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“That’s not a bad thing,” Parker says dryly. He glances at my empty plate and adds, “Shall we order some baklava for dessert?”
I should say no; dessert feels like it brings us back into date territory after I’ve finally got us in business mode. But come on. Turn down free baklava? I don’t think so. “Hell yeah. I love baklava.”
Parker laughs and flags down our server. After the guy is gone, I resume our argument because Parker is looking at me all lovingly again. “You can’t bring Xavier,” I say.
“But if I’m there with Xavier, then they can just take me instead.”
“Yeah, and then you’d end up missing, just like all the others. They’re using dark magic roofies, remember? You’d wake up trapped in a cage somewhere, and we wouldn’t be able to find any of you. The point of all this is not for me to be bait, but for Nick to rush. We need them to accept Nick so that they tell him where the ritual is. If you go with Xavier, we still don’t learn anything.”
Parker sighs. He knows I’m right.
“Please just keep him away from the party. Take him out somewhere else, compel him if you have to.”
Parker raises an eyebrow at me. “You’d have me compel him? I thought you hated us doing that.”
“To innocent people, yeah, but to dangerous, psycho creeps? I’m not going to lose sleep over it.”
Parker chuckles quietly and shakes his head once. He pins me with a considering look, and I see the precise moment he agrees to my plan. “Okay,” he says. “I’ll keep Xavier away for you tonight. Under one condition.”
“And that is?”
He leans forward in his chair. “You allow me a kiss goodnight before I have to hand you over to Gorgeous.”
My mouth goes dry, and all the air is sucked from my lungs. I hesitate just a moment too long, and then the server is there with our dessert. He sets the plate in the middle of the table between us and lays down two dessert spoons. As soon as he’s gone, I grab my spoon and dig right in. “Oh, wow. This is good.”
“Nora…”
I refuse to look at him. “You have to try this. Seriously.”
“Nora.”
Sighing internally, I clear my mouth and force my gaze up. “No.”
His damn lips twitch again.
“No. Not happening.” This time, I sound like I mean it.
“On the cheek, then,” he counters. “I want to prove to you that not every experience with a man has to be a bad one.”
I swallow. Hard. Even though there’s no more food in my mouth. Then I take another bite of the baklava. “You’d better get in on this before I eat it all.”
“Nora…”
He’s not going to let it go. Closing my eyes, I set my spoon down. “Fine,” I whisper.
When Parker sucks in a breath through his nose, I finally look at him. I shouldn’t have. His eyes are swirling with desire, and the intensity of it makes my stomach flutter. I’m excited, but I’m also terrified. “On thecheek,” I demand. “And that is it. Nothing else. You try anything funny, and I’ll sic my troll on you.”
Parker smiles as if he’s just won, and my stomach cramps with nerves.
“I’m going to win you over, eventually,” he says as he finally picks up his spoon and dishes himself a bite of our shared dessert. “I’m a very patient man.”
