GI Cowboy

by Delores Fossen

  “There’s always energy for sex. Always,” he joked, pulling back. He continued to stare at her. His expression continued to morph until she saw something else—frustration.

  “Sorry,” he mumbled.

  She would have given him a lecture about playing with fire, if her body hadn’t been one big flame. And if she hadn’t heard Zach come into the hall.

  She and Parker separated immediately. Parker stepped out of the guest room, and once Bailey had leveled her breathing, she did the same.

  “Ms. Lockhart,” Zach greeted, his attention zooming right past his dad to land on her. “I got my stuff out of the bathroom. Sometimes when you flush the toilet, you have to jiggle the handle to make it stop running.” And he blushed a little as if he regretted bringing it up.

  “Thanks. I’ll remember that.”

  Parker’s cell phone rang, and he glanced down at the screen. “It’s Corps headquarters.” He glanced at Zach. “Why don’t you take Bailey to the kitchen and show her around? Clean up your dinner mess, too.” He checked his watch despite the fact his phone continued to ring. “Lights out for you in one hour,” he told Zach.

  “Yes, sir.” Zach looked even more embarrassed.

  “I don’t know if I can last an hour,” Bailey mumbled to the boy, and she watched as Parker went into his room, no doubt to deal with that call. He even shut the door.

  She wondered why he hadn’t answered it in front of her. Probably because he didn’t want to upset her with potentially more bad news. Of course, that only upset her more. Yes, she was exhausted, but she didn’t want Parker or anyone else sheltering her.

  Even if he was already doing that—literally—by having her at his house.

  Bailey sighed. Parker was certainly creating a lot of conflict inside her, and that was a dangerous mix with the fire from the attraction.

  “Don’t worry. My dad won’t give you any rules,” Zach said, leading her into the kitchen. He cleaned up the remains of his dinner, putting the bag in the trash and the glass in the dishwasher.

  “You eat at the Talk of the Town a lot?” she asked.

  “Yeah. Dad’s not much of a cook so he told the lady at the café to just send him a bill at the end of each week. But there’s plenty in the freezer.” He opened it for her to see the precisely stacked rows of microwave dinners and snacks. “Plenty of fruit and junk, too. One of his rules is I gotta eat the healthy junk at least three times a day.”

  The fridge was indeed stocked, and a crazy thought flashed through her head. Did Parker make love with the same precision he ran the rest of his life?

  That caused the fire to flame up inside her again.

  And she cursed herself. She really had to find a way around this heated obsession with Parker.

  “There’s guns up there,” Zach said, pointing to the cupboard with the combination lock. “They’re for dad’s job. Don’t know why he has to keep them locked. It’s not like I’d touch them or anything. I’m not a kid anymore.”

  No. But Bailey understood the safety precaution and was glad Parker had taken it.

  “Want me to fix you anything?” Zach asked. “Like a snack, I mean? I can do nachos or something.”

  “No, thanks. But I wouldn’t say no to a glass of milk.”

  Zach smiled a little, and she thought he might be pleased at being able to do something for her. He poured himself a glass as well and leaned against the counter. Bailey sat on one of the bar stools.

  “So, how was basketball camp?” she asked.

  “Okay, I guess. I mean, I’m pretty sure I can start for the team next season, but I still gotta work on that threepoint shot.” He looked everywhere but at her. “Guess you don’t come to the games, huh? I’m not sure how often my dad can come. He stays busy with work. A lot,” Zach added.

  “I haven’t been to any of the games, not in a while. But I could go this season and watch you play.” She tried to gauge his expression. “If that’s all right. I wouldn’t want to…impose or anything. I remember when I was your age. Barely. But I wavered between being embarrassed by my mother and her friends to being semithankful that she could make it to any of my games. She had a very busy schedule, too.”

  “I wouldn’t be embarrassed if you came,” he quickly assured her. “Your dad didn’t come and watch you play?”

  “He died when I was about your age.” Cancer. It had struck hard and fast and had left Bailey with a pain she still felt today. It had also left her mother a young widow with three children to raise on her own.

