All I Want(44)

She felt Parker’s lips curve, and when he shook his head, silently telling her no worries, the gentle rasp of the stubble along his jaw made her moan for more.

This time his soft laugh huffed against a breast.

“Not funny,” she managed, wanting to give back as good as she was getting, her hands skimming over the smooth muscles of his back, her fingertips searching out every ridge, every dip and sleek line of sinew. When she’d made it to his hips, she kept going into the back of his sweats, grabbing his very fine ass as she spread her legs wider and rocked into him.

At that same moment, he slid a finger into her and groaned along with her. “I’ve been waiting for this,” he rasped.

“For me to grab your ass?”

“For you to be ready for me.”

She’d been ready for him at first sight, not that she was about to admit that. “Well, you’ve got it now,” she whispered, and then nipped at his throat. “What are you going to do about it?”

“Plenty.” He kissed her hard and long before pulling free. When she mewled in protest, he flashed her a smile and hooked a foot in one of her chairs, dragging it toward him.

“What—”

“Shh,” he murmured, and dropped into the chair and then leaned in to run his mouth up her inner thigh. When the material of her thin boxers thwarted him, he merely scooped them to the side. “Oh Christ, Zoe. You’re so wet.” Then he put his mouth on her and in less than two minutes she was nearly to that orgasm she’d been hoping for, so . . . very . . . close . . . as he held her there on the very thin precipice . . .

And then . . .

Her cell phone rang.

As it was plugged in on the counter right behind her, the ring nearly startled her heart right out of her chest.

“Ignore it,” he said against her, and did something especially wicked with his tongue that made her forget the phone and cry out.

And then he did it again and just like that she was back on the very edge, her toes curled, her muscles trembling, her entire body tight and—

The house phone rang this time, obnoxiously loud, and she lost her place. “Dammit!” She pulled him up and let out a breath when what she really wanted to do was cry.

But ignoring a phone call went against the grain. She didn’t get all that many calls, and some of the ones she’d received in the past few years had been life-changing. The news of the car accident that had nearly killed Darcy, for one. “I’m sorry,” she said, breathing like a lunatic—or like a woman who hadn’t gotten lucky in far too long. And damn, she’d been sooooo close. “I have to at least look.”

Parker pulled back, his hair tousled from her fingers, his eyes liquid jade, torso bare, sweats untied and sagging low thanks to her wandering fingers, his breathing not any more even than hers.

She wanted to jump his bones, but instead she slid off the counter and pulled her top back on before pointing at him. “Remember where we were,” she said.

He smiled and swiped his forearm across his mouth. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Damn. He was the hottest thing she’d ever seen. She looked at the ID screen on the phone and it was like a bucket of ice water. “Hi, Mom,” she answered.

Parker slid her a look.

She turned her back on him. “Everything okay?”

It was a valid question. Her parents didn’t check in often, and when they did it was always for a specific reason.

“Everything’s fine,” her mom said, sounding tinny and far away. Luckily she didn’t respond in kind to ask Zoe how she was because the answer was an inch from coming.

“We’re on the road and got an e-mail notice that our security deposit box payment has come due,” her mom said. “We’ve always paid in cash, so I don’t have an online account set up for it. We need you to go pay that for us from our account.”

“Sure,” Zoe said. She often handled their financial affairs when something needed to be done from here in the States. “You okay? And Dad?”

“We’re both good, darling, thank you. We’re traveling for the next few days. Be sure to tell Wyatt happy birthday for us.”

“His birthday was last month,” Zoe said, trying not to lose patience, but the woman got their birthdays wrong every single time. How hard was it to keep track of the three children she’d borne herself? “I got him a card from you.”

“Time seems to go by so differently over here,” her mom said. “Give him a kiss for me. And Darcy, too.”

“I know they’d love to hear from you yourself,” Zoe said. “Darcy especially, she’s—”

“You’re breaking up. Zoe?”

“I’m here,” Zoe said. “Darcy’s engaged. To AJ.”

“Well, damn,” her mom said, presumably to Zoe’s dad. “I can’t hear her at all, do you think she’s still there?”

“Yes, I am,” Zoe said quickly, louder now. “Mom? Can you hear me now? We miss you—”

“Can’t hear a damn thing. Zoe,” her mom yelled into the phone. “E-mail me when you make the payment, okay?”

“Okay, will do,” Zoe yelled back. “Love you!”

There was no response. “Mom?”

But she’d already disconnected. Zoe stared at her phone and sighed.