I got busy cooking his favorites instead. By the time he came out in his snug long underwear, I was putting two plates with elaborate fried egg and sausage sandwiches on the kitchen table next to a couple of glasses of orange juice and ice water. I tried not to stare at the way his thermal layer clung to his muscles, and I sure as shit kept my eyes above his waist.
Mostly.
I busied myself getting us fresh mugs of coffee. “I forgot to text Tiller to ask him where we should go. Surely there are some good runs on their mountain. The ski resort isn’t open to the general public this winter. It’s only special access right now. I don’t think the downhill operation is fully staffed yet.”
Parker swallowed a bite of his sandwich. “It’s not. He keeps begging me to come on board to run the ski school, but I told him I can’t leave Rod and the program in Vail.”
I knew Tiller and Mikey had approached him about joining the ski operations manager they’d hired, but we’d all known he’d never leave the Rokas family. “It’s too bad, though. If I came on board full-time, think how great it would be if you were here, too.”
I’d said it as a joke, as a throwaway comment. He’d never consider leaving Rod and the future ideal plan of running their program with Erin. But Parker stopped eating and looked thoughtful.
“Now that Erin and I aren’t together, maybe I could reconsider.”
I almost choked on my coffee. How did I politely remind him that despite this temporary insanity on Erin’s part, they were still going to end up together like always? Getting back together was what they did.
Thankfully, the doorbell rang before the conversation could continue.
Parker was closer to the door, so he got there first. A man’s voice said, “Hey, cutie. Aren’t you unexpected? My, my… look at those muscles. You sure know how to—”
“Excuse me.” I yanked the door open more fully to reveal a man about our age with noticeably good looks and trendy clothes. “Can I help you?” I asked.
His eyes widened. “Oh, woah. I wasn’t told there were going to be two of you. I don’t do DP, but…” He eyed Parker up and down, taking his sweet time about it, before tossing me a more cursory glance. “There’s always spit roasting, and I can see how that would be a happy solution to our little dilemma.”
I stepped in front of Parker and growled at the inappropriate stranger. “What the fuck?”
He blinked at me. “I’m liking the angry vibe, but go easy on me, man. I thought one of you needed some tender loving care. I’m a lover, not a fighter.”
I felt Parker’s body brush against my back as his chin came to rest on my shoulder. “Are you a massage therapist? Because Julian could use—”
“You have the wrong house,” I said quickly, elbowing Parker back from the open door. “Sorry. Have a nice day.”
I closed the door and locked it before turning around to pretend like none of this had happened.
“Jules?”
“Need more coffee?” I asked.
“Uh, no? I have a full mug that you poured me like fifteen seconds ago.”
“Then maybe drink it,” I said before taking my seat and shoving the sandwich in my mouth.
“Hmm. You know, I thought the plan you mentioned yesterday was more… theoretical. But if you prearranged some… ah… male encounters this week…”
I choked around the solid mass in my throat before coughing out, “Male encounters?”
“Hookups. Grindr stuff.”
I glared at him. “I didn’t.”
“That’s okay. I can be cool with it. You know I understand, right?” His pained expression suggested he’d rather be coated with honey and left for the ants, but I appreciated the effort.
“I didn’t. Jesus. I wasn’t sure I’d feel like being…” Vertical. Sober. Conscious. “Social this week.”
Parker went back to eating his breakfast, thank god.
After a few minutes, he spoke again. “Is that guy your type?”
I was too busy savoring my lukewarm coffee to answer.
“Because he’s good-looking. And I know you like guys who are up for… whatever. I mean, I don’t know what spit roasting is, but…”
I set the mug down carefully and rubbed my hands over my face. Last night, he’d clutched his pearls when I mentioned blow jobs. Now he wanted to know my thoughts and opinions on spit roasting? “Can we not talk about this, please?”
Parker pulled out his phone and tapped at it. I knew without asking he was googling things he was going to regret.
“Oh. Ohhhhhh. Well. Hm.” He tilted his head this way and that as he looked at god-knew-what on the screen. “You’re into that?”
“This is me not talking about it,” I said before shoving the last bite of breakfast in my mouth.
“I hooked up with a girl one time who wanted to bring in a guy for a threesome. Maybe this is what she was thinking,” he continued.
I tried to stay calm while picturing him naked with another man. Thankfully, the woman in my mental scenario was blurry and inconsequential.
“Did you do it?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“No. Jesus. If I was going to have sex with a man, it wouldn’t be some rando.” He glanced up at me sheepishly. “No offense.”
“None taken,” I said. “Like I’ve told you a million times before, it’s different with guys. Sex is more transactional sometimes. We fuck around for fun. I don’t need a guy’s resume to enjoy his body. Hell, I don’t even need to know his name.”
Parker made a low noise of disapproval in his throat. “So you would have fucked that guy at the door if I hadn’t been here.”
He said it like a fact rather than a question.
“Admit it,” he added.
I pushed my chair back and grabbed my plate. “Yes, okay? He was gorgeous. If you hadn’t been here, I’d have been dicking him down on the sofa by now. There, you happy?”
It wasn’t true. Despite my big words, I wasn’t one for jumping into sex without at least a conversation. But he didn’t need to know that.
“No,” Parker said. His cheeks were flushed red, and he couldn’t seem to decide where to direct his gaze. “Not happy at all. I’ve never liked knowing you hook up with random strangers. It makes me fucking crazy, and you know it.”
“Because you think it’s dangerous.”
“Exactly. You don’t know that guy from Adam. He could be a serial killer. You need a weapon or something at the very least. Mace, like Hazel carries.”
I set the plate down in the sink and turned back with a grin. “Thanks for worrying about me, babe. I’ll stick to known quantities like Nolan from now on.”
“Fuck off. I’m being serious.” He brought his plate over and nudged me out of the way with his hip. As he began cleaning our dishes, he continued to lecture me. “You need to have me on speed dial with some kind of shortcut so I can come over and beat the guy to a bloody pulp.”
“The guy. Meaning my serial killer Grindr hookup.”
He nodded as if this was a completely rational conversation. “Yeah. I already have you on my location app so I always know where you are. This way, when I get the call—”