Vulnerable Pieces (Cape Isle, #4): A Cape Isle Novel Read online

  “What are you staring at?”

  I glance over at Lexie. “Nothing. Just thinking.”

  She snorts and shakes her head. “I don’t believe you.” She turns and starts scanning the street in front of the shop.

  I look too and watch as Parker disappears around the corner.

  She gives up after a few seconds and sighs. “Whatever. I can’t figure it out.”

  I smirk before going back to the display case. “I told you it was nothing.”

  “Uh-huh. Are you still coming to Summer’s house on Friday?”

  “Yep. I’ll be there.”

  She squeals and tries to hug me, and I quickly back out of her reach. “God, you are so weird. Stop it.”

  “You love me and one day you will let me hug you.”

  I laugh and pick up the tray, before making my way back to the kitchen. “Nope,” I say over my shoulder.

  I will never admit to Lexie, but she is my best friend. I didn’t have a lot of friends growing up and I was never a girly-girl, much to my mother’s dismay. Even though Lexie drives me absolutely insane most of the time, she is one of the kindest souls I have ever met. If I ever told her that, it would probably just go to her head. Besides, I like to remain a little mysterious to these people. They don’t know who my parents are and here in Cape Isle; I can live a normal life. I like it and I’m scared everyone would look at me differently if they found out about my life before now.

  With a sigh, I get back to stirring my batter. I am so not looking forward to this dinner party.

  Chapter Two

  Parker

  I PULL IN FRONT OF Grant and Summer’s house and cut my truck off. I’m a little late and the road is already packed with cars. Even on a Friday night, I never leave the office before eight o’clock, but for some reason Grant practically begged me to come over tonight. I cut the engine on my truck, grab the bottle of wine I bought and hop out of the driver’s seat, making my way up the driveway before knocking on the front door.

  “Hey, bro,” Grant says, as he opens the door.

  “Goddamn, you look ridiculously happy,” I grumble as motions for me to come inside.

  He laughs and leads us towards the kitchen where everyone is gathering. “What’s wrong with being happy?”

  I don’t answer him, as I walk over to his wife and kiss her on the cheek. “Hey, gorgeous,” I say as I greet Summer.

  She blushes, like usual, and takes the wine from me.

  “Don’t put your lips on my wife,” Grant growls, as he loops his arm around her waist and pulls her close to him.

  Laughing, I hold my hands up in the air in surrender. I love riling my big brother up. I survey the kitchen to see who is here. There is people everywhere and some are spilling out onto the back deck.

  “Why the big party?”

  “Can we not just have our friends together for dinner?” Grant asks innocently, but when I look at Summer she is smiling widely. They are up to something.

  “Uh-huh, sure. Where is Ellie?” I haven’t seen my little sister in what seems like forever.

  Grant frowns and shakes his head. “She had to work and couldn’t make it.”

  I make a mental note to call and check on her later. She works way too much. “I’m going to make my rounds.”

  I walk over to the self-serving bar to pour myself a drink. I need a strong whiskey to erase this week. It’s always been my dream to open my own law practice, but shit, it’s a lot of work and stress.

  I see Lexie and her boyfriend Zack standing in the corner talking to Nick and his girlfriend, Katie, and I make my way over to them. I’ve always kind of felt like an outsider looking in with this group. They are all a few years older than me and I’ve been away at school for so long that I haven’t really hung out with them in a while.

  “Hey, Parker.” Lexie smiles in greeting and hugs me around the waist.

  “Hey, Lex.” I give her a squeeze in return before releasing her and shaking the guys’ hands. I give a nod and a smile to Katie.

  “How’s work?” Nick asks.

  I nod my head again and take a drink before responding. “Busy as hell.”

  “I bet.”

  “How’s the mob business?” Lexie asks.

  I laugh, thinking it’s hilarious that she thinks that I’m in the mob. She came to see me when she had to get a restraining order on her asshole of an ex, and I will never forget the look on her face when she saw my office. I’ll never tell anyone how I came into my money—that’s my business—but I do like fucking with her a little bit.

