Addicted to Mr. Parks (The Park #2) (11 page)

Chapter Eleven

It was a good half hour until the silence of the room was filled with words again. Neither of us wanted to spoil the embrace we’d adapted to with my head cuddled into the crook of his neck and one of my thighs covering his waist. His arm around my shoulder held me tight as he lay on his back and stared up to the ceiling. It was me who spoiled it by disentangling myself, as I needed the loo.

“Hold it.” He smirked, trying to pull me back into him. He was unbelievable.

I did my business and padded back to the bed, only aware of my naked form when his ravenous eyes admired every inch of my curves.

“You’re so brave.”

I swallowed, feeling surprisingly unashamed of my nakedness. “How do you figure that out?” I crawled back onto the bed with him, but my attempt to pull the sheets over my body ceased as he swiped them out of my hands.

“Hours ago, you wouldn’t show me your body. You hid your scars away from me because all these years they have been partly to blame for your fragility. Now you sit before me naked and beautiful. And I praise you immensely for that.”

I hid the vast amount of gratitude that came over me from his words by looking into my lap. Part of me was slightly pessimistic. No one ever said those things about me, so I wasn’t sure how I should react to it.

“Hey.” He jerked up my chin with his thumb. “Don’t look away from me when I’m praising you.” Opening up the sheets, he invited me back into bed, and I accepted, curling my body around his.

“I’m just not use to praise,” I admitted.

“Well, get used to it. Because praise is all I will ever give you.”

Spooning naked, we listened to Ed Sheeran’s
“Kiss Me” playing in the background while I secretly soaked up all his words. Parks was the only man I was susceptible around. I was almost ready to willingly open up and expose myself to him. In the beginning, I was fighting my heart with my head. My heart dragged me along and told me I needed this man, told me he would be good for me. I never drank around him because he made me feel content. The delight he felt for making me happy, pleasuring me, in simply wanting me, was my rapture, my joy, and most importantly, my solace. I felt safe with him because he wanted
me
.
My mind told me to run, because every time I was apart from him, I would get bombarded with feelings and emotions I couldn’t deal with on my own. Then I drank to suppress them and keep them at bay because I knew I couldn’t have something that made me feel good about myself. I didn’t deserve it.

“You should be my therapist.” I laughed.

“Stop,” he asserted. “But,” he went on earnestly, before pressing a kiss to the back of my head, “that brings me to my next condition.”

I propped up on an elbow, a smirk mastering my lips. “You have more conditions?”

“Yes.” Before he continued, he dipped to kiss my nose. “That tattoo on the back of your neck—” I remained silent, “—I realise it’s personal to you, but what I demand is that you do not get any more of those hideous things on your sweet body.”

I rolled my eyes and pretended to yawn. We’d already had this conversation. “I was actually thinking about getting a sleeve.” His eyes went wide, his expression horrified, which made me laugh until my stomach hurt.

He cleared his throat. “When you’re finished, I’ll carry on with my third condition.” I stopped laughing immediately, feeling infantile. “I would like you to meet an excellent therapist. Her name is Nia Malone—”

Recoiling, I backed away from him and swiped my hands to cut of his words. “Didn’t we just have this conversation? Just because you fucked me doesn’t mean I’m going to change my mind. I am not seeing
any
doctor. I don’t need one.” His brusque sigh told me I had no choice, but he was wrong. I did. “I’m not sitting in front of a stranger just to hear her tell me what I already know about myself.”

Parks groaned loudly as he pushed off the bed. “Why do Brits always snub their noses up at therapists?”

“That’s insulting!”

“It wasn’t a statement, it was a question.” The smugness he had about the subject pissed me off. He looked at me like I was already a patient on the doctor’s list and ready to be seen, no discussion. “Help is what I intend to give you, Evelyn. A doctor is the start.”

“Fuck you,” I snapped, jumping out of bed and dragging a shirt of his with me to slip on as I went.

