A Beautiful Lie (Playing with Fire #1)(54)

With his hand against her lips, she nodded her head in understanding and forced her heart to slow its rapid beats. Garrett slowly moved the hand from her mouth and put his index finger in front of his lips to further indicate she shouldn’t speak.

Garrett stared at Parker’s face and refused to think about how wet and slick her skin looked and how easy it would be to rip the towel off of her body. Garrett’s eyes betrayed him, and he glanced down at Parker’s cleavage, pushing up out of the towel because of how close he held her to him. Beads of water glistened off of the smooth skin of her breasts, and he watched a few drops slide into the valley between them. His tongue felt thick in his mouth and he grew thicker in his pants because of his irrational need to bend down and lick the water off of her.

He leaned to the side, taking Parker with him as he reached inside the shower and turned the water back on.

“Hope you don’t mind baby, I’m just going to rinse off while you’re getting dry,” Garrett said loudly as he walked the two of them backwards into the spray, sliding the shower door closed behind them.

In seconds, the towel wrapped around Parker was sopping wet and molded to her body and Garrett’s black dress pants and white button down were plastered to him. Garrett was grateful he’d at least taken his shoes off.

Parker watched Garrett’s face descend toward hers, and she lifted her chin and closed her eyes, thinking he was going to kiss her again. She knew it was crazy, she knew there was another reason he’d ushered them into the shower while he was fully clothed, she knew there was an important job they were supposed to be doing, but nothing else occupied her mind except for the feel of his warm skin through his wet clothes and the memory of his lips on hers.

His wet cheek slid against her own until his lips were against her ear.

“Bugged,” was all he whispered.

Parker’s eyes blinked open as Garrett’s mouth remained alongside her ear. She had been alone with him in this “honeymoon” suite for less than thirty minutes and she’d already forgotten her skills and professionalism. With anyone else, on any other job, she would have jumped into action as soon as they entered the room, checking the area for listening devices. If her partner had barged into the bathroom and dragged her into the shower, she would have immediately gone on high alert and started formulating a plan of action in her head.

With Garrett, all she could concentrate on was him.

Garrett pulled back and looked into Parker’s eyes, seeing that she understood what he meant.

They both realized a few well-placed moans and using the bed as a trampoline weren’t going to cut it. If Fernandez put bugs in their room, he was going to be listening and paying attention. He would know the difference between moans of ecstasy and moans of the fake variety.

Garrett leaned down again and whispered, “Just follow my lead.”

Parker nodded as he dropped his arm from around her waist, slid the shower door open, and gave her a nudge to leave.

"Why don't you go get comfortable in bed, baby, and I'll be out in a minute" Garrett said loudly.

Parker stepped out of the shower, blinked the water out of her eyes, and looked at Garrett. She hoped to God he knew what he was doing, because right now, she didn’t have a clue.

“Okay. Don’t take too long,” Parker played along with a raised voice.

Garrett nodded his head towards the door, indicating that Parker should leave, and pulled the shower door closed. He watched Parker grab a dry towel as she retreated from the room, finally letting out the breath he'd been holding.

Parker stepped out into the bedroom, unwrapped the soaked towel from her body, and tossed it to the side. She tucked the dry one around her and glanced nervously around the room.

She shouldn't be nervous. She'd been in plenty of situations where she was bugged and had to be careful of everything she said or did.

But never with Garrett.

Parker had no idea how they were going to do this. For the first time in her career she felt like things were out of her control. This was a Navy mission, and she was basically on loan to them. She didn’t have to make all the decisions, and she didn’t have to manage everyone and everything. Garrett was the leader of this mission, and right now she was more than happy to let him take the lead.

Everything she’d thought about for years was suddenly coming to fruition. She was overcome with a wave of sadness that it was happening as a ruse while strangers were listening.

With a shaking hand, she flipped the switch to turn off the main chandelier in the room, the only light had come from the moon shining through the windows and the sliver of light under the bathroom door. Parker clutched the towel to her chest and crawled into bed, knowing that everything could come crashing down around them if she didn’t suck it up and just do the job she came there for. She needed to focus on that and how important it was for them to get the truth. Parker would do whatever it took, even if it meant crossing the biggest line ever with her best friend.

Garrett left the water running while he stepped out of the shower and removed all of his wet clothes. He grabbed a towel off of the shelf next to the sink, dried off, and wrapped it around his hips, securing it in place.

He leaned his hands on the counter in front of the sink and stared at himself in the mirror for a few minutes, wondering how he was going to play this. Parker was out there right now...in bed... waiting for him―his friend and the woman he'd dreamed about for as long as he could remember.