Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Zane shook his head. “I ordered a small cage be built. It’ll be ready any time. This… thing… can’t be left unsupervised.”
“Oh. So…”
There was a ding as if right on cue and the large door under where he’d gotten the baby bottle opened and a small crate sat there, looking like a fairly standard cat carrier.
He lifted it out and set it on the table in front of our dinner platter. It had even been stuffed with soft and fuzzy nesting material that was the same color as Chili.
He opened the door, which was a bit of an ordeal, as it had four different locks.
“That’s a little overkill, don’t you think? He’s a couple days old.” I laughed. “How much damage could a teeny tiny baby bunny-monkey guy do?”
“They’re notorious escape artists and hellions that destroy everything in sight. Women loved their fur and men hated their destruction, so they’re typically trapped and kept on farms until they die a natural death and then they’re skinned for their fur. To say they make poor house pets is a gross understatement. I had to disengage the repellent system just to bring him in. If it were on, he’d be in pain being inside these walls.”
I was horrified at the fur comment, and the idea of hurting these cute little things, but glad they were at least allowed to live out their natural lives. “You can’t call one of those farm places to take him! He’s so ---”
“Stinkin’ cute?” Zane’s mouth twitched.
“Little. And yes: cute. Repellent system?”
“They’re notorious for moving into ceilings and walls and tearing things up so my company made a product that uses a certain sound wave to repel them. The fact that the mother was even climbing down my house shows she must have been ill. Or deaf.”
He opened the door wide. I carefully shifted the sleeping little guy into the soft and, I noticed, very warm bedding. He clung in his sleep to my fingers with both front paws but I shh’d him and tilted my hand sideways and he finally nuzzled into the bedding, releasing his grip on me.
When I pulled my hand out, Zane immediately reengaged four closures. They were all different. A hook and twirl lock, a slide lock, and two clamps with twisting mechanisms on the bottom held the metal door shut. A whole lot of effort for something the size of my palm. Sheesh.
I got to my feet, testing my ankle, which was just fine.
“Excuse me,” I said and walked toward where I knew I’d find the bathroom. It felt like his eyes were on me as I walked away.
A moment later, when I was back, the food was cleared away and Zane was staring out a window.
“So,” I said. “Ollie’s home tomorrow?”
He turned to look at me. He looked down at my toes and then his eyes traveled back up to my face. I was barefoot, my flipflops probably still inside that pyramid bed or near it from when I took off running after Chili’s momma.
“He is.”
“I look forward to spending some time with him,” I said. “He seems like a very sweet little boy.”
“He is,” Zane said with a smile.
“I’m sure it’s been difficult raising him on your own.”
“I’ve just done what any father would do. We get by all right.”
I smiled.
“More wine?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said. I probably should’ve asked for water instead, because I was already feeling a bit of a glow, but the wine was delicious. And I was thinking maybe I could leverage some liquid courage, and then I could … make a move on him.
It would be bold of me and I wasn’t a bold person, not usually. But I had about 44 hours till that 72-hour mark. And Zane’s son would be here tomorrow morning so the whole day would be spent with him, taking me to probably a 20-hour countdown by the time Ollie went to bed. If I could seal the deal tonight, tomorrow would be stress-free. Tomorrow would be the real start of my adventure.
“Would you like to go back out to the terrace and see the sky? There’s a star show tonight,” he asked.
“I don’t know what a star show is, but it sounds like something I’d love to see,” I said, tucking my hair behind my ear.
He reached for me and then stopped, his arms out. “I guess I don’t need to carry you. You’re sure that you’re fine to walk?”
“I’m good,” I confirmed, and he fiddled with the panel and then fetched two glasses of wine from the machine and we headed back out to the little terrace with the floating pyramid bed, which still sat with the drapes open. We climbed in and reclined a little. He passed me a glass.
“Oh, I spilled some when Chili’s momma screamed. It’s not wet. I hope it didn’t stain. Too dark to tell.”