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Nodding her head, Parker slips her hands around my waist as she lays her head against my chest. “I think we need to get Ivy here. I’m worried that she’s the only one close to us who isn’t being watched.”
“Hmm… You want to call her?”
26
Parker
“Ugh!” I pace back and forth in front of Gia. “That didn’t go as planned.”
“You could have just come out and asked her why she was avoiding my father,” Gia suggested.
“I would have done if we hadn’t been on speaker because she knew you were in the room with me. There was no way she’d ever admit to her feelings in front of you.” I perch on the edge of Jarrod’s desk and face Gia. “She hasn’t just pulled away from Jarrod, she’s pulled away from us as well.”
“Then let’s go and get her and take Hunter and Julian with us. She needs to know that she could be a target because of her association with us. If we’re there in force she won’t have any choice but to listen.” Gia sits forward and I can see by the look on her face that she likes her idea—a lot.
“You know, it might help if you tell her that you know about her feelings toward your father and that you’re okay with them.”
Gia winces. “I want my father and my friend happy. Until recently I never thought of them being happy together and that’s going to take some getting used to. However, I will talk to her and let her know that I’m not completely opposed to the idea.”
Standing, Gia moves to the large window in the office that overlooks the lawn at the back of the house. “I know what it’s like to love, Parker.” She turns and faces me, her hip resting against the sill. “I know what it’s like to be loved by a good man, and I guess I’m just wanting what I have for you and Ivy…if that includes one of my closest friends getting together with my father then I’ll handle that. He’s been alone for a long time and he’s lonely.” She offers me a wry smile. “I want to see him truly happy too.”
I move over to Gia and rest my hands on her arms. “Then we need to talk to the men, and tell them we’re going out.” I smile. “You know that they’ll be coming with us, right?”
She giggles. “We don’t even need to ask.”
“That’s right.”
Her face falls. “They have enough going on to be worrying about us though. Perhaps it isn’t such a good plan.”
“Gia, they’re going to be worrying about us regardless as to what else they’re working on.”
“Listen to Parker, honey,” Hunter drawls having snuck in the room silently.
I move away so that Hunter can be near his wife before he gets twitchy. He brushes the hair back from her face before he softly caresses her cheek.
Just as Hunter dips his head to steal a kiss from Gia, strong arms wrap around my waist from behind followed by the touch of a hard body along the back of mine. “You okay,” Julian whispers.
“Mmm, I am now.” I turn my head and meeting his intense gaze, my legs go weak with longing. I’ve longed to have him look at me the way he is, and to have him claim me in front of our friends.
“So this is where you’ve all disappeared to,” Jarrod mumbles walking behind his desk. “I should have known.”
Feeling Gia’s gaze on me, I glance at her and catch a wink before she clears her throat. “Dad?”
Jarrod’s head pops up from the papers he was looking at. “What’s wrong?”
“Um, nothing really, except Parker and I were thinking about going to get Ivy.”
Her father pales at her words, but I admire her for continuing, as a dark cloud seems to be settling over Jarrod.
“She won’t listen to us, Dad.” Gia moves and rests her hands on her father’s desk. “We’ve not long since spoken to her and she won’t accept that she needs to be here to be kept safe.”
Her father sighs and drops into the chair behind him. “We had an argument and I told her she wasn’t welcome here again. Perhaps I’m the one who needs to talk to her,” he says in resignation.
Gia quickly glances at me and then back to her father. “I think if we all went then she won’t have a choice but to come with us.”
Hunter laughs. “I’m not sure putting pressure on her to come here will work. She’s obviously stubborn so I’m guessing it would probably have the opposite affect.”
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