Desert Angel (Family Justice Book 2) by Suzanne Halliday Page A

yes?” he ventured cautiously.
    Coming to quick halt mere inches from where he stood, a visibly pissed off Angie adopted a combative pose that was very much meant to make it seem like she was getting up in his face. She was spitting fury and looked like she was going to rip him a new one, a thought that only ended up turning his sex to stone.
    Her fire turned him on. Always had. Unexpectedly finding himself on the receiving end of her fierceness awakened the sleeping giant inside him. Everything about her body language, expression, and tone warned Parker that she was set on stun and he was directly in her line of fire. The thing was though, watching her get ready to tear into him made whatever decision-making he imagined was necessary a lot less involved.
    It hit him like a lightning bolt. Angelina Marquez was his. And she knew it. Maybe not before they came face-to-face, but she knew it now. She also wasn’t happy about it, which was why she ran. And looked like she was going to do everything she could to build a wall of anger between them. Good luck with that.
    Okay, Angel. Let me have it. Give it your best shot.
    Hands-on-hips, she tossed her hair over her shoulder with a jerky headshake then tilted her chin up so she could fix him with a salty glare. He wanted to laugh but thought better of the suicidal response. She’d flay him alive if he so much as cracked a grin.
    “You think not speaking for years is because I. Am mad. At you? ”
    Maybe the edgy disbelief in her voice should have clued him in, but the truth was, with her so tantalizingly close, all his mind could grasp was how fucking awesome she smelled and how ridiculously sexy her sapphire eyes were when she was spitting mad. The rest? Parker was a clueless idiot.
    He shrugged and tried to act like he was all unruffled and composed when nothing could be further from the truth. “Well, would explain why I haven’t heard a word from you or seen you in forever.”
    The minute the words left his stupid mouth, he knew he’d stepped in it. Big time. What the hell had he been thinking? It was as if all sense deserted him and he conveniently forgot that he had been the asshole in their relationship and was one hundred percent responsible for why they no longer had even the shell of a friendship. Fuck.
    “Oh, right,” she spat at him. “Yeah. That was all me.” Playfully smacking her temple like she was an idiot, she drawled, “Well, duh. Of course, it’s my fault. I mean, it’s so annoying isn’t it, when you’re babysitting and the little kid you’re forced to hang out with is a . . . what did you call me? A nuisance?”
    Her caustic glare was enough to give him a permanent sunburn.
    “This is ALL you. You did this,” she growled as her hand shot out and two fingers stabbed him in the chest. Hard.
    “ You. All you.”
    And then she shoved him with both hands and ducked around his off kilter body as she made a quick dashing getaway—leaving him standing there with his mouth open and his stomach in a knot.

T HE MINUTE PARKER VANISHED AFTER Angie, Meghan turned on Alex.
    “When the hell were you going to tell me that putting those two together in the same room was going to be a problem?
    He didn’t say anything right away, which only made his feisty Irish lady go mental on him.
    “Oh, my god,” she squealed. “You’re at it again, aren’t you? Alex,” she threatened with a warning bite in her delivery, “enough with the matchmaking. Didn’t what happened with Calder and Stephanie teach you anything?”
    Grabbing her by the waist, he spun his outraged fiancée toward him until she collided with his body then quickly took control of the situation by helping himself to a handful of her magnificent ass while grinding his pelvis into hers.
    “I’m right about Calder, and you should have a bit more faith in me, woman.”
    “How do you figure that?” she quibbled.
    “For your information, my lady—Calder going to Aspen is just a pit stop.