“For a tent rental?” he asked, confused. “What kind of inflation can there really be on tents?”
“No clue. You’re about to see.” She nudged her chin toward a young man that was making their way over to her.
“Is that little Jade Curran I see?” the salesman said. His tone made her teeth grind.
Parker must have noticed the way Hughie looked at her because he took a step closer to her and even went so far as to place a hand on the small of her back. She wanted to step away from the touch and tell him that it wasn’t necessary, but she found that shewantedto feel his hands on her.
His hand was warm, and the pressure he applied was comforting. She took a deep breath, letting it settle something deep inside her.
“Hughie, this is Parker. He’s helping me plan this year’s Beach Day.”
Hughie frowned as his eyes took their time assessing Parker. Hughie was shorter and not as good-looking, but there was more than that in the differences between the two men. Where Hughie was arrogant for no damn reason, Parker had every reason to be arrogant but wasn’t.
In fact, now that she knew a little bit more about him, Jade found that Parker was actually really justified in being a quiet kind of man. His parents … the people who were meant to love him the most in the world … had turned his entire life into one long and drawn-out competition with his siblings. He should have won that competition, and in Jade’s eyes, hehadwon.
Not only had he built a successful company, but he had gotten a full ride to one hell of a good school. Then he had sold off his company to actually be able to retire before he was even thirty-five. Not many people could say that their lives had beenthatsuccessful, but Parker’s had.
Hughie, for his part, only got his power when he took over his parents’ company. And it wasn’t saying much. He was a tent renter, not exactly a genius, who built a company from scratch to make millions and millions.
“Ah, you have a different partner,” Hughie commented. “I’m gonna miss flirting with your mom. Though, now that she isn’t here to watch over us, I can flirt with you as much as I want.”
“I’d hold off on that,” Parker said, his voice low and dangerous. He took a step closer to Jade, keeping his hand on her back.
Then, Parker did the very last thing she expected him to do.
He leaned down and kissed her cheek.
Jade’s entire body froze as if she had suddenly been ducked into a vat of freezing cold water. Her cheek was burning, though. Burning like the fire of a thousand suns right where Parker’s lips had touched her.
His kiss … simple and chaste as it had been … was wonderfully delicious.
Hughie’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. His mouth dropped open like a trout, and he kept on trying to close it with no amount of success. “You … I mean, you’re …” Hughie cleared his throat. “Finally got a man to take a second look at you, huh?”
“It only took me one look to know Jade was the woman for me,” Parker said like it was nothing.
Jade gave Hughie a smile, but she didn’t know if she was being any kind of convincing. “Yup,” she squeaked out.
“You better show us to your tents, Hughie. And be warned, we're leaving if your prices aren’t competitive.” Parker smiled at him.
Hughie was obviously flustered. “Competitive? Of course, our prices are competitive. Who do you think we are? We are the best tent sellers for miles around.”
“Cool. Now, let’s see them.”
In the end, Parker and Jade left without renting tents. Hughie was rude, and every time he opened his mouth, Jade was scared that Parker would smack him quiet. Hughie was not a good person. In fact, he was quite lecherous.
They sat in the car in silence for a little bit. Jade was at a loss as to what to do. Beach Day was soon, and she had failed at renting the only tents they had ever rented. Her mom was going to lose her shit.
“I’m sorry for what happened in there,” Parker spoke so low that she had to turn in her seat to hear him. “I shouldn’t have antagonized him like that, but that man really pissed me off.”
“It’s okay,” she assured him. But really, she had no clue just what the hell he was apologizing for.
“I shouldn’t have kissed your cheek like that without asking you if it was okay. That wasn’t cool.”
“It’s fine. I don’t mind.”
He nodded. “I definitely made it seem that we’re together, and I don’t think he liked that very much.”
“He didn’t, no.”