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Page 50 of Parker

Chapter forty

Joel I owe her the world.

My confidence built with each kiss, each touch. When she made noises of pleasure, it encouraged me to keep going, confirming that she was enjoying our time. My lips arrived at her sex, and I nuzzled between her legs, breathing her scent into every part of my body.

I wanted her to consume me, to feel her in every part of me.

As I trailed kisses down her thighs, one finger explored her entrance, massaging lightly over her panties.

They dampened gradually until soaked. Moving them to the side, I slid one finger in with ease.

She moaned with the intrusion, and I pumped her gently.

Her knees lifted―a sign sensation was building inside. Her slick walls contracted tight around my single finger, and I pushed in a second.

“Joel, please. I want you inside me.”

“Patience, baby. This is all about you tonight. If things get uncomfortable and you need to stop, tell me.”

Crawling back up her body, I settled myself down beside her so I could watch her expressions as she moved closer to climax.

My fingers continued their assault as my palm created friction with her clit.

With her eyes closed and her head thrown back, her breasts rose into the air, the hardened nipples proudly perched on top.

Unable to stop myself, I teased the sweet buds with my tongue.

She groaned, and my fingers fucked her harder.

Her pussy contracted as the warm juices covered my hand.

Withdrawing and bringing my fingers to my lips, I licked each one, tasting her delicious cocktail.

Dark eyes filled with arousal watched me intently.

“Now, take me,” she said.

I didn’t answer. I didn’t need to. She already knew what it would be.

I was hers. And I would do whatever she wanted.

This morning, I woke, and she wasn’t beside me.

“Nicky,” I called into the early morning light, still half asleep as my hand searched the empty bed space.

“I’m here,” she replied, her voice quiet.

Flipping myself over in the direction of her words, I was greeted with the most beautiful vision. She sat on the chaise once more, naked, our son cradled in her arms, attached to her breast. He guzzled greedily, enjoying his breakfast.

Her focus was one hundred percent on him, a mother and child in the rawest possible form.

It was a moment I never believed would happen.

My family was now complete.

My office door swings open, yanking me out of last night’s memory. Boyd strides in unannounced. I subtly shift, adjusting myself in my suit.

“Ever heard of knocking?” I growl.

He glares. “He’s gone underground. The team lost him last night, again.”

I sit up straighter. “You’re kidding.”

His face is drawn together in concern. “I’ve deployed two more teams to guard the house. They’re at the front gate.”

“Fuck.” I drag my hand down my face. “I haven’t told Nicky yet. How did that bastard slip through again?”

“He’s got friends, Joel. A lot of them. He’s spent years networking and preparing for this. You need to tell her. Why the hell haven’t you?”

Lately, Boyd treats me more like a son than a boss. It should piss me off, but it doesn’t. I trust him with my life. I trust his lead.

At the rescue, Drayton was shot in the upper chest and believed to be dead. He’d been left lying where he fell. While we were all focused on Nicky, and hunting down the other mob members, he slipped away unseen. The threat was not yet gone, and I hadn’t told Nicky.

It was all right when she was in the hospital or resting around the house. But now she was talking about going back to work, it was becoming a concern.

“I didn’t tell her because she wakes up in the night screaming even though she thinks he’s dead,” I snap. “Do you know how many nights I sat outside her door, wondering whether to go in as she sobbed? How many nights I heard the terror she felt at being held captive?”

Boyd holds my glare, his lips thinning, but says nothing.

“I’ve only just got her back. I thought we’d have caught him before she was able to return to work. She’ll want to live normally―you know what she’s like. We’ve only just found each other again. She’s going to know I’ve lied.”

“Well, fucking tell her,” he grumbles, turning and storming from my office.

I scowl after him, annoyed he scolded me, and more pissed that he was right.

Drayton’s gone quiet since he took that bullet, but he’s not lying low. He’s been seen in city clubs, drinking and watching, never crossing the line onto Parker turf—but brushing right up against it. Close enough to provoke. Close enough to be a problem.

He’d laid in wait for years as part of my team before making his move. Drayton has patience, which is a dangerous trait in an enemy. He’ll wait to create the situation that gives him the highest chance of succeeding in his goal of ending the Parker domination in Glasgow.

My phone beeps. Nicky.

Why are there security guards at our gate? xoxo

My jaw clenches in exasperation; sometimes Boyd is too fucking good at his job.

Coming home. Will explain when I get there. xoxo

Packing up my desk, I grab my keys and head for my car. Louise’s eyebrows shoot up when I emerge. It’s only one in the afternoon.

“Don’t forward any calls unless it’s urgent. Everything can wait until tomorrow,” I call over my shoulder as I stride past. She mumbles in acknowledgment and bids me farewell.

The drive home is a blur. I rehearse the conversation with Nicky in my head. Before I know it, I’m sitting outside my house, nervous to enter. Years ago, her instructions were to tell her only what was necessary.

Until now, this wasn’t.

I hope she agrees.

The front door opens before I reach it. Nicky steps out onto the porch, concern etched on her face.

I close the car door behind me and cross the gravel. Her eyes are locked on me.

“Where’s Evan?” I ask.

She smiles and places her hands together, then raises them to her face as a sign that he’s asleep.

“Good, because we need to talk.” She gives me a curious look.

I trail her into the house, the air thick with everything unsaid. At the table, I take the head seat—habit, instinct. She chooses the chair to my left. Close. I reach across and take her hands in mine, steadying both of us.

“Nicky, Drayton didn’t die at the scene.” Her eyes pop from her head. “The following day, I found out he’d disappeared. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but you were in such a bad place. The last thing I wanted to do was frighten you.”

“Joel, that was months ago,” she whispers. Her voice cracking. Her eyes dart toward the screen of the baby monitor. Evan lies peacefully.

“You’re safe here,” I say, quickly. “I know I should’ve told you.

But the time passed, and you were here with me, secure.

Then we had Evan, and we were so happy. I wanted to protect that.

Protect you. Protect us.” A flicker of a smile tugs at her lips.

“I hoped we would find him before you needed to know. The nights I heard you screaming in terror were the worst.”

“You heard me?” she asks, stunned.

“Every one of them. I sat outside your door, trying to decide whether to go in. I wanted to hold you. I wanted to take it all away. But I wasn’t sure...”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because I wasn’t sure if I still had the right. I couldn’t risk pushing you. Not when I’d only just gotten you back. I’ve fucked up before. I wasn’t going to do it again.”

She squeezes my hands in hers. I feel her strength in the smallest touch.

She always amazed me. Now, even more so.

“Last night was the first night I slept through without nightmares,” she says. “And it’s because I was in your arms.”

Her words anchor me. We aren’t only healing; we’re fighting for us.

“What do we do now?” she asks.

“We find the bastard.”

She nods once. And in her eyes, I see something dangerous.

A thirst for revenge.