Remi was laying on his side watching Parker sleep when he thought he heard some sort of commotion outside in the hallway. He remained in his place while he focused on what was being said on the other side of his bedroom door to use his preternatural powers to listen in.
"But he found her tub randomly discarded on a chair. How do you know nothing bad has happened to her?" He heard Aimée worriedly asking whomever was with her.
"Because you know as well as I do that things aren't always what they seem," Dev replied in a careful, placating tone. "Why don't we go check out her room before we start freaking out?"
"I've already checked there. Why do you think I asked you to help me look for her?" He heard Aimée retort as her voice started to fade away.
Shit. Remi thought to himself as he let out a silent sigh. He should have known better and that sooner or later something bad would happen. That something would happen and it would mean that he would have to let her go. He had just hoped that their moment together could have lasted a little while longer.
After letting out another soft sigh, he leaned in close to Parker's face. He gently brushed his nose against hers as he whispered, "Parker… Par-ker… "
"Mmm..." She grumbled as she rubbed her eyes and tried to roll away from him. "Merh... five more minutes."
"No Parker, you need to open your eyes... now," he quietly replied against her as he gently shook her shoulders.
Parker kept trying to snuggle into his side to fall back asleep so Remi started to shake her shoulders more vigorously. It seemed to do the trick because she finally started to open her eyes. She really wanted to glare at whoever thought it was a good idea to disturb her slumber. Instead when she opened her eyes she found the one person that could now always put a smile on her face.
As a lazy smile spread across her face, Parker turned onto her side to face Remi and said, "You may not need much turnaround time, but I seriously need some sleep if I'm going to be able to function at all later."
He let out a breathy laugh and did nothing to stop her from pecking his lips. She then took one of his hands in both of hers and tucked it against her chest lit his limb was a teddy bear. He took in the contented look on her face and hated that he would have to do something, anything, to extinguish the light he saw on her face. Even though he hated it, he knew he was going to have to go through with it.
He petted the side of her head and then tucked her hair behind her ear with his free hand. Remi leaned down to gently kiss her lips. She chased his lips as he pulled away from her and he almost gave into his desire to keep her as happy as he could for the time being, but then the tone of Aimée's voice came back to haunt him. She was so genuinely worried about the young human and he didn't want to do anything that might prolong those feelings in any way.
When Parker moved to press her lips against his again, Remi placed a firm hand on her shoulder and said, "You don't know how much I wish that that was the reason I had to wake you up."
Parker frowned at the tone of his voice and moved a little bit away from him as she asked, "What's wrong? Why do...? Is something...? Did I...?"
He heard panic creeping into her tone, so he made sure to keep his voice as calm as possible when he replied, "Technically you didn't do anything wrong, but I overheard my sister in the hallway and..."
"Shit," Parker cursed out softly but with feeling. Remi raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her response because it sounded like she knew why Aimée may have been so upset. She caught the look on his face, so she sat up with her back against the headboard and the sheet pulled up as high as she could get it and explained, "She's probably having a coronary because I sort of... umm... I kind of abandoned my post without telling anyone."
Parker kept her eyes focused on anywhere in the room that Remi wasn't while she spoke. He had spent enough time with her to know that the only time she didn't make eye contact during a conversation was when she was rambling on while she was working or cleaning (and therefore couldn't). Any other time she seemed to insist on maintaining almost painfully direct eye contact.
Well she insisted except for the occasions when she wasn't being completely honest or was trying to hid something. Right now Remi was more than certain that she was leaving out a piece of information that would explain not only about how she was acting right now, but also how she was acting a few hours ago while he was playing pool.
"Parker?" He quietly asked as he resettled himself in an almost identical stance as Parker. (He just didn't worry about covering himself up. They had been laying naked on or in his bed for about an hour now, so he saw no reason to cover himself up now.) "Parker, does this have anything to do with you beating up the couch earlier tonight?"
She grumbled out a reply that even he couldn't hear or understand. "I'm sorry," he answered in a slightly playful tone. "I couldn't catch that."
Parker kept her chin tilted down, but she did move her eyes so that she could look at him out of the corner of them. "It's kind of embarrassing," she repeated in a very meek tone.
"Hey, I'm not exactly known for being a Boy Scout, so I'm sure that you've heard more than a few embarrassing stories about me."
That comment earned him a small smile while Parker appeared to have a debate with herself. She wasn't sure if she wanted to admit, out loud, what had happened with Otto because she didn't want Remi to think that she was a coward. But then she watched him tentatively reach over to take her left hand into his own and all she wanted to do was to pour her heart out to him. It might disgust him and he might dump her right then and there, but she didn't really care at that moment.
"So I wasn't trying to get away from customers... or... or Aimée," she slowly explained.
Remi started petting her hand and forearm as he asked, "Okay, if not from them then can I ask who you WERE running away from?"
