Parker listened to the rest of them all agree and realized with some surprise that he was the new guy.
The rest of the game was a blur. By the end, they won by one safety—his.
Someone had beer in a cooler and they all sat around after, switching out their cleats, pulling on sweatshirts as the sun sank. Parker felt happily exhausted and realized drinking a beer as the sky slowly filled with more stars than he’d ever seen was a pretty damn nice way to start the evening.
The crowd moved off the stands, dispersing. A group of women moved in. The girlfriends and wives, Parker realized. Giving out hugs and kisses. And for one beat he felt like an outsider all over again.
And then he saw Zoe standing in front of him. She smiled. “For tradition,” she said, and as she had that very first time they’d met on her porch, she went up on tiptoe and brushed her soft, warm lips across his.
Just as quickly, she stepped back. “Going back up tonight,” she said, and gave him a finger wave. “Nice game.”
And he found himself grinning like an idiot. That was the best way to start an evening.
Parker walked out of the shower and into his bedroom, sore in a bunch of new places thanks to the game. But it was a good kind of sore and he felt more relaxed than he had in days.
And then, as he moved toward his duffel bag, pain suddenly shot up his leg from his foot. Hopping, swearing the air blue, he looked down to find he’d stepped on a small wire cat brush.
Zoe had brought it home to groom the kittens, but their resident gray hellion loved to trot it around the house.
Which made him realize the house was quiet.
Too quiet.
He looked around and found her curled up on his pillow, fast asleep. Guess Destructo had finally worn herself out. And of course she had to be on his pillow. Her brother and Oreo were on Oreo’s bed, but not her. Figured. It was him she was fond of attacking in her sleep, his ear she purred in when she decided to sleep instead of play, and him she sat on if a calm mood struck her.
He stalked over to the bed and scooped her up off his pillow. She sleepily opened her eyes and at the sight of him, her favorite new toy, she got happy.
And wild.
“Oh no,” he said. “It’s bedtime. Behave or you’ll sleep in the bathroom.” That was where she’d started out sleeping, until her offended howling at being shut off from the house-sized jungle gym had kept everyone up.
He dumped her onto Oreo’s bed. “Your turn to babysit,” he said to Oreo.
Oreo sighed.
Parker slid into bed and sighed, too. Exhausted, he started to drift off.
And . . . heard the kitten climbing her way back onto the bed. “No,” he said to the dark.
The kitten bumped her head affectionately to his chin and then tilted her face to his, staring down at him adoringly.
Shit.
He dropped her over the edge of the bed twice before giving up, letting her fall asleep where she wanted, in the crook of his neck. He grumbled about it, but he wasn’t fooling the cat and he certainly wasn’t fooling himself. He adored her right back. Just like he did the owner of this house.
The truth was he didn’t look forward to the day it was time to leave. He was going to miss this damn hellion. He was going to miss Oreo. The house. Playing football.
And most of all, being with Zoe.
Eighteen
The next morning, Parker was again at the kitchen table with his laptop while on his cell phone, through which Sharon had been chewing out his ass for the past five minutes.
He’d used the time to text two pics of Oreo being attacked by the kittens to Amory and was working on a third.
“And now, thanks to you,” Sharon went on, “I have to go to the director and—”
“Give him the proof I sent you that Carver’s got stuff on the move?” he asked, voice even.
“That’s if this place is even the right place, and if the trucks you saw were carrying the cargo we’re looking for, and if that even matters because this is out of my hands now and on a different pay grade entirely.”
“You ever going to tell me about the deal?” Parker asked.
She was quiet so long he wasn’t sure she was still there. “Hello?” he asked.
“You always know what I know,” she finally said. “Or you’ve guessed.”
“He’s going to give up the militia,” Parker said.
“The big cheeses. All of them, and some of these guys have been wanted for years.”
“And in return?” he asked.
“He walks.”
Parker let that soak in a minute, but no matter how he looked at it, it sucked for him and his team. “Walks,” he repeated. “As in goes scot-free? Which agency is he doing this deal with?”
Nothing from Sharon.
