See Part 1 for full disclaimer.
I Would Remember Something Like That, Part 4
By Ginger
*Careful, now,* Parker counseled herself as she popped a CD into the player. Jarod already looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a very large vehicle and she didn't want to do anything to spook him further.
*Breaking into song probably wouldn't be advisable,* she mused as she turned to find him fidgeting on the couch, his eyes darting nervously around the room. He was well and truly scared shitless. It was almost too good to be true.
*Almost.*
When things went wrong – as they did, often – they tended to go epically, biblically wrong. *Why,* she reasoned, *shouldn't it be the same when, for a change, things go right?*
She was on the righteous side of a cause for once, having set in motion the sequence of events that would avenge her baby brother's assault. That, in itself, would have been sufficient. Jarod's wildly entertaining arrival was just the icing on the cake.
*Mmmm... icing,* Parker thought, imagining a creative use for creamy chocolate frosting. For as long as she'd known him, Jarod had always reminded her of chocolate, particularly those eyes: luscious, forbidden and so very sweet. And tempting... definitely tempting. The way she figured it, she had been a *very* good girl and deserved a treat. And this particular confection was definitely one hundred percent fat free.
"Ready, Jarod?" she purred, adopting the most benign smile she could muster given the content of her thoughts.
He swallowed hard and nodded adorably. She flicked on the CD player then off-handedly tossed aside the remote as the first chords of the sultry, exotic music filled the room.
"Now," she instructed throatily, even as she began to sway to the music. "As a professional, I must lay down a few ground rules before we begin."
"Ground rules?" Jarod asked, his interest obviously piqued.
"Ground rules," she purred, reveling in the sight of those deep brown eyes, so large and full of wonder, being drawn to her swaying hips.
"A private lap dance involves one-on-one contact between patron, that's you, and performer, that would be me, so we *must* heed all the rules. After all, one false move and what started out as harmless entertainment could quickly degenerate into something that constitutes a felony in this state. Do you understand?"
He nodded gravely, as though she'd just shared a secret of vital national security. Parker was forced to bite her lip to stifle a giggle. *Careful,* she reminded herself, then continued aloud,
"So, for the duration of the lap dance, you must not, at any time, place your hands on any part of my body. In fact, my best recommendation would be to keep your hands at your sides at all times. Oh, and you are not to attempt to kiss me. In fact, any contact between your mouth and my body is strictly forbidden. Do you understand?"
Again, he nodded, looking like a soldier who'd just been called to the front. Cocking his head, he looked thoughtfully into her eyes and inquired, "Are you... are your actions constrained in any way?"
*Ah,* she thought. *So those notorious self-preservation instincts haven't failed him... not completely anyway.*
"Good question," she observed with a slight shrug. "My actions are governed by the same rules. I am not to touch you..." As she tugged at the drawstring of her workout pants, she tacked on knowingly,
"With my *hands,* that is. Nor am I to employ my lips... tongue... teeth..." She clearly enunciated each word. "In any manner on your body. Now... having said all that, I can assure you..." she promised seductively as she continued to teasingly play with the tie at her waist.
"You'll find the experience worthwhile or *Miss Starr* doesn't know her business."
She spun around, placing her back to him as she continued to rock to the music. Glancing invitingly over her shoulder, Parker inquired,
"So, you still with me, Jarod?"
"Yes, thank you."
Slipping her fingers into the waistband of her pants, she mused,*Yes, thank you? Is he for real? I'll bet the little shit's playing me. Well then... play away, monkeyboy. I'll still blow your mind.*
Parker decided to stop thinking and do exactly what she had been doing earlier, and rather successfully until Jarod had shown up and inflicted his usual chaos. She surrendered her body to the music and began to dance unselfconsciously. Man, it was fun; it felt good to dance for an audience of one, for *this* audience of one.
