When Life Happened by Jewel E. Ann

Chapter Sixteen

With Gus nowhere in sight and Sabrina needing a favor, Parker jumped at the opportunity to make herself scarce.

After grabbing a cupful of his food from the mudroom, she slipped off her heels and walked through the cool grass to her property. “Rags!” She locked the fence gate and whistled for him to follow her to her house.

“Are you hungry?” She shut the door and grabbed a bowl from her kitchen.

His whole backside shook with excitement.

“I’m starving.”

“Shit! Gus … where … how long have you been here?”

He chuckled. “I followed you and Rags inside. How did you not hear me behind you?”

She shook her head. “I’m just a little … out of it.”

“Where are my Jello shots?”

Her eyes narrowed. “In my fridge. You really think it’s a good idea to take them to the party now?”

He locked the door behind him.

“W-what are you doing?”

“I thought we could have our own party. The kind where no one else is allowed in.”

“Nope. Not a good idea. I already RSVP’d to the Westmans’ party and dessert will be served soon, so … no way. No side parties. Unlock the door.”

Gus stepped closer.

“Besides, you ate. I didn’t. And I’m hungry. So I should get back before all the food is gone.”

“The food is shit.” He backed her into the counter and set a mysterious brown bag behind her.

Parker couldn’t breathe, and like Gus she was sober and feeling everything.

“Don’t leave your wife for me,” she said so fast, six words sounded like one.

Even with the knowledge of Sabrina’s likely affair, she didn’t want to be anyone’s mistress or a homewrecker. She didn’t want to be with a cheater.

Gus flipped his cap backward and ducked down, kissing her neck while brushing her hair over her shoulder. “I’m divorcing my wife.”

Parker hated how her body betrayed her mind. “Not for—”

“For me, Parker. Only me.” He trapped her earlobe between his teeth as his hands gripped her hips for leverage, pressing his body to hers.

Her head fell back, eyes closed, as he dotted kisses along her jaw. She grabbed his biceps for support. “This is … wrong,” she whispered as his lips hovered over hers.

“It’s not wrong anymore. It just is.” He kissed her hard, and she moaned into his mouth as their tongues tasted each other.

When his hands slid up her waist and cupped her breasts, part of her died of guilt while part of her came to life as she felt wanted, desired, and filled with hope for something of her very own.

She thought of the condoms and let him unzip the back of her dress—sin loved a good excuse.

“I-I don’t…” her words came ragged and breathless as he worked his mouth back down her neck “…think we … can do this.”

Gus’s lips, pressed against her skin, curled into a smile. “I disagree. I’m feeling very capable of this.”

Her dress dropped to her ankles. The brush of his teeth against her bare nipples shot waves of prickly chills along her skin.

“Gus …” She thought of the condoms as her eyelids grew heavy, and she arched her back as his hands held her breasts, thumbs ghosting over her nipples—sin loved justification.

Their affair started weeks before that moment. Would sex make it any worse? Hell was Hell. She could only be sent there for eternity once.

Releasing her breasts, he tossed his cap on the counter and clenched the hem of his shirt, removing it in one quick motion. So much for old man love handles and a beer belly. Gus had sexy muscles and a slender waist. Parker had seen it more than once, but each time it amazed her. There was no way Sabrina’s possible affair had anything to do with her husband letting himself go.

It took her a few seconds to realize they were both staring at each other’s naked chests.

He smiled. She smiled but hers faded a bit, and she covered her breasts with her hands.

“Uh … what’s in the bag?”

“Parker …” He kissed her hard again. She released her breasts and threaded her hands through his hair. His hands began to unfasten his navy cargo shorts, exposing the hard bulge barely contained by his briefs.

“N-no …” She broke their kiss. “Not sex.”

Gus’s hands gripped the counter on either side of her as his forehead rested against hers. “Jesus, Parker … o-okay.” His ragged breaths washed over her face. He nodded against her. “No sex.”

“No sex.” Her voice quivered as her hands clawed at his back. Those words were the only part of her that maintained control, which would have been great had they been in the middle of phone sex.

When Gus’s hands slid under her ass, she sucked in a sharp breath. She wrapped her legs around him as he rested her butt on the counter and cradled the back of her head keeping it from hitting the cabinet.

Pressed to her lips, he moved his mouth with hers and rocked his pelvis into her. His erection rubbed against her clit. Two thin layers of cotton kept them from having sex.

“St-stop ….” she murmured over his lips. Again, her hands clawed him closer. A complete mind-body disconnect.

Condoms. Sabrina had condoms in her travel bag.

“I will…” he said in a husky voice as he rocked into her again “…if you will.” His hand made a firm claim to her breast.

Her arms and legs pulled him closer as her heels dug into his backside—every move greedy and mindless. Gus released the back of her head and slipped his hand under her bottom so he could thrust harder against her, each vying for more friction.

