Her mouth opened but nothing came out. I grinned wide. “Guess you’re not as up to date on environmental issues as I thought.”

Parker growled. “I knew about that!”

“Uh-huh.”

Rolling her eyes, she sat back in her seat and huffed. But soon her lips were twitching and she let out a small, self-deprecating laugh. “Fine. You got me.”

I couldn’t help laughing too. The sky peeked through the leaves overhead, dappling the car in sunlight. It gleamed on Parker’s smiling face, and something in my chest flipped over. I had to suck in a quick breath, but I was still left feeling light-headed.

She damn near broke my heart the other night when she told me about Theo. I had no idea what it was like to love someone that way, but I knew about loss. Her pain pierced me, and I never wanted to see her cry again.

Crazy thing was, I damn near cried when she’d looked right at me and said it took courage to quit, that I’d done something right. In that moment, I’d felt seen. I’d felt understood. I’d never had that from anyone. That a whip-smart, small but mighty woman like Parker saw something worthy in me was a gift I didn’t know I needed until she gave it to me. A gift like that made a man crave more.

It was a fine line I walked now. Tenderness and the need to protect her nearly overwhelmed me every time I looked her way. But this was business. It did me no good to get attached. Even so, it was nice being with her, laughing because we could.

Still chuckling, I stopped the car.

“Did you really name your car Ruby?” she asked as a valet jogged over to open her door.

“Yep.” I patted the gleaming black dash. “My girl here. Her name is Ruby.”

Her reply was lost to me as she stepped out of the car.

I handed the valet the keys and followed Parker into the house. “Mansion” was the better word. I was a big guy but standing in that center hall with its soaring ceilings and gilded oil paintings, I felt small. Maybe that was the point. You put your guests in their place the second they walked through the doors. Or maybe the owners just liked a lot of light and air, because, looking around, I kind of wished I could still afford a place like this.

Parker seemed right at home here by the way she moved with ease through the scattered crowd. “Jackson is probably somewhere on the lawn.”

The lawn in question was visible through the massive and ornately carved French doors at the far end of the house. The blue of the harbor winked at us in the distance.