“Evelyn,” he called behind me, but I wasn’t listening.

“You know what,” I said, spinning around, “you look at me like everybody else looks at me when they find out I’m an alcoholic. People with addictions are real people too,” I spat, watching him wince at my words. “You don’t understand. Everyone sees a person as equal until they find out they have a disability, a mental problem, or an addiction.” I threw my hands in the air.

“That’s not true.” His grimace proved the point I was trying to prove, because he
was
one of those people. He left me when he found out about my addiction instead of treating me like a human being.

“I’m damaged, Wade. But I’m trying to fit my life back together, and I don’t think you realise how much of a struggle that is for me.” I thumped my palm against my chest. “My life is nothing but a struggle every single damn day. I’m rebuilding, but it’s going to be a slow process.”

His vivid green eyes softened, and his body sagged with pity for me, but I didn’t want it. I just wanted him to let me deal with it
my
way. Parks padded towards me, flexing the muscles of stone in the body he took care of building. “Then let me help you rebuild.”

“I can’t afford for you to abandon me again, Wade. Safe places don’t make people feel abandoned.”

“Come here.” He pulled me into his chest and wrapped his wide arms around me like my shield of protection as he held me secure and safe. “I will never again make you feel abandoned or lonely. And I can’t apologise enough for making you feel that way. Just know you’re here with me now, Evelyn, and I will make you feel special and wanted every damn day. You deserve the best. And the best is what I intend to give you.”

“Thank you,” I whispered, nuzzling into his chest. I couldn’t muster up the strength to tell him how much he meant to me when I was being held in his arms. I’d already poured my feelings out to him at my flat, and I shot myself in the foot. But I think he knew how I felt as my whole body relaxed and moulded against his, feeling warm, snug, and captured for the first time in my life. I could have easily stayed wrapped up in him all day.

Parks’s phone buzzed nearby, and when he leaned over to look at it, he sighed deeply. Gently pushing my hair out of my face, he bent down to press a kiss to my forehead. “Sleep, Princess. I have to catch up on a few things. I won’t be long.”

“Like what?” I yawned. His lips parted, and knowing damn well what he was about to say, I held a hand up. “Before you say, ‘I don’t want to concern you with what I do,’ I would like to know. I know it’s something that’s eating away at you. I can tell.”

His cocky smirk was back, undermining me. “You’re a body language expert now, are you?”

“Cut it out, Parks. Tell me. When you’re agitated, it gets me agitated, and you don’t want that, do you?” I wasn’t sure if my gimmick would work, but after vivaciously rubbing at his forehead, he gave in.

“It’s Lowry. He’s giving my people some shit, that’s all.”

“Lowry?” I pushed to an upright position.

“Yes. But I don’t want you to worry.” He swivelled on his bare heel and headed into his wardrobe.

“I saw Lowry not long ago,” I called after him.

Even though he was hidden in the depth of his wardrobe, I felt his body tense, and I immediately regretted telling him, because I didn’t want to sour his mood. “You did?” He didn’t emerge from the room. I knew whatever he was thinking wasn’t going to be pretty.

“Yeah.” My voice flowed a little awkwardly. “I saw the cuts you gave him.” My breath halted before I blew out my words in a hurry. “He threatened me.”

Parks came marching out of the wardrobe like an inferno in black boxers, fists balled. “He did
what
?”

I gulped because I found his
Hulkness
a turn-on. “He said he was going to make our lives hell. Going to the media or something.” I shrugged because I wasn’t bothered. What was bothering me was why I decided to tell Parks this. Evidently, he was going to act crazy.

“When was this?” He seethed murderously, his eyes dark and harrowing.

“Um.” I actually gulped. “Not long ago.”

He cursed and turned, about to punch the nearby mirror, but he clenched his fist and stopped himself. As a substitute, he spun back to me, waving his hands in anger. “Didn’t you think to tell me?”

Again, I gave another casual shrug. “It’s no big deal.”