“I’m going to … stop …” She dropped her head to his shoulder and her teeth dug into his firm flesh.

He growled as she bit harder, returning the favor as he sucked the sensitive skin along her neck, rocking their bodies together over and over. “Me … too.” His fingers gripped her ass tighter.

“Ar-are … you … stopping?” Every muscle in her body contracted.

They kissed with more passion than she thought possible in a million lifetimes.

“Mmm-hmm …” He moaned between them.

Parker’s eyes closed to a galaxy of stars. Waves of euphoria rippled along her body settling between her legs in a hard, heavy pulse. She bit her lips together to keep from crying out.

Gus’s hand slammed against the cabinet behind her as his hips jerked into her one last time. “Fuccckk!”

After a few moments of idleness and labored breathing, Parker feathered her hands down his back, inch by inch, as they continued to cling to each other. She let herself have a timeout from the guilt as she imagined a life where she could feel the contours of his body close to hers every day.

Gus ghosted his fingertips along her bare legs, leaving a wake of goose bumps behind them. Slowly, they pulled back just enough to look at each other.

He smiled.

She smiled.

At the same time, they looked down between them at her drenched panties wadded and shoved to the side, exposing part of her soft, pink flesh. A large dark spot stained his gray briefs as well as a wet streak above his waistband that had failed to keep it all contained.

“Why is this sexy as fuck?” Gus asked.

Parker giggled. “My mom would be having a mini vomit about now.”

He chuckled as their gazes met again.

“Thanks for stopping.” She rolled her lips together, but it didn’t completely hide her grin.

“It was the gentlemanly thing to do.”

She let out a toothy smile. It didn’t stand a chance against Gus Westman.

“Best smile in the world.” He kissed her—a quick peck at first, but their lips felt like two magnets with an attraction too strong to resist.

With the same effect as throwing another log on the fire, a new flame flared between them. An insatiable hunger.

Gus fisted her hair with one hand while his other hand slid between her legs for the first time. They may have gotten off on each other like two young teenagers, but they both craved so much more.

He teased her hypersensitive flesh with the pad of his finger, dragging his mouth to her ear as she began to pant. “I want to put my mouth where my finger is, Parker.”

Rags scratched at the door. They ignored him. Parker was well on her way to a second orgasm. He scratched again and barked too.

“Rags …” Gus groaned.

Parker pressed her hand flat against his chest. “Let him out.”

Gus cupped the back of her neck. “When I walk away, you’re going to jump down and put your dress back on, aren’t you?”

Rags barked again.

Amusement ghosted across her swollen lips as she released him.

He stepped back but didn’t fasten his shorts as he walked to the door. “Dog … you have the worst timing.” Rags ran out and barked a few more times.

“He’s telling everyone at the party what we did.” Parker’s nose wrinkled as she pulled on her dress.

Gus frowned, watching his prediction come true. He fastened his pants and grabbed his T-shirt off the floor. “I don’t regret it … unless you do.”

“Well, I’m not exactly proud of it.” She zipped her dress and fixed her mussed hair. “My boyfriend cheated on me with my sister. I sabotaged her wedding day—”

“You what?”

Parker shook him off. “It’s a long story.” She grabbed the tray of Jello shots from the fridge. “The point is I should be the last person in the world willing to have an affair with a married man.” Tipping the plastic cup to her mouth, she took a cherry-vodka shot. “It’s like the worst case of karma ever. And if I say I don’t regret it, then it’s implied I’m not ashamed of it, but I am.” She took another shot. “Yet I let it happen. I wanted it to happen. But there’s no way in hell I’d tell any of my family or friends about us.”

“You made these for me.” Gus grabbed her wrist as she brought the third cup to her mouth. He redirected it to his mouth. “Mmm … cherry.”

“Is there any other kind?” She grinned.

He cupped the back of her head and pressed his lips to her forehead. A tender gesture that came at the exact moment she needed it most. She fought back the tears because Gus felt like home, but he wasn’t her home, and he wasn’t the guy she could brag about to her friends, or invite to dinner with her parents.

“I won’t drag this out. Just promise you’ll wait for me … preferably without letting Dr. Good Feet in your bed.”

She blinked back her emotions and pushed away, quickly downing another shot. “I can’t wait for a married man. That’s the most pathetic thing ever. It ranks up there with turning down scholarships to play your favorite sport to follow some guy to his college of choice.”

Gus double-fisted the shots and took them one right after the other. “I can’t get a divorce overnight. But I’ll pack a bag and leave tonight. I’ll stay with my parents or at a hotel if it makes you more comfortable.”

“I don’t care where you sleep. It’s none of my business.”

He grabbed her arms and pulled her to him. “What if I want to be your business?”

“This isn’t love, Gus. Not yet,” she whispered.