Once again she refused to make eye contact with him as she very quietly answered, "Otto."
"The Squire?"
"Yeah."
"The guy who 'rescued' you from me?" You could practically hear the quotation marks when Remi said the word 'rescued'.
"Yes," she answered as she watched his hand caress her hand and arm.
"Okay... but I thought that all of you Squires were friends or something, why would seeing him here bother you?"
Parker let out a long sigh. She then carefully extracted her hand from his hold so that she could turn to face Remi. Since he had used magic to undress them, she had no idea where their clothing had gone. She really didn't feel comfortable being in the buff for this particular conversation, so she scooped up his comforter and wrapped it around her back and upper body. Remi watched her with a worried eye and opted not to move at all to keep from spooking her.
She tightened her hold on the blanket and pulled it even closer to her body as she said to her lap, "I haven't told anyone about this, not even Aimée or Dev..." She then looked up at him and added, "So it might take me a while to get it all out."
Remi could see tears brimming her eyes, but she was keeping her voice almost eerily calm so he wanted to support her in any way that he could. Right now that meant that he covered his lap with a sheet and turned so that they could look at each other more easily.
He then squeezed her knee through the comforter and said, "I'm not going anywhere. If you change your mind, that's okay too. Don't force yourself on my account."
She sniffled in a breath and then replied, "Thanks Remi, but I think I need to get this off my chest. But you have to promise me that you won't get mad or let what I say change the way you treat him."
"Otto?"
"Yeah."
"Otto? The bag of dicks that accused me of smacking you around and has yet to apologize to me? That Otto? Pretty sure whatever you tell me won't be an issue."
Parker snorted in a laugh then said, "Well when you put it that way..." She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly to center herself. "So on a trip to Greece my senior year, we met up with a group of Squires. Otto's family sort of knows mine, so I used that to break the ice and that umm... it... uhh..."
"Turned into you two dating?" Remi supplied in an attempt to help her tell her tale.
Parker couldn't help but to sputter out a laugh before she replied, "Dated? No, I think the term most people use is 'hooked up' or had a... uh... a… umm... one-night stand."
Remi's eyes narrowed as he watched a mixture of emotions wash over her face. "Did he make you do a walk of shame?" The surprised, wide-eyed look on her face cause Remi to laugh softly. He then squeezed her knee again and added, "Some of us here are very well versed in the art of the one-night stand, but..." He brushed a fingertip over one of her brows and then tucked a stray lock of electric blue hair behind her ear. "But pretty much none of them have had such a haunted look in their eyes when they leave Sanctuary."
Parker gave him a weak smile and then swallowed down the lump that was trying to form in her throat. She was kind of glad that Otto had pissed Remi off all on his own because she knew it would be easy to add fuel to that fire. But she also knew that she was partially to blame for her predicament so she tried to make sure that she made that clear to Remi as well.
"No, there was no actual walk of shame, but... and please let me preface this next part with the fact that I lied to him. I told him I was experienced and had been with other guys and that... well that I wasn't... that it wasn't my first time. It didn't take long for him to realize that I had lied about all of it. He was gentle and he made sure it didn't totally suck, but... umm... well..."
"Shh, it's okay Parker," Remi whispered as he tried to pull her into a hug.
Parker resisted his trying to embrace her, but only because she didn't want to breakdown... yet. "No, please let me try to finish. He and I had talked about needy girls and all that. Since I was sort of going through a Tomboy phase I convinced him... and then... well anyways I became a bit of like the clingy chicks he told me that he always tried to avoid. That in turn meant that he freezed... froze... umm... anyway I got the ultimate cold shoulder from him and that lead to a bunch of the other Squires not talking to me because they didn't want to get on the wrong side of a Carvalletti. I thought that after I graduated from high school that things would be better, but it just got worse. After he found out that I was working in a Pub, he started showing up whenever he was anywhere remotely close to London and somehow always sat in my section just so that he could order me around... and change his order... and complain about the smallest things... he even got me into trouble with my manager for his beer being too warm even though... well anyway I just... I don't want you to think that I'll do that to you too, okay?"
Remi visibly startled in his place when he heard the last part of her statement. He reached out to her once again and this time she liberated one of her hands so that he could hold it in both of his.
"Parker," he started with a sigh. "You aren't the same girl you were back then... and to be honest that scenario never even crossed my mind, so it isn't anything that I've worried about at all."
"Oh... okay..." She smiled and looked like she visibly relaxed in her place. "So anyways back to the story. Things got so bad that we couldn't even be civil to each other, even as customer and server. Whenever he and his friends came in, my manager would put me on kitchen cleaning duty." She saw a question forming on Remi's face so she quickly added, "Money talks and... well... his family has a lot of it. But then he finally stopped coming by. Before the other night, it had been a little over two years since we had last seen each other. He was his usual jackass self when he introduced me to Nick and... well you know the rest of that."
"Did he say anything to you tonight?"
