Page 51 of Any Second Now
“Hey,” I croak out, obsessed with the way she first looked at me, which was with raw and open happiness,no filter.
“What are you doing here?” She swallows, and I watch her throat move.
My eyes drop lower and spot the bat in her hand. “Jesus. Everything okay?”
“Oh, yeah. I get a bit jumpy.” She gently leans the bat against the wall next to the door. “I can’t believe you didn’t meet Fred last night.”
“Fred?”
“Fred.” She nods to the bat. “He usually sleeps next to me in bed.”
“Right. I forgot about him.” I’ve never been jealous of a baseball bat, but here we are.
“I brought breakfast.” I hold up a hand with a brown paper bag. “And, uh, another gift.”
“Dude. Stop buying me things.” But she smiles and puts her hands on her hips, and I can’t help but let my eyes drift down to the curve of her breasts and the points of her nipples, clear through her thin tank top.
I pull off my baseball cap and slide it back on backwards. I hope she didn’t notice me being an absolute creep.
“I like buying you things. Besides, breakfast is not a big deal. It’s just some croissants from my favorite bak—” My sentence is cut off by the sound of a pickup truck pulling up behind my Wrangler. We both turn to watch.
“Who is that?” Raleigh’s brow furrows and she crosses her arms. “And are those… kayaks strapped to the roof of your car?”
“Yeah. Kayaks. And that would be the farm store guy here to build the coop.”
Saying it all out loud makes it so much worse.
Raleigh Hayes does not need some man buying her things and trying to take care of her. She’s fiercely independent—obviously—and I’m just going to scare her off.
“Sorry, did you say to build the coop?” Raleigh’s eyes bulge, and she looks at me with her jaw dropped. “Hold on. I need asweatshirt.” She disappears into the Pink Palace, leaving her door open and dashing into the bedroom.
“Where do you want this set up?” The farm store guy in overalls asks.
“Around the RV, next to where the other one is.” I make the executive decision and really hope this doesn’t backfire.
He peeks around the RV before nodding and heading back to his truck.
Raleigh pops back out of the Pink Palace in a sweatshirt. She keeps her eyes trained on the man hauling pieces of a sturdy, wooden pre-made coop to assemble around the RV.
“You really bought me an actual chicken coop.”
“Probably not the most reasonable idea for a gift, but I know Megghen keeps laying eggs in random places?—”
“Like in the cereal bowl I didn’t put away,” Raleigh grumbles.
“What?” I rub my hand on my chin. “That’s actually impressive.”
“I know.”
“So I thought if you could feel more secure with her out here, you could reclaim the Pink Palace for yourself.”
“But that—” she gestures to the stack of wood the store guy is hauling out of the truck, “—is a giant, permanent chicken coop. I’m sure it’s not allowed to be built here in the RV campsite.”
“That did occur to me, but they haven’t complained about the current one, so maybe we can get away with this one. And worst case scenario, we bribe the campsite manager with hockey tickets or Blizzard merch.”
We.
“Hmm. And what am I supposed to do with this when I leave?” Raleigh turns to me, hands back on her hips.
