by Kira Archer
“Not for us.”
Excitement zinged through her. They were going to wander around the zoo after it closed. How cool was that?
When they got to the employee entrance, a guy was standing there waiting for them. Jared shook his hand. “Hey, Larry, thanks for letting us in.”
“No problem. Hey,” he said, smiling a greeting at Jenny.
“Jenny, this is Larry Mullens. He’s one of the guys in charge here.”
Larry laughed. “Just of the birds.”
Jenny perked up even more. “We’re going to see some birds?”
Jared squeezed her hand. “Patience.”
Yeah, waiting was not her strong suit. Anticipation built in her until she was nearly shaking. It was like Christmas Eve and her birthday, all rolled into one.
Larry led them over to a golf cart and they climbed in. She couldn’t help but feel a little special, zipping around in the cart while the other park-goers made their way to the exit for the night.
Larry finally pulled up in front of the birds of prey exhibit.
She turned to Jared, nearly bouncing in her seat. “We’re going to see the owls?”
He laughed and pulled her in for a quick kiss. “A private showing, just for you.”
“Oh my God!” She planted a huge kiss on Jared and then jumped out of the cart to follow Larry inside.
Jared hadn’t been kidding when he said she’d get a private showing. Not only was no one else around, but she apparently wasn’t even viewing the birds from the public side of the glass. Larry took them to the back and gave them a private tour of the inner workings of the exhibit. Including the birds themselves. And not just watching them in their habitats.
“Want to get a little up close and personal?” Jared asked.
She glanced at him and from the glint in his eye, that little phrase had more than one meaning. And she was so up for whichever he was referring to. She shouldn’t be. That’s how they’d gotten in this whole shit-I-might-be-pregnant mess. But damn, the man was making it extremely hard to stay away.
“You bet,” she said. He could take that any way he wanted.
“Good.” He pulled her close, and this time the kiss wasn’t so quick. When he let her go her head was pleasantly spinning. “I’ve got another surprise for you,” he said.
Larry waved them over to him. “Meet the newest members of our owl family.”
Jenny gasped. Inside an incubated habitat was a makeshift nest with three tiny baby owls. Their little beaks were raised, poised, and squawking for food.
“Oh my gosh,” she gasped. “They’re adorable!”
With their feathers only half grown in and their eyes still bugging out, they were so ugly they’d lapped themselves and come back around to being cute. All three of them blinked up at her with curious expressions, turning their heads this way and that while they took everything in.
“One of our female owls lost interest in incubating her eggs. So we had to take over. These three hatched about three weeks ago. These two are female,” he said, pointing them out. “And the other one is male.”
Jared peered over at them. “How can you tell?”
“We have to run a DNA test. There’s no way to tell by looking.”
“Can I touch them?” Jenny asked.
“Sure.” Larry carefully gathered one in his hands and held the owlet out to her. “They liked to be scratched right here,” he said, showing her the spot on the back of its head.
She reached over and scratched the little owl. It craned its neck so she could reach better and closed its eyes in pure pleasure. She laughed, near to bursting with happiness.
“Would you like to help feed them?” Larry asked.
“Really?” She was going to cry. Seriously.
Larry nodded and handed her a petri dish of mealworms and a pair of tweezers. “This is how you do it.” He demonstrated how to grasp the worm and place it in the baby’s mouth. The little owlet gulped it down greedily and opened wide for more.
They spent the next hour feeding and cuddling baby owls, an experience Jenny never in her wildest imagination would have thought she’d have. Jared spent most of the time watching her, though she did get him to hold one of the babies before they left. They were surprisingly affectionate and loved having their heads scratched. She could have sworn the one Jared had was rolling its eyes back in ecstasy when he was scratching it. She knew how it felt. Still, watching this tall, muscular man scratching the tiny bird with a look of tender concentration hit her right in the gut. If it was possible to die from cuteness overload, she’d have dropped on the spot.
Once the birds were fed and satisfactorily snuggled, they put them back in their habitat. Jenny and Jared thanked Larry and said good-bye, but when they exited the building they didn’t head back to the employee entrance. Instead, Jared took her hand. “Want to wander a bit?”
“I’d love to. Are we allowed?”
“Oh yeah. I do marketing work for them all the time. So they let me come in after hours to take pictures of the exhibits and get a feel for the experiences of the place. Even when I’m not working on a specific job, they let me come in and wander. I like to come when I’ve had a particularly stressful day. Being around the animals has a soothing effect on me.”
“I know what you mean. There’s something about them that always calms me when I’m upset.”
She tugged on his hand, pulling him to a stop. He looked at her, eyebrows raised in question. She rose up on her toes and pressed a kiss to his lips. “Thank you, Jared. This was…” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “Absolutely amazing. Really.”
He brushed his hand across her cheek. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
She sighed and wrapped her arms around his waist, laying her head on his chest. “We’re going to be okay, right?”
He kissed the top of her head. “Yes. No matter what. We’ll work it out.”
“It’s going to be a long ten days.”
He chuckled, the sound reverberating through his chest and tickling her cheek where it was pressed against him. “Yes. Yes, it will be.” He took her chin in his hand and raised her face. “But we’ll get through it together. Okay?”