  “Yeah.” Zach downed half the glass of milk like a man taking a shot of whiskey. “Like my mom.”

  “Like your mom,” Bailey repeated, and she could practically feel his pain.

  She resisted going to him and putting her arms around him, but that’s what she wanted to do. He was all arms and legs, lanky and tall, but he also had a little-boy-lost look about him. It wasn’t just basketball that Zach and she had in common. Losing a parent was a powerful bond.

  “You were close to your mother?” Bailey asked.

  Zach nodded. “She was going to have a baby when she died. My sister. I woulda liked having a little sister.”

  Oh, mercy. Bailey had to blink back the tears. “Your dad took their deaths hard, too,” she said because she didn’t know what else to say.

  “He did,” Zach agreed. And that surprised her. Thirteen wasn’t a big age for empathy. “He’s still taking it really hard. That’s why I’m glad you’re here. Not that you two are like dating or anything. I know he’s your bodyguard, but I think he kinda likes you.”

  Bailey blinked, totally surprised and totally not knowing how to respond. “I think I kind of like him, too.” Sheesh. She shouldn’t be confessing this to Parker’s son.

  But Zach smiled that half smile that made him look so much like his dad. “He’ll keep you safe, you know. Because that’s what he does. He’s like a superhero soldier. I saw him once working out in a pretend fight at the army base. He’s real strong and fast. I don’t think a bad guy stands a chance with him around.”

  “Good.” And Bailey believed that. Parker would do anything and everything to protect her.

  Zach finished his milk, rinsed his glass and put it in the dishwasher. He kept his back to her, but she didn’t need to see his face to know that his mood had changed. “It’s scary though. Because there’s always something that can stop a superhero. I don’t think my dad could live if he got shot. I think that would kill him like the car wreck killed my mom and sister. And then, I’d be, like, an orphan.”

  She heard his voice crack, saw his shoulders slump, and nothing could have stopped her from setting her own glass aside and going to him. Bailey caught onto his arm and turned him toward her.

  “We got no other family,” Zach added. “That’s why Dad had to give up his army job when mom died. He had to give it up to take care of me.” His voice broke again. “My dad’s all I got. Without him, I’d have no place to go.”

  “Nothing is going to happen to your dad,” she consoled.

  “It could. Bad things happen all the time, and he’s always out there with the bad guys.”

  Bailey put her arms around him. “Your dad is smart, and he knows how important it is to stay safe. Because of you. Because he loves you.”

  Zach looked at her as if she’d sprouted a third eye. “He told you that?”

  “He didn’t have to. I know he loves you.” Zach tried to shrug, but Bailey held on and forced eye contact. “Your father loves you.”

  His surprise was genuine. He honestly hadn’t known that he was the center of Parker’s life.

  Zach eased back, but she kept her hand on his arm. “Something could still happen. I could still be an orphan, and they’d sent me to one of those places with other orphans. They’re like places where kids have to go when no one else wants them.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Bailey reassured him.

  “But it could,” Zach argued.

  Bailey stooped d
own so they were at eye level. “No, because I wouldn’t let them send you to a place like that. I would adopt you myself.”

  She meant it. She barely knew this boy, but she wouldn’t let him just be sucked up into foster care. Still, that was something she shouldn’t have been so adamant about.

  Zach’s gaze widened, and she whipped around to see Parker standing in the doorway. He’d obviously heard all or most of what she’d said.

  The silence was suddenly thick and uncomfortable.

  Parker volleyed glances between Zach and her, and Bailey stepped away, shoving her hands into her pockets. “Uh, Zach and I were just talking.”

  Parker didn’t respond to that except for the one uneven breath that he took.

  “G’night,” Zach mumbled, and he shot past them and out of the kitchen.

  Bailey was about to explain that entire conversation, but Parker spoke before she could say anything. “Nothing on Chester Herman,” he offered first, “but I did get some interesting information on Penske.”