As the loose cotton pants slid effortlessly down her legs, she heard Jarod gasp and knew the source of his astonishment. She wasn't wearing the silver tap pants, or the shiny silver thong, but a pair of delicate lace panties, basic black. And she knew that he knew; this wasn't Miss Starr's costume, it was Miss Parker's intimate apparel. A knot of excitement coiled in her stomach.
She had surprised him.
Gracefully stepping out of the pants now lying in a heap on the floor, Parker did a perfect pirouette that must have been a vestige of all those dance classes she'd taken as a child because, until that moment, she hadn't been aware that she knew how. While continuing to move to the rhythm pulsing through her body, she looked into Jarod's eyes and found a thoroughly intoxicating combination of awe, fear and yearning then noticed that his hands were already balled tightly into fists at his sides. He was visibly trembling and a thin sheen of perspiration glistened on his forehead. She took a moment to ponder how his sweat might taste then, without breaking their gaze for an instant, began her slow, relentless advance on him.
Standing toe to toe with Jarod, Parker gracefully lifted her left leg to place a bare foot onto the sofa beside him, causing him to visibly tense as he stole a nervous sideward glance at the nude, shimmering, shapely limb now in such close proximity to his person. Leaning in, she gestured toward the zipper to her thin hooded sweatshirt and offered,
"Care to do the honors?"
"B... but I thought?" he began but stopped when she shook her head slowly and cast him a playful, mock frown.
"I said you couldn't touch my body but I am not aware of any rule that says you can't touch a zipper on a piece of clothing."
He didn't move a muscle.
"C'mon, Jar," she teased. "I'm sure a smart boy like you is capable of successfully operating a zipper."
She unleashed that devilish, slightly taunting expression she'd employed when they were kids, whenever she sought to persuade him to do something against his better judgment, which was often. Now, as then, it worked like a charm.
He slowly unballed his left fist and gingerly lifted his hand to grasp the zipper with a shaky hand. Sucking in a deep breath, he gently unzipped the top while politely focusing his eyes anywhere and everywhere in the room except on her.
"The point *is* to *look,* Jarod," she advised with amusement in her voice. "I *know* you were looking earlier, at the club, so you might as well look now."
The moment he met her eyes again, Parker immediately regretted it. She was afraid of something like this; it had been her only reservation. Feeling a lump forming in her throat, she swallowed hard and steeled her resolve.
*We're here to have *fun* tonight... period!*
"Are you okay?" His voice was a tender, soulful whisper as he offered, "You don't have to, you know. I understand if you're feeling..."
"Fine," she interrupted in a clipped tone while wrestling a powerful urge to caress his cheek. His compassion was *not* helping. It rarely did.
"I'm feeling just fine," she reiterated as she shimmied out of her top and made a show of tossing it aside.
Parker now hovered over Jarod in lacy black panties and a matching bra. He finally allowed his gaze to settle upon her, taking her in for several long moments before his face erupted in what was probably the most uninhibited, sincere look of wonder she had ever seen. She knew what was coming next and braced herself.
"You're... beautiful," he said softly.
He cast his eyes shyly up at her and Parker found herself searching them for any hint of insincerity. Suddenly, it *did* matter whether or not he was for real. With all that had passed between them in the years since his escape, the one thing Jarod had never done was lie to her with his eyes.
*Oh yeah, he's for real.*
She leaned forward and growled, "Time to get down to business, Jarod," then lifted her leg off the sofa, twirled around again, and recommenced swaying to the music.
"Another star," Jarod observed a bit more matter-of-factly than she would have preferred as his eyes came to rest on the rhinestones affixed in her *trademark* pattern to the small of her back. "I somehow missed that one earlier," he added in a slightly strained conversational tone.
Glancing over her shoulder and smiling, she asked, "Do you like it?"
"It's very nice, but I have a question."
*Of course you do.*
"Yes?"
"How did you manage to get the rhinestones so perfectly aligned in a rather... inaccessible location?"
"Well, I *could* tell you..." Parker began with a cheeky grin, then added, "but then I'd have to kill you. I'm going to sit down now. Ready?"
