Page 116 of The Wrong Heart

Parker clears a hitch in his throat, scuffing his shoe along the linoleum. “See you next week, Amelia.”

His words seem to halt her retreat, and she falters, neck craning to spare him a final glance. “You said my name,” she responds through a grin. “Instead of Emo Chick.”

“Oh, uh…” Parker stuffs his hands into his pockets, shuffling in place. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Thank you.”

Amelia shares her smile with me, and then she’s gone, pushing through the double doors with her veil of midnight hair trailing behind her.

Turning to Parker, I nibble my lip, swiping away the fallen tear. He’s glowering at the doors that fall shut, but his expression is wrinkled with confusion as opposed to hostility. I take his hand in mine, and he flinches at the contact, his instinct to pull back—but he doesn’t. He allows me to interlace our fingers together as his gaze trails back to me. I smile up at him, then lead him out those same doors Amelia just disappeared through.

We traipse through the parking lot, hand-in-hand, and it’s such a simple thing, holding the hand of someone you care about. But with Parker, it feels like a big thing. I catch him glancing down at our interlocked palms every now and then as the hot summer air coasts along our faces, and when we reach my car, I’m reluctant to let go.

Turning to face him, I maintain our hold. “Do you want to go do something? Maybe grab dinner?”

“Dinner?”

“Yes… you know, so we can talk. Spend time together.”

Parker blinks at me, the glow of the burgundy horizon reflecting in his green orbs. “Like a date?”

My smile is instant, just like the colony of butterflies that awaken in my belly, their wings dancing and dizzy. I nod up at him. “Sure. A date.”

“Oh…” His unoccupied hand snakes back to scratch at the nape of his neck, his eyes darting around the parking lot, as if he might find his answer there. When they float back to me, it appears he did. “Yeah, okay.”

“Really?”

“I don’t see why not. I worked up a bit of an appetite earlier.”

His subsequent wink might as well be an arrow to my heart. My balance teeters. “Is that so?”

“Yeah.”

Parker releases my hand, raising both palms to cup my face, gently pushing me back against the trunk of my car. Jade eyes swallow me up, leaving just enough for his lips to taste. Our mouths lock beneath a painted sky, my heart thundering in my chest, stunned by his unexpected kiss. And when his tongue dips out to flick along my bottom lip, a request for entry, I oblige with my own starved tongue, and we lose ourselves for a few blissful seconds.

Pulling back with a low groan, Parker dusts his thumb along my cheekbone. “Maybe after dinner we can go back to your place. I seem to be insatiable lately.”

My insides clench with anticipation. I drift away for a moment, fantasizing about a future that feels within reach. A fresh start.

A new man.

The concept is both compelling and… difficult.

I never truly believed there was any hope left after Charlie. The prospect of a new relationship, a different man in my bed, was harrowing, and it drenched me in guilt. Even now, a touch of doubt pinches at me, trying to sneak inside my healing heart.

But this feelsright.

I don’t know why—I don’t know why I’m so drawn to this mysterious man with towers of baggage and high walls, but I’m determined to break through each and every barrier.

One smile at a time.

A grin pulls at my cheeks, and I lift up on my tiptoes, breathing my reply against his parted lips before I lean in for another kiss. “Sounds perfect.”

We officially had our first date.

I feel giddy, like a schoolgirl with a crush. Parker trails behind me in his pick-up truck as we make the respective drive over to my house from the Mexican restaurant, and the smile hasn’t left my face since we shared an order of flan and a parting kiss.

Parker likes flan.

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