SBC Fighter: Tails Of Love Part 8

She turned a wistful look in his direction, asked, "Got boulders?"

Mike actual y nodded. "We set water lines this morning.

My bul dozer operator hit a lot of rock. Get his goat b.u.t.t down and I'l deliver the granite and gravel."

Norah patted her thigh. "Houdini, want to play?"

Mike Kraft watched as the crazy zookeeper trotted away from the goat.

Houdini gave a bel owing bleat, then stomped his hooves. Hooves that were stil on the roof of Mike's Corvette.

Bleat, prance, leap. The goat jumped from the roof to the hood and onto the asphalt parking lot. A playful bleat and Houdini chased after Norah Archer.

Mike couldn't believe his eyes. Norah's laughter rent the air as Houdini ran up behind her and b.u.t.ted her with his tiny horns. She grabbed the goat by one horn and used it as a handle to gently control him, then slowly walked Houdini back toward Mike.

They made a picture, the woman with the wild auburn hair, light blue eyes, and slight build walking her caramel- colored, coa.r.s.e-haired goat. Norah was a smal woman for the big job of zookeeper. Maybe not so big, Mike recanted.

From what he'd seen, every animal at the petting zoo was miniature. From the horse, donkey, zebu cow, potbel y pig to the zebra, al came pint-sized.

Two by two, they came in pairs. Each had a mate.

Mike caught Houdini nipping the back pocket on Norah's jeans. Distressed jeans with more tears than denim. He noted the long rip at her knee, as wel as the shorter one at the top of her thigh. Lady had nice legs.

"Any dents?" Norah interrupted him checking her out.

Together they crossed to his Corvette.

Mike ran a practiced eye over the fibergla.s.s. Outside of the dirty hoof prints there were no dents or sc.r.a.pes. "Goat is cleared to go back to his pen," he stated.

He noted her relief, the deep sigh as she blew out a breath that fluttered her bangs. She dug into the front pocket of her jeans, pul ed out a twenty-dol ar bil . The sparkle returned to her eyes and her smile broke. "A deluxe wash and wax on Houdini." She offered him the money.

Which Mike refused. "Keep the twenty. No damage done."

Houdini sniffed and bit at the bil between Norah's fingers. She jerked her hand back before the buck ate Andrew Jackson.

Mike watched them walk away. His daily confrontations with Norah had become routine. From the first shovel of dirt at the ground-breaking ceremony, he and the zookeeper had faced off over property lines, parking s.p.a.ces, and where she dumped manure.

She was feisty and argued with him as no other woman had dared. Her high color and determined fight for her animals both frustrated him and held his respect. He was under contract to build Cambridge Square and didn't have time to pacify a pygmy goat.

Houdini's interference had cost him an hour. An hour better spent pul ing permits at the courthouse. He scratched his jaw, shook his head. The government center would have to wait. Al because he'd gone soft and offered to haul boulders so Houdini could be king of his mountain.

Mike crossed the parking lot and circled the freshly cemented foundation for the industrial center. Sidewalks would be formed tomorrow. He located the bul dozer operator, pus.h.i.+ng dirt over the water pipes. He instructed the man to load and haul the boulders to the back gate of Norah's Arc.

He then took the return path to the main office. Ancient banyan trees shadowed the brick walkway and yel ow hibiscus bordered the sides. The scent of rain hung heavy on the air. A storm cel brewed over the Gulf, now edging the sh.o.r.e. Most of the petting zoo's visitors had headed for their vehicles.

He knocked on the office door, only to find it locked. After several inquiries of the employees, he located Norah inside a pen with two babydol sheep. The zookeeper was on her knees, bottle-feeding the smal est of the two.

He opened the gate and entered without her permission.

Her lips parted in surprise. "Boulders are at your back gate," he told her as the chug and rumble of the bul dozer broke the calm before the storm.

Norah pushed to her feet, pressed her walkie-talkie, and cal ed for a.s.sistance. She then left the tiny sheep and headed toward the goat pen. She trapped Houdini and Hermes in their little red barn while Mike, the bul dozer operator, and six staff members hauled and arranged a granite mountain. They built the base wide, stacking to a ten-foot plateau.

Mike then went on to straighten the corner post and secure the fencing that contributed to Houdini's earlier escape. He made a mental note to remind his heavy equipment operators not to cut so close to the property line.

Standing back, Mike watched as Norah released the pygmy goats. Hermes circled the boulders, the tiny doe curious but cautious. Houdini scaled the granite, bleating his superiority on the top rock. The goat ruled his world.

There was a round of applause and everyone dispersed.

Norah came to stand by Mike. She thanked him with a light touch to his forearm and a few soft words. "You've made Houdini one very happy boy."

"If your goat's happy, then you're happy?"

"My animals are my life."

He crossed his arms over his chest, looked down on her.

"Lady, you need to get out more."

"I date." Norah met Mike's gaze. "When I have time."

"Time isn't always on your side, is it?"

"The petting zoo keeps me busy."

"Which means no man in your life?"

"No man at the moment," she confessed. Her animals held top priority. Second place didn't settle wel with most men.

Overhead, thunder rol ed and storm clouds skidded across the sky. The wind broke like hot breath against Norah's skin, creating an intimacy born of heat, lightning, dark shadows, and Mike Kraft's proximity.

The man stood close, very, very close.

She studied his face, deeply tanned, angular, and cut with character. His body was honed from physical labor. He was a good-looking man, even if he wasn't fond of goats.

Lightning jagged off to the east. Thunder soon popped, and Houdini bleated. A steady drizzle forewarned the wrath the storm was about to unleash.

