She moved carefully, slowly making her way to the steps.
“She doesn’t seem too dangerous,” Sky said, his voice floating in over the scene.
“She seems pretty interested in you.”
“Of course she is. I’mveryinteresting.”
“You should try to grab some of the feed and hold it out in your open palm. See if she takes it.”
“Sounds like you’re trying to get me eaten by a deer.”
“She’s not going to eat you. Promise.”
“She’s a carnivore until proven otherwise.”
Despite his words, Sky switched hands with his phone, accidentally going into selfie mode. I had a pretty good view of his left nostril as he leaned down and grabbed a bit of feed. “I swear, if she bites off my hand, I’m coming for you.”
“But how will you come at me with only one hand?”
He fumbled and switched back to the outward facing camera. “You’re a mean man.”
“Yep, that’s me. Pure evil.”
Sky huffed out an annoyed breath, but held out his hand to the deer. Honestly, I was a little proud of him. His hand shook a little, but he’d trusted me enough to follow my suggestion, and that made my insides warm. The Sika sniffed at Sky’s fingertips before nosing at the food in his palm and taking a few delicate nibbles.
“It tickles,” he whispered.
“Told you she wouldn’t eat you.”
He sighed. “She’s so beautiful.”
“Takes one to know one.”
Jesus, Kit. Are you actually flirting with him?
“Shut up,” Sky said, dismissing me as she continued to nibble at the feed. “She’s probably secretly a menace.”
“The only thing she’s capable of menacing is your vegetation. Otherwise, the Sikas I got from Woody have been real sweet with our guests.”
“Oh, right. The first time we met, you were transferring some animals to your dude ranch. Which, if I’ve never said, is the fanciest dude ranch I’ve ever seen.”
I flushed at the compliment. “A lot of that is Cynthia. She was the architect, drew up the plans herself. We’d originally planned an upscale retreat property, but when Reed responded so well to equine therapy, we pivoted.”
“That’s one helluva pivot, cowboy.”
“We wanted a place our son would thrive in.”
Sky flipped the camera back to his face. “You really are a very good dad.”
I looked off to the side, suddenly unable to look him in the eye. Didn’t know what would fall out of my mouth next if he kept complimenting my fatherhood.
“I, uh, need to finish up a few things here, but I can come by in about an hour. Does that sound good to you?”
“It’s barely enough time to shower and redo my makeup,” he said with a grin, “but I suppose we should go sooner rather than later.”
“All right, see you then.”
I ended our call, shaking my head. He was so ridiculous. And utterly perfect.
