His Substitute Wife... My Sister Book One Page 21

  When she started to take off her pajamas, she noticed that her underwear was soaked. Not from sweat. She could distinctly tell she had not lost her bladder through the night. Biting down on her lip, she pulled them to her nose and couldn’t determine what had caused the moisture between her legs.

  After emptying her bladder, she showered and dressed without Rochelle’s assistance.

  The desire to eat was not in her and she made her way to the library.

  He entered the office at exactly seven in the morning with a cup of coffee in hand, but by this time she had only been sitting in front of his desk for a good fifteen minutes scanning through a book about pregnancy and looking to see if it was possible for multiple personality syndrome to pop up while carrying a child. Concentrating had been difficult since she had tried not to look at the chair Parker had been sitting in just last night, which was how she ended up in front of his desk because she needed her back to the chair to quit being reminded of last night.

  Today he wore a striped gray suit with a green shirt and tie. Green was a good color for him. As always he looked freshly groomed and he had his jacket over his shoulder, walking in the room like a sexy male model on the runway.

  ‘There was a pep in his step! Damn! Chyna was right!’

  “A little rambunctious, are we?” he asked humorously.

  It took a moment for her to register he was referring to her being there early instead of what she had done last night.

  ‘You’re not supposed to be thinking about that! Stop it! Plus, if he knew that it was you, he would have made an indication when he came in the room. He suspects nothing. Forget it!’

  Keeping her composure, she said, “I’m an early riser. And I guess a little too eager. I haven’t worked in so long. You are going to pay me real money, aren’t you?”

  Parker chuckled and noted how she had pulled her hair in one ponytail and was wearing a simple white blouse and black skirt with no stockings and black shoes. Yet, the skirt was still ankle length and it looked like the split in the back had been purposefully sewn so there was no leg showing.

  She hurried up and explained, “I’m not allowed to put on stockings unless Rochelle gives me a pair, but I didn’t want to wake her so early in the morning.”

  “That’s fine,” he excused trying not to show that he liked the little skin he could see. “Can you have a seat behind the desk, so I can acclimate you on my system?”

  She did as she was told.

  “Fourteen dollars an hour. I’ll pay you with real money, but your doctor and I agreed you’ll be paid through a debit card with any and all purchases coming to the house. The card should arrive in seven days with your name on it. Plus, after Rochelle is released from her duty the monthly money that currently pays for her services will go on that card, which I’ve already arranged with the lawyer. Happy?” he questioned.

  “Yes.”

  “Now answer my questions.” He placed his jacket over a chair in front of the desk and then started to slowly circle the desk, coming closer… and closer… “How familiar are you with computers?”

  ‘Breathe, dammit!’ “Coolly, she answered, “I’ve used them at the facility and they made us take technology classes,” she answered. “I already knew how to type and I took several correspondent courses while at the facility.”

  “Good.”

  The door opened abruptly. It was Rochelle bringing the stockings and Charisse was glad to get away and gather herself together while she put the stockings on, but she knew Parker had not picked up on the inner turmoil she was going through.

  The nurse used this time alone to speak with Parker. “Your wife told me she’s going to her first appointment about her pregnancy with Dr. Redmond next week.”

  Quickly, Parker said, “I’ll take her. Just let me know the time and I’ll schedule to be there.”

  The nurse seemed surprised and suspicious by his actions. “Your wife doesn’t seem as excited about the baby as you are.”

  “I am and I’m really all that matters right now.”

  Charisse returned.

  “Will there be anything else?” Parker asked Rochelle in his most serious demeanor.

  “No, Mr. Mills. I’ll bring breakfast up if you want.”

  “That’s fine. Knock before interrupting us and if there’s no answer just leave it at the door.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Charisse found herself mesmerized by Parker’s businesslike behavior. This is the most she had ever been around him when he wasn’t just her brother-in-law and she like the respect he commanded. When the nurse was gone, closing the door behind her, Parker relaxed a little.

  “Are you ready?” he questioned, still standing on the side of the desk.

  She nodded sitting back in her chair trying to seem relaxed around him.

  For the next two hours, Parker showed her how to access the company’s email and website to download forms, how to check voicemail, fax to employees and clients and how to make sure all logs and receipts were kept.

  A weekly courier came by for the accounting and daily the driver’s logs had to be faxed or emailed to them by eleven p.m. at night.

  Lately, knowing he was without an assistant, the drivers understood receiving late schedules for their route, but no later than five a.m. that morning when most had to be on the road headed to pick up assignments or Parker had to do it himself.

  Parker had expanded laundry services to medical centers in the past month and trying to acquire a maid service business and several nursing homes, plus he’d submitted a petition to take on a hotel as well.

  It was amazing the amount of work that he did or had been doing by himself along with trying to acquire new accounts, take over if a driver or employee called in sick and proceed with future operations for the fast growing company.

  It saddened her a little to know this man who worked so hard came home to such a cold personal life and Chyna really didn’t appreciate all he was doing.

