Because she knew exactly what about this morning.

  His eyes revealed his amusement. “If it would make things less awkward, I’ll be happy to walk in on your next shower.”

  “I didn’t mean to!”

  “Is that why you stood there staring for a full three minutes?” he asked. “Drooling?”

  “I . . . it wasn’t three minutes!” She put her hands to her hot cheeks. “And you’re the dishonest one. You said you weren’t hurt that badly, but your ribs—”

  “Are healing,” he said. “And that’s not what you were staring at.”

  True story.

  He smiled. “And you liked what you saw.”

  Oh God. She had, she really, really had. She closed her eyes and wished for a big hole to swallow her up. “I hardly even noticed you were naked.”

  “So much for honesty.”

  “You don’t get honesty privileges,” she said. “Not until it goes both ways.”

  “You don’t think I’m being honest with you?”

  “Sightseeing?” she repeated dubiously. “Sorry, but you don’t seem like the type to spend thousands of dollars on a sightseeing trip just for the hell of it.”

  “Maybe it’s not just for the hell of it.”

  She shook her head. “Why do I feel like we’re playing some kind of game here, except I don’t have a copy of the rules?”

  His smile went a whole lot more real. “I irritate you.”

  “Yes,” she said, and smiled grimly. “How’s that for honesty?”

  She didn’t expect him to laugh out loud but that was exactly what he did, tossing back his head to do so. Finally, still grinning, he shook his head, his eyes lit with . . . affection? “I like you, too, and your smart mouth,” he said.

  “Are you saying I’m a smart-ass?”

  He smiled. “If the shoe fits.”

  She thought of the woman he’d been talking to on his phone, who’d had a sure and confident voice as she called Parker out on his shit. Zoe didn’t know what shit exactly, but there’d definitely been a tension there, one she assumed was sexual.

  But he seemed to be flirting with her now, and Zoe didn’t know how to take that. “And you . . . like smart-asses?”

  “Yes.”

  “So you like women who are bitchy to you?” she asked.

  He smiled. “Don’t have much experience with that problem.”

  She could believe it. “Is that your way of saying women usually fall all over you?”

  “Well, not all of them,” he said with a false modesty that made her want to laugh. She tried to hold it back but couldn’t quite manage it.

  “See?” he said. “I’m irresistible.”

  “You’re something,” she agreed. “But I don’t think irresistible is it.”

  “Admit it. I’m growing on you.”

  “That’s one thing you’re not going to do,” she said firmly, and she meant it, too. At least her brain meant it, but her body didn’t seem to be on board with the plan. After all, she’d been burned by a mysterious man before, badly, one who’d turned out to be a big, fat liar.

  She wasn’t going there again. Ever. Nope, she needed transparency from a man. And Parker, for all his bad-boy, cowboy ’tude and cocky swagger, wasn’t anything close to transparent.

  At all.

  And that made him downright dangerous to her. He was the kind of man that messed with a woman’s heart, so it was a good thing hers wasn’t available to him.

  But if she’d worried about living with him and his knowing eyes and way-too-hot bod—now she also had to work with him.

  Except the oddest thing happened when they got into the air.

  He wasn’t a know-it-all. He didn’t try to flirt or drive her up a wall.

  None of that. He asked her questions about Idaho as they flew, as though he’d done research on the area. He mentioned some of the other places he’d been—seemingly everywhere—and knew a lot about . . . well, a lot. He asked her about the wind patterns and the different techniques required for flying out of the high-altitude Sunshine airport, and she was fascinated in spite of herself.

  He was driven, focused, sharp, and . . .

  “Damn,” he murmured softly beneath his breath, and pulled out a set of binoculars when they were at altitude, locking on something out the side window for a long moment.

  He looked badass to the core. Who the hell was he? Because right now, focused and still, he sure as hell didn’t look like a guy on a break from work. He looked like a guy who kept secrets, dark ones.

