The man’s voice came from the door. Reba twisted in her seat and then stood. “Oh, hello, Dr. Attaway.”
“Please call me Mike.” He rushed forward, grinning.
Beside her, Parker stood, suddenly more interested in what was going on around him. “Mike,” he said and cocked his head a little.
Reba noticed his voice was low and a little gruff. Mr. Personable was back full force.
Mike bounced an eager smile from Parker to Reba. “Hey, Parker. It’s good to see you again, Reba.” He put out his hand, and Reba took it. He gripped and held her hand tight, not letting go. She was surprised at his soft, smooth skin. A doctor’s hand. She’d sure shaken enough of those over the past few years.
Mike continued, “I’m glad I could get away from my office in time to introduce you to Dr. Cooper. He’s the best bone man in the area.”
Smiling, Reba said, “Thank you.” Then she turned to Parker. “And thank you, Parker, for making sure that I got the best medical care here with Dr. Attaway. I surely do appreciate it.”
“Even though I had to drag you kicking and screaming…” he muttered, and then added, “Mike, I’d like a word with you.”
Reba narrowed her gaze at Parker. What was this about?
“Of course,” Mike said, “but let’s get Reba in to see Coop first.” He looked her square in the eyes then and held her gaze. Almost too long. So long she felt the heat of Parker’s stare on the side of her face. Mike continued, “I mean Dr. Cooper. We’ve known each other since med school.”
Grinning broadly now, Mike skipped a glance Parker’s way, tugged Reba’s hand closer to his body, and tucked it into his elbow. Clearly, Mike Attaway focused solely on her.
See what being attentive can get you, Mr. Personable?
Even though she was a little confused at the doctor’s actions—why was he showering all of this attention on her?—there was no denying Mike was kind-hearted, polite, and well mannered.
She looked at Parker, who stood stone-faced silent and brooding beside her.
“This way, Reba.” Mike led her away. Suddenly she felt a little weird about the whole exchange.
Parker’s indifference. Mike’s rapt enthusiasm.
Glancing back as she reached the door, Reba took one more look at Parker, who was standing there, watching them go—watching with a deep, puzzled scowl on his face.
Chapter Nine
He waited.
And the longer he waited, the more irritated Parker became. When he couldn’t sit still, he paced the small visitor’s area, pretty sure he was driving the other people there insane.
In addition to himself.
He sat.
Stood.
Sat again. Watched the door.
He was as nervous as a whore in church, as his dad used to say. Then he stopped abruptly, thinking about his father, and how he’d never hear him say anything like that again. Never hear his voice. Never get the fatherly advice or experience his booming laughter.
He wished Reba had met him. Even if just briefly. What would his father have thought of her?
He would have liked her. A lot.
Sitting again now, he watched the door where Reba had left with Mike. He exhaled, wondering why in the hell he was so bent out of shape where Mike was concerned.
Because you like her, cowboy. You like her a lot. And he’s competition.
The door cracked open, and voices filtered through from the hallway. Laughter. Reba’s giggle mingled with Mike’s deep voice. The door fully opened and they stepped through, Reba with her splint gone now and looking mighty sexy in that pair of big, dark sunglasses.
He’d wanted to tell her that earlier—how cute and sexy she looked in them, with her long reddish hair fanning about and framing her pale and slightly freckled face—but he couldn’t find the words then.
She was getting to him, and—
He stood as Mike put a hand to the small of Reba’s back, leaned in and whispered something in her ear, and led her into the room. Parker cleared his throat and in three long strides crossed the room to take his place at Reba’s side.
He looked at Mike. “I’ll take it from here. Thanks, Mike. Ready to go, Reba?”
Reba rotated to meet Parker’s gaze and nodded. Her eyes were twinkling. Had Mike put that twinkle there? They weren’t like that earlier in the truck.
Well, he was going to have to do something about that.
