Page 15 of Cowboy SEAL Homecoming

To. The. Goat.

The goat bucked again and Becca lost her grip as she dodged the kick. The goat took off toward the kitchen. Without thinking the action through, Alex made a move to block the hallway, but the goat was a tiny, little thing and darted right between his legs.

“The hell?”

“Goats are very smart,” Becca replied, hurrying past him. “We better get him before he eats everything.”

“Again, how do you have a goat that goes through the doggie door?”

“It’s a—”

“Long story, right.” He followed her to the kitchen, his long strides easily matching Becca’s jog.

Back in the kitchen, Gabe was standing in the corner by the stove looking wide-eyed and horrified. Alex could hardly blame him. The damn animal was now standing on top of the kitchen table.

“Why the fuck is there a goat on the kitchen table?” Gabe asked, all but pressing himself into the corner of the counter.

“You’re more afraid of a goat than a sniper?” Alex asked, grinning.

“Damn straight. I know what the hell to do with a sniper.”

“He’s mostly harmless, just desperate to be human,” Becca said, calmly studying the goat.

Alex didn’t know how to feel about this except baffled and entertained all at the same time. “With a name like Ron Swanson, I can’t say I blame him.”

“Do they bite?” Gabe demanded.

Becca laughed again, and Alex didn’t fail to notice Gabe had much of the same reaction he did—a startled look at Becca. Then a little bit of a smile at the sound.

It was a strange moment, all in all, to feel with a true, bone-deep certainty he’d done the right thing and come to the right place. He didn’t often let himself doubt it, but they needed this—laughter and home. Even if it meant a goat on the kitchen table.

“All right. Who’s going to help me grab him?” Becca asked.

Alex felt a certain lightness that had definitely been missing for a while. “Since Gabe’s a coward, I think it’ll be me.”

She pressed her lips together like she was trying not to smile as she stood next to one corner of the table. Alex situated himself across from her. Her gaze met his over the body of the miniature goat.

She grinned, a full-on grin he would never have expected from her.

“Welcome home, Alex,” she said, green eyes dancing with humor.

He could only laugh.

* * *

Becca was running late, which wasn’t that odd. She tended to get a little sidetracked by the animals and her own thoughts and inevitably lost track of time. Thank goodness for cell phones and alarms.

The potential therapist would be here in a few minutes and Becca was sweaty and covered in dirt and probably smelled like horseshit.

All in all, those were a few of her favorite things, but Becca didn’t think the therapist would appreciate it. Maybe she should get used to it though. If Ms. Finley took this job, she would be spending a significant amount of time here.

Before last night, Becca wouldn’t have cared if it didn’t work out. She would’ve been happy to have conducted an interview on her own even if it had gone poorly. An adult experience that intimidated her checked off the list.

But after the men’s skepticism that a therapist wouldn’t be of help, Becca was determined to make this work.

The morning of goat wrestling with Alex had helped her confidence a lot. He had a good sense of humor about the whole thing, and she felt more at ease around all three men. She just needed to give herself some time to get used to everything. It had been silly to think she wouldn’t be nervous at first.

Of course, there was still the moment from this morning ringing through her head. When Alex had stepped out of his room and she’d been in her pajamas and… She didn’t think she’d been mistaken that he looked at her breasts.

---