"As I'm ever likely to be," he muttered softly and somewhat distractedly.
She could feel his eyes burning into her lower back. He was staring at the star; she just knew it. Grinning, she reached up to pull the rubberband out of her hair. Shaking her head to make her liberated locks spill onto her bare shoulders, Parker hesitated a moment, a little taken aback when she sensed the palpable energy passing between their bodies even though they hadn't touched yet. She had to admit to herself that it had always been there, from their very first face-to-face encounter when she'd vowed to get him, and he'd replied "Wanna bet!" and had her strip searched.
*Fitting revenge,* she mused as she slowly sank down onto his lap. *Looks like Wonderboy lost the bet after all.*
Any reservations she may have had evaporated the moment she made contact. Jarod didn't move a muscle and she was pretty sure he had stopped breathing. Perched on the edge of his lap, Parker commenced swaying on his firm, muscular legs. Gyrating to the music, she managed to elicit a startled gasp from him as she tossed her head back to give him a face full of her hair then, turning her head, cast him a smoldering, mischievous look. The look she recieved in return was so evocative of the first boy she kissed that, were it not for the intense lust taking precendence at the moment, she might have burst into tears.
Instead, she slithered off of his lap using his long legs as a slide. When she reached the floor, Parker turned around to face him, narrowing her eyes as if to say, "Now you're going to get it." Planting her hands on the either side of him on the the sofa, she retraced the journey she had just made, pressing her torso against his legs as she slithered back up again and reveling in the low groans that escaped from Jarod's throat as her lace-covered breasts slid up his denim-encased legs. It felt very, very good.
Climbing back onto the sofa, she kneeled across his lap and flexed the muscles of her inner thighs to straddle him *tightly.* Parker locked Jarod in gaze and drank in the vulnerabilty and raw need she saw in his eyes then inched forward at a tortuously slow pace, all the while swaying in perfect time to the hypnotic rhythm of the music. When her chest was only a couple inches from his, she stopped and glanced down at the clasp of her bra then looked knowingly up at him.
His eyes grew wide and he stammered, "I... I... d... don't..."
Shaking her head slowly, Parker brought a finger to her lips to shush him, then traced that finger under her chin, down her neck, and all the way to the fastener in question. With an inviting smile and a flick of her finger, she unclasped her bra then slowly, teasingly removed it to reveal what lie beneath.
His eyes widening further, if that were possible, Jarod's jaw dropped and he exclaimed, "More stars!"
"Well," she replied with a deep, seductive laugh. "They *are* Miss Starr's trademark."
"Wow," he said with a boyish grin.
"Wow indeed," she purred in response, watching with amusement as he stared unabashedly at her *trademarks.* It was beyond cute.
When she'd watched her fill, Parker braced herself by placing her hands on the back of the couch then inched forward to bring her torso into full contact with his. Jarod released a strangled cry at the sensation of her *stars* rubbing up against his fine, sculpted chest. He felt so powerful, so male. It was exquisite.
Straigtening on her bent knees, she instructed softly, "Lean back and slide forward on your seat a bit. Good boy," she added sweetly when he swiftly complied.
Parker leaned forward so that her hair fell like a curtain around his face. Turning her head gently from side to side, she swept the silky strands across his face. Jarod's breathing became more labored as he took even deeper breaths in an attempt to draw in her scent. She was more or less panting herself by that point, particularly when she noticed the visible tension in his shoulders. He was trembling, struggling to control himself. He wanted to touch her... desperately. She knew this because she wanted it too... desperately.
"How are you doing, Jarod?" she whispered, her hot breath commingling with his as their faces remained only an inch or so apart.
His only answer was a shuddering sigh. She had rendered him speechless. *Who knew,* she mused. *Who knew that life could be so beautiful?*
Parker pressed closer then sank down, bending her knees until the lower half of her body touched the lower half of his at a most advantageous location. Jarod flinched at the contact then let out the most ragged, desperate moan she had ever heard. It was music to her ears.
