CHAPTER 21
Sawyer
Drawing in a deep breath, I reach out and ring the doorbell, nervous anticipation coursing through my veins.
"He's always wanted you."
Liam's words have spurred me on to make a quick stop before I head home. I need to know the truth. And what better way to find it than confront Parker.
I won't give him the chance to avoid me this time. I need answers and he'll give them to me.
Only I'm not prepared when the huge double mahogany door finally opens, revealing Parker with a bed head and sleepy eyes. He's wearing nothing but a pair of pajama bottoms under his open bathrobe.
I swallow hard, my mouth going dry.
Before I can stop them, my eyes are already drifting to his exposed chest down to his toned abs and the thin trail of light hair going down his—
"Peaches."
Parker's husky voice sends heat crawling up my neck and cheeks. But not from embarrassment. For an entirely different reason.
Me and Parker. Tangled sheets. Sweaty bodies. Low moans…
Get your head out of the gutter!
I shake my head and clear my throat before I start really embarrassing myself. "Parker."
"What are you doing here?"
"Um, I came to—" I blink a few times. Why am I here again? You want to jump his bones. "No!"
Parker cocks an eyebrow. "No?"
"You confuse me, you know that?" I huff out.
Looking amused, he folds his arms over his broad chest. "I confuse you? I'm not the one talking in riddles right now, Peaches."
I point a finger at him. "Don't call me that. When you call me that, I feel things."
Things that I shouldn't feel. Not for you. And not so soon after Liam.
"What kind of things?" he asks softly, taking a step toward me.
Why does he smell so good when he looks like he spent the whole day in bed? Great. Now, I’m wondering if there’s someone waiting in his bed.
An ugly feeling I don't want to name stabs at my chest.
But he doesn't reek of sex. At least, I don't think so. Unless he just took a shower…
"Are you sniffing me?" There's laughter in his voice. He’s laughing at me.
With an embarrassed glare, I back away. "Just checking for a girl's perfume."
His eyebrows draw together, his amusement fading. "Girl's perfume? You think I have some on me?"
I just scoff and look away.
"Peaches." He cups my chin and gently turns my face to his. "Does it make you jealous? Thinking that I'm with someone else?"
Apparently, yes! "Of course not. Don't be ridiculous. Why would I be jealous? I'm not your girlfriend."
His hand falls away from my face, his unreadable mask back in place. "Are you going to tell me why you're here?"
"I was just with Liam."
Something dark flashes in his eyes as he gruffly asks, "You're back together?"
"What? No. We just talked. I told him we're truly over. We will never be back together."
He looks relieved to hear that.
"He's always wanted you."
The words are stuck in my head, urging me to voice them out loud. To find out the truth once and for all.
"Why did you kiss me?" I demand. "And don't say I kissed you, because I didn't. Well, okay, I leaned over to kiss you. But I wasn't aiming for your lips. I was going for your cheeks."
"I know."
My mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water. "You know? Then why—"
Because Liam was right. Parker wants you!
"Do I have to spell it out?" He doesn't have to. Because right there in his eyes is the truth I've been trying to deny.
Parker has feelings for me.
"Holy shit," I whisper in disbelief, blood pounding in my ears.
I knew that there was something between us, but I thought it was just a superficial attraction. That it was simply born out of convenience. But his eyes tell me it’s more than that. So much more than that.
Stunned, I think back to my interactions with him and his friends. They haven't been acting strange around me because of Liam. They’re being weird because of Parker. Because they know what he feels for me.
I avert my eyes. What am I going to do with this new information?
"Sawyer."
I lift my head, my gaze once again colliding with his wary one. There’s a hint of vulnerability there, too. Like he thinks I’m capable of crushing his heart with my bare hands. Like he believes I have power over him.
My breath hitches at that newfound knowledge.
"Say something," he prods, his voice raspy.
"I don't know what to say." I'm still trying to process the information I just learned. But then something occurs to me. I shake my head and scoff. "Actually, scratch that. I do have something to say. If you liked me all along, why were you hot and cold toward me? One moment, you're being nice and coming to my rescue. Like the time I passed out drunk in your car, and you drove me home and even carried me up my room, remember that? And the time you had my flat tire fixed and gave me a ride to school. But then the next, you're completely dismissive. Like you don't want anything to do with me. Why? I don't get it."
Parker runs a hand through his dark hair, his gaze on the ground, frustration stealing his features. "Because when it comes to you, I'm out of my element." When he lifts his head, I stagger back at the raw torment in his eyes. "I shouldn't want you, but I do. Hell, I've always wanted you. And wanting you but not being able to have you, it drives me fucking crazy."
"Why me?" I ask weakly over the hard hammering in my chest.
There are handfuls of drop dead gorgeous girls at Holy Oaks Prep, why did he end up wanting me?
"Why not you?" he shoots back, moving closer, crowding my back against the wall of his front porch, burning me with his gaze. "Why is it hard to
