by Jill Shalvis
He pulled on his shirt and met her gaze, something passing over his face. Regret? Whatever it was, it put a hard fist of anxiety in her throat, one she couldn’t swallow down. And it got worse when he grabbed his shoes and started to walk out of her room.
“Did you get called to D.C. ahead of schedule?” she asked.
“No.” He turned to look at her. “I have to go fix a problem in Vegas.”
Zoe tossed her covers back and stood.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
She thought of how he’d held her all night long, a solid, warm, steady presence in a world that had gone a little topsy-turvy on her. There’d been no strings attached to his comfort, one of the things she admired about him and one that also frustrated her half to death.
The three W’s again, which equated to no price. There was no price on their friendship, no price on what they gave each other.
Or received from each other.
“You need to get to Vegas,” she said. “I can fly you.”
His face was impassive, giving nothing away. “I was going to catch a commercial flight out of Coeur d’Alene. It’s not a life-and-death kind of emergency,” he said. “This isn’t work. You don’t have to—”
“Say that again and I’ll make you fly in the luggage compartment,” she said.
One brow rose.
She knew what he was capable of and that his life should scare her. And it did, a little. But in that moment she felt it was important to stand toe to toe with him and show him she wasn’t afraid of him or his life.
An hour and a half later they were wheels up and she had them nosed in the right direction before she glanced over at Parker.
He was watching her.
“What?” she asked.
“You didn’t ask me any questions, you just had my back.”
She smiled a little grimly. “You’ve certainly had mine enough times.”
He held her gaze. “This trip is personal,” he said.
Trying not to react to that even though it hurt, she nodded and kept her gaze straight ahead in flight. “So you said.”
“No.” He put his hand over hers. “I just meant it’s not my job. And because it’s not, it’s going to be tricky.”
She found a laugh. “In case you haven’t noticed, Parker, life is tricky.”
He let out a wry smile. “Not at work, it’s not.”
“Are you kidding me?” she asked with more than a whisper of incredulous disbelief. “You were nearly shot yesterday. You’ve been run over by a truck!”
“I’m talking about emotionally tricky,” he said. “At work, things are black or white.”
She paused. “So you’re saying that work is easier than real life?”
He let out a low, wry laugh that was answer enough.
She’d always known his stance. He’d never been anything but honest about that. Which meant she had no one to blame for her heartbreak but herself. But she really wished she had some of Manda’s muffins.
“Zoe—”
“Don’t,” she said quietly, and took a deep breath past the pain in her damn heart. The damn heart she’d told not to get involved.
He opened his mouth but she shook her head, sending him her best death glare. “I mean it, Parker. I’ll pull this plane over and kick your ass out.”
The look on his face said he wished things were different, and for just a second she allowed herself to believe it. But in the end, it didn’t matter what he was thinking. If he truly wanted something, he’d make it happen. That was who he was.
“Different subject,” he said a few minutes later. “I told you this trip was personal. Before you jumped to conclusions and decided I was shutting you out, I was about to tell you that I meant personal as in personal to me. It’s about my sister. Her name is Amory. She’s eighteen and flexing her independence muscles for the first time. Problem is, she’s a bit of a wild spirit and hard to contain. People love and adore her, but she doesn’t always understand the real world.”
Surprised at this unsolicited glimpse into his world, Zoe glanced at him. “She lives in Vegas?”
“No,” he said. “She lives with my parents. She took a bus to Vegas from Arizona.”
She glanced over at him. “She ran away?”
“Worse.” He shook his head. “She wants to get married.”
“So young?”
“Yeah,” Parker said, and scrubbed his hands down his face. “Last time I talked to her, I said she needed to be a grown-up. I think this is her way of showing me she’s doing just that.”
“Who’s the guy?”
“Henry. Also eighteen. He’s quiet and shy and utterly guileless. This is all Amory’s doing.”
When they landed a short time later, Parker arranged for a rental car and drove them straight to Elvis’s Wedding Chapel.
Zoe stared at it. “You’re kidding me.”
“It’s where she called me from,” he said. He parked and turned to Zoe, who was torn between horror and laughter. “She loves old movies, especially Elvis,” he explained.
“Not judging,” Zoe said. “Do you want me to wait here?”
Parker actually looked uncertain at that. She’d never seen this look on his face before; he’d never been anything but one hundred percent sure of himself.