  Another wolf in sheep’s clothing . . .

  At that thought, she panicked—inwardly. Because outwardly she was cool. Cool as ice.

  Or so she hoped. “Rocky Falls is coming up on your right,” she said.

  “What else is out here?”

  “White Mountain,” she said. “And Angel Lake.”

  He didn’t react, and she knew she hadn’t given him anything of interest.

  “And then there’s Cat’s Paw,” she said.

  He turned his head and looked at her. “That’s not on the map.”

  “No,” she said. “It’s mostly just national forestland, but years and years ago the locals called that specific area Cat’s Paw and it stuck.”

  “Why the nickname?”

  “Because mountain cats used to be so prevalent there—before poachers and too many people nearly wiped them out,” she said.

  “Can you circle around and fly over the same spot again?”

  “Yes.” She slid him a look. “Is there a reason?”

  “Does a paying customer have to give you one?” He asked this with a casual, teasing tone, but his body language was anything but casual or teasing.

  Nope, she thought, watching him pull a camera from his duffel—an expensive one with a long-range lens—there was nothing flirty about the man at the moment, no matter what his words said.

  She circled around and once again they flew over the area, nothing but forestland with the exception of an area that looked as if it had been clear-cut recently. Inside the clearing was a circle of vehicles. Hunters, she thought at first, but there were way too many cars for a usual group of hunters. “That’s new,” she said. “I was out here two weeks ago with another client and the landscape hadn’t been touched. And I’ve never seen so many hunters in one spot before.”

  He took a few more shots and then slid the camera away and turned to her. “You’re sure?”

  “Very.”

  “You had a client who wanted to see Cat’s Paw, too?”

  “No,” she said. “Well, I don’t know, he didn’t say what he was doing specifically. He was a land developer and I got the feeling he was looking to buy something out here. You, too?”

  He spent a long moment zipping up his bag. “No.”

  She waited for more. Nothing came. “You always a little mysterious?” she asked.

  He leaned back, looking casual and at ease, but again, there was nothing casual about his sharp gaze as he took in the landscape around them with a care that was anything but sightseeing. “What is it you want to know?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure exactly.” She looked at him again. “I just feel like I’m missing something about you.”

  “We’re strangers,” he said. “There’s a lot you’re missing about me. No one’s an open book.”

  She tried to read into that but couldn’t. He was a stone when he wanted to be. Which brought some unhappy memories to the surface. “Maybe you’re an ax murderer looking for a place to bury the bodies.”

  His sharp and definitely not-happy gaze met hers. Mr. Mysterious was insulted. “Do you really think your brother would put me in your house if I were an ax murderer?” he asked.

  “No.” One thing for certain—Wyatt trusted this guy implicitly or he wouldn’t be in her house. “I’m sorry,” she said. “That was a little rude.”

  “You could just trust I’m a good guy.”

  Nope. Been there, done that, still had the scorch marks on her heart, thank you very much. But she could at least be nice. “I’m not all that good at trust,” she admitted.

  “I’ve noticed.”

  She needed to not care what he thought of her. She had no idea why she did. She wanted to let it go and not speak again, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. “You’re looking for something.”

  “Aren’t we all?”

  Okay, that was it. She would ask him another question never.

  “Let’s make one more pass,” he said.

  She eyed the time. “I can’t. I’ve got other prior commitments today.”

  He didn’t react to that, not outwardly, anyway. He was consistent on that but inconsistent everywhere else; focused and intense one minute, grinning and flirty the next. Zoe didn’t trust inconsistent. It equated to dishonesty for her.

  When they arrived back in Sunshine and landed, she went about her postflight checklist. After finishing the tie-down, she turned and nearly plowed right into Parker. “Oh,” she said in surprise. “Sorry.” Normally clients exited the plane right away and never looked back, either not paying attention or not caring that her job wasn’t over.

  But Parker hadn’t gone anywhere; he stood there in his sexy mirrored sunglasses looking cool, calm, and utterly badass.

