If she’d wanted his company, she’d have left it open.
He checked the kittens next, who’d been brought back by Kaylie. They were not only okay, they were wild. He sat on the bathroom floor and played with them for a few minutes, interrupted when his phone pinged a notification.
Once again, the cameras in Cat’s Paw had been activated.
He went to the kitchen to check his laptop.
A convoy of five trucks, empty by the looks of them, drove into the ranch. Only one reason for it that he could think of. They were there to load up and move out.
Seemed that what he’d told Amory was correct—this job would indeed be over soon, one way or the other, and he’d be free to go home. He’d leave Sunshine, and all that was in it. Normally at this point on a job he felt a driving need to get out.
He felt a driving need, all right.
To not go.
Twenty-one
Zoe stayed up late visiting with Manda, who taught her how to make the most amazing blueberry muffins she’d ever had. She knew it was likely that most of the love and adoration for them might be attributed to the bottle of wine they’d shared, but Zoe had crawled into bed with a smile on her face.
Okay, so maybe the smile was also from all the earlier orgasms she’d had with Parker. Good Lord. She’d actually lost count. But once her mind went down that path, she lay in bed remembering some of the things Parker had done to her, and there in the dark she blushed.
And ached for more.
She’d done things to him, too, and reliving some of them got her hot and bothered all over again.
Maybe he’d realize they could really have something.
She got halfway to his room before she came to her senses. Even if he did realize their potential, he wouldn’t give in to it or do anything about it. He’d been nothing but crystal clear that they weren’t going to entertain having any kind of relationship past his time here in Sunshine, which put a pretty quick damper on her libido. Right there in the hallway she stilled. Then turned away.
And that was when Parker’s bedroom door opened, backlit by the moonlight slanting into his bedroom and across a wedge of the hallway.
He stood there looking disturbingly awake in nothing but forest green knit boxers riding low on his hips, like maybe he hadn’t been able to sleep, either.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She stared at him, fighting the urge to lick him from sternum to the waistband of those boxers.
And beyond.
And she wanted him again. Why fight it, a voice inside her head asked—the slut again. Live in the moment. “I’m cold,” she lied. “I can’t get warm.”
“It’s summer. It’s a warm night.”
“Parker?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you really want to argue with a woman who’s trying to seduce you?”
He went from sleepy to hot, aroused male complete with the slow and easy smile in a single heartbeat. “You’re trying to seduce me,” he said.
“Trying being the key word here,” she said, starting to feel a little put out that he was still standing way over there.
With a low laugh he reached for her, but she evaded. “I think I’m warm enough now,” she said, giving him a push.
He didn’t budge, just hauled her into his arms. “No, you’re right, you feel pretty chilled to me,” he said, his voice one-hundred-percent sex. “Can’t have that, not on my watch.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “If you’re sure it’s not a bother.”
“No bother at all. I’m your man.”
The words put a little thrill into her heart even though she knew he didn’t mean it.
“First, I’m going to warm you up. I’m going to share my body heat,” he murmured against her ear. “And I have lots of body heat, Zoe.”
She shivered in anticipation.
“And then,” he went on, carrying her to his bed, “I’m going to make sure you stay warm, even if it takes all night.”
And then he made good on his every word.
Zoe woke first and slipped out of Parker’s bed. One more night of erotic pleasure like the one she’d just had and she didn’t think she’d be able to walk away.
No, she was sure she wouldn’t be able to walk away. Falling asleep in his arms had probably been a mistake because that had felt even more intimate than the lovemaking.
In the hallway, Oreo nudged her toward the stairs. He wanted food. She crouched low and hugged the dog. “Listen,” she whispered into Oreo’s fur, “I know he’s super sexy and he smells good and his smile makes us stupid, but he’s leaving. We need to remember that and be strong. No falling for him, okay? Promise?”
Oreo didn’t promise, and she sighed. Then she headed to the kitchen in desperate need of caffeine. She intended to wake up fully and get herself to work. She didn’t have any flights scheduled, but there was a staff meeting she had to attend. Joe, annoyed by the exorbitant maintenance cost of the aging Caravan, wanted to sell it and get something newer and bigger, and she wanted in on that discussion.
But mostly she wanted to keep busy so she could think about something other than Parker. His moan of appreciation when he’d tasted her French toast. The sound of her name on his lips when he’d been buried deep inside her. The look on his face whenever he touched her, a look that conveyed something his words never did, that he was every bit as into her as she was him . . .
Damn. She had it bad.
Hey, it’s not all doom and gloom, her little voice said. You learned to bake kick-ass blueberry muffins last night. Somehow, in spite of herself, she’d opened her life a little and was having some fun.
Actually, if she factored in all the sex, she was having lots of fun. After Wyatt and Darcy had moved out, she’d really thought all her fun was behind her, but she was happy to be wrong about that.
And there was a lot more fun out there to be had, she told herself. When Parker was gone and the glow of all the orgasms wore off, she’d still be going for life, one hundred percent.
Or at least seventy-five percent.
Determined to be fine, she decided it was a blueberry muffin sort of morning. While waiting for the coffee to brew, she carefully re-created a batch from the recipe Manda had written down for her, doing everything from the night before—except drink a bottle of wine—and stuck them in the oven.
Waiting was not a strong suit of hers, so she ran upstairs to shower and dress for the day, and then, because she’d forgotten last night, she started to switch her laundry from the washer to the dryer. But she got distracted by the kittens, whom she’d let run free while she was in the shower.
Massive mistake.
Wild woman was hanging from the curtains in the living room, swaying back and forth like Tarzan. The tabby had vanished completely. It took Zoe fifteen minutes to find the thing. Eventually she found him in the dryer she’d left open—snoozing on her fresh, clean whites. She scooped him up in her hands and he lifted his little fuzzy head to give her a sleepy “mew,” looking so adorable she couldn’t find her mad.
That was when she remembered the muffins.
A few minutes later she’d tossed out the burned muffins, run across the driveway to get a bag of muffins from Manda, and then corralled the heathens in the kitchen with her, and was opening the bag of muffins that Manda had given her. It took only a minute to decide that last night’s muffins would be better warmed.