“So, this is your place, huh?”
I dropped my keys on the coffee table. “Yep. This is it.”
Cassidy spun around and took in the loft apartment I owned in the building above Lilly’s restaurant. I had bought the entire fourth floor and had it remodeled two years ago.
“I’m glad you finally invited me back to your place and not the back seat of your truck,” she said.
A sharp pain hit me in the middle of my chest.
Cassidy grinned as she placed her hands on my chest. “It’s been awhile since we fucked, Mitch. All that teasing at Cord’s Place the last few months has been driving me crazy. I was glad when I got your call tonight.”
I forced a smile and stepped back. “Want a beer?”
She nodded and made her way to my sofa. “Sure.”
Entering the kitchen, I took a deep breath and opened the refrigerator. What in the hell was I doing? I had tried this once already—with this same chick. It hadn’t worked then, and I was fooling myself to think a redo would change things.
I pulled out my phone and sent a text.
Me: What are you doing?
Robert and I had been best friends since high school, so I knew it wouldn’t take him long to respond.
Robert: About to castrate a bull. You want in on it?
With a smile, I replied.
Me: Yes. On my way. Do me a favor and call me.
Robert: Why? You want to hear my sweet voice?
Me: Something like that.
I grabbed two beers and headed back into the living room. It was time to get rid of the mistake I had almost made.
As I handed the beer to Cassidy, my phone rang. I was going to owe Robert big time.
“This is Mitch.”
“Okay. So I called. Now what?”
“Yes, sir. I understand.”
“Aw, we’ve got a chick we don’t feel like sticking to?”
I turned away from Cassidy and rolled my eyes. “That’s affirmative.”
“You owe me, you prick. Get your ass over here. Mary will be glad to feed your face.”
I nodded. “Leaving now.”
I hit End and looked back at the woman sitting on my sofa. “Sorry, Cassidy. I’ve got to go into work.”
She jutted a lip out. “Are you serious? Can’t we just…you know? Really quick?”
Jesus, how do I get myself into this shit?
Grabbing my keys, I headed to the stairs and motioned for her to follow. “Sorry, duty calls.”
She groaned and snatched her purse off the table. “Seriously, Mitch? I’m tired of this. You feel me up at the bar and then you switch off when I mention sex. Are we ever going to fuck again?”
I laughed and placed my hand on her lower back. “Cassidy, you know there is no chance of an us. Ever.”
“That’s fine! But my panties are tired of being wet and not getting any relief. I don’t need a relationship, Mitchell. I need your dick.”
By the time we got to her car, she was finished giving me hell
“I’ll see you around?” I said, kissing her on the cheek.
“Fine. Be careful.”
She slipped into her car and a part of me felt guilty that she thought I was going to work. I sighed as I walked to my truck.
Fucking hell. I needed to stop this shit. For the last six months I kept getting close to fucking, only to throw on the brakes.
I couldn’t get her out of my head.
Corina.
I closed my eyes and went back to the night we’d spent together. I’d only slept with one person since the night I’d spent with Corina. And that was Cassidy, a failed attempt at meaningless sex to wash away the memory of Corina.
All it did was make me feel worse.
By the time I pulled up to Robert’s, Cassidy had sent three pictures. Fuck, I hated selfies. What did she think I did with them? Jack off to her tits and duck lips?
Hardly.
I got out of the truck and walked up the drive.
“Well, look who the cat dragged in. Mitchell Parker. To what do we owe the honor?” Mary stood on the front porch of their small farmhouse. Her hands were resting on her seven-months-pregnant stomach.
“Well, I was about to screw a girl and needed an out so I had Robert call me. Pretended it was work and all,” I said with an evil grin.
She laughed. “Why do I think you’re telling the truth?”
Leaning down, I kissed her cheek. “Because I am.”
With a blank look on her face, she stared into my eyes for the longest time. “You’re in love with someone, Mitchell Parker. Admitting that to yourself saves a lot of rescue calls in the future, ya know.”
Frowning, I laughed. “Yeah, no. This was a random hook-up that I wasn’t into.”
She shook her head. “You weren’t into her because you’re in love with someone else.”
I let out a groan. “Oh, man. Mary, you always were the matchmaker. Not this time, sweetheart.”
She waved her pointer finger back and forth. “Tsk-tsk-tsk. If you think you can hide it from me, go ahead. I know that look, Mitchell Parker and even if you aren’t ready to admit it, your heart already has. Those ‘random hook-ups’ you aren’t that ‘into’ are going to become more and more frequent, just you wait and see.”
“Is my wife giving you hell, Parker?” Robert called out.
I stared into Mary’s light brown eyes before I let a smile cross my face. Giving her a wink, I replied, “Nah. She’s trying, but it’ll never work.”