"Ah... I can s... see you're doing just fine," she remarked haltingly.
Her own body quivered head to toe with arousal as she ground her body against his. She became lost in an erotic trance as she moved against him, her pelvis thrusting in time to the music. It felt better than anything had in a very long time as she surrendered completely to the experience.
The spell was finally broken when it occurred to her that the music had stopped, and all was quiet except for the sound of their heavy breathing. Only then did she realize that she had closed her eyes. Opening one, she peeked out from beneath her tousled hair to find him looking hot, sweaty and extremely flustered, and figured that she must look about the same.
Opening both eyes, she sat back on her heels, brushed aside the strands of hair that were sticking to her slick skin, and inquired a little breathlessly,
"So, what's the verdict? Does *Miss Starr* know her business?"
Obviously striving to get his heartrate and respiration under control, Jarod cleared his throat and replied, "I have no basis for comparison, but I cannot imagine how anyone could have done better."
Parker smiled an open, unguarded smile. He responded in kind, prompting her to brush his hair out of his eyes and smooth it across his damp forehead. Blinking adoringly at her through his thick eyelashes, he asked,
"Is this the point at which I am supposed to stuff legal tender inside your intimate apparel?"
With a smirk she answered, "Yes, now would be the time."
"But my wallet is in my jacket pocket." He nodded in the direction of the chair over which his jacket was draped.
"Oh well," she said with a sigh. "I guess I'll just have to exact *another* form of payment for my services."
Parker wrapped her arms around Jarod's neck and claimed his mouth in a deep, punishing kiss. Although he kissed her back in earnest, after a minute or so she realized something was amiss and glanced down to find that his hands remained planted firmly at his sides and balled so tightly into fists that they were virtually white from lack of blood flow.
Pulling away from him, she frowned slightly and advised, "The lap dance is officially over, genius."
"I am aware of that," he stated.
"Then why," she began then paused to lift one of his hands, pry it open, and plant it firmly on her hip before continuing, "Why aren't you using your hands?"
Averting his eyes, he replied awkwardly, "I... it's just that... I'm a little confused."
"About what?" she asked incredulously. He couldn't possibly be confused about her intentions; the events of the evening had not been an exercise in subtlety.
"I... I just don't understand why, all of a sudden, you..."
Shaking her head and smiling, she pressed her forehead to his and explained, "First of all, genius, it isn't exactly all of a sudden. You've only been working on me for, what, five years? Inflicting those big puppy dog eyes on me every chance you get... reaching out to me at my weakest and most vulnerable moments when I most need a friend... I guess you just wore me down. Second of all, you made a complete idiot of yourself tonight... and in public, no less."
Pulling back and looking rather bewildered, Jarod asked, "And that's a *good* thing?"
Nodding emphatically, Parker responded, "When a man who always seems so in control, and who has gotten the better of you more times than you'd care to count - a genius no less - makes a total ass of himself over you, it is a *very* good thing."
He pondered a moment then commented, "That's it? That's all it took? If I'd only known..." He emitted a heavy sigh then continued, "I'm a complete idiot all the time, Parker."
"Jarod."
"Even after all this time, you'd be surprised by how much I still get wrong. You should see the way people look at me sometimes."
"Jarod."
"And half the time, I don't even bother to figure out what I've done or said or..."
"Jarod!"
Parker finally succeeded in shutting him up by grasping his head firmly in both hands. Cupping his cheeks, she smiled warmly and suggested,
"Let's deal with this on a case by case basis, shall we?"
They gazed into each other's eyes for a long moment then he shrugged and muttered, "Works for me."
Parker's mouth curled into a sly smile that was answered by one of Jarod's *gotcha* grins, the first she'd seen all evening. She was about to comment on it when he pulled her into a crushing embrace and engaged her in a hot, bruising kiss. And this time he let his hands roam freely.