Parker shook her head answering, "No. I didn't want to deal with him again so soon so… so… like a coward I ran upstairs before he could see me… and then I ran into you…"
"You aren't a coward. Plus, I think it all turned out for the best, if you were to ask me," Remi replied when she trailed off with a large smile ln his face.
Parker blushed then whispered, "Me too." She then let go of his comforter and moved to sit straddling his lap as she wrapped her arms around his neck and quietly added, "And as much as I'd love to stay here with you, I should go before Aimée calls out the National Guard or something."
Remi hugged Parker's naked body to his own replying, "Or worse yet… Acheron."
She giggled at that comment, but didn't tell him that Ash already knew about their relationship. It wasn't that she wanted to keep secrets from him, she just didn't want him to be self-conscious around the leader of the Dark-Hunters, especially if this fling between them didn't last.
"So if you could flash me to my room, I think I have a plan to smooth things over with your sister," Parker said with her head on his shoulder. She immediately remembered what he had said about not teleporting to her room before, so she sat up and added, "The only thing I've moved is a chair… oh and clothes in my closet. If you… umm… aim? Is that the right word? Umm… well… my bed is pretty much the exact same as before."
"Okay," he answered before leaning in to kiss her.
As before when she opened her eyes she found herself on her bed still wrapped tightly in Remi's arms. They stared at each other with their noses almost touching for a couple of seconds before Parker closed the distance between them and practically inhaled his lips. Remi chuckled at her eagerness and immediately reciprocated, but with a little less intensity. When he felt Parker trying to take their contact beyond a kiss, he gently shoved her back by the shoulders and leaned back away from her.
Understanding why Remi had done that, Parker moved off the be bed saying, "Sorry… I… I… I'm sorry."
"It's okay Parker. Believe me, that is exactly what I would love to do, but…"
"I have to find Aimée," she finished for him. She looked down at her still naked body and chuckled. "But clothes… clothes first."
She moved quickly over to her closet and pulled out a dark blue silk robe. Remi stayed on her bed and watched her, secretly wishing that he could magic her robe away and spend some more alone time with her in her bed. When she turned around she could feel his eyes practically eating her up so she made sure to keep her distance. There was almost a magnetic attraction between them and it was all she could do no to join him back on her bed.
Suddenly Remi sat up straighter on her bed and tilted his head to one side. A frown formed on his face as he told her, "Aimée's on her way back here with Dev. He's convinced her to check your room again."
Before he finished his sentence, she tightened the belt on her rob and ran to her door. She pulled it open, stepped into the hallway and quickly closed it. She nearly ran into Aimée when she exited her room, but the bear had been able to move back before they actually collided.
"Parker!" Aimée exclaimed with a gasp. "I've been looking everywhere for you."
"I'm sorry," Parker replied trying to remember the story she had concocted while in Remi's room. "I was starting to get a headache and felt really fatigued so I went upstairs in the bar to rest for a bit."
"I checked up there first and you weren't anywhere to be seen," Aimée replied sounding somewhat suspicious.
Parker forced herself to keep her voice even so that Aimée wouldn't suspect that she was lying. "Remi was up there playing pool and he said that I looked really flushed and should have a nap or something so he teleported me back here."
Aimée's eyes narrowed as she almost angrily retorted, "Your room was the second place that I checked."
"Oh! By 'here' I meant back to Peltier House. He brought be to his room because he wasn't sure about any changes that I had made to my room after I moved in. Plus, I've never reacted well to teleporting… well, not that I do it a lot or anything… so he let me nap first in his room. Once I wasn't feeling like I was going to hurl, he brought be back to my room. He had heard that you were looking for me, so… well I came out here to find you before I turned in for another nap in my own bed."
Aimée didn't reply right away, so Parker tried not to look nervous while she just stood still in her place. Dev moved around his sister and placed the back of his hand against Parker's forehead. Parker instinctively shrank back from both bears then because she was certain that they had figured out that she was lying and were waiting for her to admit it before they had to call her out on it.
Dev then moved both of his hands to her cheeks and moved her head from side to side as he commented, "You still look pretty flush. Are you sure that you're feeling alright?"
"Well…" Parker started slowly as she tried to decide how she was going to play this off. Since she had already started digging her a hole by lying to her two closest friends, she decided to just keep digging in deeper. She was starting to feel so guilty that she was actually starting to feel queasy. She used that to her advantage and let out a soft groan before she replied, "My stomach really isn't too happy with me right now."
"Oh Cub!" Aimée called out in an apologetic tone. "You should go lay down again."
"No, it's okay… I'll be alright. Just let me get changed and I'll come down to help with clean up."
"On no you won't," the bearswan sternly replied. "You were smart enough to have Remi help bring you back to bed, there's no way I'm going to let you start acting stupid now."
"It really is alright Parker," Dev added in his patented placating tone. "I'll go grab Remi and get him to help. You go and rest. We've got the restaurant covered."
