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Parker had never searched harder for anything in his life. Sweat beaded along his brow as he hiked up and down the steep walls of the ravine. Night was falling, and there was no sign of any sphere. Fuck. Going to a club and dancing with Kayla was the worst idea ever. He should never have made that bet. But the way her light brown eyes had sparkled with defiance had turned him on so much that he'd been thinking more with his dick than with his head. And now here he was, after an entire day of searching the ravine with Nina, Ian, and Kayla, and they had no sphere to show for it.
It didn't help that Kayla was wearing the tiniest pair of cutoff denim shorts he had ever seen in his life. That made it hard to look at anything except her ass. How was that fair? Maybe she had done it on purpose, because she didn't want them to find the sphere.
No, Kayla wouldn't do that. The witch in Peru had told Bryce and Margot that finding the sphere was more important than anything. Kayla wouldn't risk something so important just to see Parker dance.
Ian caught up with Parker. "You already checked behind that rock," Ian said. "About thirty times."
"Just want to be sure," Parker said.
"Of course," Kayla said from nearby, "it's not good enough that I was sure. No. Parker has to be sure."
She’d been making little digs like that all damn day. He wanted to find the sphere just to keep her quiet for a little while, but luck was not on his side.
She was watching him again, and he felt her eyes on him before he looked up and met her gaze.
Her cheeks went a pretty shade of pink before she said, "Well, unless you want to keep searching into the night, it looks like I have won our bet, Mr. Tiger Pants."
Nina spoke up from a few yards away. "A bet? Tell me more."
Mr. Tiger Pants? Parker glared at Kayla. She smirked and made an exaggerated point to look behind the spindly trunk of a sapling.
"Nope, no sphere there," she said. "Too bad. You see, Nina, when Mr. Tiger Pants insisted that we come out and look again, he and I made a little bet."
Parker's glare turned into a glower. If she would just be quiet. He imagined kissing her to keep her quiet. He could shut her up with his tongue in her mouth. And then what would she do? He had a good idea, and it involved wrapping those limber legs around his waist and kissing him back.
He felt himself getting hard. Stupid dick. Parker didn't have time for this.
"So, what would happen if Mr. Tiger Pants wins?" Nina asked.
"If he wins, I have to be quiet for a day."
Ian let out a loud laugh. "Impossible. Unfeasible. Unworkable."
"Not impossible," Kayla said with a dismissive glance in Ian's direction. "But sad. It would be tragic if I didn't talk for an entire day. Y'all would miss me."
"True," Ian said in a solemn voice.
Parker remembered back to when Ian had first joined the RCC. He'd been interested in Nina immediately. Parker kept in the growl he felt building in his chest. Jealousy—it was dangerous. He'd seen that firsthand.
Ian continued, "Verily. Honestly. Indubitably."
Nina rolled her eyes. "Next time I'm writing and I need a thesaurus, I'll save myself the online search and just call Ian."
"And what does Parker have to do if you win?" Ian asked. "He could go silent for a day without any trouble at all."
"Exactly," Kayla said. "Which is why, now that I have won this bet, Parker's coming out to dance with me at The Meat Market in Montlake tonight."
Nina and Ian both started laughing, and Kayla joined in. Parker shrugged his shoulders, turned around, and hiked back to the Ring of Fire.
*
FORTUNATELY FOR PARKER, Nina and Ian had insisted on coming to the club with him and Kayla. More people meant fewer opportunities for him and Kayla to be dangerously alone.
Being alone with her the night before, in her doorway, had been one of the best and worst events of Parker's life. She'd been in her fucking bra and panties, for fuck's sake. Little silk pieces of fabric. She'd looked so soft, so touchable.
A change in the music pulled him from his reverie. They'd gotten to The Meat Market early enough to claim one of the tables in the corner, so Parker sat nursing his beer and watching the others dance. Kayla had looked as though she'd insist he dance right away, but then she had given him a funny little scowl and said, "Why don't you have a drink or something first?"
Yeah, that was a good idea.
