Parker

So maybe the waiting thing wasn’t going to be as easy as Parker thought. The night was young and neither of them were tired. Beth suggested Scrabble, but after playing, HEART, LOVE, LIPS and KISS, Parker couldn’t take it anymore. He excused himself to take a cold shower.

They’d decided to forgo separate rooms. Parker didn’t want to spend a moment apart from Beth, and nothing would get him to sleep in Harold’s room again. Not that Parker would be getting any sleep in Beth’s room. Sharing a bed with her would be nearly impossible.

Parker was sitting on the bed scrolling through the movie list when Beth padded out of the bathroom. She was freshly showered and in that thin silky robe of hers. Just glancing at her made his heartbeat triple. He didn’t think he could handle seeing what she wore underneath. Parker only had so much restraint and he felt it quickly fraying with each step Beth took toward him.

Beth went straight to the bed, pulled the covers back and was about to climb in.

“Not so fast,” Parker said scrambling to his feet.

Beth gave him an airy look. “Oh come on, we’ve shared a bed before.”

“No we haven’t. ‘Friends’ Parker and Beth have. But ‘couple’ Parker and Beth haven’t.”

“Is that what we are now? A couple?”

“Almost a couple?” he suggested.

Beth walked around the bed to be closer to him. “I like the sound of that.”

“Oh no you don’t.” He took a step back. “Don’t come near me in that.”

“What’s wrong with this?” she asked looking down at her robe.

“It’s what’s underneath that’s the problem,” he clarified.

“But I didn’t bring anything else.”

Parker pulled off his gray t-shirt and tossed it at her. “Wear that.”

“Oh, like that’s fair?” Beth replied.

“What?”

“I can’t wear a nightgown to bed but you expect me to be able to get any sleep next to your lickable abs?”

Parker’s heart tripped over itself. “Lickable abs?”

“Oh, shut up. You’re hot and you know it.”

“Um, no. I don’t think I do.”

“Parker, stop it. Fishing for compliments is not flattering.”

He couldn’t help himself, he sauntered forward, caging Beth with his arms when she tried to sidestep him. “You think I’m hot?”

Beth’s cheeks turned pink and Parker watched her swallow hard. He knew he was grinning like an idiot but he didn’t care. Beth Bennett thought he was hot! “What else do you like?” he asked.

Beth surprised him by meeting his eyes. “I like the way you smell after a shower.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded. “And the way your cheeks get red after you run. I like that you always fall asleep wearing your glasses, and how messy your hair is in the morning. I like the way your eyes crinkle around the edges when you laugh. Your laugh,” Beth said, laughing herself. “You have the best laugh.”

Parker couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Watching Beth laugh was like watching poetry in motion.

She caught the intensity of his gaze and the lightheartedness vanished from her voice as her eyes turned dewy. “And I love the way you look at me. Especially when you look at me like that.”

“Like what?” he asked, knowing full well how he was staring at her with longing. But Parker couldn’t resist asking. He wanted to know all of these new things that Beth liked about him. He thought he knew her better than he knew himself and in some ways he did. But Beth was showing him a new side of herself, sharing secrets that gave him a glimpse inside the part of her heart she’d always kept hidden and he wanted more.

“Like you really see me,” she whispered. “Like you love me.”

“I do,” Parker murmured moving closer.

“I love how familiar your heartbeat feels,” Beth whispered placing a hand on his thundering chest. “And I love this scar.” She raised her other hand, tracing a finger along the thin white scar on his chin. “I love everything about you, Parker.”

Parker shivered. His hands moved to her hips, fisting the thin material of her robe. His body coiled with need and heat coursed through him like a fever.

Shit! Waiting was going to be impossible. “Is that all?” he asked trying to joke away his insatiable desire.

“What do you like about me?” Beth asked.

“I like everything about you,” he murmured. “I think . . . I mean I know, that I don’t just like you, Beth. I’m in love with you.”

Beth’s breath mixed with Parker’s. When had they moved so close? His hands instinctively moved to her waist as she took a step closer. Beth’s hands skimmed his bare chest and Parker jumped back, suddenly aware that he needed to put some distance between them before he did something they’d both regret.

Parker paced the room, rubbing the back of his neck. “What I really like is how we both know waiting for you to break up with Jared is the right thing to do.”

Beth was chewing her thumb, something she only did when she felt guilty. “Maybe a text breakup wouldn’t be the worst thing?” she mused.

Parker stopped pacing. For a second he wanted to agree, but as their eyes met across the room he knew he couldn’t. Jared was the only buffer between them. Without him, there was nothing to keep Parker and Beth apart. And though it was what he wanted more than anything, Parker wanted to do things right.

“Beth,” he started.

