Page 67 of Eyes Like a Hurricane

I place my hand on her shoulder and give her a gentle squeeze.

“Thank you so much,” I murmur, my throat thick with emotion. “That is really kind of you both. We had a family member who suffered from PTSD. It drove my sister and me to open the ranch a couple years back. These two will have great homes and be taken care of. Any specific instructions we should know?”

She smiles at me with watery eyes. “Well, I have never traveled with them, so I’m not sure how well they handle trailers. I would suggest rooming them together for the first few weeks until they are comfortable in their new stables. Maybe watch them closely through tonight, and if they do well, they will probably be fine for the following nights.”

I trail behind her into the office and pay for the two alpacas. She gives me little halters and leads to put on each one. I give the purple one to Aislinn, who makes her way over to Sunray. With the gray halter in my hand, I slowly approach Dewdrop. She comes right over to me and nuzzles into my palm. I slip the halter over her face and attach the lead.

“Marta? Before we head out, can you snap a photo of Aislinn and me with the two alpacas? There is a little girl in Seattle who suggested I get alpacas, and I promised her a photo,” I explain to Marta.

Grabbing my phone, she backs up as Aislinn and I stand next to the two alpacas. “Say ‘I got dunked by alpacas!’” She cackles as she takes the picture, handing the phone back to me.

I quickly text the photo to Linnea’s family and turn toward our trailer.

The whole process is easier than I assumed it would be, and I let my guard down. As we approach the trailer, I have Aislinn hold both leads while I drop the ramp. The crash of the ramp hitting the gravel scares the alpacas, and they begin honking and hopping. Running in different directions, Aislinn is standing like a T with both arms fully extended. She appears to be hanging on for dear life as she grunts in discomfort.

I run over to her and grab the lead for Dewdrop, going hand over hand up the rope until I reach the harness. I pet her neck and make soothing sounds to calm her nerves. Glancing over my shoulder, I see Aislinn doing something similar.

Once they are at ease, we slowly walk them to the trailer, and Aislinn clicks her tongue. They follow her up the ramp to the two stalls. We attach their leads to the trailer and carefully leave, shutting the ramp once we are back outside.

“Well, you two sure make a great team,” Marta says, whistling. “Most people take a bit longer to get the alpacas in the trailer. I’m pretty impressed, to say the least. Must be those lovely outfits,” she says with a wink.

We shake her hand one last time and say goodbye.

As I steer the truck out toward the main road, I look over at Aislinn and smile. Taking her hand, I give it a loving squeeze. “She’s right, you know? We make a great team.”

Aislinn leans her head back against the headrest and turns to look at me.

In a soft voice that caresses my skin, she says, “Yeah, Lachlan, we really do.”

Chapter 45

Aislinn

The ride home was pretty smooth. We decided to get dinner back at the ranch, as we didn’t want to leave Sunray and Dewdrop in the trailer longer than necessary. I’m afraid they may suffer from a little shock if we aren’t careful. Plus, I think Lachlan wasn’t too thrilled about being seen in our lovely outfits.

After returning to the ranch, we unload them and walk them to an empty stall. Both alpacas look around curiously and a little nervously. They are humming constantly, and I hope they aren’t looking for their mothers. I place enough feed and water in their stall, which they immediately take to. This is a great sign.

“Just to make sure they do okay overnight, I’m going to sleep out here with them,” I say to Lachlan.

“We will stay out here together. We can bring some wool blankets for the haybales and set up a makeshift bed. It won’t be memory foam, but it should be okay for one night,” he replies.

“Can we run in and take a shower first? I can quickly grab the clothes Leo packed in the backseat of my car. I just really want to get alpaca water off me. I feel sticky,” I explain.

Nodding, he wraps his arm around my waist and leads me out of the barn toward the house. We find Finn and Chloe lyingoutside on the back patio. The flagstone must be warm from the afternoon sun. Both sets of paws are twitching. “Ever wonder what dogs dream about when their paws twitch?” I ask.

Lachlan nods. “I actually had this exact conversation with Callum on the way back from Seattle. Finn’s paws were moving all around, and I figured he was chasing after Chloe since they had just met. Actually, that may have been Callum’s guess.”

Grinning, I reply, “Maybe they are running toward each other as shooting stars fill the sky and Enya sings a love ballad.” He nudges me as we walk into the house. “What if I told you I dreamed of running toward you across an open field of wildflowers as sunrays glint off the beads in my dress?”

He sobers and turns to face me. Cupping my cheeks, he places a tender kiss on the tip of my nose. “Then we should work toward making that dream a reality. Instead of a dream, let’s consider it our future to look forward to.”

I quirk my lips to the side. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

Once we enter the bathroom, he reaches in and flicks on the water. I lift my arms as he helps remove the alpaca t-shirt. He releases a shuddering breath, and I look down and remember I had taken off my bra before putting the t-shirt on because it was too wet to wear.

In a deep timbre, he grinds out, “I’m glad I didn’t realize you were braless under that shirt until now. I may not have been able to focus on the road for our drive back. Wait, if you aren't wearing a bra, what are you wearing under those shorts?”

I huff out a laugh. “Well, you see, I got soaking wet, and I don’t keep spare underwear in my purse. I’d like to tell you I didn’t want my underwear line to show, but we all know these shorts are so oversized and thick that was never going to be an issue.”

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