“What smells so good?” he asked.
She looked at the oven, where the muffins were warming. Manda’s muffins. But hey, Zoe had helped make them, so technically that meant they were half hers, right? Maybe more than half since she’d done the reheating all on her own. And if she’d decided to make breakfast casserole or breakfast burritos or something like that, she would have rocked it because she could so totally cook, dammit. “Blueberry muffins,” she said, and nonchalantly pulled the pan of perfectly made blueberry muffins from the oven.
Both man and dog locked eyes on them and licked their lips.
“Did you make ’em?” Parker asked, not making a move any closer.
His wariness was more than mildly annoying. “Why?” she asked. “Are you afraid?”
He looked pained now, like he was in a quandary.
“Guess you are,” she said, taking a muffin from the tray and slowly peeling back the paper, breaking the muffin in half, watching as the steam rose. Mouth watering, she took a bite and closed her eyes. “Mmmm,” she moaned.
When she opened her eyes, Parker had moved into her personal space, his eyes dark with heat and more than a little bit of trouble. He’d skipped a shave this morning and his jaw had just the right amount of scruff on it so that if he rubbed it against her she’d probably orgasm on the spot.
Her inner thighs trembled.
“Good?” he murmured, his gaze locked in on her mouth.
“Very.” She stared up at him, out of breath. Why was she out of breath? Because you want him. Just one more time . . . “Parker?”
“Yeah?”
Deciding to show, not tell, she ran a finger down his chest to the button on his jeans.
His eyes heated, but he remained still.
So she let her finger slip beneath the waistband of his jeans.
He caught her wrist. “You chilly again?” he asked, amusement in his voice.
“Don’t play hard to get now,” she whispered, and he laughed.
“Zoe,” he said in that early-morning sexy guy voice, “with you, I’m never hard to get. I’m just hard.”
She snorted and pulled him down to kiss him.
He kissed her back and then looked deep into her eyes.
She did her best to look like something he couldn’t live without. At least for the duration.
“When you sneaked out of my bed this morning, I figured you’d come to your senses,” he said.
“If I’d come to my senses, I’d have kicked you out days ago.” To soften the words, she once again pulled his head down to hers.
“Be sure,” he said, voice low, calm, even though the hunger and desire in his eyes gave him away. “No regrets.”
“Of course not,” she said. “The three W’s, remember? No wondering, no worrying, no wishing for things I can’t have.” Okay, so she’d added on those last few words, but it sounded like a good policy.
“I don’t want to hurt you—”
“You can’t.” She put her finger over his sexy lips when he didn’t cave. “I get it now,” she promised. “I want to enjoy this, enjoy you, while I can. I need this, Parker. I need you.”
She waited a beat for him to deny her, to be stoic and strong and hold her off because that was what he thought was best for her. But doing what perhaps was the most incredible thing any man had ever done for her, he assumed she was an adult and capable of making her own decisions. His hands settled on her hips and he pulled her in. “Zoe?”
“Yeah?”
He slid the pad of his thumb over her lower lip and then let his fingers sink into her hair so that he could tilt her face up to his. “I’m going to kiss you,” he said in that sexy, gravelly morning voice.
She nodded eagerly, her breathing already shallow and rapid. “Yes—”
Before the word was all the way out of her mouth, he lowered his head and kissed her hard, pinning her to the counter. She sucked his tongue into her mouth, greedily savoring the taste of him while he appeared to do the same. “Here,” she said.