"Okay… but only if you're sure," Parker offered again as she put her hand on her door knob.
"Bed… now!" Aimée ordered with a smile on her face.
Parker waited for Aimée and Dev to turn to leave before she turned the knob to open the door. She forced herself not to rush back into her room because she wasn't supposed to be feeling well and that would be a dead giveaway that she was being less than truthful. Once she was in her room, she quietly closed her door and nearly ran face first into Remi's chest.
"So?" He asked with an expectant look on his face.
"They bought it. And I'm totally off the hook for doing any more work tonight, but…" Parker started to explain until she was cut off by Remi's mouth covering her own.
Parker gave herself over completely to his kiss. She did nothing to stop him from pushing his hands past the lapels of her robe so that he could wrap his hands around her shoulders. Her robe followed the route of his hands and started to slip off of her shoulders, so Parker moved her hands to her belt. As she started to untie her belt, Remi quickly detached himself from her body to move behind her now opening door.
Aimée saw the surprised look on Parker's face while the human quickly pulled her robe into place. The bear tilted her chin down and diverted her gaze as she said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to barge in like that, but did Remi say where he was going after you dropped you off here?"
Parker bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from smiling. "No, but if he isn't in his room… maybe he went back to finish his game that I interrupted."
Aimée looked up then and smiled. "I hadn't thought of that. Thanks Cub! Now to bed with you. You're looking even more flushed than you did before." Aimée started to leave then but she abruptly stopped before she closed the door to add, "Oh and tomorrow is your day off. I won't take no for an answer."
"Oh… okay. Thanks Aims."
Aimée gave Parker a grateful smile at the human not trying to argue with her at all. After her door was closed she turned her attention back to the man in her room. The naked man who she wanted to jump onto right then and there to finish what Aimée had interrupted. But she couldn't because his family was now looking for him, so she forced herself to remain rooted in her spot.
Remi watched as a variety of emotions passed over Parker's face until a look of undeniable lust took her over. At first he thought that her eyes had focused on a part of his body just south of the belt line, but then he realized she was staring right into his eyes. He was beginning to think that whatever it was between them was just lust and an insatiable desire to give each other sexual gratification, but now he was starting to wonder if maybe there was more to it. The fact that she could have such heat in her eyes when she was looking into his own made Remi's heart rate start to accelerate and a certain part of his anatomy to become almost painfully hard.
He slowly moved towards her wishing that they could finish what they had started, but he had to go and find his sister before she came looking for him again. As he moved towards Parker he manifested an outfit to cover his body. Parker's eyes went comically wide at seeing Remi clothe himself with what appeared to be nothing more than a thought. He gave her a cheeky grin and then both of them laughed softly.
When he reached the spot right in front of Parker, Remi leaned down and gave her a soft kiss. "As much as I'd like to stay…"
"And finish what we started," Parker added as she wrapped her arms around his waist. "You have to go get 'found' by your sister."
Remi startled slightly in his spot then said, "That's almost exactly what I was thinking… like word for word."
Parker stepped back and grinned. "Well… it's the truth."
He took both of her hands in his and placed another soft, lingering kiss on her lips. "Good night Parker. Fait de beaux rêves."
"Merci, toi aussi," she replied in a flawless French accent.
He kissed her again, but this time when Parker opened her eyes, she found herself alone in her room. She licked her lips to let the taste of him linger in her mouth. As she walked towards her bed she silently laughed to herself because she couldn't help but wonder if there was something about a kiss that helped Remi to teleport from place to place.
She was still smiling at that thought when she dropped her robe on the floor by her bed and crawled under the covers still completely naked. She normally only slept in her birthday suit when she had someone else in bed with her, but tonight she did it in the hopes that a certain someone would join her.
THE NEXT DAY Parker forced herself to sleep in late. She woke up feeling a little bit disappointed because she had slept soundly though the night and woke up with the sun shining through the edges of her blinds completely alone. She figured that meant that Remi had gone to his own room to sleep. In a way that made sense to her because she had read somewhere that Were-Hunters slept in their base form, which meant that anyone from the Katagaria branch slept in their animal form. Although she loved to cuddle in bed with a teddy bear, she wasn't sure how she felt about sleeping with an actual bear. Especially since she hadn't even seen what Remi looked like when he was in his (what she assumed was) his natural bear form.
With him still on her mind, Parker picked out a dress to wear and then wrapped herself in a plush terry cloth robe to head to the bathroom to have a shower. Once she started the water, she decided that if today was supposed to be her day off that she was going to indulge herself and soak in a bubble bath after she was finished with her shower.
That had definitely done the trick to help her relax because Parker almost fell asleep in the tub. Miraculously no one knocked on the door while she was soaking and by the time she got out of the tub, the water had actually started to cool.
