She had a belly ring piercing, a twinkling pale blue crystal. He wanted to put his mouth to it. A little surprised at the force of the urge, he took a step back and shoved his hands into his pockets on the off chance they decided to act without his brain’s permission and toss her down on the table so he could pillage.
“Shit,” she said. “I really did forget.” She blew out a breath and looked down at herself. “I’ve got to change. And also pretend I didn’t just stuff my face.”
Parker grinned.
Zoe pointed at him. “Shut it. And let him in?” she asked, heading to the stairs. “Tell him I’ll be just a minute.”
Parker eyed her hair. And the syrup drop on her left breast. “Maybe you should take two minutes. Or you know . . . more.”
She made a sound of great exasperation and left. She raced up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door.
A beat later it whipped back open. “Hey!” she yelled down. “Why didn’t a brick fall out of my fireplace?”
Parker, halfway to the front door, stopped and eyed the fireplace. A brick hadn’t fallen out because he’d fixed it with one trip to the local hardware store for a mortar patch. But Ms. Prickly I’ve-Got-It wouldn’t want to hear that. “A brick totally just fell out,” he said.
There was a pause, and then she was at the top of the stairs, staring down at him. “You just lied to me.”
“It was a white lie,” he said. “And everyone knows white lies don’t really count.”
She blinked and then pointed at him. “Stop fixing my life!”
He laughed. “This house is not your life.”
The look on her face told him that he was wrong. She thought that the house was her life. “Hey,” he said. “I—”
The doorbell rang again.
“Just get the door!” she said, and vanished.
Parker had to fight the urge to go up those stairs and make Zoe forget all about Joe. He could do it, too. This wasn’t ego but fact. She looked at him every bit as much as he looked at her. But again, it was a massively bad idea so he opened the front door.
“’Bout damn time.” Joe stared and stopped at the sight of Parker. “Is this going to be awkward?”
“Not for me,” Parker said, and gestured him in. “She’s not quite ready.”
Joe nodded and hunkered down before Oreo, who’d come into the living room behind Parker. “Hey, boy. Hey, buddy. What’s your name?”
Oreo growled low in his throat and hid behind Parker’s legs.
Joe pulled his hand back in. “No? We’re not friends yet?”
“He’s a rescue,” Parker heard himself say. “He doesn’t like men all that much.”
Oreo poked his head around Parker’s thigh and glared balefully up at Joe before licking Parker’s hand.
Joe laughed a little. “So what does that make you?”
Parker ignored this and picked up the silly oaf, who weighed as much as a mountain.
Oreo set his big head on Parker’s shoulder and sighed trustingly.
It was possibly the best thing that had happened to Parker all day. He loved dogs. He loved all animals. He’d certainly saved enough of them. But in his line of work, moving around as he did, being gone for weeks at a time on a case, he’d never gotten to have a pet of his own. He’d never realized how much that bothered him.
“Sorry I’m late,” Zoe said, rushing down the stairs. She’d put on that same long, flowery old-lady dress as on Parker’s first day, and for some reason Parker felt a whole lot better. Especially when he saw Joe’s face.
Grinning, Parker said to Zoe, “A minute?”
“Oh,” she said. “Um, sure.” She followed him into the kitchen, twisting her hair up as she went.
She still smelled like syrup.
Parker did his best not to lean in and lick her like a Tootsie Pop.
“What is it?” she asked, smoothing down her dress. “Do I look okay?”
“Sure. If you’re going to that bingo night we talked about.”
She stilled and stared at him, and then looked down at herself. “I just figured since this dress never went out on the date with the dentist that it was okay to wear again. Some people like this dress, you know.”
He watched Oreo sniff at the dress, leaving a fairly significant drool stain. “You’re absolutely right,” he said. “You should wear that dress.”