Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (156 page)

Jesse was smoking hot, but he was also
the most caring, selfless person I’d ever met. He was a hero, with
a heart to help others, and I’d already been on the receiving end
of that more than once. It was yet another of the amazing qualities
that drew me to him like a fly to honey.

He gazed into my eyes. “I didn’t mean
to worry you, but I had to help that kid.”

Jeanie rushed over and hugged Jesse
long and tight. “Jesse, you scared me half to death,” she said.
“But, as always, you’re a hero. As a matter of fact, a news team is
waiting at the office to interview you.”

“
How did they get here so
quick?” I asked.

“
They were already here,
doing a piece on the grizzlies,” Jeanie said.

“
Great,” Jesse said. “Just
great.”

“
What’s wrong?” I
asked.

“
I don’t like the
spotlight. I didn’t do anything but what had to be
done.”

“
Are you crazy, Jesse? You
saved a little kid and Bob. You deserve your fifteen minutes of
fame and then some, so quit being so humble.”

“
Jesse,” I said, “she’s
right. You did something wonderful here today. You saved two lives.
If that’s not newsworthy, I don’t know what is.”

He looked at Jeanie. “How is Bob
anyway?”

“
The EMTs said he’s fine.
He just needs a few stitches.”

“
Thank God,” Jesse said.
“That thing had hold of his head pretty good.”

“
Yeah, and he would be dead
if it weren’t for you,” Jeanie said, her red ponytail swishing from
side to side as she spoke. “You aren’t going to be able to pull
this one off like Batman, lurking around in the shadows and saving
people without anyone seeing you. Everybody’s got a digital camera
and camera phone these days, and the whole thing’s gonna be on
YouTube going viral in the next five minutes.” She smiled. “You’ll
probably get Employee of the Month out of it.”

He closed his eyes and exhaled. “I’ve
just majorly screwed up. I gotta go.”

“
Screwed up?” I asked,
confused. “Jesse, what’s wrong?”

His eyebrows furrowed into a deep
line. “I’m in a whole lot of trouble, that’s what.”

“
With who?”

“
I’ve gotta run,” he said,
refusing to talk about it.

“
Nobody should be mad you
jumped in there. I think it’s admirable that you’d even take that
kind of a risk,” I said, presuming he was talking about his
mother.

“
She won’t see it that
way,” he said.

“
Jesse, if you need
anything, I’m here for you.”

“
Thanks. That means a lot.
I’ll call you later.” He turned and left without another
word.

Jesse had a certain sense of mystery
and moodiness about him. He wasn’t telling me everything, and I
knew he was hiding something, but I didn’t want to press the issue.
I was sure that in time, he’d fill me in on everything. For the
time being, I just wanted to be as supportive as
possible.

Suddenly, Jeanie’s voice jerked me out
of my thoughts. “Jesse’s mom hates it when he’s in the limelight.
She’s really weird about it, like she wishes he was a hermit. I
think she maybe kidnapped him or something.”

I cocked a brow. “What makes you say
that?”

“
She won’t let him be in
the spotlight for any reason. One time, we did this big campaign
for the zoo online, and Jesse’s picture was in it, holding one of
the bear cubs. She was livid and marched right down here, demanding
that Ms. Aikers remove his picture immediately. She caused so much
trouble that his picture was taken down twenty-four hours later.
Then one other time, after the zoo helped to cure three geese who
had been shot with arrows, a local photographer took photos of him
during their release. His mother actually paid the guy some
outlandish sum of cash for the memory card so he couldn’t publish
the pictures.”

“
Maybe she’s just a very
private person.”

“
She goes
overboard.”

“
What does she look
like?”

“
She’s pretty—tall and
thin, with light blue eyes and dark hair like him,” Jeanie said.
“Anyway, we better get back to work. I’m sure Aikers isn’t gonna be
in a good mood after all this.”

I nodded. “Yep. Back to mopping floors
in stinky cages.”

“
No rest for the weary,”
she said.

I chuckled. “You got that
right!”

Chapter 13

A few weeks passed, and I didn’t see
much of Jesse. His mother, furious with him after the incident at
the zoo, had grounded him and wouldn’t let him out for any reason.
I didn’t get what the big deal was, and I found his mom to be a
little odd. Jesse said she didn’t like guests either, so he never
invited me over; whenever we got together, it was always at my
house or somewhere else. My parents, on the other hand, had met him
a few times, and while they thought he was very polite and a nice
guy on the surface, there was something about him that they just
didn’t trust. My guess was that he didn’t fit up to the preppy
image they expected me to date. They hated his shoulder-length hair
and labeled him a bad boy just by looking at him.

Meanwhile, the ducklings had grown.
They were strong and healthy and ready to be released, and Ms.
Aikers had given us permission to set them free. In our zoo
uniforms, we stood beside Bear Lake, admiring the scenery and the
gun glistening on the water. After a few minutes, Jesse took the
animal carrier out of the company Jeep and opened it, and the five
little ducks waddled into the water and glided away from
us.

Jesse smiled in victory. “We did it,”
he said.

“
We sure did.” I’d never
felt so happy. It was the most rewarding feeling, and I couldn’t
stop smiling.

As Jesse and I watched the birds swim
around the big lake, I felt his hand slip into mine. All over
again, that familiar electricity flowed through me. I couldn’t
believe a guy like him was holding the hand of a girl like
me.

“
I see why you love your
job so much,” I said. “They look so happy out there.”

His blue gaze lingered on me as he
tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. When he smiled, his white
teeth gleamed.

Bzzzz
!

