Page 66 of Heartless
“I’m not that busy. We could come early.”
“Mom,” I cut short their little game of cat and mouse. “Parker was just heading out.”
“Oh, okay. Bye, Parker.”
“Bye, Mrs. Hartley,” he gave me my phone back and leaned over, his lips grazing the shell of my ear as he whispered. “I’ll pick you up at three.”
***
Waiting for Parker to pick me up at The Pink Diamond for my mother’s dinner didn’t sit well with me, so I decided I was going to wait for him in the parking lot. Intellectually I understood that Parker was doing me a favor by pretending he was my boyfriend in front of my mother. The rational thing would be to be grateful and facilitate the process. I however felt like he had somehow harmed me with his facade of a man in love.
But walking out of The Gem alone wasn’t just to spite him. It was the wise thing to do. We weren’t supposed to be together on Christmas Eve. People would start to talk.
I glanced at the reception desk and found Mel behind it. As far as I knew, she did a good job and was always nice to guests and other employees, but I was sure she hated my guts ever since I first stepped foot into that lobby.
Enjoying riling her up, I stopped right in front of her. “Working on Christmas Eve?” I made a sad face. “Is it as depressing as it sounds?”
Mel offered me a fake smile. “I volunteered.”
“How altruistic of you.”
“The Gemstone values team players.”
“You mean Mr. Wilson values team players.”
A slow, satisfied smile spread across her face. “That too.”
There was no mistaking the feeling that twisted my stomach at the thought of her and Parker together and for the first time since we started pretending we were dating, I considered extending the act to our workplace.
As if he read my mind about rubbing our relationship in Mel’s face, Parker appeared from the garden’s entrance with the dog in his arms. The moment he stopped next to me, the puppy started to whimper and tried to claw its way out from Parker’s grip and into my arms.
Mel’s gaze flew from Parker to me to the dog then back to me; her eyes were shooting daggers. Parker didn’t notice her reaction or he simply didn’t care. He placed the dog in my arms, the back of his hand grazing the swell of my breast as he removed it.Thathe noticed. His eyes bored into mine with such intensity I shivered. From the slight tilt of the corner of his mouth I came to the conclusion he noticed that too.
“How are you, Mel?” he turned to the receptionist.
“I’m good, thank you,” she smiled like an angel at him, then she seized the opportunity to throw me under the bus. “Miss Hartley just asked me if I was depressed about working on Christmas.”
Parker shot me a curious look. “Spreading joy, are you?” Then he turned to Mel with a charming smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. “Don't take her too seriously, Mel. Madison likes to push people’s buttons. It’s her love language.”
Mel's eyebrows shot up in surprise at Parker's words. I wondered what that was about.
“Of course, sir,” she mumbled.
“Have a nice evening, Mel.”
“You too, Mr. Wilson.”
Then Parker placed his hand between my shoulder blades and pushed me forward, towards the exit. It wasn’t as intimate as placing it on the small of my back, but he made it clear to everyone who could be watching that we were going somewhere together.
His voice was low, meant for only me to hear. “What’s with you and the receptionist?”
I rolled my eyes at him but couldn’t hide the slight blush that crept up my cheeks. “She has a problem with me.”
“Everyone has a problem with you. And you’re the one that usually starts it,” he quipped, his lips lifting at the corners. “But don’t worry. I’ll always have your back.”
I shot him a look that hovered between annoyance and amusement. “Oh, lucky me.”
Ignoring my sarcasm, Parker reached out and lightly tugged on a loose strand of my hair. “You know you love it when I’m around.” Then without waiting for an answer continued. “You have started to roll your eyes a lot these days.”
