“Take the leash,” I tell Everleigh, trying like hellnotto look at her. Not only is her shirt practically see-through, but she’s also wearing tight shorts so skimpy they might be panties. “Try to get it around her neck. Loop the clip through the handle.”
Everleigh reaches around Birdie’s neck, leaning forward and revealing a generous amount of cleavage that threatens to be my fucking undoing.Chopping the pile of wood I’ve put off for weeks now. All that fucking paperwork for Edith Greer backing up into a no parking sign. The newspaper interview with Suzie this afternoon about the new four-way stop.
“You’re such a good girl, aren’t you Birdie?” Everleigh coos, stroking the animal’s furry neck. It’s fucking stupid to be jealous of such a cute creature, but I’d give just about anything to have Everleigh strokemyneck—and other body parts.
Knock it the fuck off, Knight.
Birdie hums at Everleigh in approval before nudging my hand for more pellets. The dirty unicorn horn pokes me in the shoulder until I relent.
“Hand me the leash,” I say.
“I can lead her out,” Everleigh insists.
“You’re not strutting outside in your underwear, James.”
“I’m not showing anything,” she argues.
“I can handle Birdie.”
“Worried the little old ladies of Emerald Creek will think you were here for a bootie call, Sheriff?” Everleigh teases, purposely fluttering her eyelashes at me. It’s just playful banter—something that’s always come naturally to us. But every once in a while, like right now, it feels like maybe it could be a little bit more. As though the idea of inviting me inside has crossed her mind too.
I don’t dare fucking entertain that thought much less hope for it, though. Everleigh James has never given me any reason to think she’d be interested inmore. In fact, I’ve never been friend-zoned for so hard by another woman as I have with her. So, I shove the fleeting fantasy deep down with all the rest and feed Birdie more pellets.
I need to focus on getting the alpaca loaded up and Everleigh back inside where no one else can see her half-naked body.
“Fine,” Everleigh finally relents, placing the leash in my open palm. Her fingertips brush my skin, sending instant jolts of electricity straight up my arm. “But I’m only caving to save your precious reputation. Wouldn’t want a scandal so close to your reelection now, would we?”
Her teasing will be the fucking death of me. I want to tell her how big a scandal the two of us could really make in this town. But I swallow the urge as I have so many times before and instead focus on the task at hand.
“She’s in good hands, Ev,” I promise, leading Birdie away with another handful of pellets. Thankfully the alpaca doesn’t seem to mind being parted from her new friend and comes with me easily enough.
“Where are you taking her?” Everleigh calls from the garage as I open the back door of my truck and toss in a few alfalfa pellets on the hard seat. I’m not equipped to haul her in the bed of my truck. I won’t risk Birdie getting hurt during an escape attempt before we get to Stone Ranch. Considering she managed to find her way back to Emerald Creek on her own, the alpaca is obviously resourceful.
Birdie hops in, as though she’s always ridden in the back seat. Hell, knowing Walter, maybe she has.
“Go back inside,” I call back to Everleigh, exasperated as hell with the stubborn woman. She could give a man a heart attack if he caught an unsuspecting glimpse of her in that state. She’s not just sexy in her pink pajama set, she’s heart-stoppingly beautiful. Something I suspect she doesn’t seem to know about herself.
Fuck, if only things were different, I’d tell her every day.
“Is she going to be okay?” Everleigh calls back to me.
Ignoring her question in hopes she’ll give up and go back inside before the approaching car gets too close, I pull my phone from my back pocket.
With arms folded over her chest, she stubbornly stares at me for several long seconds before finally throwing her hands up and marching back inside. Just in time for Todd Bowler to drive down Ponderosa Lane. I send my former history teacher a wave and silently thank the fucking gods he didn’t catch a glimpse of Everleigh in her near naked state of undress. He might’ve crashed into a mailbox if he did.
It’s not rational to feel that the only person who should see her that way is me.
She doesn’t belong to me.
She could.
I shake the too-frequent thought away, searching for my sister’s number and hitting the call button, hoping she answers.
Ever since Macy moved in with Ryder a few weeks ago, she’s been hard to reach. If she’s not working, she’s with my best friend. But until I can figure out where Birdie escaped from and if she should go back, I’m hoping the alpaca can stay at Stone Ranch. Macy will be honest with me about whether they can accommodate her stay, unlike Paps who says yes to every misfit who needs a place to go. The Stone brothers and my sister areworking hard to turn the ranch in an official nonprofit animal rescue, but until that’s all settled, they’re limited on the help they can realistically offer to additional animals.
“Hey, Wyatt,” Macy answers brightly. “What’s up?”
“You at the ranch today?” A few weeks ago, my sister was offered a position at the local veterinarian clinic, which is one of the reasons she so readily agreed to move back to Montana despite her plans in Colorado. That, and she fell in love with my best friend. Macy also volunteers her free time at the ranch, helping Paps—Ryder’s grandfather—with the collection of animals he keeps, so it’s a toss up where she is at any given moment.