She gave him the strongest smile she could muster. “Okay.”
“Good.” He kissed her and then took her hand again. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving and tired. How about we get some food and then go back to my place and crash? I promise, I’ll keep my hands to myself.”
She almost told him that wasn’t necessary. She could think of much better uses for his hands than keeping them to himself. But they were a lot safer that way.
Right at that moment, she wanted food, sleep, and the comfort of his arms around her. She’d think about the other uses for Jared’s big, cushy bed in the morning. She fired off another text to Rick, telling him she was still hanging with Gretchen. The fact that she had to resort to high school tactics irritated her, but it was easier than handling the fallout of him having to deal with his baby sister being a full-grown and sexually active adult.
A couple slices of pizza later, they were tucked into Jared’s bed, and Jenny was trying to remember why they were supposed to be behaving themselves. Lying in the dark beside him was a lesson in temptation that she was so about to fail.
“Quit thinking so hard and go to sleep,” he said.
She laughed, though it sounded disturbingly like a giggle. “I’m trying. Hard to sleep with so much on my mind. And you lying there being all sexy isn’t helping matters.”
He cracked an eye open at that. “I’m sexy trying to sleep?”
She stared at his naked torso. He had sweatpants on beneath the sheets, but she remembered all too well what he looked like. Her breath hitched in her throat. “Oh yeah.”
He leaned up on an elbow, letting his gaze do a little roaming of its own. “You’re pretty damn distracting yourself.”
She reached out and traced the line of his muscles with a finger. “Maybe we should
do something about that, then.”
He captured her hand, keeping it flat against his chest. “Believe me, I’d love nothing more than to do that. But are you sure that’s what you want to do when we aren’t sure yet whether or not you’re pregnant?”
That word was like a bucket of cold water being tossed on her head. She sighed, and he gave her that same soft smile he’d given the baby owls while he was feeding them. “Come here,” he said, his voice low and deep.
He pulled her against him, spooning her from behind, and wrapped his whole body around her. His legs entwined with hers, his arms wrapped around her so her head rested on one arm. She sighed again, warm, comfortable, and feeling safer than she ever had her entire life. He kissed the top of her head. “Sleep. It’s been a long day.”
“Won’t argue with that.”
He laughed quietly and pulled her even closer. “Good night, Jen.”
“Good night,” she whispered back.
Chapter Twelve
Jared stood back from the counter, his arms crossed, as he stared at the infrastructure of their soon-to-be cake. Jenny stood on the opposite end of the kitchen doing the same thing. On the counter sat a long PVC pipe that supported four plates of graduating sizes. Theoretically, they’d stack the baklava on the plates creating tiers, like a real cake.
“You think it’ll be strong enough to hold the weight?” he asked.
Jenny nodded. “Oh yeah. I’ve used something similar to support cakes, and the baklava will be lighter than cake.”
“All right, then. When do we get started?”
“We,” she said, with a decidedly sarcastic tone of voice, “got started hours ago. Where were you?”
“I had a consultation for a job. I would have cut it short, if I’d known you needed me.”
“So, you’re at my beck and call now?”
Her flirtatious expression had him flashing back to their time tangled up in the sheets, and he had to do some serious mental calisthenics to keep from giving everyone an eyeful right there in the kitchen.
“Yes, ma’am. You need me, I’ll come running.”
She laughed, and even he was surprised to realize he was serious. Making her smile had become one of the highlights of his day, and there wasn’t much he wouldn’t do to keep it on her face.
She gave her head a little shake and then got back to business. “All right, let’s get this thing assembled, and then we need to get going on the baklava.”
She worked tirelessly, baking baklava, helping out front, and trying her hardest to keep Gina off her feet. Jared pretty much did what he was told. He was willing and ready to help, but Jenny was a major distraction. It was a good thing she was in charge, because he was too busy running what-if scenarios through his head to be much use except as a fetch-and-carry boy.
It had been long enough that if she was going to get pregnant, she probably already was. But that apparently didn’t mean she’d be far enough along that the test would be effective. Which he thought was a freaking crime. With all the technology available these days, there should be a test that could tell immediately if one of those little swimmers had made it the second it happened. Because the waiting was killing him.
Around six o’clock, there was a loud commotion in the front as a large crowd of people streamed through the doors. They closed at six, so he wasn’t sure why Gina smiled and pulled off her apron. Usually if people came in that close to closing, she wasn’t thrilled. Especially a group that large.
“The family’s here,” she said, making her way out to the front to greet her husband and in-laws.
Ahhh, okay. That made more sense. Jenny pulled her apron off as well. “Everyone is taking me out to dinner.” She smiled at the chaotic jumble of voices filtering in from the front.
Jared poked his head around the corner, his eyes widening. The small storefront was filled almost to capacity.
“That’s a lot of family,” he said, glancing at Jenny.
She shrugged. “It’s only my sisters and their husbands, and Rick and Gina. And the kids. And my parents.”
“Like I said.” He laughed. Three sisters, a brother, husbands and a wife, and a few nieces and nephews thrown in was a lot for his only-child self to handle.