# # # #
TBC, but I think it's safe to say we're in the homestretch here...;-)
I Would Remember Something Like That, Part 4
By Ginger
*Careful, now,* Parker counseled herself as she popped a CD into the player. Jarod already looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a very large vehicle and she didn't want to do anything to spook him further.
*Breaking into song probably wouldn't be advisable,* she mused as she turned to find him fidgeting on the couch, his eyes darting nervously around the room. He was well and truly scared shitless. It was almost too good to be true.
*Almost.*
When things went wrong – as they did, often – they tended to go epically, biblically wrong. *Why,* she reasoned, *shouldn't it be the same when, for a change, things go right?*
She was on the righteous side of a cause for once, having set in motion the sequence of events that would avenge her baby brother's assault. That, in itself, would have been sufficient. Jarod's wildly entertaining arrival was just the icing on the cake.
*Mmmm... icing,* Parker thought, imagining a creative use for creamy chocolate frosting. For as long as she'd known him, Jarod had always reminded her of chocolate, particularly those eyes: luscious, forbidden and so very sweet. And tempting... definitely tempting. The way she figured it, she had been a *very* good girl and deserved a treat. And this particular confection was definitely one hundred percent fat free.
"Ready, Jarod?" she purred, adopting the most benign smile she could muster given the content of her thoughts.
He swallowed hard and nodded adorably. She flicked on the CD player then off-handedly tossed aside the remote as the first chords of the sultry, exotic music filled the room.
"Now," she instructed throatily, even as she began to sway to the music. "As a professional, I must lay down a few ground rules before we begin."
"Ground rules?" Jarod asked, his interest obviously piqued.
"Ground rules," she purred, reveling in the sight of those deep brown eyes, so large and full of wonder, being drawn to her swaying hips.
"A private lap dance involves one-on-one contact between patron, that's you, and performer, that would be me, so we *must* heed all the rules. After all, one false move and what started out as harmless entertainment could quickly degenerate into something that constitutes a felony in this state. Do you understand?"
He nodded gravely, as though she'd just shared a secret of vital national security. Parker was forced to bite her lip to stifle a giggle. *Careful,* she reminded herself, then continued aloud,
"So, for the duration of the lap dance, you must not, at any time, place your hands on any part of my body. In fact, my best recommendation would be to keep your hands at your sides at all times. Oh, and you are not to attempt to kiss me. In fact, any contact between your mouth and my body is strictly forbidden. Do you understand?"
Again, he nodded, looking like a soldier who'd just been called to the front. Cocking his head, he looked thoughtfully into her eyes and inquired, "Are you... are your actions constrained in any way?"
*Ah,* she thought. *So those notorious self-preservation instincts haven't failed him... not completely anyway.*
"Good question," she observed with a slight shrug. "My actions are governed by the same rules. I am not to touch you..." As she tugged at the drawstring of her workout pants, she tacked on knowingly,
"With my *hands,* that is. Nor am I to employ my lips... tongue... teeth..." She clearly enunciated each word. "In any manner on your body. Now... having said all that, I can assure you..." she promised seductively as she continued to teasingly play with the tie at her waist.
"You'll find the experience worthwhile or *Miss Starr* doesn't know her business."
She spun around, placing her back to him as she continued to rock to the music. Glancing invitingly over her shoulder, Parker inquired,
"So, you still with me, Jarod?"
"Yes, thank you."
Slipping her fingers into the waistband of her pants, she mused,*Yes, thank you? Is he for real? I'll bet the little shit's playing me. Well then... play away, monkeyboy. I'll still blow your mind.*
Parker decided to stop thinking and do exactly what she had been doing earlier, and rather successfully until Jarod had shown up and inflicted his usual chaos. She surrendered her body to the music and began to dance unselfconsciously. Man, it was fun; it felt good to dance for an audience of one, for *this* audience of one.
