“So are you going to see her again?” Elizabeth asked.
“Nah, she’s just passing through,” Zeke said as he reached into his pocket for his phone. “I don’t even have her last name. Or her number. Or where she’s from.” He looked down at his phone, reading a text message.
Cora reached over the bar to hand him a little glass bottle that contained a powdery yellow substance. “You take a spoonful of this if your head starts hurting,” she told him.
Zeke looked up. “Can’t take any medicine. Or whatever you call your stuff.” He gave her a wink. “The new penguin veterinarian’s in town early and wants to see the penguin habitat.”
“But your head,” Cora said.
Zeke took the vial from her and tucked it into his pocket. “I’ll keep it close.” He took another big bite of his biscuits and gravy.
The guys never asked what was in Cora’s concoctions. Everything she handed out worked. If she gave you a powder and told you to sprinkle it over your vegetable garden to keep the rabbits away, it would work. If she told you to mix it with water to clean grease off your tools, it would work. If she told you to swallow it for a headache, it would work. So nobody asked questions.
“The habitat is done, right?” Griffin asked.
“Totally done. And it’s awesome.” Zeke took another bite.
“Well, you need to be sure to go home and clean up before you meet her,” Elizabeth said. “You want to make a good first impression.”
“That penguin enclosure we built for her is going to make all the impression I need.”
“Shower, Ezekiel,” Elizabeth said firmly.
“Yeah, yeah, I will. Heading home now. But trust me, based on the texts and emails we’ve been exchanging, that’s all she cares about. I’ve been trying to get her to give me some guidance on what she wants done with the remodel on the house she bought and she hasn’t answered a single question about that. But I got instructions down to the centimeter for where those penguins are gonna live.”
Fletcher glanced at Griffin. The woman who was bringing the penguins to Autre was a friend of his.
Griffin nodded. “Penguins are her life.”
Zeke took a few more bites, then slid off the stool. He grabbed his coffee and drained the last of it. “I better get going. She’s already out there poking around.”
He turned and limped to the door.
As soon as the door closed behind him, Charlie turned to Griffin and said, “Why didn’t you tell him that Jill was here last night and staying at the motel?”
Fletcher straightened and Michael leaned in.
“Jill?” Fletcher asked. “The woman with the penguins?”
Griffin nodded. “She got into town last night. We went up to say hi. I guess that’s when Sugar saw me,” he added with a sigh.
“So Jill, the penguin veterinarian, was in town, at the motel, last night when all of this was going down with Zeke and the motorcycle and the goats?” Fletcher asked.
Griffin and Charlie exchanged a look.
Then Charlie grinned. “Yep.”
“What’s Jill look like?” Michael asked.
“Petite, long dark curly hair, doesn’t wear a lot of makeup, dressed in a green shirt and jeans when we saw her last night.”
Michael sat back with a huge grin. “That’s her.”
“The woman who rushed over to help Zeke?” Fletcher asked.
“The woman who rushed over to check on the goat,” Michael corrected.
They all laughed and Griffin nodded.
“That sounds like Jill.”
Fletcher looked back and forth between Griffin and Michael. “So, Zeke just spent the night—one of the greatest nights of his life—with the new penguin veterinarian? And the woman whose house he’s remodeling? Who is his new neighbor? But he has no idea who she is and thinks he’s not going to see her again?”
“Yep,” Michael said simply.
“Well,” Fletcher said, grabbing his coffee cup. “I, for one, am really happy I stopped in here this morning on my way to work.”
“I was under the impression that you were all really happy to stop in here for all kinds of things all the time,” Ellie said, pretending to be offended.
Fletcher gave her a grin. “Well, some of the most interesting things do happen in this bar.”
“Or at least the stories about them get repeated here” Charlie said.
Yep. And it looked like he and Jordan were coming up here for dinner tonight for sure, because there was going to be more to this story soon. And he had a feeling it was going to be a good one.
Thank you so much for reading Heavy Petting! I hope you loved Fletcher and Jordan’s story!
There is so much more to come from Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild and the Landry family!
Zeke and Jill are up next in Flipping Love You!
He's the tattooed bad boy her mama warned her about.
She's his hot mess-but mostly hot-next door neighbor.
Until a two-night-stand gives them the surprise of a lifetime...
Jillian Morris is a workaholic who forgets to watch the time. And to eat. And to change her shoes. And to keep even a house-plant alive. And to have any kind of a personal life.
Now an eccentric millionaire has left her sixteen million dollars. And eight penguins. Yes, real live penguins. She's a wildlife vet who specializes in penguins, so that makes sense. Kind of. She can, and does, keep penguins alive and well. She now just has to move them cross-country to her friend's new animal park.
So if anyone deserves a one-night (or two) stand with a hot, younger, tattooed bad boy on a motorcycle, it's her. Or so Jill tells herself when Zeke Landry flips his bike in front of her motel.
If only she'd known who he really was.
And that he was the fall-hard-and-fast type.
And the protective type.
And that one night would turn into more like nine-months of being ...sigh...very personal.
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Special Edition Epilogue
Enjoy this special edition epilogue as Ellie and Leo Landry welcome their first great-grandchild, Josh and Tori’s baby girl!
“El?”
Ellie looked up at Leo just as she felt cold beer spilling on the back of her hand. “Dammit.” She shut off the tap and grabbed for a towel.
“What’s going on?” Leo asked. He reached over and plucked the glass from her fingers.
“Hey.”