Parker was usually a minimalist when she did her hair and makeup, but today she decided that she wanted to put in more of an effort than usual. One of her friends form the pub she had worked at had shown her some tricks to help make her bright blue eyes stand out even more on her face. It had been a while since she had put any of those techniques to use, but somehow she managed to make them work. Even if it wasn't exactly how she remembered it had looked before, she was still really happy with the outcome.
Once she was finished dressing, Parker decided that she was going to play tourist for the day. Since it was well past noon by the time she left her room for good for the day, she then decided that her first order of business would be to have lunch, so she hurried towards the bar to get something to eat. Since she wasn't used to putting in much effort into her looks, she did a few double takes when she noticed that some of the staff and patrons had done the same. Each time their heads had turned to look in her direction, she had turned hers as well to see who they were looking at. After the third time she finally realized it was her, so she practically ran to a table because she never felt comfortable being the center of attention.
"Welcome to Sanctuary. Can I start you off with a beverage?"
Parker took the offered menu and almost laughed at Serre for acting like he hadn't recognized her. Granted they didn't know each other well, but she had made sure to reintroduce herself to every member of the Peltier clan when she moved in to try to keep things from becoming too awkward at home. But when she didn't answer right away, he looked up from his pad and raised a questioning brow, she realized that maybe he actually didn't know who she was or recognize her at all.
"Oh… umm… I guess I'll… I mean I'd…" She stumbled over her words at her latest revelation.
Serre's eyes narrowed as he watched his customer struggle to order a drink when a light went off in his mind. "Parker? Shit, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you. Really, I'm sorry."
"It's okay." She smiled demurely then added, "I guess that means that I should try looking like a girl more often."
He snorted in a laugh then replied, "I say you do whatever makes you happy. But you do look great."
Parker blushed and forced herself not to duck her head down in embarrassment as she whispered, "Thanks."
"So the usual for you then?"
"Yes, please," she replied with a relieved smile. As he turned away her eyes drifted to the other side of the room and she had a thought. "Oh wait! Serre! Could…? Umm… Would you mind delivering it to the second floor?"
He gave her a cheeky grin as he replied, "Not at all. The job is a lot easier if you don't have to walk."
Parker just stared at him blankly for a couple of seconds before his joke registered. She had briefly forgotten that the second floor was completely closed off to the public. That way anyone that needed to get to Sanctuary quickly could do so without drawing any undue attention to themselves or the Peltiers.
"Oh… right… of course," she finally answered with a nervous laugh. "I keep forgetting about that nifty talent."
He chuckled softly then said, "I guess you would. I'll have it up to you in a couple of minutes."
"Awesome… thanks!" She replied as she jumped to her feet and made her way upstairs.
She knew it was a long shot and that it wasn't likely for him to be up there again, but Parker was still disappointed when she didn't find Remi upstairs. But then again she had promised herself that she wasn't going to be the type of girl who chased after a guy when he clearly wasn't into her the same way. Not that Remi had given her any reason to believe that he wasn't completely into her. No, he most definitely seemed to enjoy her company, so Parker wanted to make sure that she didn't do anything to annoy him enough to change that.
While she waited for Serre to 'pop in' with her meal Parker picked up a pool cue to play a round by herself. She chuckled at her joke about Serre as she rounded up the balls that were strewn all over the table top and shook her head at how corny her humor truly was and always had been.
"I was in the middle of a game," a voice whispered in her ear after she finished racking up the balls.
At hearing the growl in his voice, Parker stiffened in her place as she let out a shaky breath. She swallowed hard and then whispered, "I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone else was up here."
"That's okay," he replied as he crowded even further into her back.
He gently ran his fingertips up under Parker's skirt to her inner thigh causing her to let out another stuttered breath as she shivered in anticipation. She tightened her grip on her pool cue while his fingers continued to travel up her leg.
Although she didn't want him to stop, she forced herself to say, "Se-Serre…"
Remi dropped his hands and took a large step back as he angrily growled out, "No, I'm still Remi. But if you two planned on being alone, I'll just…"
"No," Parker quickly protested. When he moved to walk away she block his path using the pool cue to take up even more space to further barricade his escape route. "No, it's just that he's going to bring my order up here. I… I just wanted to tell you before things went too far."
After a couple of breaths, they both heard someone call out from behind her, "Uhh… Parker? Here's your order. Did…? Umm… Do you need anything else?"
Parker twisted at the waist to face the younger bear. She made sure she had a bright smile on her face when she answered, "No, that's perfect. But thank you for the offer."
Serre gave Parker a concerned look and asked, "Are you sure?"
She could feel Remi starting to take a step forward, so she covertly used the pool cue to further block his path. Her smile didn't falter at all as she replied, "Of course I am. I was going to hand Remi's ass to him in a game of pool, but I guess he'll get a reprieve while I eat."
