I tugged her dress up her calves, past her knees, and bunched it around her thighs. With my eyes on hers, and her mouth parted in surprise, my hand with the handkerchief disappeared between her legs. I wiped front toback thoroughly before pulling it away. I let her dress fall back to her ankles, straightening the material before standing. Then I folded the handkerchief and tucked it back in my pocket.
Parker blinked frantically. “Are you just gonna?—”
I dipped my head. “Yep.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh.”
I stared at her while she stared at where the handkerchief was safely tucked away. Maybe she knew I’d use it later when I stroked my cock in my bed. Maybe she thought I was just being nice. But really, she should know me by now. I was obsessed with her.
She swallowed, composing herself before asking, “Is that how you distract other girls if they ask?”
I wrapped an arm around her shoulders—for warmth, I told myself—and led her toward the back door. “Just with you. There are never any other girls.”
“I should ask you more often, then,” she teased.
The playful lilt to her voice had a smile cracking on my face. “As often as you so wish.”
She looked up at me with a closed-lip grin. I slid my arm from around her, opening the door and allowing her to go inside first.
I shut it behind me, only to come to a stop when we found Reed standing in the center of the kitchen, water bottle in hand.
“Everything good?” he asked hesitantly, his skeptical gaze darting between the two of us.
“Everything’s great,” I confirmed, thensidled up next to Parker as we crossed to the front door to join the others.
I held the door open for her and shot her a wink as she passed.
Maybe sneaking around with her wasn’t so bad after all.
21
BECKHAM
My palms were sweating as I dragged the butter knife through the white frosting. Each swipe turned out worse than before, and by the time I was finished, the cake looked like a lumpy mess. But the entire thing was covered, and that was the most important part.
I didn’t have the proper materials for baking a cake, so I’d gone out after finishing up my day at the ranch and bought everything on the list Sage had given me. Everything but some fancy spreading tool that was apparently essential to the entire process.
There wasn’t time to fuss over it as the handle on my front door turned, and in popped Parker. She shoved the door shut against the howling, bitter wind before facing me. She paused midstep, eyeing the cake on the counter.
“What is that?” she asked hesitantly.
“A cake.”
As if deciding it wouldn’t bite, she crossed to it, examining it like some foreign specimen. “Why?”
“Because you never got a gender reveal.”
Her entire body seemed to freeze before she slowly turned to look up at me. “But I already know it’s a boy…”
I handed her the knife full of frosting. “Yeah, and you’re going to find out again.”
Her mouth fell open as she carefully wrapped her fingers around the handle. She seemed…stunned?
“Come on, Park. Cut into it.” I gestured to the round, two-tier cake, eager to see if my concoction would hold together under the mound of frosting.
She gave me another confused look before finally facing the cake. Hovering the knife over the top, she seemed to contemplate where to cut. Seconds passed, and I decided she needed an extra push.
I wrapped my hand around hers holding the knife. The contact had her darting her gaze up to mine in question. I nudged my head at the cake before lowering our hands toward it. She watched as the knife slid past the inch-thick layer of white, making its way all the way to the bottom. We did the same again, and then used the side of the knife to pull the slice out. Her lips pressed together at the sight of the baby blue frosting in the middle while we set it on the paper plate in front of us.
