A Beautiful Lie (Playing with Fire #1)(136)

Parker and Garrett stood inches apart, staring into each other’s eyes as the last sliver of sun disappeared into the horizon. A small noise broke the moment and they both looked down into Garrett’s arms.

Joanna Lacie McCarthy, Annie for short, slept peacefully in her father’s arms. Every so often a soft sigh or a little squeak would pass her perfect pink lips making her parents smile.

“You let her nap in your arms this entire time, didn’t you?” Parker asked Garrett with a smile as she ran her fingertips gently over her daughter’s cheeks.

Garrett shrugged sheepishly and leaned over to kiss the top of Parker’s head.

“I tried to put her down, I swear. But she was sleeping so well I didn’t want to wake her.”

Annie had come into the world three months prior, on her mother’s birthday, letting everyone within a mile radius know how well her lungs worked, her tiny fists flailing at the doctor and nurses, her feet kicking out in anger. She had reminded Garrett so much of Parker he couldn’t help but laugh through his tears when he saw her. He also couldn’t help falling absolutely in love with his daughter right at that moment.

This beautiful, tiny addition to their life wasn’t planned, but the fact that she was conceived in love, in her mother’s childhood home on the night her parents found each other again, meant she was the most important and most wanted accident any two people could have ever hoped for.

Before Parker found out she was pregnant, she already came to terms with the fact that she would never again be an agent for the CIA. Aside from the physical restrictions the bullet wound and trauma put on her body, Parker realized she no longer had the heart for it. She knew one of the main reasons she enjoyed her job for so many years was that it allowed her to be another person, to run away from things in her life she didn’t want to deal with. Parker had no desire to run anymore, no need to be anyone than who she really was. The day before she took the pregnancy test, she had handed over her badge and her gun and said goodbye to that chapter of her life.

She had spent her pregnancy and the three months since the birth of her daughter taking on freelance photography assignments. Taking pictures provided Parker with the kind of therapy you couldn’t pay someone enough for. It gave her time to think about everything she’d gone through and to come to terms with the grief that weighed her down. Each picture she took was a step towards healing and feeling whole again. At night when she’d develop her pictures in her darkroom, she’d ask Garrett to come inside with her, something she’d never let anyone do before. Parker’s darkroom was her sanctuary. A place where she alone could make beauty come to life. In that room, day after day, week after week, Parker and Garrett talked. There was something about the small, confined space with its dim red light that made it easier to pour out all of your hurt and all of your fears and talk to the person you loved about pain and forgiveness. In that dark room they remembered what made them friends and they shared the memories that made them fall in love.

“Will you guys hurry up?!”

Garrett and Parker turned to look at the voice that shouted down to them from the top of the stairs that led down to the beach.

Parker laughed at the sight of Olivia standing at the top with her hands on her hips and her foot tapping in irritation.

Unbeknownst to Parker, Garrett had called Olivia the next morning from Joe’s house to thank her again for helping him and to let her know how Parker was doing. One hour later, Olivia called Parker, using the number Garrett had kindly given her, and demanded to know why Parker never called to update her after she got settled in. Parker had held the phone an inch away from her ear while Olivia raged, shooting Garrett dirty looks from across the room.

From that moment on, Parker reluctantly agreed that maybe she could use a friend like Olivia―someone who was blunt, honest, and would kick the ass of anyone who hurt her friend. Olivia came to California for a visit two weeks later, and like Parker so many years before, she fell in love with the beach and the warm weather.

Her nursing residency was finishing up soon at George Washington University Hospital, and then she would have her choice of hospitals to work with. Olivia decided after two days that she would continue her career UC San Diego Health System.

She refused to admit that part of her decision was based on the gorgeous, blond, Navy SEAL with a southern accent that charmed the pants off of her, literally, the night they’d met at a dinner at Garrett’s house. Although after six months of dating, Olivia couldn’t really deny the fact that Cole was one of the main reasons she was so happy living in California, just a few minutes down the street from Garrett and Parker.

“Seriously, guys, Parker still needs to shower the sand off of her and get dressed. The minister I booked isn’t going to wait all night to marry you two,” Olivia yelled before stomping off.

“Tell me again why I let her plan our wedding?” Parker asked with a laugh.

“Because she would have kicked both of our asses if we didn’t let her. That woman scares me,” Garrett said as he handed his still-sleeping daughter over to her mother.

Annie rested her head on Parker’s shoulder, never once waking up as Parker held her close and wrapped her free arm around Garrett’s waist. They made their way across the sand to the steps before Olivia came back and scolded them again.

Garrett and Parker, while knowing for quite some time they wanted to get married, decided to wait until their daughter arrived to make it official. Olivia made them wait three more months so she could make everything “perfect”. Even though their wedding would only be attended by a small handful of friends and Garrett’s parents, Olivia still required some planning time.