  “No hits taken out today, so I would say it was a good day.”

  She tilts her head to the side. “I can’t even tell if you’re joking.”

  We all laugh and resume small talk.

  Eventually I wander outside to get some fresh air. I love the view Grant has, and if I’m being honest, I’m a little jealous. They live right on the damn water. In less than twenty steps, I could be standing on the beach.

  I look over to my right and see her instantly. She is wearing a pale yellow dress that makes her dark hair and dark tan stand out. She is looking out at the water, so I can’t see her face, but I already know what I’ll see: high cheek bones, pouty pink lips that always seem to be turned down into a frown and a body that would make a man want to drop to his knees and worship every inch of her. Jenna Hudson is hands down the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and I have never even spoken to her. I’ll occasionally see her walking down the street, but the few times I’ve been into the bakery, she has always walked into the kitchen before I’ve got a good look at her.

  I watch her for a second before deciding I can’t wait any longer to finally talk to her.

  I walk up beside her and rest my arms on the railing right beside hers. She startles and looks over at me. Holy fuck. Up close, she’s even more beautiful. Her whiskey colored eyes stare into mine for a long moment before she says anything.

  “Can I help you?”

  Goddamn, I think I just got hard. Her voice sounds like honey. It’s sultry and smooth. I feel my smile widen in response and watch as her eyes narrow.

  “I’m Parker,” I say sticking my hand out to her. She looks down at it before looking back at me.

  “I know who you are. That wasn’t my question. I asked if I could help you.”

  I let my hand drop back down by my side. I’m completely undeterred by her feisty attitude. All it does it make my smile bigger.

  “Well you seem to know me, but I still don’t know you.” That’s a lie. I’ve been practically drooling over the woman since I first saw her, but she doesn’t know that.

  She continues staring at me, not responding to me at all.

  “Your eyes are beautiful,” I whisper.

  “Really. That’s your opener? How unoriginal.”

  I laugh as I watch her bring her drink up to her mouth and takes a sip. “Come on, Freckles. You really aren’t going to tell me your name?”

  “Don’t call me that. Ever. You already know my name. A man like you doesn’t miss anything. There is no way you’ve been back in this town for this long and someone hasn’t at least said my name around you.”

  Damn. I love her attitude.

  “Well then, it’s nice to meet you, Jenna.”

  She rolls those beautiful eyes at me. “You really could be having this conversation by yourself.”

  “But I’m not. I’m having it with you.”

  She goes back to ignoring me and staring out at the ocean.

  “It really is beautiful isn’t it?”

  She makes a sound of agreement and takes another sip of her drink.

  “Whiskey? Good choice.”

  “Yep.”

  “Baby, you really aren’t giving me anything here,” I say with a laugh.

  She looks over at me then. Her mouth is pulled down into a frown and her eyes bore into me. “I don’t want anything from you, Parker.” She stands up and I watch as she turns and walks away.

/>   Goddamnit. I’m pretty sure I’m in love with that woman. Okay, maybe not love… just really strong lust. Like, ‘I want to fuck her in every imaginable position and watch her beautiful face when I make her come’ kind of lust.

  I shake my head at my own thoughts and finish off my drink before walking back inside. Everyone is taking their seats for dinner and I’m pleased to see that I’m sitting beside Jenna. I refill my drink before making my way to the long table. I see that Summer and Grant have had the party catered and it makes me even more curious as to what in the hell we are celebrating. I pull out my chair and sit down, smiling over at Jenna, who looks like she wants to hide under the table.

  “It looks like we are seated together, Freckles.”

  “Way to point out the obvious. I thought lawyers were suppose to be smart,” she mumbles under her breath.

  I look around to see who is watching and I’m satisfied to see that no one is paying us any attention. I lean towards her until my mouth is directly next to her ear. She sucks in a breath at my close proximity and I smile when I realize she is actually affected by me.

  “Keep throwing those insults at me, baby. All you’re doing is turning me on.”

