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“You asked for help,” my father said with an evil smirk as Mitchell, Tripp, Cord, Trevor, and last but certainly not least, Steed, walked up.
I tried like hell not to let my eyes linger on Steed, but it was hard. His tight black T-shirt showed off how he’d gotten in even better shape than he was at eighteen, and those jeans… I had to fight to make myself breathe. The matching black cowboy hat made his steel blue eyes pop and when my gaze caught his. I quickly glanced away. My heart was beating so fast, and I had a hard time focusing.
Get it together, Paxton.
“So you brought all five of the Parker boys?”
“Boys?” Trevor said with a laugh. “Hell woman, you’ve got yourself a bunch of strong men.”
Corina mumbled something I couldn’t understand. Grabbing her, I pulled her toward the four set of hungry eyes. The only one who wasn’t looking at Corina was Steed. He hadn’t taken his eyes off of me yet.
“This is my best friend, Corina. We went to A and M together. She teaches first grade here in Oak Springs.”
Mitchell and Tripp pushed each other to get to Corina first. Tripp won.
Taking her hand, he lifted it to his lips. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Corina. The name is Tripp Parker.”
Something slipped from her mouth. A giggle moan? I rolled my eyes, but deep down I was happy to see the guys giving her attention. Corina was beautiful. She had a sweet innocence to her. She almost always wore her blonde hair in a pony, unaware of how beautiful she was. Men tripped over themselves, and she was clueless to all of it. She had dated a couple guys while we were in College Station, and one of them had broken her heart when she caught him cheating.
Corina finally found her voice. “Nice to meet you, Tripp.”
Mitchell pushed Tripp out of the way. Imitating his brother, he took Corina’s hand and kissed the back of it. “Mitchell Parker. It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”
“Lord have mercy,” Corina whispered.
Mitchell flashed that smile, and I was pretty sure Corina was melting on the spot. When he winked, she leaned into me.
“Oh, for the love of all that’s good.” I pushed Mitchell away. “We have work to do! Corina, stay away from Tripp. He’s in politics.”
“Hey!” Tripp cried out.
“Mitchell here, he’s a Texas Ranger.”
Corina perked up. “A baseball player!”
Mitchell laughed. “You’re not from Texas are you, sweetheart?”
Looking at me with huge eyes, Corina smiled and then turned back to Mitchell. “Chicago.”
He nodded. “Well, Corina from Chicago. Texas Rangers are a baseball team, but they are also an elite group of police officers.”
Tripp huffed behind Mitchell.
“You’re a police officer?” Corina asked with dreamy eyes.
Mitchell’s grin grew wider. “Yes, ma’am.”
When her teeth sunk into her lip, I pulled her away.
“Corina, this is Cord Parker. He owns Cord’s Place.”
Corina reached out her hand, and Cord followed suit. “Pleasure is all mine.”
“Nice to meet you, Cord.”
Stopping in front of Trevor, I took a deep breath. He was the one I was most worried about. “Corina, this is Trevor. He may be the youngest brother, but I think he is the most dangerous.”
Trevor tossed his head back to laugh before staring straight at Corina. “Hell yeah, I am.”
“Nice to meet you, Trevor,” Corina said as she held her hand out. Trevor looked down at it and then grinned like he had just made the catch of the day. “Hell girl, any friend of Paxton’s is a friend of mine. Come here.”
Before I knew it Corina was wrapped up in Trevor’s arms. He lifted her off the ground. She let out a small yelp and laughed. When he put her down, her cheeks were flushed.
“Nice, Trevor,” I said with a roll of my eyes.
I wanted to turn and walk away without even introducing her to Steed, but I couldn’t do that in front of my Daddy. He’d raised me better than that.
Steed was still staring at me, but turned to Corina and smiled politely. He reached his hand out and shook hers. “Steed Parker, it’s a pleasure meeting you.”
Corina snapped her head over and gave me an inquisitive stare. “Steed? This is him.”
I chewed on my lip. Please don’t make a scene, Corina.
With pleading eyes, I replied, “Yes, Corina, this is Steed. He just moved back from Oregon with his daughter, Chloe.”
Corina plastered on a fake smile. “Well, I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Steed’s grin faded as he cleared his throat. “I’m sure you have.”
Leaning in so only he could hear, Corina whispered, “I’d like to grab you by the balls and push them up into your throat for what you did to her.”
His eyes grew wide, and he took a step back.
I clapped my hands. “Great. Okay. Since we have man power here, we need to get all these tents up, and they have to be staked into the ground good with this front blowing in.”