Parker then placed the cue back on the table where she had found it. When she had her back turned to Serre, she gave Remi a pleading look in the hopes that he would stay long enough to let her explain. Remi's eyes softened slightly when he saw the sad look of concern on her face, but he made sure not to let his face change too much in order to keep from tipping off his brother. Parker hadn't noticed any change in Remi's demeanor, but she continued to force herself to smile. Reluctantly she turned away from Remi and moved towards the table where Serre had placed her food.
"It smells delicious," she praised. "As usual."
Serre gave her a proud smile replying, "That's why it's a house specialty. Bon appetite."
He then disappeared without appearing to have notice that anything was amiss between Remi and Parker. She quickly sat down at the table facing Remi because she didn't want to extend the awkwardness between them by moving the chair to the other side. Remi remained in his place expecting Parker to start talking and was somewhat surprised when she remained silent. In fact, the only sounds that he heard for a full minute were those of her eating.
As she took a swig from her beer bottle, Remi noticed Parker try to wipe away a tear without being obvious. That was quickly followed up by a sniffle that she tried to cover up by blowing on her still too hot to eat food.
Hearing her too quiet for the human ear to perceive sniffle finally broke Remi out of his angry trance. He let out a sigh as all of the tension left his body. By this time Parker was no longer eating and was just pushing a crawfish around her plate with her fork. He slumped even further as he started to walk towards where Parker was seated, still playing absentmindedly with her food.
She didn't acknowledge him, but in reality she was so lost in thought that she hadn't noticed him. He watched her push the same crawfish around her plate no less than three times before he placed a soft hand over hers to still it. He thought that she would turn to look at him, but she instead just stared at her forgotten food after she had dropped her fork into the bowl.
She sniffled again, only this time she did nothing to cover it up. He squeezed her hand he had been holding. She still refused to look over at him. In fact, other than her pulse beating under his fingers, Remi felt no movement from her at all.
"Parker…" He started softly.
"We don't want anyone to know about us yet," she quietly interrupted. "We agreed that we didn't want anyone to know about us until we know what this thing between us is all about. I just… I was… it was just a warning, that's all."
"I know Parker," he replied in a soothing voice. "And you're right, we did agree to all of that. It just… well my past…"
"I'm not Becca," she interjected in a soft voice. She felt him startle in his spot beside her. When he started to withdraw his hand, she quickly placed her free hand over his to sandwich his hand between both of hers. She then turned to face him and added, "I know all about what happened with her and Quinn. I… you… I… I want you to remember I'm not her and that isn't us. I really was just trying to warn you about Serre because of our agreement."
He gave her a half smile replying, "Yeah I get that now, but in the moment… I'm sorry Parker it sounded like something not good."
"Yeah I can see that…" She then speared the last remaining crawfish with her fork. She then lifted it up to his lips and waited until he started eating it before she continued. "But I'm a one bear woman. There's no one else here that I want to spend any kind of one on one time with other than you."
He chewed his food and then swallowed it. He raised a questioning brow asking, "Really? Not even Aimée or Dev?"
"Nope, not even them." She giggled and pecked as kiss to his lips. She knew he didn't believe her answer so she clarified as she started to dig into her meal once again. "Aimée is way too into her over protective Momma-Bear mode. I sneezed while we were shopping for baby stuff the other day and she almost called 911 because she thought it might be the Avian Flu or the Bubonic Plague. You laugh, but she was totally serious." She then took a long pull from her beer bottle and then re-established direct eye contact with Remi. "As for Dev… Have you ever been on the receiving end of an Amazon's suspicious glare?" She shuddered in her place and truly wished that it was for effect and not an unconscious reaction to her memory of the day she had seen that look on Samia's face. "Believe me I never want to be on the receiving end of what that look promises. Now, the two of them together and it just being the three of us? That my friend would be a different story."
He chuckled softly and scooped up a forkful of food. He started to lift it to her lips but before she could eat it, he diverted his course and swallowed it down himself. Parker tried to glare at him, but ended up laughing instead.
"Mean," she teased as she watched him reload the fork. That mouthful he presented to her and after she had swallowed it she added, "Now that's much better."
She finished her last swallow of beer while she watched him help himself to more of her Jambalaya. She was starting to feel slightly schizophrenic because of her rapidly changing emotions, but for him she was willing to go through the whole gambit of human emotions. She thought that everything was alright between them, but she wanted to be sure, which prompted her to quietly ask, "So does that mean that I'm forgiven?"
He had just put in a mouthful of food and looked like he was almost in pain as he swallowed so that he could answer, "Of course you are because you have nothing to apologize for… but… What about me?"
"Nope," she retorted with a cheeky grin. "You're in big trouble Mister. Eating up all of my Jambalaya like that."