  I lean back to look at her eyes. Oh, yeah, she’s good and pissed now. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that, but it’s too late now. I wait to see her response and I’m not disappointment.

  Her hand comes down on my thigh and she slowly moves it up. I was kind of kidding about being hard, but if she moves her hand any higher, she will most definitely see how her touch is affecting me. I have been working my ass off at the law firm and I can’t even remember the last time I got laid. I just don’t have time to go out and meet women anymore. I’m sitting at my brother’s dinner table with all of our friends surrounding us and all I can think about is bending her over the table and fucking her. I have only spoken a handful of sentences to her and I’m pretty sure she hates me. I really need to get out more.

  She leans forward until our lips are almost touching.

  “You’re a disgusting pig and I wouldn’t let you fuck me if you were the last man on earth.”

  “We’ll see about that,” I whisper.

  She digs her nails into my leg and I hiss in pain. When she sits back in her chair, she looks completely unaffected. However, I’m practically panting and my dick is painfully hard in my suit pants. What in the hell just happened? I look around the table, but no one seems to have seen that. Taking a healthy swallow of my drink, I look at her out of the corner of my eye. She’s turned away from me and is talking to Summer at the other end of the table. I listen to her smooth voice as she speaks. If this baking thing doesn’t work out for her, she could easily get a job as a phone sex operator.

  Jesus. Maybe I am a disgusting pig. Right as I’m coming to that awful conclusion, Grant stands up and starts talking.

  I try my best to focus on him, but I keep one eye on Jenna the entire time.

  “Thank you all so much for coming. We wanted everyone together to celebrate with us.” He reaches his hand down to Summer. She nervously takes it and stands up beside him, blushing as she looks out at all of us.

  “Bro, you’re going to have to tell us what in the hell we are celebrating,” I laugh.

  I watch as he places his hand on Summer’s stomach. “We’re going to have a baby.” He is smiling so widely that I think his face is stuck like that. There is a chorus of ‘congrats’, but all I can think of is the word ‘baby’.

  “Like on purpose?” I blurt. Everyone turns and looks at me. Shit. I really didn’t mean to say that out loud.

  Grant scowls at me. “Yes on purpose you, dipshit.”

  “Right. Of course. Congratulations. I’m super happy for you.”

  Everyone starts asking them loads of questions, but there is still one set of eyes on me.

  “You really are a pig,” Jenna says.

  I run my hand through my hair and shake my head. “Yeah, I really fucking blew that didn’t I? Jesus Christ. I really didn’t mean to say that.”

  She laughs and my eyes shoot to hers. I feel like I just won a prize. Not only did I get this moody woman to smile, I actually made her laugh. She’s probably laughing at me, not with me, but a laugh is a laugh.

  “That’s an understatement. You’re his brother, asshole. Get up and go hug them.” She tilts her head in the direction of Summer and Grant and I look to see that people are standing around them.

  I nod my head. “Right. Got it.” I stand up and look down at her. “Am I still a pig?”

  “Absolutely,” she smiles.

  “Do I have any chance with you whatsoever?”

  “Absolutely not.” She continues to smile.

  “We’ll see about that.”

  I turn and walk towards my brother and his wife to do some much needed groveling. I’ll probably have to buy the kids first year of college to make up for that screw up, but it was so worth it to see that woman’s smile.

  Chapter Three

  Jenna

  “WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS that last night?”

  I look over at Lexie and raise an eyebrow in question.

  “Don’t look at me like that. You know what I’m talking about.”

  “You see too much,” I mumble, as I go back to filling the display case. It’s Saturday at the bakery. Usually we are extremely busy, but we’ve slowed down this afternoon. I don’t mind having a little break, but us not being busy is giving Lexie lots of time to question me, and my little run-in with Parker last night is definitely something I don’t want to discuss.

  “I see everything. So, what was that?”

  “I have no idea,” I answer honestly.

