He nodded. “I do have plans to go back. I'm only here for about a week or so.”
“Yeah. So it would be crazy for me to get involved with you. I'm staying here. I want to settle down here. I am interested in guys who feel the same. And if I get involved with you, not only do I potentially get my heart broken, but it will basically signal to all the other guys who I might want to get involved with that I'm not interested.”
“Like kissing me when Beau walked into the barn?”
She nodded. “I was thinking we needed to come up with a story about that. Maybe hang some mistletoe and pretend we were underneath it. Or…” Her eyes widened. “I don't suppose you'd be willing to act like you’re really into me and kind of stalk me, so that he would maybe feel the need to come to my rescue?”
“You want me to play your stalker?” Drew asked. “To get another guy to pay attention to you?”
“It’s an idea.” Then she tipped her head, studying him. “But you couldn't pull off the creepy stalker thing, could you?”
Well, maybe he could. With her. He definitely wasn’t the stalker type. He hadn’t even shown up to surprise a girlfriend for a date or with a gift or anything since high school. He hadn’t been jealous of a woman in probably just as long.
But he’d swept Rory out of the barn away from Beau without a hesitation. Yeah, he’d used her dad as an excuse, but the older man hadn’t been anywhere in sight.
“How do you know that? We just met.” But he had an idea. He'd been told that he gave off a vibe. People could just tell that he was a good guy.
“It’s just a vibe I get from you.”
Yep, nailed it.
“Yeah, I probably can't,” he agreed. “But the next time I see Beau I can tell him you're a really good kisser.”
Again, her gaze dropped to his mouth, and Drew felt a streak of heat arc through his gut.
“I appreciate that,” she told him. “But how about we don't?”
“Okay.” He grinned. “But I'm around if you need a reference.”
She laughed. “I'll keep that in mind.” Then she narrowed her eyes slightly. “And ditto. If you're looking for a hot fling while you're here, I could make some suggestions.”
“Oh yeah?” He wasn't sure how he felt about that. It might be helpful. She would know a lot of the women their age. But she didn't feel even the tiniest little flicker of jealousy? Because he sure as hell had when Beau had checked her out in her tiny elf dress.
“Yeah, you should go to Ellie's tonight. There will be a lot of really beautiful, smart, funny, sexy women up there tonight. I bet they'll love you.”
Which was convenient. Ellie's was the bar owned by Mitch Landry's grandmother. Jordan and Paige had already told him that was where they were all meeting for dinner. He had to appreciate one-stop shopping. A hot fling and amazing gumbo all in one place sounded perfect.
“But I really will help you with the reindeer while I’m here,” Rory said.
He didn’t need her help. There were only four reindeer, and he could easily unload them alone. But he wanted her to hang out a little longer. “Great. I’d appreciate that.”
They moved around to the back of the trailer, and as he opened it, four sweet, brown faces turned to look at them.
He smiled. “Rory, meet the gang. Everyone, this is Rory.”
She was grinning brightly when he looked over at her.
“Oh my gosh, they're so cute,” she said. “The kids are going to love having real reindeer.”
He nodded and stepped up into the trailer. “These four are going to be great. I have them around kids quite a bit, so they won't be too skittish, and they’re used to being hand fed and led.”
“Do you have more than these four?”
He nodded. “Six more reindeer. And of course, all the others.”
“Jordan said that some of the other animals we have here came from you originally.”
“Tori Kramer—Tori Landry now—is originally from back home,” he said. “Another little town, but nearby. She was my veterinarian before she moved down here, and whenever I had an animal that needed a little extra attention, it went to live with Tori. She's always had a big heart for the ones that need just a little extra love. When she came to Louisiana, she brought all those animals with her and since then she's come home and taken a few more. Some of the goats, a pig, a cow, and a few of the alpacas all started out in Iowa.”
“Extra attention like what?” Rory asked, seemingly truly interested.
“Some of the runts, animals that need bottle fed, and the alpaca that loved to be sung to, the pig that was afraid of thunder.” He grinned at Rory. “That kind of stuff.”
She looked delighted. “I’ve met Alpacapella and Hermione. I know about their issues. And Chewpaca came from you too, right?”
“He’s one of the more recent ones she’s taken in,” he said with a nod. “He was orphaned.”
Rory suddenly looked sad. “Oh.”
“Mitch and Paige met when Tori, Josh, and Mitch came back to Iowa to pick Chewpaca up,” Drew said.
Rory had a hand on the back of one of the reindeer and was stroking her fur softly. “Well, that turned out well.”
Yeah, Mitch and Paige had fallen madly in love over the back end of that alpaca right in the middle of Drew’s farm. Just like that.
It seemed so simple. But Drew didn’t want to think about how many women he’d had out to his farm. Who had stroked his alpacas—literally. And had never fallen in love with him.
Hell, even Paige had been out to his farm and stroked his alpacas prior to Mitch Landry showing up.
Shaking off those frustrating thoughts, Drew took one of the halters from the hook hanging on the inside of the trailer and slid it over the first reindeer's head, then attached it to a lead. He backed the animal down the slight ramp and turned her to face Rory. “Where are we putting these guys?”
She pointed. “They cleared out that end of the barn. It should work for temporary housing since they won't be here for too long.”
He nodded. “Sounds good. You want to take this one?” He held out the lead.
But she shook her head and stepped up into the trailer grabbing another of the halters. “I can bring this one.” She slipped the harness over the animal’s head and attached the lead, then backed the reindeer down the ramp and out of the trailer the way Drew had just demonstrated.
He was impressed. “You know how to harness and lead?”
“I've helped Jordan with the alpacas several times, and we've even tried to harness and lead a couple of the goats.”
He liked that she was comfortable around animals. She'd picked up the goats without much fuss and now she was easily leading his second reindeer next to him. Of course, it didn't matter if she was good with animals. Yes, that was something he would probably look for in a girlfriend, but Rory wasn't even going to be his fling. As they had just established. Even if he didn’t think she was too sweet for how he wanted to spend his week in Louisiana, she wasn’t interested in something short term with a guy who lived so far away.
“So your farm,” she said, “is it a pretty big operation?”