Through the Wall

Stephanie Faulkner had no claim to Parker Madison. They’d been friends for a long time, but they weren’t friends like that. Being friends like that never even came up between them. She licked her suddenly dry lips. At least, not yet. And it never would if that woman didn’t get her hand off his stomach and quit whispering things in his ear.

Parker laughed, the sun touched his slightly-too-long blond hair. She sighed. She’d had her hands in his hair before. What a waste of time as she’d shaken the golden locks and commented on him needing a haircut. A haircut. Yeah that was her. What an idiot. She should have yanked him to her while she’d had the chance. Pressed her breasts to his hard chest. Aligned her groin against his… Her gaze dropped to the place in question. She swallowed. Perhaps she should have stopped at three margaritas.

There was a fine line between sexy and trampy. Case in point, the red-head draped over him: tramp. Her standing over to the side leaned back on the fence: sexy. In her opinion anyway.

Her best friend, Jessie, shook her cup and loosened the last of her frozen margarita from the bottom. “You’re going to owe me a free oil change for this.”

“For what?”

But Jessie was already walking away. “Claire! Hey, girl.”

Claire looked up from Parker and waved.

“It’s hot as heck out here and getting late. I’m headed over to Michael Bill’s place. Braves are playing and he’s got some people coming over tonight. Come with me?”

And just like that, Claire peeled her hand off his chest and the nausea in Stephanie departed. Michael Bill were magic words to having a good time. Jessie turned and winked.

Stephanie waved a two-finger thanks. “I’m throwing in a set of windshield wipers!”

She laughed. “You better!”

Parker swaggered to her looking all rugged and waiting to be tossed in sheets. Okay, maybe two drinks would have been plenty. Oh, what the heck. Two, six or none, it wouldn’t have mattered. In the past few months Parker always looked ready to wrestle naked. The alcohol went back to warming her blood. Need shuddered through, wetting her female department.

She leaned against the gate, hopefully looking cool, as Parker drew closer. He looked up. Surprise flashed on his face, but he smiled as he focused on her. Oh, the things the man was probably capable of. She didn’t know a lot about sexual variety. Her ex-husband had kept things very…civil. From what she’d heard through the sheetrock, Parker was anything but vanilla.

Sex with Parker must be like winning the Triple Crown, Super Bowl, and World Series all in one night. Things she’d been uncertain about in the past, she wanted to get down and do with Parker.

And get dirty even.


Sweaty and twisty and panting for air.

She shivered and pushed hair from her face. Wow. She was not supposed to be the tramp here, but man, she couldn’t help it. She thought of him at night when she could hear his grunts. In the mornings as his shower ran, she thought of getting in there with him. During the day while she balanced his books and ran the front office of his garage, she wanted to walk into the shop wearing a trench coat and get busy on a radiator.

A few times, though she’d never admit it and could barely admit it to herself, she’d used her vibrator along with his noise in the evenings. Oh yes, she had. Heat flamed through her face. Thankful for the August sun, he probably couldn’t tell.

His stride was long and smooth. Sure and confident, exactly like him. “Stephanie! When did you get here?”
Parker's arm snaked around her shoulders and hugged her against his side. As usual, he looked glad to see her. She hoped he was super happy because he, too, laid awake thinking of doing the dirty with her. Then again, he could just be glad to see her because he was Parker and good to her. Either way, she leaned into him as he pulled her close.

See, this was something else about Parker. Any other man standing outside in August would be sweating and smelling like pig that had been rooting around in the mud. Not Parker. She could still smell the crispness of his soap and the spice of his deodorant.

She dropped her head against on his shoulder as she’d so often done. Only now, as she’d been doing for the past six or eight weeks, she imagined her head there while gasping for air. Pictured his big, coarse hands on her naked skin, gripping her hips. His big brown eyes stared back at her and she swallowed down her fear. It was time to get this out there and confront it.

She wanted scintillating sex.

Parker knew how to give it.

Doing it together seemed the natural choice.

Parker had always been there for her and she trusted him. If he said no to this sex idea, she was confident they could go back to their routine. It would be a silly request and nothing more, chalked up to the fact she hadn’t been laid in over a year.

Oh, and her four margaritas.