The Seduction of Alex Parker(22)

“Right. I guess you could say that. Anyway, I don’t know how to break it to you, but you’re really uptight and way too proper.”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t take offense. You need to let loose a little and stop taking things so seriously. For example, like today in your office, I thought your head was going to explode when you found out about the stripper thing. I did it as a favor. Was I proud? No. But my friend needed me to do it because she’s a single mom and she has the most adorable little boy I’ve ever seen. She really tries to give him a good life and when I heard the manager at the club threaten to fire her, I had to do whatever I could to help. Would I ever do it again? No way. Those men are sex-starved losers who view women as nothing but f*ck toys.”

“Did you just say f*ck toys?”

“Yes. My point is, sometimes you just need to go with the flow. Another example would be how you can’t even make yourself a sandwich. You run a multi-billion-dollar company, yet you can’t put a piece of meat between two slices of bread.”

“Emerson, it’s not that I can’t make one. I just don’t want to. I have people to do that for me.”

“My point exactly. What gives you the right to order people around like that?”

“It’s how I was raised. We had all kinds of staff in the house that did things for us.”

“Of course you did because you’re a snob.”

The look on his face was getting angrier by the minute.

“I’m not saying this to piss you off. I’m just trying to make you see that you can’t control everyone and everything.”

“Yes I can,” he spoke, deadpan.

I sighed as I rolled my eyes. “I’m going to help you lighten up. It’s not like I have anything better to do.”

He glared at me, a glare so full of contempt that it was burning a hole through my soul.

“You think you can do that?”

“I know I can.” I bit down on my bottom lip.

“Okay, then. Good luck.” He turned and walked away.

“You wait and see. By the time I leave California, you’ll be a whole new man!” I yelled.

He walked back into the bedroom and cocked his head. “Let me ask you this. Why do you want to change me?”

“I don’t want to change you, Alex. I just want you to be more relaxed and appreciate the small things in life and not get so worked up over the little things.”

“Are you cooking dinner?” he asked.

“Are you helping?” I smiled.

He took in a deep breath. “Fine. But I don’t know how much help I’d actually be.”

****

Alex

We stepped into the kitchen and Emerson opened the refrigerator.

“Hmm. Well, it looks like we’re making a trip to the grocery store.”

“We’ll just order takeout,” I spoke. There was no way I was going to the grocery store.

“Nope. No takeout for you. Come on, Parker, let’s take a trip to the store.”

“Can’t. Phillip is off for the night.”

She raised her eyebrow at me. That right there drove me crazy. I found her incredibly sexy when she did that. She reached inside her purse, grabbed her car keys, and held them up with a smile.

“We don’t need Phillip.”

“Oh no. We aren’t taking Adam’s car.”

“Yes, we are. It’ll be fun. You can drive if you want.” She threw me the keys.

I handed her keys back to her. “We’ll take my car.”

“Your car? Since when do you have a car?” She frowned.

“I’ve always had a car. Let’s go and get this over with.” I sighed.

We walked into the grocery store, where Emerson led me to the vegetables.

“See all the pretty colors.” She smiled. “Food should be fun and colorful.”

At that moment, I caught myself staring at her as she inspected each pepper before putting it into the bag. I found myself smiling on the inside because as much as I hated grocery shopping, I didn’t mind it with her.

“Do you like salmon?” she asked as we approached the seafood counter.

“Yes.”

“Good, because I make a mean salmon. You’re going to love it.” She patted my chest.

“I’m sure I will.”

Her passion for cooking was undeniable, which led me to think about a few things. As we were on our way home, her phone rang.

“Hey, Adam,” she answered and put it on speaker.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Alex and I are just heading home from the grocery store.”

“What?”

“Did you not hear what I said?”

I let out a light laugh. That attitude of hers.

“Yeah. I heard you. But why?”

“Because I’m cooking dinner for us.”

“You better not be sleeping with him, Emerson,” he snarled.

She looked over at me and bit down on her lip.

“Okay, so you think because we went to the grocery store that we’re sleeping together?”

“Alex doesn’t go to the grocery store and the fact that he’s with you right now leads me to believe there’s something going on.”