Jenny hesitated, looking like she wanted to say something. It definitely wasn’t like her to not say whatever was on her mind, at least not that he’d noticed.
“What is it?”
His phone rang and he frowned. His frown deepened when he saw who it was. Anna. Jenny raised her eyebrow and then said, “You better take that. I’ll go talk to my family for a minute.”
She left before he could stop her. He swore under his breath and answered the phone. Anna started in with inane chatter before he even got a word out. Supposedly, she was calling to check on the cake. But she seemed to be talking about everything but. He finally interrupted her.
“I’m so sorry, but I’ve got a batch of baklava coming out of the oven any second and I need to grab it before it burns.”
“Oh,” she said, somehow managing to convey over the phone that she was pouting. How had he ever found that cute? “Well, make sure you call me with any updates. My line is always open for you.”
He did a mental eye roll. “I will. Bye.”
He hung up before she could get another word in. When he looked up, Jenny stood in the doorway watching him.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah. She wanted to check on everything. So,” he said, not wanting to dwell on Anna anymore, “what’s up?”
She blew a breath out. “Would you like to come to dinner with us?”
He opened his mouth, not sure what to say for a second. Of all the things she could have said, he hadn’t expected that one. “You want me to come to dinner with your family?”
“Yeah. I mean, I know they know you. But they probably don’t know you very well and…”
He wasn’t sure if he should be flattered, frightened, or flirty. He fell back on his default setting and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her in for a quick kiss. “And you want them to get to know me? That’s kind of sweet.”
She laughed and pushed away from him. “I was thinking it might be a good idea. Just in case.” She looked up at him almost shyly. “We’ll probably know soon. But I thought it might make it easier if…if I am, to have you already in the picture, sort of. So it’s not a total surprise. Dinner would be easy, especially since we’re going out and it’s not at my parents’ house. They can all spend time with you without it being completely obvious that I am introducing you to them for any special reason. If that makes sense.”
It did. She was rambling a bit, sure, but he got it. That didn’t mean he was completely comfortable doing it, but for her, he would. Then he thought of a possible problem. “Won’t Rick be there?”
That mischievous smile he loved so much touched her lips. “Yes. But don’t worry. I’m not introducing you as my boyfriend or anything. But you’re Gina’s friend and she is family, and since the rest of the shop is heading off with them, it would be kind of rude to leave you here alone. I think I can invite you without it seeming too odd.”
He nodded. “Okay. If you can guarantee my safety, I’ll go.”
That got a laugh out of her. “I can promise no harm will come to you while we are at dinner. After that, you’re on your own.”
“Fair enough.” He pulled her closer and nuzzled at her neck.
“You keep that up and I’m not going to be able to guarantee anything,” she said with a little hitch in her breath that drove him wild.
Screw dinner with the family. He wanted to take her back to his place and see what other kind of trouble they could get themselves in.
“Jenny,” Rick called. “You ready?”
Jared let go and took a big step back. Yep, it was official. He had a death wish.
She laughed again and headed for the front, adding an extra sway to her hips as she walked. He released a long, slow breath. She might end
up being the death of him, but damn, she was worth it.
…
Sitting crammed together at Rick’s favorite noodle house, Jenny glanced around at all the faces she loved. She’d missed them. They’d always been close. Her parents had moved from Hoboken to Secaucus after they’d all graduated from high school, but everyone still got together for dinner at least once a week. Game night was a frequent occurrence, and there was never a shortage of birthdays or anniversaries or Tuesdays to celebrate. Her family was big, loud, and loving, and she savored every second of being with them.
And Jared, it seemed, was fitting right in. He’d already charmed her mother until she’d blushed and he was currently regaling her brothers-in-law with some ridiculous tale of his exploits that couldn’t possibly be true.
Gina leaned over so she could talk without everyone hearing her. “So, what’s he doing here?”
Jenny looked at her in surprise. “I told you, I felt bad leaving him standing there alone while we all went off to have dinner. He’s a friend. I didn’t think you’d mind.”
“Oh, I don’t mind. In fact, I’d already planned on asking him. I was just a little surprised when you announced that he’d be coming. Is there something I should know?”
The speculative gleam in Gina’s eye made Jenny both want to cover her tracks and spill everything. Keeping the big looming what-if a secret was starting to wear on her. She could really use someone to talk to. And Gina would be perfect, seeing as how she was pregnant herself. Maybe she had some insider knowledge. Could tell her what it felt like to be pregnant or something.
But if it turned out to be nothing, then the last thing Jenny wanted was to have to deal with the fallout. So better to keep her mouth shut.
“No. I felt bad for him, that’s all. I thought we were all ditching him. And he was doing those pity-party puppy-dog eyes, you know?”
Gina nodded. “Ah, yeah. I’m familiar with those. Be careful when he pulls those out. He can be pretty persuasive on his own. But the puppy-dog eyes…those’ll take down even the coldest chick.”
Jenny nodded. Jared was pretty lethal, all right. She glanced down the table to where he had her dad and even Rick bellowing with laughter, while one of her nieces sat contentedly in his lap. She shook her head. She’d never willingly walked into heartbreak before.