Just Fall (The Fall Series) Read online

  I was nursing a badly bruised ego, after an unexpected loss at my last tournament, and my appetite for sex was at an unprecedented high, even for me. The three of us had been going at it for hours, and it seemed even these two insatiable beauties couldn’t wear me out. I became painfully aware that things would need to get a lot more interesting for me to find my release tonight.

  Lexi’s high pitched screams were quickly followed by her hot cunt contracting wildly around me. I grabbed her hips and thrust faster as she screamed, begging me to fuck her harder before her body finally went rigid, and she collapsed against my chest. She barely recovered before Ashley was trying to claim her position, but I had something else in mind. I freed myself gently from the weight of their bodies, noticing the disappointed pout on Ashley’s face, and ordered her to kneel down in front of me and straddle Lexi’s face in a sixty-nine position-the ultimate visual stimulation. I watched over Ashley’s shoulder, fervently stroking my cock as they pleasured each other. When the licking and moaning reached a fever pitch, I slammed relentlessly into the hot waiting pussy in front of me, not slowing down until it milked the last drops of cum from my trembling body.

  Exhausted, I dropped onto the nearest pillow and collapsed, but oddly enough, sleep didn’t come as easily as I’d hoped. Instead my mind was racing, trying to understand why lately the sex wasn’t quite as fulfilling as it was in the past. I mean the women were hot as hell, and the pleasure was mind-blowing, but it seemed like something was missing, like each time I needed a little more to feel as good as I did the time before. Even after I was completely spent, I still wasn’t satisfied. It didn’t make sense, and if I let myself get too hung up on it, something like this could really fuck with my head.

  I told myself it was just temporary. Probably the result of letting that rookie whip my ass at the table last week, and I was already working hard to make sure that didn’t happen again. Thanks to modern technology, I spent the last two days studying the footage from the final tables. I learned his tells, and realized my own fatal mistakes. The next tournament would be in Vegas, my turf, and I would be ready for him.

  My eyes blinked open slowly, trying to adjust to the sunlight pouring through the windows overlooking the Vegas strip, and I could hear the faint sound of my phone ringing from somewhere in the room. Any other time it would take a lot more than a phone call to pry me from the arms of two lovely naked bodies like these, but I had a strange feeling this could be important, so I climbed carefully out of bed to find out.

  “Parker! You sound tired. I hope I didn’t wake you, dear. What time zone are you in?”

  I’d never felt dirtier than I did standing there, listening to the sound of Aunt Mary’s sweet voice as my eyes watched the scene taking place in the middle of my bed. I took one last peek at Lexi’s attempt to wake Ashley using only her tongue before I shut the door behind me and reluctantly walked into the other room. How could something be so wrong and so right at the same time?

  “Hi, Aunt Mary! What a surprise!” If she only knew. “You’re fine. I’m in Vegas for two weeks, so I’ve been up for a while now.” Nearly all night as a matter-of-fact.

  “Oh, good, well I’m glad you’re stateside. Uncle Tom and I want you to come north with us for the weekend to visit The Grandview Inn. Our chauffeur had to leave for a family emergency, and your uncle doesn’t like to drive that far alone anymore. I know this probably sounds silly. Surely, we could hire another driver temporarily, but you know, I couldn’t help but think of all the good memories we made at The Grand over the years. Oh, Parker, it would mean so much to us if you could come.”

  Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!

  Remember when I said my instincts told me to answer the phone? Until now I’d considered them finely tuned, sharpened even, from my experience at the poker table, but in this case they’d failed me miserably. I mean The Grandview Inn? Really? That was the last place on earth I wanted to go. Remember my cardinal rule? Yeah, well that’s where it all began.

  How can I get out of this? Think, think…

  “Listen, Aunt Mary, as much as I’d like to…” That was as far as I got. The woman had a way with words, and I had a hard time saying no to her. By the end of the conversation it was settled. I was going to Michigan.

