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  This Thing Between

  Us

  Dedicated to my Mam and Dad.

  Love and miss you always

  I would like to begin by thanking my husband. Thank you for believing in me, and encouraging me to follow my dreams. You are my best friend and the love of my life. Thank you for all your help, patience, your support and your unconditional love. You are my happy place… I love you xx Special thanks once again to Gem Evans. Gem, you are one of life’s true angels. Once more I am blown away by your selfless work and encouragement. I will never be able to put into words just how awesome you truly are. Thank you for all your help. I am honoured to consider you my friend.

  Thank you to Sally Orchard, from Under The Lilac for editing my books so beautifully.

  Thank you to Little Leprechaun Designs for my beautiful cover and my teasers.

  Big thank you to all the wonderful ladies in Holly’s Luscious Readers and Holly's Indecent Ladies. Thank you all so much for your support and for brightening every single day.

  Finally, a big thank you, to you the readers, for taking a chance on me. I hope you love reading this book as much as I loved writing it. This journey would mean nothing without you all…..

  Love Holly x

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Epilogue

  Chapter 1

  Parker

  “Where is he?” Robert O’Neill demanded as he pushed past his son’s housekeeper, and marched across the hallway of his luxurious apartment.

  Parker was still in bed, nursing the mother of all hangovers. He pulled the pillow over his head when he heard his father’s voice echoing the hallway. He was so not in the mood for what was coming next.

  Three, two, one, he counted in his mind, then braced himself just as his father burst into his room.

  “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?” Robert demanded as he flung the morning paper at his son. “WHEN IS THIS RUBBISH GOING TO STOP?”

  “Good morning, Dad,” Parker groaned from beneath the pillow. “Nice of you to drop by.”

  “Don’t get cute with me, Parker,” Robert replied, unimpressed by his son's response. “This shit has got to stop. It’s time to grow up.”

  Parker pulled the pillow from his head and slowly pushed himself up in bed. His head felt like a grenade had gone off, and he had no idea what his father was so mad about, but he knew whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

  “How will the board ever take you serious if you continue pulling stunts like this?” Robert asked as Parker reached for the paper and picked it up.

  Blinking his eyes a couple of times, he tried to focus on the headlines that were plastered on the front of the tabloid garbage that was in his hand.

  Billionaire Playboy at it again!

  Fuck! He thought to himself. What the fuck did I do now?

  He read down through the article further and it told of how he was caught having sex in the ladies room with not one, but two girls, and how, while he was being escorted from the premises, he managed to knock over a ten-thousand-dollar fish tank.

  Parker couldn’t help but laugh at the part where he insisted on giving the tiny plastic man from the pirate ship that was in the fish tank, mouth to mouth. He then proceeded to call the head waiter a murderer when he took the little plastic man and threw it in the garbage.

  “This is no laughing matter, Parker,” Robert sighed impatiently. “When the board hears of this, there will be war. You know they’re just waiting for an excuse to get rid of you. Not to mention, your mother is mortified.”

  “Mom is not mortified,” Parker replied and rolled his eyes, then groaned because it hurt way more than he was expecting it to. He needed painkillers and coffee.

  “Yes she is, Parker,” Robert insisted. “She blames herself for being too soft on you, spoiling you since the day you were born. When I left the house, she was crying because she thinks she has failed as a mother.”

  “I’m sorry for upsetting Mom,” Parker groaned as he swung his feet out onto the floor. “I’ll call her later and tell her I’m sorry. Maybe I’ll send her some flowers.”

  He pushed up from the bed and walked into his bathroom, closing the door behind him.

  “Sorry isn’t enough anymore,” Robert said as he followed him across the room and stood outside the door. He was not leaving till he said what he had come to say. “Not this time. Things need to change.”

  “I won’t try to save any more fish tank decorations,” Parker replied, then grinned to himself as he imagined how hilarious he must have looked trying to save a tiny piece of plastic. He wished he had remembered it, but he didn’t even remember arriving at the restaurant, and he had no idea who the two girls were. This time he had messed up royally. He needed to fix it and fix it as fast as he could.

  He would ring his friends and see if they knew who the girls were. He didn’t need them selling their story too.

  “I’m serious, Parker,” Robert said, and Parker knew from his father’s voice that he was about to reward him with yet another lecture. “It’s time for you to grow up. You’re almost thirty. It’s time to settle down. Get married, and start a family.”

  “Not going to happen,” Parker replied under his breath with a laugh, as he walked to the sink and washed his hands before he splashed water over his face. He had reached for the toothbrush and toothpaste before he added loud enough for his father to hear. “I will cut the crap out; I give you my word.”

