Addicted to Mr Parks (The Parks Series #2)(92)

“Wade, you have a woman on your arm. This is rare.” The small, balding gentleman playfully punched Parks in the forearm, which gained him a scowl. The man was in his midthirties and had a ridiculous amount of bum fluff that rested just under his bottom lip.

“Evey.” I smiled when I introduced myself. He took my hand, ready to kiss my knuckles, but Parks gently pulled my hand away, leaving his lips pouting in midair.

“Stanley,” Parks warned the gentleman off stiffly, then pulled me in another direction.

“Why did you pull my hand away?” I hissed as he led me deeper into the marquee.

“I don’t want another man’s lips on your skin.”

“Serious?”

“Deadly.” And by the firm setting of his mouth, he was.

We couldn’t find Parks’s grandparents, but we had tons of others to get through. Parks showed me off and introduced me to many. I smiled, remained polite, and chatted because it was expected of me. That was until Parks introduced me to a French couple. The man was overly polite, even though he kept staring at my tits. But his wife was rude and obnoxious, trying to shun me out of the conversation so she could have Parks all to herself. I tapped my heel restlessly as they conversed in French, and when she moved to the side, almost knocking me out of the circle, I flipped.

“You know, it’s f*cking rude to flirt with a man that is holding another woman’s hand.”

“Excuse me?” she said in a French accent, her face all innocent. Parks squeezed my hand as a slight warning to calm down, but I ignored him.

“You heard me. I am Wade’s girlfriend, so if you don’t want to involve me in your conversation—which I quite frankly don’t want to be part of—then you can go find some other idiot to flash those fake eyelashes at.”


The woman turned to Parks, utterly speechless. “Are you going to allow her to speak to me this way?”

“Yes.” Parks nodded stiffly. He didn’t agree with my behaviour, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to back me up. Completely dumfounded, she gawped at him, mumbled something French under her breath, and turned on her heel to leave.

“What did she say?” I was raring to go after her, but Parks pulled me back and steered me away.

“Leave it, Princess.”

The night went well after that, but what wasn’t going well was the glances Parks would give me when the servers came around asking us if we’d like a drink. I didn’t need one, but he kept me in check, declining for me and looking at me accusingly. It was bugging me. I drank water and he drank watermelon, which seemed to only be served for him, and as we conversed, I could see Jasmine. You couldn’t miss the shade she was continuing to throw my way with her eyes alone. I wanted to march right over and ask her what the hell her problem was. I knew Parks was stalling our meeting, so I took it upon myself to make it happen.

“Shall we go say hi to Jasmine?”

“Soon,” he said before pressing his lips to my temple. My mind trailed off, pissed, but as I listened to him talk within a group of men about a new business venture, he proved to me how sexy and in his element he was. I hung on his every word, stared doe-eyed into his eyes, and watched his mouth curve sexily as he spoke. As soon as the other men began to talk, though, I got bored and glanced around the hall. It was then I saw a petite blonde making her way towards me. She was gorgeous in a long, gold dress with a train draped in feathers.

“Hi. I’m Nadia.” She air-kissed me once.

“Evey.” I nodded curiously, studying her intentions.

“I just have to ask—” she flapped her hand, “—are your boobs real? They are magnificent.”

Okay…that was weird. “Yep.” I smiled, giving them a quick glance. “Grew them all by myself.”

Nadia laughed and flicked her long hair behind her shoulder. “So you’re Wade’s new girlfriend? The media will have a ball when they know he’s finally attached.”

I couldn’t help my eye roll. “Really?”

“Oh yeah. I don’t think you realise how big he is, do you?” Her brow arched as did mine.

“Oh, I really do,” I hinted.

She chuckled, flopping a hand. “You know, I’ve been watching the two of you together. He looks at you the way we all want him to look at us.” She sighed but not maliciously. But it did make me backtrack for a second. Did he look at me in a way I didn’t see but others did? As usual, I didn’t entertain the complement.

“Why would you want him to look at you the way he looks at me?” The possessive streak came from nowhere, but I tamed it. A little.

“Are you serious?” Her sparkly, green eyes sprang wide. “We’ve all had dreams about Wade Parks becoming the one. My mother is Harriet’s best friend.” She peeked over her shoulder, so I followed her gaze and saw Harriet entertaining guests. “They tried to set us up for years, but he wasn’t interested.”

I became even more suspicious and didn’t cloak it. “Why are you telling me this?”

She laughed, the sound coming from the back of her throat. That could definitely get irritating. “Don’t worry. I’m not a woman scorned. Just saying.” She shrugged a bare shoulder. “You’re a lucky girl.”

Jasmine suddenly caught my eye as I glanced behind Nadia. She was chatting to a group of girls, showing off her brilliant white teeth as she laughed. Her long hair fell like black silk down her back, and her green eyes shone under the lights. She wore a stunning sleeveless, chiffon dress in canary yellow that had an incredible chapel train.