Playing Dirty (Risky Business, #2)(22)

“Would you like one, too?” he asked, loosening his tie with one hand while he poured with the other.

My gaze was caught on his fingers as he tugged the silk and I had to shake myself back to awareness. Dragging my eyes up, I saw him looking at me, the tip of his mouth curving upward just slightly. As though he knew exactly what I’d been watching him do and the thoughts that had flitted through my head.

“If you’re offering me my own liquor, then yeah, I guess so,” I said, sounding more belligerent than I felt.

Parker didn’t reply, just retrieved another glass off the shelf and splashed some of the amber liquid into it. Carrying it, he walked to where I still stubbornly stood and handed it to me. I had to uncross my arms to take it.

“Wouldn’t Monique have a problem with you being here?” I asked, and yes, it was said in that bitchy tone that had most men looking for the nearest exit whenever they heard it.

“Why should I care?” he asked with a shrug, then clinked his glass against mine. “To a nice dinner with your parents,” he toasted.

I eyed him as I took a sip. “It wasn’t nice,” I said. “It was awful and uncomfortable, and I have you to thank for most of that.”

“It’s not my fault Ryker still acts like a teenager instead of a grown man whenever he sees me,” Parker replied coolly as he took another drink.

“Well, we’re together now,” I said. “So I’d appreciate it if you didn’t antagonize him.”

His expression went carefully blank at that, then he turned and walked to the windows. I didn’t have the kind of view Parker did at his apartment, but the city and the lights were still pretty.

“Are you in love with him?”

I stared at his back, sure I’d misheard.

“What?”

“I asked, are you in love with him,” Parker repeated.

“Again, none of your business.” In dire need of the liquor in light of where this conversation was heading, I tossed back the bourbon in one swallow. I coughed a bit as the liquid burned a fire down my throat, but not as much as someone who wasn’t used to it. Which probably said more about my alcohol consumption than I’d like.

“Are you in love with Monique?” I shot back. If he was going to get personal, then so would I.

“I’m not looking for love,” he replied. “And neither is she.”

I shouldn’t have been as glad to hear that as I was.

“I knew it was you, Saturday,” he said. “Right away. As soon as I saw you and Ryker on the boat.”

Well, that put that question to rest, but I didn’t know what to say in response. So he’d seen us. So what?

At last, I said, “I saw you and Monique. Does it matter?” I was tired and this conversation with Parker was going nowhere, not to mention I didn’t even know why we were having it in the first place. I dropped onto the couch and kicked off my heels.

Parker didn’t answer. He turned and watched me, his back to the window. His face was thrown into shadows, though his body was outlined against the backdrop of Chicago at night.

“I thought I could handle it, you and Ryker,” he said. “These past few months, God knows I’ve been trying. But seeing it like that … his hands on you … his mouth on you.” He paused and when he spoke again, it was a low rasp of sound. “I didn’t like it.” Swallowing the rest of his drink, he set the glass aside.

I stared at him in openmouthed shock. Hurt twisted in my gut, followed swiftly by anger, and I jumped to my feet.

“Tell me you did not just say that,” I snapped. “What exactly do you expect me to do with this information?”

Parker’s gaze was steady on mine. “I’m not expecting you to do anything. You’re dating Ryker.” He walked toward me, not stopping until only inches separated us and I had to tip my head back to look him in the eye. With my heels on, Parker topped me by a good three to four inches. Without them, he towered over me. “I just wanted you to know.”

“You were the one who said there was never going to be an us,” I said, poking him hard in the chest, which probably hurt me more than it hurt him, considering the layers of muscle beneath the expensive fabric of his shirt. “So the fact that you don’t like seeing me with Ryker only tells me that you may not want me, but you also don’t want anyone else—”

“I never said I didn’t want you,” he interrupted, his voice hard. “And trust me, I’ve been doing everything I can to get you out of my head, trying to convince myself things are better this way.”

“So what are you saying? That you’ve changed your mind?” God help me if he said yes …

But he didn’t answer. Instead, he moved past me toward the door, then stopped and turned back around.

“Ryker was in love with Natalie,” he said. “Christ, he was about to propose to her. What he didn’t know was that she was sleeping with me behind his back. I thought they’d broken it off. By that time, she’d already succeeded in pitting us at each other’s throats. I found out she was lying to me, and I confronted her.” He stopped, his lips pressing tightly together.

I waited, but he didn’t continue. “And then what?” I prompted.

He scrubbed a hand over his face and took a deep breath. “I told her she had to choose, him or me. She said if I made her do that, I’d lose both her and Ryker. I didn’t believe her, but I couldn’t seem to resist her either. Ryker walked in on us, and went crazy. He knocked me out and the next thing I knew, she was gone and they were pulling her car out of the river the next morning.”