Flipping Love You by Erin Nicholas

8

Everyone in the place looked over and when they realized there was a stranger standing in the room, they all got quiet.

Yep, she was from a small town all right. This was exactly what happened when people walked into Parker’s café or Blissfully Baked—where they sold pie, not weed—in downtown Bliss.

“Morning, everyone,” Zeke greeted the room.

His hand came to rest on Jill’s lower back and he nudged her again, making her step forward. She took a few steps and found that he was steering her between the tables toward the back of the room even as he chatted and greeted people along the way.

None of that surprised her, of course. What was astonishing, however, were the people who greeted her. By name.

She glanced up at Zeke.

And caught him pointing at the top of her head and mouthing, “Penguin girl.”

“Penguin girl?” she repeated.

He didn’t look even slightly sheepish. “Veterinarian is harder to lip read.”

She rolled her eyes. Then turned back to the room and raised her hand in a wave. And her voice. “Hi, everyone. Yes, I’m the penguin girl. My name is Jill. They will be here on Thursday. They’re absolutely as cute as you think they are. But no, you can’t visit them. For a while.”

She added that last part without thinking. She should not have said that.

Everyone took in the information, nodded, and went back to their breakfasts.

Geez. Small towns.

Zeke pinched her side. “Just like home?”

“So much.”

“What are we having this time?” the older woman behind the bar called.

She had long silver hair that was braided and fell nearly all the way down her back. She had tanned skin like that of someone who’d spent years outdoors in this hot Louisiana sun. And she had a bright smile.

“This time?” Jill asked.

“I was in here earlier. Right after I rolled out of bed.” He gave her a grin. “Bragging about my amazing night.”

“So you did brag to your friends.”

“Told you I would.” He gave her a hot, if slightly amused look. Then he glanced toward the bar. “Eggs Benedict and hash browns, I’m thinking,” Zeke told the woman.

Jill looked up at him. “Really?”

“Cora’s hash browns are amazing.”

“I just told you that I wanted cereal and I didn’t like spending a lot of time on meals and you ordered eggs Benedict?”

“I figure if I’m gonna convince you that taking your time with meals is worthwhile, I’d better give you some of the best food you can get,” Zeke told her. He pulled out a chair at one of two long tables at the very back of the room and nudged her into it.

There were already people sitting at the tables. They looked over and smiled, but they didn’t even pause their conversation as Zeke and Jill joined them.

Zeke dropped into the chair next to her and leaned back, stretching his arm out over the back of her chair and crossing one ankle over his opposite knee. He was the epitome of relaxed and laid back.

Eggs Benedict was brunch food, dammit.

How had this happened?

Last night she’d been walking back to her motel room from the convenience store with pistachios and a Diet Dr. Pepper. Now, less than twelve hours later, she’d had the best sex of her life, found out that her house contractor was the same guy who built the penguin habitat, who was also her neighbor, who was also the guy she had that hot sex with, and she was now basically at brunch.

“Rock-paper-scissors continues to be the only fair way to do this,” one of the men sitting at the table with them said.

Jill instantly realized that this was Zeke’s twin brother. They were clearly identical twins. Even down to the long hair. His twin had his pulled back into a bun at the back of his head. He was also obviously a cop. He was in his uniform as he lounged at the table.

Zeke leaned over. “Zander, my brother,” he said softly.

Zander didn’t have the same tattoos in the same places on his arms, and he didn’t have a glint of gold in his earlobe, but he was incredibly good-looking, with his dark eyes, beard, and muscles. And yes, what they said about men in uniform was true. They were hot. Period.

Of course, that seemed to be a regular thing around here.

Michael, the handsome paramedic from last night was there too. Also in uniform. He gave Jill a smile and a wink.

And sitting next to him was freaking Donovan Foster.

Jill sucked in a quick breath and then realized she’d sat up straighter. She swallowed hard and sat back.

Zeke chuckled beside her. “I’m guessing you know who Foster is?”

“I, um…yeah.”

