Brothers of Paradise Series

My eyes are still closed when he pulls away. “There,” he murmurs. “Not too little, not too much. We did it right this time.”

“Don’t Goldilocks this, Marchand.”

He chuckles hoarsely and then doesn’t make another sound, not as I reach up on my tiptoes and kiss him again. It’s intoxicating being this close to him.

And just like last time, he becomes a stranger under my lips. Familiar and yet novel, an entirely new landscape to explore. Parker and yet not Parker.

“Jamie,” he murmurs, his hands finding my waist beneath the towel.

My hands settle against his chest. His bare chest. He’s warm and hard under my hands, skin deceptively soft over the strong muscle beneath.

“Jamie,” he murmurs again, moving his lips to my ear. He laughs softly. “We’re in the middle of the boardwalk.”

“Oh,” I whisper against his chest.

“I don’t mind, but I have a feeling you might. You know how this town talks.”

“Yes.” I turn my head and peek past his shoulder. An SUV drives by us on Ocean Drive. “What do we do?”

He rubs a large hand up and down my arms, as if to warm me. It sends a shiver down my back. “We’ll go home,” he says, “and start our days, and do this again. When we’re alone.”

“I like that plan,” I say. My voice doesn’t sound like my own.

He smiles, small and crooked. “Come on, James. You’re getting cold, and I’m in danger of overheating.”

JAMIE

My feet feel light, carrying me into the yacht club. The familiar scent of food, of browned butter and clam chowder, greets me. I nod hello to Kylie and Sarah. I give Stephen a giant smile.

“Having a good morning?” he asks me.Property © NôvelDrama.Org.

I attach my name plate to my shirt. “More like a great weekend,” I say. Yesterday had been spent at sea. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been on a boat, and as the Frida cut through the waters outside Paradise, I decided it was a shame.

Emma had adored it.

She’d been shy around Lily and Hayden at first, but little Jamie had been like a rocket, zooming around, and she’d soon followed suit. Parker had been at Frida’s helm, a kid on either side of him, explaining things like speed, knots and steering. Both kids had been allowed to touch the steering wheel while Hayden looked on.

Lily had rolled her eyes at them. Let them entertain the kids, she’d said, sitting next to me. Her sunglasses had been pushed up on her head and she’d grinned at me. It’s so good to have you back.

Parker had said, once, out of earshot from the others, that he wished we were alone. I’d let my hand brush over his on the steering wheel in response.

The high of the weekend carries me through the lunch service at the yacht club. I wait tables with a smile, suggesting some of the new dishes off the menu. And while I catch sight of Parker a few times, he’s never standing still, moving from the back office out to the docks with Neil by his side. The sun glints off his hair when I catch sight of him through the windows.

I wonder why he’s back here, doing this. I wonder what his parents and his siblings think. And I wonder how many things I don’t know about him yet, the nuances, the histories, the questions I can now ask him. A thrill runs through me at the realization.

An opportunity presents itself after the lunch rush is over, and I duck into the back office unseen.

Parker is sitting at his computer, filling out expense reports. He looks up when I softly close the door behind me.

“Jamie?” he says, a smile spreading across his face. “Do you need anything?”

I close the distance between us. “Yes.”

Parker rises from his chair and catches me against him, finding my eager lips, and he kisses me like he’s waited all weekend for this, too.

My hands knot in the fabric of his linen shirt. The collar pops open and my fingers find the hair-roughened chest beneath.

“What’s this?” he murmurs, lips shifting over mine. “Sneaking off from work?”

“I wanted to surprise you.”

“Mmm. I like these kind of surprises.” His hands stroke down my body, finding a grip on my butt, and he deepens the kiss. It’s a soft touch of his tongue against my lower lip, and I open for him. He groans at the contact and pushes me more firmly against him.

I’m dizzy again, pleasurably so, like I’ve had too much to drink. I’m making out with Parker Marchand, I think. The thought is clear as fine crystal in my mind. I wonder what we look like. Do we fit together? Judging only by the way my body molds against his, it feels like the most natural of fits.

His hands tighten on my body. It’s delicious, being held like this. Like he doesn’t want to let go.

I didn’t know how much I craved it.

Parker is the one to finally break the kiss and rests his head on top of mine. “Jesus,” he mutters. “A very good surprise.”

I chuckle, and the breathless sound disappears against his neck. “It was time for a break.”

“I approve,” he says. One of his hands drifts up to my waist, as if he’s trying to behave himself, but the other stays put, like it can’t bear to leave.

I smile against his skin. “Whoops.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I love my sister and Hayden both, but…”

“I know.”

“I didn’t plan for them to join us on the Frida yesterday.”

I tilt my head back and meet his eyes. “You wanted Emma and me for yourself?”

His hands tighten, briefly and possessively, on my body. “Yeah.”

“I would have liked that too. But Lily is persistent.”

“She is.” His eyes darken, dropping to my lips again. “Now that you two have made up, will I have to share you with her? You don’t have much spare time as it is.”

“Didn’t your parents raise you both to share your toys?” I tease.

He snorts. “Yes. But you’re not a toy, and you’re far too great to share with anyone.”

“Well, you’ll have to learn to. Even if I don’t think…”

“You don’t think what?” he asks. Then, his eyes lighten. “Ah. You don’t want Lily to find out about us.”