  As I stood there naked, the phone still in my hand, I heard noises coming from my bedroom. I should be in the middle of that right now. Before that phone call I would’ve been, before my mind went back to The Grand and all the memories of her started flooding my brain.

  She was the first girl I ever loved. Hell, she was the only girl I ever loved. I could still picture her bright hazel eyes with ribbons of orange scattered through them. I’ve never seen eyes like hers before. They would glare at me with sexy determination over something I said or did, and sometimes I would do things on purpose just to see her look at me that way. She could always see right through me. She was beautiful, smart, funny and incredibly complicated. Wonder what she’s like now?

  I was eighteen the last time I saw her. If she only knew how she ruled my world back then, how many nights I spent lying awake thinking about her, or how many times I challenged her just to see her fiery spirit come to life. Not to mention how many hours I spent with dirty magazines trying to relieve my pent up and painfully unfulfilled desire for her.

  But like I said, I was only eighteen. I didn’t know how to deal with what she did to me. So instead I provoked her, teased her and tormented her until she pretty much hated my guts. It was my defense mechanism, my survival instinct I guess you could say. Not the best strategy I’ll admit, but the only one I could think of at the time.

  Sometimes it was worth it. I mean, seeing her so frustrated, so confident. Fuck! It was a turn-on. She would get this look on her face, and I didn’t know whether she wanted to punch me or rip my clothes off and fulfill all my secret fantasies, and I was willing to take either. Anything to put me out of my misery. I’ve never met another woman like her. She stood up to me, challenged me right back, and sometimes she won. Other times I let her win.

  Like the time I bet I could swim to shore faster than her. We dove off the boat at the same time, and when I surfaced her bikini top was floating on the water. She was so determined to beat me she didn’t even notice she’d lost it.

  That’s when I got the brilliant idea to let her get ahead. I’ll never forget the sight of her standing on the beach with her hands on her hips waiting for me. Her chest was heaving with every breath. Strands of her long blonde hair stuck to her face and dripped down her tan body. Her nipples were fully extended from the cold water and adrenaline. She had me so worked up I had to stay in the water for an hour waiting for my hard-on to go down.

  Seven years later the thought of her had the same effect on me, but only now it was mixed with regret. Everything changed that summer her mom got sick, and I decided I would never see her again. Maybe I was a coward, or I was just too young and immature to realize what she meant to me, but knowing that her mom was dying, knowing there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to save her from the pain, was more than I could take. So instead of facing her, I didn’t go to Michigan. In fact, I never went back, and I convinced myself she was better off without me.

  The regret still gets to me from time to time, but until now I’d managed to block it out, justify it even, and my lifestyle made it easy, but facing her meant facing my biggest fear, the one thing that could take a man down in one fatal blow. The “L” word. You see, my childhood left no doubt that there was no such thing as happily ever after. Well, maybe in some rare instances like Uncle Tom and Aunt Mary, but they were one in a million. I realized at a very young age that there was a difference between love and sex, and I when I got older I decided I could easily have one without the other. This imaginary yet very real line I drew was my safety zone, and I stayed well within the boundaries. I occupied myself with things that were fast and furious like gambling, travel, women, and cars. I had no complaints, especially when it came to women. They wer
e in endless supply, and my bed was never empty unless I was focused on a tournament.

  And the sex. My intense need for sex concerned me at times. Could I ever be monogamous? Would I be satisfied? My sexual appetite was unconventional at best and not just in frequency. I craved the variety that seemed to accompany my lifestyle, so I decided a long time ago that I was better off alone, and nothing’s going to change that, not even Lauren St. John. I’m overanalyzing I know, but much like poker, there were too many unknown variables in this equation, and I had to be careful.

  One thing’s for sure, every woman I’ve been with only confirmed what I already knew from the moment I met her. She was the real deal. The total package. She didn’t care about my looks, my last name or even my money. She wouldn’t take my shit or anyone else’s. It was hard to believe that in just two short days I would see her again. It scared the hell out of me.

