“Nah.” He rose to his feet and stood in front of me. “I have a buddy who works at the zoo and they need some help. I thought maybe you’d like to go with me?”
I cleared my throat, then waved my finger between the two of us and shook my head. “We can do this later… I mean, if you have to help your friend.”
He grabbed my hands and pulled me to my feet. “I want you to go.” His voice was soft but didn’t waver in the slightest.
I chewed on my inner cheek and nodded. “Okay.”
The corner of his mouth lifted, and he began to walk backward, pulling me in the direction of the passenger side of his truck. “Good,” he said. His thumbs brushed softly over my knuckles before he opened the door. He took my arm and helped me get settled in my seat, then pulled down the seat belt and leaned over my lap to fasten it.
He looked at me. “I was afraid that if I let you leave tonight, I’d never get you out here again.” His voice was low, almost a whisper, and sent goose bumps down my legs.
He finally closed the door, and I took a long, calming breath before placing my keys in the side pocket of my bag. He climbed in beside me then threw his arm over the back of my seat and looked over his shoulder to back out of his space.
“So,” he asked, finally pulling out to the street, “what do you do for fun, Tuesday Patil?”
I grinned at his use of my last name and turned to face him. “Let's see.” I pressed one finger to my lips. “I make soap, lotions, body butters, and when I’m feeling especially daring, I go to the post office at closing time with my truck full of packages.” I met his eyes in the rearview mirror. “Really… work is my life.” I shrugged. “What about you?”
His brows furrowed, and he glanced over at me. “You don’t do anything for fun?”
I shrugged. “Not really. Not what normal people think is fun anyway.” I looked out the window. “But I love what I do.”
“Why’s that?”
I shifted in my seat, feeling slightly uncomfortable. “Are we playing twenty questions?”
“I just want to get to know you, that’s all.”
His eyes met mine, and the honesty I saw there made my breath hitch. He genuinely looked interested, which surprised me. He admitted to wanting me for sex, which was pretty clear, so why would he bother with this? It was something you’d ask of someone you cared about, not someone you planned to leave behind in a couple of weeks.
He lifted one brow, and I realized I hadn’t answered.
I looked out the window again. “I’ve loved the smell of things since I was a little girl. That's how it all started. The smell of concrete after a storm, laundry drying in the summer sun, fresh cut grass, and children covered in dirt.”
He laughed, and I grinned a little at how ridiculous it all sounded.
“And I’ve always had a more sensitive nose than everyone else. I can tell the variety of an apple without cutting its skin. I can tell you who walks in the door without opening my eyes… In wine tasting, I would be called a sommelier. In life… I’m pretty much a freak.” I grinned. “But just like wine, everything has its own unique scent.” Like you, for instance.
I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on my story. “When I was five, I used to sit in my mother’s bathroom in our RV and mix up all the different oils and lotions I could find. First, it was out of curiosity, but then I realized that by blending two scents together I could make something altogether new. For a while, my mother got angry and told me not to do it anymore. But eventually, when she realized I wasn’t going to stop, she began teaching me how to use them.
“I started blending my own formulas by ten, mixing things my mom said wouldn’t work—but I did it anyway—because it made sense to me. Sometimes, when two polar opposites meet, it creates magic …” I looked over at him, wondering if it could be the same for us. He was all wrong for me… but under the right circumstances, circumstances like these… I turned back to look out the window again.
“Eventually, my formulas started selling more than my mother’s.” I shrugged. “Customers began asking for me at markets, and my business took off from there. Five years ago, I began selling on Etsy. Mom didn’t approve, so we went our different ways. She’s always hated technology. She doesn’t even have a cell phone, no TV, no Internet.
“But one thing she warned me against was true. Selling online took the person out of the product… the face away from my customers. In a way, the absence of a face is the reason I’m opening my shop. It got kind of lonely working from home after a while.”
