A Beautiful Lie (Playing with Fire #1)(135)

“I need you,” Parker whispered softly as she wrapped her hands around the back of his head and pulled him down for a kiss. “Help me forget,” she whispered against his lips. “I don’t want to think about anything right now but you and me.”

“I love you,” Garrett told her one more time before moving his hand up to place his palm over her heart, and then plunging himself fully inside of her in one swift motion.

They both gasped together and held perfectly still. Garrett squeezed his eyes closed and buried his head in the crook of Parker’s neck trying not to explode immediately from how good it felt to finally be home.

Parker let her body get used to feel of having Garrett inside of her and slid her hands down his back, clutching onto him and pulling him in deeper. Garrett couldn’t hold still any longer and Parker was grateful for that. She needed more.

Parker tightened her thighs around Garrett’s hips as he began to thrust in and out of her. Garrett let his lips and tongue taste every inch of Parker’s skin that he could reach without breaking their connection. He couldn’t get enough of her and he never wanted this feeling to end. Too soon though, Parker’s fingernails were scoring his back and her movements against him became erratic. He sunk deep inside and ground his hips against her over and over until he felt Parker’s internal muscles gripping him and her orgasm throbbing out of her.

Garrett swallowed Parker’s cries with his mouth, pushing his tongue through her mouth in the same rhythm as he pushed himself in and out of her, pulling every last bit of pleasure out of her release that he could. The heat of her mouth and the way her body hugged him like a glove as he slid in and out of her had him coming within seconds. With their arms wrapped tightly around each other and Parker’s ankles locked behind Garrett’s back, he gave one last deep thrust before his orgasm exploded.

They lay on the floor together, panting heavily and covered in a thin sheen of sweat for several minutes. The ticking of the clock on the fireplace mantle was the only other sound in the room.

When Garrett could finally speak, he pulled his face away from Parker’s neck and smoothed a damp strand of hair off of her forehead.

“Have I told you lately that I love you?” Garrett asked.

Parker smiled as she looked up into the eyes of her best friend, the man she’d loved for as long as she could remember.

“Yes, but I don’t mind hearing it again,” she told him as she ran a hand down the side of his face.

“I love you,” Garrett whispered softly. “Always.”

In that moment, with Garrett speaking the same words her father had in his letter, Parker knew without a doubt that wherever he was right now, he approved.

And in time she knew all of her wounds would heal as long as she had Garrett to love her.





Epilogue



One year later



Garrett carefully walked down the rickety wooden steps nestled between the wild grass and glanced at his watch before stepping off the bottom step into the sand. He looked across the beach and the sight before him made Garrett realize he didn’t care if they were late. He could spend all night watching her work and be completely happy.

Parker sat Indian-style right at the water’s edge with her camera up to her eyes focusing in on the setting sun as it reflected across the water. She was so lost in her work she didn’t notice the waves softly lapping up around her, soaking her skirt.

Garrett kicked off his shoes and walked across the sand, his feet sinking into its softness, still warm from the sun. He thought back to an evening almost like this a year and a half ago. He remembered walking across the sand towards Parker on her birthday, wondering how many more of her birthdays of hers he’d spend wishing for something he’d never have.

He stood silently behind Parker and watched her hair move softly around her face with the gentle breeze that came in off of the ocean. The sun setting in the distance caught the reflection of the blue sapphire ring on the fourth finger of Parker’s left hand and the glint from the sparkle caught Garrett’s eye and made him smile. Right before Parker was wheeled into surgery for the gunshot wound, the nurse handed Garrett the ring he’d put on her finger for their pretend marriage for the mission. Garrett once again had found himself carrying that ring around in his pocket, pulling it out and staring at it day after day, wondering when and if he would ever get the chance to slip it onto Parker’s finger, this time, without the pretense of a mission.

The night they’d reconnected in her childhood home, Garrett slipped it on Parker’s finger while she slept peacefully in his arms. He knew their problems were far from over. He knew they had a long road to go before all would be forgiven and mistakes would be forgotten. But Garrett knew without a doubt that he would do whatever it took to spend the rest of his life with Parker. Putting that ring back on her finger symbolized more than just a promise that Garrett wanted Parker to marry him. It symbolized their past, present, and future. It represented the fact that through it all, the love they shared could heal even the most severe wounds. It served as a reminder that no matter where she went, no matter what she did, no one would ever know Parker or love her like Garrett did.

Parker smiled to herself as she adjusted the shutter speed on her camera and took three more pictures, finishing up this month’s assignment for Travel Magazine. Even over the sounds of the ocean waves breaking and cresting, Parker heard Garrett walk up behind her and felt him watching her work. Even now, after everything they’d been through, his nearness still gave her goose bumps and made butterflies flap around in her stomach. She pulled the camera away from her eye and snapped the lens cap on before pushing herself up from the wet sand and turning around.