Her Marine Next Door - Aliyah Burke Page 0,56

you didn’t like her.”

That was putting it mildly. “I don’t. At all. But this isn’t about my dislikes.” She let him go and rocked back slightly. “Do you want a beer?”

“Yes.”

“Be right back.”

She hurried off before she opened her mouth again and got him a beer. Her hands shook as she drew open the door and scanned the interior. Skimming the brands, she grabbed one longneck and stepped back.

I hope I don’t say something wrong.

She could go for a nice mixed drink but didn’t want to have anything that might dull her senses. Instead, she poured herself a glass of juice, downed half, then filled it back up.

She was stalling. After a deep breath, she picked up both drinks and scrunched her toes before making the final trek. The distance wasn’t great, and she nearly tripped over the nonexistent barrier between the kitchen and her living room.

He wasn’t looking at her. Instead, he held the letter in both hands as his forearms rested upon his thighs. His longer hair hung down, obscuring his eyes along with those rugged, masculine features. He was raw and exposed. It slayed her.

Her heart cried out for him, and she bit her lower lip before propelling herself toward him. “Here we go.”

…

Parker exhaled slowly and lifted his gaze from the bent envelope he’d been carrying around for a few days. His insides were a mess, and he wasn’t sure he could go through with this.

“Hey.” Skylar’s gentle voice wound around him, tugging him from the edge of the huge pit he was being dangled over.

Nothing could have prepared him for this—not his childhood, not his military training, nothing.

She appeared before him, on her knees. Skylar settled her hands on the outsides of his thighs, close to but not touching the envelope he held. In his periphery he noticed the drink beside him on the end table. “Parker.”

He lifted his gaze to hers and fell a bit further in love with this incredible woman, if that were possible.

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

“This could change everything. It will. Either way.”

A muscle flexed in her jaw. “Do you really think that?”

“You don’t?”

A sad smile flashed across her features. She pinched her lips tight then moved her hands, reaching for the envelope, only to pause.

He waited.

“May I?” She gestured to the paper, head cocked to the side.

Parker handed it over. He stared at her fingers as they curved around the edges. Her pale, unpainted nails had some chips in them from work. There was a half-moon bruise on her thumbnail.

Sexy. He knew what she did and how she got those marks.

Once she held the results in her hand, she shuffled closer on her knees, pushing her way between his legs until she couldn’t get any closer. He closed his arms around her and rested his face against the side of her neck.

She smelled like home to him. Her scent, heat, and comforting feel made it all right.

I can take whatever the results are. So long as she’s here with me.

“Here,” she whispered, pulling a hand around and placing the envelope back in it, only to cover his larger one with her smaller one. “Look at me.”

Brushing his lips along her skin, he listened.

“Fact one, you love Cullen more than anything in the world and you already introduce him as yours, even if you don’t realize it. Fact two, if this paper says you aren’t one of the contributors to his DNA, fact one isn’t going to change one bit. Just like it won’t if it does say you are. You are his father. In the most important way that counts, you are there for him. You protect him and you love him. He knows this, and he trusts you because of it.”

“I don’t want to lose him.” Beads of sweat gathered along his forehead, and he brushed them away with a furious swipe of one hand.

Skylar never dropped her straightforward gaze from his. “Then you fight for him. She came to you telling you he was yours, telling Cullen that as well. That has to count for something.”

Parker slid back on the sofa and lifted her until she was on his lap, curled up against him. Just how he wanted her to be. With a swig of beer, he slid his finger below the seal and opened it.

Skylar didn’t crane to see; she just rested her head against his chest and stroked her fingers along the inside of his biceps, following the ink trail.