The Prize (10 page)

Chapter Fourteen

I changed into one of Parker’s T-shirts, washed my face, and brushed my teeth while
he went out front to speak to Detective Branch. By the time I returned to his room,
he was back.

“Branch is leaving. A car will be on patrol all night. No one knows you’re here. My
alarm system is fantastic. Doors and windows are locked. You okay with that?”

I nodded. “Thanks. I mean it.” I padded toward his king-size bed, and he pulled back
the maroon duvet to reveal matching sheets underneath. The headboard was mahogany
with slats running the entire length. For about two seconds, I allowed myself to ponder
the possibilities that headboard represented.

“Climb in. I’ll go turn off some lights and join you in a minute. Okay?”

“Yep.” I tried to sound normal. Doubtful I succeeded.

Minutes later, after listening to Parker move around the house, the room, and then
the bathroom, I closed my eyes as he climbed in on the other side of the bed and crawled
up to my back. When his arm went around my stiff body and hauled me against his chest,
I slowly relaxed. Every muscle in my body had been tight for hours.

He grabbed my hands in front of me like he had the last time we’d slept together and
held me tight.

I shivered in his embrace, unable to relax.

“It’s gonna be okay,” he muttered into my ear.

I took several deep breaths in and out.

I was exhausted and out of control. Until this morning, few people knew about my past.
Now that number included my boss and Parker. I would have to tell Amy and Cheyenne
soon.

“Sleep, hon.” He kissed my shoulder and settled behind me.

Surprisingly, I fell asleep and slept harder and longer than I had in days.

When I woke up, I was surprised to find myself alone, the smell of coffee reaching
into the bedroom.

I moaned as I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling, inhaling the delicious
scent for several moments before hauling myself out of the bed and trudging down the
hall in search of the elixir.

I tucked loose curls behind my ears as I stepped into the kitchen.

Parker spun around and smiled at me. “Coffee?”

It was difficult to form words with his naked chest filling the room, his muscles
bulging. “Please.”

“Cream? Sugar?”

“Nope. Not this morning.”

He chuckled as he handed me a mug and pointed toward the table. “Sit. I’ll make you
breakfast.”

I yanked my gaze from his pecs to the chair. “You cook?” I angled toward the glass-top
table and took a seat, trying to avoid staring at him. Why did he have to be so fucking
sexy? It was difficult to keep my resolve about anything when he was in the room half
naked. His sleep pants hung low on his hips, enticing me to yank them down and kneel
in front of him.

“I can. If I have to. Usually Ruth does most of my cooking.”

I shook my wandering thoughts of lust from my head. “Who’s Ruth?”

“My housekeeper-slash-cook-slash-life planner. I wouldn’t survive without her.” He
opened the fridge and took out several items to set on the counter. “Omelet okay?”

“Sounds fantastic.” My stomach growled loudly.

“You never ate yesterday, did you?”

“No. Well, breakfast. I think I had a granola bar before all hell broke loose.”

“What do you like in it?” He held up the egg carton as he spoke.

“Whatever you’re having is fine.” I watched him as he turned on the flame, put bacon
in the pan, and cracked eggs into a bowl. Glancing around his enormous kitchen made
me uneasy.

This man was rich. The kind of rich that allowed him to have people working for him.
Full time. I shuddered.

His kitchen was pristine, the cabinets and floors white, the appliances stainless
steel, the granite a swirl of grays and whites. I couldn’t imagine how one man living
alone needed the double ovens or the oversized refrigerator, but maybe he liked to
entertain.

“You okay, Meagan?”

I jerked my gaze from the gorgeous floral arrangement in the center of the table to
face him. “Fine.”

“I’ll give you a tour after we eat.”

“Am I making you late? What time do you have to be at the office?” I hadn’t figured
out yet what I intended to do. I imagined I would head for the police station and
sit there all day until they found Michael Swarth and locked him back up. Surely they
would grow annoyed by my presence until they caught him, but I didn’t give two fucks
since my life was in danger.

I glanced at the clock on the oven. It was six thirty.

“I could work from home today, or you could come in with me if you’d like.” He flipped
the slices of bacon over and whisked the eggs.

It wasn’t a bad idea. “Do you have a corner I could occupy in your building somewhere?”

“Don’t be silly. You can use my office. I have plenty of space.”

“That would work. I can’t exactly see clients, but I could work remotely for a while.
It would ease the strain on my coworkers if I don’t have to dump my workload on them.”

“I assume your boss knows what’s going on?”

“Oh yeah. Hard to avoid. The police came to my office after that asshole broke into
my apartment. Richard is understanding, but I can’t keep this up forever. If they
don’t find Michael Swarth and put him back in jail soon, I’ll be forced to resign.”

“And do what? You can’t hide forever, hon.”

“Watch me.” I took a sip of my coffee and stared at him over the lip of the cup.

“Okay, one day at a time. Come to my office today, and at some point we’ll figure
out what else to do.”

“Thank you, Parker. I mean it. I know this is an inconvenience. I hate putting you
out. I promise to come up with a plan B as soon as possible. If I could just stay
here a few days—”

He whipped around to face me, holding the spatula in the air. His expression was hard,
his lips pursed. Without speaking, he turned back around, finished the omelets, and
shuffled them onto plates. Seconds later, his gourmet creation was in front of me,
and he seated himself at the end of the table so we were half facing each other from
the side.

The food smelled delicious, steam rising into the air to bring the scent of ham and
onions and cheese to my nose.

“Eat.” He pointed his fork at my plate and shuffled a bite into his mouth.

The omelet indeed tasted as good as it looked and smelled. The first bite made me
close my eyes to savor it. Either that or I was simply starving after not eating enough
the day before. Nevertheless, I was impressed. “It’s delicious.”

