Page 66 of Eyes Like a Hurricane

She rotates and pushes herself up out of the water. I stand up and look down to see we are both dripping wet. I feel like more water is on us than is left in the pool. I glance around and see Marta coming out of the office with two large towels and a pile of clothes in her hands.

“Oh, you two wouldn’t believe how often that happens. I would have warned you, but watching the alpacas dunk people has become the highlight of my day. I can’t tell you how happy it made me to watch you both fall in,” she says, chuckling. “I brought you complimentary t-shirts and shorts from our farm store.”

She passes us each a towel first, and we dry off the best we can. She hands us each a T-shirt and a pair of shorts. I hold up mine and laugh. It’s hunter green and says, ‘I was Punked by an Alpaca.’ Aislinn is holding up a purple shirt that says, ‘Keep Calm – Swim with Alpacas.’ We both start laughing and are directed to their little bathroom to change.

Following Aislinn into the small restroom, I help her remove her wet clothes. I take a moment to give her a lingering kiss before we continue to put on the dry shirts. Luckily, our boots and socks stayed dry enough, but I have to say, we are not winning any fashion awards today.

“Boots and sweat shorts,” Aislinn sighs. “Leo would pass out if he saw me wearing this get-up in public.”

I chuckle and snap a quick photo. I personally think she looks adorable, but I’m not up on the latest fashion, and I may be a bit biased.

“Just a sec,” I say, slapping her wet hat back on her head. Grabbing mine, I pull her close and take a selfie. “I’ll send this to Leo!”

“Oh lordy,” she grumbles, but when I look back there is a twinkle of mirth in her eyes.

My phone digs with an incoming text.

Leo Braniff: Please tell me this is a joke.

Lachlan: No joke. We came to an alpaca farm and ended up swimming in their dunk pool. These were the only dry options to change into.

Leo Braniff: Oh, good gracious, you can’t take that woman anywhere. She is like a walking catastrophe. Okay, tell her I hid an emergency clothes bag under her back passenger seat when I was over at her place last weekend. I had a premonition something like this would happen.

Lachlan: Sounds good in theory, but we took my truck. Anyway, I think she looks cute.

Leo Braniff: Well, good for you. Somebody was bound to one of these days. Get her home safe! Have her call or text when you are getting into Topaz Falls.

Lachlan: I’ll keep her safe. Tell Paisley and Kieran we say hi.

Grinning, I look back up to see Aislinn staring at me with her eyebrow quirked. “Did Leo have anything good to say? I must admit, I’m glad to see you all are getting along.”

I rub the back of my neck. “He actually packed an emergency bag of clothes for you and hid them under your back passenger seat, but I told him it didn’t do us much good since we took my truck.”

She snorts. “He would do something like that. Oh well, I think you look hot. Not every day I get to see your calves exposed in public, Mr. Levi Jeans.”

I purse my lips, trying to hide my smile. “I’m really more of a Wrangler man, but I do have pretty nice calves, don’t I?”

She gently smacks my chest as she goes to walk by, and I grab onto her hand, holding it in place. When she looks up to see why I stopped her, I dip down and press my lips to hers. It was meant to be soft and quick, but as she tilts her head and swipes her tongue against the ridge of my upper lip, I release a small groan.

“Let’s get those alpacas and head home, Hurricane,” I mumble against her tender lips.

She pats my chest and walks toward the office to find Marta.

“Aw, now, don’t you two look just adorable. That is free marketing right there for the farm. I love it!” Marta calls out to us.

She is back by the nursery paddock, so we sidle up next to her.

“Did you two decide which alpacas you might like to take home with you?” she asks.

I clear my throat and point at two alpacas. “I think the silver and fawn will be perfect. The silver will be Dewdrop, and the fawn will be Sunray.”

Marta nods, “Alright, they are both seven months old and ready to leave their mothers. They are fully weaned and are eating grass, leaves, and bark with the rest of the adults in the herd as well as feed. Those two are females and seem to be beautifully tempered. Last week, they weighed in at around 40 kg and were fit as fiddles.”

I nod but know so little about alpacas that I assume what she is telling me is good news. I glance at Aislinn. She winks and gives a subtle nod.

“How much for the two of them then?” I ask.

She clears her throat, “Now, I talked with my husband while you two were getting changed, and since both these babies are going to the therapy ranch, we would like to offer each alpaca for five hundred dollars instead of the eleven hundred dollars we usually sell them for. Think of it as a bit of a donation to your cause. My husband is a vet from the Persian Gulf War. It means a lot to us that you have a ranch to help veterans.”

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