“That won’t be hard,” I mumble.
“We could find a nice museum,” Sly suggests, but Pete wrinkles his nose and shakes his head.
“How about the botanical gardens?” Dex suggests. “I read that can be very romantic.”
“Nah, too boring,” Pete says with a shake of his head. “Oh, I know! We could take her to play paintball!”
“No,” Sly and Elias say in unison, surprising me. “Too painful,”Sly clarifies.
Jagger snaps his fingers to get our attention, then signs,“The zoo.”
My eyes light up at the idea, and a huge grin covers Pete’s face. “Perfect!”
The next morning, I’m woken early by an excited Pete. He hurries everyone into getting ready so we can arrive at the zoo as soon as it opens. We grab breakfast from a drive-thru, and thirty minutes later, we’re standing in front of the first exhibit.
“They look bigger in real life,” I observe as I stare at the llamas.
“They’re kinda cute,” Dex says with a tilt of his head. I’m between him and Pete, holding both their hands as they take the lead, ushering me from exhibit to exhibit. The air is a really pleasant temperature today, and I’m actually able to wear my leather jacket, along with what’s becoming my signature ripped black jeans and white crop top.
But when we go inside the African pavilion, the heat hits me like I’m back in Arizona. Pete takes my jacket from me as Sly takes my hand and leads me around, pointing out monkeys or other animals hiding in their enclosures. When we stop in front of the tortoise exhibit, I marvel at the size of him.
“He has to be like four feet long! I didn’t know they could be this big,” I say with wide eyes as Sly moves to stand behind me, his hands resting beside mine on the railing.
“Did you know they can easily live to be over a hundred years old?”
“Really?” I ask in surprise and feel him nod behind me.
“There is record of one living to be 255 somewhere in India, I believe.”
“Wow.”
“How do you possibly know that?” Elias asks from somewhere behind us. I can tell he’s trying to enjoy himself, but he constantly looks uncomfortable, like he feels out of place.
“I read it,” Sly says, before grabbing my hand and leading me to the next exhibit.
Ahead, a dark cave catches my attention. “What’s that?”
“Looks like a bat cave!” Pete says as he all but runs ahead to check it out with Dex hot on his heels.
Jagger and Elias walk side by side behind us, and I smile up at Sly. “I’m having fun. Thanks for bringing me here,” I tell him quietly.
“Of course. Once we take care of our… problems, we can spend every day doing fun things like this.”
“I don’t need this every day. I just like spending time with you guys, and doing something new.”
“Me too.” He stops right before we enter the bat cave and turns us to face each other. Cupping my jaw with his free hand, he bends down and kisses me.
I’m a bit caught off guard, and it takes me a second to realize this isn’t a quick peck on the lips. His hand, which had been holding mine, lets go to wrap around my waist and pull me closer as he deepens the kiss.
I let out a small moan of approval, and all too soon, he pulls back, his eyes darting behind us as he straightens up and leads us into the cave.
My body tingles from that kiss, and Ifind my core clenching as I consider what he told me before. To let him know when I felt this way, so I didn’t have to wait. I’m not sure how that would work in public, so I stay quiet, but it feels like it’s been forever since I was intimate with any of them.
We catch up to Pete and Dex, who are in a larger part of the cave, staring up at the ceiling. I should be looking at bats, but instead I’m fixated on my guys. In the dim lighting, they appear more dangerous and mysterious, and for whatever reason, that makes my body heat even more.
“I’d love to know what you’re thinking about right now,” Sly says quietly. I hadn’t realized he’d been watching me while I drooled over Dex’s thick biceps and Pete’s toned ass.
He gives my hand a little squeeze, encouraging me to answer him, so I simply tell him the truth. “Humpback whales.”
