“She’s going to take a bite out of my ass, isn’t she?” Charlie asked.
He moved his hands to cover her cheeks. “No.” But he wasn’t entirely sure that was true. It might be her leg if it wasn’t her butt.
Charlie frowned at the goat. “Knock it off. You’re not his type.”
Sugar bleated in answer and took a step forward.
“Swear to God, little girl, you even take a nip at me, and I’ll keep Griffin out of this barn and away from you for two weeks,” Charlie told her.
Sugar gave her a loud, “Blaaaaa!” But she didn’t come closer.
“That’s right. He’s mine. You can flirt with him when he comes to feed you and give you medicine or whatever he does, but keep your hooves to yourself. Got it?”
Griffin was shocked to feel laughter rippling up from his gut through his chest.
He was fucking Charlie Landry. On a hay bale in an animal barn. With a goat looking on.
And not only was she completely into it and not upset about the hay and the smell, but she was engaging his goat stalker in conversation.
Sugar lifted her chin and gave her another blast of annoyed goat language.
“Fine. I’ll get you a boy goat,” Charlie said. “But you need to go to your stall now. Stalker and voyeur is not cool.”
Griffin stared as Sugar turned and headed for Hermione’s stall. It wasn’t hers, but he wasn’t going to argue.
Charlie turned back to him. “Now, where were we?”
She started to lift herself, but he gripped her hips, stopping her.
She looked startled, but he quickly shook his head. “That was…”
Her expression softened.
God, she was so…
He lifted her and then lowered her. “So.” He did it again. “Fucking.” And again. “Delightful.”
“Well, I now need to talk to you about boy goats.”
God, they were bantering even while having the hottest sex of his life.
But Griffin quickly realized that the sex was so amazing because of the banter. Because of this woman.
“I’ll talk to you about anything you want if you keep working my cock with this sweet pussy,” he told her.
The graphic talk did its job. She moaned and started moving on him faster.
She did, however, manage to say, “Even sloths?”
Because of course, she did. There was nothing that could keep Charlie from talking when she had something to say.
“You’ll do anything for a sloth?” he teased, even though his voice was rough, and he was trying very hard not to just slam up into her.
She tightened her inner muscles around his shaft, and he groaned.
“I am definitely open to negotiation about how we can both get what we want, Griffin.”
Fuck, the way sex with Charlie was going so far, he was going to end up with a hippo or something.
And, at the moment, anyway, he didn’t care. All he cared about was Charlie and how damn happy she made him.
He moved her faster and harder. She tipped her hips so his cock would hit that magical G-spot, and his thumb found her clit.
And in mere minutes, they were climbing toward the summit and then plunging over the edge. Together.
Griffin felt his orgasm roar through him, from deep in his gut, maybe even his bones. Everything in him strained to be a part of her, and he came hard as she clamped down on him like a vise.
“Griffin!”
“Charlie!”
Shudders of pleasure continued to wash through them both for several long moments, even after Charlie finally slumped against him, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him close.
Griffin found his hands stroking up and down her back.
He felt completely contented and also protective and like he’d really like to lift her up, turn her around, and start all over again against the stall door behind them.
But then Charlie turned her head and whispered in his ear, “It wasn’t the hay.”
* * *
Charlie thought maybe she was the first one to stir, but she’d climbed out of Griffin’s lap very reluctantly, and his hands lingered on her hips as she stood and started to look around for her clothes.
She smiled, thinking about it even as they walked across the road toward Ellie’s.
She’d hung around while he checked the animals one last time. She’d leaned over the edge of the stall and given Sugar the gesture that meant, I’m watching you.
Griffin had chuckled, and the sound, as always, made heat and a deep sense of contentment roll through her. She’d been teasing, of course, but she did intend to get Sugar a boyfriend.
Then Griffin put his hand on her lower back as they stepped out into the steamy night. It was a small gesture, but it had made her heart trip.
They stopped by his truck, and Charlie turned to face him. “Well, that was fun.”
He didn’t laugh. He didn’t even grin. He nodded seriously. “It really was.”
She opened her mouth to tease him about the fact that maybe he didn’t understand the word fun meant he could actually smile, but before she could, he reached up and tucked a strand of hair that was trying to frizz and curl in the humid air, behind her ear.
It was a sweet gesture. Nothing earthshaking or all that unusual, except that it was Griffin who did it. To her. It was almost affectionate, and she realized that she wanted that. Not just for him to find her attractive. Not just to enjoy her time around him. She wanted him to feel more for her as well.
Dammit. Maybe Griffin had been right to try to avoid complications. Because this was starting to feel like a lot more than a hot summer fling, and she had no intention of staying permanently.
Or did she?
Things definitely felt good in Autre. Her family, at least a huge portion of it, was here. She could definitely be herself here. It’d only been five days, but she felt happier and lighter than she had in a while.
And Griffin was here.
That shouldn’t matter. Especially after only five days. But it strangely felt like it did.
But she didn’t have a job here.
Well, she was being paid for her work in the vet clinic as well as the marketing plans. She felt there was a lot of promise for future income based on the increased revenue of the petting zoo. But it certainly wasn’t on level with what she’d done in the past or even a huge nonprofit organization or healthcare system.
