“And the Romeo piece in today’s paper will probably help, too,” Dean added.
Parker rolled his eyes when both his partners turned to smirk at him. They’d been needling him mercilessly since the second he’d shown up at the office, taking turns quoting the entertainment article, but he had to admit, the ragging didn’t bother him. He didn’t care if the whole state—hell, even the whole country—knew he had it bad for Lynn Davidson.
After all, it was the truth.
“But seriously,” Jack said. “What are we going to do with all this extra cash?”
Parker leaned against the edge of the desk and ran a hand over the stubble on his cheek. “First and foremost, Didi deserves a raise. That woman works her ass off for us.”
“And maybe we can hire a few extra guys,” Jack suggested. “We could definitely use help, and I know some soldiers who just wrapped up their tours who would be interested in a gig like this.”
Parker nodded. “Something to consider.”
A sharp knock sounded on the door, making him frown. It wasn’t Didi’s trademark tap-tap-tap, and besides, he’d sent their receptionist to the Starbucks across the street to grab them some coffee.
Wary, Parker headed for the door and was startled to find Lynn standing behind it.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” He wrinkled his brow. “Shouldn’t you be at work?”
“Yeah. I should.”
The cool note in her voice had him on edge, and when he peered into her eyes, there was no mistaking the flicker of unhappiness there.
“What’s wrong?” he said immediately.
She gazed past his shoulders at his two partners, then turned back to him. “Can we talk alone?”
His confusion was only heightened as he quickly ushered Dean and Jack out of the office. Both men stopped to greet Lynn, who murmured a brief hello. No smile, no warmth. Nothing.
Something was wrong. Parker could tell from her body language, the serious expression on her pretty face, but he didn’t know what.
“What’s going on?” he asked quietly. “Why are you upset?”
Lynn set her purse on the couch and crossed her arms. “I need to ask you something.”
He took a step toward her but stopped when he saw her cautious expression. “All right.”
“Did Phil hire DreamMakers to plan a date for me and him?”
All the air left Parker’s lungs in one swift swoosh. Shit.
For a beat he considered denying it, but lying to Lynn was something he’d promised himself never to do. He’d met her under false pretenses, but aside from that one omission, he’d been nothing but honest with her since they’d started seeing each other.
“He tried to hire us, yes,” Parker admitted.
Those beautiful blue eyes filled with disappointment. “So Phil wasn’t lying.”
“No. Phil wasn’t lying.” He swallowed. “I was going to tell you. I promise, I had every intention of telling you about it, but once we started dating, I got…distracted.”
“You said he tried to hire you—does that mean you didn’t get to the recon stage, or did you follow me around before we met?” Her posture had stiffened, shoulders squared in a tense line, matching the hard set of her jaw.
Parker let out a breath. “We did some recon. Not a lot, though. I signed up for the yoga class because I knew you’d be there—that’s when you told me your favorite flower. And Dean was with you at the grocery store so we could figure out what you like to eat…” Another puff blew out. “The night at the bar wasn’t a coincidence either, but we decided to terminate our agreement with Phil the moment you announced you weren’t together anymore.”
Lynn fell silent, and her expressionless eyes made his heart ache.
“I should have told you, I know that, and I’m so sorry.” Desperation clung to his throat when she still didn’t say a word. “After the bar, I never saw you again without your permission, and—”
“That’s not what I care about!” she cut in. Hurt and anger flared in her eyes. “I don’t care about the recon. That’s not why I’m mad. I was there when you followed Immi Duncan, and I saw for myself you guys don’t do anything awful or illegal to gather information.” Her breathing grew labored. “I’m mad because you weren’t honest with me.”
“I know.” He stared at her in sheer misery. “I really was planning on telling you. I just wanted you to get to know me first. I liked you from the moment I met you, and I knew you were special. I knew we could have something special. I wanted the chance to show you that before I confessed I’d been watching you before we met.”
“You’ve had plenty of time to tell me, Parker. And you’re not allowed to use ‘I got distracted’ as an excuse. We haven’t been having sex twenty-four seven.” Her mouth tightened. “We’ve talked for hours. Hours. And you couldn’t find a single second to slip in the truth?”