Colin ran his hands up and down her arms. “I’m not sure what to say.”

She lowered her eyes and shook her head. “Sorry. I don’t mean to be a downer.”

He placed a finger under her chin. “You’re not. I’m glad you told me. It helps me see the sides of Parker I don’t know yet.”

They stood at the far end of the backyard and she started to shiver. The right thing to do was take her back inside the house, but he wasn’t ready to share her again quite yet. “I’m glad you came.”

“You and me both. It looks like Mallory and Austin even made some friends.”

He looked toward the house. “Did you notice Mallory and Jase? Or more importantly, the way Jase was making eyes at your sister?”

“Yeah . . . I’m not sure what that’s about.”

“She just turned twenty and he’s twenty-one. What’s to figure out?”

Parker gave him a look way beyond her years.

“Oh, you’re good at that.”

“At what?”

“The mom look.”

She did it again.

Colin laughed. “I’ll talk to him. Make sure he knows to behave.”

“Good.” She shook her head. “I know Mallory has already gone there . . . but.”

“She’s your little sister.”

“And more.”

He figured that out, too.

She shivered and he ran both hands up her arms and pulled her close. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do this before you leave without an audience.”

Parker lifted her chin. “You pulled me out in the yard to make out?”

He wiggled his eyebrows. “That wasn’t quite what I was thinking,” he lied. “But if you insist.”

“Never mind.” Parker turned away.

Colin caught her and pulled her back.

“Okay fine.”

He captured her playful smile on his lips, both of them smiling a little too hard to kiss properly.

She started to laugh. A belly laugh that made him laugh right along with her.

Still their lips stayed touching, even when she tried to talk. “This isn’t working.”

He pulled back half an inch. “Stop laughing and it will.”

They both took a deep breath and came together again.

This time he started to chuckle, and the next thing he knew, her head was buried in his shoulder and her body shook with giggles.

Even laughing in her arms was worth the effort. “We’re hopeless,” she said after a full minute had lapsed.

“I’m not sure about that.” He drew back just enough to see her eyes. “I like hearing you laugh.”

“I’m out of practice. Maybe that’s why I can’t control it.”

He placed a hand to the side of her face and waited for her to look at his lips. He didn’t wait long.

This time, there was no laughing.

No, Parker slid in closer and he tilted her back to take a long, satisfying taste.

Her hand clenched his shirt, his semiaroused state bucked against his sanity.

Only Parker tilted her head just enough for their kiss to settle in for the long haul. Her laughter was replaced with tiny hums and sounds of approval.

He could kiss her all day. The cold was no longer a factor.

The tip of her tongue played with his, and her arms slid around his back.

Everything south of Colin’s beltline came to a full strut. Damn it, he wasn’t wearing jeans. He had to stop.

Didn’t want to stop, but he’d embarrass both of them if he didn’t. “Parker . . . ,” he whispered right as her teeth nibbled on his lower lip.

“Damn . . .” Never mind. Maybe just a little more. He let his hand drift to the small of her back; his fingers reached a little lower.

She moaned and slid her hand down his chest.

He caught it before she discovered just how ready he was for more than a stolen kiss in the garden. “We have to stop . . .”

Was she laughing again?

“Sorry.”

“Bite your tongue,” he said against her hair.

“I’d rather bite yours,” she teased.

Her words made his cock jump.

When she tried to pull away, he held her steady with his hands on her hips. “No, no . . . I need a minute.”

Parker tilted her head, looked down. “Oh.”

“Yeah . . .” He tried not to think of the subtle woman in his arms.

“Shall we talk about Grandpa Larry again?”

The image his name created in his head definitely helped. “He was a happy drunk. Gave away all the family secrets when he had a new audience. Told terrible jokes.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t remember. Most of the time the punch line was off.” Okay, blood was easing away from his groin.

She looked down again. “Is that helping?”

“Not with you looking at it,” he scolded with a growl.

Yeah . . . her laughter wasn’t helping either.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The Santa Ana winds started blowing the day after Thanksgiving, making everything a complete and total mess. The swimming pool looked like a swamp. All the walkways and stairs leading up to the house carried a half an inch layer of ash and dirt. And the county crew’s picnic area was subject to overturned tables, and the E-Z Up rolled through the property before getting caught in a pepper tree.

But that wasn’t the part that worried Parker all that much. It was the shingles flying off the shed and guesthouse, and the massive limbs dropping from the damaged trees. Even the evergreen bottle trees that didn’t take on any fire damage appeared to teeter under the force of the gusting winds.

Colin arrived at the house to take them on what was supposed to be a date to Ventura to enjoy the salt air of the Pacific. But there was no way she was leaving.

“Santa Ana winds go hand in hand with wildfires.”

“I didn’t see anything in the news about a fire.” He looked up in the sky as if looking for smoke.

“It only takes a spark.” She was sure she sounded paranoid, but didn’t really care. “A fire could come from the other side,” she told him. “I can’t be gone if something started.”

“You do know there is nothing left to burn and the wind isn’t blowing in that direction.”

Didn’t matter. “The power could go out. One of the trees could go down in the driveway. I can’t do it. Leaving isn’t an option.” Her hands shook with the memory of the hillside on fire.

Colin smiled understandingly, and tossed his car keys on the kitchen island. “Okay then, what can I do to help?”

He was dressed for a day out, not work. “You don’t have to.”

“I don’t have to do a lot of things. But since I’m going to spend the day with you one way or the other, you might as well put me to work.” He leaned down, touched his lips to hers, and stood back up. “Direct me.”

“You sure?”

Parker wasn’t positive he rolled his eyes . . . but yeah, he rolled his eyes.

“Okay, fine. Can you check how much gasoline we have for the generator? There are cans in the generator room and some down in the garage. I’m just not sure how many of them are empty. I’ll go down to the pool and bungee cord the patio furniture together so it doesn’t get tossed all over the yard.”