I cringed, realizing I’d spilled my guts again, and I looked down to my hands. “So now that you know about my whole childhood, want to tell me about yours?”
He glanced over, one brow arching. “Absolutely not.”
I took the strand of my feathers in my hair and started fiddling. “Why not?”
His eyes shifted back to the road and he grinned slightly. “I was nothing but trouble, Tuesday, I can tell you that much.” He sighed then glanced over at me. “Okay, what do you want to know?”
I chewed my lip, charmed by his easy way. “You said you had sisters?”
“Three.” He looked over. “And when did I tell you that?”
I laughed. “When you warned me to run away from you.”
The corner of his mouth lifted, and he turned back to the road. “You didn’t listen.”
I lifted one shoulder. “I rarely do.”
“I noticed that about you.”
“Noticed what?”
“You’re stubborn.”
I arched one brow. “There are people in this world who would agree with you.” I cleared my throat. “So are you close?”
He met my gaze out of the corner of his eye. “Me and my sisters? Yeah, I guess we are.”
“Are you the oldest?”
He shook his head. “No. Youngest.”
I made a face and looked at him again. “That’s surprising.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because you seem so protective.”
He laughed but didn’t say more, and I didn’t either.
We rode the rest of the trip in silence, but surprisingly, it wasn’t so bad. Well, besides the heart-pounding, blood-rushing, spine-tingling thing he did to my body, but I was getting used to it… kind of.
When we pulled into the zoo parking lot ten minutes later, we were one of only five cars in the lot. We pulled into a space in the very front, and he shoved the truck in park and came around to open my door. I took his offered arm and jumped down to the pavement. “So what kind of job are you doing here, anyway?”
He took my hand and began leading me to the entrance before he spoke. “Jake and I worked a job here a few years ago. They’re having some kind of issue with a gate at the elephant exhibit. It shouldn’t take too long.” He was walking so fast I had a hard time keeping up, but I couldn't help my smile. This was kind of exciting. An elephant exhibit? It sounded like something out of a movie.
The entrance was just as I remembered it. Enormous stone steps, palm trees, and a, three-story high metal gate, with the words “Los Angeles Zoo” lit up on the top like a Christmas tree.
The security guard nodded and smiled as we approached the gate, but didn’t ask any questions before opening the door to letting us enter.
“Do you know that guy?” I asked, slightly awed by our red carpet entrance.
He laughed. “I told you I used to work here.”
But I knew it was more than that. John left an impression wherever he went. People liked him. No, people flocked to him… and I was starting to realize why. He was fun to be around—addicting.
John never slowed as he led me up two flights of stairs to the main level, past the sea otters and an alligator named Reggie, then finally to the very heart of the zoo. A man in khaki clothing was waiting for us.
“John.” He came toward us to shake our hands. “I know this was last minute, but we didn’t know who else to call on such short notice. I hope
we didn’t ruin your evening.” He looked me up and down and frowned.
“Nah.” John squeezed my hand. “But I did promise her dinner. If Marco could fire up the grill when we’re done, I’d sure appreciate it.”
The other man nodded. “If you can help us with this problem, we’ll give you anything you want.”
Ten minutes later, practically out of breath from moving so fast, we made it to the lookout of the elephant exhibit. A crew of people was huddled around talking, and John turned to me. “I’m going to go get filled in. Will you be okay over here?”
I straightened, taking in the sight of the large elephant enclosure I’d never seen before. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
He left me over by the info booth, and I settled in, resting my back against a support beam of the bamboo arbor. The exhibit was huge, spanning what I guessed to be five acres wide in both directions. Large eucalyptus trees grew along the edge of the exhibit, and play structures with tires and other elephant things were scattered around the ground. But in the far corner of the large space was a lone elephant, crying into the night as it pushed against a far gate.
I looked over at John, wondering what was going on, and found him in a group of at least ten others. He was dressed so differently but fit in nevertheless—as though he was supposed to be there. His hands were stuffed deep into his pockets, and his brows were creased with profound concentration.
