Parker (Rich & Single #2) (8 page)

The expression on his face said that he would rather have finished hashing the subject out, but Jackson nodded. “Sure, Parker. That’s fine with me.”

They stepped up to the bouncer, and after a moment he waved them through into the dimly-lit interior of the club.

“To the bar?” Parker suggested.

“Why not? Quench our thirst. Hard work, that standing in line.”

Parker chuckled and pushed his way through the little groups of people that were milling around at the edges of the dance floor and up to the bar, claiming one of the few empty stools left in the place. Jackson slipped up beside him. “My treat tonight. So just pick something.”

Jackson nodded. “I won’t say no to that.”

They ordered their drinks, and Parker slid off the stool again as he took his. “Dancefloor?”

“I don’t think so, man.” Jackson took a sip of his gin and tonic. “I need to be a lot more drunk to get out in that mess.”

Parker laughed, but he led the way to one of the small tables that sat behind the railing on the second floor, looking down over the shifting mass of bodies in the center of the club. They sat there for a while, finishing off their first round of drinks and chatting about pretty much anything that wasn’t work. He could see in Jackson’s face sometimes that there were things he was thinking about and not saying, but Parker pushed past them. If Jackson had other things to say about the contest with Jennifer, he could say them on Monday, when Parker was ready to talk about them again. For the moment, all he wanted was one night where he didn’t have to think about work, or about Lioness Home Fitness and Jennifer Leandra, and how to beat her in a contest that probably wasn’t worth their time in the first place.

“Another drink?”

Jackson looked down at his empty glass and pursed his lips like he was going to say no. Parker lifted a hand to catch the attention of one of the shot girls wandering the level and waved her over, sliding four shot glasses off the tray. He handed a fifty in their place, and she gave him a grin and a wink before moving away. Parker watched her hips sway in the flashing light, and turned back to find Jackson giving him the exasperated look he had perfected their second year of college, when Parker had been hitting every major party he could pull the location of and coming in hungover and grinning every Saturday morning, smelling like a new girl’s perfume.

Jackson must have been thinking about the same thing, because the look of exasperation shifted to something thoughtful. “Do you ever think about settling down, Parker? You know, picking someone out and at least attempting to make a go of a relationship that’s longer than four hours?”

“Four hours is a short night. Drink your shot.”

“You know what I mean,” Jackson said, picking up one of the shot glasses but not yet tipping it back. “Do you ever want to do something that isn’t... This?” The word was accompanied by a wave of his arm that encompassed the entire room with its flickering lights and grinding bodies.

“Nah.” Parker shook his head. “I’m sure I’ll want to eventually, but for now, honestly, a relationship sounds like a lot of work for not a lot of return. If I’m going out every weekend to find a new girl, I get a new girl every weekend. If I’m in a relationship, I get what?”

“Love? Companionship? Someone to share your bed with, whose name you can actually remember?”

“I remember their names.” Parker gave his best friend a look across the table. “And it isn’t like you’re really doing that much better than I am, unless you’ve got something going on the sly. I haven’t seen you with the same person more than twice since senior year of college.”

“I’m busy.”

“We’re all busy. That’s why this is easier. If I’ve got a girlfriend, she’ll want more of my time than a quick roll in the sheets every few days. Maybe when I’ve got the business running smoothly on its own.”

“There’s a lot of maybes and eventuallys in there, is all I’m saying.”

“Tell you what, Jackson. When you start really looking for someone you’re willing to spend the rest of your life with, I’ll consider giving up on my bachelor lifestyle.”

Jackson shook his head, and knocked back the shot he was holding. Parker followed suit.

A second shot, followed by a third shortly after, and he was starting to feel pleasantly buzzed. Jackson, who wasn’t nearly as big as he was, looked a little further along the path to tipsy when they both stood up to wind their way through the other people milling around the second level and down to the ground-level and the dancefloor.

“I don’t know about this.” Jackson hesitated behind Parker.

“Would you quit being such a stick in the mud, dude? Seriously. I saw you dance in college. You used to mop the dancefloor with the rest of the guys.”

Jackson laughed, but the words seemed to have done the trick, because he slid out into the crowd, and Parker was left standing alone at the edge of it. It helped, he thought as he watched the lights flash over the dancers out on the middle of the floor, to be tall. He could see things other people couldn’t. Like the really good- looking blonde dancing near the upper right corner, in fact. Parker grinned, and made his way through the tightly-packed bodies to her little portion of the dancefloor.

Up close, it still looked like she didn’t have anyone in particular to dance with, though he could see that there were several guys orbiting her. All of them looked up at him with dismay when he slid up behind her. She turned.

“Hey,” Parker said, loud enough to be heard over the music, but exaggerating the word so she could see it on his lips just in case she couldn’t hear it.

Her eyes flicked up and down his body, and she smiled. “Hey!”

Score 1. Several of the other hopeful suitors were already slinking away. Parker stepped in closer and leaned down so that she would be able to hear him talk without him shouting.

“I’m Parker.”

“Tara.”

“You want to dance, Tara?”

She grinned at him, tossing her hair back from her face. The strands caught the shifting lights and for an instant she was haloed in rainbow colors. “Sure do.”

Parker gave the remaining guys a look that told them to get lost, and wrapped an arm around Tara, pulling her in close enough that he could feel the heat of her body pressed against his own. “What’re you here for?” he asked against her ear.

“Honestly?” She pulled back enough to look up at him, and he liked the way she smiled, like she had a secret that was too good not to share. Girls who wore a look like that always had something fun up their sleeves. “I’m here to get laid.”

Parker laughed. “No kidding? That’s what I’m doing here, too.”