Which settled it. She unhooked her seat belt and got out of the car.
Parker did the same. With his dark sunglasses and a pair of dark jeans with a white button-down shoved up at the elbows, he looked movie-star handsome.
And tough and impenetrable.
Unapproachable.
She walked right up to him. She pulled off his glasses. “Better,” she said, and cocked her head, studying him. “Don’t take this personally, okay?” Sliding her hands up his chest and around his neck, she tugged his head down and kissed him.
Not one to be a passive participant in anything, Parker kissed her back, hard and more than a little bit rough, and a whole lot desperate. She was breathless when she pulled back and stared into his face.
Much more relaxed, she decided, and nodded. “Better. You don’t look nearly so intimidating or scary as hell now. You look almost . . . sweet.”
“You think I’m sweet?” he asked in disbelief.
“No, I think you’re intimidating and scary as hell.” She smiled and patted his arm. “And okay, maybe a little sweet.” And kind. And decent. And loyal. And . . . shit.
He was everything on her damn list.
They walked into the wedding chapel reception area, which was bright white with flowers everywhere. Wedding pictures were plastered across one entire wall. Next to the reception desk stood Elvis.
In drag.
“Hubba hubba,” the guy said. “We got a live one, folks.” He grinned at Zoe. “You want your groom to dress like Elvis, too, darlin’, or just me?”
Zoe opened her mouth and then managed to close it. “We’re not . . . getting married.”
Elvis sized up Parker. “He not getting the job done? Do we need to put more men on the job?”
Parker started to speak, but Zoe quickly put a hand in his and squeezed, talking hurriedly before he could. “We’re looking for someone. She’s—”
“Ah,” Elvis said, understanding crossing his face. “So you’re who they’re waiting for. The two mentally retarded kids, yeah?”
“Down syndrome,” Parker said. “They have Down syndrome.” He spoke quietly. Calmly.
But Zoe knew him now, knew the tells, and he wasn’t feeling quiet or calm.
“Whatever,” Elvis said with a shrug. “They’re inside.” He gestured with his chin to the open door to the chapel.
Back in charge, Parker took Zoe’s hand and pulled her along with him. At the back of the chapel was one guy. A kid, really. He was sitting on the back row bench, head bowed, but when they entered, his gaze went straight to Parker. With an audible gulp, he stood up and shuffled his feet a little bit, his dark hair falling into his sky blue eyes. “You made it,�
�� he said with what sounded like great relief.
“Where is she?” Parker asked.
The kid pointed to the front of the chapel. “They don’t have any other weddings today. The lady—er, the guy—um, Elvis said we could stay as long as we wanted.”
Parker nodded and strode down the aisle. Zoe watched him head toward a girl sitting huddled in misery on the front pew.
Zoe turned to Amory’s boyfriend. “I’m Zoe,” she said. “And I’m guessing you’re Henry?”
Henry nodded. “We didn’t do it.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Parker said to wait. So we waited.”
Zoe smiled. “That’s good.”
He gave her a tentative smile back. “Yeah. Except probably it’d be even better if we hadn’t come at all. Everyone’s upset.”
“How about you and Amory?” she asked. “Are you guys upset?”
“No,” he said. “We’re in love.”
Zoe’s heart squeezed at the sincere honesty in the kid’s voice, and she smiled. “Then everything else will work out,” she said.
Henry nodded, and when his glasses slipped down his nose, he shoved them up again. “I told her that. And I told her we have time, too. But Parker wanted her to be a grownup and stuff, and so yeah . . . here we are.”
“I don’t think Parker meant she should get married to show she’s an adult,” Zoe said carefully.
Henry nodded. “Sometimes she gets mixed up between her parents and Parker, and confused on what they want her to do.” Poor Henry immediately looked stricken and guilty as soon as the words were out, like he felt awful saying anything bad about Amory’s family.
Zoe looked down the aisle, at the two heads bent together. Parker had pulled Amory up to a seated position and was next to her, his arm around her shoulders, speaking quietly.
Amory was listening carefully and then speaking in return, the polar opposite of the body language of her brother. Her arms waved, her face became animated, and her voice got high and excited. She was seriously adorable.