Remi let out the breath he was holding and chuckled softly. He lifted the last forkful of food to her lips and she took it with a smile. Remi watched as she slowly chewed her food and prolonged her enjoyment of her last bite for as long as was humanly possible. The second that he saw her swallow her food, Remi leaned forward and captured her lips in a tender kiss. Her arms easily wrapped themselves around his neck as she readily reciprocated the embrace. Without slacking on the intensity or breaking the embrace, Parker crawled into Remi's lap to straddle it. As she moved, her skirt rode up and she couldn't stop the involuntary shiver she felt run down her spine when he felt the denim of his pants rub against her bare flesh. His hands ran up her legs to the small of her back where he slipped his hands under the hem of her shirt so that he could massage her back while they continued to kiss.
He found a sensitive part of her back that caused Parker to disconnect her mouth from his so that she could let out a contented moan. Knowing that he alone had caused Parker to make that sound, Remi redoubled his efforts of massaging her flesh and moved his lips down to her neck. She threw her head back so that it would be easier for him to access that part of her body. He was all too happy to oblige and soon enough his soft kisses turned into gentle bites against her flesh.
Parker almost couldn't handle the level of excitement that Remi's touch caused her to feel. Her hips started to swivel back and forth in a circular motion against his midsection while her hands buried themselves into his hair. At first she wasn't sure if she wanted to push him away of if she wanted to pull him in closer to her, so she opted just to keep him where he was and to let him do whatever he wanted to do to her and her body.
Remi felt his body starting to react to Parker's ministrations. He kissed his way up to her ear and captured her earlobe between his teeth. She moaned deep in her throat once again as the movement of her hips stuttered slightly at the new rush of ecstasy that ran through her body.
"I thought I told you this was a family restaurant," he breathed against her ear.
Her moaning turned into an almost painful groan when he teased her by gently tugging on her earlobe between his teeth again. "Your… your… fault…" She struggled to reply through her excited breaths.
Her shivering intensified when he chuckled softly against the shell of her ear. "Very true. How about we take this somewhere more private?"
Parker could only nod in response. Remi then moved her arms so that they were wrapped around his neck and moved her legs as he whispered, "Well then, hold on tight."
She had started to kiss random parts of his face until she felt him start to move her legs around his waist. She suddenly sat up straighter and looked him in the eyes to worriedly ask, "Are you going to teleport us there?"
He shook his head and kissed her lips again. "No, the place I'm thinking of is close enough to walk."
He started kissing her again and swallowed the surprised squeak she uttered. She tightened her hold on his body as he walked away from the table where they had been seated. True to his word it didn't take long before she heard a door close and all of the sounds of the pub were silenced.
When she heard the 'click' of the door closing, Parker opened her eyes to see where Remi had taken her in such a short time. When she took in their surroundings her lips slowed down until they finally stopped moving. Remi continued to practically attack her mouth, even after her lips stopped warring with his.
It took Remi a couple of seconds before he noticed that Parker's mouth had gone completely slack. When he did, he stopped immediately so that he could pull his head back to look at her.
"Are you okay Parker?"
Now that she was free to do so, Parker moved her head to look around the room before she whispered, "Is this THE closet?"
He almost laughed at how Parker once again was whispering as if someone might overhear her and that she might get into trouble. "Well it is A closet. How do you know about it?"
"Dev used to tease me when I was younger and say that maybe when I was all grown up that I might find out what happens in here. Etienne added once that if I was pretty enough when I was older that he'd be happy to give me a tour."
"Oh he did, did he?" Remi asked as his neck started to turn red.
Parker squeezed her legs around his waist and kissed him softly on the lips to help ease his mind. With her lips still hovering over his she whispered, "Don't worry, Zar heard them teasing me and he told me the truth. I didn't talk to either of them for a week because I was so made at them for trying to embarrass me like that."
"You did?" He asked before he gave her a couple of slow, sensuous kisses. "You were one smart teenager."
She snorted out a laugh before he could kiss her again and then she tucked her head under his chin and said, "Actually I was only eleven."
She sat back to look at Remi's face so that she could see his reaction. She had expected him to be annoyed, but instead she saw him trying to stifle a laugh. When he saw her worried face he finally did sputter out a low chuckle.
"I misspoke. You were one smart pre-teen. Although, in my opinion it's always a good idea to give Dev and Etienne the cold shoulder."
Parker barked out a laugh as she playfully slapped his chest. "You think it's a good idea to give everyone the cold shoulder. Well everyone but Aimée and… uhh…"
"Yeah, I never want to piss off my sister too much… or Acheron."
It took Parker a couple of seconds to register Remi's joke before she replied in mock anger, "No, you don't want to piss off the two of them. But the woman in your arms, she's…"
He silenced her with a kiss and said, "She's someone I always want to keep happy."
Parker was grinning at that comment until she felt him start to loosen her grip on his body. She was too stunned to talk and did nothing to stop him from placing her feet on the ground. She started to frown until he took her hand in his and gave her an encouraging smile.
Before she could voice her concerns, Remi explained his actions saying, "I'm sorry, but the mood is kind of ruined in here. Why don't we head to my room?"
