Forbidden Gold (Providence Gold 5)

Prologue

Ariana

Ever have a moment where you wake up and get a sinking feeling about what you did the night before?

I definitely didn’t want to be awake right now. My freaking head felt like a giant was trying to break it open from the inside. Rolling carefully onto my back, I took deep breaths until the room stopped spinning, and I was confident if I opened my eyes, I wouldn’t die.

I’d just started to turn onto my opposite side when a tsunami hit the bed, and I rolled over as the mattress moved under me, headbutting something soft but substantial.

It was unusual—and if I weren’t in such a bad way, I probably would’ve freaked out—but it smelled so good and felt so good that burrowed into it, breathing deeply. Even the heavy arm that landed on my waist didn’t faze me. Neither did the big, strong hand sweeping firmly up and down my bare back.

Shifting my leg, I let out a deep sigh when it skimmed across a hairy muscled thigh. This dream was so good it almost made up for the pain in my head.

Feeling the silky, warm wall vibrate against my forehead, I cracked open an eye making sure a dinosaur wasn’t coming toward me and came face to face with a man’s chest.

Memories of the night before came back, hitting me all at the same time. Friends of my family, the Montgomerys, had thrown a huge party to celebrate Adam adopting his new wife’s little brother. The story was long and complicated but seeing the final result had been beautiful and deserved a celebration.

Unfortunately, that meant I’d also had to spend time with Parker Knight, aka the pain in my ass. To numb the frustration and irritation he caused me, I’d drunk a bit more than I usually would, and now I was paying for it.

Cautiously tipping my head back to see what scale of a mistake I’d made, I followed the strong lines of the chest owner’s throat up to a stubbly chin.

A chin I would know anywhere.

Still, hoping I was wrong, I skimmed the face until I got to the eyes. When he was awake, there was a natural tenseness to Parker’s face, like he always had a burden eating away at him. He could be eating dinner and laughing at a story, and that weight wouldn’t leave him. But in sleep, his forehead was smooth, his eyes relaxed, and he looked peaceful.

Moving my leg again, things started to hit me.

I couldn’t remember what we’d done last night, that part hadn’t come back to me yet, but I couldn’t feel any material on my body aside from the sheet that was covering me. His hand had been on my bare back, but I could still have had panties on… except that definitely wasn’t the case.

Inhaling a shaky breath, I lifted the sheet just enough to peek under it and then shuddered when I saw that he was naked, too.

It could be said that if I tuned into my body and took note of any unusual aches or sensations, I’d be able to figure out if we’d had sex last night, too, but every part of me ached for some reason.

I was naked and in bed with an equally naked Parker.

The hand on my spine traveled under the sheet now, cupping my ass and pulling our crotches into each other.

Here was the dilemma:

Morally—should I wake him up and let him know it’s me?

For self-preservation—should I remove myself from the situation and run?

Because it was a naked Parker Knight—should I move closer to him and take advantage of the situation?

Because I was me—should I run before he wakes up and realizes he’s in bed with me, gets disgusted and disappointed in his poor choice, and then leaves me feeling like poop in the sun?

The last one was the most likely result of him waking up before I could escape, so that was what I needed to go with.

Pulling the sheet closer to my chest, I pushed back carefully against his hand and tried to get some distance between us. I’d managed a couple of inches when he rolled into me and started nuzzling my neck.

“You smell so good,” he groaned, trading the nuzzling for a gentle suck.

Dilemma options one and three became more tempting at the moment, but two and four were niggling at me.

Figuring I’d give escaping one more try, I tipped my body to the right on the mattress and moved my leg across it toward the edge. Unfortunately, that created a space for him to shift into—one that he took advantage of, leaving me with a very hard mini Parker resting up against a very happy mini Ariana.

A deep growl vibrated from him as he ground against me, his lips moving now from my neck to my jaw and then across to my mouth.