And though Parker wouldn’t like to know it, so was he. Cocking his head, he listened to everything she said without interrupting her. When she’d wound down, he spoke again and Amory clearly hung on every single word with rapt adoration.
Zoe’s heart sighed. She knew the feeling. She suspected that she’d often looked at Parker the same way. “What was the plan after getting married?” Zoe asked Henry.
“She wanted to see snow,” Henry said. “But I don’t think we have enough money to get all the way to Glacier Park.”
“Montana?” she asked, surprised.
“Yeah, they still have snow, right?” Henry asked. “I searched it on my phone and couldn’t find any other place that had snow at this time of year.” He looked uncertain. “But Montana’s pretty far from here.”
“It sure is.” Zoe whipped out her phone, sent a text, and then waited.
In the front row, Parker pulled his phone from his pocket and eyed the screen, and then craned his neck and stared at her.
She smiled.
He smiled back and shook his head, like maybe she was a complete nut. Well, that or she was annoying as shit, but she was really hoping it was the former.
Parker murmured something to Amory, who squealed so high-pitched that Zoe’s eardrums nearly burst. She was looking around to see if the windows had shattered when Amory bolted up the aisle and threw herself at Zoe.
“You would do that? Really?” Amory shrieked. She was much shorter than Parker and also a little bit wider, but they had the same irresistible smile.
Zoe hugged her back. “Yes. And hi.”
“Hi!” Amory grinned. “I’m Amory, nice to meet you, you’re the best girlfriend Parker’s ever had!”
“Uh . . .” Zoe looked over Amory’s head at Parker. “I’m not Parker’s girlfriend.”
Amory’s head came up. “But you’re a girl and you’re his friend.”
Well, when she put it like that . . .
Amory skipped over to Henry. “Guess what?”
He smiled helplessly at her, like she was the best thing he’d ever seen. “What?”
“We’re going to Glacier Park!” Amory yelled. “Where there’s snow! Parker’s girlfriend’s going to fly us! In an airplane! She’s a pilot!”
Henry slid a look at Zoe before looking back to Amory. “So we’re not getting married today?”
“Let’s do this instead!” Amory jumped up and down in excitement. “Does that work for you?”
Henry smiled sweetly at her. “Whatever works for you works for me.”
Zoe felt her heart melt.
“Can we leave now?” Amory asked. “Can we? Can we?”
“Yes,” Zoe said. “Well, as soon as I can get a flight plan filed and arrange for a rental car in Glacier Park. In under an hour, certainly.”
Parker slid an arm around Amory’s shoulders. “Yes, but—”
“Uh-oh,” Amory said, smile fading fast. “You didn’t mean it?”
“You know I always mean what I say, Am. Always.”
Amory stared at him and then slowly nodded.
“Just like when I tell you I’m going to do something, I do it,” he said.
Again she just looked at him and then nodded.
“So now I want the same from you. I want you to tell me you’re going to do something—actually two somethings—and then follow through so that I can trust you as much as you trust me.”
Again Amory gave this some thought and then nodded. “What things?”
“Call Mom and Dad,” he said. “Tell them where you are and where we’re going. That’s what a grown-up does, Amory; they act responsibly.”
“Did your girlfriend have to call her mom and dad first?” Amory looked at Zoe. “Did you?”
“No,” Parker said, answering for her. “Because we’re already grown-ups.”
“And I’m not his girlfriend,” Zoe said again.
Amory looked at Parker. “Did you forget to ask her to be your girlfriend? You know you have to ask, right? Henry asked me a long time ago.”
“We’re talking about you,” Parker said firmly.
“It’d be more fun to talk about you,” Amory muttered.
“Be a grown-up,” Parker said, ignoring her pout. “And when you start doing that, you’ll find people much more willing to trust you to live your life the way you want to.”
She blinked. “What’s the other thing I have to do?”
“Promise me that you and Henry will just enjoy being eighteen for a while. There’s no reason to rush anything. I promise to come see you more often. And when the time is right, I’ll help you guys get married, if that’s still what you want.”
Amory was still staring at him, her mouth open a little as she took it all in.
“Anything you don’t understand?” Parker asked.
“I understand,” Amory said. “But I don’t like some of it.”
Parker smiled. “Welcome to grown-up land.”
Amory executed an impressive eye roll that would’ve made Zoe laugh in a normal situation. She really loved watching brother and