Page 93 of Wild and Wrangled

“A job at Rebel Blue. For me,” I said.

Dusty lifted his head and looked at me, confused. I took a deep breath and started to explain. “Last night, Gus asked me to be Rebel Blue’s lawyer—full-time—not just looking over stuff when they need it, but actually working for them.

“Gus only talked about a couple of things, but I know there’s a million things I could do there. All the little things that slip through the cracks, like the liability waivers for guests at Baby Blue. The sanctuary is going to need someone’s full attention when it comes to the back-end stuff, and I think I’d be really good at it.”

“You would be,” Dusty said.

“And you’d be okay with that? We’d probably work together a lot.”

Dusty’s lips stretched into a smile. “I can’t imagine anything better, angel,” he said with another kiss to my neck. “So did you accept?”

I turned around on my stool so I could wrap my arms around Dusty’s waist. I liked him here in the morning—liked seeing what he looked like when he woke up. “I did,” I said and laid my head on his chest—right over the top of the dagger. “And I’m going to talk to Anne about the house—see if there’s any way I can buy it from her buyer or stay longer. This place just…means so much. It’s finally something that feels like…my own. And I want to find a way to hold on to it.”

“Oh.” Dusty sounded surprised.

“Yeah, oh.” I looked up at him, and he looked like he was about to say something, but then he yawned. “Need some coffee?” I asked.

He let out a puff of air. “Yeah, I had this woman wringing me dry all night.”

I kissed his chest. “Sounds like you need to work on your stamina—build up that endurance.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Especially because she’d really like to do it again tonight, or you know…now.” I licked up his chest and heard him inhale sharply.

“Now is good,” he said. “Now is really good.”

—

A little over an hour later, Dusty and I were at the grocery store. Neither of us really wanted to leave the other. I had things to do, so Dusty just decided to tag along.

“You buy name-brand cereal?” he asked as I pulled a box of Frosted Mini-Wheats off the shelf. “Fancy as hell.”

“I think they taste different,” I said with a shrug.

“That’s because you’ve got that sophisticated palate, Ash.” We went through every aisle in the grocery store, even though I didn’t need to—I had a list—but I liked doing it. I liked every moment of us rediscovering each other—hearing all about his favorite snacks and preferred foods or whether or not he got the ick from eggs every once in a while.

When I grabbed a plastic container of pickles from the refrigerated section, Dusty did a dramatic gag. “Still not a fan?”

“No, pickles are rank, Ash.”

“More for me.” I shrugged and put them in the cart.

“Cam?” A woman’s voice came from in front of us—her hair was darker than it used to be and cut short. She was wearing black jeans, black boots, and a white knit sweater.

“Chloe?” I said. My old high school teammate and Anne’s granddaughter. That was ironic. “Oh my god, hi.”

She walked toward me and pulled me into a hug, which was unexpected. I was awkward about it, but I hoped she didn’t notice. “How are you?” I asked when she pulled back.

“Good,” she said. “Hi, Dusty,” she said, shifting her gaze to the man next to me, who seemed kind of…nervous.

“Hey, Chloe,” he said. “Good to see you.”

“What are you in town for?” I asked.

“Just a pit stop on my way to New York to see my mom. How are you liking the house?” Chloe asked me, but it looked like she was talking to both of us.

“It’s perfect, really. It’s such a great house, as you well know.”