At least they weren't planning to stay late, because with Nina being five months along in her pregnancy, she was already getting tired more often than usual. The search through the ravine had sapped her energy, although she would never have admitted it. Right now, though, she looked fully awake as she shimmied on the dance floor with Ian.
And Kayla. It was like the universe had conspired against Parker and created her for his temptation alone. Little rhinestone barrettes sparkled in her black hair. She had on a purple dress that looked iridescent when the light hit it in certain ways. It was cute and flirty with an underlying sexiness, just like Kayla. Two little spaghetti straps held it up, and the lack of bra straps made Parker think she wasn't wearing anything underneath.
He was so, so screwed. He had lost that bet and now he had to dance, and if he had to touch her, it would spell the end of his self-imposed restrictions. The only reason he'd been able to survive the past few months was that they hadn't made any real physical contact. Last night, he'd come so fucking close. Once he really, truly touched her, he didn't think he'd be able to stop.
He could imagine the way her skin felt, though. Fuck, that was one of the only things he thought about—how soft she would be.
A random guy came up and started dancing behind Kayla. She turned around, smiled, and danced with him. Her arms moved over the guy's shoulders and the guy held her hips. Parker wanted to hit something. If he somehow survived this night, he would be spending more time than ever in Rex's gym, taking out his aggression on a hapless punching bag.
It wasn't fair. Parker was trying to do the right thing. He was trying to stay away, keep the poison of him out of Kayla's life for good. Like not kissing her the other night—she had looked at him so eagerly, and he could smell her desire in the air, swirling around him as a tempting aphrodisiac. He had resisted, and he should get a fucking trophy.
But instead, he'd lost their bet, and now here he was.
Kayla danced like she lived. Every one of her movements projected her happiness and her bubbly, optimistic nature. She wasn't the best dancer in the club by far, but she wasn't bad, and her dancing spoke volumes about her as a person. He wanted nothing more than to go out there and join in the dance with her, see what they could create with their bodies. He wanted to explore how the beats and the melodies of music would meld them together in new ways.
A second hopeful asshole came up to dance with Kayla and now she had one guy in front of her, one behind her.
Parker hoped Rex had an extra punching bag somewhere in the storeroom, because he fully planned to tear one apart.
Kayla's phone lit up with a text on the table in front of him. Unable to help himself, he glanced at the screen.
Sweetcheeks, we should talk. Let's not throw this away.
The text came from Sloan, Kayla's ex. Parker growled. Watching her dance with two strangers was hard enough, and she was also fielding texts from Sloan? Hadn't she broken up with that guy months ago? She had, actually. She'd talked about it when she first introduced herself to Parker in January. "I left the Bitterroots because of my ex, Sloan. Real bag of dicks," she'd said with a laugh.
He'd wanted to press her for details, curious even then about her life. He'd known that curiosity for the danger it was, though, so he'd held back.
He remembered seeing her frown at her phone yesterday, and now he wondered if it had been Sloan texting her then, too. Was that asshole harassing her? He wanted to ask her, even though it wasn't his business. He had no good excuse for interrogating Kayla about her love life, not when he'd made it so clear to her that there couldn't be anything between them.
The song ended. Ian and Nina walked back to the booth, laughing and bumping shoulders. Kayla remained on the floor, and the two jerks who had danced with her stuck close by her sides, ever hopeful. Ignoring them, she locked her gaze with Parker's. She mouthed the words, Your turn. Now.
Parker slid out of the booth just as Nina and Ian reached it.
"Finally getting out there?" Nina asked.
Parker nodded. "May as well get it over with."
While he made his way to the dance floor, Kayla hurried toward the DJ. She shouted something at the DJ, but Parker couldn’t make out the words.
He didn't need to hear what she'd said. The DJ grinned and Kayla's request became evident a second later when the high-pitched intro to "Toxic" by Britney Spears came out over the speakers.
She was trying to make this as painful as possible, the little troublemaker.
Parker groaned and rolled his shoulders back, then stepped into the dancing crowd. Better get this over with.