  With everything else going on, she’d forgotten, he’d had Corps Security and Investigations do a background check on her mother’s bodyguard. “Please don’t tell me that Tim has a sealed juvenile record or was involved in a militia group?”

  Parker shook his head. “But he does have a weird obsession with you. Did you know he’s told some of his friends that you two are dating?”

  “What?” Bailey hadn’t thought the night could bring any more surprises, but she’d obviously been wrong.

  “He told one friend that he plans to take you on a cruise. And when the Corps investigator dug into his financials, he learned that last week Tim ordered a white gold ring with diamonds and a ruby heart from a jeweler in Amarillo. He’s having your name, and his, engraved on the inside band.”

  Oh, sheesh. How creepy was that? “I haven’t done anything to make him believe I’m interested in him.”

  “Well, he’s interested in you.”

  Obviously. Bailey huffed and checked the time. Her mother was probably getting ready for bed. “I’ll call Mom first thing in the morning,” Bailey insisted.

  “I’d rather you not mention that it was Corps Security and Investigations that had Tim checked,” Parker explained. “It might cause some tension between Bart and your mother.”

  Bailey nodded. She didn’t want that. Bart was the one friend her mother could turn to right now, and Bailey didn’t want her to lose that. “I’ll be delicate. I’ll just say I’ve heard rumors and go from there.”

  She paused, hesitated, but Parker didn’t say anything else. Was he angry at what she’d said to Zach? If so, she was too tired to argue with him. “I think I’ll turn in early. It’s been a long day.”

  “Yeah.” But then Parker stepped in front of her when she moved. “You told my son that you’d adopt him if something happened to me?”

  Bailey winced. “Uh, I did say that. I just sort of blurted it out because he was upset over the idea of losing you. I couldn’t stand to see him in pain like that. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t—”

  “Don’t make him promises you can’t keep,” Parker warned.

  That improved her posture. Bailey pulled back her shoulders and stared at him. “Who says I won’t keep it? It might have been a spur-of-the-moment comment, but it wasn’t lip service. If something happened to you…” that required a deep breath “…I wouldn’t let the state put Zach in foster care.”

  “You’d adopt him?” Parker clarified. Those eyes were dark gray now.

  “Yes.” And she didn’t hesitate. “What? You don’t think I’d be a good mother?”

  “You’d be an excellent one.” He mumbled some profanity and shook his head. “I just don’t want you to feel obligated to Zach because you and I have the hots for each other.”

  Bailey aimed her index finger at him. “What I feel for you has nothing to do with your son. Okay, maybe it does a little. I mean, I wouldn’t have met him if it weren’t for you, but now that I know him, I just wouldn’t turn my back if something went wrong. That’s not the kind of person I am. And besides, Zach’s a good kid. I’d be the one getting the good deal if I got to raise him.”

  Parker just stared at her, and she saw all those unspoken things in his eyes. Old wounds, old hurt, that were still fresh and raw. “He is a good kid,” he whispered. “Too bad he doesn’t have a father he can love.”

  “What?” Bailey gave him the look Zach had given her earlier. The third-eye-sprouted look. “He loves you. He’s very proud of you.”

  Parker shook his head, mumbled no and shook his head again.

  Bailey nodded, mumbled yes and nodded again. “He’s thinks you’re a superhero GI, and the thing he fears most is losing you. That’s why the adoption discussion even came up. He can’t bear the thought of losing his dad.”

  Parker’s mouth dropped open, and he looked ready to argue with her about that. But he didn’t. He swallowed hard and motioned toward Zach’s door. “I should, um, try to talk to him or something.”

  “Yes, you should.” Bailey lifted her hands. “Look, I don’t believe for a minute that one heart-to-heart talk will end a teenage boy’s surliness. Some of that’s inevitable. I have a brother eleven years younger than I am, and I was on the receiving end of a lot of that surliness. But I think it’ll help for Zach to hear that you love him and that you’ll do everything to make sure you stay safe for him.”

  Still obviously in deep thought, Parker ran his hand down the length of her arm. “Thanks.” And he brushed another chaste kisses on her forehead.

