Flipping Love You (Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild #3) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,113

you like to talk.”

“I like to do a lot of things. Especially with big, hot, growly men.”

“Is eating ice cream one of those things?”

She paused, clearly surprised. Then grinned. “It is.”

“Then get in the truck.”

Fiona looked at Jill. “I guess I’m going out for ice cream.”

Yeah, Jill wasn’t so sure that was what she was going out for.

She watched Knox help Fiona up behind the wheel, then round the huge purple vehicle and climb up on the passenger side.

As they drove off, she thought back to eating ice cream with Zeke.

And she suddenly wanted more.

And she wanted more of whatever was going on between Knox and Fiona too.

Jill knocked on Zeke’s door two hours later.

“You really have to stop knocking, cher,” he told her when he answered.

“I have something to ask you,” Jill told him.

Zeke had something to ask her too. Actually, a number of somethings. Did she want to spend the night with him, how was she feeling, was she allergic to anything besides strawberries, was the strawberry allergy genetic and would their baby have it, did she like the name Magnolia, had she really liked the crawfish or had she just been faking it for Ellie’s sake, and about a million other things.

Instead, he tucked his hands into his back pockets and just waited.

“I’m going back to Kansas. I’m leaving tomorrow. I want to tell my friends and family about the baby.”

He looked at her with surprise. “That’s great.”

It really was. If she was going to tell the people in her life about the baby, then she must’ve fully come to terms with moving forward. Maybe she was going to ask him to go with her. He mentally went over his projects for the next few days and decided that he could definitely rearrange and go along.

“So I wanted to ask if you would take care of the penguins for me.”

Okay, he definitely had not been expecting that.

“Really? Are you sure? Why not Griffin or Tori or Donovan?”

“I will definitely let them all know and maybe have them check in, but the penguins really just need someone to show up and feed them and talk to them and hang out. Donovan will definitely be spending time up there. But they all have other stuff going on. Not that you don’t,” she said quickly. “I know you do. And this is kind of a lot. You don’t have to spend all day there, like I do.”

“It’s not too much to ask. This is what we do. We help each other out.”

“It would mean a lot to me. I guess…” She took a deep breath. “I know that everyone else understands that the penguins are important and I know they would take good care of them, but there’s something about you that’s different. I feel like you…”

He stepped forward. “I’ll take better care of them because I’ll be doing it for you. Not just because I like you and respect you and admire what you’re doing and want to support you like they all would, but because I’m in love with you.”

Her eyes went wide and she sucked in a little breath.

He lifted a hand and cupped her cheek. “Are you really shocked?”

She wet her lips, but didn’t say anything.

“It’s why you asked me. Maybe you hadn’t put it in those words in your head, but you understand that I feel differently about you than they all do. We’re not just neighbors and we’re not just friends with benefits, and we’re not just two people who accidentally got pregnant together. I will take better care of these penguins than anyone else but you. Because for me it’s about more than the penguins. It’s about you.”

She was pressing her lips together now. But she finally said, “Yeah, I guess that’s it.”

“I’m glad you realize that.”

“I’m glad you feel that way.”

“Because that means your penguins are in good hands?”

“That…” She smiled up at him. “And because it makes how I feel about you make more sense. I love you too, Zeke.”

He was amazed by the surge of pleasure and desire that went through him hearing her say that.

He knew that Donovan and Fiona were helping her with the penguins more than he could. He knew that his grandmother had given her advice that had somehow calmed her down about the pregnancy in a way that he couldn’t. He knew that Dana and Addison had invited her into their mom group. Even his brother had given her jelly she could eat when he’d