She didn’t watch much TV but when she did—big surprise—she tended toward nature shows, particularly ones that featured wild animals. It was no coincidence that one of her favorites had been hosted by Griffin’s brother, Donovan.

She hadn’t known about Donovan Foster or his show until she’d met Griffin, but once he’d spilled the beans about his TV-star brother, she’d checked him out and had been hooked.

Donovan had moved from that show to a series that was specifically produced for the internet, but she’d followed him there as well and found him charming and engaging and knowledgeable.

Griffin had mentioned on one of their recent phone calls that Donovan had been to Autre a few times and was actually hanging out now for an extended period and rehabilitating some wildlife right there in Autre. Jill couldn’t deny that she’d been excited to potentially meet him and talk about their shared passion.

She’d had no idea she might be sitting at brunch with him though.

“I can’t believe—” Zeke started.

“Shh,” she said quickly. “Don’t make a big deal out of it.” She frowned at him. “No mouthing anything.”

“He’s done something with penguins?”

“Yeah. A couple of times.”

Zeke grinned.

“I can’t believe I did rock-paper-scissors even once. This is not going to be a regular thing,” the man at the end of the table said.

He was even bigger than Zeke. He was wide and clearly taller. He also had longer hair, but it was loose and brushed the collar of his button-down shirt. His beard was longer and thicker and though his shirtsleeves were rolled up to his elbows, there was no evidence of any ink, at least on his forearms. He was in dress pants and wore glasses. He had a bad-boy-turned-hot-nerd thing going on.

“And that’s Knox, our city manager,” Zeke said in Jill’s ear.

He did not look like a city manager.

“It’s only fair,” Zander insisted.

“I don’t think it has to be fair. We just need to decide whose job this is going to be and that person needs to go do it. And I know it’s not mine,” Knox said.

“People can’t be calling 9-1-1 for goats,” Michael said. He was sitting much the way Zeke was, with his ankle crossed over his opposite knee. His left hand cradled the cup of coffee and he seemed mildly amused by the whole conversation.

“They’re not my job either,” the woman at the table said. “They’re not exactly wildlife.” She had long light brown hair that was pulled into a ponytail, though the ponytail holder was slipping down partway and her hair was hanging loose. She wore a green polo shirt that read Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries on the left side and khaki pants.

“Bailey,” Zeke said to Jill.

“What about you?” Knox said to Donovan.

Donovan looked up from his plate. “What about me?”

Jill worked on looking totally casual about listening to Donovan Foster talk in person over breakfast.

“You could take care of the goats,” Knox said.

“Definitely,” Michael agreed. “You look a little like Griffin and are way more charming. The goats might like you even better than him if they get to know you.”

Jill wasn’t really following this conversation, but goats seemed to be a common thing around this town.

“Yeah, and you’re an animal lover,” Zander said, sitting forward. “We can get you a special cell phone and number. People can call straight to you. It’ll be the Goat Hotline.”

“It’ll be like the Bat Signal,” Michael said. “We’ll even let you wear a cape.”

“With a big goat head on the back,” Zander added.

Donovan swallowed the bite he’d taken, wiped his mouth, pushed his empty plate away, and sat back in his chair. “I’ll do it.”

The people around the table looked surprised. Knox was the first to respond. “Awesome. I’ll look into the—”

“On one condition,” Donovan added.

Knox sighed. “Why is there always a condition?”

“Because grown men don’t go around chasing goats down Main Street USA, unless there’s a very good reason,” Donovan said.

“But they do go around chasing giant salamanders?” Zander asked.

“Of course. Giant salamanders are cool. And there was a very good reason…I was getting paid by a television network for that,” Donovan said with a grin.

“Still starstruck?” Zeke whispered to Jill. “The guy plays with salamanders.”

“Shh,” she hissed.

Of course she was still starstruck. Donovan Foster had rescued a baby elephant from poachers and a tiger from big game hunters. And those were just two episodes of his show. She could overlook giant slimy amphibians. Probably.