  Maybe she was happily married to Mr. Safe and Responsible. Hell, maybe she even had a couple kids by now. But what if she wasn’t? Would it even matter?

  The best I could hope for was that she’d forgive and forget. And maybe, just maybe, she’d want to go a few rounds in bed to make up for old times. Fuck! Just thinking about giving Lo a little tour of my world had my cock raging. Would she give me a run for my money or just run away disgusted? I was about to find out, and either way I knew I was in for one hell of a ride. But for now she was 2000 miles away, and I had two hot women right in the other room who were more than happy to share…

  Three

  OPPOSITES COLLIDE

  My body was still trembling when I reached the safety of my suite. I slammed the door and immediately began pacing like a caged animal. What was he doing here? And what the hell just happened out there?

  The Parker Blackwell I remembered was the most annoying, frustrating, immature boy I’d ever met, and he always, I mean always had to win. He challenged me at everything, and my entire summers were spent competing with him.

  I grabbed my phone and tried to call my best friend, Nina. She knew our history, and she was the only person who would understand what I was going through right now. Straight to voicemail. Shit!

  This may seem like an outrageous reaction coming from a twenty-four-year-old woman, but if you only knew the torture I endured you would understand. He got under my skin in every way, and although I never admitted it to anyone, I secretly loved him and hated him all at the same time. He was exhausting, sexy and maddening, and I daydreamed about him constantly. He was the reason I practiced kissing my pillow at night, and in the spring I would count the days until he arrived to begin our confusing and frustrating game all over again. Sometimes I thought that he might like me, too. I often caught him staring at me, and that time we kissed he made an attempt at second base, but I never really knew for sure. Everything was just a game to Parker.

  I still couldn’t believe he was here. He was all grown up now and very easy on the eyes, very, very easy, I might add. Even so, I had a feeling that underneath all that sexy swagger he was the same competitive annoying asshole. I couldn’t imagine him any other way.

  And if that wasn’t bad enough, the last time I saw him was the summer my mom found out she had breast cancer. Talk about bad memories. When he didn’t return the following year I had a ton of mixed emotions that I couldn’t explain. I decided I hated him, and convinced myself I was relieved. As much as I wanted to, I never even asked Sarah where he was.

  Now you know where he is, Lo! He’s downstairs on your patio looking like a fucking model off the cover of GQ. He’s sitting right down there with his fuck-me hair, sculpted body and that smile that could charm the pants off Mother Theresa. That’s where he is!

  It didn’t matter that we were all grown up now. The sight of him still had me torn between wanting to kiss him and wanting to punch him in the face.

  I tried dialing again. Where the hell was Nina? She was the only one who could talk me through this. I threw the phone on the bed in frustration at the sound of her voicemail message again.

  Panicking, I started to think of a million excuses to avoid seeing him again, each one sounding more ridiculous than the last. After carefully considering everything from a sudden illness to an unforeseen emergency, I realized I had to face him. As much as I wanted to avoid Parker, I missed Mary and Tom, and I looked forward to catching up on all the latest news about Sarah and her new husband. Were they planning to have children soon? Did they find a house yet?

  Besides, things were different now. I’m not the same seventeen-year-old girl Parker knew. I had bigger things to worry about now, like how the hell to keep The Grand rockin’ like it was tonight, not to mention how to keep Evelyn, my wicked stepmother, from calling to ask why her quarterly profit checks were getting smaller. Ever since my dad died, Evelyn has been my silent partner in The Grand. Lately she hasn’t been so silent, and I wanted nothing more than to get her off my back.

  I showered in record time, applied some makeup and unpinned my hair letting the blonde waves fall loosely down my back. As I walked to the closet I knew just what I would wear. The strapless coral sundress that showcased the girls nicely was calling my name along with the silver choker that clung tightly to my neck and my dangly silver earrings. Perfect!

