Chapter 18
18
G eena locked her car and walked through the grassy parking lot that was currently more mud than grass. The day was supposed to be a break from the week’s incessant rains, but the ground was so saturated that it couldn’t absorb any more water.
She was glad for her decision to wear sneakers instead of her usual flats. Although she would have to wash her shoes as soon as she got home just from walking through the parking lot. Geena hoped the zoo paths were dryer than this.
As she approached the end of the row, Geena spotted Cody standing in front of the entrance. She almost didn’t recognize him out of his zoo uniform.
He’d been in normal clothes on their first meeting, but since then she’d only seen him in those khaki shorts and green polo with the zoo name embroidered on one side. This time he wore navy blue cargo shorts and a black T-shirt, and his hands were stuffed in his pockets as he rocked back and forth on his heels.
As she approached, a big grin spread across his face. It looked like he was trying not to laugh.
“What?” Geena glanced down at her shoes and noticed some mud splattered on the bottom of her jean legs. “Is something wrong? Should I have worn something else?”
“No, that’s perfect,” he said. “I’m just not used to you looking so relaxed. You’re usually still in work clothes.”
“You saw my pajama pants,” she said. “That’s pretty relaxed.”
“True. Then I guess this is a new in-between look.”
“Look who’s talking.” She nodded in his direction. “Almost didn’t recognize you.”
Cody looked down at his own outfit. “This is kind of how I always look.”
“Except when you show up in zoo uniforms.”
“All right, Bourque. Are we done discussing clothes?” Cody smiled again. “I’m more an actual horse guy than a clothes horse.”
Geena laughed. “That’s such a weird phrase. Even weirder coming out of your mouth.”
“You haven’t begun to see my weird.”
A shiver ran up her spine as those words floated through her brain.
She followed him inside the zoo, glad to see branching cement walkways ahead. There was an awkward silence, like walking into the zoo meant this was real. That they really were on a date now. And what that meant for the future.
Geena’s stance on casual dating was still in effect.
So why had she agreed to this?
The truth was, she’d been unable to say no. Her heart had, for once, overruled her head and all the logic it had lined up.
She was taking a terrifying leap. One that meant even if this went well, there would still be heartbreak ahead.
“So, Mr. Tour Guide,” she said, cutting herself off before she could mentally ponder her presence here and what it meant any longer. “What’s up first?”
“What are you looking forward to most?”
Geena thought for a moment. “What’s your favorite exhibit?”
“No cheating,” he said as they stalled just past a flock of flamingos near the entrance. “You have to pick.”
Geena was taken aback. She wasn’t used to having her preference be a deciding factor. When she’d been with Ricky, everything centered on what he wanted to do. She could do whatever she wanted on her own, of course. But their dates had always defaulted to his choices.
“Monkeys. And apes,” she said. “But I want to see Gary’s old pals, too.”
Cody paused in front of a black bear rolling around on its back. It looked a bit like a giant furry baby playing with its feet.
Part of her wished she had brought her camera. She’d left it behind so she could be fully present and enjoy the animals.
And the company.
Cody had been clear that he wanted this tour to be an actual date. Despite trying to convince herself otherwise, this afternoon felt different from the previous times they’d hung out. This wasn’t a thank-you gesture or repayment of any kind. This was just the two of them spending time together.
A date.
“We’ll get to it all,” Cody said. “I just want to make sure we don’t miss out on what you’re excited to see most, in case the sky opens up on us.”
Warmth crept up from Geena’s core as they stood side-by-side in front of the railing. She was close enough to realize that once again he wasn’t wearing cologne or any type of strong body wash. He just smelled sort of earthy. Not in a bad way. In a natural way. Of course, she realized heavy smells might bother the animals he worked with, but it was such a foreign sensation to be this close to someone who didn’t smell like he’d taken a bath in musky cologne.
“Thanks, Brasseaux,” she said, smiling as his last name fell out of her mouth with complete comfort. “That’s thoughtful.”
This man seemed nothing like the one she’d first met a couple of weeks ago. She accepted she had been hasty in her initial judgment, but still. Carefree Cody, the one who’d shown up on her doorstep with his one-night stand and a foul-mouthed parrot, was turning out to be quite considerate.
She’d never known just how sexy consideration and responsibility could be.
“Of course.” He put a hand against her lower back, sending heat through her spine. His breath was warm on her ear, transforming that heat into tingles as he moved close. “Let’s get to those monkeys.”
“ T his is it.” Cody stopped in front of the last exhibit, a small display of pygmy marmosets. He watched with pleasure as Geena peered into the cage and cooed at the tiny, furry family inside. “Last one.”
“They’re so adorable,” she said in the cutest voice he’d ever heard come out of her. After she got her fill of staring at them, she turned to him with a big smile still stretched across her face. “Saved the best for last?”
“I’ll be glad to take credit for that. Even if they’re always the last stop before the exit.”
Thunder rumbled in the distance as they both looked up to see dark clouds rolling in. He hadn’t noticed the weather taking a turn for the worse while they were beneath the tree canopy shading the paths.
Large raindrops began dotting the surrounding ground, as well as their heads. Without thinking, he took her hand and led the way into the nearest building.