  But Charisse kept this to herself and let Parker teach her what to do. He was careful to stay on the other side of the desk and after they ate breakfast, he prepared to leave to meet with a potential client.

  During the training she also noticed how he sometimes ignored certain calls to his cell phone and she wondered what that was about.

  “You can call me at any time if you have any questions,” he said. “But I have confidence you can handle everything.”

  Today was the courier day for the accountant and he would return by eleven to show her how to prepare for that.

  Rochelle returned for the tray promptly and knocked before she entered.

  When they were alone again he grabbed his jacket and gave Charisse last minute instructions.

  “Wait,” she said before he left out the door.

  Coming around the desk, she walked up to him. He tie was crooked and even though she knew he would probably stop in a mirror and fix it before he left out the urge to do this was so compelling she couldn’t stop herself.

  Parker remained perfectly still as she reached up to adjust his tie straight.

  “I haven’t asked how you’re feeling today,” he said intimately.

  “You don’t need to.”

  “I should especially from yesterday. Are you having symptoms from the baby?”

  “And you know these symptoms?”

  “I’ve skimmed through a couple of books,” he admitted proudly.

  “I don’t feel sick,” she admitted. “Rochelle said some women get nauseous or dizzy, but I don’t feel anything.”

  “I guess that’s good. Although I can’t help to admit it was cool being there when you fainted. I’m pretty proud of myself that I didn’t panic.”

  “I guess I’m grateful too.” Inadvertently, she rested her hands on his chest. Suddenly that proximity sickness hit her like a wave and she wrapped her arms around her waist tightly and took a step back. “Have a good day.”

  “Call me if you need me,” he said and left
the library.

  ‘Would calling you back just to touch you count?’

  Charisse walked back to the desk and covered her face with her hands. ‘He has no idea! He spent hours with you just now and he doesn’t even know it was you, so why should you even think you matter to him?! You don’t! Stop thinking about it because you’re not doing it again – EVER!’

  ***

  Parker met with the client but his mind was far from work. There seemed to be two sides of his brain working at the same time. One part thought about Chyna and what she had done to him last night. It had been incredible and he had been very disappointed though when he’d awoken and she’d already left a message that she’d gone to do some “running around.”

  The other part thought about Charisse, and not just on the baby but the woman. In some cases she could be womanly and not the cold empty shell she wanted people to see. In other cases, she made him yearn for more with Chyna.

  After the meeting, he called his wife just because. She was getting her nails done at the time she answered.

  “Did you want to have lunch together in an hour?” he asked.

  “I’ll be going to do something. Why don’t you have lunch with Charisse,” she suggested.

  He didn’t want to bring up last night’s fight. His purpose had not been to call to argue with Chyna. “Because I was thinking of having lunch with my wife.”

  “Your wife is busy,” she said. “Please Parker, I really have something else to do. Charisse won’t mind your company.”

  She disconnected the call.

  Frustrated Parker called the house and let the maid know to have a nice lunch out for Charisse and himself. He offered for Rochelle and the maid to join them, but they declined.

  When he arrived back he was amazed that she had done exactly what he wanted done, plus started filling old driving logs that were sitting in a pile in his drawer.

  She was almost finished with that and had cleaned out all emails and voicemails for him for the day.

  “There were several hang-ups on your voicemail, but I wasn’t sure if this was on purpose or a technical problem with the phone,” she explained.

  Parker knew it wasn’t a technical problem. It was Cheyenne calling but not leaving a message. She usually did this often when they were heavily seeing each other to indicate for him to come over. Yet, now she didn’t know he was without an assistant.

  Neither twin had been interested in his business life.

  “How’s everything?” he asked concerned.

  “It’s fine. It’s been keeping me busy, which is always a good thing.” She looked very contented. “The accountant called to confirm pick up at 1:30 p.m.”

  “Well let me show you so we can have the package ready before we eat lunch,” he said.

  Whether she paid attention to the books or not, he relaxed allowing her to see the expense report.

  “Does Chyna know everything you do?” she asked as they sealed the envelope for the accountant’s courier and dated it.

  “I don’t think Chyna honestly cares what I do as long as her credit cards are paid, which the accountant makes sure.”

  “That’s odd. For a person who loves spending money, she doesn’t seem that shallow enough to not care where it comes from.”

  “Well, that’s because when we married, she insisted that we sign a pre-nuptial.”

  This took her off guard. “What kind of pre-nuptial? She didn’t have any money.”

  He shrugged and then looked a bit concerned. “I never really put that together or gave it much thought, until now.”

  “So you never pay attention to what she spends?”

  “Chyna has a five bedroom house, which she’s slowly been filling with things she buys or wears. As long as that’s on there I don’t question it. Her salon visits are on a credit account handled by the accountant and even where she goes for lunch or out to dinner is regular. I just get notified of out of the ordinary purchases. Currently, it’s baby furniture and doctor bills.”

  “You sure know how to take care of your wife.”

  “That’s what a husband is supposed to do,” he said proudly.