  All I know is that somehow Parker got the best of me. I have made sure to keep my distance from men for the past two years. I completely ignore them and most of the time they are so put off with my cold demeanor that they just give up. Not Parker. Somehow my insults and the mask of indifference I’m used to wearing only made him try harder. He’s an odd man.

  “Oh, you have an idea. I could practically feel the sexual tension between you two.”

  “Lexie,” I scold.

  “What? You know you felt it. Honestly, it was refreshing to see you act like a woman.”

  Now that’s a little insulting. “I act like a woman,” I say with a frown.

  “Not like that. I’m saying that it was refreshing to see you acting like a woman with needs.”

  “I don’t have needs,” I scoff.

  “Oh, girl, you have needs. You are so sexually repressed I can practically see your vagina crying.”

  “Jesus fucking Christ, Lexie. Can we not have this conversation?”

  She laughs and shakes her head. “All I’m saying is that maybe you should have a little fun.”

  I stare at her for a second before going back to the cupcakes. “I have fun.”

  “Sure you do. I’m sure you and Coconut have full on ragers at your house every night.”

  I roll my eyes. “Your sarcasm isn’t cute.”

  “It’s so cute. Come on, Jenna, you never go out and do anything. Parker’s fun and I think you would like him if you just gave him a chance.”

  “Lexie, I don’t want that. I don’t want fun. I want safe and secure and I have no desire to ever be destroyed by a man again. Can we please just drop this.”

  She must sense how serious I am about this because she studies me for a second. “I get it Jenna. I know. I just don’t like thinking that you are lonely.”

  “I’m not lonely.” That’s a lie. I’m lonely as hell, but I’ll never admit it. “As you pointed out, I have Coconut.” I swore to myself two years ago that I would never ever let a man back in my life. They are good at completely fucking up your life and then moving on with theirs like nothing happened. That’s not happening to me again. I can’t and won’t do it.

  Lexie gives me a sad smile, but reluctantly drops the topic. “So, you have the day off tomorrow. What’re your plans?” She asks.

/>   “Sleeping in and cleaning the house probably. Why?”

  She gives me a horrified look. “Good Lord, woman, at least lie to me.”

  I laugh as I walk back towards the kitchen. “Okay. I’m going to go to the beach and I’m going to find a man, then I’m going to take him back to my place and have wild kinky sex with him all night.”

  “Now that sounds like my kind of plan. What time should I meet you at the beach?” A deep voice behind me says.

  I feel my eyes grow wide and my face heats up. This cannot be happening. I would recognize his voice from anywhere. When did he walk in? I didn’t even hear the bell on the door chime. Thankfully, I’m facing the kitchen and he can’t see my face. I quickly slip on a look of indifference before turning to face him.

  Lexie is laughing her ass off at the other end of the counter. I glare in her direction before looking back at Parker.

  “That won’t be necessary.”

  He raises an eyebrow and continues to stare at me. It’s a little unnerving and I hate that he has that effect on me. Last night was the first time I’d seen him up close. When he was standing so close to me, I could see that his eyes where more gray than blue. His scruffy face did nothing to hide his strong cheekbones or those dimples. Parker Hamilton screams trouble and it makes me want to run as fast as I can in the other direction, before I do something stupid like climb him like a tree. I quickly shake off that thought and narrow my eyes at him.

  “What are you doing here?”

  He chuckles and stuffs his hand in his suit pockets. Good Lord, he looks good in a suit. Last night he had ditched the jacket and tie and had rolled the sleeves of his dress shirt up, but today he looks buttoned up and ready for court.

  “I could use an afternoon pick me up and thought I would stop in for a coffee.” He smirks and I know he’s lying. He works right down the street and I know damn well his fancy office has a coffee maker. He seems to like arguing with me, so I make sure to not give him the response he’s looking for.

  “Sure. Lexie will take care of that for you.” I look down to where she was standing, but she isn’t there.

  “She just walked to the back,” Parker says. He moves closer and I can smell his cologne. I take a deep breath to clear my head, but with his smell surrounding me, it’s impossible. Looking back over at him, I take a step back.