The Seduction of Alex Parker(23)

“Listen, Adam. You sent me to live with him. He hired me to cook for him because his chef had to go to Florida to be with his sick mother. So if you think that grocery shopping with Alex equals sex, then you need therapy. Goodbye, Adam. Call me when you’re not going all Freud on me.”

She ended the call and I couldn’t help but laugh. “He sounded pissed.”

“Too bad. I’m tired of him thinking he can run my life. He’s not my father and I’m twenty-six years old. Just because he took care of me after the accident doesn’t give him the right. By the way, what did my brother do for you that you owed him a favor?”

I looked over at her for a second and then stared back at the road. “He helped me out with the IRS. Let’s just say he kept my ass out of jail.”





Chapter 17


Emerson

I awoke to the sun peeking through the curtains of the window, my body wrapped comfortably around Alex’s. I lay there and watched him sleep for a moment before he opened his eyes and looked at me.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning.”

“How long have you been awake?” he asked.

“Just a few minutes. I’m going to go cook some breakfast.”

As I began to climb out of bed, he reached for my hand. “I’ll help.”

“Really?” I turned to him with a smile.

“Why not? It wasn’t so bad helping you last night with dinner.”

“Then let’s do it, Parker.”

As we climbed out of bed, I slipped into an oversized pink t-shirt and we headed to the kitchen. After grabbing the eggs from the refrigerator, I took out a bowl and asked Alex to crack six eggs.

“Just crack the eggs into this bowl while I cut up the veggies.”

“What are we making?” he asked as he poured us each a cup of coffee.

“Vegetable quiche.”

As I started to cut up the vegetables, I noticed Alex was having a hard time with the eggs and his finger kept going in the bowl.

“Why are you sticking your finger in the bowl?” I asked.

“Because there’s shells in there.”

I rolled my eyes and silently laughed. “Don’t you know how to crack an egg without getting the shells everywhere?”

“Apparently, I don’t.” He chuckled.

I set the knife down and took the rest of the eggs, cracking them with one hand and letting them drop into the bowl.

“How the hell did you do that?”

“It’s all in the cracking skill, baby.” I smiled.

“Did you just call me ‘baby’?”

“Yeah. Don’t take it too seriously. It’s just part of the phrase.” I winked.

“Have you ever thought about running your own restaurant?”

“That would mean settling in one place,” I spoke as I sliced the onions.

“So. At least you’d be doing what you love.”

I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Why was everyone so hell bent on getting me to settle in one place? I changed the subject and finished making the quiche. When it was ready, Alex and I sat down and had breakfast together.

“This is delicious, Emerson. I think I might have to keep you as my personal chef.” He winked.

I ignored his comment and asked him to tell me about this charity event we were attending tonight.

“Tell me what this charity event is for.”

“It’s to help fund an art program for underprivileged kids. Kids who are either homeless, abused, or neglected.”

“Good cause.” I smiled.

Alex finished his breakfast and got up from the table.

“I’m going into the office for a while. I’ll be home later.”

“But it’s Saturday,” I spoke. “What happened to cutting back?”

“I cut back last night and I have a few things I want done before Monday.”

“You can’t do it at home?”

“No. The files I need are at the office. Are you going to miss me or something?” He smirked.

I frowned. “No. I have my own things to do today. Toodles, Mr. Parker.”

“Toodles? Really, Emerson? And what things do you have to do?”

“Just things. Girl things. You wouldn’t understand because you’re not a girl.”

“Okay, then. Go do your girl things and I’ll see you later.”

He walked out and I cleaned up the breakfast dishes. I couldn’t believe he asked me if I was going to miss him. Like, why would I? Just because we had sex didn’t mean anything. I had sex with a lot of guys. But it was amazing sex. The best sex I’d ever had in my life. He was a real man in that department. The other men I’d had sex with were boys in men’s bodies. They didn’t know how to do half the things Alex did and it really sucked that my body craved his touch way too often. It was going to be hard to leave sex with him behind when I left California.

****

Alex

When I arrived at the office, my phone rang. As I pulled it from my pocket, I sighed when I saw Adam’s name.

“Hey, Adam. How’s Tennessee?”

“Tennessee is fine. I’m going to be blunt here, Alex. Is something going on between you and Emerson?”