amused cackle. “Get up, you little witch, before Stephanie walks in.”
She snickered at him but stayed put.
“I’m serious. Get up!”
He started to take her arm, but she wiggled away. That was when he lost it.
“Angelina.” The tone he used was all sorts of growly alpha. “If your brother hears that you’re on your knees, he’s going to think all sorts of rubbish that’ll end with a black eye. Mine. Now get the fuck up.”
“I thought you liked me on my knees.”
How Stephanie appeared at that exact moment without either of them hearing her was just their luck.
“Shugah,” she twanged, “is this bad man giving you a hard time?”
Stephanie Bennett was an absolute genius. Her funny Southern drawl, the way she delivered her trademark ‘shugah,’ and the unmistakable innuendo in the question she posed broke them all up into raucous gales of laughter.
Helping her up, Parker was wiping away an actual tear as he shook his head and winked. “Tell the nice lady that Daddy isn’t abusing you.”
With that, everyone promptly lost it again.
Recovering following a hearty giggle-fest, Stephanie fluffed her head of gorgeously coiffed blond and pursed her lips. To Parker, she said, “Darlin’, we need to talk.”
Parker looked at Angie with wide eyes before he turned to Stephanie. “Uh-oh. What did I do now? Is this about the wildcat that got trapped in our bathroom last night?”
Stephanie’s burst of “Bwah!” at his characterization of the noises he made in the tile enclosure was funnier than almost anything.
“Oh, shugah,” she assured him with a saucy giggle-snort, “I’m well acquainted with the alpha mating call. No need to seek applause. Besides, we all assume you’re violating this sweet, sugar plum at every opportunity.”
“Who’s we?”
Angie had to laugh at the starchy affront she heard in Parker’s voice. Patting him on the arm, she weighed in.
“Sweetie, I think what Stephanie means is that the Justice crew has a betting pool going around for how long it takes you to knock me up.”
Her alpha lawyer rock ‘n’ roll bad boy reacted like he’d been smacked with a paddle.
“Are you fucking serious?”
She and Stephanie looked at each other, rolled their eyes in unison, and sighed.
“Men,” Stephanie said half-mockingly.
“Right?” Angie replied. She smirked at Parker and then softened. “We’ll discuss this later, okay?”
He didn’t look amused or convinced. Yep. She really should have drained the snake earlier or whatever unseemly expression best described fucking her man into a coma. He really didn’t function all that well when she didn’t.
Men.
Bringing the weird conversation to a screeching halt, Angie cheerfully exclaimed, “Happy birthday, Stephanie,” and gave the woman a fierce hug. Hearing her express the day’s sentiment snapped Parker from his thoughts.
“Stephanie,” he intoned gravely, “I’m sorry for being a dick. Happy birthday, lady.”
The birthday girl accepted their generous hugs and best wishes then said once again, “We need to talk.”
“What’s up?” Parker asked now that he realized she wasn’t just yanking his chain.
“Did you see the outfit Calder expects me to wear to this shindig?”
Outfit? This was news to Angie. She glanced up at Parker’s face and saw him clear his throat and bite back a chuckle.
“No. But going by your reaction, I’m assuming you’re not pleased?”
“Not pleased? Seriously?” Stephanie crooked her finger and started walking to the guest room. Oh boy. Show and tell!
Parker yanked Angie playfully until she was in front of him like a shield and whispered into her ear, “Protect me, Desert Angel. If Calder did a bad, I’m about to pay for it.”
Angie snicker giggled and followed along behind Stephanie as she stomped off down the hallway. In the guest room, the remains of a present torn to shreds while unwrapping were strewn all about the room. Knowing how meticulous Stephanie was, the gift carnage was all kinds of adorable.
Pointing at something on the bed, she bumped her eyebrows together and declared, “No fucking way.”
Whoa. Swearing. Ladylike in the delivery but swearing nonetheless.
In reality, it probably only took a few seconds, but it seemed like she and Parker stood there and eyeballed the outfit on the bed for an eternity. Angie didn’t know what her lover man was thinking, but she assumed it was something along the lines of Calder Dane getting his ass kicked.
Parker couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He didn’t know whether to laugh, feign indignation, throw a fury, or whatever. Clearly, the lady was not amused but holy god. Calder was either the funniest son-of-a-bitch on the planet or the stupidest. As the thought unfolded, he caught sight a handwritten card and focused until he could read it without appearing to be too nosy.
Ended up it was easy to read ‘cause all he found was one word in big black block letters. OBEY.
Jesus Christ. Reeling back the eye roll before it spread to his face, he searched for the best way to handle the situation. He was a lawyer, goddammit, and he knew how to react to a courtroom bombshell. But this? Hard not to laugh.
Having a bit of understanding about what Calder was doing—he had to remember to high five the dude and share this epically hilarious moment with Alex—he made a comical face and asked, “What? No good?”
Angie guffawed and elbowed him at the same time. “Behave, Counselor.” He flashed her a perfectly perfect innocent look like he had no idea what she was referring to.
“He doesn’t think you’ll wear it,” his young lover told the older woman. “Am I right?”
Hmph. She might have a point, he thought. Obviously, the obey game was something the older couple played. This, he understood. Point. Counterpoint. Hot sex to follow.
Stephanie paused and looked back and forth from the outrageous clothing to Angie’s smirk. “Oh, my god. You’re right.”
Parker noticed immediately not a trace of the Southern Belle twang was evident. He loved this about Stephanie. The lady was the real fucking deal.
Angie picked up the top, or what was supposed to pass as a top, and chuckled. “I’d wear it if I was you. Give him a taste of his own medicine. It’s your birthday, so every eye will be on you anyway. Show up in this and a brawl might break out. Serve Calder right. He’s playing poker with the wrong gals!”
Stephanie chuckled. Then giggled. Then laughed and laughed and laughed.
“Aw, thanks, shugah. Just the advice I needed. Now, I know what to do.”
Shooing them from the room, she asked as the door shut, “I’ve got to get ready. What time are we expected at the Villa?”
“Two hours,” he answered. “Takes about fifty minutes to get there in no traffic.”
“Got it,” Stephanie answered. “So I’ll be ready in an hour, okay?”
The door shut. He looked at Angie as she looked at him.
“Do you know what’s going on?” She quizzed.
“Fuck, no. My assignment was to keep her off the property for twenty-four hours to give them time to set everything up. Aside from that and knowing what the general dress code is? I haven’t a clue.”
Next thing Parker knew, his back was pressed against the wall as his angel baby balls-out shimmied on his body and kissed his neck.
“I know what I’m wearing. That gives us forty-five free minutes until we have to dress.”
When her dainty hand rubbed him right through his pants, he didn’t waste another second. Swinging her up into his arms, he walked purposely down the hallway to the other side of the large ranch-style house, entered their bedroom, and kicked the door shut. Her wicked mouth had been doing lovely things to his neck as he walked. They’d be showing up at today’s birthday fest with her love bite marking his throat.
Tossing her on the bed in a way that had her sailing through the air, he watched her drop in a sprawl and quickly pulled the t-shirt over his head. Leering at her as he undid the button and pulled down the zipper on his pants, he knew a deep thrill when she licked her lips and stared helplessly.
“Start the clock,” he growled. And then fell on her like a hungry animal.