Free Parker (Rich & Single #2) by Lexy Timms Page B

meetings, but try to get the man to go somewhere fun and he would inevitably be fifteen minutes behind the time he was supposed to leave. He’d been that way when they were roommates, usually caught up in finishing one more section of homework. If he didn’t come out within the next five minutes, Parker was going to get him. He turned up the music, and leaned back further in his seat.
    A minute later, there was a knock at the passenger window. Without opening his eyes, Parker reached over and hit the unlock button. “You’re late,” he said as the door opened.
    “I know. I’m sorry.”
    Parker opened his eyes and hit the lever that would bring his seat back to upright for driving. He turned and looked at Jackson, who was sitting in his passenger seat dressed in black jeans and a t-shirt. “You’re always late.”
    “I am not! I’m never late to meetings.”
    “You’re always late when I want to go out.”
    Jackson didn’t answer that one. He knew Parker was right.              
    “What took so long this time?” Parker asked as he shifted the car into drive and pulled out.
    “I was working on some paperwork. Lost track of time.”
    “As usual.”
    “It was paperwork for you, you ungrateful bastard.”
                  Parker laughed, and when he cut his eyes briefly to the right, Jackson was hiding a smile by looking down at his phone.
                  “Come on. Admit it. You need some time away from your desk.”
    “Yeah. That’s probably true.”
    “It’s definitely true. Any longer and you were going to turn into one of those shriveled up old accountant-types who wear suits everywhere and never stay out past eight.”
    Jackson flipped him off. Parker laughed again and kept driving. He hadn’t told Jackson about his run-in with Jennifer two days ago. Since then, he hadn’t seen her, but he’d heard her name mentioned more than once. Meanwhile, his own people were spreading the word of the contest, and his clients had been voicing support, telling him they knew he would win.
    “How is the search for a candidate going?”
    The sound of Jackson’s fingers tapping against the screen of his phone didn’t even slow. “We’ve narrowed it down to five options. The next step is to have you talk to each of them. See who you think is most likely to be successful. We made sure they’re all the kind that people are going to be rooting for: sad life stories, that sort of thing.”
    “I’ll trust your judgement, then. When do you want me to meet them?”
    “Later this week. We’ll be bringing them in one or two a day so that they’re not taking up too much of your time.”
    “Sounds like a plan.” Parker took a right turn, and moved deeper into downtown. They weren’t going to the little club he’d hit on Wednesday. It was the weekend, and Jackson lived closer to midtown anyway.
    He pulled up to the curb beside the club, and turned the car off. A line of people was already winding out the door and down the sidewalk. Jackson looked at it like he was considering turning around and walking home.
    “Just come on.”
    They got out of the car, and Jackson followed Parker toward the end of the line.
    “You just going to wait in line? Really?” Jackson stared at him in surprise. He didn’t seem to think Parker waited for anything these days.
    Parker shrugged and laughed. “I guess I could go tell them who I am, but honestly I don’t mind the waiting. If you get in at the front before everyone else, people either hate you, or follow you around trying to figure out how you’re famous and whether or not you’re going to be willing to let them be hangers-on. Not really my idea of a good time.”
    Jackson laughed. “Yeah. Okay. That makes sense.” He gave Parker a sideways look. “I wouldn’t know, seeing as I don’t really have the star power to jump club lines.”
    “You just need to get out more.”
    “Yeah. You say that a lot.”
    Ahead of them, the line