But Zeke Landry’s index finger stroking up and down the outside of her arm was very distracting and she was now envisioning Donovan in a cape. And it wasn’t doing anything for her.

“So what’s this ‘very good reason’ you need?” Knox asked.

“There’s one thing I’ve never done with my brand,” Donovan said.

Zander and Knox rolled their eyes simultaneously.

Donovan just waited until he had their full attention again.

“Main Street USA,” Donovan went on. “I’ve been talking to Charlie and Jordan—”

Now Zander and Knox both sighed.

Again Donovan waited.

“Okay, let’s hear it,” Knox said, rotating his hand in a ‘come on’ motion.

“As you know,” Donovan said, “the ladies are big on helping the visitors to the petting zoo understand that there are interesting animals living all around them in their own backyards. That while visiting petting zoos and interesting places like the bayou is great, it’s also important to understand the wildlife where they live and what they can do to protect the ecosystems right around them. Getting involved locally is a fantastic way to make advocates and activists on a larger scale down the road.”

Zander was staring at him. “That wasn’t even a prepared speech, was it? You talk like that all the time?”

“Well…” Donovan looked from Zander to Michael to Knox. “Yeah.”

“So what do you want in exchange for being our local goat herder?” Knox asked.

“A show.”

“You have a show.”

“Another show.”

“So do a show. The internet is free.” Then Knox looked around the table. “It is free to put stuff like his show up on the internet right?”

“Jesus,” Zander muttered. “What do you want, Donovan?”

“Money to advertise the show with online ads.”

“From the city?” Knox asked. “That would take a whole budget amendment. The Council would have to get involved. I’d have to—”

“I don’t care where you get it,” Donovan interrupted. “Have a car wash. Pass the hat at the next crawfish boil. Whatever.”

Knox blew out a breath. “Maybe I’ll just keep going to get the goats.”

Finally, Zeke asked, “What the hell is going on?”

Jill tried not to be grateful he’d asked. But she kind of wanted to know now too. Dammit.

Michael looked over. “Just discussing what to do about our friendly neighborhood goat gang and Benny.”

“Again? Already?” Zeke asked.

“This morning.”

“Where did Benny take them this time?”

“The Methodist Church,” Michael said. “Right into the sanctuary too. The door was propped open because the cleaning ladies were there.”

“And four people showed up here with their bingo cards all at the same time so Ellie and Cora had to give out beer and fried pickles at nine a.m.,” Zander added with a grin.

Zeke laughed. “And which of you got the call?”

They all looked at Knox. Who gave a heavy sigh as if he was very put upon.

“Why are they his problem?”

Jill was as startled as anyone to hear her voice ask the question.

They all looked at her in surprise.

Zeke recovered first. “These four—” He pointed to Knox, Zander, Bailey, and Michael. “All get the calls at different times. And they rock-paper-scissors to see who has to actually handle it. They are all public servants—”

The public servants all rolled their eyes.

“So we all think it makes sense. Zander is the sheriff, Michael is fire chief, and Bailey is with Wildlife and Fisheries. And then Knox gets all the random calls when people don’t know who else to call.”

“Or when they don’t want to deal with Zander,” Michael said.

They all nodded their agreement. Including Zander.

“I work very hard to make it so people never really want to deal with me,” Zander said. “That way the calls I get are actually important.”

“It was Pastor Carson who called this morning,” Bailey said. “So Knox couldn’t swear at him.”

“I never swear at citizens calling my office for help,” Knox said.

“Not out loud anyway,” Zander said.

Knox didn’t deny that.

“I guess he knew better than to call 9-1-1 for it and figured the city manager’s office would be able to handle it,” Michael said.

“Sure, goat herding is right in my job description. Page three, paragraph two.” Knox’s tone was dry.

“But you did take care of it,” Bailey said with a laugh. “They call you because you always take care of everything. They all know very well that eighty percent of what they call you about is not your job, but you’ll get it done.”