“I know, I know,” she muttered. “But we’re stuck here until Monday! That seems like forever.”

“It’s only two days away. The wedding will keep us busy tomorrow.”

“And Sunday is the post-wedding brunch,” she added hopefully. “That’ll be distracting.”

“We can do this,” Parker said, crossing the room to take her hands.

“We can do this,” she repeated, staring at him with little resolve.

“Beth, listen to me. I want to do this right. We’ve never even been on a date.”

“We’ve been on a million dates,” she argued.

“Going to the movies as friends is not a date.” He tucked a strand of golden hair behind her ear. “I want to take you out to dinner and do something romantic, like dancing or a moonlit walk on the beach. I want to show you how much you mean to me.”

“I already know,” she whispered laying her head against his chest.

Parker kissed her head, grinning to himself. She hadn’t a clue.

Beth

Beth lay in bed, wide awake. Parker might have confidence in being able to do the right thing, but with the hard planes of his body cradling hers, she wasn’t so sure she did. Parker told her she wasn’t allowed to face him because he couldn’t control himself when she looked at him like that. Beth wasn’t sure what ‘like that’, meant, but not facing him wasn’t making things easier on her.

Parker had pulled her against his chest with his arm draped over her side. She could feel his heartbeat through her back. The steady rise and fall of his chest suggested he was asleep. Beth envied him. There was no way she could sleep. The thin material of his t-shirt she wore wasn’t much better than her sheer nightgown. Plus, it smelled like him, which was driving her crazy.

She felt hot everywhere, not just where his body pressed against hers, but in her lungs and stomach, too. It was like her body was crazed with fever. And maybe her brain was melting because despite knowing it was wrong, Beth snuggled deeper into Parker’s embrace. She felt him stir. His arms snaked tighter around her waist and she wove her fingers through his. He nuzzled the back of her neck and she whimpered against the blissful sensation of his lips on her skin.

“Are you awake?” she whispered.

Parker’s answer was another kiss at the nape of her neck. It sent fire racing to her core and Beth sat up quickly, untangling herself from Parker and the sheets.

“Where are you going?” he asked drowsily.

“To do what I should’ve done a long time ago.”

Beth grabbed her phone and slipped onto the balcony for some privacy. She didn’t look at the time or think about what she was going to say. She didn’t hesitate at all. She just pressed the video icon under Jared’s name.

The phone rang once, twice, three times. Beth nervously chewed her thumb. “Pick up,” she pleaded. And just like that, he did.

The image was dark and grainy at first, but Jared’s voice came through clear.

“Hello?”

He sounded groggy, and as the video came into focus Beth could see Jared was in bed. He moved to sit up, hair bed tousled, covers twisted around his bare torso. For a second Beth felt bad. She shouldn’t do it like this. Jared was barely awake. What if he didn’t even remember their conversation? What if she had to break up with him twice?

Jared’s voice interrupted her stream of panic. “Beth?”

“Yeah, it’s me. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up, Jared. Go back to sleep. We can talk in the morning.”

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

Beth paused. How did she answer that? “I’ll just call you tomorrow, okay?”

Just as Beth was about to end the call she saw movement behind Jared. Was there someone else in bed with him? She tilted her head as she watched the blurry movement take shape. A dainty hand snaked around Jared’s chest. “Come back to bed,” crooned a seductive voice.

Beth’s heart turned to ice as she watched Jared’s face pale with alarm as the girl who belonged to the voice sat up in the bed behind him. A mane of dark hair fell over half her face, but Beth would know her anywhere. She’d known it the minute she heard the voice, the moment she saw the bed move. Perhaps she had known it all along. But it was the gold bracelet attached to the thin arm encircling Jared that was the nail in the coffin. Beth wore the same one on her wrist. It was a gold Cartier bangle—twin to the one Caroline wore.

Caroline’s smoky voice filled Beth’s heart with icicles. “Jared, what are you doing?” But just then she seemed to realize what was wrong.

Now, both Caroline and Jared were frozen as they stared back at Beth. At least they both had the decency to look ashamed. But there was nothing they could say to deny what they’d done. The guilt that washed Jared’s face was as good as any confession. And the horror on Caroline’s face was almost comical.

Beth finally remembered to take a breath, and with it came reality. The world came crashing back at alarming speed as she fumbled to disconnect the call. Beth heard Jared call her name, but she didn’t wait to hear more. He immediately tried to call her back but she turned her phone off before throwing it away from her like it was poisonous. Then she sunk to the floor.

Beth closed her eyes and gulped in shaky breaths as the tears came. She couldn’t get the image of Caroline’s arms circling Jared’s chest out of her head. Shuddering against the pain, Beth opened her eyes. With them closed she could see nothing but the deceitful scene playing over and over. She tried reasoning with herself. She shouldn’t be this upset. She’d been calling to break up with Jared. She shouldn’t care that he was cheating on her with her best friend.

