Page 31 of Parker

“Jesus, man.” Delta’s team leader shoved the gearshift intoparkbefore releasing his seatbelt. “Take a second and breathe.”

“Thanks, but I didn’t come all this way to fucking breathe.” Parker shut his own door and turned away. He and King nearly collided when both men cleared the SUV’s back bumper at the same time.

He moved to the right. So did King. Sliding to the left, he bit back an insulting curse when the other man followed his same movements again.

By the time King mirrored Parker’s third attempt to continue on his current path, Parker knew it wasn’t by accident.

“Get out of my way.”

King didnotget out of his way. In fact, the former SEAL didn’t so much as blink.

“You have no idea who this woman really is or what she could be involved in.” Hunt came to a stop at Parker’s side. “Given who you are, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that she could be working with someone else.”

Parker shot the man a deep scowl. “Like who?”

“Could be anyone.” Hunt shrugged. “Or no one. Which is exactly my point. This woman you’re trying to play the hero for may very well be an innocent. Or, she could be a psychopath who’d love nothing more than to go down in history as the woman who ate the head of the world’s Most Eligible Bachelor.”

“Jesus, Hunt.” Parker grimaced. “Jinx doesn’t want to eat my goddamn head.”

“Just sayin’.” The other man shrugged again, his unapologetic expression grating on Parker’s razor-thin nerves.

“Look. I get that you’re only here as a favor to Ash, and I really do appreciate your willingness to help. And while I may not have the same military training you do, I can handle my own when the need arises. But most importantly, there’s a woman sitting two spaces from where we’re standing who’s scared out of her mind. And she’s waiting for me. So either you let me go to her, or the three of us are going to have a very big problem.”

Parker stopped talking and waited, grateful as hell when Brody stepped aside enough to let him pass.

“Thank you.”

With rushed steps, he made a bee line for Jinx’s car. The closer he got, the clearer her silhouetted image became. And when he found himself standing beside her door, Parker suddenly found it impossible to breathe.

Jinx.

After nearly a year of wishing they could meet in person, there she was. Right there, within his reach…and he couldn’t move a fucking muscle.

Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. And for the life of him, he couldn’t get his brilliant mind to think.

So for the next several seconds, he didn’t even bother to try.

Instead, Parker gave himself that one, precious moment in time to get his first real look at the sleeping beauty who’d become the star of his dreams.

And holy hell, what a beauty she was.

Thick, straight, shoulder-length hair the color of wheat partially covered the most angelic face he’d ever seen. Flawless skin, high cheekbones, a nose that was straight with just the right amount of lift right at the very end.

Parker’s lips twitched when he spotted the tiny rhinestone adorning the slight dip at one side. Nose piercings weren’t usually his thing, but from what he knew of her, this one fit Jinx’s perfectly.

His gaze lowered, pausing over the woman’s tempting mouth. Even from here, he could tell her bottom lip was slightly fuller than the top, and before he could keep from it, Parker was imagining what it would feel like to kiss her.

Not now, dickhead. You need to get her someplace safe and figure out what the hell’s going on first.

With a mental shake of his head, Parker blinked, his focus drawn back to her eyes. They were still closed, so he couldn’t tell their color, but it didn’t matter.

This was Jinx.HisJinx.

After waiting for what felt like forever, she was right there, inches from where he stood. Jinx was here, and she was beautiful. She was also…

Waking up.

Every muscle in his body locked down as her lids slowly fluttered to life. Without so much as a sliver of breath in his lungs, Parker watched Jinx blink herself back to awareness.

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