Alliance – Chapter 29

I opened my eyes and squinted at the sunlight streaming into my bedroom.  I started to roll over and go back to sleep, but I remembered that I had pulled my curtains closed before I’d gone to bed last night.  Rubbing my eyes, I sat up and frowned.

“Dammit Parker!”

I watched as he walked into my room with a skillet in his hands.  “Good morning to you too, or I guess I should say good afternoon.”

“Huh?” I asked as I pushed the covers aside and got out of bed.

“It’s well after noon, but I thought you might still want breakfast food.”

I followed him into the kitchen still blinking at the brightness of being awake.  “Let me get this straight.  Now you’re breaking into my house to cook me breakfast?  This isn’t going to make me less angry about being lied to.  What are you trying to pull here?”

“I’m not trying to pull anything.  I thought it was time to continue our conversation from Friday.  I was just trying to do something nice.”

I resigned myself to the conversation that was about to take place and went to brush my teeth and hair. After only a few more minutes, we were seated at my dining room table.

“This actually isn’t half bad,” I admitted to Parker.

“I did what I could with the lack of ingredients you keep in your kitchen.  Luckily, you had enough for an omelet.  Do you ever go to the store?”

I shrugged.  “Rarely.  I’m not much of a cook, so I don’t see the point of buying stuff to spoil in my fridge.”

“What do you do about meals, then?”

“Fast food, if I eat.”

Parker eyed me up and down.  “Well, that would explain it.”

“Explain what?  And don’t look at me like that,” I snapped at him.

“You’re just thin as a rail.  I didn’t mean anything by it.  I guess I just didn’t figure you for one of those dieting types.”

I shook my head, wincing at the way my neck cramped.  “I never diet; I’m just not really ever hungry.  I do workout quite a bit, though.”

“Yoga, right?”

“Among other things.  Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” he answered with a shrug.  “I just like trying to figure you out.”

I set my fork on the plate and tried to rub the kink out of my neck.  “Really?  So I suppose you think you have me all figured out then.”

He nodded.  “Very nearly.” His expression changed. “What’s wrong with your neck?”

“It doesn’t matter. Fill me in on this vast knowledge you have about me,” I said with a smirk.

Parker stood and circled around behind my chair. “Well, if you insist.”

“What are you doing?” I tried to turn to look at him, but the sharp pain in my neck stopped me.

“Giving you a neck massage.” Strong fingers went to work on my neck. “It’s not as fun to be right when you’re wincing in pain and trying to hide it.”

“Your confidence is a bit premature.”

“Nothing about me is premature, Skylar.” I could hear the smile in his voice. He continued without missing a beat. “I’d say that you used to be a blast to hang out with, but until Raptor’s caught or dead you have this brooding thing going. You workout, not because you need to, since you don’t eat, but as an outlet for all of the anger that you’ve never bothered to deal with.  I’d wager that you haven’t opened a single bank statement since your father died because you don’t want to be reminded of where the money came from.  How am I doing so far?”

He was doing pretty damn well, but I wasn’t going to tell him that so I remained quiet. Just like I wasn’t going to tell him the kink was gone. I also wasn’t going to tell him how good his touch felt now that he’d soothed my knotted neck muscles.

There was a lot Parker Ramsey didn’t need to know at that moment, I suppose.

“It’s okay; you don’t have to admit it.  I already know.  I’m also going to go out on a limb and say that you’re into all of this.”

“Excuse me?” I’m sure there was a better response to that, but I couldn’t think of what it was with his massage now spreading to my bare shoulders.

“Come on, bad things happen to good people all of the time and they never alter their lives as drastically as you have.  I think it excites you to walk on the wild side like this.”  Parker knelt behind me until I could feel his breath on the back of my ear.  “For that matter, I think I excite you.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The smile was back in his voice.  “If you say so.” His fingers slid under the thin straps of my camisole.

Was he still massaging or was this a caress. I didn’t care. The faintest of whimpers escaped my throat and Parker’s breath turned hot on my neck.

“The only thing I haven’t been able to figure out is why you go by Songbird.”

I sighed, but didn’t say anything. Had I just felt his lips graze my skin?

“Waiting for an answer here,” he prodded, tension in his voice.

Did he actually care or was he just trying to keep the conversation on track as a way to distract himself from touching me? I let me head droop forward and whimpered again, louder this time. I wasn’t sure I wanted him distracted.

But I wasn’t sure I wanted anything else, either.

“Skylar?”

Ugh. He cared. “Skylar is derived from the word skylark.  Skylarks are known for their singing.  My dad always used to call me his little songbird when I was a kid.”

“I’m sorry to bring it up.  I should go now.” But he didn’t move.

“So you just came by to cook me breakfast and bother me this time?”

“No.  I came by to make sure that you were still in.”

“But you never asked.”

“I didn’t have to ask to know.” His lips brushed against my ear, lingering after he spoke. “Plus, I got to find out that you’re into me.” He rose and crossed to the door, grinning. “Not bad for a morning’s work.”

The sonofabitch had just played me. But…still. It wouldn’t kill him to be wrong once in a while.

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