She simply shrugged and turned to Robert. Giving him a kiss, she said, “I’ll make us up some biscuits and gravy. I’m craving it.”
“Sounds good, baby. We’ll be down in the barn.”
I followed Robert over to his Mule and jumped in the passenger side.
He started it up and we headed down to his barn. Jumping out, I followed him into his office. Robert ran the dairy farm that had been in his family for the last two generations. His daddy had an office built into the barn and spent most of his time there; he pretty much lived in the damn thing. That was until Robert’s mom finally had enough of it and divorced him.
“Beer?” he asked, tossing me a Bud Light.
“Thanks,” I replied as I sat down in one of the chairs.
“Want to talk about it?”
“No.”
He exhaled a gust. “Seriously, Parker? You need to figure this shit out. When was the last time you got laid?”
Pressing the bottle to my lips, I took a long drink before answering. “February.”
His mouth dropped open. “Dude! It’s fucking August.”
I stared at him. “That’s why I had Cassidy French in my damn living room earlier.”
“Why couldn’t you go through with it?”
“Because I don’t want Cassidy. And I don’t want the bleach blonde who had her tits all pressed up against me the other night at the club in San Antonio. I don’t want the girl who offered to blow me in the bathroom at Cord’s Place. I don’t fucking want any of them.”
“Because you want her.”
“I don’t know what in the fuck I want, Robert. That’s the problem.”
Robert and Cord where the only two people I’d talked to about Corina, and I’d mentioned it to Wade once. Fuck if I wasn’t driving myself mad.
“What are you going to do when she moves on, Mitch? When she gets tired of you waiting to figure out your shit?”
Taking another drink, I half-shrugged. “She was with some asshole at Steed and Paxton’s shower. Philip, or some pussy name like that.”
Robert laughed. “Damn, dude. Harbor any ill feelings for the guy?”
I rolled my eyes.
“She’s better off without me. At least, I keep telling myself that.”
“Why?”
With a look that said he should already know, I replied, “My job, for one thing. The fact that commitment scares the piss out of me. Plus she deserves a guy who hasn’t slept with nearly all the single women in Oak Springs.”
Now he really laughed. “For Pete’s sake. All of you Parker boys have slept with all of Oak Springs and beyond. I wouldn’t doubt if one of you put the moves on my wife at some point.”
I held up my hands. “That was Tripp who put the moves on Mary. Not me.”
He frowned. “Are you kidding right now? When the fuck did he do that?”
Oh, shit.
“Um, what?”
He lifted his brows. “Did Tripp fuck my wife? I mean, before she became my wife.”
Aw, fuck. “What?”
Robert stood. “I’ll kill him.”
I walked over and put my hand on his chest. “Christ, Robert. Tripp was in a bad place, Mary had just lost her parents. It was one time.”
He let out the breath he was holding. “I wasn’t dating her then.”
“No joke. You know Tripp wouldn’t do that, and you know damn well Mary isn’t the type to cheat. Dude, please don’t bring it up to her. She’s married to you now and expecting your first child. Leave the past in the past.”
“Leave the past in the past? Do you hear what you just told me, Mitch? Here you are worried about what Corina will think about the women of Oak Springs and the next second you’re preaching to me about forgetting something from a while back. Pot, meet kettle.”
Fuck, why did he have to turn this shit around on me? “You know what I mean, dude. Just don’t say anything to Mary. She’ll never let me eat over here again.”
He shook his head. “I’m not going to bring it up. Hell, I slept with plenty of girls before I settled with Mary. Just knowing she was with a Parker brother makes me feel sick. Y’all have golden dicks.”
It was my turn to laugh. “Golden dicks?”
He shrugged. “I heard a girl say it once after Cord got it on with her at the bar. She was bragging to her friends.”
I lost it laughing, holding my side. Robert joined in. When I was able to speak, I said, “I’m making a T-shirt for Cord that says that!”
He rolled his eyes and wiped his face. “Dude, you all need one. I’m serious.”
“What’s so funny?” Mary asked, walking into the barn.
Robert stood quickly. “Hey, why didn’t you call? You don’t have to be driving down here on that bumpy road.”
When she smiled at him, I could feel the love between them. They were soon lost in a kiss, and I found myself looking away, an ache in my chest I was trying to ignore.
When they were finished, she said, “I tried to call. Your phone must be turned down or something.”
Robert pulled out his phone and glanced at the missed call. “Damn. I’m sorry, baby. Mitch, you hungry?”
“For biscuits and gravy? Hell, yeah.”
“Sausage gravy. I had a hankering,” Mary said, wiggling her brows.
I walked behind the two of them. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”
Watching Robert and Mary walk hand in hand to the truck, my heart continued to ache in that strange, building way. Maybe it was time I admitted to myself what I really wanted.