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“I’ll save you the childish games that you get way too excited over and do the pickup.” I roll my eyes and get back to work. I need to finish up what I’m doing and reply to two more emails before I take off.
“I see what you are doing Liv, planning your escape so you don’t have to tell me what happened last night. You dined and dashed on me, remember? So you kind of owe me after being the world’s shittiest date.”
“I know, I’m so sorry Ells, I do feel really bad about that. Trust me, I had no idea that was going to happen. Actually, now that I think about it, you’re at least partially to blame for ordering us a few too many drinks.” I grin at her, knowing full well it wasn’t the drinks.
“Okay, okay, you are forgiven,” Ellie concedes. “But only because I desperately need to find out what happened.”
“I got caught up in the moment. We walked the beach hand-in-hand and we ended up at his beach house.” I drop my pen on the table in front of me and push the tips of my fingers into my temples. I squeeze my eyes shut and back open, inhaling a deep breath. “You know what that beach house means to us. It was like every single memory of the two of us together came rushing back.”
I fill her in on the rest of the night and watch her expression shift from excitement to disappointment when I get to the part about how the night ended.
“That must have been pretty overwhelming. I can only imagine what it was like for you, being back there after all this time. But I still don’t understand why you stopped it. Parker is hot as fuck. Like Leonardo DiCaprio hot, Liv.” Ellie walks to the coolers, then returns to our worktable with an armload of tulips.
“What’s not to understand? He’s leaving today to go back to New York. He is probably halfway there by now. There’s no way for this to work. As hot as he is, it would have been one amazing night followed by my heart shattering to pieces having to watch him go. And then I got nervous, too, that it would have meant way more to me than it would to him.”
“I get that, but it doesn’t have to be so black and white. Sometimes you have to put your heart out there and take chances in life. Stop trying to control everything around you and listen to what your heart wants. I guarantee you it wants Parker’s dick.” Oh my God. Did she really just say that? “It’s not over for the two of you, I just know it. Maybe it’s worth the risk,” she says convincingly, wiggling her brows.
Could Ellie be right? I mean, not about the dick part. Maybe I need to stop listening to what my head is telling me and start listening to my heart.
I grab my purse from the desk and am fumbling inside for my keys, when I hear the bell chime at the front door. I look up from my search and my stomach does a cartwheel.
Parker just walked into Bloom.
“Parker, what are you doing here? You are supposed to be heading home right now. Is everything okay?” He looks from me to Ellie.
“Hey Ellie, I’m sorry to bug you two at work but I’m hoping I can talk to Livy for a second.”
He looks hotter than hell in a pair of faded grey jeans and a white t-shirt. It takes everything in me to tear my eyes from his body. This is a really bad idea.
Ellie grins, giving him a once-over, and nods Parker’s way, disappearing into the back room and leaving the two of us alone in the storefront.
“Hey,” Parker says in a low voice and moves closer to me. “Can we talk?”
“Sure.” The word falls off my tongue so quickly I don’t have time to take it back.
“I’m not going back to New York until I convince you that this can work between us.” His sexy dark eyes narrow and I get the feeling he’s ready to convince me if he needs to.
“This can’t all be done in a day, Parker.” But I want you to stay.
“Livy, hear me out. I’m not leaving you. I’m staying right here in Reed Point. I’m extending my trip. My assistant is boxing up my things as we speak and shipping them to me. After last night, leaving isn’t an option. It has all been sorted. I’ve already moved into the beach house.”
The beach house.
Our spot.
I am completely speechless, letting his words sink in. I am also totally aware of the relief I feel suddenly rush over my body. It is clear in this moment that I want him to stay, to get to know him again. We could take it slow. That thought makes me laugh. Take it slow, when all I want to do is take his clothes off and feel every inch of his chiseled body. Good luck with that.
“Why do you have a smirk on your face?” Parker asks me, and I notice he’s smiling now too. It makes him look even sexier, and I have to suppress the urge to kiss that smile from his gorgeous face.
I bite my bottom lip trying to hide the hot blush I feel covering my cheeks, wondering if he knows that I’m fantasizing about him right now.
“No reason.” I clear my throat.
“You were thinking about me and how much you can’t resist all of this,” Parker says through a laugh, motioning to himself with a silly Vanna White-like gesture.
“Nice try.” If he only knew what I wanted to do to him right now.
“Come for lunch with me today.”
