Her phone pinged.

You’ve made my mom’s day.

Parker sat back, phone in hand. Just your mom’s?

Three dots flashed on her screen. My dad’s too.

She was fairly sure he was teasing her, but she dug in a little more. Only your parents?

The rest of the family doesn’t know yet. But I’m sure they’ll be happy.

Was he really that clueless?

Okay. She texted and put her phone to the side, facedown. That voice of doubt whispered in her head. Doubt was a troublesome bitch.

Parker picked up her scissors and started cutting. Her phone buzzed, but she didn’t turn it over to look at it. When it buzzed a second time, she dropped the coupons and pushed her chair back. She returned to her perch a minute later with a bottle of water in her hand.

Her phone rang the second she sat down. Colin’s name flashed on her screen when she picked it up.

“Hello?”

“The person who is the most excited would be me.”

And just like that, her doubts shattered. “I hope so.”

“I was teasing. Didn’t you get my last text?”

She waved the water bottle in her hand as if he could see it. “I walked away to get a water.”

“Oh. So you weren’t upset?”

A white lie sat on her lips. “Maybe a little. I told you I’m rusty.”

“I’ll be more careful, then.” The sound of a TV in the background filled the silence.

“I don’t want to interrupt. Go back to your game.”

“It’s football. There’s a time out and five minutes of referees disagreeing with the coaches. What are you doing?”

“Cutting coupons.”

“That sounds . . .”

“Boring,” she finished for him. “But a new skill set I need to embrace.”

“I’ll leave you to it, then. Will I see you in the morning?”

Parker put the phone down, put him on speaker. “We have teacher conferences this week so I’ll be in early and stay late to babysit the classrooms.”

“More hours for you. That’s good, right?”

“Yup.” There were cereal coupons. That stuff was expensive. She started cutting.

“My plan is to be on-site early, but then I’m being pulled over to Sylmar. I won’t be around as much as normal. If you need anything, call me. If it’s immediate, Fabio will be on-site.”

“I doubt I’ll need anything.”

The background noise of the TV faded. “Anything?”

“Anything that Fabio can offer.” Her voice said she was teasing.

Was that a hum? “I dreamt about you last night.”

“You did?” The coupons went back on the table.

“Oh, yeah. You were wearing a dress and on the back of a horse.”

“No one wears dresses while riding horses anymore.” She certainly never had.

“In my dream you did. Your skirt was hiked up on your knees. Very sexy.”

Parker was all smiles and staring at her phone while they talked. “So that’s it, I was on a horse in a skirt and you were turned on by my knees? That sounds like a historical romance novel.” Something she hadn’t read in years.

He laughed. “Except you were holding that shotgun and yelling at my men to hurry up. I was fascinated by the fact the horse in my dream didn’t move . . . even when the trucks rolled by.”

“Please tell me there wasn’t a Porta Potty in your dream.” She couldn’t stop laughing.

“Can’t say there was.”

“Thank God for small favors.”

“But that knee peeking out from the dress . . .”

“You’ve seen my knees.”

“That was before I kissed you. Your knees have changed now.”

It was nice to flirt and know the person on the other end of the line was just as into it as you were. “I promise you, they’re exactly the same.”

“Not for me.”

Without thought, Parker rubbed one of the body parts in question. “Is that a thing for you?”

“Knees?”

“Yeah.”

“No. You’re a thing.”

Okay, all the teasing earlier was completely wiped clean. “You’re not being overheard right now, are you?”

“I stepped outside to talk to you.”

“I don’t want to pull you away from your fun.”

“You’re not. I walked away voluntarily.”

Even that made her want to squeal. “You know what I mean. Go back and enjoy. You can call me tonight and flirt and we can talk about knees then.”

“You sure?”

“Go. I have things to do and money to save.”

“Okay.”

“Oh, be sure and ask your mom what I can bring for Thanksgiving.”

“She’s going to say nothing,” he told her.

“Ask her anyway, please.”

“I’ll call you tonight.”

“I’ll hold you to it.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The week passed with a lot of texting and late night conversations, but it wasn’t until Friday that Colin walked up to the house once the men were gone for the day.

“Can I convince you into happy hour?” He waved a six-pack of beer in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other.

“That looks like more than an hour.”

He climbed the stairs up to the porch to stand beside her. “Here. Hold these.” He handed her the beer and the wine. Once her hands were full he cradled her face in both of his hands and kissed her without warning.

“Oh . . .” It took serious concentration to not drop the liquor while he took full advantage of the fact her hands were full.

She’d thought about kissing him all week and secretly hoped he would have found an excuse to come up to the house so she could take a liberty of her own or two.

He pulled away and she stumbled toward him.

“I’ve been wanting to do that all week.”

“You and I have very similar thoughts.”

His fingers trailed down her arms and he transferred the beer and wine back to his hands.

He followed her inside where they uncorked the wine and poured a glass.

They settled outside on the porch to take advantage of the last rays of sunshine before it set behind the horizon and the air chilled.

“I should have planned something for this weekend with you,” he told her.

“You told me last week you planned on helping your brother build a fence or something.”

“Right. His shifts at the fire station don’t always afford him the same days off as me.”

She sipped her wine. “I understand. It’s okay. Besides, Thanksgiving is Thursday. And Erin and I are going to do the girls’ night in thing once she gets home.”

Parker sat with one leg under her beside him on the loveseat.

“Yeah, but I hardly saw you all week.”

“And a month ago you barely knew me.”

“True. You were Annie Oakley on the ranch.”

She did a double take. “Ha, I’m a what?”

He shifted to his side, placed his arm over hers on the back of the loveseat. “C’mon, that first day when you shouldered the shotgun and led me up the creek. I dubbed you Annie Oakley then, and I think it still stands.”