All I Want(18)

“Well, it’s not like they’re innocents,” Mick said. “His family tree belongs on the walls of post offices and cop shops across the country, if you know what I’m saying.”

“What else am I missing?” Parker asked.

“Nothing! Now do me a favor and lose my number.”

Parker disconnected. Then he called his only other contact in the area besides Wyatt. Kel was a local sheriff and a good one. If anyone knew anything about this, it would be Kel.

“Been a long time,” the sheriff said when he answered. “You’ve been busy, I hear.”

Law enforcement, all divisions and agencies, were like the quad at any high school. Filled with gossip. “Little bit,” Parker said. “And you?”

“I’m thinking you didn’t call to chitchat.”

Directness. Parker appreciated it. “I need to know what’s going on up at Rocky Falls.”

“Why?”

Fair enough question. “A few years ago we arrested what we thought was a small onetime-operation kind of guy for endangered species poaching. He worked the Pacific Northwest, selling skins and other illegal items to a bigger organization. Small fries, but we wanted the bigger cartel so we cut him loose under certain terms.”

“Certain terms,” Kel repeated. “You recruited him as an informant.”

“To help us catch his former boss, Tripp Carver, also known as the Butcher.”

“The guy who killed one of your agents,” Kel said.

“Yeah, and now we’ve got rumors of four point five million dollars in skins and ivory being readied for sale.”

“And you think this Carver is in Rocky Falls with the goods?”

“Specifically at Cat’s Paw.”

There was a beat of silence. “Thought you were on medical leave,” Kel finally said.

Parker pleaded the fifth, and Kel laughed softly. “Okay, so that’s not going to slow you down, I get it. You got anything more than rumors?”

“I’ve gone further on less. What can you tell me?”

“That you’re not the only one with eyes on the prize.”

Parker read between the lines on that one. “Local law’s on it?”

“Bigger,” Kel said. “We were told to stay out of it. I can nose around some if you need.”

“I need.” Parker heard Zoe coming in the front door, heard the sounds of Oreo scrambling off the spot on the couch he wasn’t supposed to nap in and go skidding to the foyer with a welcoming woof! He thanked Kel and disconnected, and then ambled into the living room.

Zoe had dropped her things and crouched down to give Oreo a doggie treat from her purse. “Who’s a good boy?” she murmured.

“Well, I don’t like to brag, but I’ve been pretty good,” Parker said.

She lifted her gaze to where he’d stopped in the doorway between the kitchen and living room, leaning against the jamb. “Do you want a cookie, too?” she asked.

“Depends,” he said. “Did you bake them?”

She rolled her eyes and pulled Oreo in for a full body hug, giving him a loud smooch on top of his snout.

“I wouldn’t say no to one of those, either,” Parker said. She ignored this, too, except for the flush that stained her cheeks. She looked beat to hell. Her hair was tousled and she had what might have been a grease stain across her jaw. At some point she’d ditched her blazer and wore just the white silky tank top, also sporting a stain across one breast.

Catching him looking, she shrugged. “Dougie, our mechanic, was moving too slow on the Cessna Caravan. I was giving him a hand.”

“You can work on an airplane but you can’t fix anything here at the house?”

“Yeah, well, I’m an enigma,” she said. “An annoying one. Just ask anyone in my family.”

Pushing off the jamb, Parker moved close to her, watching as her breath caught and her eyes locked on his mouth.

It was a relief, really, to know that he caused the same baffling reactions in her as she did in him. “I’m not annoyed by you,” he said.

“No?”

He smiled. “No.”

“What are you?” she whispered, still staring at his mouth.

“Lots of things.” He pulled her up and rubbed his thumb over the stain on her jaw, feeling a surge of satisfaction when her breath caught again. “Including turned on.”

Her gaze flew to his. “I turn you on?”

“Yes.”

She stared at him some more. “We’re not doing this. We’d be stupid to do this.”

“I agree. But that doesn’t seem to mean a damn thing to me.”

She didn’t say anything and he raised his brows. “Am I alone in this, Zoe?”

Appearing to wrestle with that, she hesitated, and he wondered if she’d lie.

“No,” she finally said. “But that’s only because I haven’t actually . . . Well.” She grimaced. “Let’s just say it’s been a while for me. With someone else. Together.” When he smiled, she groaned. “You know what I mean!”

“And that’s the only reason you want me, because it’s been a while?”

She busied herself with gathering up her things.