As the loose cotton pants slid effortlessly down her legs, she heard Jarod gasp and knew the source of his astonishment. She wasn't wearing the silver tap pants, or the shiny silver thong, but a pair of delicate lace panties, basic black. And she knew that he knew; this wasn't Miss Starr's costume, it was Miss Parker's intimate apparel. A knot of excitement coiled in her stomach.
She had surprised him.
Gracefully stepping out of the pants now lying in a heap on the floor, Parker did a perfect pirouette that must have been a vestige of all those dance classes she'd taken as a child because, until that moment, she hadn't been aware that she knew how. While continuing to move to the rhythm pulsing through her body, she looked into Jarod's eyes and found a thoroughly intoxicating combination of awe, fear and yearning then noticed that his hands were already balled tightly into fists at his sides. He was visibly trembling and a thin sheen of perspiration glistened on his forehead. She took a moment to ponder how his sweat might taste then, without breaking their gaze for an instant, began her slow, relentless advance on him.
Standing toe to toe with Jarod, Parker gracefully lifted her left leg to place a bare foot onto the sofa beside him, causing him to visibly tense as he stole a nervous sideward glance at the nude, shimmering, shapely limb now in such close proximity to his person. Leaning in, she gestured toward the zipper to her thin hooded sweatshirt and offered,
"Care to do the honors?"
"B... but I thought?" he began but stopped when she shook her head slowly and cast him a playful, mock frown.
"I said you couldn't touch my body but I am not aware of any rule that says you can't touch a zipper on a piece of clothing."
He didn't move a muscle.
"C'mon, Jar," she teased. "I'm sure a smart boy like you is capable of successfully operating a zipper."
She unleashed that devilish, slightly taunting expression she'd employed when they were kids, whenever she sought to persuade him to do something against his better judgment, which was often. Now, as then, it worked like a charm.
He slowly unballed his left fist and gingerly lifted his hand to grasp the zipper with a shaky hand. Sucking in a deep breath, he gently unzipped the top while politely focusing his eyes anywhere and everywhere in the room except on her.
"The point *is* to *look,* Jarod," she advised with amusement in her voice. "I *know* you were looking earlier, at the club, so you might as well look now."
The moment he met her eyes again, Parker immediately regretted it. She was afraid of something like this; it had been her only reservation. Feeling a lump forming in her throat, she swallowed hard and steeled her resolve.
*We're here to have *fun* tonight... period!*
"Are you okay?" His voice was a tender, soulful whisper as he offered, "You don't have to, you know. I understand if you're feeling..."
"Fine," she interrupted in a clipped tone while wrestling a powerful urge to caress his cheek. His compassion was *not* helping. It rarely did.
"I'm feeling just fine," she reiterated as she shimmied out of her top and made a show of tossing it aside.
Parker now hovered over Jarod in lacy black panties and a matching bra. He finally allowed his gaze to settle upon her, taking her in for several long moments before his face erupted in what was probably the most uninhibited, sincere look of wonder she had ever seen. She knew what was coming next and braced herself.
"You're... beautiful," he said softly.
He cast his eyes shyly up at her and Parker found herself searching them for any hint of insincerity. Suddenly, it *did* matter whether or not he was for real. With all that had passed between them in the years since his escape, the one thing Jarod had never done was lie to her with his eyes.
*Oh yeah, he's for real.*
She leaned forward and growled, "Time to get down to business, Jarod," then lifted her leg off the sofa, twirled around again, and recommenced swaying to the music.
"Another star," Jarod observed a bit more matter-of-factly than she would have preferred as his eyes came to rest on the rhinestones affixed in her *trademark* pattern to the small of her back. "I somehow missed that one earlier," he added in a slightly strained conversational tone.
Glancing over her shoulder and smiling, she asked, "Do you like it?"
"It's very nice, but I have a question."
*Of course you do.*
"Yes?"
"How did you manage to get the rhinestones so perfectly aligned in a rather... inaccessible location?"
"Well, I *could* tell you..." Parker began with a cheeky grin, then added, "but then I'd have to kill you. I'm going to sit down now. Ready?"
