She continued to stare at him, still as stone now. Hell, he wasn’t even sure she was breathing.
“I do work for U.S. Fish and Wildlife,” he said. “But not as a game warden. I’m a supervisory special agent. We’re law enforcement, too, authorized and equipped to perform a full range of criminal investigative activities including search warrants and arrests.”
“So . . . you do chase bad guys,” she said softly. “For real?”
“Yes,” he said. “And occasionally they chase me with a really big fucking truck.”
She didn’t smile.
“Zoe—”
“Are you really on vacation?”
“I’m on leave,” he said. “Supposedly recouping. But I’m really looking for the guy who killed Ned.”
“The wildlife poacher.”
“Actually, he’s more than that. He’s the ringleader of an international smuggling conspiracy and someone we’ve been after a long time.”
“And you think he’s in Cat’s Paw,” she said.
“I do.” He paused. “And you should know, my being here isn’t exactly USFWS sanctioned. In fact, it’s the opposite of being sanctioned.”
She blinked. “You weren’t kidding that you’re not a big rule follower.”
He found a small smile. Reaching out, he stroked a finger along her temple, tucking a runaway strand of hair behind her ear. “We okay, Zoe?”
The question made her smile, though he wasn’t sure why. “You mean the ‘we’ who are living in the moment?” she asked. “The ‘we’ with the three W’s? The ‘we’ who need to remember that you’re only temporary here in Sunshine to begin with?”
“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.”