Could she actually make a career here in Autre? Working for a tiny petting zoo?
Maybe.
She was startled to realize that word went through her mind when she asked herself that question. But yes, maybe.
Maybe not at the level the petting zoo was now. Maybe not even with the changes she had proposed to date. But was there potential for growth? Could she make the petting zoo even bigger? Could the business expand further? Could the petting zoo become an influential part of conservation efforts in this area of Louisiana? Just as she’d proposed teaching kids who visited about the wildlife and ecosystem around them, were there things their business could get involved with right here? Bennett Baxter, Kennedy’s husband and a partner in Boys of the Bayou, was an environmental activist along with his political endeavors. His foundation was dedicated to helping preserve the Louisiana coastline. Certainly, they could expand that mission and include, more directly, the animals in the area.
Her mind was already spinning, especially after the conversation with Griffin about the work he had been drawn to in Zambia. Selling snow cones and letting kids pet goats might not seem like anything big or influential, but even just hearing about how doing yoga with otters had touched a depressed teenage girl, Charlie couldn’t help but think that there could be more here, under the surface of the petting zoo, if they tried.
But would they want to try? And if they did, was she willing to stay and help with that growth?
The answer to all of that was… maybe.
Okay, it was bordering on yes.
Wow, Griffin Foster was making her really think about her career plans. It took a lot for anyone to mess with any of her plans. She had always known what she wanted, for the most part, and it had never involved goats, pigs, or even otters.
Then again, there’d never been a man like Griffin Foster in her life.
“I have to be at the clinic early tomorrow,” he finally said.
She nodded. “Susan is really worried about Petunia,” she said of the woman and her cat that were meeting Griffin at 6:30 AM.
“I guess I’ll see you sometime tomorrow then,” Griffin said.
“Yes, and if I am staring at your mouth at any point during the day, rest assured that I am definitely remembering everything about us having sex in the barn.”
She waited for all of that to sink in with the growing grin. She really did love teasing this man.
“And if my hand ends up on your ass at any point during the day,” he said, crowding close and backing her up against the truck door. “Rest assured that you can just tell me to back off rather than grabbing my balls or threatening to key my truck.”
She took his face in her hands and said seriously, “If my hand ends up on your balls at any point tomorrow, rest assured you will be very happy to have it there.”
And then the best thing happened. He laughed, then lowered his head and kissed her long and hot and deep.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Charlie,” he said as he lifted his head.
“For sure, Griffin.”
They just stood looking at one another.
Finally, Griffin said, “I’m gonna watch you until you get to the front door.”
She was staying with her grandmother, whose house sat across from her bar. It was about a hundred feet from where they stood right now. She glanced at the house and back to Griffin with a smile. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Why?”
“Well, for one, I really like watching you walk away.”
She laughed. “I’m going to assume that means you like the view from behind rather than because you’re always happy to see me go.”
“That’s definitely it,” he said. “Though, if I’m honest, sometimes I’m glad to see you go.”
She laughed louder. “That’s fair.”
“But tonight,” he said, his voice dropping. “It’s more because I just want to be sure you’re okay.”
“I’m never more okay than I am when I’m here in Autre,” she said honestly. The truth of that fact hit her harder than she would’ve expected.
There was even a flicker of what could have been surprise but also looked like satisfaction in Griffin’s eyes.
“Then, it’s really because I feel like I should be walking you to the front door, but if I do that, I’m afraid something might happen that would scandalize Ellie.”
Charlie grinned up at him. “I can’t even imagine what it would take to scandalize Ellie.”
“You really have no idea all the things I want to do to you, then.”
Her smile dropped as heat streaked through her. She started to reach for him, out of instinct, she supposed, but he caught her wrist. He turned her hand and lifted it to his mouth, pressing a hot kiss to the center that sent tingles dancing up her arm. But then he dropped his hold and said, “No more touching right now, Charlie. I don’t have the self-control.”
She took a deep breath and let the sense of satisfaction seep into her. She was testing Griffin Foster’s self-control, and it had nothing to do with him protecting an animal. That was definitely worth being proud of. She nodded and stepped back. “Fine. But don’t think that I’m always going to let you off the hook so easily. I would love to see you lose some of that self-control.”
“Just keep being you, then,” he said. “And stop scheduling me such early patients so I can stay up all night.”
Flirting with Griffin was an entirely new experience for her. She never knew when he was going to say something hot or sweet or funny. And she loved it.
She lifted up on tiptoe to press a kiss to his cheek. Then turned on her heel and walked toward her grandmother’s front door, very aware of his eyes on her the entire way.
When she was on the porch with the front door open, she turned back and gave him a smile. He was indeed watching her, and a warm flurry of butterflies fluttered through her stomach.
She lifted a hand and blew him a kiss and then stepped into her grandmother’s house with, she was sure, a very obvious I’m-falling-in-love smile on her face.
And on her way up to her bedroom, she wondered what exactly went into getting a license to own an elephant.