“What was I supposed to do?” Knox asked. “I can’t call any of you because you’ll tell me it’s not your job. If I call Griffin, he’ll just tell me they’re not his goats. I can’t call Fletcher when he’s at school. He can’t leave a classroom of third graders. And Jordan will just say Benny’s doing her job and what a good girl she is.”

“Jordan’s great with alpacas, but the goats don’t listen to her worth a shit anyway,” Zander said.

They all nodded at that as well.

“You could call Tori or Josh or Sawyer or Maddie about the goats,” Bailey said. “They are their goats.”

“I’m not calling Tori about the goats,” Knox said with a sigh. “She’s got a newborn and…”

Bailey leaned in. “And what?”

The big guy shrugged. “It’s Tori.”

“And she’s so sweet that you wouldn’t want to upset her by being upset about her goats,” Bailey filled in, with a knowing smile.

Knox rolled his eyes, but he didn’t deny it. So, the grumpy guy had a soft side.

The rest of them laughed.

“Why not call Sawyer or Maddie or Owen?” Zander asked.

“They’re always out on the bayou. What are they supposed to do? Turn around with a boat full of tourists to come back to deal with the damned goats?”

“Good point.” Bailey gave Zander a look and they both grinned.

Knox was clearly put out, but he was also reasonable about the whole thing. “She never herds them back to the barn.”

“Are these the same goats Zeke tried to kill last night?” Jill asked.

“They are,” Michael confirmed.

“Were you just waiting for Benny to show up to take care of the goats?” Jill asked Zeke.

She felt his fingers grab the tips of her ponytail and give a playful tug, but he answered, “I saw something dart out in front of me and I swerved to miss it.”

“But once you knew it was a goat, and that there were more of them, you were thinking Benny would come and round them up so you didn’t have to actually take them back to the barn, right?” Jill asked.

“I figured she’d already herded them to the motel, actually.”

“And you were just going to let her keep them there until the motel manager called Knox?”

The big man growled.

“I had a concussion,” Zeke said quickly.

Jill lifted a brow. “Are you saying that the concussion influenced all of your actions last night and that you can’t be held responsible for anything you did?”

He gave her a slow grin. “Oh no, things cleared up nicely after I got that ibuprofen from you.”

She returned the grin. Then realized the entire table was watching them.

With interest.

And that Michael knew at least enough of the story—like the part where Zeke had gone back to her room with her—to make them even more interested.

“So if the goats keep getting out, why would you not just fix the gates and the pen?” Jill asked, trying to change the subject.

They all laughed.

“We’ve definitely tried that. There’s one goat who always can figure a way out though,” Bailey said.

“We don’t call him Satan for nothing,” Zander said.

“You call him Satan?” Jill asked. Wow, none of these people were very nice to goats.

“We definitely call him Satan,” Knox said.

“But the girls decided that was mean, so they make everyone call him Stan,” Bailey said.

Jill looked at Zeke. “The girls?”

“Tori, Maddie, and Juliet, my cousins’ wives, and Kennedy, one of my cousins.”

Yeah, this place was a lot like Bliss. Everyone was related to everyone else.

“Don’t worry, you’ll meet them all soon enough,” Zeke said.

Worried wasn’t exactly what she was feeling. More like exasperated. Already.

But if these people were one big happy, boisterous family, and Griffin was a part of it because of Charlie and his partner, Tori, Jill realized that avoiding all of this would take some work.

It was definitely one reason she’d liked living in a bigger city. The bigger the place, the more anonymous you could be and the more your business stayed your own. Small talk and gossip and just hanging around seemed like such a waste of time. Didn’t these people know the planet was dying around them?

The climate was changing, water levels were rising, and entire animal species were edging closer and closer to extinction.

She knew from experience that it could be difficult to make people understand how penguins that lived almost entirely on an island just north of the equator had anything to do with their own lives. But that was one of the beauties of the work that zoos did.

