Her Marine Next Door - Aliyah Burke Page 0,52
the speed and confidence he’d come to expect from her.
“You taking us home?” He brushed some of her curls away from her face, only to tug on one when the wind put it right back to where it’d been.
“No. I don’t have a license for this.”
“Always with the rules, aren’t you, baby?” Grateful he no longer had the discs or their helmets in hand, he grabbed the sides of her shirt and drew her flush to him. “They can be fun to break.”
“Rules are there for a reason,” she muttered.
“Hey,” he said, desperate to get the lightheartedness back into the night. “How about some dessert?” Parker nibbled on her lips. “Ice cream. Chocolate sauce. Caramel.”
“You sweet talker, you. Yes, ice cream sounds like the perfect end to the night.”
“Baby, ice cream isn’t how this night’s going to end, but let’s go get some and we can discuss how it will end.” Another kiss. “My vote, my cock deep inside this pussy and you tearing the hell out of my back as you scream my name.”
Chapter Eleven
“Zoo, zoo, zoo!”
Skylar didn’t bother hiding her grin as Cullen’s excited voice wove easily through the house. Still, she didn’t think it was a good idea.
Day and night, she struggled with her guilty conscious about her own son. How she’d been thinking about herself and not him.
And now she no longer had him in her life.
Being with Cullen was a double-edged sword. It helped but also chipped away at the scab over her past, exposing her to more and more. Reminding her just how much it was going to hurt when it ended.
“Ready?”
“Sure.” She went to the fridge and grabbed two peanut butter biscuits from the top that she then gave to Alpin and kissed his head. “Be good, handsome.”
“He going to be okay?” He cleared his throat. “I mean, I know you have that thing to view him, but we’re still gone for a long time today.”
“Mrs. O’Neary will be over a few times to check on him. He’ll be fine. We had a long walk this morning.”
The boy’s hard footfalls heralded his arrival. “Lions to see?”
She grabbed her purse, and she reached for her keys after ensuring her phone was there.
Lifting Cullen, she brushed his hair from his eyes. “Yes, we can see some lions.”
Parker herded them outside and locked her house.
Just like we were a real family.
Skylar climbed into the passenger seat of her truck after Parker plucked Cullen from her arms to secure him in the car seat. Soon after, he hopped up and kissed her.
“Thank you,” he murmured against her lips.
“Kissing,” Cullen chatted from the back.
Parker nodded. “Absolutely.”
She smiled.
The drive to the zoo took them a little over an hour and for most of the ride, she and Cullen talked about the different animals they could encounter. Parker participated, but allowed the two of them to do the most talking.
Once there, they parked and climbed out. Parker put Cullen’s tool belt and army men back in the truck.
“Need them.”
“Not here. We don’t want to lose them.”
She kept quiet, reminding herself she was only the temporary fiancée, although at times she began to wonder how “temporary” she was. She’d expected the DNA results to have been back by now. It was nearing a month, and she swore they didn’t take that long. A few weeks seemed excessive. Part of her was okay with it, because it allowed her to keep the fantasy alive for a little longer.
Skylar waited while Cullen decided where he wanted to head first.
“Papa?”
Her heart seized at the glow surrounding Parker the moment he heard it. She hadn’t heard him called that before, and there was a bit of shock on Parker’s face, but he seemed to roll with it.
“What, Cullen?”
“Your favorite animal?”
Her marine gave a small indulgent smile to the boy staring up at him with adoration. “I like the big cats. Lions, tigers, and leopards.”
“Me, too,” he said, nodding his head solemnly.
“Is that where you want to go first?”
“Yes, then the bears. Like Murray.”
“You got it, C-Man, like Murray.” Parker winked at her over the boy’s head.
He was rapidly turning her into a pile of mush. As they strolled, Cullen alternated from walking between them to dashing ahead. He loved other kids and had no problem talking to anyone they came across. This was no longer the scared child she’d first encountered in her garage.
In the area for the large cats, his ohhs and ahhs made her fall harder for the little boy. Although hovering close