She said, “Yes, I’m ready. I know you have things to do, Parker. I’m sorry to have kept you waiting for so long.”
He tipped his head. “Not a problem, Reba.”
She turned to Mike and laid a hand on his forearm. “Thanks, Mike, for everything.”
Mike grinned and patted her hand. Parker resisted rolling his eyes. Then Mike added, “Talk to you soon. I have your number.”
Parker watched Reba grin back and the way-too-long gaze that Mike held between them. Sonofabitch! He had already asked her out.
Anger pushed up inside him and settled in the back of this throat. Tight. Not so much at Mike—well, a little bit—but mostly at himself for having dragged his feet with Reba the past few days. Well, he wasn’t going to drag them any longer.
He took her by the elbow—her good one—and led her the hell away from Mike Attaway.
****
Parker escorted her to his truck.
He rushed her out of the doctor’s office, through the outer lobby, and into the parking lot with one hand on her elbow, and another at her back. Good thing Dr. Cooper had gotten rid of the splint. Parker unlocked and opened the passenger-side door of his truck and gave her a hand up into the cab of the four-wheel-drive vehicle. Before closing the door, he said, “Wait here. I will be right back.”
Wait here? Where else?
Reba wasn’t going to let him get off with that kind of behavior. “Parker McKenna. What in the hell is going on with you?”
The door stopped short, in mid-closure. “What?”
Reba angled back to face him. “Why in the world are you so damn business-like and rude! What did I do? I know I’ve been a pain in the ass and you’ve had to cart me everywhere the past few days, and I’m really sorry about that, but you are acting like an ass!”
The look on the man’s face was something akin to oh shit and the proverbial deer-caught-in-the-headlight. “An ass?”
“Yes! You are gruff and emotionless and very…ass-like!”
His mouth opened, closed. Then opened again. His head did a quick shake. “I’m sorry, Reba. Let me explain in a minute. Right now I need to—”
“There’s Mike.” She looked past Parker’s shoulder. “Looks like he wants one of us.”
“I’m pretty damned sure of that,” he hissed.
“What? Parker, you are making no sense.”
“I’m making perfect sense.” He angled her legs back into the cab. “Now wait here and we’ll talk in a few minutes. I promise.” He placed a forefinger on her lips, silencing her. “We are going to talk about this.”
He shut the door and stalked off toward Mike.
“What in the hell, Parker McKenna,” she whispered, “is going on with you.” And how dare you shush me with a finger to my lips!
Inside she was steaming. This man. This sexy, hunky, cowboy man! He was driving her insane.
She watched Parker stalk across the lot toward Mike. They stood face to face and talked for a minute, then Mike’s hands shot up in the air, and he stepped backward.
Parker danced about, his hands also flailing.
His face was red, too. And his voice louder.
Hell’s bells, they were arguing. Loudly!
Reba jumped out of the truck and started toward the men. As she approached, she was a little dumbfounded as she realized they truly were having a heated discussion. Boys, boys, boys… What in the world.
“You said you weren’t interested, Parker. That it was casual. Just neighbors. That’s what you said.”
“Well, yeah, but I’m telling you I
lied. We’re not. So back off.”
“But I’m not sure Reba would agree with you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ve already asked her out.”
“You son of a bitch!”
“What the hell, Parker? You all but gave me a green light!”
“Boys! Stop!”
Both men clammed up, their jaws tight.
“Enough!” Reba continued. She stepped between them then, putting a flat palm on each man’s chest. She looked at Mike. “Go back inside. I’ll call you later.” Then she turned to Parker. “Get in the truck and take me home. Now.”
Neither man moved. Reba slowly angled her gaze from one man to the other and then said, “I mean it. Move.”
She dropped her hands and stomped off toward the truck. She hoped to hell Parker was following her and Mike was doing as told. Damned men. She hated when she had to treat them like boys.