When they entered the meal prep room, the current resident, the Amazon parrot, greeted them with a squawk. Geena flinched at the loud noise, and Cody squeezed her hand gently to reassure her until she saw the bird was safely contained in its cage.
He quickly realized what he was doing and how overly familiar the gesture was, so he dropped her hand. Immediately, he was filled with a sense of emptiness, missing the warmth of her palm against his.
What he really wanted to do was pull her close and warm them both from their wet clothes and the air conditioner blasting through the room.
Geena smoothed her damp hair away from her face, tucking the short blond strands behind her ears as she peered at the green bird in the cage. “He looks so small compared to Gary.”
“He’s pretty young,” Cody said. “And our second troublemaker in line behind Gary. He picked up Gary’s bad habits quicker than the others, so we’re working with him in here. He’s taking to the retraining better than Gary did, though, so he should be able to rejoin the aviary soon.”
Their visit through the aviary had tickled Geena as an older African grey told her she had a nice shirt. Geena had been impressed with the entire group, filling Cody with a sense of pride. He was already happy with the success he’d had with those birds, but getting praise from Geena felt ten times more satisfying.
Geena turned from the parrot to face Cody. They were standing closer than he’d realized. She smelled like fresh rain and some sweet scent he couldn’t identify. Shampoo probably. It was light and inviting.
“Thanks for showing me around,” she said. “I’ve never been big on animals. Pets or wild ones. That was always Taylor’s thing. But this was… nice. I had a really good time.”
There was the swell of pride again. Whenever he saw that smile of hers or heard her say she enjoyed something he was responsible for, Cody wanted more of that. Like she was a drug he was getting hooked on.
And he was becoming less resistant to that feeling by the second.
“How’d you feel about the rest of it?”
“The rest?”
Cody took a big breath and dove into the deep end. “Spending the afternoon with me.”
He couldn’t believe he was asking that. He’d been so sure Lauren was wrong. That there was nothing between them. At least nothing worth pursuing at the expense of his next adventure.
But she was right.
So was his mom.
Spending half the day with Geena had been more pleasurable than all the new jobs and cities he’d explored. He wasn’t certain yet, but that pleasure might even be worth sticking around.
The big question now was whether she felt the same way.
Geena eyed him curiously. “So, this really is a date?”
“Do you want it to be a date?”
“I asked first. No cheating,” she said, echoing his comment to her before they started their tour.
“You know how I said I wasn’t into attachment stuff? That I like moving around too much?”
“Right. Yeah,” Geena said, visibly deflated.
Guilt overwhelmed him as he regretted the wording of his answer.
“I mean, that’s how I felt when I met you. I wasn’t looking for anything serious. And I for sure didn’t want to give you any other impression than that. Especially after I learned about your dirtbag ex. I didn’t want to start something if I was going to bail on you.”
“No, I get it. So you’re still looking for another job somewhere else?”
“I have resumes out, yeah.” He took another deep breath and told her the truth. “But I don’t know anymore if I want to leave.”
“Oh.” Geena blinked at him, assessing him and processing what he said. “So you’re maybe still leaving.”
“Maybe. But my reasons for staying are outnumbering my reasons for leaving.”
That was the truest answer he could give her. He was just beginning to entertain the possibility of staying, and he didn’t know if it would stick.
But he was starting to want it to stick.
She eyed him curiously. “So, does that mean this is a date? Are you collecting data to see if you find enough reasons to stay?”
Data points sounded too calculating. It probably made perfect sense to her, but he didn’t have lists or columns where he recorded and weighed things.
“It means I…” He stalled out again. Then he said what he’d been avoiding for days. “I, uh, like you, Bourque. But I don’t want to hurt you if I can’t be all in.”
Her confusion morphed into a playful smile. “I, uh, like you, too, Brasseaux. Let me worry about if I want to risk getting hurt or not.”
Cody noticed the slight flush to her cheeks. He wrapped a hand around her lower back and closed the space between them. With his face now inches from hers, he said, “So if you want it to be, then yeah, I want this to be a date.”
She held his gaze and her position. Then she said the words he’d been hoping to hear all day.
“I want this to be a date, too.”
Before either of them could change their mind, he reached his free hand up to slide it behind her head and pulled her even closer until their lips met. He kissed her, gently at first, making sure she was on the same page as him.
When she kissed him back softly, Cody slid his fingers over the short hair at the nape of her neck and pressed his mouth harder against hers. Heat spread through every limb until his whole body was humming with desire.
He was kissing Geena.
And he liked it.
He really liked it.
But the moment was cut short by a loud alert sound. It wasn’t a text notification because he’d heard that one earlier when Taylor messaged him to see how things were going.
“Do you need to get that?” he asked with his lips still grazing her mouth.
“No,” she said a little breathlessly. Then her whole body stiffened and she pulled her head back.
“What is it?”
“The security alert.” She reached for the phone in her back pocket and relaxed a bit before tapping at the screen. “I’m sure it’s nothing. It went off the other day when there was a storm. Probably a leaf blowing past the sensor with all this wind.”
It hadn’t been that windy before the rain started, but maybe it was rougher over at her townhouse.
When her eyes widened, he knew it wasn’t a leaf.
With his heart racing now from more than that kiss, he asked, “What’s happening?”
“The feed.” Then she stared at him with an expression of panic blanketing her face. “It’s gone.”