Parker: Stryker County PD, #2

By Kali Hart

Lauren
How does an already crappy day get worse?
Try backing up into a parked police cruiser.
With the officer inside.
Then make that officer the hottest man alive.

Parker
When a car backs into me, she's the last person I expect to see behind the wheel.
She's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.
I should give her a ticket.
But all I really want to do is give her my heart.

Sweet & steamy short story instalove romance with an older alpha police officer and younger curvy woman with an HEA. NO cliffhangers. NO cheating.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jackie M. Wallick
• Release date: May 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9798223587309

Book preview

1

LAUREN

Well that could not have gone worse.

I bang my head against my steering wheel, wishing I could start today over. I squint my eyes shut and take a few deep breaths. But when I open them, I’m still sitting in the parking lot outside my office building. The day is over. No redo.

I don’t get it, I mumble to myself. I just don’t get it.

I prepared for weeks for this presentation. I rehearsed what I was going to say, practiced a number of scenarios, anticipated every question. I lost sleep over making sure it was absolutely perfect.

Then, I stood in front of a crowded conference room and … totally botched it.

Me, bubbly, fun, social butterfly Lauren who everyone loves stood in front of a room full of the company’s top execs and choked. A woman who always knows what to say couldn’t be bothered to spit out her own name, much less talk about anything on the slides. I’m so mortified.

My manager, god love him, tried to save me. But his interference only made me keenly aware how poorly everything was going. He pried the clicker out of my hands and escorted me out of the room, promising to take over.

I hid in the bathroom until lunch, too much in shock to have any reaction at all.

When my lunch break ended, I snuck back to my corner cubicle.

For the first time since I started working there almost five years ago, not a single person pinged me or stopped by to chat. One good thing about today, anyway.

The presentation meant to secure a promotion may have permanently banned me from ever moving up in the company. The same one I’ve worked at since I interned in college. I had my big chance to impress all the right people, and I blew it. Big time.

I’m too stunned to cry. Too numb to scream.

Unsure how long I’ve been sitting inside my car, I finally jam the key in the ignition and turn it on. It’s not sweltering hot yet, but my shirt is starting to stick in uncomfortable places. I let the AC cool my skin, all the while calculating how many sick days I have saved up. I might come down with the flu tonight.

My phone chimes.

Mom is texting me to ask how it went. Of course she is.

I cringe, unsure how I’m going to navigate this conversation. My parents helped put me through college. They insisted a business degree would take me far in life. I don’t want to let them down. But I know they won’t be thrilled to hear that I totally bombed today.

Maybe I should prep my resume after I recover from the flu.

Foot on the brake, I shift my car into reverse, deciding Mom can wait. She might blow up my phone into oblivion until I give her some response. But that’s a risk I’m willing to take.

What I really want is a bowl