Charlie leaned back against the side of the stall the way Griffin was and stretched her legs out, crossed her ankles, and folded her hands in her lap. Her feet didn’t quite reach his boots.
They weren’t touching at all, but inside the barn, alone, with the rain pounding on the roof, it felt intimate.
“We have that in common,” he finally said after she was settled.
“We do?”
“You know who you are and what you want.”
She nodded.
Well, she was pretty sure she knew what she wanted. She knew her ultimate goals. She was just having trouble formulating a plan to get to them. “We both also say what we mean.”
“I guess that means I’m supposed to appreciate it when you comment on being attracted to me?”
“Exactly.” She grinned at him.
He didn’t respond to that.
After a few quiet seconds, she asked, “Have you always wanted to be a vet?”
He shook his head. “No. That’s not how I started out, anyway. I grew up in love with animals. My parents were huge animal lovers. We had all kinds of pets.”
Griffin rested his head against the wall behind him, and his hand stroked rhythmically over Hermione’s back again. The pig seemed completely relaxed now, and Charlie couldn’t blame her.
“I went to college, studied biology, figured I’d become a park ranger or a game warden. But in my second biology class, I met Kamali. He was from Zimbabwe and was heading to Zambia for the summer to work on a wildlife preserve.”
“You went along?”
“I did and ended up staying for a year.”
“Wow.”
He nodded. “The elephants were the first to win me over, but I also just fell in love with the whole idea of wildlife conservation and keeping the animals protected in their own environment. I had planned to stay there indefinitely.”
“What happened?”
“My parents were killed in a car accident, and my little brother needed someone at home.”
Charlie gave a little gasp. Okay, she hadn’t expected an answer like that. “Oh, Griffin.”
Griffin was looking down at the animals now. “He was only sixteen, and I was twenty-one, so I was able to become his legal guardian. He could have gone to live with our grandparents, but I couldn’t just stay that far away, knowing that his whole world had been turned upside down.”
Charlie stared at him. She had been fascinated by his rough exterior from the beginning, but she never guessed what was behind it. He’d given up his dream to take care of his brother. That was… okay, sexy. But it was also so in character. Which struck her as an odd realization. Did she know him well enough to think that?
But yeah, it definitely fit.
She swallowed hard and resisted the urge to crawl over and hug him. And maybe push Hermione out of the way so she could curl up in his lap. “I’m really sorry about your parents.”
He gave a short nod. “Thanks. It’s been nine years, so it’s a little better now.”
“You have just one brother?”
“Yeah, Donovan is actually a wildlife rehabilitation expert.” He said it with a noticeable touch of pride.
“What does that mean?”
“He helps rehabilitate sick or injured wildlife and return them to their natural environment whenever possible. His expertise is big cats, cougars, and bobcats, for instance. But he works with wolves and bears and eagles and just about anything. Right now, he’s in North Carolina, but he travels extensively.”
She smiled. It was clear that Griffin loved his brother. “That’s pretty great that you share that passion for animals.”
He lifted a shoulder. “It’s nice to have anything in common. Things were pretty rocky when I first came back after Mom and Dad died.” He looked up and met her eyes. “I tried my best to be there for him, but he got into partying heavily. A lot of drinking. He’s a recovered alcoholic.”
Charlie could tell Donovan’s hard times had hurt Griffin too. He was loving and sweet under all of that gruff exterior. And she’d never wanted another man the way she wanted Griffin.
“So you ended up in vet school when you came back?”
He nodded. “Eventually. I finished my bio degree while Donovan finished high school. Then after he graduated from high school and was doing well in counseling, I decided I could take the time. I went to vet school while he went to college. He double-majored in biology and ecology.”
“And then you went to a zoo so you could work with elephants and lions and zebras like in Zambia?”
“I worked in a regular old veterinary clinic for about a year. A friend from school called me about a job at the zoo in Omaha, but I initially turned it down. I didn’t like the idea of animals in captivity. They should be wild. But she kept after me. She convinced me that I would be in a position to help protect them from any mistreatment and could help ensure that being in captivity was safe and healthy for them. And, of course, that I could be a part of protecting vulnerable animal species. Sometimes captivity is the best place to keep them and certainly the best place to try growing populations that are in danger.”
Charlie nodded. “And there’s something to be said for having a place where people can learn about animals and observe them and even interact at times, isn’t there? That’s the best way to get people interested in protecting species and doing what they can for conservation, isn’t it?”
“Sounds like a pretty good marketing brochure.”
Charlie frowned. “That doesn’t sound like a compliment.”
He shrugged. “My brother says similar things. That you have to educate people before they’ll care, and they have to care before they’ll put their time and effort and money into things.”
“He’s right.”
Griffin just shrugged.
“You can’t tell me that having people come and see, personally, how gorgeous and majestic wild animals are doesn’t make them more engaged in trying to help them.”
Griffin nodded. “Yes, it does happen.”
“So zoos can be good.”
“Wildlife preserves are better.”
She sighed. The guy just wouldn’t give an inch. “Why not go back to Zambia now then?” she asked.
“Donovan,” he said simply. “Even though we don’t live in the same place, we see each other a lot and stay in contact. We’re the only family we have, so we need to stay at least on the same continent.”
Charlie understood that. Being back in Autre had made her realize that she wouldn’t have lasted for too long in France. She would have worked and built her resume there for maybe a year or two, but it hadn’t been a long-term situation.
“So how did you get into marketing? I’m guessing you could have done anything.”
She tipped her head. “Now, see, that sounds like a compliment.”
“I think that probably is.”
Charlie gave a short laugh. “Okay, well, I got into marketing because I saw what it did for my dad. And because I believe that if a business can grow and be as successful as possible, they can then turn around and be a positive influence on their communities and sometimes even on a bigger scale.”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”