For just a moment, I saw something vulnerable in her eyes. I knew she wanted to take the chance with me, to risk it all to stay together. But I also knew that she would look at this logically.
“Parker-”
“Michael,” I corrected her, realizing that I had never actually given her my first name. “Or Mike.”
She grinned, ducking her head slightly. “I guess I should have known your first name before I slept with you, or even in the week after.”
“Eh. Everyone calls me Parker.”
“Michael, the thing is, no matter what’s going on between us, it’s not going to last. You’re right. This has been…amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy. I mean, I loved my job and I lived for it, but it was nothing compared to what I’ve felt like when I’m with you. You challenge me and make me feel like everything I’m working for has a purpose. I haven’t felt that in a long time. And believe me, I want to hang on to it with everything I have, but I just don’t see how this is going to work out in our favor.”
“Then we fight like hell to make it work,” I said, sitting up and pulling her into my arms, cupping her jaw with my hand. Fuck, now that I knew she wanted me too, I couldn’t just walk away. Not when we were so close to having something special. “We fight like hell to win and we don’t fucking stop fighting. If I know anything about you, it’s that you can do anything you put your mind to. So, let’s do that. I know we both chance losing out here, but that’s what makes it all worth it. What the fuck good is it to live life if you don’t have something great to fight for?”
“But the cards are already stacked against us.”
“Fuck the cards. I really don’t give a shit anymore about what anyone else has to say. I’ve been fucked over and I took it because I thought there was nothing I could do about it. But now I know better, and I’m not gonna let life just roll over me because I was too scared to fight for what I wanted. I want you. I think that’s the only fucking thing that I’ve been clear on in years. So, fight with me. Tell me you want this as much as I do, because I know that if you do, we can figure this thing out and we can have everything we want.”
Her lips quirked in a small grin and she chuckled. “I never took you for an optimist. I knew you were a fighter, but I never imagined there was this sappy man underneath.”
“Real men can show their feelings,” I murmured, my lips brushing against hers. “I’m not holding anything back from you,” I said just before I crushed my lips against hers. Her arms wrapped around my neck and her body molded with mine. I’d already had this woman twice tonight, but it still wasn’t enough. I wanted more, because she was right, we didn’t know how long this would last, but I wanted to take every last second and treat it like it could be our last. I was tired of living this scared life where every possible move would land me in trouble. I was ready to start living again, to start taking control of my own life, to have what I really wanted. And it all began with her.
We sat in her bedroom later that morning, eating breakfast that Susan had prepared for us. I had snuck out of the room while she was catching up on sleep and begged Susan to make a tray for us. It wasn’t like I had to beg that hard. Susan was awesome. I crept back into the room with the tray and ran a strawberry over Blake’s lips until she woke up. Except, she was startled and smashed the strawberry into my face in her attempt to push it away. So, covered in strawberry, I did what any rational man would do. I went down on her and added a few more flavors to my breakfast.
After almost knocking our tray off the bed with her thrashing, she laid there and recovered from her blindingly awesome orgasm while I got our tray back in order. I was grinning like a fool, not even wanting to have sex right now. I was just happy to be sitting on this bed with her, eating breakfast like it was the most normal thing in the world.
“Do you see your family often?” she asked, taking a bite of eggs.
“Nah. They live in Montana.”
Her hand slowly lowered and she looked at me with this weird sort of fascination. “What part of Montana?”
“Outside Lewiston.”
She seemed to swallow hard and I began to think that maybe I had said something wrong. Maybe she thought I was a city boy or something.
“Do you…do you wear a cowboy hat when you go home?”
I quirked an eyebrow, assessing her reaction. “Would you want me to?”
“Um…yeah!”
I burst out laughing. I had no idea that wearing a cowboy hat was so sexy.
“Please tell me that you wear tight jeans.”
I winced. “That’s not really my favorite, but yeah, if I’m going riding-”
“Like, on a horse?”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah, on a horse.”
She started fanning herself, blowing out a long breath. “Oh my gosh. Sorry, but that’s my fantasy.”
“To see a man in tight jeans and cowboy hat?”
“Are you kidding me? A cowboy that could rope me in and tie me