  “Not this time,” Robert sighed, and something in his voice stopped Parker in his tracks. “Your mother and I have been talking, and we think it’s time you made a commitment to someone. Some of the ladies from her club have daughters that are your age. Your mother could introduce you to them. Anyone would make a suitable wife…”

  “Are you kidding me with this bullshit?” Parker demanded as he swung opened the bathroom door cutting his father off mid-sentence. “You want to set me up with some girl I have never even met, so that I can marry her? Do you know how insane that sounds?”

  “I don’t care how you think it sounds,” Robert replied abruptly glaring at his son. “I don’t even care who you marry. In six months’ time, I turn sixty, and I want to retire. My father handed over the reins of O’Neill’s International when he turned sixty, as did his father before him, and I want to do the same with you. You knew this day was coming.”

  “And what’s stopping you from just doing exactly that?” Parker asked as he looked at his father in complete disbelief. “What possible reason do you have for adding this condition to it?”

  “You,” Robert replied honestly. “The board sees you as a liability.”

  “But if I’m married I’m not?” Parker asked, stunned by this turn of events. “I work hard for that company, and I’m good at what I do. So I like to have fun, how does that make me a bad person? This is insane.”

  “As insane as it may be,” Robert said as he turned and walked towards the bedroom doo
r. When he reached it, he stopped and turned back to his son. “This is how it is. You have three months to settle down, or I sell O’Neill’s International.”

  “THREE MONTHS!” Parker exclaimed, completely forgetting about his hangover. “You’re not sixty for another six months.”

  “And you marrying some girl at the last minute won’t convince anyone that you have changed,” Robert replied as he reached for the handle of the door. “Three months, then it’s game over.”

  Parker just stared at his father in disbelief, but he didn’t say a word.

  “Goodbye, Son,” Robert said with a smile as he pulled open the door. “And don’t forget to call your mother.”

  Without saying another word, his father disappeared out of the bedroom, leaving Parker standing there, wondering what the hell had just happened.

  “You’re kidding me,” Harrison laughed as he continued to run on the treadmill he was working on. “That is hilarious.”

  “No,” Parker said impatiently as he reached up and pressed the kill switch on the treadmill, stopping it abruptly. “This is not hilarious. This couldn’t be any less hilarious if it tried.”

  “Come on, Parks,” Harrison sighed as he lifted his towel and wiped his face. “There is no way your father is going to make you marry some girl.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Parker sighed as he pushed his hands through his hair and released a long, frustrated breath. “But I went to the house to see Mom, and she confirmed what my father had said. This time he means it. I have three months to marry some girl, or I lose everything.”

  “How?” Harrison said as he picked up his water bottle and moved onto the next machine. “Even if your father sells the company. You’re loaded in your own right. It’s not like you need the job. So, who cares?”

  “I care,” Parker replied sharply. “All my life I have been raised with one goal in mind; to take over my father’s company. It’s all I have ever wanted to do. I don’t want to be the reason that we sell. My father would never forgive me.”

  “Then marry some girl,” Harrison shrugged. “You know you could have your pick of any of the girls from the club.”

  “Now you have lost your mind, too,” Parker sighed. “I don’t want to be stuck with one of the sheep for the rest of my life. Every single one of those twirling idiots come with a family that I could end up meeting across a boardroom table. If I marry one of them, there would be no getting rid of them. It would make bad business sense.”

  “Then just find someone else,” Harrison suggested as he set up the machine he was on for the next part of his workout.

  “Someone else?” Parker asked as he rolled his eyes.

  “Yeah,” Harrison continued. “Think of it as a business deal. Find some random nobody, and pay her to marry you. She would play the part of the dutiful wife in front of your father, but in private you continue to live your life however you want to live it. Then twelve months down the line, say it didn’t work out and divorce her, and go your separate ways. Her with some money in her pocket and you as the head of O’Neill’s International.”

  “I was right, you have completely lost your mind,” Parker sighed, giving his friend a look of disbelief.

  “It’s up to you,” Harrison shrugged before he began to move on the elliptical trainer he was standing on. “But you need to decide, do you want to take over the company or not. You need to decide how much you really want it.”

  Parker stared at his friend for a few moments. He knew Harrison was right. Parker needed to decide if he was willing to walk away from O’Neill’s International, and if not, what he was willing to do to make sure he took over from his father.

  “I’ll call you later,” Parker shrugged then headed for the door. He needed to clear his head, and the thumping music in the gym was doing nothing to help his hangover.

  He headed back to his apartment and changed into some running clothes. He thought the best way to straighten his head was to get out into the fresh air.

  Once he stepped out of his apartment building, he began to run, heading straight for Central Park.

  As he ran, he considered what his options were. First, he could tell his parents to go to hell; or he could choose one of the girls his mother knew, and tie himself down for the rest of his life.

  Over my dead body, he groaned to himself miserably.

