Page 107 of Twisted Needs

“Yeah, but that doesn’t make you scary,” I snort. “And it would be sad if you couldn’t.”

“It should.” He pecks my lips.

“It doesn’t.” I give him a peck back.

His gaze darkens slightly at that. “You really have no survival instincts,” he mutters. The shift in his voice sends heat curling low in my stomach.

“Why?” I whisper.

“Because you keep looking at me like that.” His hand slides down my spine slowly before settling at the base of it.

I swallow hard. Parker studies my face for another second before his expression turns subtly amused. “What?” he asks.

“Nothing.”

“No lying.”

I roll my eyes. “You’re just…” I shake my head once. “Way more gone over me than you pretended to be.”

His expression turns unreadable for half a second. Then he grabs my ass hard enough to make me yelp. “Don’t get cocky,” he mutters. “I’d say I’m gone over you a very normal amount.”

“Promise?”

Something softens in his eyes. “Well, I’d never lie to you⁠—”

“M’kay.” I throw my arms around his neck and launch myself at him, kissing him with enough urgency to steal his breath away.

CHAPTER 29

WHAT’S WAITING FOR YOU

ANDERS

I have probably sat and rewritten the same sentence seven times in the past thirty minutes.

I’m perched in Parker’s recliner with my laptop balanced on my knees, attempting to finish my ten-page essay on the Cold War that I’ve honestly pulled straight from my ass. Nearing the final page, though, it’s like my brain has somehow stopped working.

All I can focus on is the six-five hockey player on the couch across from me with his legs propped up on the coffee table and his phone in his hand. Probably scrolling on SportsCenter reading up on why the league thinks he should’ve retired years ago. Every once in a while, he’ll take a peek at me through the corner of his eye, careful not to disturb me. But his patience only lasts so long before he lets out a deep sigh and tosses his phone on the couch beside him, throws his arms up in the air, and cracks his neck like he’s some old man.

“You finished yet?” Parker asks a moment later, giving me a hopeful look.

“No.”

“Would you finish faster if you came and sat in my lap?” he smirks.

“How would that work?” I laugh.

Parker shrugs. “You’d know what’s waiting for you when you’re done.”

I snort. “Yeah? And what’s that?”

“Come sit on my lap and find out, angel.”

I immediately close the lid of my laptop and slide it back into my bag before crossing over to Parker, hopping directly into his lap and throwing my arms across his shoulders. I fold the space between us until there’s nothing left but the press of his mouth against mine. The kiss turns intense fast, everything else falling away. Parker snakes his cold hands up the back of my shirt, my body slightly recoiling from how cold they are. He yanks the shirt off in one swift movement, balling it up and throwing it off to the other side of the room.

Gently, he pushes my reading glasses up my face, sliding them off my head entirely. I hear them clatter as he drops them on the coffee table before his hands immediately find their way back to the front of my pants and undo my button.

Parker swipes a finger inside the waistband of my underwear and snaps the elastic before pulling them and my jeans down below my ass. Goosebumps prickle over my skin, warmth pooling low in my stomach from the feeling of sitting here so exposed and vulnerable.