He didn’t comment. In fact, he ignored me, continuing to eat as if I weren’t at the
table.

I took my cue from him, finishing my plate of food and taking a sip of coffee before
sitting back and setting the mug down with shaky fingers.

He stared at me, his face still twisted in aggravation. “I don’t think you fully understand
how I feel, Meagan. Or else you choose to ignore it. But stop insulting me with talk
of putting me out or finding some other place to hide. You’re neither an inconvenience
nor a hindrance. So, cut that shit out right now. Are we clear?”

This was what I had been worried about. I swallowed and met his gaze. “I can’t be
in a relationship with you.”

“You already are.”

I shook my head. “No. And I can’t.”

“I don’t know what sort of crap you have running around in your head that makes any
sense to you on some strange level, but I’m not going anywhere. I want you. And we’ll
figure it out together and get through this.”

“No. Parker. We won’t. I need you to respect my decision and let it go.”

“Why? Give me one reason why you won’t give us a chance? When we’re together, we’re
so good. You can’t tell me you aren’t submissive because you most assuredly are. This
can’t be about living four hours apart, either. You could get a job anywhere, or hell
if it means that much to you, I could move.”

I gasped. “Seriously? Parker, we haven’t been seeing each other that long, or whatever
this is. Fucking. You can’t possibly be serious.”

“As a heart attack. And don’t insult what we’ve shared by calling it fucking, either.”

I pushed from the table and grabbed my plate to take it to the sink. After rinsing
it, I set it in the dishwasher and proceeded to stack the other dishes from breakfast
in there also.

Parker didn’t move from the table, unnerving me as he stared at me from behind.

When I turned around, wiping my hands on a towel, I finally spoke. “Look, this is
why I didn’t want to come here. The only reason I did was because I had nowhere else
to go. It was late. I was tired. I didn’t mean for you to get the wrong idea. I’ll
just gather my things and leave. I can’t have you pressuring me to make decisions
I’m never going to make.”

Parker scooted his chair back, the legs scraping across the tile. “You’re not running
out on me.” He hesitated. “Go shower. We’ll leave in about forty-five minutes for
my office. Is that enough time?”

Jesus. Was he listening to a word I said? I stared at him as he walked past me and
put his own plate and mug in the dishwasher.

“And you don’t have to clean up after yourself so thoroughly. Ruth would have done
that.”

“I’m not used to having people take care of me like that, Parker.”

“Obviously.” He turned and left the room, heading down the hall.

After waiting for my hands to stop shaking and my pulse to slow down, I followed him.
He wasn’t in the bedroom. Which was fine with me. I grabbed my bag and headed for
his bathroom.

The room was bigger than my apartment. His giant walk-in closet was at the far end,
the door open, his clothes lined up perfectly on their hangers. The floor was heated.
My feet warmed on the tile. The counters were a dark marble swirl with two sinks and
a mirror that reached the ceiling. The cabinets were dark wood that met the equally
dark tile floor.

To my left was every woman’s dream shower—the kind with no door that had several shower
heads at various heights, enclosed on three sides and deep enough that water wouldn’t
run out into the main bathroom area.

I lifted Parker’s T-shirt over my head and dropped it in his hamper. After I wiggled
out of my panties, I flipped on the shower. It heated up quickly, probably having
its own water heater close behind it. This was far more luxury than I’d ever experienced.

I moaned as the water sluiced down my body, closing my eyes and warming up under the
spray. When I stopped to explore the possibilities for washing and shampooing, I paused.
A line of women’s products lined one shelf. How many women did he entertain?

Shuddering, I grabbed the floral shampoo and squirted it in my palm. It wasn’t my
business how many women he had in his home. This was my first visit. Hell, it was
also my last. He could fuck half of Charlotte for all I cared.

“You find everything you need?” His voice startled me, and I whipped my gaze to the
entrance, but he wasn’t there. He was somewhere else in the bathroom.

“Yes. Thank you.” I choked out the words, cringing again as I pondered why he had
so many girly products. He even had a pink razor on the shelf, still in the package.
At least it was new. I couldn’t have used someone else’s razor.

After hurrying through my routine, I turned off the water and grabbed a towel from
the shelf next to the shower. It was warm. Lord. Even his towels were heated. So luxurious.
I wrapped it around me and emerged from behind the wall.

Parker wasn’t in the bathroom anymore. I figured he was pissed, but he needed to face
the truth. To let him believe otherwise would be rude.

I dried off as fast as I could and pulled cream-colored slacks and a blouse out of
my bag. At least I’d brought a few items that would be acceptable for his office.
There was little chance he was going to let me get in my car and drive away, so I
might as well prepare to go with him. I dressed quickly.

While I combed through my hair, he came back in the room. “There’s a hair dryer under
the sink.” He pointed at the left side of the vanity as he untied the drawstring on
his sleep pants and slid out of them.

I stared at him in the mirror, his gorgeous body making me weak. I couldn’t bring
myself to look away, and he winked at me when I caught his gaze, not bothering to
conceal his erection. A smirk spread across his face when I licked my dry lips. “Yeah,
no interest there,” he muttered as he entered the shower. At least he wasn’t still
pissed.

I cursed myself inwardly as I yanked open the cabinet and pulled out the dryer. Plugging
it in was a task in and of itself with my hands shaking so hard. Visions of his tanned,
naked body clouded my ability to remember what the hair dryer was for.

With my eyes closed, I blew my hair out, using my round brush to style it as I worked.
As I finished, Parker stepped back into the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his hips.
He could have been posing for a magazine, maybe for shaving cream or aftershave. Or
hell, Viagra.