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“Why not?”
“Are you serious?” He let out a tired laugh. “Because you just got the promotion of a lifetime. Because it’s so obvious that you planned on building a life here and I’m just a blip on your radar?—”
“You’re so much more than that, Parker?—”
“I can’t be the reason you make a decision you’re not happy with, Nicholas,” he pressed. “What’s going to happen if you realize you gave up something you really wanted for a relationship that flames out in months? In weeks?”
“You really think that would happen with us?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But that’s the problem. I don’t know. And I can’t let you do that to yourself.”
“You don’t get to decide that for me, Parker.” I scoffed. “You don’t get to make choices for the both of us just because?—”
“I just want you to be happy,” he cut me off with a pleading tone. “That’s all I want, Nicholas. And I never want you to look at me and think that I’m the reason that you’re not.”
“That would never happen, Parker,” I assured him. “Even if this whole thing blew up in our faces, how could I blame you for that? You’re not the only one in this relationship.”
“I just… fuck,” Parker whispered, and I watched as tears sprang to his face, rolling down his cheeks. “Sorry. I don’t know why I’m… I think I’m just really scared. I don’t want to mess this up. I’ve never had something like this with anyone before and I… I don’t know if I can really maintain it or if you won’t get sick of me in another week or two?—”
“You don’t have to be scared,” I whispered back, my fingers gently brushing away each and every one of his tears. “Like I said, you’re not the only one in this relationship, Parker. We’ll figure this out together. I promise.”
“Fuck. This is so embarrassing.” He chuckled through his tears. “Can you untie me, please? It’s bad enough that I’m crying in front of you but doing it while naked and tied up? If anyone passes by, they’re definitely going to think you’re holding me hostage.”
“I don’t think we’ll have to worry about anyone passing by up here.” I smirked before giving him a quick kiss. “But I will untie you, just because you asked nicely. And because this is a pretty awful position to fuck you in.”
“You’re completely unhinged. You know that?” Parker chuckled again. I grinned as I began to untie him from the tree, my heart feeling so full that I briefly wondered if there was enough room in my chest to support it, if I was going to pass out from utter excitement.
If Parker was really going to give me exactly what I wanted.
17
PARKER
“Where the hell have you been, Parker?”
Jacob was on the other end of the line, sounding more worried than I’d ever heard him before. Nicholas and I had just come back from our hike and I was lying down on the living room couch, completely exhausted. Although, I couldn’t tell if I was more tired from the hike or from replaying the conversation at the tree over and over again in my head.
I could still hardly believe that it had actually happened, Nicholas asking me to stay.
And I still had no idea what I was actually going to do about it, either.
“I’ve just been enjoying myself, taking it easy,” I replied, before letting out a tired sigh. “Why? You starting to miss me back at the farm?”
“It’s just that I don’t recognize this place or any of the places you’ve been the last few days.”
“What?” I squinted out of pure confusion. “What do you mean you don’t recognize this place?”
Suddenly, I shot straight up, pressing the phone even closer to my ear. “Jacob, have you been stalking me? What the fuck?”
“It’s not stalking if you’re doing it out of genuine concern. And for the record, no, I’m not stalking you exactly.”
“Then, what are you doing, exactly?”
“Tracking your phone,” he admitted. “I started to get worried when you wouldn’t tell me where you were and then you were incommunicado for a while?—”
“Because I was enjoying my vacation?—”
“I just needed to know what was going on with you,” he went on. “And now, it looks like you’re at this house owned by some Nicholas guy I’ve never heard of?—”