Initially, Jill had thought she would travel the world and literally get her hands on penguins in their natural habitats. But as she’d grown up and learned more, she realized that zoos, animal parks, and preserves did a lot of important educational work as well. These relatively small groups of humans who cared about the animals directly weren’t big enough to save them by themselves. Larger groups had to become interested.

Jill took a deep breath. She knew she sometimes let her passions and personal mission cause her to judge other human beings and how they chose to spend their time and resources. It was part of the reason she’d chosen to bring the penguins to Autre versus anywhere else.

She knew Griffin. She knew Donovan’s reputation. She’d also met Griffin’s friend Fiona who ran a large animal park in Florida. She knew they were all passionate about wildlife and conservation efforts. If she was going to immerse herself in this penguin project, she was going to need like-minded people around her. Who wouldn’t think she was entirely crazy.

She glanced at the hot tattooed guy next to her, who had already gotten her off track and had her sitting in a rundown restaurant by the bayou waiting for a brunch she didn’t want instead of talking about her new penguin habitat. And she realized that perhaps he wasn’t someone she should spend a lot of time with.

That was too bad. He was not just hot, but funny, charming, and sweet. He’d kept her from panicking about the alligator in her yard, and he’d remodeled her bathroom and bedroom in the old house even when she hadn’t returned his emails.

“Come on, let’s just rock-paper-scissors this thing and get it over with,” Bailey said. “If it ends up being my job today, I need to get the goats back home so I can get out and check on the alligator nuisance call from yesterday.”

“You do alligator nuisance calls?” Jill asked.

“I’m the one people call if there’s an alligator some place they shouldn’t be.”

“There was an alligator in my backyard this morning,” Jill said. “Zeke took care of it, but I’d love to have your phone number for next time.”

“Your backyard?” Bailey said.

“She’s the one I’m remodeling Mary’s house for.”

Bailey’s eyes went round. “So you two are neighbors now.”

Jill nodded. “Evidently. Who’s Mary?” she asked Zeke.

“Mary was one of my grandfather’s sisters. That was her house until she passed a few years back.”

“So I’m living in one of your family homes?” Jill asked. “Are you sure that’s all right?”

“There are still a couple houses available for anyone else who needs one. But everybody’s pretty taken care of right now. And you saw the place. It was definitely the one that needed the most work.”

Jill rolled her eyes. “I’m going to need to have a talk with my realtor.”

Zeke laughed. “We told Stuart that he’d get free bread pudding for the next two months if he talked you into the house.”

“You knew you had to bribe the realtor to sell that place?”

“We honestly did not think that he would manage it.” Zander said. “Then again, we expected most people to check the house out before they bought it.”

“Guess we didn’t expect the new penguin veterinarian to be quite so low maintenance,” Zeke agreed.

She didn’t really have a response to that. After all, it was her fault she’d ended up with a house that needed renovation from basement to attic.

“Anyway, I’m happy to give you my number if you ever need anything,” Bailey said. “But I have to warn you, your backyard isn’t officially a place we would remove an alligator from.”

“What do you mean?” Jill asked, suddenly concerned.

“Your backyard is basically part of the bayou. The alligators are protected there. That’s their natural habitat.”

“So you’re saying that when people in other parts of town call you to remove an alligator, you technically bring it to my backyard,” Jill said.

“Kind of,” Bailey admitted. “Not actually, of course. All of that land is private Landry property, so the state wouldn’t be able to relocate an animal there. However, it is protected land and while the Landry family can do most anything they want with it, there are a few rules they have to follow.”

Zeke’s hand moved from the back of her chair to the spot on Jill’s upper back between her shoulder blades.

His big palm covered the entire space and she immediately felt the heat soaking in through her shirt. The heavy, warm touch was actually comforting. She took a deep breath and looked at him.

“Bailey can’t, in her official capacity, come and remove your alligators. But I’m right next door and I’m happy to take care of anything you need.”

Zander laughed and Michael gave a short cough.

Jill rolled her eyes. “I’m going to remember that, and I assume that comes with a twenty-four seven offer. So even if there’s a need at three a.m., you’re happy to answer my call.”

