When Life Happened by Jewel E. Ann
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Parker frowned at Rags as she opened the door. The front corner of the sofa cushion had become his favorite humping spot. “Nice, Rags. That’s probably a five-thousand-dollar sofa. We need to get you a stuffed animal from a carnival or something better suited for your needs.”
He ignored her.
“Levi?” She peeked into his office. He wasn’t there. She opened the door to their bedroom. “Damn,” she whispered.
Muscles. Sweat. And shorts low on his hips. Levi was on the floor pumping out pushup after pushup with wireless earbuds in his ears. Parker walked up behind him and teased her toe over his back.
He didn’t skip a beat. “I’m almost done,” he yelled louder than he needed to.
“Sweet Jesus …” She sucked in her lower lip, admiring rolling muscles shifting along his taut skin.
“What?”
She plucked his earbuds from his ears. “I just wondered if you needed a little more resistance.”
“Like what?” He breathed heavily.
“Me on your back.”
Levi stopped at the top in plank. “I’m sweaty, but get on.”
“I’m sweaty too.” She lay on his back, legs on his, arms around his torso.
“Count.”
“One.” She grinned, tightening her grip as he lowered his body. “Two. Am I hurting your back?”
Levi was a rock of muscle, but even rocks cracked under enough pressure.
“Count.”
“Five … sex …”
He paused at the top. “Sex? Did you say sex?”
“Six.”
“Sounded like sex.”
She bit her top lip and grimaced. “I may have … it’s just that this is kinda hot.”
He lowered, continuing with his reps. “Yeah?” His voice dripped confidence. Rightfully so.
“Is this what you meant when you said sex is your favorite workout?”
Levi grunted a chuckle. “Your body in that bikini pressed to my back is definitely sexy, but we’re not actually having sex, so it’s not exactly what I meant.”
Parker slid her hands from his stomach to his shorts and slipped her hand down the front.
Levi paused again at the top. “Parker …”
“Let’s sweat together,” she whispered, sliding her hand into his briefs and gripping his already hard cock, making slow strokes up and down.
“Fuuuccck …” he groaned as he pushed through five more while she stroked him. “Don’t say it,” he grunted, “unless you mean it.”
Sliding off his back, she giggled and scooted under him.
He paused at the top and grinned. “You’re such a tease.”
“A little.” Parker traced his abs with her finger. “Do you ever wonder what we’re doing? The rest of the world is making some grand contribution to society, and here we are just … hiding out like the rest of the world doesn’t exist.”
He lowered down, hovering over her lips. “Today is my favorite day. Don’t ruin it by suggesting other humans are inhabiting our world, expecting us to interact with them.” Levi brushed his lips against hers.
As she started to nip at them, he pushed back up. “You and your favorite days.”
He eased to his forearms, resting his lower body on hers. “We could go golfing? Would that count as a contribution to society? We pay, people make money. I’ll even try to get a speeding ticket on the way; that would count as a contribution to the local law enforcement. Lunch? Maybe we pick a new restaurant that’s trying to get up and going? I’ll leave a big tip. On the way home, we pick up any trash we see and dispose of it properly. We already save water by showering together. We really shouldn’t be that hard on ourselves. If you look at the big picture, we’re doing quite a bit.”
“Golfing?” She didn’t hear anything past golf.
“Yes. Why? Do you golf?”
“I’m familiar with the game. I don’t have clubs.”
“Again … we can buy some. Another contribution to society.”
“Okay. Let’s go golfing.”
“Great. I love golf.”
“More.” She ran her fingers through his hair.
“More what?” He ducked his head and dotted kisses along her jaw.
“More Levi stuff. Things about you I don’t know. Besides drawing, golf, and impeccable taste in casual shoes, what do you like?”
“You.” He trapped her bottom lip between his teeth.
“I’m serious.” She released his hair and grabbed his ears tugging them gently until he set her lip free.
“Lacrosse. Action movies. Anything that goes fast. Memoirs. Riddles. Puzzles. Technology podcasts. String cheese. Popcorn. Anything with hazelnuts. And vintage Matchbox cars.”
Parker closed her eyes as a soft girlish laugh bubbled from her chest. “More … keep going. You’re my favorite story.”
Levi chuckled. “Corn fields. Volleyball. Convenience store junk food. Chucks. Random acts of kindness. Cooking. Rebounding. Organizing. Stroking my cock … That’s all I’ve got. I need more Parker stuff.”
“What list was that?”
“Things Parker Cruse enjoys.”
“Corn fields? Really, Levi? You’re smarter than that kind of stereotyping. Now you sound like your idiot friend, Ziek. Just because I’m from Iowa doesn’t mean I’m an expert on corn fields, or that I like them.”
He scooted down her body, pressing his lips to her sternum. “Tell me something about young Parker. Like … what was your first official job?”
Her hands moved back to his hair, eyes drifting shut as his thumb slid under her bikini top and teased her nipple. “Levi …”
“Tell me.” He tipped his head up, resting his chin between her breasts, as his thumb continued to tease her.
“I don’t remember.”
“Bullshit.”
“Ouch!” She scowled as he held her nipple hostage between his thumb and finger.
He grinned, releasing her nipple and shoving her top to the side. His tongue made a slow stroke over it.