  “What can I do to help you?” he asked.

  “Nothing. I’ve got this.”

  He raised a brow.

  “Really. I’m good.”

  Parker looked at her for a long moment. Then he nodded and walked away, heading inside.

  By the time she finished up and poked her head into the second hangar to check on the Cessna Caravan and then made her way back to the terminal, it was empty.

  “How was the flight?” Joe asked, coming from the hallway that led to the lounge and bathroom.

  “Fine,” she said, distracted, turning to look in the back, where there were a few tables and a small deli run by Thea, Joe’s sister.

  That area was empty as well.

  “Who you looking for?” Joe asked.

  “Nobody.”

  “You’re a shitty liar,” Joe said. “And he left.”

  “I didn’t ask.”

  “No, but you wanted to. Who is this guy to you, anyway?”

  “Renovation money.”

  “Okay.” Joe paused, searching her expression for she had no idea what. “He went back up with Devon. Paid a pretty penny for it, too.”

  This didn’t surprise her, and she started to head back to the mechanical hangar.

  “So about Friday night,” Joe said. “You never said yes.”

  “Joe—”

  “Just one night,” he said, sounding unaccustomedly desperate.

  She blew out a sigh.

  “Unless of course I can talk you into more.” He waggled a brow.

  “Don’t push your luck,” she said. “Fine. Dinner on Friday. And nothing more.”

  “Sure, we’ll start with that,” he agreed readily.

  Start and end because she wasn’t looking for a one-night stand with Joe. She wasn’t looking for anything with anybody.

  Liar, a small voice in her head said. You’d be more excited if it were Parker . . .

  Shaking that off, she gave herself a lecture. She had a long day ahead of her and she didn’t have time to daydream about Parker.

  So of course she spent the rest of her day doing exactly that.

  Six

  The next afternoon, Parker sat up and got licked from chin to forehead for his efforts. “Thanks, dude.”

  He and Oreo were both on the floor in the shower of the second upstairs bathroom, where Parker was working on fixing the faulty drain. Just like he’d fixed the leak in the kitchen sink the night before. Of course he’d had to wait until the stubborn-as-all-hell Zoe had gone to bed to do so.

  He pulled half a loofah from the drain, shook his head, and started the water. Drained perfectly now. “Done,” he told the dog. Now he and Zoe could each have their own bathroom.

  Not that he particularly needed any privacy. He just felt a little bad for his prickly landlord, who clearly had no idea how to accept help.

  “She’s stubborn as hell,” Wyatt told him when Parker called to check in. “Always has been.”

  No shit, Parker thought.

  “Something she’ll never tell you,” Wyatt said, “is that she’s got some debt. Getting a pilot’s license costs a lot of money and she’s got loans to pay off. Now that I’m doing okay, I’ve tried to pay them off for her but she refuses to let me.”

  Sounded like Zoe.

  “I’ve also tried to help her out with the house,” Wyatt said. “But she always says she’s got it and kicks me out.”

  “She told me the same,” Parker said. “So I waited until she was gone to fix a few things.”

  Wyatt laughed. “Better sleep with one eye open. You’re going to piss her off when she finds out.”

  “Maybe she won’t realize it’s me . . .”

  “She’s ornery, but she’s not stupid,” Wyatt said. “In fact, she’s smarter than all of us put together.”

  “Yeah, well, I’ve already got the pissing-her-off part down. I seem to manage that without even trying.”

  “If that were true, you’d be dead and buried already and no one would ever find your body,” Wyatt said.

  Parker laughed.

  “Hey, I’m not kidding. She’s something fierce when her feathers are ruffled, though to be fair to her, she’s always had to be.”

  “Why?” Parker asked. He knew about their parents. They were foreign diplomats who spent most of their time in third-world countries. Growing up, Wyatt and his sisters had done the same.

