Page 92 of This Wild Heart

“Didn’t peg you for a cheater,” he whispered.

The arm not touching me was lying on the ground, hand loose, elbow bent at a ninety-degree angle, a deceptively careless pose for such an imposing man. I moved quickly, sliding my arm across his body before he could blink.

My hand wrapped around his wrist, fingers facing away from his body, my elbow immediately wedging up against his throat. His eyes widened in the exact moment I pushed my other hand underneath his biceps, fingers locking around the wrist holding his in place.

He was stuck. He just didn’t realize it yet.

Parker let out a strangled laugh and tried to turn over, but I released my body weight, my back leg hooking behind his knee, my knee touching the ground cinching in around his waist.

He couldn’t move.

And he tried.

It was a beginner move, something I’d learned early in my jujitsu classes, but the surge of triumph was glorious, and I knew he could see it on my face.

“Anya.” His ominous tone hit me like a blast of heat. Again, he tried to dislodge me, but the elbow against his throat and the pressure of my hands locked together around his wrist meant he was good and stuck. If he tried hard enough to dislodge me, he’d feel a pain in his shoulder that no NFL player wanted to feel.

“Thiswould be cheating,” I said lightly. “Maybe next time you’ll believe me when I say I can handle myself.”

His eyes were hypnotic. “You are so fucking lucky we’re not alone right now, wife.”

I tilted my head. “Yeah? You’d still be pinned, wouldn’t you?”

Parker lifted his head as far as he could manage, his lips almost brushing mine. “Try this again when we are, golden girl, let’s see what happens. No pretending necessary.”

That snapped me out of it, my hand releasing his wrist immediately.

I hadn’t been pretending, had I? There’d been no thought of putting on a show or what his family might think. It was that unconscious reaction that was terrifying because his was real too.

I slid off his lap as gracefully as I could manage. Parker rolled to his feet, and I kept my eyes away from the telling bulge in his shorts.

Sage and Greer jogged up, and I gave Sage a high five. “Nice work, lady. You’re fast.”

“That was awesome,” she breathed. “How did you pin him when he’s so much stronger than you?”

“Lots of practice.” I smiled. “But I could teach you a few things if you wanted.”

She brightened. “Really?”

Ian came up behind his stepdaughter and laid his hands on her shoulders. “I like this plan.”

Sage smiled with such vicious glee that I laughed.

“I should’ve brought Willa,” I said. “You and my sister would get alongverywell.”

“Maybe we can do a big family vacation next summer!”

My stomach hit the floor, and when I looked over at Parker, his face was inscrutable. “Yeah, maybe,” I said.

Greer raised her hand. “Can you teach me how to pin someone too?”

“No,” her brothers yelled in unison.

Chapter 25

Parker

The last of our bags was in the truck, and throughout the morning, Anya and I had already said our goodbyes to the majority of my family. Cameron and Ivy the night before—they both had to work early. Erik just a little bit ago before he headed over to Ian and Harlow’s house, they’d all left together. Poppy and Jax came over for breakfast, and my youngest sister wept as she hugged me.

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