“Yesss … I … like your tongue on me.” Clenching his hair, she tried to push him lower.
“I’ll do anything you want with my tongue as soon as you tell me your first job.”
“Levi …” She squirmed beneath him. Thinking of his tongue between her legs, but not having it there was its own special torture.
Scooting down her body even more, he spread her legs wide.
Parker swallowed hard, lifting her hips off the floor in search of him. Levi brushed his nose along her inner thigh on one side and then the other. She tugged at his hair.
“Tell me,” he whispered, sliding the crotch of her bikini bottoms to the side. The warmth of his breath possessed its own touch against her sensitive flesh.
“God … Levi … yes … there …” Her heart pulsed in the back of her throat.
“What was the job, Parker?”
“Please.” The second his tongue touched her, she would explode.
“I want to taste you so badly, but you have to tell me.” He ran his tongue along her thigh stopping at the edge of her bikini bottoms.
“De - ta -s -ld co -r …” she mumbled, thrusting her hips off the ground.
Levi dodged her attempts to connect with his mouth, even with her hands on the verge of ripping out his hair. “I couldn’t understand you.”
“Detasseling.”
He blew air on her sex.
“Dammit, Levi!” Parker lifted her head off the floor.
He grinned. “Detasseling?” He wet his lips and his eyes shifted from her face to the apex of her legs.
She was seconds from an orgasm just from his proximity and the memories of his tongue on her. “Do you want me to beg?”
He shook his head. “Just tell me what you detasseled?”
“Corn! I detasseled corn! Now—Oh … my … god …” Her head fell back, mouth open, blurred vision from the world’s quickest orgasm. He finished strong with fervor and precision. A man dedicated to doing the job right.
After her hips collapsed back to the floor, Levi pressed a soft kiss to her clit and sat back on his knees between her legs with a puzzled look on his face.
“That was … fast.”
Draping her arm over her face, she groaned. “Please don’t talk about it. I’m … responsive, that’s all.”
“Like a hair trigger.”
“Shut up. You were touching me everywhere but … and then you kept breathing on me right … there.”
“I see. Well, can we back up a second? I’d like to discuss the corn detasseling. Specifically your ‘expert’ knowledge about it, my very responsive Iowa girl.”
Parker jackknifed to sitting, adjusting her bikini bottoms, then crisscrossed her legs. “The tassel is the top part of the corn—the male flower containing the pollen. When the wind blows, the pollen shakes loose, falling to the ear with the silk, the female flower, for pollination. But to ensure specific desirable qualities, seed companies and farmers work together to create hybrid corn. So machines detassel most of the corn, and then human crews go through to catch the tassels that didn’t get removed.”
Levi nodded. “They don’t want corn inbreeding.”
“Well, yes, sort of.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever met a corn detasseler.”
“Gus probably did.” Parker held her breath. She’d said his name out loud without crying for the first time since he died. It felt strange, and it hurt a little too.
“You think?”
She blinked a few times. What she had with Levi was so different than what she’d had with Gus. Levi gave her strength where Gus sucked the life out of her with promises that she never knew if he’d keep. She and Gus were almost real. But the man before her was the realest real that ever existed. Gus made a play for Parker’s heart, but Levi earned it, waited for it, nurtured it, and she trusted him with it more than she had with any other man.
“Yeah …” Parker pulled in a deep breath, gaining a little more strength. “His parents have land and live in the middle of farm country. I’d be shocked if he didn’t at some point during his teen years detassel for someone around there.”
“Do you like farms?”
She shrugged. “Kinda. I like having space, but in spite of what I’m sure you’ve come to conclude, I don’t love acres of corn and soybeans. I like trees, gardens, and a few animals. Maybe a meadow of wildflowers or lavender.”
“So you’re not into high-rises?” He rested his finger under her chin and tipped it up. “You can tell me.”
“You live in a beautiful condo. It’s huge and everything is one hundred times nicer than anything I’ve ever had. And the view is spectacular.”
“But?”
She returned a half smile. “But it sucks taking Rags outside all of the time. A doggy door is nicer. I think he misses chasing birds and squirrels. I miss grass. Where’s the grass? I like the smell of fresh-cut grass or the feel of the cool morning dew on the blades when I walk through it in bare feet. However…” she lifted onto her knees and wrapped her arms around his neck “…I love the freedom of not living so close to family watching my every move. I love the change in scenery—specifically all the cacti that look like erections—this should be called the prickly penis state.”
He chuckled.
“And I love the short walk to restaurants and shops. But mostly I love the man who has taken my heart hostage.”
“Not giving it back either.” He tugged one tie to her top and then the other.
“I don’t want it back,” she whispered over his lips. She closed her eyes and leaned in to kiss him.
He pulled back just an inch like he’d done earlier when she was so needy for him.
“Don’t tease me again, Levi.” Parker blinked open her eyes. The games were over. She saw nothing but love in his eyes. “Make love to me, Levi, but do it like—”
“Like you’re the last woman I’ll ever want for the rest of my life.”
Parker couldn’t breathe from the impact of his words. She was going to say “like we usually do,” but he had to step in and remind her one last time that after twenty-six years, her heart had found its rightful owner.
