Knox and Zander both chose paper, Michael and Donovan chose scissors.
Knox and Zander groaned in unison then turned to face one another. Again, they did the fist pump and chose their sign.
This time Knox went with rock while Zander went with paper.
“Whoo-hoo!” Zander crowed. “Paper beats rock.”
“I hate everything about this,” Knox informed them.
He pushed to his feet and Jill watched as his big frame unfolded.
The guy was huge.
He ran a hand through his long hair, adjusted his glasses, straightened his dress shirt, and looked at them all.
“And after I get the goats back to the barn, I get to figure out where in the budget we can possibly divert funds to pave the road that leads to the petting zoo. The fish market is complaining that the increased traffic along the dirt road is kicking up too much dust in the air. Your family’s petting zoo is a pain in my ass.”
Zeke grinned. “And, of course, you asked them about their increased profits over the past three months from visitors to the swamp boat tours and petting zoo who stop at the market on their way out, right? And the fish we’ve agreed to buy from them for the otters?”
“I didn’t have to ask,” Knox said. “It’s obvious. They put up a whole new stand. And now the whole farmer’s market wants to relocate down there.”
“Exactly.”
Zander got to his feet as well, and shook his head. “You don’t think I’m happy about it, do you? Do you know how many parking tickets and fender benders I’ve had to respond to? Things were a hell of a lot quieter when most of the visitors to the swamp boat tours came on buses from the hotels in New Orleans. Now all these people in the surrounding area want to drive down here themselves. Everyone who lives here can see the bayou on their own but not everybody has a lemur in their backyard.”
“You do realize that we’re going to have to talk about alligator deterrence around the animal park,” Bailey said. “The more small animals you bring in, the more potential for alligators to start coming closer, looking for food.”
Jill felt how wide her eyes went now. She glanced at Zeke. It wasn’t that she thought Zeke could fix any and all issues with alligators stalking the small animals of a petting zoo, but for some reason her instinct was to look at him first.
“Don’t worry, Kansas. We’ve got protections around the pens that are close to the bayou for sure.”
“Alligators would definitely stalk goats.” Jill frowned and looked around the group. “Especially baby goats. And you have llamas, right? Alligators could take down a small llama.”
“They’re alpacas, actually,” Zeke told her.
“Still.”
They could also hunt and eat a penguin. The habitat seemed very secure from what she’d seen this morning, but when they went back over she was going to look at it with new eyes. Being from Kansas and Nebraska, alligators were not something that she thought about on a regular basis.
“Yes, we’ve taken all of that into consideration,” Bailey said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you. It’s just something these guys need to be aware of when we’re talking about impacts the animal park is having on the town and local area.”
“Absolutely,” Jill agreed. “These are all important considerations. The more animals you bring in, the more scents and sounds the alligators are going to pick up and it would make sense that they would start moving in closer.”
“We have measures in place,” Zeke said again. “We all know how to handle gators.”
Jill gave a little shudder. “So I need to be on the lookout for them in places other than just my backyard?”
“Absolutely,” Zander said. “Front yard, under your porch, your car—”
“Okay, got it,” Jill interrupted.
Zander grinned at her. “Don’t worry. Zeke’s not the only neighbor you know. I’m right on the other side.”
“Really? And do you have food in your house?” She glanced at Zeke.
Zander nodded. “I do. What are you into?”
Zeke’s hand moved from the middle of her upper back to the back of her neck, under her hair. Now they were skin to skin. The heat intensified. He didn’t even curl his fingers into her neck, but the hold was decidedly possessive. “I’ve got everything she needs.”
Jill looked from one twin to the other. It was clear that Zeke was giving his brother a warning.
He was warning another guy off? That was presumptuous. They were going to have a little fling at most. He couldn’t be staking a claim like this publicly in front of all the other men.
Of course, she wasn’t actually going to consider hooking up with his brother.
Strangely, looking back and forth between the two men who were identical twins, she found that she wasn’t attracted to Zander. In a purely empirical sense, Zander was extremely good-looking and sexy just like Zeke. But she didn’t feel any spark with him. Whereas Zeke’s index finger dragging up and down the side of her neck had her nipples tightening and heat gathering between her legs.
“Okay,” Zander said. “But if you need a cup of sugar or anything, you know where to find me.”
He definitely put an innuendo emphasis on sugar.
Zeke gave a little growl that everyone at the table could hear.
And they all laughed at him.
Jill did like this banter. It reminded her of how she and Evan and Parker and even the quieter Noah sometimes teased.
It was the sign of true affection and friendship. Clearly Zeke didn’t take Zander’s flirting with her seriously, but Zander felt comfortable pushing his twin’s buttons.
She also kind of liked that one of his buttons seem to be her and having another man flirting with her.
Which was stupid and dangerous and a sure way of making things unnecessarily complicated. She didn’t want Zeke to be jealous. She didn’t want the other men in town to think that she and Zeke were exclusive. She didn’t want Zeke to think they were exclusive. Because she didn’t want to be exclusive.
Not that she intended to date anyone else, or even sleep with anyone else. One guy was more than enough. And that was the problem. She didn’t want Zeke attached to her and thinking that he couldn’t date anyone else. She could not fulfill anyone’s expectations for a relationship other than in the bedroom. It wouldn’t be fair to him. And even more, it would be complicated for her to constantly be having to tell him she couldn’t go out, couldn’t come over, couldn’t have dinner, and so on and so on.
The only relationships she could focus on at the moment were the ones between the black and white endangered birds that were going to be here in three days.
9
As everyone else finally said their goodbyes and headed off to work, the woman from behind the bar arrived at the table with another older woman. And an older man.
“Jill, this is my grandmother, Ellie,” Zeke said.
Ellie gave them both smiles. “Here you go.” She set a plate down in front of Jill first.
“And this is Cora. She’s my grandmother in every way but blood,” Zeke said as the shorter, plumper woman with short curly hair slid a plate in front of Zeke. “Thanks.”