Chapter28
“Oh, hell to the no on that suggestion,” the man called One said sharply. “We aren’t pulling that shit and getting him a female llama just like the one he wants. Trust me on that, it’s a fucking recipe for disaster and you’re asking for trouble. Tomás gets the female he wants. I’m authorizing
this.”
“Leave it to you, Alex,” Aggie said when she walked into the barn. “Ready to walk off with one of my llamas without even asking.”
One–Alex turned to Aggie with a huge smile. “Aww, I was gonna ask, Aggie, but I also knew you
wouldn’t stand in the way of true llama love.”
She rolled her eyes at him, obviously used to his teasing. “I can’t decide if you attending a
wedding at Serenity as a guest was a good thing or a bad thing. You’ve been causing trouble for me
ever since.”
“Unfair!” he protested, still grinning at her and giving her a loud, smacking kiss on the cheek. “I asked you for one teeny–tiny favor in all this time and that’s it.”
“You asked me to give refuge to a special llama and allow your security personnel onto the commune for three months. And then tonight happens!”
“We were already on our way here when we got your text. We got some bad fucking intel once
again but I figured it out, and we headed over here right away.”
“So how many dead bodies are we looking at?” she asked him in her direct way.
“You really want me to answer that, Aggie, my dearest little honey badger?”
She glared at him. “Well, make damn sure you take whatever trash there is when you leave.”
“Of course, my darling wolverine. No man left behind. No llama left behind. No trash left behind. So…pretty please can we take the female llama from your herd?”
He actually batted his eyes at Aggie.
“I’ll go get her,” she said grumpily, and I realized no woman ever said no to this man. “You already owed me big time, Alex.”
“You were happy to do it, and you know it. What if I tell you I have a herd of miniature sheep and lambs arriving here for you tomorrow?”
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Her eyes brightened. “And you find me another llama since I’m letting you take Noémie.”
“Deal,” Alex said. “After you bring me Noémie, why don’t you take Dash and his boxer–briefs back to your place so we can clean up here?”
“I never said my name was Dash,” I told him.
He smiled enigmatically at me. “Good luck winning your wife back.”
“How the hell —”
“Thank you for what you did tonight. If your in–laws continue to be a problem, I’d suggest breaking out the pitchfork and giving me a call. I owe you one. Don’t tell anyone about what happened here tonight.‘
With that warning, he turned his back on me and went to talk to his men. Once I picked my jaw off the ground, I saw Aggie bringing Noémie to Doc and Tomás, rubbing both of the llamas‘ noses.
“You both be good,” she said, and Tomás nodded twice.
I gave Tomás a good scritch behind the ear. “Have a good life, Tomás.”
Tomás nodded, and with a wave to him, I rode back with Aggie to her cottage. She gave me some of Branch’s clothes, and, too wired for sleep, I sat on the couch and waited for Melitta to cry.
When I heard her, I hustled off to Zinnie’s room, trying not to think about what my wife could have awakened to today, wondering if she’d have cared if things had gone differently in the barn. I knocked and pushed open the door when she called out to me to come in.
“She’s had a rough night,” Zinnie said sleepily, sitting up in bed.
“Which means you’ve had a rough night,” I stated the obvious. “Let me change her, then you can feed her and go back to sleep. I’ll bring her to you when she’s hungry again, and I’ll keep her with me in the living room so her little noises don’t wake you up.”
She nodded. After changing Melitta, I handed her back to Zin so she could nurse. I waited outside the room for her to call me to get our daughter when she finished.
“At least one of us got some sleep,” Zin yawned as I took Melitta into my arms.
Smiling at her, I said, “Now it’s your turn, Zinnie.”
Chanter 28
28.28%
I enjoyed every minute of the four hours I held Melitta in my arms. Watching her awake or asleep,
it didn’t matter; I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Aggie offered to hold her when she made
breakfast for me, but I refused. She pressed her hand on my shoulder in understanding.
She understood why I couldn’t let go of this little life.
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.