A Beautiful Lie (Playing with Fire #1)(40)

Parker summoned all of the courage and confidence she had ever possessed as she walked across the floor towards Garrett. She’d been there when Conrad picked out the suit and had loved it then, but nothing compared to seeing it on him now. Parker would rather see him out of it, but she figured this would have to do for the time being.

Parker stopped when she was toe to toe with Garrett and looked up into his face while she breathed in the smell of his cologne that always made her want to press her body up against his so she could keep the smell on her skin long after he was gone.

“Hi,” Garrett said softly.

Parker smiled at him, trying to convey with her eyes everything she was feeling. She spun slowly in front of him so Garrett could get the full affect.

The one inch satin straps that held up the dress crisscrossed in the back, right between her shoulder blades, and was held together with a crystal jeweled clip. The straps continued down off to the sides, leaving most of her back bare with a diamond-shaped cutout. The bottom of the diamond outline ended right where her butt began and the v-shaped crystals attached there held a satin train in place.

Parker completed the turn, facing Garrett again.

It took all of his self-control not to reach out and run his fingertips along the smooth skin of her back while she turned. He couldn’t help but notice that there was no way she could be wearing any underwear with that dress. The sleek fabric clung to the curves of her, showing everything. The satin texture of the dress made him want to run his hands all the way down the sides of her body to feel the cool silky material and her warm skin underneath.

“You look stunning A…uh, Park.”

Garrett needed to put his feelings in check, and instead of letting her first name slip out, he resorted to using Milo’s nickname for her to keep the wall in place. He only spoke her name when he was alone dreaming about her and wishing it was her hand sliding up and down his length, bringing him to climax. Last night he was caught up in the moment, and he hadn’t even realized he’d said it. If he did so now, out in the open, with her body mere inches from him, he’d lose every last thread of control he had, and he'd take her back to their room and show her once and for all what she did to him.

Parker took the compliment for what it was, watching Garrett’s face as it morphed back into that of a man in complete control of the situation. She had a moment of regret before she closed her mind off from the fantasy and got ready to face reality.

“The limo just pulled up,” Parker stated, looking beyond Garrett’s shoulder to the turn-around drive in front of the lobby. “We better get moving.”

Parker was all business on the ride over to the palace. She asked Garrett to fill her in on the teleconference he had with Risner and inquired about Brady’s luck at finding an address to The Target Agency. She told him she ran into a few dead ends trying to locate it herself after she got home from shopping and hoped Brady had better luck. Garrett and Parker both knew the scouting of the buildings the guys were doing that night would pull up nothing of interest, but it was still necessary. The key was finding out about this temp agency. The coinciding dates of when this business started and when Parker was recruited to the CIA set off a lot of red flags. In this line of work, nothing was a coincidence. Things happened for a reason.

The limo pulled up to the gate of the palace right on time. Both sides of the limo were flanked with armed guards. Garrett rolled down his window and handed one of the guards their invitation, along with their press passes and fake IDs. After passing the first checkpoint, the gates slid open and the limo was directed through and was sent to the next guard house two-hundred yards down the drive. There, Parker and Garrett were required to exit the limo as their IDs were checked and a guard crawled under the limo to look around while another guard searched inside the trunk. When they were satisfied Garrett and Parker didn't pose any threat, they motioned them on.

They were ushered through yet another set of gates and the limo eased around the circular drop-off and stopped in front of the palace steps behind several other limos. Garrett and Parker got out and stared up at the building.

The National Palace was over one hundred and ninety-three thousand square feet of elegance. It was easily twice the size of the White House. The white marble building was three stories tall, the front expanse showcasing forty windows. The top of the building was graced with a dome resting on a windowed drum, sustained by eighteen pillars.

Garrett rounded the front of the limo and came to stand in front of Parker, taking both of her hands in his and leaning in to her ear.

"Don't forget your wedding ring, Mrs. Miller," Garrett whispered as Parker felt something slide onto the third finger of her left hand.

She pulled away from him and glanced down at her hand, expecting to see a boring silver band that matched the one he had covertly slid onto his own finger.

Instead, her gaze fell to a beautiful platinum band encrusted with eight princess cut stones: five diamonds with three sapphires, one nestled in between each diamond.

"Garrett," she whispered on a gasp.

Parker knew for a fact the military would never spring for something like this. They also wouldn't have known the significance of this exact ring, something only Garrett was privy to during an evening of shopping a few years ago.



Parker had leaned over the glass case, gazing at the rings and hoping something would pop out at her as being "the one”.