Wandering into the kitchen, I saw a covered dish on the stove. Lifting the lid, I took a whiff. Coq au vin. Yum. My stomach growled. Mashed potatoes sat in another dish. Maybe Parker wouldn’t notice a little missing?
I spooned a bit of each onto a plate, eating it fast, afraid I’d get caught. Parker probably wouldn’t say a word, just raise an eyebrow at me if he did catch me. My eyes drifted shut as I chewed. Deirdre was a really good cook.
After carefully washing the plate and fork, I grabbed the suits from the couch and headed into his bedroom. Now that Naked Girl was gone, I noticed she’d tried to set a “mood.” Half a dozen candles burned around the room and for-real rose petals were sprinkled over the turned-down bed. Music played softly from the living room, drifting into the master bedroom. I snorted. Like a man needed any of that to want to get laid.
Opening the closet, I hung the suits, carefully removing the plastic coverings. Parker’s closet was very organized, so I was sure to put them in the right order according to color and fabric weight. I hadn’t known he’d been in the military, but now his compulsive closet organization made more sense.
Parker as a Marine. Okay, that was hot. I wondered if he still had his dress uniform. I’d pay a heck of a lot of money to see him in that. My imagination painted the picture in my head. Gorgeous in a suit, in a full Marine dress uniform, Parker would be…heavenly.
His bedroom smelled so much like him, it was like nirvana. Closing my eyes, I breathed deep the smell of spice and sandalwood and…Parker.
The sound of the front door opening and closing jerked me right out of my trance. I hurried to finish arranging the suits, unknotting and hanging the tie the girl had used when Parker appeared in the doorway.
“I was just finishing up,” I said. He looked good today, as he did every day, no matter that he’d had about as much sleep as me last night. On him, you couldn’t tell, of course.
“That’s fine,” he said, removing his cuff links as he headed for the armoire. “I finished earlier than—” He abruptly cut off. “Sage, why are there rose petals in my bed?”
Glancing around, I saw him holding one of the petals as though it were a dead insect. His gaze met mine and he raised an eyebrow.
“Oh yeah,” I hurried to explain. “Funny story. Some girl was here, said she was your girlfriend. I…asked her to come back some other time.” Euphemisms weren’t lying.
“Girlfriend?” he asked. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”
My smile was thin. “That’s what I said. Hope you don’t mind me showing her out.” Maybe I should’ve let her stay? Parker might’ve wanted some…companionship tonight. I ignored the little green imp on my shoulder at that. No sense feeling jealous over something I shouldn’t want and could never have.
“No. Thank you for doing so. If it was who I think it was, then she’s the last person I want to deal with tonight.”
I bit my tongue to keep from asking who the girl was, instead turning my attention back to the closet. Parker continued on his way to the armoire and I heard the slight sounds of him discarding his cuff links and wristwatch.
It was oddly intimate, being in his bedroom while he did that. Though I supposed it was also kind of insulting that he didn’t even notice or care that I was there. Let’s not think of that. I heard the slide of silk that told me he was unknotting his tie. Parker…sort of undressing…in his bedroom. Yum.
I finished the closet, closed the doors, and turned to leave when the rose petals on the bed caught my eye. They’d stain the linens if they weren’t picked up, so I started gathering them.
“You don’t have to do that,” Parker said. “I’ll do it later.”
“No, they’ll stain,” I said, setting a knee on the mattress and reaching for the ones scattered on the pillows. “If you break them at all or squash them, that red color is a total pain to get out.” The minute I said it, I prayed he wouldn’t ask me how I knew that.
“Sage—”
“I’m almost done,” I cut him off, scrambling to grab the petals before he could stop me. There. That was all of them.
My hands full of velvety petals, I scooted back off the bed and stood,