He didn’t want to...
No, he wouldn’t do that to Amber.
‘Take care, Ace,’ he said as he set her back.
And then he headed out into the night and the rain, before she could say something they’d both regret.
* * *
Focusfocusfocus
Amber clutched her purse as she trotted up the steps leading to Rosie’s Bar, hoping Parker was here. Three days after she’d set out to get him to change his mind and gotten so deliciously sidetracked, she’d finally recovered enough from his devastating kiss to face him again. It had been all she’d imagined and more.
And after years of fantasies, that was a supersize order beyond belief.
The beautiful lips had been softer than she remembered, the slide of his tongue electrifying. The smell of the leather jacket clung to his T-shirt in its absence. Hands hard on her head, he’d held her still as the kiss had quickly shifted from a teasing joke to something more, until he was nearly mauling her mouth with an intensity that had sapped the air from her lungs.
She pushed aside the swirl of heat in her stomach. No more getting distracted by her memories or the way he made her feel. She’d followed Parker into the elevator that night with every intention of convincing him to agree to be in Reese’s wedding. But once she’d climbed into the car and been enclosed in the small space, his enticing smell, those captivating eyes and that finely honed body had derailed her plans.
And of course, then there’d been the leftover strain in the air from the mention of his father....
No, that wasn’t right. The tension had come when she’d tried to show him how sorry she was for his loss. All she’d wanted was to offer a bit of sympathy. She might have been small when her father had died, but she still felt the loss acutely. And she’d been overwhelmed with the need for a simple squeeze of her fingers to communicate that she knew how he felt.
But Parker...Parker wouldn’t allow even that small comfort.
The vision of him averting Reese’s hug swam before her eyes, and Amber’s lips twisted in disappointment and concern. He hadn’t always been so distant. In fact, as a kid he’d been open and easy and fairly demonstrative. But that had changed as he’d grown into an adolescent. Amber had witnessed the slow transformation under his mother’s treatment, and it was disheartening to realize that it remained a permanent fixture of his personality.
Bracing herself for another Parker encounter, she opened the door and entered the chaos of the noisy sports bar. She weaved her way through the throng of people, scanning the crowd.
And then her gaze caught on the back of ruffled brown hair with streaks of gold, spying Parker at a small table. He wore well-worn jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and the brown leather jacket. A black-haired man in slacks, a navy peacoat and no tie shared the table.
As she approached, Parker’s green eyes collided with hers. ‘What are you doing here?’
The words were delivered with more surprise than annoyance, but the pause that followed was uncomfortable, filled with Parker’s heated gaze, chatter and the sound of clinking glasses.
The man sitting beside him sent Parker a curious look before sticking out his hand. ‘Rob Winston,’ he said with a smile and an accent that sounded southern. Texan, maybe. ‘Ignore my partner here.’ She returned his shake as he tipped his head in Parker’s direction. ‘His momma didn’t hug him enough as a child.’
The words sent a shock through Amber’s system. There wasn’t a flicker of emotion in Parker’s expression, the muscles in his face rigid. By the nonchalant way Rob had delivered the words, Amber knew that Parker’s partner had no idea how close to the marrow his words had drilled. It was written in the way Parker was studiously avoiding her gaze.
Because she remembered...
‘Don’t get your ovaries in a wad, Robin,’ Parker huffed, though there was no real annoyance there, either.
‘Don’t be such a dirtbag, Parker,’ Rob said good-naturedly.
Amber had the distinct impression that these words were uttered on a daily basis.
‘So—’ eyes on Amber, Rob indicated for her to take a seat, but she hesitated ‘—how do you know my dumbass of a partner here?’
‘We grew up together,’ she said.
This seemed to prick Rob’s interest. He sat up higher in his seat and folded his arms on the table, leaning in with a light in his gaze that was unmistakable.
‘I bet you have some good stories about my friend here,’ Rob said. ‘Please—’ he waved at the chair beside him again in invitation ‘—join us and share.’
