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Authors: Karen Stivali

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BOOK: Leave the Lights On
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“You want something to drink? I’ve got milk, orange juice or water.” He stood up, and Sophie couldn’t resist letting her eyes sweep over him again. So lean and muscular. More irresistible than ever.

“Milk would be great.”

Parker opened the fridge, and Sophie laughed. Other than milk and orange juice, there appeared to be a six-pack of beer and a block of cheese. “I thought you said you just went to the grocery store.”

“I did. I guess I need some practice in the food-shopping department.”

“I’ll say. Or maybe I should come back with a casserole.”

“You can come back with or without a casserole.”

Chapter Two

Parker stood at his doorway, watching as Sophie crossed the yard toward her house. The gentle sway of her hips kept him mesmerized. He didn’t look away until she disappeared through her door.
Jesus, you idiot, you didn’t make plans to see her again.
He hadn’t even gotten her phone number.
Shit. Maybe at least her home number’s the same.
It only took seconds for him to recall her parents’ number. Even though he hadn’t called it in ages, he’d dialed it nearly every day for years. It remained permanently engraved in his brain.

Saying that Sophie looked fantastic would be an understatement. He’d always thought she was cute, even in her glasses and pigtail days, and he’d certainly appreciated when she’d graduated into contact lenses and curves, but none of that could have prepared him for what a striking woman she’d become. She was still as petite as he remembered—close to a foot shorter than him, with delicate bone structure—but her body had completely reproportioned itself. Fuller breasts, slimmer waist, more rounded curve to her hips. Even in jeans he could tell her legs were killer. Her dark almond-shaped eyes still had the same mischievous twinkle. He could feel himself smiling just from thinking about them. And he couldn’t help wondering what was behind her mysterious grin. Wondering if her auburn hair felt as soft as it looked. Wondering what it would be like to wrap his arms around her and kiss her.

Jesus, get a grip.
This was Sophie after all. The same Sophie who’d snuck into his house dozens of times after his dad had gone to bed to watch TV or play cards or just hang out and talk. The same Sophie who’d never shown the slightest bit of interest in him in over a decade of friendship. But then again, his hopeless crush on Sophie had been interrupted during their last year of high school by the arrival of Chrissie Barnes.

Although Chrissie was the last thing Parker wanted to think about, he couldn’t help but remember the first time he’d laid eyes on her.

 

 

“Who the hell is that?” Joey had asked as they both watched her, long blonde curls bouncing in time with her steps as she walked into the main office on the first day of their senior year.

They’d tried to loiter long enough to see where she was headed but had been sent off to class by a cranky hall monitor. Parker spent the whole day scanning the halls for her but didn’t see her again until after school.

He was stretching for a cross-country run, and she jogged right past him, wearing short shorts that showed off her perfectly toned legs, her breasts gently shifting under her tank top. He’d nearly fallen over. She made her way toward the cheerleaders and began warming up like she was one of them rather than a new girl there for tryouts. Parker kept his eyes on her as he jogged around the track.

Joey came up alongside him, breathing hard. “Now that’s a damn shame.”

“What is?” Parker asked.

“Newbie. You just know she’s gonna hook up with someone from the football team. No way they’re gonna let a sweet piece of ass like that get away.”

Parker frowned, knowing Joey was likely correct. Cheerleaders always dated the guys from the football and basketball teams. “She hasn’t even made the squad yet.”

“Are you kidding me? Look at her move.”

Parker turned just in time to see her do a double cartwheel and land in a split.

“Football player, by the end of the week,” Joey said.

Parker couldn’t keep his eyes off her. “You never know.”

“I’ve been telling you for years, we gotta petition for baseball cheerleaders. We’re the best players on the team. Baseball cheerleaders would be all over us. You could use that kind of sure thing.” Joey punched him in the arm and broke into a full sprint.

As luck would have it, it wasn’t a football player who’d turned her head. Much to Joey’s surprise, Parker was the guy who caught her eye.

Chrissie had been everything Parker had ever wanted in a girlfriend. Beautiful. Smart. Funny. Sweet. And the most amazing kisser he could imagine. He couldn’t count how many hours they’d spent pressed up against her locker in the hall, sneaking beneath the bleachers on the field, trying to maneuver around the gearshift in his beat-up old car—the pull toward her magnetic in its strength.

They’d only been going out for a few months when he’d gathered up his nerve and told her he was in love with her. When she repeated the words back, it had made him happier than he’d ever been. They were the “it” couple. At every party, hand in hand. Voted best couple at the senior prom. Parker had their whole future worked out. He got a full athletic scholarship to college, and Chrissie got accepted to a nearby university. They saw each on weekends, and after graduation, when he’d signed with a team and was bringing in money, they’d get married.

“You suck, you know that?” Joey would say every weekend when he was heading out to frat parties. “Worst. Wingman. Ever. You’re like an old married man.”

“Like you would have turned her down?”

“Shit, no. Chrissie’s fucking great. Except for her taste in guys.”

“She had enough good sense to avoid you.”

“Much to the delight of every other woman on the planet.”

“You haven’t been with
every
other woman.”

“Yet. Working on it.” And he was. An endless stream of women paraded in and out of their dorm.

Parker couldn’t even imagine it. In his mind he might as well have already been married. Not that he didn’t look at other women, but he knew he loved Chrissie and wasn’t about to risk what he had with her for a night of fun.

“She’d never find out.” Joey would tell him.

“Wouldn’t matter. I’d know.” Lying wasn’t something Parker was good at and that wasn’t a characteristic he was looking to change.

“You don’t know what you’re missing, buddy.”

That part was true. Truer than Joey even knew. But Parker stayed loyal.

