"You have good hands." I immediately wanted to kick myself. What kind of comment was that?
But Parker looked down at his hands, then back up at me and a smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. "Good hands?"
"For… ummm… gesturing on camera." I was making this worse. "You use them when you talk. It's expressive."
"You've been watching my hands?" There was a teasing note in his voice.
"I notice things." I sounded a little surly and that wasn't my intention.
"What else do you notice?" he asked, almost in a whisper.
"Everything."
We were both quiet for a moment, and I became aware of how close we were sitting. We were close enough that if I shifted slightly, our knees would touch under the table and I noted the lighter flecks in his brown eyes. I could even count the individual lashes framing them.
Parker's gaze dropped to my lips, just for a second, before flicking back up.
"Dawson."
His phone buzzed and the moment was gone.
"That's Isla. We should probably head to the station. I need to be in hair and makeup by seven-thirty."
I loathed having my hair manhandled by a stylist and them smoothing heavy foundation over my skin. I'd long ago told them to keep it to a minimum and my knee bounced for the long minutes I sat in that chair.
"Right." I gathered my phone and notes, trying to ignore the disappointment that settled over me. That was silly because I'd been dreading this meeting, and now I was disappointed it was ending. My beast urged me to keep Parker talking but I ignored him and that annoyed him.
My wolf was becoming a problem.
We walked to the station together. The early morning air was so cool that I could see Parker's breath misting. He was close enough that his scent wrapped around me, and I almost turned and walked away in case he picked up on my arousal. My wolf was badgering me to get closer but that would have been invading Parker's personal space.
"Thanks for meeting early." Parker paused at the station entrance. "And for being willing to work together on the coverage. I know I'm not always your favorite person."
"You're not… no you're… it's… fine." The words tumbled out, tripping over my tongue."You're good at your job. Even if you do translate everything I say into sound bites."
His infectious laugh wrapped around my heart. "I'll take that as a compliment."
"It was meant as one."
His eyes searched my face as if he was trying to figure out a puzzle. For a moment, we stood there in the cool morning air and we were close enough that I could feel the warmth radiating from his skin.
But his phone buzzed again.
"That's Isla. I need to go." But he didn't move immediately. "Same time tomorrow? We should keep coordinating while the storm develops."
"Yeah, okay."
He disappeared into the station and I stood where I was for another thirty seconds, breathing in the lingering trace of his scent. This was becoming a problem because now I was paying attention to what my wolf has been pestering me about. I'd been ignoring it for weeks. Parker Fleetwood smelled like home. He was everything my instincts had been searching for since I'd become an adult.
Parker was my mate.
I forced myself to walk into the station, to focus on the weather models and the approaching storm. I had work to do. This was not the time to acknowledge that the cheerful morning show host was our fated mate. Even if every instinct I had was telling me it was true.
The storm was coming. And it had nothing to do with the hurricane in the Gulf.
FOUR
PARKER
