A Beautiful Lie (Playing with Fire #1)(52)

Once they were seated and the driver stowed their bags in the trunk, Garrett raised the privacy window as they began pulling out of the resort.

After driving for several minutes in silence, Garrett turned towards Parker. She was staring out of her window, but the running lights in the back of the vehicle made it possible for Garrett to see her reflection in the glass. She was lost in thought, and he knew it was his own damn fault for bringing Milo up in the first place. Parker was right, Milo was his friend as well, and he knew he should feel comfortable enough to talk about him, but not at the expense of her happiness.

With Parker’s hands resting in her lap, Garrett reached one of his hands over and touched the inside of her wrist with the tips of his fingers, sliding them up through her palm until they pushed in between hers and their fingers were interlaced.

At the heat of his touch, Parker turned her face toward Garrett. He squeezed her hand once, letting her know without words that everything would be okay while he softly rubbed his thumb back and forth over the knuckle of her thumb.

Garrett and Parker stared at each other silently as the limo drove them towards the palace, each of them wondering if they'd be able to pull off the ruse of husband and wife tonight with all of the thoughts and memories threatening to drown them.





Chapter Twelve



Garrett and Parker were able to avoid all the security checkpoints their second time entering the palace since they weren’t in their own vehicle. When they were ushered past the security guard with the metal detector wand, Garrett cursed himself for not bringing his gun. After the information they found earlier, he had a really bad feeling about all of this.

Parker wondered what was going through Garrett’s mind after the admission about her relationship with Milo. Garrett hadn’t said a word after she confessed they hadn’t slept together in ages. She probably made him uncomfortable speaking about his friend that way, but she’d kept things bottled up for too long. It felt good to confide in Garrett―something she probably should have done a long time ago.

Parker closed her mind from those thoughts for the time being. They had a job to do and wouldn’t be able to talk freely anytime soon. The subject of her relationship with Milo was definitely closed for discussion while they were there.

Parker’s hand clutched the inside of Garrett’s elbow and her shoes clicked against the marble floor as they followed a palace staff member down the longest hallway they’d ever seen. The staff member continued on ahead of them in silence as Parker and Garrett perused the many styles of artwork that hung on the walls on either side of them. The hallway widened after a while, and it looked as though they were entering another lobby of sorts. Parker glanced up at the cathedral ceiling as they walked into the second room and she couldn’t help but admire the intricate painted scene of angels locked in a battle between good and evil. The irony of having that scene floating above their heads while they prepared to go to war with the man who lived here was not lost on Parker. This room afforded them a beautiful view of the open hallways to the second and third floors. Arched columns and white marble railings lined the floors, and the staff member paused at the base of a grand staircase at the end of the room and indicated with his arm that they should make their way up to the second floor.

Once at the top, they walked down the open hallway, glancing below where they had just been, while the staff member began to prattle on about the palace’s history.

Finally, they came to a set of white and gold double doors. They were unlocked and opened with a flourish. Garrett and Parker took a step inside and both gasped in awe.

When they heard they were going to be staying in a guest suite, they assumed it would be just that—a guest suite. This was more like a three-thousand square foot house inside of the palace.

The doors were closed behind them with instructions to use the house phone in the sitting room for food, entertainment, or anything else they might need during their stay.

The room they were currently in was the biggest living room they had ever seen, complete with twenty foot vaulted ceilings, windows almost as tall, and a view of the ocean outside. The entire room was decorated in cream and gold, and it was warm and inviting.

Garrett and Parker walked wordlessly into the room, turning to the right when they came to another room.

“Holy shit,” Garrett muttered.

The bedroom took up at least half of the massive suite. It was decorated in more cream and gold, but darker hues than in the living room. Parker let go of Garrett’s arm and walked to the bed at the very end of the room, against the wall, and sat down at the foot. Her body sunk into the soft mattress and she let out a sigh of comfort. Garrett walked past the heavy gold curtains that hung around the room and leaned his shoulder against one of the marble pillars that encased the bed. He stared at Parker’s face as she glanced up and saw an elaborate dome that acted as a light and took up most of the ceiling.

“We could make as much noise as we wanted in this room and no one would hear us,” Parker joked.

Garrett laughed, remembering his earlier idea of the two of them moaning, jumping up and down on the bed, and rattling the headboard so the staff would know something was going on in the room and report back to Fernandez. Obviously that idea would be out.

“I could do things that would make you scream and no one would know,” Garrett said with an arch of an eyebrow and a menacing, serial killer laugh.