By the end of their junior year in college, he was getting anxious to get on with his life. Scouts were coming to all the big spring games, and he knew he’d caught the eye of several. He and Joey were on the short list for several recruiters, and it was just a matter of time. Everything he wanted was so close he could taste it.

He’d come back to his dorm after three weekends in a row of away games, anxious as hell to finally spend some time with Chrissie. Seeing her sitting on his bed, waiting for him, he’d been so happy to be in the same room with her again it had taken him a minute to notice the look on her face. He pulled her into a kiss, surprised when he realized her face was damp with tears.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, wiping beneath her eyes.

More tears spilled out of her, and Parker felt a pit growing in his stomach.

“Sweetie, what is it? Talk to me.”

Chrissie bit her lip, unable to look at him.

Parker’s heart beat faster as he rubbed her hand.

“I’m so sorry. I never meant for it to happen.” She looked up at him, her big blue eyes still streaming tears. He saw sorrow and pity and fear. Tension knotted its way through him.

“Meant for what to happen?” He held still, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.

She dropped her gaze and her voice became a mere whisper. “There’s someone else.”

The words hit him like a punch, knocking the air out of him, but he was sure he must have misunderstood.

“What do you mean?” he asked, his throat so tight he could barely swallow.

“I met him in class a few months ago. I didn’t mean for it to be anything but a friendship, but you’ve been away so much and…” She bit her lip again and took a deep shuddering breath. “It just happened.”

“What did?”
Maybe they just went out on a date. Maybe she means she made out with him once, I could live with…

“Parker, I’m marrying him. I’m pregnant.”

Although a million thoughts jumbled around in his brain, not one could find its way past his lips. All he could do was stare at her.

She looked the same as always. Blonde curls tumbling over her shoulders, satiny cheeks rosy and flushed, tiny hands resting innocently in her lap. Perfect as a porcelain doll. Then she looked at him again, eyes rimmed with red and filled with the now-nauseating mix of pity and sorrow.

“Pregnant?” The word sounded so foreign coming out of Parker’s mouth that he wasn’t sure he’d pronounced it right. “With his kid?”

“I’m sorry.”

The tingling numbness of shock ebbed, replaced by the searing heat of anger. Parker backed away from her on the bed, not wanting to be close to her but unsure if he could stand. Acid that had been pooling in his stomach surged up his throat high enough that he could taste the bitterness.

“Sorry? You’re sorry?” His hands clenched so tightly his arms ached.

“I am.” She reached for him, her hand grazing his shoulder before he could pull away. Her touch, familiar for so long, felt foreign. An unpleasant reminder rather than a caress. “I didn’t mean…”

“To fuck someone?”

Chrissie flinched as if he’d slapped her. “It wasn’t like that…”

“So you didn’t fuck him? This was an immaculate conception?”

“I mean, I just—”

Parker found the strength to stand and paced the length of the room, his hand raking through his hair as he tried to contain his thoughts. “And you’re
marrying
him?” He stared at her, still not believing that her answer could possibly be yes.

She held his gaze for what seemed like an eternity. He watched in awe as she nodded. “I love him.”

That did it. Every bit of self-control drained out of him, and all he felt was anger. “Get out.” He strode to his door and held it open, gripping the knob so hard it occurred to him it might snap off in his hand.

Chrissie appeared to be moving in slow motion as she gathered her purse and keys. She paused in front of him. “I wish there was something I could say—”

“Yeah, well, there’s not. Just go.”

He watched as she walked out the door, wanting nothing more than to slam it, but the damned spring hinge made that impossible. He closed his eyes, waiting for the sound of the latch clicking shut. Then reality hit him. He barely made it to the bathroom before he threw up.

Parker was still washing his face when Joey came in singing in an annoying falsetto voice and leaving a trail of shoes, backpack and soda cans like it was any other day.

“Getting ready for your hot weekend with Chrissie?”

Acid threatened to spew out of Parker again, but he managed to keep it together.
Breathe.
He glanced at the mirror, wondering how much of what he was struggling with showed on his face.

“Not going out with Chrissie.” He walked into their room to find Joey sprawled on his bed, tossing a baseball against the wall.

“Finally came to her senses and dumped you, eh?”

Parker had the urge to pummel him. “She’s getting married. To some guy who knocked her up.”

It was the first time Parker had seen Joey drop a ball since they were six. Joey stared at him. “You’re shitting me, right?”

Parker simply stared back. It hurt too much to say it again.

Joey shook his head. “Oh dude—”

There it was again. Pity.
Fuck
. Parker thumped down onto his bed.

“You all right?”

He knew this was Joey’s idea of being compassionate. “Great.”

“Sorry. Shit.” Joey rummaged under the bed and came up with the ball. He bounced it off the wall again and the sound was comforting. “Well, you know what this means…”

“What, genius? What does this mean?”

“It means tonight you get to see how the other half lives. We’re going out and we’re gonna get you laid.”

For the first time, Parker put up no argument. “Name the place. I’ll be there.”

 

 

Joey was working an early shift at MacDougal’s so Parker agreed to meet him there. Driving down the street toward the pub, Parker tried to wrap his head around what had happened.
Pregnant. Married. How could she have done this?
He gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles shone white in the glow of the dashboard. The truck came out of nowhere. Parker saw light filling his Civic, heard the screech of tires, then metal crushing, glass shattering. Then nothing.

Chapter Three

Sophie had to keep herself from skipping all the way back to her house. Every last thing she’d remembered about Parker was still there—handsome, sweet, charming—but better. The last time she’d spent any real time with him, he’d still been teetering on the edge between adolescence and adulthood. That was no longer an issue. Parker was, without question, all man.

BOOK: Leave the Lights On
3.14Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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