Sealed With A Kiss: Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild, page 15
Donovan nodded. “I know. I feel like we’re up to it.”
“We?” Griffin asked. “Are you including yourself in that? Like if we had a tiger, you might stick around?”
Donovan blew out a breath. He focused back on the tiger. It wasn’t just the idea of having a tiger here. It was everything. The work they did here mattered. Whether they were rescuing a tiger or a donkey, all the animals deserved to be cared for and he loved doing it with these people. In all his travels around the world working with animal advocacy groups, he’d never felt as much a part of the team as he did here.
Finally, he said, “I don’t know. I…have a job offer. In the Galapagos Islands. A documentary.”
Griffin turned to face him more fully.
“That sounds perfect for you.”
Donovan nodded. “Yeah. It would be.”
Griffin nodded. “I’m really proud of the work you do, Donovan. Wherever you do it.”
Donovan felt his throat tighten. “Thanks.” That was really all he’d ever wanted—to make Griffin feel like his sacrifices for Donovan had been worthwhile.
“But, if the park is going to keep growing like this, we could really use some extra help. I mean, obviously, some days it’s just somebody to help feed the animals and check in on them and do some enclosure repairs and things like that, but there are definitely times when having a rehab expert on staff would be really helpful,” Griffin said. “Plus, the work you’re doing here with the animals that you rehabilitate and release is really awesome. It’s not like there won’t be a continued need for that. So, think about it.”
Donovan felt emotion tighten his chest. Stay here with Griffin? And Naomi? “Yeah, you’re right.”
“Will it be enough for you?” Charlie asked. “Exciting enough? I mean, we can’t guarantee tigers and seals every day.” She grinned.
“Yeah, but beavers and black bears are cool,” Donovan said. “And honestly, even rescuing the cats and dogs yesterday felt damned good.”
Griffin suddenly gave him a big smile and Donovan knew that at his age and maturity level he shouldn’t care so much about his brother approving of him, but he did, dammit.
“We would love to have you stay,” Griffin said. “Working with you these last few months has been really amazing. You’re great at what you do, Donovan. If you want to stay here in Autre, we’re all for it.”
Charlie was nodding enthusiastically. “Really. It would be so great to have you here and have the family all together all the time.”
For a second, Donovan was unable to take a deep breath. He and Griffin hadn’t had a family in a long time. The two of them had tried as best they could, but they hadn’t been that good at rebuilding after their parents died. They’d just barely hung on. But now here in Autre, it felt like maybe they had a chance at truly being a family again.
Finally he managed to nod. He cleared his throat. “Okay, I will definitely give it some thought.” He glanced at the tiger, blinking rapidly. “And I’ll look into the paperwork for this big guy.”
“While you’re at it, might as well ask about having harbor seals too. I don’t think that guy’s gonna be able to go back into the wild,” Griffin said.
“No?” Donovan frowned. “We’ll have to take him back up the coast somewhere.” Harbor seals weren’t found in the Gulf. “But once he’s strong enough to swim and hunt you don’t think he can go back out?”
“I think he’s blind in one eye. Maybe both,” Griffin told him.
“Really?”
Griffin nodded. “We’ll watch him. Test him. But yeah, I think maybe so. It’s possibly why the guy was able to buy him? Or maybe an injury caused it. Either way, if he’s blind, he’ll be at risk in the wild.”
Donovan nodded. “Damn.” He looked at Charlie. “Think Zeke and Mitch can build a permanent seal enclosure?”
She grinned. “I’m sure of it.”
“Do we have funds for that?” Running an animal park, especially one that kept growing, wasn’t cheap.
“We have a donor who seems to always know when we need something,” Charlie said with a sly smile. “I’m not worried.”
“Wait, we do?” Donovan asked. “For real?”
Charlie shrugged. “Yep. That’s how we built this place.” She gestured to indicate the rehab facility.
“I thought Jason Young’s donation built this.”
“It did some of it, but we ran low before it was done. This person found out and we had a donation within a couple of days.”
