it go for about twenty-four hours, and then he figured, fuck Carl and his warnings. Alex was going to go and take a second look to see if Noah Price was actually as hot as he remembered, or if it had all been just some fucked-up combination of too little sleep and the shock of having to spend his summer in the little, one-horse town. He chuckled to himself as he pulled the door open and entered the building.
The door to Noah’s office was closed, so Alex knocked and waited. Nobody answered. Alex frowned. Maybe Noah wasn’t working today? Alex felt a surge of disappointment at the thought that Noah might not even be there. This was getting ridiculous. Then again, he’d heard Carl talk to somebody in the barn earlier, and since Alex hadn’t seen anybody else in the whole center, he figured it must have been Noah. Unless Carl was talking to himself or the animals, which was something Alex wouldn’t put past the man. Living in such a tiny place must have meant there weren’t many people to talk to, so Alex guessed conversation could be held with anybody with a pulse, regardless if they talked back or not.
He wasn’t ready to completely give up yet, so he tried the door. It wasn’t locked, so Alex pushed it open and peeked inside. Empty. He chuckled. What had he been expecting? That Noah was hiding, trying to ignore him?
“Looking for somebody?” The voice behind him made a shiver of pleasure run over Alex’s skin. Hadn’t he imagined them in the exact same position last night? Only Noah was a few inches closer, and they both had considerably less clothes on.
Alex took his time turning around, letting the shivers of anticipation move through his body. “Yeah, actually. You.”
Noah cocked his head to the side, the same serious expression on his face that had been there the last time Alex saw him. It wasn’t that Noah was unfriendly, but he also didn’t seem to be exactly happy to see Alex there. It should definitely not have added to the pull Alex was already feeling, but the sick, perverted part of Alex’s brain liked Noah’s indifferent attitude. Alex liked the idea of digging into that blandly polite surface and uncovering something wild underneath.
Noah pushed the door open and walked in. The angry parrot sent Alex a suspicious glare but stayed in its spot. Noah tapped its beak gently and murmured a greeting as he passed, took a seat behind the desk, and looked at Alex with an expectant expression on his handsome face. “So, how can I help you?”
Alex had nothing. To be fair, Carl had told him to clean the sheds while the animals were roaming outside, so he’d done that. Sort of. He hadn’t exactly been thorough, but he’d eliminated the worst of it, so no moose would have reason to complain. It wasn’t exactly a task that needed a lot of brainpower, so no questions to ask about that.
Guess I’ll just wing it.
He threw himself in one of the chairs opposite Noah’s desk and settled in. “There’s a cow,” he said.
Noah blinked a couple of times. “Yes,” he finally said with a confused frown. And Alex could relate because he had no idea where he was going with it either. He wasn’t worried, though. Who would have guessed all the times he’d gone to class unprepared would come in handy one day? Apparently, it gave you nerves of steel and the ability to bullshit, which Alex definitely had taken advantage of on numerous occasions in his life.
“Cows are not wildlife,” Alex pointed out.
Noah leaned back in his chair. “The cow’s name is Millie. She walked out of the forest one day and stayed. No one knows where she came from. We asked around, but nobody had lost a cow, and nobody wanted her because she’s pretty old, so she stayed.”
That settled that, then. Alex guessed it was nice of Carl to give the cow a home and not turn the thing into steaks. Too bad for Alex that he was the one who had been tasked with taking care of the cow’s personal space.
“And the donkey?” Alex had seen one grazing around the field behind the bunkhouse earlier that morning.
“A birthday gift to Carl,” Noah said distractedly as he opened the lid of the laptop and typed in the password. “Shouldn’t you be working right now?”
“Let’s consider it a break.”
“I’m pretty sure your fifteen minutes are up.”
Alex shrugged.