Page 22

TWENTY-TWO

SCOUT

“ I ’ll come up when you’re finished, and we can go to HR…cool?…Scout?”

Turning away from the window, my eyes met Parker’s, who was simultaneously trying to keep one eye on the road while also clearly waiting for me to respond to whatever he’d been saying. Only I hadn’t been listening.

Mashing my mouth, I offered up some kind of apologetic shrug and leaned forward as quickly as I could to kiss him while we stopped at a red light. Just even the fact I could kiss him felt both so incredibly alien and comforting all at the same time.

“Sorry. Please could you repeat that?”

“Wow, already ignoring me.” He chuckled, brushing my knuckles to his lips.

At least two dozen people crossed haphazardly in front of us, from the looks of it, all of them on their way to work. I wondered if any of them also had a job interview.

Gah , my job interview that should have been tomorrow, so I’d have one more day to prepare, but got brought forward instead. That was why I was all kinds of churned up this morning, and it wasn’t even nine a.m.

Job interviews at nine a.m. should be illegal.

At the very least they were unconstitutional.

“No, I am. I just?—”

“I’m teasing, it’s a big morning for you. Are you feeling okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Sure?”

I glanced back to the window just as a cyclist sped past, cutting through the traffic and causing several cars to slam their brakes, and drivers to hit the horns.

“I’m a little nervous, I guess. It’s a big role. I wish I’d had one more day to prepare.”

“You don’t need one more day, you’ll crush it,” Parker added without hesitation, and I couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm, or his constant and unwavering belief in me.

Always wanting me to do my best.

It was why I was currently sitting in his very comfortable Mercedes SUV, instead of my usual smelly subway car on my way to work.

Parker had insisted he’d drive me. I’m sure it also had something to do with him sleeping over last night because my roommate was out of town, and neither of us was ready to burst the bubble we’d been living in during the away series.

Boy oh boy, what a bubble it had been. I’d left for California just regular ol’ Scout Davison, but after spending six nights in Parker King’s bed having the most fun she’d had in ages, someone else returned.

Someone different, newer, with a sparkle in her eye and a fresh bounce to her hair.

I’d been thinking about it this morning, standing under the shower, but then Parker had joined me and naturally after that my entire focus became him.

But the biggest difference wasn’t quite so obvious to the naked eye.

In the space of a week my heart had softened. Become happier, almost. Skipping a joyful beat. I felt more confident while—ironically—at the exact same time much more anxious.

Truthfully though, I couldn’t put it solely down to the last week. It was the whole season. Two months ago, I’d been adamant about starting the year fresh, enjoying my single life, and living it to the max.

Two months ago, Parker King and I had barely spoken.

Now I’d spent six mornings in a row waking up next to him.

Now I’d spent six nights with Parker twisting my body like a pretzel, drawing out orgasm after orgasm, until I’d been convinced I’d never walk again.

The man certainly knew his way around a body. After almost a week on the road, I wasn’t certain he didn’t know my body better than I did. He’d made it react in ways it hadn’t before. Made it feel things it hadn’t before.

Every expectation I’d ever had about Parker King had been blown out of the water.

Everything I already liked about him was only intensified by his insanely hot body and his ability to whisper sweet nothings, while somehow being so incredibly dirty as he described exactly what he wanted to do to me that it made my head spin.

I don’t know how he’d managed his days playing ball after our nights in bed, but if he was anything like me, he’d have woken up invigorated with the energy of a two gallon bottle of Red Bull—without the dangers of a looming heart attack, obvs.

It was addictive.

I was living in a world where Parker and I were having sex, and the scariest thing about it being that I honestly wasn’t sure if I wanted to ever go back to one where we weren’t.

A week ago we’d been just friends, and now I had something much bigger to lose.

And that right there was the crux of why my anxiety kept trying to shoot through the retractable roof of the stadium.

It was unsettling to say the least. Unsettling and unfamiliar. I’d never had this gut-churning, heart-pounding, chest-on-the-verge-of-exploding sensation when I’d dated Mark, and I wasn’t entirely sure what to do about it.

“Scout? Have you got your presentation?” Parker reached over and squeezed my knee, only the slight change in his tone told me he’d already asked that question.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. I’m listening, I promise.” I smiled, vowing to myself not to drift off into another spiral of anxiety-inducing thoughts. “Um…no, HR will have set it up. I just have one printed with my notes on it.”

“Sounds good. And speaking of HR…” Parker started, accelerating through a yellow light before it turned red. “I’ll come and meet you after, so we can go there.”

“Where?”

“HR”

“Why are we going to HR?”