Hermes trotted toward the red barn in the corner of the pen. Houdini was less bothered by the rain. He came down from his granite mountain, circled behind Norah, and b.u.t.ted the back of her right knee.

He b.u.t.ted her hard enough that her leg bent. She tipped forward, right into Mike Kraft's chest. A thickly corded chest that flexed and felt hot against her palms.

Mike's broad hands secured her hips, steadying her. His touch was as warm as the shower of rain.

There was a faint but visible loosening to the set of his shoulders as Mike widened his stance and Norah eased between his thighs. The wet denim of her jeans outlined her hip bones and flat stomach. His erection strained behind his zipper.

The wind blew in her ear, and the rain sluiced between them like slippery hands. Water pooled at their feet. Yet neither sought shelter.

"This is crazy," she breathed, embraced by both man and the s.e.xual hum of their bodies. His scent was rich and s.e.xual.

"Beyond crazy," he agreed as he looked at her through narrowed eyes inked by dark lashes. There was a curious hunger and heat in his gaze. He appeared about to kiss her.

His kiss came on an inland clap of thunder. Driving his hands into her hair, he drew her up on tiptoe for a kiss that turned as wild as the elements. He tasted of desire and promised satisfaction.

They kissed until the storm pa.s.sed. Until the Florida sun broke through the clouds and the hiss of steam drying on the brick sidewalks turned the petting zoo into a sauna.

It was Houdini's bleat that reset reality.

Slipping his hands past her wet and wildly curling hair, Mike Kraft stroked the vulnerable length of her neck, the fine line of her jaw. He was acutely aware of how smal she seemed against his big body. Lady was tiny.

Her white "Norah's Arc" T-s.h.i.+rt clung to her teacup b.r.e.a.s.t.s, the cotton transparent and tel ing as her nipples poked against the satin cups and into his ribs. The dip at her navel was visible as wel .

Soaking wet, her jeans stretched and slipped, riding low on her hips. Narrow, fragile hips, a hand-span wide.

Ever so slowly he released her, this woman who both aggravated and aroused him. Her face glistened, and her blue eyes were wide, her expression dazed. A blush heated her cheeks, as much from embarra.s.sment as from his whisker burn.

She backed away from him, only to land ankle-deep in a puddle. Her sneakers got a second soaking as water crested the shoe laces. She looked down at her feet.

"Some storm."

Mike glanced to Houdini. "You've got one wet goat."

A goat now shaking off like a dog.

Norah col ected herself. "I need to towel him down." She moved toward the smal barn where Hermes now stuck her head out into the suns.h.i.+ne.

Mike watched as Norah retrieved two brown towels. She tossed him one, then moved to pat down the little buck.

Houdini al owed her several swipes before he grabbed one end and started chewing on the border. Norah lightly tapped him on the nose, but he ignored her.

Within seconds it became a tug-of-war between the zookeeper and her goat. "Give me the towel." Norah's gentle order fel on deaf goat ears.

Houdini held fast. His ears flickered and his tail twitched.

He bared more teeth as Norah dropped to her knees. The towel went taunt and ripping rent the air.

"Need help?" Mike asked as he slung the towel around his neck. "Maybe if you let go, Houdini would, too."

Norah rol ed her eyes at him. The second her gaze left the goat, Houdini released the towel. Caught off guard, she tumbled backward and straight into the mud.

The imprint of her bottom remained long after Mike offered his hand and tugged Norah to her feet. She felt soggy and squishy and in need of a shower.

"Houdini won," Mike said as the pygmy goat s.n.a.t.c.hed the mud-caked towel and took off for the barn with his prize.

"I'm a good loser where he's concerned," she said, a smile in her voice. "I purchased Houdini after two petting zoos had returned him to a local goat farm. He'd been cal ed incorrigible and a menace. He bores easily, and is always on the lookout for a new adventure. He's an escape artist. Here at the Arc he gets testy, but he's also quite sweet."

Mike had yet to see the sweet side of the goat.

Norah, on the other hand, had left him curious. They'd argued for weeks, neither giving ground. Yet amid the wind and rain, they'd come together and kissed until their lips went numb. She tasted of fresh rain and wil ing woman.

The lady could kiss.

She'd twisted him tight.

He took her in. Her hair was electric and her eyelashes spiked. Goose b.u.mps rose on her arms. Her T-s.h.i.+rt and jeans stuck to her skin. Mud caked her ankles.

"You're soaked to the bone," he told her. "You need to change clothes." And so did he. Yet he dragged his feet in leaving.

He had the unsettling urge to fol ow Norah Archer home, to strip her down, then work her up until they lay sated and smiling at the ceiling.

He shook his head. He didn't do spontaneous.

His life was organized to the second most days.

Yet Norah proved a distraction. She played hel with his self-control. He'd put his life on hold to build a boulder mountain for Houdini and then stood in the middle of a goat pen exploring the zookeeper's mouth.

Mike's body buzzed.

His blood hummed.

He had Norah on the brain.

Yet dedication to his job had him hitting the road, when he'd rather spend an afternoon getting to know both her and her body better.

"Work cal s," he final y said.

"For me, too," she reluctantly agreed. "Thanks for the boulders."

"The mountain should keep Houdini occupied and off my job site."

"We can only hope so."

CHAPTER TWO.

"Boss, you need to see this." Mike Kraft's foreman motioned him to the sidewalk. The man pointed to the front entrance to the main building. "Vandalism."

Destruction on a job site wasn't new nor was it pleasant.

It did, however, prove d.a.m.n costly. Over the years, Mike had faced graffiti, broken gla.s.s, and torn up shrubbery.

What surprised him most was the vandals had struck at midday.