All I Want(31)

“Focus, Darcy.”

“Right,” Darcy said, giving herself a visible shake. “Well, he heard that you were seeking blind dates, so—”

“Oh my God,” Zoe said, and closed her eyes. “This is so embarrassing.”

“And he wanted to know, if I set you up with him if it’d qualify for a blind date since you two know each other and all,” Darcy went on. “And I said yep.”

“You did not,” Zoe said.

“I did. And he said Monday was his next free night, so . . .”

Zoe stared at Darcy. “I’m not going out with Kel.”

“What’s tripping you up, the fact that he’s really good looking, or that he’s also a great guy?” Darcy asked. “Or maybe it’s that you do have a thing for Parker, after all.”

Zoe took the fifth and held her silence. This didn’t fool her sister.

“Aw,” Darcy said. “It’s door number two. You like him, you really like him.” She said this in an annoying singsong voice. “You want to kiss him. You—” Suddenly she broke off and her mouth fell open. “Wait. Holy cow. You already kissed him?”

“I didn’t say that!”

“It’s true, you totally already kissed him,” Darcy said in an accusatory voice. “You kissed him and didn’t tell me?”

Zoe yanked down the sun visor and stared at herself in the small mirror there. “You can absolutely not tell that by just looking at me.”

“Was it good?” Darcy dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Are you sleeping with him?”

“No!” But she wanted to be . . . Oh God, how she wanted those knowing hands on her. “Now you’ve gotta go away. I’m not making my snooping, meddling, eavesdropping sister any food right now.” But then, because she loved Darcy every bit as much as she was driven to madness by her, Zoe softened. “But I’ll make you breakfast this weekend. Bring AJ.”

AJ was the man who’d helped bring Darcy back from the brink, and at just the mention of his name Darcy got a dreamy look on her face.

It made Zoe still for a beat and then yank down the mirror again. God. It was true! She had the same dopey expression on her face that her sister did. She immediately swiped it off, because she wasn’t falling for Parker in the same way Darcy had fallen for AJ.

She absolutely refused to fall at all. “I mean it,” she said. “Get out of my car. I’m going to be late for a lesson.” She gave Darcy the shoo hands.

Darcy just looked at her, no longer being silly or pesty. “Just promise me one thing.”

“At this point I’d promise you all the food in my fridge to stop talking and get out of my car.”

“Promise me that if he’s a good fit you won’t chase him away or dump him because he was breathing wrong or wanted to take a pole-dancing class,” Darcy said.

This was a not-so-subtle reference to the time last year when Zoe had gone on a two-guy dating spree. The first one, Evan, had wanted her to take pole-dancing classes. Not with him but for him.

She’d declined.

The second guy, Mike, she’d seen a few times before calling things off. “He was a mouth breather, and a very loud one.”

“You got scared,” Darcy said.

No. Well, maybe. But while Mike had been nice and kind and even gainfully employed as a ranch manager, he hadn’t been the right one for her—with or without the loud breathing.

“Zoe,” Darcy said. “I’m not leaving this car until you promise.”

Zoe crossed her fingers. “I promise.”

“Good. Now uncross your fingers and say it again.”

Dammit. Zoe uncrossed her fingers. “I won’t chase Parker away or dump him because he’s breathing wrong.” Nope, in her heart she knew it wouldn’t come to that. Because he’d be walking out the door far before she was ready for him to do so.





Twelve




After Zoe had left for work, Parker got into the shower to wash off his run and several hours of slinging horse shit.

Oreo trotted into the bathroom behind him. The big dog liked to stick his head into the shower and slurp at the water. At first this had been disconcerting to say the least, but Oreo had turned out to be good company.

Still, Parker’s thoughts didn’t drift far from Zoe.

She wasn’t a woman to trust easily, if at all. And up until today he’d have said no way did she trust him, not even a little.

But something had changed between them now that they’d shared. And then there was the way she looked at him, like maybe she was torn between wanting to run and wanting to kiss him again.

He could admit to being torn between the same two things.

There was chemistry, more than he’d expected. More than he’d felt in a very long time. But his leave was by no means a vacation, and now that Sharon had made him, his ass was on the line.

His job had been hard on more than one relationship, including the tenuous one with his family. His parents had never approved of his career, pretty much leaving him out of the loop of their world. He had Amory and that was about it. He didn’t think about it much, but when he did, he consoled himself with the knowledge that he didn’t have room for more, anyway. He was gone for long stretches at a time, sometimes without much warning, and he couldn’t always tell people where he was.