Page 25

“Pooh, no.” Declan sprinted after his dog.

“Bonkey, no.” I grabbed for the lead rope, but it slipped through my fingers.

What followed was five minutes of pure chaos as a baby donkey chased a dachshund around the KAT house lawn, with the entire Kingman family in pursuit. Except of course, Isak, who stood on the front steps recording the whole thing and laughing so hard he had to sit down.

“Your family,” Tempest said beside me as we watched Declan dive and miss his dog for the third time, “is absolutely ins... umm, interesting.”

“Yeah.” I was used to this chaos, but even for us, this was laughable. “But we get results.”

As if on cue, the donkey stopped to investigate a bush, allowing Hayes to finally grab the lead rope. Wiener the Pooh, sensing the game was up, trotted back to Declan looking mighty pleased with herself.

“Show off,” Declan muttered, brushing grass off his jeans.

Loading the donkey into Declan’s truck proved surprisingly anticlimactic after that. Dad had already laid down rubber mats, and Hayes, who had somehow charmed the baby donkey, got our four-legged friend settled with minimal fuss.

“I’ll drive,” Dad announced, plucking the keys from my hand.

“Flynn, you drive my car and follow. Tempest, you’re welcome to join him.

The rest of you...” He surveyed his sons with the look that had launched countless wind sprints.

“Shoo. We got this. I know you all were here to feed the gossip mill.”

My brothers dispersed, except Isak who was both still filming and somehow flirting with the KAT sisters who’d come out to watch. I pointed Tempest to my dad’s car, which he never, ever let any of us drive, so this was extra weird. At least it was cool.

Tempest kept her eyes on the passing streets, but her hand found mine in the darkness. I intertwined our fingers, hoping she couldn’t feel my pulse racing.

“Thank you,” she whispered, so quietly I almost missed it.

I squeezed her hand. “Anytime, my queen. Though next time, maybe we stick to smuggling something smaller and easier to hide... like chinchillas or oh, I know, let’s leave animals out of it all together and start a sex toys smuggling business.”

Her laugh, soft and real, mixed with the night air. “Dildos and vibrators aren’t illegal, and I don’t think we need to smuggle them either in or out of a sorority house.”

Hot damn. Now I was imagining her with a room full of a whole menagerie of sex toys. Fuck me. Was it hot in here?

Normally, this was the part where I made my move.

Got myself two weeks of blissful sexy times romps in the sheets.

Sitting there, in my dad’s vintage mustang, trailing behind a criminal donkey, flirting with a girl who kept surprising me, my heart didn’t pitter pat.

It didn’t skip a beat. I wasn’t twitterpated.

What I was would be much worse .

I was in serious trouble.

Because this felt a lot like falling, and I swore I’d never do that.

I couldn’t.

We pulled into my old neighborhood in Thornminster, and seeing my dad’s house and the Kingman family home through Tempest’s eyes made it feel different somehow. Manicured lawn, same Denver Mustangs and DSU flags, same rose bushes Mom had planted that Dad still maintained with precision.

“This is where you grew up?” She stood in the driveway, taking in the sprawling two-story that had somehow contained eight kids and more chaos than should be legally possible.

“Home sweet home.” I helped the donkey down the truck ramp we’d borrowed from Hayes. Through the backyard gate, I could hear Chris and Jules bickering about proper hay storage while Trixie played mediator.

Dad cleared his throat. “Your siblings appear to be making a mess of my yard.”

“It’s what we do best,” I said, just as Jules shouted, “Flynn, tell Chris he’s arranging the hay bales wrong.”

“Sorry about...” I gestured vaguely at the chaos. “All of this.”

“Don’t be,” Tempest said softly, and something in her voice made me look closer. She was staring at Mom’s roses, illuminated by the porch lights, with an expression I couldn’t quite read.

The donkey chose that moment to discover those same rosebushes.

“No,” Dad and I shouted in unison, but Tempest was faster. She stepped between the donkey and the flowers with a grace that stopped both of us in our tracks.

“Hey there, little one.” Her voice was soft but firm. “Those aren’t for eating.” She pulled what looked like a granola bar from her pocket. “This is much better.”

The donkey considered its options, then delicately took the treat from her hand.

“You’ve done this before,” Dad said, and it wasn’t a question.

“I volunteer at a farm sanctuary.” She shrugged, but I caught the hint of pride in her voice. “Animals respond to calm energy.”

“Hmm.” Dad studied her with the same intensity he used to evaluate potential recruits. Then his expression softened as the donkey bumped against his leg again. “That’ll do, donkey. That’ll do.”

From the backyard, Jules called out, “Dad, Chris is being impossible.”

“Speaking of impossible...” Dad sighed. “I better go supervise before they undo all of Trixie’s organizing. Flynn, show our guest what they’ve set up.” He headed toward the gate, then paused. “And Miss Navarro? I assume you’ll be here early to help with his care?”

“Yes, sir. I have an eight o’clock class, but I can come right after.”

“Good. Flynn’s free from nine to noon. Between combine prep sessions.” He disappeared into the backyard before I could protest being scheduled like a rookie.

“Your father’s quite the commander,” Tempest said, amusement coloring her voice.

“You have no idea, my queen.” The nickname slipped out without thought, inspired by her regal handling of the chaos. When her cheeks flushed pink, I decided to keep it.

We rounded the corner to find Chris and Jules had actually done a decent job setting up a sheltered area with fresh hay and water. Trixie was adding some finishing touches, including what looked suspiciously like fairy lights.

“For ambiance,” she explained, not at all sheepishly. “Every creature deserves a little magic.”

After a quick tutorial on the setup from Trixie, I drove Tempest back to campus. She was quiet, but I caught her smiling at nothing more than once.

“I can’t believe your whole family dropped everything to help,” she said as I pulled up to the KAT house.

“That’s what Kingmans do. We’re ride-or-die, even for criminal donkeys.” I turned to face her. “And definitely for people we care about.”

Her breath caught, and for a moment, I thought about closing the distance between us. About finally finding out if her lips were as soft as they looked.

“Flynn...” The way she said my name did dangerous things to my heart rate.

A tap on the window made us both jump. Parker, Tempest’s roommate, waved apologetically.

“Sorry.” Her voice was muffled through the glass. “But Mrs. Henderson is doing one of her infamous random room checks in ten minutes and she’s already suspicious about the donkey thing.”

Tempest sighed, reaching for the door handle. “Duty calls. ”

“Hey.” I caught her hand before she could leave. “See you at nine-ish tomorrow, my queen?”

Her smile was worth every second of chaos we’d endured. “Don’t be late, Kingman.”

I watched her disappear inside, already counting the hours until morning. Because for the first time since I made my two-week rule, I wasn’t looking for an exit strategy.

I was looking for a reason to stay.