"I could ask you the same question. What did you say to him?"
"I merely told him we were in a hurry and had some place to be. Now your turn?"
Slumping back in my seat, I gave myself a moment to figure out what I wanted to say. "Ben stopped by the teachers’ lounge today."
"I thought you said he had his own lounge across the building?"
"He does. There was no reason for him to be there except to talk to me. I'm not sure if it's what you said yesterday or what Elle's been saying, but something felt off with Ben today. He seemed really pissed at the fact that I'm married."
I could see the tic in Parker's jaw. He wasn't happy. That much was obvious.
"How mad would you be if I told you I had Caden looking into him?"
"Who's Caden?" I've met some of the guys on his team but not all. I didn't remember Elle talking about a Caden though.
"He's the technical analyst for the team. Well, not just our team. He works with some of the others but primarily us. I think he likes us the most." Parker turned to me with a confident smile.
I thought about his question. Was I upset? I didn't think so. Maybe a week ago, I would've been, but that was before I saw a side of Ben that I wasn't entirely comfortable with. The lighthearted gym teacher I thought I knew was no more.
"I'm not mad. Maybe that makes me paranoid, but I would prefer to know who I work with."
Before Elle hooked up with Rhett, I never would've thought twice about who my co-workers were. Now the men in our lives had us looking for danger, and I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
Sometimes being naive had its perks.
"Good. Do me a favor and try to stay away from him until Caden gives me a report?"
That was an easy enough request to follow. I no longer wanted to be alone with the man.
"Enough about me. How was your day at work?"
Parker chuckled.
"What's no funny?" I scoffed.
"Nothing. I just like the way we easily slid into this comfortable role with each other. Asking me that felt very domesticated."
I huffed as I turned fully to take in his profile. "Domesticated? Really?"
"What's wrong with that word?" We were stopped at a red light, so he was able to turn and meet my gaze.
I scrunched up my nose. "I don't know. It just sounds weird."
Parker chuckled again as the light turned green, and he was forced to take his eyes away from me. "If you say so, sweetheart."
That was the first time he used an endearment with me, and I hated how much I liked it. I was never the kind of woman who liked pet names or being called anything other than my name. But somehow when Parker said “sweetheart” it made my belly flutter.
"And to answer your question, it was a rough day. Logan and Oxford flew back to Vegas because as it turns out our assignment isn't finished like we thought."
"You didn't have to go with them?" I don't know why the thought of him leaving made my stomach clench. This was what Parker did for a living. If we were going to have a future together, then I needed to be okay with it.
"Not yet, but we'll have to at some point. They're gathering information. Once we have a target, the rest of the team will move in.
I swallowed at the thought. "Are you able to tell me what the assignment was?"
Elle didn't talk about the assignments Rhett went on. I assumed he told her, but it had never crossed my mind to question her for information.
Parker kept quiet until he pulled into my driveway and put the truck in park. It wasn't until he turned the vehicle off that he turned to me with one arm over the steering wheel and asked, "Do you want details or just the basics?"
