Her Marine Next Door - Aliyah Burke Page 0,23
give us a ride to the doctor. I have to get that DNA test running.”
A myriad of emotions flashed over her expressive features, and she finished closing the distance to him in a few short strides. Indecision warred before she latched onto his arm and pulled him behind her. They paused in the living room where Cullen could be seen, but not close enough he could overhear them.
She flattened her lips briefly. “Look, I know I’m the makeshift fiancée here who really doesn’t have a say in this, but there’s a boy’s life in the balance.”
“I’m aware of that,” he bit off. “I’m doing what I can, but I don’t even know he’s mine.”
“What’s it take? Three to five days for results to come back nowadays? So you’ll be spending time with him, introducing him to people in your life, how? As your son, right?” She nodded without waiting for a response. “Right. Of course you would. You’re a protector. I see that in you, and you’re not going to just call him the boy. What happens after those days and the results come back that he’s not yours? Have you thought about what that’s going to do to this little boy, who is innocent in all this? To have a man he looks up to and called him his son suddenly be gone and no longer there. That’s going to break him.”
Her words slammed into him with the force of a hurricane and nearly took him off his feet. By sheer willpower, he remained standing.
He hadn’t given it the simplest of thoughts. It was about him and how it would affect him, not Cullen.
I have to do right by him. She’s right.
Chapter Five
Skylar flexed her hand and grimaced at the spike of pain shooting up through her palm and beyond into her arm. It should have been further healed by now. Maybe it was time to have Dr. Morse take a look.
Alpin brushed against her, and she ruffled his head with an automatic smile. “Hey, boy, where’d you come from?” He’d been in the backyard, de-stuffing yet another one of his numerous toys.
It was official. Her dog was spoiled.
She shook her head and peered down at the stand she was working on. The design wasn’t quite right to her yet. She needed to tweak and adjust something; however, it wasn’t jumping out to her yet. Maybe if she studied it a bit longer.
The scrape of wood on the bed of her truck had her looking out the open garage door. Her breath left in a rush. Parker was there, dragging some of the wood for her. She captured her lower lip in her teeth and just watched.
Pants and boots. That was it. No shirt, and all his tattoos were on display. He hadn’t shaved, and his scruff only added to that hot-ass bad-boy, bad-man, image he had so well.
The man was just a fucking sex ad. He oozed it, and not in a gross way but one of those panty-melting, “want to strip naked and offer yourself to him and whatever he would give,” sort of ways. Or drop to her knees before him and see what came up.
The play of the light along his defined muscles created a low burn of yearning within her gut. At the exact moment he turned toward her, she readjusted and put her focus back on the job she was supposed to be doing.
Although ogling Parker Jax was a job she’d happily sign up for.
With her injured hand, she reached for the paper she’d drawn her design on and stared at it. Even so, when he dropped the first load and retreated back to the truck, she couldn’t help but pivot slightly to allow herself the visual spectacle once again.
Rinse, reuse, and repeat. She did it each time he hefted a load of wood, unable to get enough of watching him work. Gazing back at her paper, she removed the pencil from behind her ear and bent over to fix what she noticed to be wrong—it was the carving on the side.
Elation filled her as she sketched the fix. A moan slipped free as a large hand settled upon her ass.
His strong body pressed against her, skyrocketing her body temperature to an even higher degree.
“You know, if you want me to strip and work for you, I’m happy to do so. No need to hide that you’re staring at me.”
“You’re not wearing much now.”
“So you were watching me. Good to know.” He kissed