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.”
Shaking my head, I said, “Damn. He hasn’t dated anyone seriously?”
Tripp nearly lost it laughing. “Cord? Our brother Cord tie himself down to one pussy? Please.”
My eyes widened. “You’re not going to win any election if people hear you talk like that.”
He winked. “Hey, I may enjoy politics and law, but I love women. I’m no different from Cord or Trevor. A nice pussy walks by and I’m going after it.”
I laughed. “There’s the Tripp I remember from high school. Whatever happened to Harley? Didn’t the both of you get caught screwing in the library? By her dad, right?”
Tripp’s beer paused at his lips before he smiled. “I haven’t seen Harley in a few years. And yes, her dad caught us. Nothing like dating the principal’s daughter then getting caught fucking her.”
I slapped the bar. “I just remember you running down the hall, your ass on full display while Mr. Harvey chased you with a baseball bat.”
Tripp laughed again. “That’s right! Bastard would have caught me if Mitchell hadn’t stepped out in front of him and made him trip.”
“That’s right! The future Texas Ranger aiding and abetting.”
Tripp laughed as he tipped his beer back. “Damn, we’ve had some good times.”
A tightness moved into my chest, followed by guilt. “I regret staying away so long.”
He slapped me on the back. “Well, you’re back now and you brought one hell of a good-looking girl home with you.”
Smiling, I took another drink of beer. “Chloe loves being in Texas. The ranch alone had her flying high. Doesn’t help that Dad has her on a damn horse every single second of day. I swear if I let her, she’d sleep in the barn. Plus, he got her a pet goat.”
Tripp chuckled. “That’s good. Get her to fall in love with horses. You remember how much Harley loved horses?”
Harley wasn’t only the principal’s daughter and the girl Tripp screwed in the library, she was also the girl he’d dated all through high school. I was pretty sure she broke his heart when she left him. He hadn’t dated anyone since Harley.
“Yeah, I remember.”
He smiled. “She loved those fucking horses. Loved them more than me. I honestly believed I would have gotten into her pants sooner had she not been so obsessed with them.”
My heart dropped. A swift panic raced over my body. “Fuck. There’s going to be boys trying to get into my daughter’s pants.”
Tripp peered at me with dread in his eyes. “No fucking way. Not with her dad and four uncles looking out for her.”
A sick feeling settled into my stomach. “I’ll kill the little bastard,” I said.
Cord appeared in front of us with a huge grin on his face. “Who will you kill?”