CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Sebrina
SEBRINA COULDN’T BELIEVE HER affair with Parker was about to come to an end. Word had spread around the hospital that they were housemates, but so far, no one linked them together as a couple, although they’d gone out together to the movies, dinner, a concert and that jazz club she’d told him about. He thought of them as dates, but she told him she still preferred thinking of them as outings.
Only Kennedy and Victoria knew that she and Parker shared a bed. And they made love every chance they got. She loved the times he would hold her in his arms after making love to her. They spent a lot of time out of the bedroom, too, talking, and getting to know each other. He already knew a lot about her mother’s family from Rae’jean, but she’d shared stories with him about her father’s people. He knew she would be spending Christmas with both sets of parents. And, of course, Monica would be returning home in a couple of days. That meant she and Parker had little time left to share. Monica’s ship would return to Sydney tomorrow, and then it would be another day before she made it back to the States.
Glancing at the clock, she knew Parker was off work now and heading for home. Home. With them having the house all to themselves, it sometimes seemed as if they were a couple. She had taken the next two nights off so she could spend that time with him, though she hadn’t told him yet. That way, he’d be surprised when she didn’t have to get ready for work as usual around ten. And she’d discovered that he liked surprises.
She had even prepared dinner. Now he would see that she could cook more than breakfast stuff, although she wasn’t a big fan of doing so. However, she would admit to enjoying those times she had shared the cooking with Parker. She’d thought of meeting him at the door when he arrived, like she had done a few times before. But today, she would stay right where she was, in his bed.
Normally, he would check in here for her first. If she wasn’t here, then he would immediately take the stairs to her bedroom where he’d usually find her sleeping. But she would know the exact moment he would place a kiss on her cheek before leaving her room to either start dinner or relax after a day at the hospital.
Then around an hour before she was to get ready for work, he would slide into bed beside her and give her something to help her get through the night. More than once, she’d been tempted curl up and go back to sleep from a combination of exhaustion and pleasure. They weren’t always off on the same days, so on those mornings when he went to work, she made sure he left with a huge smile on his face.
Her ears suddenly perked up when she heard the sound of his car pulling into the garage. Since he would come through the kitchen, would he get suspicious when he saw she’d prepared dinner? Hopefully, he would assume she had prepared a meal before going to bed and that she would still be heading into work later tonight. She loved it when they got to share the bed the entire night.
She shifted her body to face the door so she could see him the moment he entered the room. Her heart began beating faster when she heard footsteps outside the bedroom door. When he finally entered, she pretended to be asleep, but through slit eyelids, she watched him undress before he eased into bed beside her. Then he kissed her awake.
She returned his kiss, loving his taste and the way his tongue took possession of hers. Finally, he released her mouth and rained kisses around her lips. “You aren’t fooling me, you know.”
“Umm, about what?” She was helpless to do anything but lie there and enjoy the attention.
“Pretending to be asleep.”
“And how did you know I was pretending?”
“Your scent lets me know you are ready for me.”
She could believe that. That’s one thing she enjoyed about being with Parker. He encouraged her to tell him what she liked, in explicit terms. And he’d do the same.
“You don’t deny it?” he asked.
She shook her head and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m not denying anything. I love watching you strip naked.”
“Baby, you don’t have to pretend to be asleep to watch me strip. I’ll shed my clothes for you anytime.”
And then he was kissing her again as he moved over her. There was no need to remove her clothes since he knew she was already naked.
“We only have two nights to be together like this, Parker,” she said, when he released her mouth. “I’m going to miss having you all to myself when Monica gets back.”
He didn’t say anything, but just leaned in and greedily took her mouth yet again.
Parker glanced across the dinner table at Sebrina and grinned. “You’ve been holding back, Sebrina. This meal is delicious.”
He loved how she beamed at his compliment. Her smile was what had captivated him from the first time he’d seen her, and it still did. Every time she showed those gorgeous dimples, he was a goner. He had dimples and she had dimples. That meant that more than likely, their babies would have dimples.
Babies? Yes, his inner self responded. This is the woman you want to marry and be the mother of your babies. You love her, so naturally you’d think of a future with her.
“I would never hold anything back from you, Parker,” she said, breaking into his thoughts. “I told you early on that I could cook, I just don’t have a lot of time to do it, nor do I love it the way you do. You couldn’t be Idella Bennett’s grand or great-grand without knowing how to do a lot more than boil water.”
“I believe it,” he said, licking his lips. “I love getting those free meals at Rae’jean and Ryan’s place. She can throw down, but this food proves you can, too.”
He took another bite of the baked chicken—it was melt-in-your-mouth good. Their eyes met, and already, they were getting aroused all over again. And they had already spent more than an hour in bed. She had finally admitted that she’d taken the next two days off work. He was happy about that, but he saw no reason for them to end their affair just because her sister was returning.
That was what he needed to talk to her about but wanted to choose the right time. He knew how she felt about ending things but hoped she would see things his way after their talk. “How is Mr. Fletcher doing, Sebrina?”
Usually they didn’t talk about work, but he knew she was deeply concerned about one of her patients. She’d told him that Nathaniel Fletcher had a serious heart problem and had taken a turn for the worst a few days ago. He didn’t want to have surgery before the holidays, because the man believed they would be his last. However, if they didn’t do something soon, he wouldn’t make it to the holidays. And even if he did have the surgery, there was only a fifty-fifty chance he’d survive.
When she placed her fork down, he knew whatever she had to tell him was serious. “He needs to have that surgery, Parker. I know he’s looking forward to Christmas, but he might not last that long.”
“Have you told him?”
“Yes, I told him this morning before leaving the hospital. This is his second confinement in three weeks, and he has decisions to make. I want him to be with his family for Christmas, too, because he’s right about it possibly being the last one that he’ll have with them. Each time he is confined, his condition has worsened. Heart surgery is risky at any age, but for an eighty-something-year old man, it’s even worse.”