All I Want(30)

“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?”

“Liar, liar,” Darcy said. “You have twenty-twenty vision and eyes in the back of your head. Also,” she went on, lifting a finger like she was cross-examining Zoe on the stand, “he touched you. And when he did, you”—she poked that finger in Zoe’s direction now, like there was any doubt who she was talking about—“smiled a dreamy smile.”

Zoe choked on a laugh. “Please. I do not have a dreamy smile.”

“You so have a dreamy smile. And that smile was saying to Parker, ‘Oh yes, take me right now.’”

“You’ve hit your head again, right?” Zoe asked, reaching out to touch her sister’s forehead as if checking for a fever.

Darcy grinned and smacked her hand away. “Fine, if you’re going to be in denial, then you should know, Kel asked me to get you to go out with him.”

Zoe blinked. “When did you have occasion to see the sheriff?”

“Worried?”

“Should I be?” Zoe countered, but hell yes she was worried. It hadn’t been all that long ago when Darcy had been trouble-seeking, and she’d often found it. Kel was a patient man, and a very good man, and also extremely good looking, but—“Wait. Kel asked you to ask me out?”

“Took you long enough,” Darcy said. “Ran into him at physical therapy, where he was sparring with AJ. And let me just say watching two really sexy, really hot guys go at it in the ring in the name of sport . . . Pretty damn sexy even if I think boxing is crazy.”