“Yes.” She sat up, slowly recalling that she was in Ben’s hotel room. And that she must’ve fallen asleep.Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
The clock on the bedside table showed it was ten forty-five, and the light coming through the gap in the curtain meant that it was a.m. not p.m.Fuck.
“Oh, sorry, miss. I’ll come back.”
“No, no. it’s fine. I was just leaving.” Raven pushed up from the bed, slipped on her shoes, and grabbed her clutch. She’d wasted time falling back asleep on a workday. There was no way she could rock up to work now, not without a bloody good excuse, and she was clean out of them.Bloody hell. She needed to smarten up, otherwise she wouldn’t be getting the skills for her own business.
Raven rushed out of the room and went down the corridor to the elevator. She cringed as she saw her reflection in an ornate mirror on the wall. Sex hair without sex was very disappointing to see. Let alone wrinkled clothes, not because they’d been taken off in a passionate hurry, but slept in. There was no way she was going to work in these clothes, and while she had a change of clothes in the car, another option was forming in her mind.No, I couldn’t. She rolled her lips in thought waiting for the elevator.I couldn’t call in sick, then go into the Show and see Ben. She could taste him. Her lips throbbed with something that was more long-term than a fling. She knew she was falling for him. But she didn’t know anything about him. One way to know more would be to go and see him at the Show.
The elevator door opened. She stepped in. A daring feeling surfaced.I can.
Ben practically ran out of the Goody, down Leader Street, and through the farmers’ entrance, flashing his life membership pass thinking it was good that he had slept in his clothes last night, and he’d grabbed his phone and wallet on the way out. He hated leaving Raven like that. So quickly without properly having a chance to talk. Well, and, of course, a bit more fun would’ve been welcomed too. Sleeping together like that overnight had made something clear to him. There were feelings starting to surface that he didn’t think he was going to be able to settle them down. More so, he didn’t want them to settle down. This might have started as a fling, and despite only seeing each other for the last two years at the Show and not knowing much about Raven, he knew what he was feeling was true-blue.
This side of the showgrounds was starting to stir, a few forklifts were in motion clearing away the pile of used straw. He rushed down past the sheep pavilion to where the alpacas and goats were housed in a modern, oversized shed made from galvanized iron. It was the very start of spring, thank goodness, so it never really got too hot. He slipped inside down to where his alpacas were. He was pretty sure that Evie would be fine. She’d birth her first last year with no worries.
“You took your sweet time.” Jason looked frazzled. He stood a few pens over from Evie’s enclosure leaning on the metal fencing. Dark shadows were under his eyes.
“Thanks, mate, glad you called me.” And he was glad that Jason had gotten here early.I should’ve too. A pang of guilt twisted in his stomach. He’d gotten carried away with Raven, with the pleasure, with the distraction of wanting to be with her. He wrestled with these emotions trying to push them away. He had to focus now. His priority right now was Evie and her unborn baby alpaca. And in less than two hours, the showground gates will be opened to the public, and she didn’t need an audience.Or anyone saying there needs to be a vet.
“Thought you’d be here early? Is that chick got you not thinking straight?”
Heat rushed to Ben’s cheeks. “Not at all.” As if he was going to admit to Jason right now that he was right.
Ben approached Evie’s pen slowly. She looked to be fine, just a subtle pant. It was clear her water had broken. Her belly had dropped, though he knew that.
“You should’ve brought her, mate.”
“I know.” He surprised himself. But Evie was strong, healthy, and this was natural. Plus, by his reckoning, there had been another week at least before she was technically due to give birth. Part of the truth was that he wanted to honor his dad’s memory as much as possible and give him a farewell with some prizes for all the years of his hard work. And to show that he could carry on without missing a beat. He rested his arms on the top of the fence, the metal coolness seeping through the thin material of his shirt. He didn’t want to admit to how close he might’ve been in missing a beat. Right now, at least things were going well.At least I cleaned out her pen last night. It had been a push, but, of course, he had made sure his stock was well cared for before he left to socialize.
“You’re lucky I noticed this morning.”
“Absolutely.” It would’ve been likely that only another breeder would’ve noticed anyway, and at least they all had his phone number and knew to call him. The stewards as well, though less likely. They might’ve panicked and called a vet straight away. Nothing wrong with that, except the bloody expense, but it was entirely unnecessary at this point.
“Lucky all is well.”
Ben nodded. He didn’t correct his friend that he was slightly overreacting. It had been a rude wake-up this morning having to rush down like this. His heart was still hammering hard in his chest.
“I might go try to find some rope to section off this area.” Ben pushed away from the fence. ‘You got any?”
Jason shook his head. “Want me to watch her?”
“She’s good for a little while at least. If you’ve got something to do, she’ll be all right.”
“Sure?”
“Yep. I’ll keep checking on her.”
“Let me know if you want me to do anything.”
“Will do.” Ben strode off to try to find some rope. He couldn’t believe how calm he was about it all, though this was all part of what he was used to. He knew the signs to look for. He knew when he wouldn’t be able to help and needed a vet, and hopefully, that wouldn’t happen.
“Hey, Romeo,” Dan called out from a pen. He was busy mucking out some fouled straw.
“Morning.”
“See you’re a bit late, had a good night with that girl I saw you disappear with last night? We all saw it.”
Of course, you all did. “Got an alpaca deciding it’s time to give birth, got any rope.” He saw some bales of clean straw. He needed that too. Other than that, everything was going to be up to Evie. “Or straw.”