"As I'm ever likely to be," he muttered softly and somewhat distractedly.
She could feel his eyes burning into her lower back. He was staring at the star; she just knew it. Grinning, she reached up to pull the rubberband out of her hair. Shaking her head to make her liberated locks spill onto her bare shoulders, Parker hesitated a moment, a little taken aback when she sensed the palpable energy passing between their bodies even though they hadn't touched yet. She had to admit to herself that it had always been there, from their very first face-to-face encounter when she'd vowed to get him, and he'd replied "Wanna bet!" and had her strip searched.
*Fitting revenge,* she mused as she slowly sank down onto his lap. *Looks like Wonderboy lost the bet after all.*
Any reservations she may have had evaporated the moment she made contact. Jarod didn't move a muscle and she was pretty sure he had stopped breathing. Perched on the edge of his lap, Parker commenced swaying on his firm, muscular legs. Gyrating to the music, she managed to elicit a startled gasp from him as she tossed her head back to give him a face full of her hair then, turning her head, cast him a smoldering, mischievous look. The look she recieved in return was so evocative of the first boy she kissed that, were it not for the intense lust taking precendence at the moment, she might have burst into tears.
Instead, she slithered off of his lap using his long legs as a slide. When she reached the floor, Parker turned around to face him, narrowing her eyes as if to say, "Now you're going to get it." Planting her hands on the either side of him on the the sofa, she retraced the journey she had just made, pressing her torso against his legs as she slithered back up again and reveling in the low groans that escaped from Jarod's throat as her lace-covered breasts slid up his denim-encased legs. It felt very, very good.
Climbing back onto the sofa, she kneeled across his lap and flexed the muscles of her inner thighs to straddle him *tightly.* Parker locked Jarod in gaze and drank in the vulnerabilty and raw need she saw in his eyes then inched forward at a tortuously slow pace, all the while swaying in perfect time to the hypnotic rhythm of the music. When her chest was only a couple inches from his, she stopped and glanced down at the clasp of her bra then looked knowingly up at him.
His eyes grew wide and he stammered, "I... I... d... don't..."
Shaking her head slowly, Parker brought a finger to her lips to shush him, then traced that finger under her chin, down her neck, and all the way to the fastener in question. With an inviting smile and a flick of her finger, she unclasped her bra then slowly, teasingly removed it to reveal what lie beneath.
His eyes widening further, if that were possible, Jarod's jaw dropped and he exclaimed, "More stars!"
"Well," she replied with a deep, seductive laugh. "They *are* Miss Starr's trademark."
"Wow," he said with a boyish grin.
"Wow indeed," she purred in response, watching with amusement as he stared unabashedly at her *trademarks.* It was beyond cute.
When she'd watched her fill, Parker braced herself by placing her hands on the back of the couch then inched forward to bring her torso into full contact with his. Jarod released a strangled cry at the sensation of her *stars* rubbing up against his fine, sculpted chest. He felt so powerful, so male. It was exquisite.
Straigtening on her bent knees, she instructed softly, "Lean back and slide forward on your seat a bit. Good boy," she added sweetly when he swiftly complied.
Parker leaned forward so that her hair fell like a curtain around his face. Turning her head gently from side to side, she swept the silky strands across his face. Jarod's breathing became more labored as he took even deeper breaths in an attempt to draw in her scent. She was more or less panting herself by that point, particularly when she noticed the visible tension in his shoulders. He was trembling, struggling to control himself. He wanted to touch her... desperately. She knew this because she wanted it too... desperately.
"How are you doing, Jarod?" she whispered, her hot breath commingling with his as their faces remained only an inch or so apart.
His only answer was a shuddering sigh. She had rendered him speechless. *Who knew,* she mused. *Who knew that life could be so beautiful?*
Parker pressed closer then sank down, bending her knees until the lower half of her body touched the lower half of his at a most advantageous location. Jarod flinched at the contact then let out the most ragged, desperate moan she had ever heard. It was music to her ears.
