It’s this.
This man.
This new life fluttering in my belly.
After Bree discharged us from the hospital, she led Parker to my room. His eyes were tired and weary, but his arms felt safe and eager as he pulled me into an emotional embrace, kissing the top of my head and hushing away my tears as they fell hard against his chest. We held each other for a long time, while three precious heartbeats filled my soul with hope.
We shared an Uber ride over to our vehicles, still parked near the bridge, then drove separately to Parker’s house where I plan to share my news with him.
Stepping out of my car, I jog towards him down the gravel driveway, entwining our fingers together when we meet beside his truck. Parker inhales a weighty breath, leaning back against the hood with a sigh. His eyes don’t find me right away. They are cast just beyond my shoulder, flickering with something I can’t quite read. “Hey… look at me.” My hand lifts, and I graze my fingertips along the bristles shadowing his jawline. “Are you okay?”
Parker tenses, wavering before meeting my searching stare. “Sorry, I just…” He blows out a hard puff of air, like he’s trying to regroup. “I feel all fucked-up inside. Itchy. Off-kilter.”
“You just went through a trauma, Parker. It’s understandable.”
His eyes close tight as a sticky breeze rolls through. “I feel like I fucking failed.”
My stomach pitches at his words. “Don’t say that.”
“Why not? It’s the truth. I failed you, and now I failed him,” Parker bites out, looking away again. He withdraws before I’ve even had a chance to try and reach him. “He’s dead. I knew it when I was dragging him out of that goddamn bay.”
A heavy sorrow saturates the air around us. Bree gave us the grim news before we left the hospital—they’d done everything they could, but the man on the bridge didn’t make it.
My eyes had shifted to Parker in that moment, and I swore I could see a tiny light flicker out. A cloud rolled in, casting shadows all over him.
He dimmed.
“Parker…” I lower my hand from his cheek, grasping both of his palms in mine. “Don’t do that to yourself. This is not your weight to carry. I just witnessed the most selfless, heroic thing I’ve ever seen in my life, and it only makes me want you a thousand times more.”
Parker’s eyes dip back to me, flaring as he registers my words. His grip on my hands tighten. “Don’t say shit you don’t mean, Melody.”
“I mean it,” I reply in a whispered, valiant breath. “You didn’t fail me—you made a mistake. Mistakes make us human. Mistakes have the potential to mold us into better, stronger people.” His eyes catch the pearly starlight as they dance across my face, brows creasing with reflection. “You did a good thing tonight, Parker… a really good thing. The outcome doesn’t erase that.”
His shoulders deflate, his forehead dropping to mine as he pulls me closer. We hold each other in silence for a few beats, wrapped up in the mere vitality of one another, serenaded by the song of the cicadas and our healing heartbeats. “I’m so fuckin’ glad you’re okay,” he mutters, pressing a light kiss to my hairline. Then he says with a sigh, “Thanks for following me home. I’m probably going to hit the shower and head to bed.”
I nuzzle into him with a nod. It’s the middle of the night, nearing the early morning hours, and it’s been an exhausting day. Maybe my big reveal should wait until tomorrow when we’re both more clear-headed.
Parker gives me another kiss before straightening. “You’re good to drive home?”
My heart skips.
I flinch as I take a step back, not expecting the direction of his query. My skin prickles with dismissal as a brisk wave of queasiness causes my belly to swirl. “You don’t want me to stay?”
He stiffens. A beat passes while he processes the mood, tousling his fingers through unruly hair. Parker studies me, his gaze taking in my startled expression through incandescent moonlight. “Shit, you want to?”
“Of course, I want to,” I say, an earnest plea. “You almost died, Parker. I-I watched you almost die… only a few hours ago. You dropped fifty feet right before my eyes.” A surge of panic bubbles to the surface, snuffing out my words and stealing my breath. “Please, don’t make me leave. I need to hold you, wake up with you beside me, breathing and warm…”
“Fuck, Melody, I’m sorry.” Parker collects me in his arms, gliding his hands up to my face, cupping my cheeks. His green eyes shimmer with anguish. “Jesus… please stay. I want you to.”
My breathing is unhinged, bordering on manic. All I can muster is a nod.
“I figured you were still pissed at me,” he explains, worry laced into his words and his touch. He dusts his thumbs along my flushed cheekbones. “I wasn’t sure if we were okay. I didn’t want to assume all was forgiven, just because I launched myself into the fuckin’ bay.”
“We’re okay.” I say it quickly, confidently, and then I repeat it. “We’re okay, Parker. It’s over. I forgive you.”
Pulling our foreheads back together, he sucks in a hard breath through gritted teeth. A sound escapes him, one I’ve never heard before. Ragged, strained, almost painful.
Heart-rending relief.
“Fuck…” Parker’s fingers coil around to the base of my neck, clamping hard, his desperation sinking into me. I feel his need. “Are you still mine?”
My favorite song echoes in my mind, and I keep nodding, my tears spilling free. “Yes,” I murmur, watching his eyes snap shut, like he’s soaking up my assent and carving it into his bones. “I’m yours. I’m only yours.”
“Goddamn, I don’t deserve you.”
Leaning up, I place a kiss to his bottom lip, lingering as I mutter, “You deserve more than you know.”
Another kiss follows, just as light, but then the tip of my tongue flicks out for a quick taste along his lip. Salt and sweetness. Sensuality stirs between us, pulling our emotions in a new direction, and I melt into him with a sigh of longing.
Parker’s hands vanish beneath the hem of my sundress until he’s gripping my bare waist, his heated stare locked on my mouth. Our pelvises grind together as I lean in closer, and his fingers inch behind me, sneaking underneath the trim of my underwear. He groans when his palms slide inside, cupping my backside. “Christ, Melody, get in the fucking house. I need to be inside you.”
A whimper escapes me. “Wait… wait, you should rest. Recover,” I urge, despite the way my body buzzes with disagreement.
“I don’t need rest.” Parker squeezes my ass, tugging me flush against his erection. “I’ve been asleep for nearly thirty years. All I need is you.”
Our lips crash together, tongues tangling instantly. My head falls back when he raises a hand to my head, tugging on my hair, angling my mouth to taste me deeper through a frenzied growl.
I pull back to breathe. Grazing my hands up his chest, I rest them on his shoulders as we collect our bearings, and I force myself to say, “Shower. Rest.” His body hums and sways with both exhaustion and lust. “I’ll still be here in the morning.”