“And we really have no idea who it is?”
Charlie tipped her head. “I think you do know who it is.”
Donovan started to shake his head, but froze. It clicked into place a second later. “Nae.”
Charlie nodded.
He wasn’t sure he would have put it together if she hadn’t told him about being a TV star. He wouldn’t have realized she had that kind of money. But it made complete sense. “Wow. I’m…”
“She won’t want you to make a big deal out of it,” Charlie said. “She knows what you’re doing with the money. She’s seen it up close, obviously. That’s enough. She knows you’re thankful.”
He nodded. That sounded like Naomi for sure. “I get it.”
“Oh my gosh, this is great!” Charlie suddenly skipped forward and grabbed Donovan in a big hug, squeezing him tightly. “I’m so happy you’re thinking about staying.”
Donovan hugged her back, feeling his throat tighten. He’d never had a sister. Griffin was his only sibling, but now he had an almost sister-in-law who was impossible not to love. And she came with an entire crazy family.
And don’t forget the extended family.
The LeClaires.
Naomi’s family.
The goddess.
They were going to need to have a talk. If he stayed, that would change everything.
Naomi wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but she’d been watching the door anxiously waiting for Donovan to step into Ellie’s. When he did, she’d expected to feel relieved and happy. She always felt those two things when she saw him.
This time though she felt like her heart flipped so hard she got a little lightheaded and her entire body got warm.
Dammit, girl, get a grip.
It was the sex. It had to be that she’d had sex with him, right?
But a second later she realized that wasn’t it.
It was how happy he looked.
He had showered and changed clothes and he looked ridiculously hot in his jeans and navy blue t-shirt. And that was about the sex. Jeans and t-shirts were nothing new. Knowing full well what was inside those jeans and that t-shirt was, however.
But mostly she noticed that he looked happy. Incredibly happy. He was with Griffin and Charlie and was grinning and laughing and then, to make the I’m-flushed-and-dizzy feeling worse, he caught her eye and gave her a wink.
A stupid wink and she was all aflutter. What the hell?
It was too crowded and loud for anyone to have noticed the wink, thankfully. Or for her to respond to it in any way, fortunately.
Sawyer, Bennett, Mitch, and Zeke were back, having headed home from Alabama after a final massive sweep of Mobile had turned up no additional needs for evacuations. They’d rolled into town about thirty minutes ago and had all just stored their things, showered, and headed straight to Ellie’s for food.
They were all gathered around the table and Rosalie was helping Cora and Ellie bring out platters and bowls full of gumbo, fried plantains, pikliz, macaroni au gratin, grilled fish, and the black mushroom rice, diri djon djon.
Unfortunately, or possibly fortunately, there was no seat right next to Naomi, so Donovan was four chairs down on her left. Naomi was next to Jordan who wanted to know every detail about her time with the Cajun Navy and the big seal rescue.
Apparently, the seal rescue had made it on the news already down in Alabama and the clip had been shared on YouTube for all the world to see. Everyone in Autre had already seen it.
“Oh my God, you both looked amazing,” Paige told them. “I immediately called home and told everyone to look at the clip and that I know you both. I can’t believe we now have a seal, a tiger, and a zebra. I can’t believe this is where I live.”
“It’s about fucking time we have a zebra,” Zeke said. “I built that barn and pen months ago.”
Jill looked at him. “Zebras can be real dicks, you know.”
“I’ve heard. But real dicks will fit right in around here,” Zeke said.
He plucked the last of the fried plantains from the plate right in front of Zander.
“Yeah, no kidding.” Zander looked at his twin. “I thought you guys were going to be gone for a few more days. I barely had a chance to stuff myself full of Rosalie’s food without you all sitting around hogging it.”
“Yeah, well, we were actually doing stuff that would work up an appetite,” Owen told him. “We weren’t just sittin’ around up here, tellin’ fishin’ tall tales and being doted on by the sweet grandmas of Autre.”