When she got to the truck, she reached for the door handle with her bad arm and immediately regretted it. A pain shot up her elbow, and she winced. So easy to forget she was still injured without the splint. “Dammit!” But she quickly recovered and got in. By the time she was in her seat, Parker was behind her and shut the door. His glare caught hers through the window and held for a heated moment.
Shit. That sexy-as-hell stare turned her on like nobody’s business.
****
Parker slammed his truck door. Before he could say the words on the tip of his tongue—Reba, let me explain—she lit into him.
“What was that all about?” She glared from the other side of the truck cab.
Parker shoved his keys in the ignition and looked at her. “A misunderstanding. That’s all. Mike and I will talk later and smooth it out. We’ll be fine. Not the first time we’ve argued.”
“It was about me.”
Parker swallowed. Her emerald eyes—the ones that were sparking at him earlier—had turned cold and almost icy. “Yes.” How am I going to dig myself out of this?
“Tell me more.”
Shit.
“Parker?”
“All right.” He glanced to the console between them. “I told Mike I didn’t want him to ask you out.” He looked up then and leaned forward, closer to her. “Did he already ask you out?”
She didn’t hesitate with her response. “Yes.”
“Oh.”
“Do you want to know what I told him?”
He closed his eyes. “I’m not sure.”
“Parker…”
He jerked his gaze back up. “Yes, tell me.”
“I told him I didn’t know. That I would have to think about it.”
Both mentally and physically, Parker relaxed. He didn’t take his eyes from hers. “Okay. Thank you for telling me.”
She glared back. “A lot of good it’s going to do though. You are such an ass. I’m really and truly exasperated with you, Parker McKenna. I don’t know whether you are coming or going, flirting with me or pushing me away. I have absolutely no clue whether I am a pain in the ass to you or if you are attracted to me as much as I am attracted to you.”
What?
Parker just looked at her.
“Well?”
“I’m attracted. To you. I…”
“You what?”
“I don’t want you to go out with Mike.”
Reba’s gaze narrowed. “I’d already decided I wasn’t.”
“Good…” Parker exhaled, exhaustion settling around his shoulders. “Reba, I—”
She interrupted. “Not now. Take me home. It’s getting late. I need to get a prescription filled, and you said you had errands to run.” She glanced at her watch. “We better move. We can talk about this later.”
The last thing Parker wanted to do was end this conversation, but Reba was right. He straightened then and fell back into the driver’s seat. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, and twisted the key in the ignition.
Chapter Ten
Reba watched the Montana landscape out her passenger-side window. The dirt road leading up to her cabin was long and bumpy, about a ten-minute ride. Prior to turning off the big road, she and Parker had managed idle chitchat and casual conversation, but as soon as they turned onto Reba’s land, words ceased.
The afternoon had been all business, with a couple of tasks completed—the prescription picked up, and Parker even had time to stop by the bank to sign some paperwork. The distance between the incident in the parking lot and the time Parker pulled into her lane was much needed, although the tension between them still very much existed.
And that was the issue. Wasn’t it? Why was the tension there at all, and where did it come from? Reba didn’t think it was from her. It had always seemed to be coming from Parker.
Frustration?
Anger?
Sexual? Ah. Yes. Perhaps.
There had been the kisses and the sparks and the magnetic appeal…
It was a sexual attraction. Wasn’t it?
It was. And he was fighting it.
Had she hit the nail on the head? Parker was truly attracted to her, and he didn’t know what to do with it? Somehow she had a hard time believing that. Parker McKenna was one hot cowboy—she was pretty sure he knew what to do with a woman he was attracted to.
Reba started to squirm a little in her seat. I’ll think about that later.
With the vehicle parked in front of her cabin, she turned to Parker. “Would you like to come in? I can get you a drink. Maybe we can talk.”
He studied her for a minute and nodded. “I would like to hear the rest of the Reba Morris life story.”
“Oh? Goodness…” She’d totally blocked that night and conversation from her head. “Toward the end I think I drifted and was pretty much babbling incoherently. I’m not sure where I stopped off.”
