the situation, “Do you live here? I thought that
Cheryl’s place was in TriBeCa?”
“Yeah, well,” Parker said sternly, “This
isn’t Cheryl’s place.”
An opening, Claire thought, and stepped
around Parker into the house. The door clicked shut behind her as
her eyes adjusted to the relatively dim light inside. Parker stood
with his arms crossed and his back to the door. He looked
distracted, or agitated... certainly not in the mood for a good
fuck session. Of course not, Claire scolded herself again, that’s
probably the furthest thing from his mind. He probably doesn’t even
remember you.
“Have the trains been treating you better
this week?” he asked. Her heart fluttered. He did remember, after
all!
“Oh, sure,” Claire squeaked, annoyed by her
overly-youthful voice, “No more old creeps! I mean... Like the guy
who was trying to grab me. Not you. Not that you’re a creep. Or
old. But I mean—”
“I’ve got it,” Parker said, cocking an
eyebrow. Claire felt mortified. He probably thought she was some
silly little girl, nothing more. God, could she blow this whole
thing any more thoroughly?
“So...” Claire said, “You and Cheryl are
having problems?” There it was! The nail in the coffin. She
officially couldn’t get her foot any further into her mouth.
“Problems?” Parker said, “Why do you
ask?”
“I just figured... You’ve got your own place
here... I thought—”
“Oh,” Parker said, “No, I don’t live here.
This is just where I come to conduct my business. I hate those big
office buildings, with the florescent lights and the uncomfortable
chairs and all. This is much more my style.”
“So... This is like... Your den?” Claire
said, amazed.
“Pretty much,” he said.
“Jesus. You really are loaded,” Claire
muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing!” she grinned nervously and extended
her hand to him, “I’m Claire, by the way. I don’t think I ever
properly introduced myself.”
“I’m Parker,” he said, taking her hand, “It’s
nice to meet you. Officially.”
As his hand closed around hers, Claire felt a
surge of warmth shoot up her arm, sizzling along every bone in her
body. She looked into Parker’s eyes and saw, just for a moment, a
familiar glint in his eye. It looked, from where she was standing,
a lot like desire. She realized that they were still clasping hands
and allowed herself to smile, shakily. She had a thing for great
hands, and this guy sure had an excellent set. Unbidden, a parade
of fantasies about what he could do with those hands flooded her
imagination. Parker watched her catch herself and become
embarrassed, and quickly dropped her hand.
“Are you in a hurry?” he asked, all
business.
“Well, I—”
“Good. Why don’t you let me take your coat?
Do you like espresso?”
“Oh... I... sure—” Claire said, as he helped
her out of her jacket.
“Great. Come sit down, I’ll...” he trailed
off suddenly, and Claire remembered her less-than-casual outfit
choice that day.
She could feel Parker’s eyes raking down her
body, over the curves that were tightly bound in the thin cotton of
her dress. He looked, for that moment, like he could tear her right
in two if she let him. The crazy thing was that Claire was excited
by the fierce lust in his eyes. He seemed borderline dangerous,
intimidating. Claire had zero experience with anything but
conventional sex.
The two men that she’d slept with in her life
were not really men at all but little boys. Their eager, puppy-like
approaches to love-making had, on more than one occasion, left
Claire so bored that she had actually rolled her eyes during
intercourse. She was fairly certain that sex with Parker would be
anything but conventional, if she could ever get the nerve up to
put herself out there for him.
“So. Espresso!” Parker said, tearing his eyes
away from Claire’s body. She nodded dumbly, and watched as Parker
moved toward the kitchen.
“Should I get those
William W. Johnstone, J. A. Johnstone