  I took one last look at myself and checked my phone for calls from Nina as I slipped into my strappy sandals in front of the mirror. Do you still want to challenge me Mr. Blackwell? Well bring it on! This girl is all grown up now and won’t waste one more second on the likes of you!

  I decided to take the elevator down to the ground floor so I could stop at the bar and check in with Steve. Parker would be expecting me to come back down the stairs, but that my friends would be his first mistake. The element of surprise would give me the advantage.

  Back in the tavern I observed Steve working his magic behind the bar. He was entertaining a group of rowdy ladies, who seemed quite happy to wait as he expertly mixed their Cosmos while keeping them flirting and laughing at the same time. I laughed to myself and shook my head when he looked up and nodded at me as if to say “all is well”. Then I stopped a waitress to order a round before heading outside. If I remembered correctly Tom was a whiskey guy, and Mary liked her Merlot and as for Parker… After a minute I knew just what to order.

  Happy with my thoughtful gesture, I walked smugly toward the patio door, and halted abruptly in my tracks at the scene taking place just outside. Parker was talking to a sexy little blonde. She was so close her D cups were practically under his nose. Some things never change!

  As I stood there angrily watching the scene unfold, I quickly realized it wasn’t him making the advances. Blondie was practically throwing herself at his feet, and by the look on Mary’s face, she wasn’t impressed. Then Blondie swept her platinum locks over her shoulder exposing the swell of her breasts, and a sexy dimpled grin spread slowly across Parker’s face as he took the pen from her hand and wrote something there. What the hell is going on?

  I had to pause for just a moment. The whole thing caught me off guard, and I wasn’t sure what I was feeling. Yeah, I was angry, but why? I had to admit that seeing Parker touch the breast of the blonde bombshell made me angry, and I knew what that implied, but there’s no possible way that I was jealous. I convinced myself that disgusted was the right word. Yeah, disgusted, and I didn’t know it then, but things were about to get a whole lot worse.

  I approached the table just as Blondie made her exit in the opposite direction. For a moment I wished I knew her name so I could have her barred for the weekend just to save her from the infamous Parker Blackwell. But who was I kidding? Looking around I could easily count at least three more willing victims just waiting for the opportunity to make their way over here to meet Prince Charming. It was futile.

  Mary’s face lit up when she noticed me. “Sit down, Lo. I want to tell you all about Sarah’s new job.”

  Realizing I would be placed next to Parker, I hesitated, and right on cue he stood and pulled out my chair. Nic
e touch, but I see right through your show of kindness, right to your devious little black heart.

  I smiled sweetly looking him square in the eyes, and for an instant he was so close, too close. Alarm bells sounded in my head. Retreat! Something dark flashed in his deep green eyes, and before I could process the multitude of sensations this invoked, I was drawn in by his smell, his very presence. My heart leapt in my chest and fluttery winged things swirled in my belly. My God he was pure man! Pure. Man.

  I quickly sat down, anxious to feel the stability of the sturdy chair beneath me. That brief face-to-face encounter shook me to the core. For a moment I had forgotten everything, forgotten where I was even, and when I saw the way Mary was studying me I realized I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Was it that obvious?

  I tried to recover, “I ordered us a round. It should be here in a minute, and for the rest of the night drinks are on the house.”

  “Well, thank you Lo. You didn’t have to do that.” Tom was beaming.

  Just then Tara, our waitress, arrived. “Merlot for the lady, a Grey Goose martini for you Lauren, Bushmills for you sir, and for you Mr. Blackwell, two double shots of Southern Comfort.”

  I had to stifle a laugh as Parker looked first at Tara and then at me. His eyes narrowed a little and his lips pressed together in a thin line before I saw the little hamster come to life making the wheels turn. Gotcha!

  “Parker, I never knew you liked Southern Comfort,” Tom observed.

  “Oh yes,” I interjected quickly, “If I remember correctly Parker loves the stuff. To old times,” I smirked as I looked at Parker and held up my glass.