“Love is stupid. So I don’t care if it’s love. You’re the best part of every damn day. You’re sunshine, and laughter, and the fucking oxygen in my lungs. If this life is a game, you make me want to play it forever, be damned who wins or loses.”

Narrowing her eyes, she twisted her lips. “Hmm … compelling speech, but I don’t buy it. You already gave me the speech on desire. We look like hell and smell like sex right now because of desire, not oxygen to your lungs. You’re going to have to show me something more than an erection for me to believe I’m your sunshine.”

He released her and turned her toward the counter. “Look in the sack, Sunshine.”

She grabbed the brown bag and looked inside. “Mr. Westman—”

“I’m not your teacher.”

“Too bad. I’ve always had fantasies about sex with someone of authority.” She reached her hand in the bag.

“What subject do you want me to teach you?” He stepped closer like an animal on the prowl.

Parker giggled, pulling a sprinkled donut out of the sack. She took a bite then offered him one.

He shook his head. “You should eat the slice of pizza first before it gets any colder.”

“My mom would not approve of you feeding my secret addiction, but I find it sweet.”

“I thought I was your secret addiction.”

Rags barked at the back door.

“I think Rags likes me more than you.” Parker took another bite of the donut.

Gus let him inside, shaking his head as Rags ran past him straight to her. She grabbed the slice of pizza out of the bag and tossed Rags a piece of sausage.

“You feed him food scraps and turkey jerky, of course he likes you.”

Her smile evaporated slowly as she set the rest of the pizza and donut on the counter, wiping her hands on a towel. “You’re going to break my heart. I can feel it.” Tears stung her eyes. “One month.” She blinked back her emotions. “I let you ruin me in one month.”

Gus tipped her chin up with his finger under it. “I won’t break your heart. But you’re breaking mine by saying I’ve ruined you.”

With one blink, a lone tear trailed down her cheek. “I thought I was a good person,” she whispered.

Offering a sad smile, Gus softly kissed her lips and then her wet cheek. “You’re the best person. I’m going to prove it to you. I promise.” The sincerity in his voice comforted her, but it was easy to feel a false sense of security when it was the two of them in their little bubble.

“If I asked you to, would you go announce to everyone at the party that you just dry humped your wife’s assistant?”

“Yes.” He gave her a resolute nod. “And I’m pretty sure there was nothing ‘dry’ about what we just did.”

A tingling swept up the back of her neck as her face felt impossibly hot. She thought of all the panty changes she’d attributed to him.

“So …” He took a step back and jabbed his thumb over his shoulder. “I’ll go announce our recent physical encounter.”

“No!” Parker lunged for him and fisted his shirt. “I just wanted to know if you would.”

He chuckled. “I’m yours.”

She shook her head, feeling an ache in the back of her throat and a sluggish heartbeat beneath her weighted chest. “You’re not, and that’s what I’m afraid of.”

“I’m. Yours.” He cradled her head and pressed his forehead to hers.

“It’s only been a month. This is crazy.”

“I happen to love crazy.” He kissed her, and she gripped his arms, feeling weak in the knees.

She pulled back. “Don’t say that word.”

“More words … okay, Ms. Cruse, what word am I not allowed to say now?”

Parker cleared her throat and gave him a tight smile. “The L word.”

“Love?” He laughed.

She nodded, nose wrinkled.

“I said I loved crazy. I didn’t say I loved you.”

“But it felt close.”

“Close?” Gus nodded thoughtfully. “I see. Like I love your hair after my hands have thoroughly messed it up?”

Parker felt heart palpitations as he threaded his hands through her hair, tugging it in different directions until he had her chin tipped up, neck exposed.

He kissed his way from her ear to her collarbone. “Or the way I love how your skin feels against my lips?”

She released a breath with a whisper of a moan.

“Or the way I love how you whimper under my touch?” His hands ghosted down her arms eliciting a full-body shiver.

“Gus …”

“Don’t say my name like that, Parker.” He lowered to his knees, kissing her body over her dress as his hands skimmed up her bare legs. “I love it so much it makes me want to do very dirty things to you.”

“God …” Her head dropped, chin to her chest as she stared at him with glazed-over eyes.

He looked up with a sly grin as he pulled down her panties. His fingers ghosted up her legs again, pushing up her dress.

“Gus …” Her weak voice broke his name into fragmented syllables as her eyes drifted shut, hands fisting his hair.

He kissed the inside of one thigh and then the other. “If I can’t love you, then I’m just going to love everything about you. And I’m positive I’m going to love how you taste.” He kissed her, tasted her.

Sabrina had condoms in her toiletry bag. She didn’t deserve Gus. Parker wasn’t sure she did either, but she wanted him. What would her family think of her wanting something that was not hers to have?

Cheater.

Sinner.

Hypocrite.

Worst. Person. Ever.