"No, someone could come looking for you there and interrupt us… same with my room."
"That's true. Do you have any suggestions?" He asked as he moved behind her to wrap her in a hug.
Parker placed her head on his chest while she gave his question some serious thought. "Well… if we're teleporting then we can go pretty much anywhere, right?"
He leaned down to start kissing her neck and answered with his lips still against her flesh. "So long as it isn't too crowded…. And I can picture it in my mind."
"Do that mean you can't take us somewhere unless you've been there before?" Parker asked as she wriggled out of his hold so that she could turn to face him while they talked.
Remi raised his right hand to her face and gently started to stroke her hair answering, "It makes it easier if I've been there, but no it isn't mandatory."
"Oh… okay." She dipped her head down and bit her lip demurely before she added, "There's a place in the Bayou… it's totally secluded. Now I've never really been there, but I've been told that I can hang out there any time that I want and that I could move my Dark-Hunter in there if they need a place… well when I get my own Hunter that is."
Remi used his bent index finger to lift Parker's chin and forced her to look at him. "Are you talking about Talon's cabin Parker?"
"Yeah, actually I am. But… but if it's too weird, then I understand. I'm sure we can think of somewhere else to go."
He chuckled then answered, "No, it actually sounds pretty perfect." And I have been there, so it should be no problem to get there safe."
He then leaned down to kiss Parker deeply. She once again wrapped her arms around him and hugged him to her body. Remi kept his finger tangled in her hair while he continued to ravish her mouth.
Parker felt the air around them change, like a soft wind manifested from nowhere. She once again felt a familiar light-headedness that accompanied every trip she had taken with a Were-Hunter via teleportation. Although that sensation could also have been attributed to the things that Remi was doing to her with his lips and tongue.
She slowly opened her eyes and when she saw that they were in a small cabin she actually started to laugh into Remi's mouth. He immediately pulled back so that he could give her a disbelieving, somewhat annoyed look.
"That was… I'm sorry, it's just…" She chuckled again while she tried to collect her thoughts. "For a second I was trying to remember if I had the keys Talon gave me or not, but I guess those weren't needed."
"No, they weren't," he replied with a soft laugh. "Was there something else on your mind Parker?"
She gave him a cheeky smile while she replied, "I was wondering if the kissing helps you teleport. I read somewhere that sex helps Were-Hunters to recharge their mojo, so does the kissing help too?"
He leaned into her as if he was going to kiss her again, but he stopped just short of reclaiming her lips. "It isn't mandatory, but it sure does make the trip more fun."
He then picked her up at the waist so that he could lay claim to her lips. Parker quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and gasped into his mouth when she felt her bare flesh press against his naked chest. When he felt her trying to wrap her legs around his waist, he moved one hand to the back of her head while he used the other to adjust himself so that they would join their bodies together in the most intimate way possible. Her hands moved to his shoulders where her nails started to dig into his flesh when she felt him thrust his entire length into her body. Remi then moved his hands to her waist so that he could help her move up and down his length. She was amazed that he could stay standing and moved her hands onto his shoulders to help give her more leverage.
It didn't take long for Remi's ministrations to bring Parker to her first apex. She finally moved her mouth away from his so that she could scream out in ecstasy. He let out a breathy chuckle at how vocal she could be during sex because most of the time she seemed to be mild mannered and somewhat demure. He also felt his knees start to buckle as he felt her canal convulse around his still painfully hard member. HE then slowly carried her over to the bed and managed not to leave her body as he laid her down.
Once her back came into contact with the mattress, Parker released her hold on Remi's neck and threw her arms over her head. Remi planted his hands against the bed just over Parker's shoulders and then started to thrust himself in and out of her at a much quicker pace. Parker's hands tried to find the headboard but when she found there was none, she flipped her hands over so that she could hold the edge of the mattress in a death grip. Her fingers dug into the material under them so hard that it almost hurt, but then Remi pushed her over the edge again and her body was only feeling the erotic sensations of her orgasm and her pain was completely forgotten. When Remi felt Parker climax again, he finally allowed himself to reach completion with one final hard thrust.
After his body had gone completely slack, Remi shifted onto his side and cuddled in beside Parker. She forced herself to roll onto her side so that she could look at him. Parker then placed an arm over his waist and used it to pull herself closer to him so that they could share a couple of soft embraces.
They were both too spent to try to take their kissing beyond a few soft pecks and eventually they just let their head fall to the pillow. Remi then moved onto his back and wrapped an arm around Parker to help her snuggle into his side. She placed her head on his chest and started to pet the length of his torso. He pushed her hair out of the ways so that he could run his fingertips up and down her spine at the same pace that she was stroking his side.
"You know, the whole using magic to make our clothes disappear is fun and all, but…" She pushed herself up so that she could look down at him as she added, "Sometimes I like to unwrap my presents."