“Ignore it,” he said against her, and did something especially wicked with his tongue that made her forget the phone and cry out.

And then he did it again and just like that she was back on the very edge, her toes curled, her muscles trembling, her entire body tight and—

The house phone rang this time, obnoxiously loud, and she lost her place. “Dammit!” She pulled him up and let out a breath when what she really wanted to do was cry.

But ignoring a phone call went against the grain. She didn’t get all that many calls, and some of the ones she’d received in the past few years had been life-changing. The news of the car accident that had nearly killed Darcy, for one. “I’m sorry,” she said, breathing like a lunatic—or like a woman who hadn’t gotten lucky in far too long. And damn, she’d been sooooo close. “I have to at least look.”

Parker pulled back, his hair tousled from her fingers, his eyes liquid jade, torso bare, sweats untied and sagging low thanks to her wandering fingers, his breathing not any more even than hers.

She wanted to jump his bones, but instead she slid off the counter and pulled her top back on before pointing at him. “Remember where we were,” she said.

He smiled and swiped his forearm across his mouth. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Damn. He was the hottest thing she’d ever seen. She looked at the ID screen on the phone and it was like a bucket of ice water. “Hi, Mom,” she answered.

Parker slid her a look.

She turned her back on him. “Everything okay?”

It was a valid question. Her parents didn’t check in often, and when they did it was always for a specific reason.

“Everything’s fine,” her mom said, sounding tinny and far away. Luckily she didn’t respond in kind to ask Zoe how she was because the answer was an inch from coming.

“We’re on the road and got an e-mail notice that our security deposit box payment has come due,” her mom said. “We’ve always paid in cash, so I don’t have an online account set up for it. We need you to go pay that for us from our account.”

“Sure,” Zoe said. She often handled their financial affairs when something needed to be done from here in the States. “You okay? And Dad?”

“We’re both good, darling, thank you. We’re traveling for the next few days. Be sure to tell Wyatt happy birthday for us.”

“His birthday was last month,” Zoe said, trying not to lose patience, but the woman got their birthdays wrong every single time. How hard was it to keep track of the three children she’d borne herself? “I got him a card from you.”

“Time seems to go by so differently over here,” her mom said. “Give him a kiss for me. And Darcy, too.”

“I know they’d love to hear from you yourself,” Zoe said. “Darcy especially, she’s—”

“You’re breaking up. Zoe?”

“I’m here,” Zoe said. “Darcy’s engaged. To AJ.”

“Well, damn,” her mom said, presumably to Zoe’s dad. “I can’t hear her at all, do you think she’s still there?”

“Yes, I am,” Zoe said quickly, louder now. “Mom? Can you hear me now? We miss you—”

“Can’t hear a damn thing. Zoe,” her mom yelled into the phone. “E-mail me when you make the payment, okay?”

“Okay, will do,” Zoe yelled back. “Love you!”

There was no response. “Mom?”

But she’d already disconnected. Zoe stared at her phone and sighed.

“Hey.” Parker came up behind her and set her blanket back on her shoulders. “You okay?” He ran his hands up and down her arms, making her realize she was chilly. Then those warm hands compelled her to turn and face him.

“Yeah,” she said. “Thanks. I’m fine.”

His fingers lifted her chin so he could look into her eyes. “Liar.”

“No, really,” she said, and mentally shrugged the call off. “Where were we?”

“Right here,” he said. “With you talking to me.”

“Now who’s lying?”

He sat in the chair and pulled her into his lap, where she blew out a sigh and set her head on his shoulder. “I keep wishing for something that’s never been.” She realized this was probably cryptic, but she knew talking about it wouldn’t change a thing. “Never mind me, it’s silly. Stupid.”

“It’s not either of those things if it’s bugging you,” Parker said.

Something in his voice had her taking a closer look at him. “Your parents forget your birthday and never tell you they love you, too?” she asked.

He let out a low laugh. “They don’t forget my birthday, but yeah, love isn’t a word they throw around very often. My dad’s a miner to the very bone, which is synonymous with tough and impenetrable. Talking about his feelings isn’t his strong suit—unless he’s disagreeing with you on something. Then he doesn’t hold back.”

She’d talked herself into believing that she didn’t want to know about him, what made him tick, what had molded him into the man he’d become, but she really did. She wanted to know more. Hell, she wanted to know everything. “And your mom?”

“She worked in the elementary school’s cafeteria before she retired a few years back,” he said. “She’s very proud of my dad and all his years of hard work. Having a son who not only didn’t want to do the same but yearned for an entirely different life confused her.”

“Did she try to understand?” Zoe asked.

He shrugged. “Not a lot of communication went on. I didn’t want to hurt them, but I knew I had to go. I owed it to myself to at least explore the life I wanted.”

“Were they okay with that?” she asked.

He laughed. “No.”

Her heart squeezed. Five minutes ago she’d had her thighs wrapped tight around his head and been close to singing the Hallelujah chorus, but now all she wanted was to have him keep talking to her forever. “Do you have any siblings?”

“A sister,” he said. “She’s twelve years younger than me.” He smiled grimly. “An ‘oops’ baby that turned into my parents’ entire world.”

“Tell me she didn’t go into the mines,” Zoe said, hoping not.

Parker was quiet for a long beat. “No,” he finally said. “She didn’t.”

Zoe could tell there was a lot more that he wasn’t saying, but he had on that blank face of his, the one that said he didn’t want to discuss it further, and she didn’t know how to push without butting in where she didn’t belong. She clutched the blanket to her, thinking that by now they should’ve been naked on her kitchen floor. The image was hot as hell, because though she wasn’t used to these feelings, there’d been something so freeing about having his hands on her, knowing that they were both in the same place and looking for the same endgame.

An orgasm.

Period. Well, in her case it was more of a comma, with a whole bunch after that, but it didn’t matter. The moment had passed and she knew it. “I should get ready for work,” she said reluctantly. “I’ve got a long day ahead. I won’t be back until late tonight.”