I couldn’t pick up on all that was being said, but it appeared the gate to the west of the lot was stuck, separating the mother elephant from her baby calf. Even from a mile away, trumpeting cries from the mother could be heard echoing across the dirt-covered lot, causing my heart to ache.
I bit my lip, listening from afar about all that had been tried. John was their last option before tranquilization, and from all their talk, it seemed large mammals didn’t handle anesthesia well. They discussed various options for at least ten minutes, then finally, John turned to me and held up one finger, letting me know he’d be right back. He climbed into a nearby jeep with some of the crew and headed in the direction of the closed gate.
I twisted the strap of my bag at my shoulder, feeling anxious as I watched the mother try to push open the gate with her large body. Her cries shook me with their desperation, and I closed my eyes briefly.
One of the crew who’d been talking to John a moment before must have noticed my distress, because when I opened my eyes again, he was standing by my side.
“They’ll get it open, don’t you worry.”
I bit my lip again, blinking back the tears that threatened to spill over. “It’s heartbreaking, isn’t it?”
He looked about sixty, and between his teeth, he held a sprig of fresh grass. He turned around in the direction of the exhibit and leaned against the post opposite me. “She’d kill herself trying to get to that calf.” He pulled the stalk of grass from his mouth and used it to point toward the enclosure. “That’s why it’s such an emergency. That baby is fine. There are people behind that gate who’ll take care of her, but that mama won’t stop. Even if it means her own demise.” He made a clicking sound with his tongue. “A mother’s love is an extraordinary thing…”
His voice trailed off, and I found myself nodding in agreement, but I was barely listening. My eyes were locked on the mother as she pushed on the gate. I wiped my hands over my eyes, my throat tightening, and my nose beginning to burn. I’d never seen anything more devastating in my life.
A few minutes later, the man with the grass in his mouth gestured to the exhibit with his chin. “Isn’t that your boy out there?”
I turned around, and clear as day, saw John walking along the cement wall at the back of the exhibit. The one that flanked the side of the gate that was stuck. Another man mirrored him on the other side and both scaled slowly closer until they lowered to their bellies and began working at the hinges of the gate.
But whatever they were doing wasn't working, and the mama elephant was growing increasingly anxious. She was almost in a frenzy with their being so close to her baby, and all I wanted to do was call to John and tell him to come back. This was far too dangerous. That mother was out of her mind, and John looked so tiny out there next to her.
Then he threw his legs over the back of the wall and climbed along the opposite side of the gate. The mother began to push and push from the other side. Harder and harder, causing him to shake. I clenched my jaw, gripped my hands tighter on my strap, but there was nothing I could do but watch. I wasn’t even sure he’d hear me if I called out a warning.
The mother continued to ram into the gate, harder and harder, then all of a sudden the gate sprang free and slammed against the far wall. John never lost his grip. His head whipped back at the impact of the door opening, but he didn’t fall.
The baby calf ran out to her mother, pressing her small body against large, protective legs. Cries from both of them mingled in the air as John climbed up the gate again and seated himself at the top of the cement wall.
I wiped at the fat tears that landed on my cheeks and let out a shaky breath, still recovering from the adrenaline rush. That had to have been one of the most emotional things I’d ever witnessed. I turned around, meeting the eyes of the crew member, the blade of grass still pressed between his teeth as he nodded.
He lifted his chin to the other side of the exhibit and nodded. “Some guy you got there.”
I turned around and my eyes found John. He waved to me across the exhibit, and I nodded. “Yeah. He really is.”
Chapter EIGHTEEN
Tuesday
An hour later, we walked down the large, paved hill to the main level of the zoo. But John didn’t hold my hand this time. We walked side by side, a little slower than before, and occasionally his arm hit the fabric of my skirt. I wasn’t sure if he did it on purpose, or if it was by accident that he touched me, but after witnessing all that happened with the elephants, I was ten times more aware of every move he made.