  She didn’t challenge this. If that’s how he was raised she couldn’t say he was wrong to believe such malarkey. Charisse just felt that Chyna wasn’t worth it and she certainly didn’t appreciate it.

  ‘And you do?’

  No, Charisse didn’t believe she could be with a man like Parker. Besides his generous nature to the people that he cared for, he was just a generally nice person on the inside and out. It made him very attractive that after a while drew a woman, but he had needs that were not being met and Charisse knew she couldn’t meet these needs.

  “Lunch should be ready. I had it prepared in the dining room for us,” he said.

  The maid came up to let him know the courier was at the door.

  “I’ll sign for it and meet you in the dining room.” Parker watched her leave and took a deep breath.

  She had opened up a couple of buttons of her shirt while he had been gone, obviously to get comfortable and when she had leaned over to look at the books, her shirt had opened a little. For some reason, Parker had not imagined her having breasts – large breasts screaming because they were confined in a tight bra that was trying to disguise the size of them. Voluptuous, light brown and smooth. She had to be two cups larger than both her sisters and he could imagine that she would have brown sugar nipples, perky and tight.

  “STOP!’ he ordered, rubbing a frustrated hand over his face. His goatee was getting thicker because he loved the feel of it on his face, but even right now it was annoying him.

  “You okay?” she asked when he entered the dining room.

  Being asked about his well-being caught him off guard. “No… Yes… just a lot on my mind.”

  “I’m surprised you’re not distracted more with all you do.”

  “You think it’s a lot.”

  “Parker, you’re handling over three different kinds of businesses with over seven employees, while you try to do administration by yourself.”

  “Well, my office will open in a year and I’ll hire more people. Thaddeus, a friend of mine, will introduce me to the casino hotel and by then I hope to acquire seven more nursing homes.”

  The maid had situated him at the usual head of the table and placed her to the left of him instead of the opposite end like she would do if Chyna were eating with him.

  They sat and fixed their plates. She only put a little on her plate and even then picked it over eating a little of it and then picked on it some more.

  Parker watched her and knew instantly she had a lot on her mind. “Are you hungry?”

  “I was, but this isn’t what I’m famished for. I guess the baby has affected my eating habits a little.” She sounded a little put out.

  “Is there something you want? Or desire?”

  Charisse looked away from him. When he said words like that, she thought about last night.

  “No… um… not really, or at least I don’t know yet.”

  He pushed his plate away. “You won’t be seeing Dr. Redmond until next week. Do you think you’ll be alright?”

  “I think figuring out my cravings won’t become a medical emergency.”

  “This is all new to me, Charisse.”

  “Don’t sound sorry about it and don’t deny me making fun of you.” She made that face to show she was finding amusement.

  He was finding out by himself Charisse kept her emotions in check and chose not to show she was happy or something was funny. Seriously, he asked, “Why do you do that? Keep happiness away from you?”

  She purposely put a lot of food in her mouth to give her time to think over this question. “I don’t think I do it on purpose, actually. It must be out of habit.”

  “I don’t think you should. No one can hurt you anymore.”

  Gawd! Why did it sound so reassuring when he said it as if everything is better? “Didn’t we talk about trying to m
ake me happy?”

  “Didn’t you say you would fake it?”

  She did say that and rolled her eyes at his silliness. “I’m not a good faker.” Neither was she a person to hold her tongue or deny her curiosity anything. Right now, she was dying to know what he was thinking. “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Why did I have the feeling you’ve been trying to ask me a question all day?”

  “Really? Did I?”

  “Well, every time you thought I wasn’t looking at you, you’d stare at me.”

  ‘HE WAS WATCHING HER?! HE KNEW! There was no other way to explain that statement! Oh gawd! Parker Mills knew who was in the room last night! Die now, Charisse! Just die!’ Her mouth was dry as a desert and she drunk the entire glass of water that had been out for her lunch.

  “Wow! You were thirsty,” he noted and then placed his elbow on the table and leaned his head on his fist. “Now what did you want to ask me, Charisse?”

  It hurt to swallow and she was sure some small sounding gasps escaped her lip because she couldn’t form the words that were just screaming inside her head.

  “Charisse?” he asked concerned.

  “H-How do you feel about yesterday?”

  Parker titled his head even more and a sensuous grin graced his lips. His eyes danced and there was this small look of heated pleasure pulsing from his eyes for a short moment. “I told you. I’m excited, ecstatic and really happy about you being pregnant.”

  “I wasn’t talking about yesterday morning Parker. I know that already. I’m talking about last night.”

  “You mean that scene with Jaelen here?”

  “Yes and no. I mean also upstairs too.” Couldn’t he just read her mind?

  He sat up and loosened his tie considerably deep in thought. “It was settled between us last night, Charisse. You gave me the assurance I needed and there’s nothing more to discuss unless you want to.”

  “And then afterwards?”

  “After what? Jaelen left?”

  “Yes. How do you feel about that?”

  “What are you trying to get at, Charisse?” he asked confused.

  “You and… my sister.”

  “I think that’s between Chyna and I,” he said defensively.