She had no idea what he was looking for as he took a long careful look at the surrounding area before finally indicating that he was satisfied.
After that, she flew onward, landing at the private airstrip of the Caravan’s potential buyer. That detour, the meeting, and the potential new owner’s inspection took the better part of the afternoon.
When they finally landed back in Sunshine, Zoe turned to a very quiet Parker. “Everything okay?” she asked.
“If anyone were to come into the airport asking for the flight logs from today, would they be able to get them?” he asked.
“Why?”
Face blank, he looked at her for a long beat. His expression was a visceral reminder that they were practically strangers.
Except they weren’t. He’d helped her fix up her house. He’d rescued two kittens for her neighbor. He’d kissed her like she hadn’t been kissed in too damn long, making her feel sexy, wanted . . . “No,” she said. “No one should be able to get the flight logs without some sort of court order.”
“Which doesn’t mean that they can’t,” he said. “They could get stolen. Or leaked.”
“Well, yes,” she said. “But it hasn’t happened before, that I know of.” She paused. “Sorry about the bad day and all the dead ends.”
“Nothing where I get to be with you is ever bad.”
The man had a knack for saying things that hit her right in the heart, and she had to swallow past the lump in her throat.
They exited the plane, Parker moving with the same easy confidence with which he did everything, when he turned to her.
She couldn’t see much behind his mirrored sunglasses, which only served to make him appear even more badass. “It wasn’t a dead end,” he said.
She waited for more and when it didn’t come, she blew out a sigh. “You’re pretty damn annoying sometimes; anyone ever tell you that?”
“Every woman in my life,” he said without hesitation.
This caught her off guard. “I was trying to insult you, but you don’t seem insulted in the least. And just out of curiosity’s sake, how many women are currently in your life?”
“Too many,” he said a little grimly, and when he saw her expression at that, he reached for her hand and squeezed.
Their first physical contact all day, something she’d yearned for, but all she wanted to do was smack him.
“There’s my boss,” he said. “Sharon’s pretty certain I’m the most annoying man alive. And then there’s my sister. Amory loves me, but I annoy her big-time. It’s a special talent of mine.”
“Hard to believe,” she said, hoping the teasing note in her tone served as an apology for sounding like a shrew.
He brought their joined hands up to his mouth and brushed a kiss to her palm. “And then there’s you,” he said with one of his panty-melting smiles.
She tugged her hand free. “Okay,” she said. “No more of that, because my clothes tend to fall off when you look at me like that.”
He laughed, but his smile slowly faded. “Cat’s Paw has gone cold,” he said quietly. “They’ve moved out.”
She took in the tight look in his eyes, the grim set to his mouth. “You’re frustrated.”
“Frustration is a useless emotion. Goes against productivity.”
“So you never let frustration get to you?” she asked.
His gaze dropped to her mouth. “I didn’t say that.”
She sucked in a breath and then another one when he pulled his sunglasses off and let her see the heat in his eyes. And then he slid a hand to the back of her neck and drew her in and kissed the ever-living daylights out of her.
When he pulled back, he slid his glasses back on.
“What was that?” she managed.
“Me, letting my frustration get to me.”
And then he was gone, heading inside to wait while she did the postflight check and tie-down.
It didn’t take long. Within thirty minutes she was done and entered the airport reception hangar.
The open greeting area had a few people milling around and there were several more up front, not a single one of them Parker.