Keeping his cool right then was just about the hardest thing he’d ever done. “What about Ned? Where’s the justice for his death? Jesus, Sharon, this isn’t fair to—”
“—Nothing about life is fair and you already know that. And there’s a lot about this deal that neither of us knows.”
He was shaking his head even though she couldn’t see him. “He can’t have died for nothing,” he said.
“He didn’t. But right now, you have no choice in this matter, Parker. If Carver catches wind of you in the area, you’ll spook him and we all lose.”
“No, the other agencies lose. Our agency is already up shit creek without a paddle since we had to give him up.”
“Don’t do anything without talking to me first,” she said. “I mean it, Parker. If you so much as—”
“Got it,” he said, and sensing the conversation was about to deteriorate even further, he disconnected.
And then he turned off his phone. She could kill him later. Much later. He tossed his phone down and realized he had three sets of eyes on him. Or more specifically on the peanut butter toast he hadn’t finished.
“Mew,” said the gray kitten.
“Mew,” said the tabby kitten.
“Woof,” said Oreo.
“Hey, I already fed all three of you beggars,” he said just as his laptop pinged an incoming e-mail from Amory:
Parker! Loved the pics, send more! And guess what? It’s next week now so what day will you be here? I want to put it on the calendar! I tried calling you but it went right to voicemail. You busy? OMG, maybe you’re already on your way here!!!!!!!!
Well, hell. Parker e-mailed her back, making sure to tell her that he was not on the way yet but that he’d let her know when. As he hit send, Zoe staggered into the kitchen in another skirt and blazer that made her look like a million bucks, heading directly for the coffeepot.
“Bless you,” she said when she found he’d already made the coffee.
He waited as she guzzled the caffeine, and in less than a minute the cobwebs had cleared from her pretty eyes. It was fascinating to watch. She was fascinating to watch. He’d heard her come in at three thirty in the morning and had gotten up to check on her. By the time he’d walked down the hall, she’d been facedown on her bed and out cold. He’d pulled off her shoes and covered her up.
She hadn’t budged.
Cradling the mug now, she leaned back against the counter and stared at him like he was a puzzle and she was missing a few of his pieces.
Or maybe that was just how he felt looking at her.
“I heard you on the phone,” she said.
“Did you?”
“Told you, thin walls.” She sipped more coffee. “Same woman?”
“Yes,” he said. “My boss.”
“And?” she asked with a false casualness.
He took a closer look at her. Was she . . . jealous? Interesting concept, and one he realized he enjoyed the thought of way too much. “And nothing,” he said. “She’s a pain in my ass and I return the favor. She’s currently pissed off about the Carver thing.”
“Carver?”
“That’s the guy I’m looking for,” he said. “Tripp Carv
er.”
She blinked.
“What?” he asked.
“That name sounds familiar. I’m sure I’ve flown a Tripp Carver.”
He went still. If so, it was proof positive that Carver was really here, or at least proof he had been. “Recently?”
She shook her head. “I’d have to check the logs.”
He didn’t want to spook her, or ask her to do anything that would compromise her, but Christ. She’d flown the guy? He thought of everything that could’ve gone wrong and felt his gut clench tight.
“I didn’t have any problems,” she said. “Or I’d have remembered. The name just sounds familiar, is all.”
“Okay,” he said, not wanting to make a big deal of it and scare her. “But if you remember details, I’d be very interested in hearing them.”
She nodded and refilled her cup.
Not wanting to push, he changed the subject. “You’re not in your pj’s this morning,” he noted, vividly remembering yesterday morning. Hell, the remembering had gotten him through an entertaining shower just twenty minutes ago.
“Disappointed?” she asked.
“More than you know,” he said, and watched the flush cross her face. Good. Now she was remembering it, too, the feel of his hands and mouth on her. Her expression remained calm, but the pulse at the base of her throat began to race and gave her away.
In that moment he wanted more than anything to lay her back on the counter or the floor or whatever surface was closest and finish what they’d started.
“Are you going to get yourself in any trouble today?” she asked.