“We have to sign that dating form thing.”

Oh. Fuck. Fuuuck. The HR form. How, how did I forget that?

“Scout?”

“Yeah?

“The form?”

“Do we have to sign it?” I mumbled, chewing on an invisible hangnail. Unfortunately, it was loud enough that a tiny crease formed on Parker’s brow.

“Um, yeah, kinda. Coach is already on my ass, and that was before…you know…this last week…and we got together.”

“Together?”

“Yeah, you and me.”

I took a deep breath and stopped short of pushing my hands through my hair to tug out the ends. Instead, I found my fingers threading into Parker’s, still resting on my knee. We drove another couple of blocks in silence, enough to reach the first set of signs directing us to Lions Stadium.

Before I even realized the car was slowing down, Parker had already pulled into a parking bay, cut the engine, and was now facing me.

“C’mon, Davison, what’s up? Talk to me. Are you having regrets? Do you want to go back to being just friends because…”

I shook my head, stopping any more words from coming out of his mouth. “No. No. I’m not…of course I’m not. I don’t want to be just friends.”

“Then what? I can see something is up.” He tugged my lip free as I chewed on it, “Talk to me.”

“It’s nothing…it’s just…” I dragged a hand down my face. “HR is managing this new job role.”

“So?”

“If we sign the form then they’ll know about us.”

“Um, I think that’s kind of the point of the form.”

I sighed. “Yes, but what if us being together influences whether I’m given this role or not. I mean…I don’t even know if I want it, but if I do want it, I don’t want to be offered it on anything but my own merit.”

Parker frowned so deeply it almost hurt my brain. “Why wouldn’t you be?”

“Because what if they give me the job because of you. Or don’t give it to me because of you.”

A broad grin stretched across his face, the head tilt he added did nothing for my anxiety because it was clear he thought I was nuts. “You’re giving me way too much power in this scenario.”

“Parker, I’m serious.” I almost snapped. “Getting a promotion while dating…you know…you. It doesn’t look good. People are already talking about us. This will make it worse. I don’t want it to look like I haven’t earned the job on my own merit.”

“Why do you care what people say?”

“Because…” I stopped, trying to find the words. “They’re not talking about it in a good way.”

“I’m not following.”

“It’s girls gossiping. And with this job interview…”

Parker pressed his finger to my lips, silencing me. “You’re asking me not to sign it?”

“I’m asking…” I cupped his cheek, I was doing such a shit job of explaining in a way that made sense to me, let alone him, no wonder he looked so confused. “The last week has been amazing, I really like you, which I realize is the entire point of the form, but I don’t want them to know we’re sleeping together.” God, that sounded cringe. “Slept together…having sex.”

“Dating, Davison. We’re dating.”

I blinked, trying to decide whether that made it better, only to shrug when I realized it didn’t. “Same thing.”

“It’s not the same thing. Sleeping is casual. Dating is formal. It’s official. I know we haven’t technically been on a date yet, but we will.”

“Okay, date.” My shoulders dropped, but I couldn’t help the little smile, because if I was to believe Parker—which I did—I was now officially dating Parker King. “I’ll sign the form, of course I will, but please can we just wait until this interview process is over and they’ve picked someone? It’ll make me feel better.”

“I can’t believe you want to keep me a secret,” he replied, though thankfully his tone was all jest. “You know I should find that offensive, at the very least a huge knock to my confidence. Unless you’re using my body for sex. Are you using my body for sex?”

My smile widened. “Maybe. Are you okay with that?”

“Sneaking around and having sex? Yeah, I could be, but you’d need to make it worth my while.”

“How?”

“Hmm.” Parker stroked along the stubble coating his jaw. “I’ve always wanted to hook up at work, and there’s a few places I want to try out.”

“Like where?”

“Home plate, the locker room, the rowing machine in the gym…Think that would be super hot. Plus, the?—”

A burst of laughter escaped, and I held my hand up to stop him continuing. “You had them all lined up and ready to go, there, didn’t you, stud?”

“What can I say, I’ve been waiting for the right girl.”

My heart kicked into double time. “Me?”

“Hell yeah. You know how I feel about you, Davison. I can put off Coach for a little longer.” He pulled me into him and, so gently I thought my chest might cave in, dropped a kiss to my lips. “I’d do anything for you.”

“I really do like you a lot, Parker King,” I muttered, slipping my tongue along his.

“You’d better.”

“But can you drop me outside the gates before we enter the stadium, I don’t want anyone to see me getting out of your car?”

I didn’t catch his gruff reply, but the poke in my ribs I also received had me laughing the rest of the ride.