"Ah... I can s... see you're doing just fine," she remarked haltingly.
Her own body quivered head to toe with arousal as she ground her body against his. She became lost in an erotic trance as she moved against him, her pelvis thrusting in time to the music. It felt better than anything had in a very long time as she surrendered completely to the experience.
The spell was finally broken when it occurred to her that the music had stopped, and all was quiet except for the sound of their heavy breathing. Only then did she realize that she had closed her eyes. Opening one, she peeked out from beneath her tousled hair to find him looking hot, sweaty and extremely flustered, and figured that she must look about the same.
Opening both eyes, she sat back on her heels, brushed aside the strands of hair that were sticking to her slick skin, and inquired a little breathlessly,
"So, what's the verdict? Does *Miss Starr* know her business?"
Obviously striving to get his heartrate and respiration under control, Jarod cleared his throat and replied, "I have no basis for comparison, but I cannot imagine how anyone could have done better."
Parker smiled an open, unguarded smile. He responded in kind, prompting her to brush his hair out of his eyes and smooth it across his damp forehead. Blinking adoringly at her through his thick eyelashes, he asked,
"Is this the point at which I am supposed to stuff legal tender inside your intimate apparel?"
With a smirk she answered, "Yes, now would be the time."
"But my wallet is in my jacket pocket." He nodded in the direction of the chair over which his jacket was draped.
"Oh well," she said with a sigh. "I guess I'll just have to exact *another* form of payment for my services."
Parker wrapped her arms around Jarod's neck and claimed his mouth in a deep, punishing kiss. Although he kissed her back in earnest, after a minute or so she realized something was amiss and glanced down to find that his hands remained planted firmly at his sides and balled so tightly into fists that they were virtually white from lack of blood flow.
Pulling away from him, she frowned slightly and advised, "The lap dance is officially over, genius."
"I am aware of that," he stated.
"Then why," she began then paused to lift one of his hands, pry it open, and plant it firmly on her hip before continuing, "Why aren't you using your hands?"
Averting his eyes, he replied awkwardly, "I... it's just that... I'm a little confused."
"About what?" she asked incredulously. He couldn't possibly be confused about her intentions; the events of the evening had not been an exercise in subtlety.
"I... I just don't understand why, all of a sudden, you..."
Shaking her head and smiling, she pressed her forehead to his and explained, "First of all, genius, it isn't exactly all of a sudden. You've only been working on me for, what, five years? Inflicting those big puppy dog eyes on me every chance you get... reaching out to me at my weakest and most vulnerable moments when I most need a friend... I guess you just wore me down. Second of all, you made a complete idiot of yourself tonight... and in public, no less."
Pulling back and looking rather bewildered, Jarod asked, "And that's a *good* thing?"
Nodding emphatically, Parker responded, "When a man who always seems so in control, and who has gotten the better of you more times than you'd care to count - a genius no less - makes a total ass of himself over you, it is a *very* good thing."
He pondered a moment then commented, "That's it? That's all it took? If I'd only known..." He emitted a heavy sigh then continued, "I'm a complete idiot all the time, Parker."
"Jarod."
"Even after all this time, you'd be surprised by how much I still get wrong. You should see the way people look at me sometimes."
"Jarod."
"And half the time, I don't even bother to figure out what I've done or said or..."
"Jarod!"
Parker finally succeeded in shutting him up by grasping his head firmly in both hands. Cupping his cheeks, she smiled warmly and suggested,
"Let's deal with this on a case by case basis, shall we?"
They gazed into each other's eyes for a long moment then he shrugged and muttered, "Works for me."
Parker's mouth curled into a sly smile that was answered by one of Jarod's *gotcha* grins, the first she'd seen all evening. She was about to comment on it when he pulled her into a crushing embrace and engaged her in a hot, bruising kiss. And this time he let his hands roam freely.
# # # #
TBC, but I think it's safe to say we're in the homestretch here...;-)