  Finally, he thought about Harrison’s suggestion. Could he really pay some girl to marry him? It seemed like the most ridiculous idea in the world. He was Parker O’Neill. He could have his pick of girls, and he very often did. He just had no desire to settle down. He didn’t believe in the hearts and flowers thing.

  Parker hadn’t always been the heartless, misogynist that he was now. Once he had believed in love and happy ever afters. His parents had been married for thirty-five years, and they were still very much in love, so he knew it could happen.

  However, at a young age, Parker learned that being from a wealthy family had its downsides too. He found that girls were often more interested in what his bank balance was than in him. Parker soon learned that being a nice guy with money often led to being crushed by a mean girl with an ulterior motive.

  So, Parker learned to play the game, and soon he became a star player.

  He stopped running and crashed down onto the grass in the park. Running hungover was never a good idea. He lay there, staring up at the blue, summer sky and tried to calm his ragged breathing.

  Maybe he should just suck it up and let his mother set him up with a suitable girl. It seemed the easiest option.

  Could I live with a sheep? He thought to himself and sighed. That’s what Parker, Harrison and their other friend, Jensen called the girls who travelled in their social circle; or to be more precise, their parent's circle. They were all basically clones of their mothers, looking for husbands just like their fathers. Parker detested them.

  He knew deep down inside; he could never agree to spend the rest of his life with one of those girls. There was nothing worth that.

  Suddenly he realised that there was only one choice to make. Now he just had to get his parents on board; then he would worry about the rest.

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

  Bringing up his father’s number, he hit the call button and brought the phone to his ear.

  “Parker,” his father answered the phone simply. “What can I do for you?”

  “You win,” Parker sighed. “I will settle down.”

  “You know it’s the sensible thing to do,” Robert said, and Parker could hear the relief in his father’s voice. “I will call your mother, and have her set up…”

  “Oh hell no,” Parker cut him off mid-sentence. “If I am doing this, I am doing this under my terms. I will pick the girl I will marry, that’s the deal. Take it or leave it.”

  “As long as you are married sometime within the next three months,” Robert replied. “I’m fine with that.”

  “Then we have a deal,” Parker sighed.

  “You’re doing the right thing son,” Robert said, and Parker knew his father honestly believed that.

  “Bye, Dad,” Parker said before he hung up the phone.

  Great! He thought to himself as he lay there and stared up at the sky. Now I just need to find some random girl to agree to this ridiculous plan.

  He sighed as he pushed up from the grass. He needed a coffee, or maybe even a drink.

  Chapter 2

  Alice

  “Hey Gram,” Alice said as she walked towards the armchair her grandmother was sitting in and kissed her on the forehead. “How are you today?”

  “All the better for seeing you, Sweetie,” Sophia Blake replied and gave her granddaughter a warm smile, but then her smile faded a little as she looked at Alice closer. “You look tired. Are you feeling okay?”

  “I’m fine,” Alice assured her grandmother. “You shouldn’t be worrying about me; I’m a big girl now.”

  “But I do worry about you, Sweetie,�
�� Sophia sighed as she reached for her granddaughter's hand. “You work so hard, and I know you do it for me. I just wish there was more I could do to help, instead of sitting here in this chair all day.”

  “I do it because I want to, Gram,” Alice said and gave her grandmother a warm smile, as she sat down on the bed across from her chair. “And I really am fine, so please, stop worrying.”

  “I’ll try,” Sophia smiled, even though Alice knew her grandmother was only saying what she thought Alice wanted to hear. “I just hope you’re taking some time out for you. You’re too young and far to pretty not to be out enjoying your life. Are you seeing a nice boy?”

  “No, not yet, Gram,” Alice smiled as she answered the same question her grandmother asked her every single time she came to visit her.

  She looked around her grandmother’s room and sighed. Even though Ridge Field Nursing home was one of the nicest homes in New York City, Alice hated that she had to leave her grandmother there instead of being at home with her. She had tried to keep her at home with her as long as she could, but since Gram had a stroke twelve months earlier, she wasn’t steady on her feet anymore. She was falling more and more, and Alice just found it too hard to cope with her on her own.

  Sophia knew that Alice was struggling, so it was she who decided it was time to go to the nursing home. Alice was devastated, but she also knew it was the right thing to do.

  “Is there someone special you have your eye on?” Sophia asked her granddaughter, not being one to be put off easily. She was an old romantic, and Alice knew she was dying to hear her granddaughter had fallen in love.

  “There is no one,” Alice replied, but her face flushed when she instantly thought of the guy from the coffee shop that she liked.

  Alice wasn’t sure of his name, but he came in every day around the same time, and Alice found she would always look out for him. He was tall, at least six foot three, with light brown hair and the most piercing blue eyes she had ever seen. She didn’t know what his name was, but she did know how he liked his coffee; low-fat Americano, with extra nutmeg, and Alice called him Coffee Guy. He, on the other hand, didn’t even know she existed.