“No,” he said. He’d already gotten in as much trouble as he could. Not that he planned to bother her with that information.
She looked at him for a long beat and then shook her head.
“What?”
“Nothing.” She turned away from him and picked up the gray kitten at her feet, nuzzling her to her cheek.
Parker stood and moved toward her. He took the kitten and gently set her down. Did the same for her mug. Cupping Zoe’s face, he tilted it up to his. “What?” he said again.
She hesitated. “Listen, I know we’re living in the moment and all that, and I get it. We’re not really friends and you’re not really on vacay. A job is a job.”
“You think you’re a job to me?” he asked.
“No. You were a job to me. I flew you, you paid. Just like what I am to you is a convenient place to stay.”
Maybe that had been the case in the beginning, but things changed. “I’m more than a job,” he said, well aware of the irony of what he was saying.
“I don’t think so.”
“Then what do you call when I had my mouth on your—”
She reached out and put her fingers over his mouth, giving one slow, serious shake of her head, though her eyes looked like she was fighting a shocked laugh. “That was a . . .” She appeared to struggle to find the right words. “I’m not going to call it a mistake,” she finally said. “Because nothing that feels that good could be a mistake.”
With her fingers still against his lips, he growled his agreement.
“But we both know where we were going with that,” she said.
“Please say your bed,” he said. “Or mine. I don’t care which.”
She stared at her fingers on his lips and then jumped when he nibbled one and then sucked it into his mouth. He was gratified to see her looking a little dazed.
“But it’s crazy,” she said. “We’re not even each other’s type.”
“I think we do all right,” he said.
She looked at him for a long moment. “You’re not what I’m looking for.”
“Ouch,” he said, much more lightly than he felt.
“You know what I mean. You’re leaving here sooner than later, and I . . .” She shook her head as if she were surprised at herself. “I need more from you.”
From you. “Not Joe? Or any other guy?”
She just stared at him. “You feel different. Scary different,” she finally said. “Makes our live-in-the-moment mantra hard for me.”
Shit. He was such a dick. She certainly deserved more from him, way more than what he could give her. In spite of that, he nearly opened his mouth and said what was on his mind—that all of a sudden he felt damn close to saying fuck the job, he wanted to stick around just to see this thing with her through.
He’d never felt that way before.
Never.
The job was where it was at for him. The job had always been his end-all, the only thing ever waiting for him at the beginning and at the end of every day.
But damn. He’d miss her. He wasn’t embarrassed about admitting that to himself, either. The opposite, actually. If he was being honest with himself, he was more than a little relieved to know he was still even capable of feelings like the ones he knew he could have for her if he let himself.
But she was right, about everything. He was leaving. It was what he did. He walked away from those he cared about, and he’d made peace with that a long time ago.
He’d come here to Sunshine for a job. Falling for the fierce and sexy Zoe Stone was not in the cards.
Not even a little.
Okay, well, maybe a little, but he’d be the only one to carry that burden.
She was still watching him. “I’m trying to live in the moment,” she said softly. “For the moment we have. The three W’s and all that, but it’s hard for me.”
Shit. He wished he’d never come up with such a stupid thing.
“Because that’s the way it has to be,” she said. “Right?”
Pull off the Band-Aid and quick, he told himself. Do it now. “That’s the way it has to be,” he agreed, just as softly.
Something crossed her face: disappointment? He couldn’t be sure, but he was one hundred percent positive that disappointment was exactly what he felt. As well as the certainty that maybe he’d just messed up the best thing that had ever almost happened to him.
“In the interest of those three W’s,” Zoe said. “I’ve been asked out on another date for tomorrow night.”
This hit him like a sledgehammer. No less than he deserved. “Joe again?” he managed.
“No.”
“Did the dentist call you and reschedule?”
“No.”
His gut tightened even more. “Who?”
“Kel. He’s a local sheriff,” she said.
Parker went utterly still as this news hit his brain. On the one hand, he personally knew that Kel was a damn good guy with a solid work ethic and a steady job that wouldn’t take him all over hell and back.