93

Kassie

If

Damn. He had me there. But we didn't drive all the way to the zoo at the crack of dawn to dip out at the last minute. I couldn't watch Bird Pants anymore but that didn't change how much I loved hornbills because of the show.

"If you freak them out, yeah, that's going to happen," I murmured. "But that's not going to happen. Because you're going to be all real and gentle with them. Yeah?"

He still looked unconvinced.

"This means a lot to me," I added lightly. "Thank you, baby."

His voice lowered. "They're birds that could bite you."

"You already bite me, Ryan."

The stiffness eased up for a moment and he glanced back with a smirk.

"We're good," I told the zookeeper. "We'll be fine."

Mallory waited until Ryan gave the affirmative and she walked close to the branches. The birds weren't deterred by the conversation at all. Far from it. In a nice, bobbing dance, they shimmied their way to the log, content and happy as could be. Probably because they weren't locked up with neighbor-mauling tigers anymore.

"Hey, sweethearts." I gave a little wave.

"Look at that, that's his feeding movement, he wants you to feed him." Mallory beamed at Ryan, still uncomfortable, and she nudged the bucket over. "We have pellets, they're perfect for the hornbills."

"She's the one that's here to feed them," he replied.

"But they're not going over to her."

I poked Ryan in the ribs again. "Feed them, I want a video."

With a heavier sigh, Ryan picked up a few pellets and the birds clambered close, ready for their next snack of the day. The way they played with their food, the way their beaks dictated their movements, I couldn't wait to sketch it out later. One of them stuck out his feet in front of him and made a jump to Ryan's shoulders.

The football player didn't shift beyond giving me a long look.

"Why can't they go over to you?"

"Maybe they think you're a tree?" I suggested. "You could be comforting to them?"

Unamused, he frowned at me.

"These are two rhinoceros hornbills," Mallory explained, while the crew snapped pictures of us. "They're males who usually reside in the canopies of rainforests. They're territorial birds—especially with their mates—very active, and these two in particular love playing catch."

My mouth fell open. "No way, Ryan."

"Hm?"

"You're one of them. They can sense it."

All I got was an eye roll, but his lips twitched all the same. He could pretend to be irritated all he wanted. That didn't change the fact that once he actually took his time and slowed down, he was great with them.

"So…if their new names won't work…?" Mallory trailed off.

"What're you thinking, team captain?" I whispered.

"Don't ask me. I'm not the art one."

I grinned. "We could do something terrible and call them Ball Dribbler and Art Girl but that'd be super weird if we break up."

"If?"

Ryan's single-word question made me pause and I thought back over my words. If. It'd slipped out without me meaning it and I gazed up at him, blinking slowly. I said if. Me. I said that.

If we break up.

Not when, not putting it down as a definite point that loomed in the distance, but if. A softer word. One that looped across the ground, an arrow, pointing right towards the next destination. One with Ryan Cross.

"If." I nodded, bumping my shoulder with his. And I smiled up at him. Not a grin, not a smirk, nothing to take away from the moment. "If."

Ryan gazed down at me and his eyes trailed over my face.

God, he could be so intense. My eyes flickered away from his and I watched the birds for a moment, still feeling the smoldering dark honey on me. His hand went to mine and his thumb stroked the back of my hand. A flush crept up my neck.

"So, why'd you do this?" I whispered out of the side of my mouth while Mallory and the photographers talked. "Want another anatomy menu?"

"Why'd I do it?"

"Mm-hmm."

He hesitated. "Some gifts don't have a motive, art girl."

I was just trying to joke around but I glanced at him again, my pulse thrumming under my skin. He was just trying to be gentle with me. His way of gentle.

"I'm practically offering up another menu on a silver platter." I teased him, my voice soft.

Slowly, he shifted forward. "I did it because I love you."

Oh.

All the jokes, gone. All the teasing, gone. A shock spread over my body and my lips parted, staring up at him.

He loves me.

I melted like chocolate in a hot car. Completely, without hesitation, loved this man. I breathed deeply, unable to look away from him, and really not giving a shit that I couldn't

I wanted nothing more than to kiss him. Actually, no, I wanted nothing more than to make him come. To make him feel as good as he made me feel every day.

His eyebrows furrowed. "Kassie? You have the interview."

"What?" I blinked, unwillingly sucked back to real life.

"The phone call with the leasing office," he urged.

Holy shit .

"I—I—" I stopped myself, stunned. The interview was for Sunday morning and it was Sunday morning. With everything else going on, I'd completely spaced it.

But that wasn't really true.

Everything about Florida was becoming more and more unimportant, shuffled down the list of priorities. I didn't know if I was going to Florida yet. For the first time…ever, I was settling in somewhere. I had friends, I had a workplace that wasn't draining my existence, and I had Ryan—the quarterback that I rearranged my whole life for.

The interview can't hurt.

"Oh, god, you're right," I whispered. "How could I forget?"

Even if I wasn't going to Florida, I could still talk to them about a potential application for next year. Until that was finalized, I couldn't tell Ryan. I wouldn't give him any kind of false hope. That was just mean.

"We need the birds gone," Ryan told the zookeeper, his voice strained.

"Wait, we haven't named them yet," I blurted out.

"You have the interview."

"Uh—I—" I stopped myself, glancing at the hornbills again.

I had no interest in naming them after the Bird Pants characters but nothing else about Ryan and I really worked. What else tied the two of us together?

The words tumbled out of my mouth. "Marrs and Roman. It'll sound so good for the cameras."