“So you—”
“Took an extra job to earn back the money I’d borrowed. They never knew.”
“Jesus, Zoe,” he said, sick for her. “You shouldn’t have had to go through that by yourself.”
And he’d just lied to her. Just like that asshole. It was all he could think about and it was making him sick.
“It was a long time ago,” she said. “I was young and stupidly naïve, and believed everything everyone said. I learned my lesson.”
She still wasn’t looking at him. Tired of that, he reached out to turn her face to his. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“Hmm,” she said, like maybe she was used to such things. And then he remembered the dentist who’d stood her up and realized she was used to such things from men.
Dammit. And then there was him. No, he hadn’t stolen money from her or specifically set out to screw her over, but he’d sure as hell lied by omission. “Zoe—”
“I swear, if you’re feeling sorry for me I’ll run you over.”
He smiled in appreciation for the sass. He loved a woman who, when backed into a corner, came out fighting instead of giving up. But she was looking at him with those honey-colored eyes that somehow managed to reach right through him, and his smile faded quickly enough. Shit. Was he really going to do this?
She started to get out of the car, but he grabbed her wrist. When she looked at him, he said, “There’s something you need to know about me.”
Her eyes went shadowed and guarded, and he hated himself a little bit. “I’m not a game warden.”
She continued to stare at him, still as stone now. Hell, he wasn’t even sure she was breathing.
“I do work for U.S. Fish and Wildlife,” he said. “But not as a game warden. I’m a supervisory special agent. We’re law enforcement, too, authorized and equipped to perform a full range of criminal investigative activities including search warrants and arrests.”
“So . . . you do chase bad guys,” she said softly. “For real?”
“Yes,” he said. “And occasionally they chase me with a really big fucking truck.”
She didn’t smile.
“Zoe—”
“Are you really on vacation?”
“I’m on leave,” he said. “Supposedly recouping. But I’m really looking for the guy who killed Ned.”
“The wildlife poacher.”
“Actually, he’s more than that. He’s the ringleader of an international smuggling conspiracy and someone we’ve been after a long time.”
“And you think he’s in Cat’s Paw,” she said.
“I do.” He paused. “And you should know, my being here isn’t exactly USFWS sanctioned. In fact, it’s the opposite of being sanctioned.”
She blinked. “You weren’t kidding that you’re not a big rule follower.”
He found a small smile. Reaching out, he stroked a finger along her temple, tucking a runaway strand of hair behind her ear. “We okay, Zoe?”
The question made her smile, though he wasn’t sure why. “You mean the ‘we’ who are living in the moment?” she asked. “The ‘we’ with the three W’s? The ‘we’ who need to remember that you’re only temporary here in Sunshine to begin with?”
“Yeah,” he said. “That ‘we.’ We okay?”
She stared at him. “To be determined.”
Fair enough.
Eleven
When Parker got out of the car, Zoe let out a breath, trying to sort out her feelings. The man had misled her but then had come clean simply because she’d been open with him about herself.
She hadn’t been open about herself with a man since Kyle, so she felt like she was in uncharted waters here. Had Parker been so frank with her out of pity? Or because he really wanted her to know the truth? And if it was the latter, then why?
And did it mean that they really had a little something going on?
You know the answer to that . . .
And then there was his job, which sounded thrilling, exciting, and dangerous as hell.
She supposed the argument could be made that her job was all of those things, too, but she didn’t look at it like that. Flying was just what she did, what she loved to do. In the air her problems dropped away and she felt weightless and free.
A little bit like how she felt with Parker, actually.
Truth was, she had no idea what to think or how to react to him.
She watched him walk inside her house and realized she did know one thing for certain—he had a really great ass.
The passenger car door opened just as the front door shut, and then Darcy settled into the passenger seat and gave Zoe a once-over.
“What are you doing?” Zoe asked.
“Came by to con some food out of you. And also to hear how the dating thing’s going. Imagine my surprise when I had to wait for Wyatt’s hottie friend to get out of your car. Thought he was going to kiss you there for a minute.”
Zoe opened her mouth and then closed it. “I don’t have time to get you food,” she said. “I’ve got flight lessons. And as for the dating thing . . . it’s not really happening.”
“Because you have a thing for Parker?”
Zoe slid her sister a look. The kind of look that quelled even the bravest of souls.
Darcy, who’d never been quelled a day in her life, just grinned. “He’s got a great ass.”
Zoe thunked her head to the steering wheel. “I know!”
Darcy laughed, and the sound was so genuine that Zoe lifted her head. For a very long time Darcy’s life hadn’t lent itself to fun or amusement of any sort. Too long. Wild and restless had been Darcy’s MO at any cost. Then two years ago that wild-and-restlessness had led her to a terrible—and nearly tragic—auto accident. It had been a drawn-out, horrendous recovery, but Darcy had as much grit and inner strength as she did crazy, and though she’d probably always limp, she was back to some semblance of normal. “I love seeing you happy,” Zoe blurted out.
Darcy reached for Zoe’s hand. “Thanks, and it’s nice to be happy, but that’s not going to get you a subject change. I want to discuss your new roommate’s fine ass.”
Zoe couldn’t help it, she laughed. “You do realize that this is Wyatt’s friend you’re talking about.”
“Uh-huh. And I’m currently sleeping with and planning on marrying Wyatt’s other good friend. Your point?”
“My point is . . .” What was her point again? “I don’t have time to talk about Parker right now.”
“Well, I do,” Darcy said. “Let’s talk about what I saw between you two.”
“You saw nothing.”
“Oh how wrong you are, my favorite sister. I saw some seriously smokin’ chemistry.” Darcy said this with great delight. She really loved it when she thought Zoe was wrong.
But for the record, Zoe was never wrong.
“When the two of you were talking, you were leaning into each other,” Darcy said. “Full eye contact. We both know what that means.”
Well, damn. Maybe she was a little bit wrong. Just this one time. “That maybe we both forgot our glasses and had to lean in just to see each other?”