“I suppose that means I’m not one of the sweet ones, since I was with you in Alabama?” Ellie asked, leaning in to set another bowl of pikliz on the table.
Owen took a big bite of Rosalie’s macaroni and cheese that was a Haitian specialty and so far beyond regular mac and cheese it almost didn’t count. He chewed and nodded. “Pretty much.”
Ellie looked relieved as she turned to Tori and took baby Ella into her arms. She smiled at the baby and started swaying with her as the little girl gazed up at her. “Thank God. I thought maybe I was gettin’ soft.”
Owen snorted. “Don’t let that sappy, sweet smile fool ya, Ella,” he told his niece. “Just wait ’til you carry a puppy in here and ask her if you can feed it some scraps, then you’ll see how mean she gets. To you and the puppy.”
“That ‘puppy’ was a baby alligator,” Ellie told him. “And ‘it’ was six of them. And you put them down in the center of the bar in the middle of the lunch crowd.”
“I was like two! I didn’t know the difference!” Owen said, grinning widely.
“You were eight and did it on a dare from Josh,” Ellie told him. She looked down at Ella. “All you need to know is that I always know everything that’s going on and you’ll never get away with anything.” Then she cuddled the baby closer and made her way over to the bar to show her off to people she wasn’t related to.
“I’ll have you know, Knox and Josh and I had been cleaning this whole town up while you were all galivanting over state lines,” Zander said. “Being good citizens right here at home and all that.”
Naomi laughed at that. She knew very well that Zander, Knox, and Josh would have been right beside the rest of them in Alabama if they could have been.
“I’ll give that to Josh,” Owen said. “But you and Knox are paid to be good citizens. Our tax money at work.” He popped another bite of cheesy macaroni into his mouth.
“Now, now,” Rosalie set a fresh plate of fried plantains down right in front of Zander. “No need to fight over the food. There’s plenty.”
Naomi took in her grandmother’s happy glow. She loved cooking for the family and she considered all of these people part of her circle too.
Naomi loved this part of her life. Where she just sat back and watched everyone interacting and listened to all of them being crazy and loud and loving and fun.
“I have all the paperwork ready for you guys,” Fiona said, coming in through the back door, waving a stack of papers. “I also have a friend who is going to rush it all through for you. The animals are all good to stay here if you want them. That asshole is actually going to be doing jail time too.” She looked thrilled by that.
“We definitely want them,” Charlie said.
“Fuck yeah, we want them,” Zeke agreed.
“I need to talk to you,” Knox said, stretching to his feet.
Fiona looked up at him. “All of these animals have been rescued and need a new home. All the paperwork and licensing will be in place.”
“Not about the animals.”
She frowned at him. “You sound grumpy.”
“I always sound grumpy.”
“Well not always,” she told him with a tone that caught everyone’s attention.
Suddenly the entire table was quiet and watching and listening to them. Owen even put down his fork and Zeke didn’t even notice that Zander took a plantain off Zeke’s plate.
Knox cleared his throat. “We need to talk,” he repeated. “In private.”
Several eyebrows went up around the table.
“In a bit. I need to go over some details with these guys.”
“That can wait.” Knox wrapped his big hand around her upper arm and started tugging her toward the front door.
“Knox,” Fiona protested, though she made no move to shrug out of his hold. “I was going to come over later.”
Yeah, everyone made note of that too.
Naomi shot Jill, Jordan, then Charlie a look.
Their eyes were all wide. And very interested.
Knox stopped walking, then frowned down at her.
Instead of saying anything, however, he leaned over, wrapped a big arm around her waist and picked her up. He was over a foot taller than she was, so her feet dangled several inches off the ground as he carried her toward the front door.
She just sighed and waved to everyone. “I guess we’ll talk about the permits later.”
There were several beats of silence after the door closed behind them.
Finally Owen let out a long, “Daaaa-yum.”
Fletcher coughed. “Should we…someone…go rescue her?”
