Lost Love (Cowboys and Angels #1)(18)

My phone buzzed on my desk. It was a strange number. Not local.

“Yeah sure. Be at my place at seven.”

Corina gave me a quick wave as she retreated. Sliding my finger over the phone, I answered it.

“Hello?”

“Paxton.”

His voice cut straight through my body and I found myself unable to speak.

“Hello?”

Jesus. Get it together Paxton! Now!

“I’m sorry, who is this?”

Good. Good. Make him think you didn’t immediately know it was him. I tried to keep my voice straight, unfeeling.

“Steed. Turns out you put your number in more than one place. I was hoping this was the right one.”

Pulling the phone away, I dragged in a breath and slowly blew it out. “What do you want?”

Wow. That came out more bitch sounding than I intended.

“You told me to call you…so we could talk. Plus, I didn’t get a chance to ask you how Chloe did on her first day.”

“Right.” You’re an idiot, Paxton. “She did really well. She’s very outgoing and made a number of friends today. There were a few times I could tell she was getting a little homesick, but all the kids went through that and will for the next few days.”

“I’m glad to hear she did good.”

I could hear the smile in his voice. It was obvious Steed was a good father.

“Are you free this evening? Chloe is having dinner with my parents tonight. They want to start a new family tradition where they get to take her out to eat once a week.”

I beamed. That sounded like Melanie and John.

“I’ve actually made plans for dinner tonight.”

“Oh.” The disappointment in his voice both thrilled me and made me feel bad at the same time. He’d taken the time to track down my number. Maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on him. Plus, I wanted to find out what he and Gina had talked about.

“But, it’s with a friend from work. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if I cancelled.”

“Yeah?” His voice sounded hopeful.

I didn’t want to smile, but a small part of me was happy knowing Steed was free tonight and he wouldn’t be spending it with Gina. “Yeah. I think it’s best if we clear the air. I can’t very well want to take a knife to your dick every time I see you.”

“Um…”

Kicking my feet up onto my desk, I covered my mouth to hide my chuckle. Paxton one. Steed zero. “It’s best we do this for Chloe. I’d hate to think I would be responsible for her not having any younger siblings. Especially with how friendly you and Gina were.”

“Who?”

I huffed. “Puh-lease. Don’t even pretend. I’m not in the mood for your games.”

“My games?”

“Listen, do you want to meet for dinner or not?”

The silence on the other end of the phone had my chest squeezing. Shit. I went too far in the bitch mode.

“What time and where?”

I didn’t trust myself to be alone with him. Not with the way he made my insides all hot and crazy. No matter how angry I was with him, I was still in love with the jerk and my fingers itched to touch him. “Somewhere public.”

Steed laughed. “Fine. Cord’s place, say around six?”

Glancing at my clock hanging on the wall, I smiled. It was only four. That gave me plenty of time to get ready. By the time I walked into that bar tonight, Steed Parker was going to wish he had never walked away from me ten years ago.

“Sounds good. See you then.”





The music filled the air as I drank my beer. I watched Cord flirt with a blonde at the end of the bar. She was putty in his hands, gawking at him. Of course my brother didn’t really need to try that hard. All of us Parker brothers never lacked in the area of attracting women; we were blessed with handsome looks from our father. Cord was almost an exact replica of Dad. Dark hair, built body and the famous Parker blue eyes.

The next thing I knew, Cord was jumping over the bar and taking her by the hand and heading back to his office. I shook my head.

“Cord has a way with the ladies,” I said to my older brother Tripp. He’d had his face in his phone since he walked into the place.

“Tripp. Are you even listening to me?”

He jerked his head up. “What? Yeah. Cord. You said something about Cord.”

Laughing, I took another drink. Tripp was the politician in the family. Once he got out of law school, he came back to Oak Springs and started forming an interest in running for office. Maybe even mayor. He was only thirty and would be the youngest mayor elected if he won.

I placed the beer on the bar. “I said, Cord has a way with the ladies.”

Tripp rolled his eyes. “Fuck, you have no idea. Mitchell’s afraid he going to pull up one day and find Cord screwing some girl in a parked car on the highway.”