“Looks like you came to the right girl, then.”

She danced up closer, rolling her body against his, and Parker let his fingers close around her hips to pull her in until there wasn’t enough space for air to slip between them. He wondered, briefly, where Jackson had gone off to, and decided he didn’t care. As awkward as it was probably going to be, they could always drop Jackson off at his apartment before Parker took Tara home to his if Jackson didn’t find someone to go home with himself.

The beat of the song shifted into something with a heavier bass, and Tara gave a little yelp of delight, grinning up at him. “I fucking love this song!”

Tara, Parker discovered, loved a lot of songs. Not that he was complaining. She danced to them like she was getting paid to do it, writhing up against him in a way that he was pretty sure shouldn't actually have been allowed in a public space.

Halfway through a song that Tara was especially enthusiastic about, Parker spotted Jackson through the shifting crowd. He was dancing with a girl who might have been a redhead, although the shifting colors of the lights made it a little hard to tell. Parker gave him a thumbs up he probably didn't see. Maybe he wasn't going to have to worry about giving him a ride home after all. He could always take the subway in the morning. Or a cab.

Suddenly Tara did this thing with her hips that made him forget about Jackson entirely, and Parker growled low in his throat and pulled her up closer against him, nipping a mark into the curve where her shoulder met her neck.

Another song, and they slipped off the dancefloor together, headed for the bar. Tara was giggling, pressed up against his side like she wasn't quite sure she could stay upright on her own, although she'd managed it just fine up until now. He pushed the crowd aside to give her space, and hoisted her up onto one of the stools with his hands around her waist.

“You sure you're not too drunk, babe?”

She turned around in her seat and grinned at him. “Too drunk to go home with you? Definitely not. No way am I missing that chance. I'd regret it forever.”

Sober enough to make full sentences, then. Parker took the seat beside her. “I guess I'll just have to make sure that you have nothing to regret, then.”

Tara signaled the bartender, then turned to look at him again, laughing. “You had better.”

“Is that a challenge?”

She just grinned at him. What was it with blondes and challenges lately?

A tap on his shoulder alerted Parker to the presence of Jackson, who had at some point snuck up behind him. He turned enough to look down at his business partner, eyebrows lifted. “What's up, man? This is Tara.” He glanced from one to the other. “Tara. This is Jackson.”

That had been the wrong order, but he doubted they were going to care.

“Just wanted to let you know that I've got another ride,” Jackson said. He grinned at Parker. “So I won't be needing to take up your backseat, which I think is probably better for both of us.”

“Told you that you needed to get out, dude. Go. Have fun. Have a lot of sex. See you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Monday.”

Jackson laughed, and moved away. Parker watched as the redheaded girl wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned into his shoulder, but was a little shocked to see that she wasn't the only one he was going home with. There was definitely a second female leaning way too far into the redhead's space to be anything but part of that, and his eyebrows lifted. Good for Jackson. Seemed maybe he wasn't so uptight after all.

Parker grinned, and turned back to Tara.

“Well, your friend knows what he's doing.”

“He usually does.”

She sipped at her cocktail, and Parker ordered a glass of water to drink while she finished. It had been a while since the drinks, and he hadn't really been drunk in the first place, but better safe than sorry.

“You ready to get out of here?” he asked five minutes later.

Tara set down her empty glass. “Ready when you are.”

He took her hand and led her out of the club and into the bustling New York City night.

***

“Wow. I figured you were well-off when I saw the car. But you must be pretty loaded.”

Parker closed the door behind them as they stepped into his apartment. Tara went wandering around the edges of the rooms, her expression admiring.

“I'm comfortable.”

“Comfortably wealthy,” she answered without missing a beat.

Parker chuckled. “Yeah. Okay. Comfortably wealthy. Now come on, or aren't you interested in seeing the bedroom”?”

Tara gave him a slow smile, and hurried back to press up against his side as he moved toward the bedroom door. “I'm all about the bedroom.”

He flipped on the light as they stepped in, and then he wrapped his hands around Tara's waist and backed her up until her calves hit the edge of the mattress and she dropped back against it. She looked up at him with her short dress rucked up around her thighs, and flicked her tongue across her lower lip.

“Come on, then. What are you waiting for?”

She wasn't going to have to ask him twice.

Parker followed her up onto the bed, and pulled her shoes off, tossing them into the corner. She reached for the hem of his shirt.

“So,” he said, letting her pull it up and over his head. “Any requests?”

“Mmm. How about you come here?”

Tara reached up and curled a hand around the back of his neck, pulling him down toward her for a kiss that Parker was more than happy to give. He rolled to lay with his chest against hers, his weight braced on his side and one forearm. She arched up into him and opened to let him explore her mouth. When they pulled back, they were both breathing a little heavier.

Parker levered up onto the arm that was under him, and then sat upright so that he could pull Tara's dress over her head. She sat up to help him, then tossed it over the side. Underneath, she wasn't wearing a bra, and Parker found himself staring, just a little. He hadn't quite expected that. Tara grinned at him.

“What? Never seen a girl go commando before?”

He growled, and pressed his weight down on her again, tangling a hand in her hair to hold her in place for another kiss, her skin pressed warm and soft against his own.

They lay like that, passing kisses back and forth for a little while. Parker was hard, but he didn't bother drawing back yet, just rolled his hips against the curve of hers, knowing she could feel his length against her thigh.

One of his hands slid down, his fingers tracing the apex of her thighs where just a thin layer of fabric separated him from her sex. She moaned, and rocked up against him. She was wet already to the touch; suddenly the lazy kisses weren't enough.