A Beautiful Lie (Playing with Fire #1)(46)

Parker slipped her hand around the inside of Garrett's elbow as they walked and she tried not to let the story seep into her heart and squeeze it too hard.

"My father often told me he fell even more in love with my mother than he ever thought possible on their honeymoon," Fernandez finished as they got to the end of the hallway near the elevator.

Garrett wondered irritably what the point of this story was.

"That's a wonderful story, Mr. President. Shall we find somewhere quiet where we can sit down and begin the interview?" Garrett asked as politely as he could.

Fernandez threw his head back and laughed, bringing his hand up to pat Garrett on the back.

"Oh, Mr. Miller, how you amuse me!" he said with a smile.

"Tell me, Mrs. Miller, does your husband keep you in stitches every day?"

Parker chuckled to hide her sarcasm.

"Absolutely. The things that come out of his mouth just make me want to scream...in laughter," Parker replied.

Garrett felt like he was missing something.

"I think it's very important for a couple to have some time alone after they are married to discover one another, as man and wife. You can't really do that in your own home with day to day interruptions.

Even Parker was confused at this point, having no idea where Fernandez was going with this.

"I would like you and your lovely wife to come back here tomorrow evening. You can spend the night in the guest quarters on the second floor where my staff will cater to your every need."

Parker and Garrett's confused expressions equaled one another.

"Mr. President, that's incredibly generous but..."

Fernandez interrupted Garrett.

"Nonsense, I insist. The two of you have a passion that deserves to be unbound in celebration of your love. It would make me very happy to offer up my palace as a place for you to consummate your marriage in luxury. The following evening after you are well rested, we'll meet over dinner and conduct that interview you're so anxious about."

Fernandez said goodnight to Garrett and Parker and told them he would send a car to their hotel tomorrow evening. He left them waiting for the elevator while he went back to the rest of his guests.

Garrett and Parker didn't speak until the elevator doors opened and they stepped inside.

"Did the President of the Dominican just tell us he'd give us the interview if we stayed at his palace and had sex?" Parker asked, the shock clearly evident in her voice.

Garrett, equally amazed, nodded his head.

"Yep, I'm pretty sure that's what just happened."





Chapter Eleven



Garrett and Parker pretended the kiss from the previous night never happened, on the outside at least. Internally, they were both thinking about it, constantly replaying it over and over in their minds. Parker didn’t want to talk about it because she was still hurt Garrett so cavalierly brushed it off as no big deal, and Garrett, like a typical man, figured if he just ignored the problem, it would go away.

If he ignored how much he wanted Parker, if he ignored how much he ached to feel the touch of her breath on his face and the taste of her lips on his tongue, eventually it wouldn’t be a problem anymore.

At four in the morning, when he still hadn’t fallen asleep because listening to Parker’s gentle breathing and quiet moans every time she rolled over had made him hard enough to cut glass, he knew this was a problem that had no intention of ever leaving him.

They both got out of bed exhausted, neither one in much of a talking mood.

They met for breakfast in Austin’s room since he had already ordered enough food to feed a small army and sat down at the table in the corner of the room and dug into the food. Austin gave them a breakdown of what they found when they scouted the locations from the list Parker had given them the night before. Brady was late for breakfast and Austin informed them he was printing something off in his room and would be there soon.

Austin explained that the three men went to each of the eleven businesses on the list. Every building was closed for the night and locked tight, but that didn’t stop them from finding a way inside to search the files kept on-site. They found no mention of Fernandez or anyone working for him.

Garrett wanted to bang his head against a wall as they continued to hit dead ends. No one was this perfect. People made mistakes all the time. They just had to find one of Fernandez’s and then everything would unravel.

Brady walked into the room at that point and handed Garrett the print out that made him late. It was an address and directions.

“Is this it? Is this for The Target Agency?” Garrett questioned.

Parker leaned towards Garrett to see what was on the paper while Brady poured himself a cup of coffee and sat on the end of the bed.

“Well, we don’t know exactly what that address is for,” Cole answered from his seat across from Parker. “The last business we went to was the insurance company. I found a few pieces of forwarded mail in one of the trash cans under the receptionist’s desk. Mail from that address...” Cole pointed to the paper Garrett held “...was forwarded to the insurance company.”

Just barely reaching six feet, Cole was the shortest on the team, and he never failed to overcompensate for that fact by eating, sleeping, and breathing his job. With his short blonde hair and chocolate colored eyes, he was easily forgotten about in a crowd which made him the perfect candidate for undercover work. Much to his parent’s dismay, as soon as Cole turned eighteen he ripped the silver spoon from his mouth, threw it as far away as possible and did the exact opposite of what they wanted. Their constant nagging about him getting a real job as a doctor or a lawyer gave Cole all the incentive he needed to do every single job to the absolute best of his ability. He didn’t need anyone or anything but his SEAL brothers, and he would always make sure they came first.