When his cell phone rang, he answered
it. After a minute, he hung up and looked at me. “We have two
pressing cases that need our immediate attention. There’s an
orphaned baby squirrel that hasn’t eaten in days, and the bird that
was trapped inside a tire in that huge puddle of oil is ready to be
washed.”

I smiled and shrugged. “Duty
calls.”

We jumped into the Jeep and sped off,
heading back to the zoo.

* * *

We went straight to work, tending the
hungry squirrel first and then the bird. It had a yellow bill and
had a bare yellow skin patch behind its dark eyes. The bird was
blanketed in black oil, so it was going to be a messy job. Jesse
handed me a pair of long, yellow latex gloves, and I also put a
waterproof apron around my neck to prepare for the job.

“
This is a yellow-billed
magpie,” Jesse said. “What’s unique about these birds is that they
don’t leave California. They’re songbirds, part of the crow family.
They eat acorns, insects, carrion, fruit, and berries. You can’t
tell now because she’s covered in oil, but she’s black and white,
one of California’s prettiest birds under all this sludge.” He held
up the bird and smiled when it made loud clucking noises. “I think
we’ll call her Sally.”

As he talked so enthusiastically about
the bird, I couldn’t stop staring into his eyes. I loved his caring
nature, his love for animals and his evident need to protect
them—just more qualities to admire about Jesse. He was gorgeous,
but there was so much more to him than his striking good looks. I
could have listened to him every second, every minute of every day,
and I never would have grown tired of his voice or of what he had
to say. His dedication to this zoo and these animals amazed me.
Some of the workers told me he spent countless hours there, even
when he wasn’t getting paid. He’d often go in on his day off to
feed a baby animal or bird, and he never once
complained.

“
How do you know it’s a
girl?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I’m just guessing. She
looks like a Sally to me. The only sure way is a blood
test.”

“
Then Sally it is,” I said
with a grin. “When did she get here?” I asked.

Jesse slipped on his long yellow
gloves and apron. “About a week ago.”

“
Why’d they wait so long to
clean her up?” I asked.

“
Sally had to be stabilized
first. At first, for almost a week, she was warmed and fed eight
times a day. They also gave her a rehydrating solution with a
feeding tube to help flush out all that oil she’d accidentally
ingested. Now she’s ready to be cleaned. Since birds depend so much
on their wings and feathers to function properly, removing this oil
is her only chance at survival.”

“
I’ve got the warm water,”
I said.

“
Good. We’ll make her a
nice bubble bath with Dawn,” Jesse said. “This is definitely a
two-person job, because she might squirm a little. I’ll hold Sally,
and you wash her feathers really well.”

I nodded, indicating that I
understood.

When Jesse approached with the bird,
she squawked and flailed, but he managed to keep a good hold on the
animal without hurting her. “Cleaning can be pretty stressful on
the bird,” Jesse said.

“
I can tell. She’s not used
to this, so I can’t blame her.” He looked into the bird’s eyes and
told it softly to calm down. Amazingly, Jesse’s soothing voice
worked.

I began washing her feathers and
wiping off the slick oil. I used a toothbrush and cotton swab to
get all that caked oil out of her eyes and off of her little head.
As I scrubbed the underside of the bird, I could see her iridescent
blue-black color starting to emerge. Her belly, shoulders, and
large patches on her wings were bright white. “Ew! The water is
getting so black,” I said.

“
We move to the next tub,
then the third and fourth and so on, until the water is
clear.”

Working so close to Jesse made my
heart pound, especially when he sneaked me little glances and
smiles.

“
Jeanie told me about her
warning that I’m some big, bad wolf,” he said, “but I’m
not.”

“
Jesse, it’s okay if you’ve
dated other girls. I’ve dated lots of guys myself. There’s nothing
wrong with searching for the right person.”

“
Maybe, but I think I might
be done searching.”

“
Huh?” I said,
stunned.

“
I’ve never felt a spark
with others girls like I feel with you, Taylor,” he said with
heartfelt sincerity.

“
Yeah? Well, I definitely
feel a connection between us.”

He shot me his gleaming white
smile.

As if she was annoyed that we were
ignoring her, Sally flapped her wings, splashing both of
us.

I laughed as soapy bubbles flew
everywhere. “I’m soaked!” I said, grinning.

Jesse
touched my face in a soft caress as he wiped the soap bubbles off
my face.
His blue
eyes locked on me, and I couldn’t tear my gaze away from him. For
just a second, it felt like he was looking not just at me
but
into
me.

The door
cracked open a minute later, and Jeanie walked in. “I was assigned
to help you guys. And judging by how wet you look, you definitely
need me. That little bird is kicking both your butts!”

Jesse and I
looked at each other, then laughed.

I was off the clock at three p.m., but
I stayed until eight, and so did Jesse. I never knew I’d take so
much joy in helping animals. I didn’t even care about the money.
All I cared about was being with Jesse and doing something I
loved.

* * *

Julie and I decided to take Max for a
walk in the woods, as her father had told her about a place that
was the perfect spot for dogs. Fred had finished working on our
back yard for the day, and he’d overheard me talking to Julie on
the phone and had given me the look, so I made sure to invite him
too. Julie drove us to the destination in her truck, and the three
of us and Max jumped out.

I glanced around. “Are you sure we’re
in the right spot? I don’t see any trails.”

“
Yeah…we look lost,” Fred
said.

Julie squinted against the sun. “Well,
we’re here now. It can’t hurt to have a look around.”

“
Need I remind you of
bears, mountain lions, and wolves?” I asked.

Max glanced up at me and
barked.

“
See? Max wants to go for a
walk,” Julie said. “This is all public property.”

“
All right,” I said,
pushing some large leaves and twigs out of my way. “We’ll go a
little ways, then come back.”

“
Great.”