Thinking of Matt made Flynn realise he wasn’t the only one with land. Jena and Matt’s new house sat on three acres. He’d been conned. Megan had chosen the easier relative, her wimp of a cousin over her scary big brother.
He looked at the animals. “As soon as it gets dark,” he told them, “we’re going to take a little walk over to Matt’s place. You’ll like it there. His grass is tasty.”
The one on the left nuzzled him, and he couldn’t resist patting it. He felt the bones under his hand and wondered who exactly had mistreated the animals. Once his leg was better, he’d pay them a visit. There was nothing wrong with his fists, and as soon as he could stand without toppling he’d put them to good use.
“Come on, guys. The grass by the stream is the best.” He led the animals to the spot he had in mind, followed closely by the goat, who wanted to see what was happening. That goat was a nosey bugger.
“Here.” He pointed to the grass as he looked around for somewhere to tie the donkeys. He stopped. Why couldn’t they wander? With a shrug, he clipped off the leads, earning another nuzzle.
As Flynn walked back to his RV, he wondered if there was a supplement or something he could get for the animals. Something to build them back up. As soon as he was in his van, he put a call through to the vet in Fort William. He was now on first-name terms with the guy. While he was on the phone, he asked him how long he should keep the duck’s wing in a splint. And what to do to stop the goat eating everything in sight.
As he listened to the vet’s advice, he spotted the bloody goat chowing down on his limited edition Nikes. Flynn wondered if goat curry would be a better solution for that particular problem.
20
“You can’t score a goal if you don’t take a shot.”
Johan Cruyff, Dutch national player
Flynn dragged his aching backside over to Abby’s house at seven o’clock sharp to read Katy a story. It would probably have been wiser to stay away, but he’d made a deal with the kid.
Plus, the more he thought about keeping his distance from Abby until her sister was gone, the more annoyed he became. Hadn’t Abby put her life on hold enough already? Was it right that Victoria was making them jump through hoops? He was annoyed Abby wasn’t strong enough to tell her sister to go to hell. No, he was annoyed he wasn’t getting his way. And his way meant having Abby naked and screaming beneath him.
“She’s upstairs, ready for her story,” Abby said when she opened the door to him.
The fake cheer made Flynn almost as annoyed as the distance she put between them.
“Great.” He knew it was a growl, and was unreasonably pleased when it resulted in a frown.
He felt like his skin was too tight. Like nothing sat right with him. He felt like the air was too heavy against him.
“Are you in a mood?” Abby cut through his bullshit, as usual.
“Aren’t you?” He cocked an eyebrow at her.
“You know keeping our distance is the responsible thing to do.” Her lips thinned.
“I hate being responsible.”
“How would you know? Have you ever tried?”
“Have you ever tried saying to hell with it and doing what you want instead of what you should?”
“I don’t need to. I can wait for what I want.”
“Good for you. I don’t have that much patience.”
“For goodness’ sake, grow up. It’s only a week.”
Flynn felt the hairs on his arms stand up straight. “Do you know what I hate more than having to be responsible? Being told to grow up.”
Abby’s eyes blazed as she pointed at the stairs. “Sooner you’re done, the sooner you’re out of here.”
“I shouldn’t have come.” He was being childish. He knew it, but he couldn’t seem to stop it.
“Nobody put a gun to your head to make you, Flynn.” With a snap of her jaw, she turned and stalked away from him, making him focus on the lush curve of her behind. Damn, but she was breathtaking when she was mad.
Not exactly the right circumstances to help keep his hands off the woman. Which reminded him, how long was it since he’d touched Abby? Twenty-four freaking hours. He was pathetic. He was behaving like a teenager who was told to wait to get into his girlfriend’s pants. He had more self-control than that. Surely?