Temptation on Ocean Drive - Jennifer Probst Page 0,43
all the details up to you.”
Bella halted in her tracks, staring at him in bemusement. “I doubt the bookstore will allow birds inside,” she said. “That could cause a problem.”
“Do your best, we believe in you. Sorry, have to go. Text me with any other questions!”
The phone clicked.
Gabe cursed. “You gotta be kidding me. She’s pulling a prank.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Why would she want birds swooping on guests and pooping on their head? I’m not doing it. I’m telling her no.”
Her voice soothed. “Let’s grab something to eat and see what we can do. You can’t focus when you’re hangry.”
She marched in front of him like a woman on a mission, and his gut did that flip-flop thing. He liked that Bella knew his tendency to get irritable when he hadn’t eaten for a while. It gave him hope that he was slowly growing more important to her.
They ordered two acai bowls and sat at a picnic table inside. The crunch of granola, tart berries, and floral raw honey began to calm his nerves.
“First, let me call Housing Works and see if it’s even possible,” she said. “You start researching bird types.”
He ate, grumbled, and hit the internet. There were plenty of weird, colorful birds, but most of them were from overseas and couldn’t be shipped over in time. Parrots were a possibility. They were vividly bright and some spoke, but nothing screamed Dr. Seuss.
He hit a few other key words and began getting dragged deeper into the bird world.
Bella sighed and dropped her phone. “Okay, we can have birds, but they have to be caged and can’t be flying free around the store.”
“I don’t know if that’s good news or bad.”
“Me, either. Find anything?”
“What about yellow canaries, like Tweety Bird?”
She shook her head. “That’s Bugs Bunny, not Dr. Seuss. I think she’s looking for something unique. Adele would never choose something so ordinary.”
“Flamingos are cool.”
“They’re also gigantic and can’t be caged.”
“Right. Well, I’m not getting into a damn bird costume. Santa was bad enough.”
The giggles that exploded from her made him grin, the sound full of such abandoned joy he wished he could keep it on repeat. “I love your laugh,” he murmured, caught up in the sparkle of her blue eyes. “It reminds me of all the beautiful things in the world that surprise me.”
She sucked in her breath as the ease twisted into intimacy, the seething crackles of connection igniting between them. And this time, it wasn’t one-sided. He caught the flare of heat in her eyes before she had time to hide it, recognized the tremble in her lips and the sudden flush in her cheeks. She was thinking about their kiss.
She was finally thinking about him.
He cleared his throat and backed off. For now. “Okay, I found a few, but they’re not in the US. We can do parrots—maybe a toucan? Macaw?”
“Still too ordinary. But if we’re forced to, maybe we can have a bunch of birds sing a wedding song? That’s different.”
He arched a brow, then caught the lift to her lower lip. “Thank God you’re kidding.” He chased a variety of bird images on his laptop, reworded some phrases, and clicked on a picture. “Hey, this one is the Victoria crowned pigeon. Damn, it looks like a Dr. Seuss bird. Check it out.”
He turned the screen. The bird was a deep, vivid blue-gray, with a purple chest. Black ink framed its face like a mask. A magnificent sprawl of feathers fanned out on the top of its head, the lacy white-tipped scrolls forming an elaborate headdress.
“That’s it,” she said, tapping the image. “Where do we get them?”
“Originally from New Guinea—rare in the pet trade. Crap. Wait, there are some held at various zoos. Think Cape May has any of them?”
She snorted. “I doubt it. We certainly can’t have birds shipped overseas. I know we have the budget, but that’s just too much. Why didn’t she ask for a tiger? It would have been easier.”
“I’d still rather stick with birds—no liability issues. Hey, it says they have some in New York, at the Central Park Zoo!” He read the information with growing excitement. “That’s doable. We can borrow them for the ceremony and return them the next day. If they allow us.”
Bella tapped her lower lip. “The negotiations on this are going to be delicate. I’m sure they don’t just rent out their birds. Do you know anyone over there?”
He shook his head. “Nope. But I bet someone in Adele’s crew does. Let’s call