She looked like a shipwreck survivor and she’d never seemed more adorably sexy. With a moan that reminded him of how she sounded when he was buried deep inside her body, she headed straight for the coffeepot.
He held his tongue while she poured herself a cup and then sucked half of it down before sighing.
“Better?” he asked.
She slid him a look.
“What?”
“I told myself I wasn’t speaking to you,” she said. “I’m pretending we’re strangers. Which, really, we are.”
“You’re wearing my shirt,” he pointed out.
She looked down at herself and blinked, as if baffled to know how that had happened. “Yes, well, I guess we’re not total strangers then.”
He smiled.
She started to smile back and then caught herself. “Dammit, no. Don’t do that, don’t look at me like that. You make me forget that I’m trying to keep my distance. Space bubbles and all that.”
“Fuck space bubbles,” he said, and hauled her in. Turning them, he pinned her against the counter, lowering his head to nuzzle at the warm, soft crook of her neck.
With a gasp she locked her knees and tightened her grip on her coffee, which she held between them like a chastity belt. “What are you doing?”
Getting in as much time as I can get with you for my last day . . . He nipped her warm skin and she gasped again. “Where are Amory and Henry?” she asked, taking one hand off the mug to fist it in his shirt, holding him to her.
“Out back picking flowers for my mom and dad,” he said. “Amory wanted to bring them home some Sunshine flowers.” With great reluctance he pulled back. “I’m going to drop the kittens off at Belle Haven on the way to Coeur d’Alene airport.”
“Why?”
“Because Amory and Henry have a flight.”
“No,” she said. “I mean why are you taking the kittens to Belle Haven?”
“It’s adoption day.”
She froze and pushed him from her so that she could move to Oreo’s bed. Sitting right there on the floor, she pulled Bonnie and Clyde into her lap. “No,” she said, lifting Bonnie to kiss her on the nose.
Bonnie batted adorably at Zoe’s finger, making her laugh. “They can’t go to adoption day,” she said, snuggling Clyde next.
“Why not?”
“Cuz they’ve already been adopted. By me.” Clyde was falling asleep in Zoe’s hands, and she cuddled him in for one last kiss before setting him between Oreo’s two huge front paws.
Oreo tipped his head down and gave the sleepy kitten a lick, his tongue bigger than Clyde’s entire head.
“Mew,” the kitten said without opening his eyes, and then he pressed his little face into Oreo’s fur and began to purr.
Parker crouched in front of Zoe. “You don’t have to take these two heathens on. I’m the one who—”
“I don’t have to do anything,” she said, lifting her chin, meeting his gaze, her own stubborn. “I want them. Just like I want you.”
Her words, laid bare, were bold and simple, and stunned him. “Zoe—”
“I just wanted to be clear,” she said. “In case you weren’t sure of my feelings. You’re leaving, I know that, but I wanted to put it out there before you go. The three W’s and all that—” She shrugged like it didn’t matter, but it did.
He pulled her up and into him.
She went without hesitation, wrapping her arms tight around him, tucking her face into the crook of his neck. “You’re leaving today with your sister,” she accused. “I saw your duffel bag by the front door.”
He stroked a hand down her silky hair, closing his eyes as he breathed her in. “Yes,” he said quietly. “I’m leaving today.”
He had to. He had his orders. Be back in D.C. by Monday to face all that had gone down, and in spite of the fact that it had all worked out, it most likely wasn’t going to be pretty.
Still, he wouldn’t change a thing he’d done.
But before he could do that, he needed to go home with Amory and Henry and try to repair the relationship with his parents.
Zoe stared at him. “I heard Kel said something about a job here—”
“I’m not walking away from my job,” he said.
“No.” She pulled free and stared at him. “Of course not. You’re just walking away from me, and pretty damn easily it seems like.”
He let out a breath and shook his head. “If you think that, you haven’t been paying attention.”
“I’m paying attention,” she said. “I’m paying lots of attention. Staying here, taking on a job that would keep you in one place, allowing you a personal life, would be settling. Your biggest fear—turning into your workaholic parents. Well, open your eyes, Parker, you’ve already become them.”
That she was right didn’t help any. “You want to go there?” he asked. “Fine. Go ahead and weigh in on my life while ignoring that your own is just as much in flux as mine.”
“It is not!”
“Really?” he asked. “Is that why you spend your spare time attempting to fix up the house instead of going out and getting a life for yourself now that your brother and sister are gone? Or why you haven’t accepted Joe’s invitation to become an equal partner in the FBO? Or why you say you want a real relationship, when the truth is that you’d turn the right guy down flat?”
“The right guy?” she asked in disbelief. “And who’s the right guy, Parker? The dentist? Joe, who sleeps with anyone with boobs? The guy who wanted me to take pole-dancing lessons? In his basement?”
This stopped him cold. “Who the fuck was that?”
“Never mind! And the FBO thing is none of your business. I’m no longer any of your business.” She turned away.
He knew she had a point, a big one, but she sure as hell felt like his business. “Kel,” he said.
She turned back to face him. “What?”
“Kel. He’s got a steady job, doesn’t have to travel for it, and he’s into you.”
She stared at him, hurt swimming in her eyes, making him hate himself.
“You want Kel to be the right guy,” she said flatly.
No. Christ, no. Just the thought of Kel pulling her in and kissing away the pain in her eyes made him want to wrap his hands around the guy’s neck. But she wasn’t for him and he knew it. Forcing himself to keep his expression even, he said, “I want you to do what works best for you. Kel’s steady. Solid. He’ll give you a good life. A diamond ring. A white picket fence for Oreo. Tricycles in the yard for the kids. You could become partners with Joe and have a stake in the business you love.”
“And what makes you think I want any of those things?” she asked.
He met her gaze and found the hurt gone, replaced by a fiery temper. “Why else were you on the serial dating spree in the first place?”
“Oh my God,” she muttered, and pressed the heels of her hands into her eye sockets. “Listen, I need you to do me a favor.”
She asked it in such a reasonable voice that he said, “Sure,” before he could think.