Zeke’s grin grew. “I’ll give you a key. You don’t even have to call.”

“I’ll have the Bat phone, you know,” Donovan inserted. “Well, the goat phone. You can call me too.”

“You’re taking the phone?” Knox said. “I didn’t agree to any online marketing budget for your Wildlife on Main Street show.”

“Wildlife on Main Street,” Donovan repeated. Then he said, “Or Going Wild on Main Street. Ties in with Gone Wild.”

“Anyway, I didn’t agree to that,” Knox said.

“Yet,” Donovan added.

“You sure about that yet?” Knox asked.

“There is a Methodist church full of goats right now that you are either going to have to take care of or put up with Zander bitching about having to take care of,” Donovan said. “And those goats have definitely pooped by those pews by now.”

“Puts a whole new spin on ‘holy shit’,” Bailey quipped. The guys groaned as she got up from her chair with a little laugh. “Okay, I seriously have to get to work. I would certainly assume that the town cop, fire chief, and city manager would also have more to do.” She looked at each of the men pointedly.

“Fine. Go. Leave us with the goat shit,” Zander grumped. “Seems about right that this is what my career has been reduced to.”

“You left the force in New Orleans,” Michael pointed out. “You knew what being the sheriff in this part of the world would be like.”

Bailey took a couple of steps but grimaced and limped on her one foot as she rounded the edge of the table.

“I take it you saw Chase this past weekend?” Zeke asked.

“Good thing he’s in medical school,” Bailey said with a nod.

Jill sent Zeke a questioning look. Then regretted it. She didn’t care who Chase was. Well, she shouldn’t. He was one more person in this huge list of people that seemed to interact on a regular basis around here.

But she was curious, she had to admit.

“Chase is Bailey’s fiancé. He’s at medical school in D.C. They are both perfectly normal, successful, competent people. When they’re apart. But whenever they’re together, they are accident-prone, klutzy, and one or both of them ends up bruised, bleeding, or limping.”

Jill’s eyes widened and she looked at Bailey. In spite of not wanting to be interested in the stories that seemed to be swirling just under the surface with this group she was.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

Bailey nodded. “Since falling in love with Chase, I’ve gotten very used to staying in and taking ibuprofen.”

Jill didn’t press for more details, but dammit she kind of wanted to.

She was amused to watch the men, including Donovan, all make a fist, pump their arms three times, and then choose a sign for rock, paper, or scissors.

Knox and Zander both chose paper, Michael and Donovan chose scissors.

Knox and Zander groaned in unison then turned to face one another. Again, they did the fist pump and chose their sign.

This time Knox went with rock while Zander went with paper.

“Whoo-hoo!” Zander crowed. “Paper beats rock.”

“I hate everything about this,” Knox informed them.

He pushed to his feet and Jill watched as his big frame unfolded.

The guy was huge.

He ran a hand through his long hair, adjusted his glasses, straightened his dress shirt, and looked at them all.

“And after I get the goats back to the barn, I get to figure out where in the budget we can possibly divert funds to pave the road that leads to the petting zoo. The fish market is complaining that the increased traffic along the dirt road is kicking up too much dust in the air. Your family’s petting zoo is a pain in my ass.”

Zeke grinned. “And, of course, you asked them about their increased profits over the past three months from visitors to the swamp boat tours and petting zoo who stop at the market on their way out, right? And the fish we’ve agreed to buy from them for the otters?”

“I didn’t have to ask,” Knox said. “It’s obvious. They put up a whole new stand. And now the whole farmer’s market wants to relocate down there.”

“Exactly.”

Zander got to his feet as well, and shook his head. “You don’t think I’m happy about it, do you? Do you know how many parking tickets and fender benders I’ve had to respond to? Things were a hell of a lot quieter when most of the visitors to the swamp boat tours came on buses from the hotels in New Orleans. Now all these people in the surrounding area want to drive down here themselves. Everyone who lives here can see the bayou on their own but not everybody has a lemur in their backyard.”