But she did. Beth felt broken and betrayed.

Parker had tried to tell her, but she refused to see the truth. She hadn’t wanted to believe him. That was the sad thing about life; most of the time, people only saw what they wanted to. They preferred the perfect picture they create in their heads, the illusion of how things should be. And Beth was no exception. Perhaps that’s why this had happened. Beth thought Jared was good for her and that she wasn’t good enough for Parker. She’d been scared to see the truth.

Hugging her knees, Beth folding in on herself, no longer trying to stop her tears. As despair began to swallow her, Parker’s strong arms wrapped around her. He knelt behind her, his arms enfolding her against his chest. Beth leaned into him, letting him lift her to her feet.

“What happened?” he asked, worry carving every angle of his beautiful features.

Beth looked up at him through her tears. Parker wasn’t wearing his glasses and in the moonlight, his face shone like it was made of stardust—pale and opalescent. Strangely, in Parker’s arms, things didn’t feel quite so bad. The tightness in her chest instantly loosened as his warmth spread through her.

“Beth? What’s wrong?”

“It’s over,” she whispered.

Parker’s brow furrowed. “With Jared?”

She nodded.

“He called?”

“I called him.”

Parker pulled Beth over to the cushioned lounge chair on the balcony. He sat next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder gently. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I know that couldn’t have been easy.”

Beth huffed a laugh. “It couldn’t have been easier.”

“What do you mean?”

“You were right. He was with her. He probably has been this whole time.” Beth’s shoulders began to shake as a new wave of humiliation hit her. “I’m such an idiot.”

Parker turned her to face him, holding her shoulders tighter. “Beth, what happened?”

“I called Jared to end it and he was in bed with her.” Beth’s throat felt strangled as she forced the words out. “He was with Caroline.”

Parker swore under his breath as he pulled Beth closer, letting her sob into his bare chest until she had nothing left. She didn’t feel cold, but Parker told her she was shivering. “Let’s go inside,” he whispered.

“I think I want to stay out here a bit longer, by myself, if you don’t mind.”

Parker nodded tersely and Beth watched the muscle in his jaw feather as he bit back whatever else he wanted to say. He disappeared inside, but a moment later returned with a box of tissues and a large blanket that he draped around Beth’s shoulders.

“Thank you,” Beth murmured, grateful for both.

Parker pulled her in for another hug, and whispered into her hair. “They never deserved you, Beth. Neither of them. You deserve so much more.”

Beth looked up at Parker and in that moment she knew he was right. Not that Jared and Caroline hadn’t deserved her, but that she deserved to be happy. Beth deserved to be loved. And no one had ever made her feel more happiness or more loved than Parker. She was done waiting.

Beth slid her arms around Parker’s neck, winding her fingers through his hair as she kissed him. She tasted the salt of her own tears and it seemed so did Parker.

He pulled away. “Beth, not like this,” he murmured against her lips. She wanted to protest, but then he kissed her one more time, sweet and gentle. “Give yourself some time to heal. I can wait. Because I want all of you,” Parker said placing his warm hand over her heart. “All of this.”

Parker

Parker sat with Beth on the balcony until the sun came up. He’d wrapped her in a blanket and held her in his arms until she’d fallen asleep in his lap. He was grateful for her steady rhythmic breathing pressing against his chest. It was the only thing keeping him calm.

He’d always been fiercely protective of Beth. Perhaps that was part of the reason he disliked Jared so much. Besides his own jealousy, Parker had known from the start that Jared would hurt Beth. Parker had met dozens of guys like Jared. Stanton was full of them—over-confident, under-parented jocks with miles of swagger who thought their crooked smiles were get out of jail free cards. Normally, Beth could spot guys like that, too. But Jared was different. He wasn’t rich—not Stanton rich, anyway—and he knew how to play that angle.

Jared had made Beth think he was the underdog—the new guy who just needed a friend. She’d been a lamb to the slaughter. Parker had known it the moment Jared hopped out of that moving truck.

Now, Parker cursed himself for not trying harder; for not doing a better job of protecting Beth. He should’ve pushed the issue when he saw Jared and Caroline together. And he should’ve told Beth about Caroline’s offer, no matter how difficult it would’ve been for him or how mad Beth would’ve been. Because Parker would rather have Beth mad at him a million times over than see the hurt that filled her eyes when she told him she’d witnessed Jared and Caroline’s deception herself.

As the dawn began to chase away the night, Parker closed his eyes and held Beth tighter. There was nothing left to do but let her heal and be there for her. It was the one small comfort he had—knowing that he was with her now and would never let someone hurt her like this again.