Zeke looked around the table. “I’m thinking since we haven’t heard any howls of pain from the parking lot indicating that she’s ripped his balls off, she’s okay with what just happened?”
Charlie looked confused but she nodded. “She definitely seemed okay.”
Jill was the only one who didn’t look shocked. She sipped from her sweet tea, then said smugly, “Told you they didn’t just go out for ice cream when she brought us the flamingos.”
Sawyer shook his head. “Maybe we don’t want the details.”
“Oh, I really want the details,” Zeke said.
“Same,” Zander agreed.
“I think—” Owen started.
But he was cut off by a loud, “Hello, Autre, Louisiana!”
They all pivoted again toward the front door.
A small crowd of tourists had just come through the door. But they looked completely at ease having the attention of every person inside Ellie’s trained on them.
“Dax!”
Suddenly Paige was up and out of her chair and running across the room.
Mitch was also up, grinning widely, and making his way toward the group.
“Who the hell—” Sawyer started.
“Holy shit.” Owen turned to Zeke and Zander. “Is that Oliver Caprinelli?”
“It looks like him,” Zander agreed, pivoting on his seat to get a better look.
“Paige knows him,” Zeke said. “He lives in her hometown now. He’s married to one of her best friends.”
“That’s definitely him,” Jordan said. “And that’s Dax Marshall.”
“Who is Oliver Caprinelli?” Sawyer asked.
Zeke and Zander both turned to stare at him at the same time.
Sawyer frowned at them. “What?”
“He is only the creator and writer of the world’s best video game,” Zeke told him.
Zander nodded. “You’ve never heard of Warriors of Easton?”
Sawyer gave him a look. “No. Because I’m a grown man.”
“Whatever. It is the most fun you can have on your couch by yourself.”
“Not sure that tagline is one they’ll appreciate.”
“Actually, that is one of their taglines,” Zander told him. “And the dude’s a millionaire. I’m guessing he knows a little bit more about it than you do.”
“So this videogame guy is a celebrity to you?” Sawyer said.
“He’s a celebrity to a lot of people. He’s got a huge online following and practically gets mobbed at Comic-Con,” Zander told him.
“You know. Between Jason Young being from just the next town over, and Donovan Foster working here, and now this videogame guy visiting, there’s a lot of famous people hanging out in Autre,” Jill commented.
“Well, pseudo-famous,” Owen said. “Except for Jason Young. He’s legit famous.” He shot Fletcher a grin.
Even though Fletcher and Jordan had been married for a few months now, it still never got old for Fletcher’s brothers and cousins to give him shit about Jordan’s ex being a country music mega-star.
“Yeah, just imagine what I’ve got going for me to have stolen her away from him,” Fletcher said, cracking his knuckles and linking his fingers behind his head.
Jordan patted his chest as they all laughed at that.
“Jordan, love! I’m here!”
Jordan looked across the bar and waved. She grinned at Fletcher. “Gotta go.”
She crossed the room and was enfolded in a huge hug by one of the very good looking, apparently pseudo-famous, millionaires who had just breezed into Ellie’s.
Owen looked at Fletcher. “You were saying?”
Fletcher sighed. “Jordan and Dax have an alpaca obsession in common.”
“I thought he was into videogames,” Sawyer said.
“He also owns the nursing home back in Iowa,” Fletcher said watching Jordan and Dax laugh and chat a few feet away. “He’s been using alpacas as therapy animals with the older population in a lot of the same ways Jordan’s been using the alpacas with kids. Paige introduced them online and they’ve been chatting about their programs.”
“Geez, man, he’s good looking, rich, created a kickass videogame, and also loves alpacas. I’d be worried,” Owen told his cousin.
Fletcher rolled his eyes. “Sure, if good looks, charm, shared interests, and tons of money are the way to get women.”
They all laughed. Naomi knew that Fletcher wasn’t a bit worried about losing Jordan to Dax Marshall or anyone else. Still, she felt inclined to say, “I think you’re safe. Dax is happily married to the gorgeous redhead right there.”