“You do realize that we’re going to have to talk about alligator deterrence around the animal park,” Bailey said. “The more small animals you bring in, the more potential for alligators to start coming closer, looking for food.”

Jill felt how wide her eyes went now. She glanced at Zeke. It wasn’t that she thought Zeke could fix any and all issues with alligators stalking the small animals of a petting zoo, but for some reason her instinct was to look at him first.

“Don’t worry, Kansas. We’ve got protections around the pens that are close to the bayou for sure.”

“Alligators would definitely stalk goats.” Jill frowned and looked around the group. “Especially baby goats. And you have llamas, right? Alligators could take down a small llama.”

“They’re alpacas, actually,” Zeke told her.

“Still.”

They could also hunt and eat a penguin. The habitat seemed very secure from what she’d seen this morning, but when they went back over she was going to look at it with new eyes. Being from Kansas and Nebraska, alligators were not something that she thought about on a regular basis.

“Yes, we’ve taken all of that into consideration,” Bailey said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you. It’s just something these guys need to be aware of when we’re talking about impacts the animal park is having on the town and local area.”

“Absolutely,” Jill agreed. “These are all important considerations. The more animals you bring in, the more scents and sounds the alligators are going to pick up and it would make sense that they would start moving in closer.”

“We have measures in place,” Zeke said again. “We all know how to handle gators.”

Jill gave a little shudder. “So I need to be on the lookout for them in places other than just my backyard?”

“Absolutely,” Zander said. “Front yard, under your porch, your car—”

“Okay, got it,” Jill interrupted.

Zander grinned at her. “Don’t worry. Zeke’s not the only neighbor you know. I’m right on the other side.”

“Really? And do you have food in your house?” She glanced at Zeke.

Zander nodded. “I do. What are you into?”

Zeke’s hand moved from the middle of her upper back to the back of her neck, under her hair. Now they were skin to skin. The heat intensified. He didn’t even curl his fingers into her neck, but the hold was decidedly possessive. “I’ve got everything she needs.”

Jill looked from one twin to the other. It was clear that Zeke was giving his brother a warning.

He was warning another guy off? That was presumptuous. They were going to have a little fling at most. He couldn’t be staking a claim like this publicly in front of all the other men.

Of course, she wasn’t actually going to consider hooking up with his brother.

Strangely, looking back and forth between the two men who were identical twins, she found that she wasn’t attracted to Zander. In a purely empirical sense, Zander was extremely good-looking and sexy just like Zeke. But she didn’t feel any spark with him. Whereas Zeke’s index finger dragging up and down the side of her neck had her nipples tightening and heat gathering between her legs.

“Okay,” Zander said. “But if you need a cup of sugar or anything, you know where to find me.”

He definitely put an innuendo emphasis on sugar.

Zeke gave a little growl that everyone at the table could hear.

And they all laughed at him.

Jill did like this banter. It reminded her of how she and Evan and Parker and even the quieter Noah sometimes teased.

It was the sign of true affection and friendship. Clearly Zeke didn’t take Zander’s flirting with her seriously, but Zander felt comfortable pushing his twin’s buttons.

She also kind of liked that one of his buttons seem to be her and having another man flirting with her.

Which was stupid and dangerous and a sure way of making things unnecessarily complicated. She didn’t want Zeke to be jealous. She didn’t want the other men in town to think that she and Zeke were exclusive. She didn’t want Zeke to think they were exclusive. Because she didn’t want to be exclusive.

Not that she intended to date anyone else, or even sleep with anyone else. One guy was more than enough. And that was the problem. She didn’t want Zeke attached to her and thinking that he couldn’t date anyone else. She could not fulfill anyone’s expectations for a relationship other than in the bedroom. It wouldn’t be fair to him. And even more, it would be complicated for her to constantly be having to tell him she couldn’t go out, couldn’t come over, couldn’t have dinner, and so on and so on.

The only relationships she could focus on at the moment were the ones between the black and white endangered birds that were going to be here in three days.