Chapter 13
“So what do you know about elephants?”
Tori looked over at Charlie with her muffuletta halfway to her mouth. “Um, can you be more specific?”
Yes, she could. But they were all going to think she was nuts. Oh, well.
“Specifically in regards to having them in zoos. Or animal parks.”
Tori set her sandwich down. “I know that there is a lot of licensing involved. Who can own what animals varies state by state.”
Yeah, Charlie had figured there was a lot of paperwork involved. At least. She’d tried looking some things up online, but it was stupidly hard to get a direct answer. Still, she hadn’t stopped thinking about growing the business with more animals in the past two days since she and Griffin had heated up the barn.
“Right. For individuals. But what if an established animal park or zoo wanted one?”
“Zoos have connections to get animals,” Tori said simply.
“What about animal parks?” Charlie pressed.
“Are you getting us an elephant?” Zeke asked with a chuckle. He was leaning back in his chair, nursing a glass of tea, with half his attention on the TV over the bar.
“I was thinking about it,” Charlie admitted.
That caught Zeke’s full attention. “No shit?”
Tori leaned in. “You were wondering about getting an elephant for the petting zoo?”
“Well…” Charlie realized that everyone at the table—Tori, Maddie, Zeke, Fletcher, and Owen—were all listening now. “I was just wondering about the potential for expanding beyond the petting zoo.”
Maddie’s eyebrows rose. “You want us to have a zoo zoo?”
“An animal park.”
“What’s the difference?”
She wasn’t sure. Animal park sounded smaller and less formal than a zoo. “I was just… talking… to Griffin the other night, and he mentioned that he’d fallen in love with elephants while he was in Zambia.”
“You want to get Griffin an elephant,” Tori summarized with a grin.
Charlie really should have tried to have this conversation with Tori privately. It was just so damn hard to do anything privately with this family.
“It just got me thinking that if we want to really grow the business, maybe one way is to expand with more animals,” Charlie said.
“What do elephants have to do with the swamp?” Owen asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Maddie and Sawyer said you were working on a way to tie the llamas—”
“Alpacas,” Charlie and Tori corrected at the same time.
“And goats and shit to the bayou,” Owen went on as if they hadn’t spoken. “So how does adding another definitely-not-from-the-bayou animal help?”
Charlie nodded. He had a point, of course, but her mind was already working. “Our ‘safari’ can span continents,” she said simply. “The kids and families will start their adventure in North America, starting on the farms of the Midwest and traveling down to Louisiana to the swamp. Then they’ll travel to Africa to learn about other animals.”
Owen just stared at her.
“Well, then why not keep going and get some penguins and take them to Antarctica too?” Zeke said. He tossed a fry into the air and caught it in his mouth.
Charlie frowned at him. “Maybe I will. Maybe I’ll get a panda too and have them tour Asia.”
“You have to get kangaroos then and have them ‘visit’ Australia,” Zeke said, putting air quotes around visit.
He was teasing her, she knew, but dammit, now Charlie couldn’t stop thinking about all of this. Kangaroos would be awesome.
“Would it be easier to take care of a kangaroo than an elephant?” she asked Tori, assuming the answer was yes.
“Um…” Tori looked at her as if she couldn’t believe Charlie had actually asked that. “Definitely.”
“But Griffin likes elephants,” Maddie pointed out. “So, why would you get him a kangaroo?”
More importantly, how would she get him a kangaroo?
“He likes it all,” Tori said to Maddie. But she was watching Charlie. “He’s very fond of tigers. He loves zebras. He loves lemurs too. He really loves lemurs. They’re endangered, you know.”
Lemurs. Those were much smaller than elephants. And they were endangered. That meant Griffin could care for something that really needed him.
“Could lemurs be a part of a petting zoo?” Maddie asked. “Can people interact with them?”
“Maybe,” Tori said after a moment. “I know there are a few places that allow people to feed and interact with them for short periods. But, like with any wild animal, we’d have to be careful and supervise it.”
Charlie nodded, still thinking. “But even just having them—and Griffin being able to take care of them—would make him happy.”
Tori’s smile was wide. “Yes. It would.”
Yes, it would.
“You wouldn’t have any idea about how to get lemurs for a park like ours, would you?” Charlie asked.
“Now it’s a park?” Zeke asked. “I thought it was a petting zoo.”
“Well, it could be a park,” Charlie said.
“Sawyer is going to roll his eyes so hard it will hurt,” Owen said.
“Oh, Sawyer will be fine,” Maddie said. “We’ll just have Charlie explain it to him. No one can say no to her.”
Charlie appreciated the vote of confidence and couldn’t help the little flip of excitement she felt in her chest. Getting Griffin a lemur sounded like the perfect idea. She wanted him to be excited about the petting zoo. But after their talk, she thought that she was possibly already at the limit of how excited he could be. He was a wonderful vet and obviously cared a lot about the animals, be it pigs or goats or otters. But that was because he was a great guy. He was doing his job, and he would feel the same way even if those animals were simply someone’s farm animals and not in a tourist attraction. In fact, making this a tourist attraction was what was making him less than enthusiastic.
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