He swiped his phone from the bedside table, punched in a number, and stalked out of the room. Unsure of what to do, I climbed out of the bed and paced the bedroom carpet, then fell back down onto the bed again. I didn’t want to follow him when he was in a rage. I knew from experience that when I was like that, those around me did well to leave me alone and let me ride it out.

An hour passed, and I was almost asleep after waiting so long, but Parks re-entered with a calmer presence.

“Who did you call?” I asked from the bed, my tone quick and firm.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s sorted. Lowry will wish he never made those threats towards you. Us. And so will anyone else who tries to stand in our way.” His powerful shoulders sagged. “I want us to work, Evelyn. And if anyone tries to jeopardise that, they will pay.”

I bit my bottom lip, feeling hot and flustered again. It turned me on when he was domineering, taking control and shrouded in that power he held so well.

“What?” He frowned, but a smirk grew as he studied my expression.

“I just love it when you go all Incredible Hulk,” I said, blushing.

“Incredible Hulk?” His brow cocked, and his
incredible
body made its way towards me. “Let me show you
incredible
.” The sexual suggestion in his voice sent an instant ball of heat to my sex, which was already wet, already contracting and needing. I ached all over when he pushed off his boxers and wrapped his masterful, elegant fingers around his cock, stroking himself. I quivered as I watched, seeing the heat and primal desire in his heavy-lidded gaze.

“Is this incredible enough for you?” His breathy question was inevitable.

My bottom lip caught between my teeth, and my eyes slowly closed. Jesus, it was incredible all right, but I played along.

“Not bad.” I sniffed.
Liar.

“Not bad?” he toyed, the blacks of his eyes shrouded with dark desire. “Lie down.”

His low command had me doing just that. I felt the bed dip as he hovered over me, still stroking himself. “Take off your baby-doll.”

I caught the bottom of the baby-doll with my fingers and shifted to pull it up and over my body, gently discarding it on the floor when I was bare. He gave a roguish grin and inhaled deeply as he bit his bottom lip. That action alone had me melting into a rapturous heap.

“Your tits are beautiful, Evelyn. Play with them for me.”

At first I paused. I’d never played with myself in front of any man, but the unmistakable desire Parks had for me was enough to ensure my confidence. I cupped my breasts with damp palms, and the growl that left his lips and the way he began tugging himself a little faster encouraged my behaviour. Moaning, I caressed my breasts, circling my palms around my nipples. His cock pulsed, and I knew it was swelling, getting thick and ready. He leaned down and knelt over me, working his magnificence with one hand and trailing the other across my stomach and dipping between my thighs. The smirk that formed upon his face told me he was more than happy with how wet I was.

“Your sweetness tells me that this—” He wrapped his fingers around his cock tightly, making me whimper, “—is incredible.”

“It is,” I breathed. My hips swayed as he smoothed my wetness between my folds. At the same time, I was caught up in his hungry expression as his eyes shifted from his fingers in my sex to my own hands caressing my breasts. He looked like a masterpiece. His toned, strong arms were tightening. His dextrous hand gripping and his powerfully defined stomach tensing.

“Oh Evelyn, baby. You do not disappoint.” Wetness surged between my legs as he began tugging harder, faster. He slipped his fingers in and out of my core in time with each stroke of his cock. My hips rose a touch off the bed as I pushed myself against his fingers. I cupped my breasts tightly, and the moans that deserted my mouth got louder. I was desperate for the throb between my legs to be served.

“Make yourself come,” he ordered, pulling out his fingers and replacing them with mine. Mine didn’t feel as good, but what did was the way his groans had gotten louder. He dipped his head to watch my fingers work wildly at my clit. “Oh, Evelyn. There is nothing in this world that is sexier than you. You drive me crazy.” Tugging harder, he worked himself up into a frenzy. I stopped playing with myself a couple of times, getting distracted because his show was better than mine. It was lust-driven, heated, and intense. Oh, and as hot as hell comes.