Page 27

The Parent Trap Page 27

by Jasinda Wilder


Windows are open. Country music—old, twangy, honky-tonk music—floats out of the cab.

The woman driving is wearing a white tank top, a pink camo ball cap, and black sunglasses. She stops and waits for me to approach. She’s young, about my age. I can’t see much else of her, but…

You ever look at someone who you can’t see too much of, but you just know they’re incredible-looking? I get that impression with this girl.

“Hey.” Her voice is light. Her smile is bright and contagious. “Ya’ll need help?”

“Yeah.”

She glances at my Range Rover. “What’s up with it?”

“Ran out of gas.”

“Well, there ain’t a gas station this side of Carthage.” She smiles, and the sun seems to shine a little brighter, and I swear a bird flits by, singing a happy little song.

“Yeah. I should have stopped at the last town, but I didn’t.”

“Rookie mistake, ’round these parts.”

I laugh. “No kidding.”

She leans over and shoves open the passenger door. “Well, Rookie, hop in.”

I lean into my Rover, grab my bag and keys, lock it, and head for her truck. Toss the bag on the seat between us, and slide in. It smells like old cigarettes, hay, and girl.

Meaning perfume, hair stuff, lotion—and the, mysterious, indefinable, intoxicating scent of a woman.

She eyes me. “Got a name? Or should I just call you Rookie?”

I laugh again—I haven’t laughed in what feels like years. “Dell. My name’s Dell McKenna.”

She extends her right hand, and when I clasp my hand around hers, I get a jolt:

Don’t let her get away from you, Dell. She’s the one.

I hear it in my skull like an audible fucking voice.

I yank my hand away, too fast, like I was burned. She smirks, lopsided. “I know, I know, I gotta put lotion on. Tossing hay bales is hell on the hands.”

I shake my head. “No! Sorry—no. It wasn’t that. It’s not that. I just…” I flap my hand helplessly. “There was a bug.”

She snorts. “Okay…if you say so.” Clearly, she doesn’t believe me.

Understandable.

I look at her. Her hair is up under the hat, but it looks dark. Brunette, maybe. Can’t see her eye color. Don’t dare get caught copping a glance at her body.

None of it matters. She’s beautiful. Her voice is beautiful. Her very presence, the sense of her in this space, near me—it’s beautiful. Calming.

I’m shook.

“Gonna ask me my name?” That grin, lopsided, teasing, brighter than the sun. “Or are you just gonna stare at me?”

I swallow. “What’s…your name?”

She smiles, and I think I hear an angel singing somewhere.

“Kyra,” she says—KYE-ruh. “Kyra Connelly.”

I hear that voice in my head again—it’s the voice of my soul, yelling at me:

She’s the one. Don’t let her get away.

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Forbidden Fruit

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Delilah's Diary

Big Girls Do It:

Big Girls Do It

Married

On Christmas

Pregnant

Rock Stars Do It

Big Love Abroad

The Falling Series:

Falling Into You

Falling Into Us

Falling Under

Falling Away

Falling for Colton

The Ever Trilogy:

Forever & Always

After Forever

Saving Forever

From the world of Wounded:

Wounded

Captured

From the world of Stripped:

Stripped

Trashed

From the world of Alpha:

Alpha

Beta

Omega

Harris: Alpha One Security Book 1

Thresh: Alpha One Security Book 2

Duke: Alpha One Security Book 3

Puck: Alpha One Security Book 4

Lear: Alpha One Security Book 5

Anselm: Alpha One Security Book 6

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Jack and Djinn

Djinn and Tonic

The Madame X Series:

Madame X

Exposed

Exiled

The Black Room (With Jade London)

The One Series

The Long Way Home

Where the Heart Is

There’s No Place Like Home

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Badd Motherf*cker

Badd Ass

Badd to the Bone

Good Girl Gone Badd

Badd Luck

Badd Mojo

Big Badd Wolf

Badd Boy

Badd Kitty

Badd Business

Badd Medicine

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For a Goode Time Call…

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Goode To Be Bad

A Real Goode Time

Goode Vibrations

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Nailed

Screwed

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Pregnant in Pennsylvania

Cowboy in Colorado

Married in Michigan

Billionaire Baby Club:

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Autumn Rolls a Seven

Laurel’s Bright Idea

Standalone titles:

Yours

The Cabin

Non-Fiction titles:

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Jack Wilder Titles:

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JJ Wilder Titles:

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