Page 34 of Parker

It’s almost like she read my mind, except she didn’t. She justknowsme. Whether shelikesme or not, after a lifetime spent in close proximity, sheknowsme like the back of her hand…and—I remember the way she threw the turtle charm in my face—hatesme just as much.

Damn you, hope,I think, tucking into a big bite of steak.Stop fucking with me.

“See her?” asks Parker, resting her bare feet on the desk and twisting the chair slightly to look at me. “She has two possibles.”

“Possibles?” I ask, gesturing for her to hand me the wineglass. I refill it, finish it, refill it again, and hand it back to her.

“Possible matches,” she explains, sipping the wine. “They get to know each other through a wall without ever seeing one another. When they finally meet, they have an emotional connection already established, and they just have to see if they have chemistry.”

“Do they?” I ask her. “Do they usually have chemistry?”

“Sometimes. Not always.” She glances at me over her shoulder. “But they alwaysthinkthey will. Theywantto want each other. They want it to work out because the emotional connection has already been made.”

I lower my voice, remembering the way she was staring at my chest earlier. “But it can’t work without chemistry, can it?”

“N-No,” she agrees. “It can’t.”

She’s still looking at me, and with an immense amount of satisfaction, I note color seep into her cheeks. Her eyes widen and darken, flicking to my lips. My gaze drops to her chest, where I see the unmistakable evidence of hardened nipples. I slide my eyes back up to see her tongue dart out to lick her lips, and stare at her mouth, mesmerized.

Holy shit. Am I seeing what IthinkI’m seeing?

Yes, I fucking am.

Chemistry. I’m seeing…chemistry.

Suddenly, she blinks her eyes, clears her throat and gulps down the rest of the wine.

“I should go.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Yeah,” she says, avoiding my eyes as she stands up. “I definitely do.”

“See you tomorrow?”

“Yep,” she mutters, hightailing it out of my room.

I don’t stop her. I watch her go, reaching for the remote and turning off the TV when the door latches shut behind her.

I learned a lot about Parker Stewart today, but here’s the most important thing of all.

Parker and I have chemistry.

She doesn’t like it. She doesn’t want it. But chemistry doesn’t care. It has a will of its own, and that will means she’s drawn to me against all odds, whether she likes it or not.

And while we’re far from home, in this strange city where she declared us strangers, then ended up spending the whole day with me, I intend to make the most of it.

Chapter 5

Parker

…his tongue slides against mine, slick and hot, as he groans into my mouth. I swallow the sound, fisting my fingers in his T-shirt, relieved when he breaks off our kiss for a second to pull it over his head. Mine follows his, and he pulls me closer, my lacy bra the only barrier between the heat of his skin flush against the softness of mine.

“I always knew it could be like this, Park,” he whispers close to my ear, his teeth nipping the lobe gently. A shiver runs down my spine as I slide my fingers into the waistband of his sweats. He’s bare beneath, and my hands slide lower to splay flat against the smooth roundness of his ass. His mouth skims down the curve of my throat, his fingers unclasping my bra, and his lips sucking one pert nipple into the wet heat of his mouth.

I gasp from the sweet sharpness of the sensation…

…and my eyes fly open.

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