Shaking his head, he said, “Not babbling. I found it interesting. And you left off at the part where you were about to get married.”
Reba swallowed. His wanting to hear more about her life shifted her thinking a bit. But wasn’t that what people did when they were getting to know each other—talk about their life and their pasts?
True. But was she ready to tell Parker about Jack? After all, they barely knew each other, and had he even had time to deal with his own father’s passing? Death was a downer, and she just didn’t want to bring Jack into this conversation—yet. Maybe later. She’d only been a widow for six months, and both of them were suffering a loss.
Where do you take all of that from there? She didn’t know.
She lifted the latch on the truck door. “Well, let’s go inside. Do you want coffee this late? I actually have pie. Or I could rustle up a soda if you wanted something cold.”
“Only if there is whiskey to go in it.”
She turned and smiled then. “Oh, I have something much better than whiskey, Mr. McKenna. I don’t hail from the land of fast horses, beautiful women, and fine bourbon for nothing.”
Parker grinned and winked. “Bring it on, woman.”
Reba mentally gave herself a quick shake, along with an itty-bitty reality check. The wink was a good sign. Maybe she’d get Parker to relax a bit and show a little of his true self.
She threw the damned reality check to the wind. Hell’s bells. She was going for it. That was one of her goals, right? To live life?
Did she have a clue what she was about to get herself into? And could she, for the most part, keep the emotion out of it?
****
Parker followed Reba up the steps to her cabin. He watched her hips sway as she ascended and smiled at the swish of her flowing top as she moved. He waited, his palms itching to reach out and grab her ass while she unlocked her front door. Nervous tremors flittered up into his abdomen. Generally, he was secure in a direction he wanted to take with a woman—especially one he had strong feelings for—but at this moment, he was unsure where this night would lead, or where he even wanted it to go.
Were they ready for more?
S
he stepped inside, and he followed.
Funny how he hadn’t remembered much about the entrance to the cabin. Of course, every time he’d been there recently was in the midst of crisis, and he wasn’t thinking about wall decorations or window treatments. He’d been to the Crandall cabin before, many times over the years, but it sure hadn’t looked like it did now.
“Wow, Reba. The place looks incredible. You’ve really done a lot of work here.”
She glanced about, smiling. “Thank you. I love it. You know, it’s the first place I’ve ever owned that was just mine. It’s an incredible feeling.”
He nodded. “I understand that.” He thought about his own place, the big house, where he’d lived since he was born. He hoped to live there for many years to come and sure didn’t relish the thought of change coming to the ranch, and of him having to give that up.
“Something wrong?”
Parker hadn’t realized he had stared off. “No, I’m fine.”
“Good,” she said, heading down the hallway. “Let me take this prescription to the kitchen and see what kind of alcohol I can find to seduce you with.”
She whirled, wide-eyed, and looked at him.
“Oops.” A hand clamped over her mouth. “Did I say that out loud?”
Parker slowly moved toward her. “Yes, ma’am, you did. And truth be told, I’m not so sure you are going to have to ply me with alcohol to seduce me. That look on your face has pretty much made me a goner.”
Her pretty green eyes grew even wider as he finally put his hands on her waist, tugged her closer, and leaned into her. “Do we really need the bourbon?”
She blinked. Twice. “No. Yes. Shit. No. Yes.”
She pulled back, but Parker caught her hands and prevented her from going any farther. “Reba?”
“Just a sip,” she said, her gaze not leaving his. Parker released her and she rushed to a cabinet, pulled down a bottle of amber liquid with a fancy label and two short glasses. He watched her hands shake as she got cubes from the dispenser in the refrigerator door and then returned to the counter to splash a hefty glub of bourbon over the rocks in both glasses.
She needn’t have bothered with ice for him, but he wasn’t going to tell her that now. It was too much fun watching her.
Unforgettable Heroes II Boxed Set Page 25