“How very caveman of you.” She shifts her head to the side, meeting my gaze.
“I can’t help it around you. You bring out this side of me I didn’t…” I trail off, not wanting to involve feelings. Not when they don’t matter. They can’t matter. I won’t let them matter. I learned that lesson the last time.
“Well, you turn me into an animal, Parker.”
I toss the towel onto the floor, then crawl beside her. Pulling her into my embrace, I savor in the warmth of her fingers as they trace circles around my chest.
“I could get used to this,” she murmurs.
“What? Snuggling?”
“No. Getting fucked so good I see stars.”
I throw my head back and laugh. “Glad I could satisfy you.” I press a kiss to her temple, a comfortable silence falling between us. Probably because neither one of us wants to address the fact that it’s daytime and the roads are now clear, allowing us to return to the real world.
“But I also really like snuggling with you, too,” she adds. “Like feeling your arms around me.”
A voice in my head tells me to use this opportunity to redraw the lines. To tell her this is all there can ever be between us. That I’m not the marrying or even the relationship type. Not anymore. Not after Sadie.
But I don’t want to ruin whatever this is before our time is up.
Instead, I pull her closer and breathe her in. “Me, too.”
CHAPTERNINETEEN
PARKER
A flash of auburn hair barrels toward me as I walk through the Christmas market, barely able to brace myself before Haley all but assaults me.
“How was it? Tell me everything. Why the hell didn’t you respond to any of my texts? You know it’s been killing me.”
“I have a business to run, in case you haven’t noticed.” I stroll past all the vendors, happy to have such a large turnout on a Thursday evening. Typically, I don’t see crowds this size until the weekend.
“I understand that, but you can’t leave a girl hanging. Especially with how that man looked like he was getting ready to rip off your dress last night when you left on your date.”
“It was not a date.” I roll my eyes, fighting against the grin wanting to break free from the memory of just how incredible my not-date was.
“Then why did you stay out all night?” She playfully nudges me. “According to Mabel Green, who heard from Heidi, you called after ten last night to say you wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. Well, today. When I stopped by the café this morning to grab a cup of coffee, everyone was talking about it. Then when I took some of the dogs to the off-leash park earlier, everyone I saw drilled me to find out what I knew about Parker’s new man.”
I groan, cursing under my breath.
I shouldn’t be surprised by this. Small town gossip is alive and well, especially in Sycamore Falls. I have no doubt by tomorrow morning, I’ll be pregnant with his child.
In rumor only, of course.
Because that’s not possible. Not when he got a vasectomy.
The thought that he went to those extremes to protect himself after what Sadie and his brother did still squeezes my heart. I can’t even imagine going through something so heartbreaking. Getting excited for a baby, only to learn it’s not yours.
No wonder he’s an emotional island, keeping everyone out.
“We got stuck in a snowstorm.”
“So you didn’t have a sleepover?” She arches a disbelieving brow as we approach the ice skating rink.
“Not like that,” I insist.
Even though it kind of was.