  Parker turned to leave. Then, stopped. He eased back around to face her.

  His hand whipped behind her neck, and he snapped her to him for a kiss of a different kind. His mouth moved over hers, giving and taking at the same time, until the taste of him was in her mouth. Until she was boneless and breathless.

  Until she wanted him more than she’d ever wanted anything.

  “Come to my bed tonight,” Parker drawled against her mouth. And with that searing invitation, he let go of her and walked away toward Zach’s room.

  Oh, mercy.

  She was in trouble here.

  Bailey started to call out to him, to give him a chance to rethink that offer that could complicate beyond belief an already complicated situation. It could also give them one of the best nights ever.

  Her body was tingling just thinking about it. All that precision. All that superhero strength. All those muscles. She wasn’t a shallow woman, but the thought of getting her hands on his body made her mouth water, literally.

  Cursing under her breath, she slapped off the lights in case Parker returned. She didn’t want him to see her practically drooling, especially since she should be doing something, anything, to talk herself of what she really wanted to do.

  Bailey really wanted to go to his bed tonight.

  She went to the fridge and took out one of the longneck bottles of beer. Beer wasn’t her favorite, but she hoped it would settle her nerves. Bailey opened the bottle and went to the sink to look under the counter for the garbage so she could discard the cap.

  Something in the backyard caught her eye. Some kind of movement. Maybe.

  Bailey leaned closer to the glass, trying to pick through the unfamiliar surroundings and sounds. The lawn, the shrubs, the trees. The nighttime summer breeze was playing with a wind chime on one of the lower branches of a sprawling live oak. The cicadas were making themselves heard, too.

  She was about to turn away, to head off to bed and give Parker’s invitation more thought, but she saw the movement again near the tree with the wind chime.

  This part of Texas was filled with squirrels, raccoons, owls and too many birds to name. It could be any one of those creatures. Maybe even a coyote because they sometimes wandered into residential areas. Also, there was a hunter’s moon, and that always created some spooky shadows. She reminded herself that it was probably nothing more than her overly stressed imagination.

  But Bailey saw it
then. It wasn’t an animal. Nor a shadow.

  It was a man.

  Chapter Eight

  It took Parker several minutes to work up enough nerve to knock on Zach’s door. He’d faced enemy fire without flinching, but the thought of having a heart-to-heart with his son terrified him.

  Bailey sure didn’t have that same problem.

  She was a natural with Zach, and Parker might have been envious of her ease of conversation with his teen age son if he hadn’t been just so damn thankful that Zach had someone that he could communicate with.

  “Yeah?” Zach answered when Parker knocked.

  “It’s me. May I come in?”

  Silence for several long moments. “I guess. What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong.” Parker opened the door and saw Zach stretched out on the bed reading a comic book.

  “It’s not time for lights-out yet,” Zach grumbled.

  “No. It’s not.” Though he had noticed when Bailey turned off the kitchen light. She was likely exhausted and ready to bed. Probably too exhausted to take him up on his offer—an offer Parker could kick himself for now. Talk about getting caught up in the heat of the moment.

  But for now, this moment belonged to his son.

  Parker took a deep breath and bracketed his hands on the door frame. “I heard some of what Bailey said to you and wondered if you wanted to talk about it.”

  There. The ball was now in his son’s court.

  Zach shrugged and kept his eyes nailed to the comic book. “I was just worried about some things. That’s all.”

  Yes. Worried that Parker was going to be killed and that Zach would become an orphan. He hated that his son had even considered something like that, but when Parker had been in the army, that had always been a possibility. Too bad he’d never thought to discuss it with Zach.

  Zach opened his mouth to say something, but the sound stopped him. It was Bailey. Not exactly a scream, but it was close.

  “Parker! There’s a man in the backyard.”

  “Stay here,” Parker told his son. He hit the light switch to turn it off and drew his gun. Zach’s blinds were open, and he considered having his son close them, but he didn’t want Zach near the window.