  “She’ll murder me in my sleep for telling you this,” Wyatt said, “but since you’re living under her nose it might help you understand her. Our parents are great at their jobs but pretty shitty parents. They put it all on Zoe to watch out for us. Or not.”

  “She’s only a year older than you.”

  “Eleven months,” Wyatt said. “But I was clueless back then. She was the only grown-up. Like the time we were supposed to meet up with our parents in Budapest from our various boarding schools, but they got delayed. Zoe was maybe . . . twelve? And there we were, stuck in a strange country where we didn’t speak the language and Americans weren’t looked on all that fondly to say the least, and she still managed to feed us and keep us safe for the three days it took our parents to get to us.”

  Parker was impressed. “She’s tough.”

  “More than you know. I don’t know how many times she held it together under grim circumstances,” Wyatt said. “But I do know I’d be dead a few times over without her.”

  “You’re her family.”

  “Yeah, but it’s just how she’s wired if she cares about you. Trust me, man, when shit’s hitting the fan, there’s no one you’d rather have at your six than Zoe.”

  Parker thought about that conversation long after he’d washed up from the plumbing work and sat at the kitchen table with his laptop studying maps of the Rocky Falls area where Zoe had pointed out Cat’s Paw. Like him, she was a survivor and a caretaker. She’d do anything for her siblings.

  Just as he would for his sister. He sent money back for Amory’s care every month, but he knew the best thing he did for her was stay away.

  After hearing Wyatt talk about Zoe, he couldn’t imagine anything keeping her from being near her siblings. But then again, she didn’t have a job where she chased after bad guys willing to sell their own mother for a buck.

  He tried to concentrate on the map in front of him, but he was good at multitasking and a good portion of his thoughts stayed on Zoe.

  Watching her fly had been a huge turn-on. She’d handled the plane like it had been an extension of herself, and he’d had trouble concentrating on his business when what he’d really wanted to do was join the mile-high club. Never mind that doing so with his pilot would’ve gotten them killed.

  When he’d gone back up with Devon, he’d gotten a better feel for the area. This was more a reflection on the fact that Parker hadn’t wanted to strip Devon naked and lick him from head to toe as he had Zoe.

  He’d saved a lot of time by asking Devon to go directly to Cat’s Paw, where he got a longer look at the vehicles in that mysterious clearing. With his high-powered binoculars, Parker had focused in on several additional fascinating facts. One, he could see two huge blinds, way too big for traditional hunting. More like the size that could be hiding vehicles that someone didn’t want seen.

  This was proven when he watched a tank being driven into one.

  A tank.

  In the woods.

  And then a Humvee, filled with guys armed to the teeth.

  A huge red flag to say the least.

  And two, there’d also been a Humvee four-wheeling through the trees toward some low-lying buildings he’d missed the first time because they’d been as carefully camouflaged as the blinds.

  And then there were the weapons. The kind that weren’t necessarily for hunting animals—at least not the four-legged kind.

  When he’d asked Devon to make a second pass, the pilot had refused, citing two reasons. One, he’d been booked for a direct there-and-back and he didn’t want to tap into his reserve fuel. And two, apparently there were rumors circulating of militia taking over the property and he didn’t want to draw any trouble by bringing attention to himself or the plane.

  Militia.

  Made sense. And if that was the case, Parker hoped like hell that if anyone down there was paying attention to aircraft in the area, they’d missed Zoe earlier.

  Staring at the map now, Parker shook his head. What the hell was going on? He had some ideas and didn’t like any of them. One was a niggling suspicion that he’d had for some time now, that a deal had been struck with Carver for his freedom. Pulling out his phone, Parker called Mick.

  His informant answered with a gruff “What the hell do you want?”

  “Answers,” Parker said.

  There was a pause. “I already gave you a shit-ton more than I should have.”

  “Which wasn’t all that much.”

  “I gave you all I had.”

  “Now see,” Parker said. “I doubt that.”