Ignoring Parker’s gaze, Amber bit back the smile as she sat down. It was hard not to respond to the open friendliness in Rob’s face, the amusing curiosity in his eyes. Which made it easier to bear Parker’s disconcerting attention.
‘You’re right, Rob.’ Her eyes slid to meet Parker’s, who was staring at her with a heat that burned her to the core, making her words just a little too husky. ‘I do have some doozies to tell.’
The responding flash in Parker’s gaze sent a thrill tripping through her limbs.
‘Was he always an obstinate SOB?’ Rob said.
Amber smiled at the memories. ‘Definitely.’
‘He’s relentless,’ Rob said with an acknowledging nod of his head. ‘He once chased a suspect ten blocks before tackling him in the alleyway of a pawnshop. And that was after the guy had dumped a pail of rose-colored paint over Parker’s head.’
Amber laughed at the image of Parker in pink sprinting up the street.
‘He spent one whole summer teaching me how to hold a crab,’ she said. Remembering her yells and Parker’s patient laughs, she twisted her lips wryly. ‘I kept shrieking and drawing my hands away. But he kept insisting I try again, no matter how loud I screamed.’
He’d paddled like a madman to rescue her from drowning.
He hadn’t given up then, either.
Tilting his head, Rob went on. ‘You should see him in the interrogation room,’ he said. ‘Of course, my hell-on-wheels partner here is the reason we have the highest closure rate in the department.’
That Parker was the best at his job didn’t come as a surprise.
Chuckling, Rob glanced around. ‘We should have the waitress bring you a drink,’ he said to Amber. ‘So we can swap war stories. Was he a shameless flirt back then, too?’
‘The summer he was seventeen he dated three girls—’ eyes fixed on Rob, she leaned in conspiratorially, ignoring Parker’s frown ‘—at the same time.’
‘I don’t remember that,’ Parker said.
Gazing at Rob as if Parker hadn’t spoken, Amber went on. ‘Leslie Campbell, Sharon Howell and Susie Frances.’ She hoped no one would comment on why she remembered the girls’ names when Parker didn’t. ‘Once I even caught him—’
‘Hey.’ Clearly unhappy with the turn in the conversation, Parker waved a hand in the air between his tablemates’ gazes. ‘I’m sitting right here, people.’ He tossed a loaded look at his partner. ‘Why don’t you make yourself useful and go find the waitress.’
Rob chuckled again. ‘But I’m—’ his curious gaze slid to his partner, where he must have seen something interesting, because Rob cleared his throat and stood ‘—just going to find the waitress.’ He sent Amber a quick nod. ‘Nice to meet you.’
After an answering smile, Amber watched the man walk away to join a boisterous bunch at the end of the bar. Her gaze lingered more from a nervousness about looking at Parker again then from any real interest in his good-looking partner.
‘Why are you here, Amber?’ Parker asked, his voice wary.
Feeling the need for a sense of power, she shifted higher in her seat. And from his laid-back position, legs stretched in front of him, they were almost eye to eye. Her foot brushed his, and a flash of awareness lit his gaze, an awareness that reminded her that she had been well and thoroughly kissed by Parker.
‘You know why I’m here,’ she said.
‘We’re not finishing w
hat we started.’
Was he talking about their make-out session or the conversation where she insisted he be in the wedding?
And why was the former more disappointing than the latter?
Amber lost track of the thought when he shrugged out of his jacket to loop it behind his chair, the muscles in his chest flexing from the move. The long-sleeved T-shirt stretched across his gorgeous form nicely, the pectorals and biceps filling it in a way that made coherent thought briefly impossible.
‘You need to come get measured for your tux,’ Amber said.
Parker let out a grunt. ‘I’m not going to be in the wedding.’
‘You have to.’
His gaze pierced her. ‘I don’t have to do anything.’
‘Please, Parker,’ Amber said, all teasing long gone. ‘I know it means nothing to you. But it’s really important to Reese.’