He looked over at me and smiled, the expression on his face sending a shiver all the way to my toes. “I’m so high right now.” He raked both hands over his face and bit his lip. “I almost cried when that calf made it back to her mama.”
I took a deep breath and nodded. “I did actually.” I didn’t usually share things like this with others, but for some reason, after all that, I felt closer to him than ever.
He looked at me sideways, his nose wrinkling slightly at my admission. “Are you in a hurry to get back?” He moved in front of me then spun around and walked backward, waiting for my answer.
I shook my head, adrenaline mixed with sexual tension burning my skin. “No, I’m in no hurry.”
“Good.” He grabbed my hand, and before I knew what he was doing, he ducked under an overhanging branch and began leading me down a narrow, darkened path. “Let’s go see who’s awake.”
I laughed and ducked down after him. This wasn’t at all what I was expecting. “Are we even allowed to do this? Aren’t they going to get mad at us?”
He shook his head and kept moving. “Nah, they owe me… Besides, I already told them I’d be giving you a tour.” He looked over his shoulder and winked at me, but all I could focus on was keeping my skirt from tangling up my feet and moving fast enough to keep up with John and his incredibly long legs.
Soon we came out to a main path again, where the overhead lights illuminated the lush, tropical foliage that surrounded us. “Do you even know where you’re going?” I asked, following after the man who was as joyful as a Peter Pan. His whole being oozed with a sense of life, and I wanted to suck it all in, bottle it, and save some for later.
He turned down a little alcove, and I followed after him, realizing before long that we’d entered the gorilla habitat. We came to stand in front of the large window, and his hand that wasn’t holding mine came up to press against the surface of the glass. “I wonder if he’s awake.”
“Who?” I asked in a soft, hushed voice.
He put a finger to his lips but didn
’t answer, just kept searching the dark enclosure for something.
I examined his profile in the dim lighting. One that was hard, chiseled, beautiful. Yet beyond that manly exterior was a much softer side to him. The side that wanted to cry at the reunion of a mother and her baby, that ran through the zoo with the excitement of a child. The man who stood beside me, his hand pressed to the glass, waiting…
My heart squeezed in my chest, and a ball of emotion rushed to my gut. I’d expected to be intimate with him tonight, but this was a whole different kind of intimacy. I didn’t think I was ready for it.
He tugged me closer, put his arm around my waist, and then turned me until my back was against his chest. His head rested on the soft space between my neck and shoulder. “There, in the far corner,” he whispered.
My heart was pounding so hard.
He was so close I could feel the vibrations of his voice, feel the soft whispers of his words as they brushed my ear. It was difficult to breathe with him so close, but in the distance, I could just make out the silver fur of one of the gorillas in the back of the exhibit. “I see him,” I whispered. I wasn’t quite sure why we were whispering, other than this was a purely magical moment, and I didn’t want to mess it up.
His cheek came to rest next to mine. “That’s George,” he said.
I smiled slightly, though my eyes brimmed with tears at the way he said the name. Maybe because I felt he was sharing a piece of himself with me, and I wasn’t exactly sure why. “How do you know that?” Goosebumps covered my body, and he pulled me closer, wrapping me in the warmth of his embrace. I inhaled, breathing in his intoxicating scent and going with it, even though my instincts were telling me to run. Just as he told me to in my office earlier.
“I spent every lunch break for an entire year right here, watching him.”
I nodded, wondering how I had ever thought him shallow. How I ever thought he was just another asshole at a bar, when he was so much more than that.
Eventually, we made our way back to the front of the zoo, and the security guard handed us boxes of food he had waiting for us at his station. We carried them back to the parking lot, climbed into the cab of John’s truck, and drove back to my shop in silence—but he held my hand the whole way.
Waiting for Tuesday: Suspicious Hearts Book Two Page 12