“Sure.” Tyler bobbed his head, grinning at Jinx as he moved to collect the key from Cooper. “Do you want fresh clothes, too?”
Cooper hesitated. He’d thought they would go straight upstairs, take a warm bath, and then climb into bed. The smell of the food had him re-thinking the order of things. “That would be great. I have jogging pants in her dresser, bottom drawer on the right side. She’s got some in the middle top drawer. You can grab two of my T-shirts for both of us.”
“You’ve got it.”
Cooper extended a warning finger toward Jinx when it looked as if the dog was going to shake himself next to Lindsey and Boone. “Can you please not do that?”
The dog held his gaze, frozen in place, and then wriggled his body to shake off the excess water.
“Gross,” Lindsey complained, wrinkling her nose. “I thought you told him not to do that.”
“He’s a dog,” Boone pointed out, not bothered in the least. “He doesn’t understand what’s being asked of him. There’s no reason to get worked up about it. You’re already wet and it’s just water.”
“We should’ve asked Tyler to bring down extra clothes for you,” Hannah lamented, wiping the back of her hand over her face. “You guys have to be uncomfortable.”
“Totally,” Lindsey agreed.
“We’re fine,” Boone countered. “We’re only here long enough to eat dinner and then we’re heading home. Lindsey is grounded and I want to lock her in her room like a proper tyrant so she has something worthwhile to complain about.”
Hannah pressed her lips together and turned away quickly so Lindsey wouldn’t see the amusement on her features. She figured the girl might turn shrill if she thought people were laughing at her.
“Did you get all the goats?” Cooper asked as Tyler returned.
“We did,” he replied, handing over the towels first. “You guys take care of yourselves and I’ll handle Jinx.”
“He already sprayed us,” Lindsey muttered.
Boone shot her a quelling look. “If you could go five minutes without complaining, that would be great. I know it’s difficult, but I have faith you can pull it off.”
Lindsey let loose an exaggerated eye roll. “Ha, ha, ha.”
“It wasn’t a joke.”
Hannah ignored the potential fight and focused on Tyler. “Did you find all your animals?”
“There are a few chickens missing. There’s not much we can do about it, though. I’m hopeful they’ll head back to the coop on their own during the night. If they don’t ... well ... the coyotes are going to have an excellent dinner.”
Hannah made a face. “That’s horrible.”
“That’s the circle of life. There’s nothing I can do about it. It is what it is.”
“Well, it sucks.” Hannah carried her fresh clothes into the bathroom to change, leaving Cooper to move behind the counter. Since Lindsey was safely ensconced at the table, he didn’t think anything of it when he stripped his shirt and pants off. She couldn’t see anything below the waist.
“So, I don’t know if now is the time to drop this bomb, but Hannah wasn’t the one who found Jinx. Astra was. Apparently he ran to the creek and she found him there and brought him to Hannah ... across the wards.”
“What?” Boone’s mouth dropped open. “How?”
“I have no idea. She wasn’t the only one who managed it, though. Stormy was there, too, and Hannah says they got into a big fight.”
“I don’t understand.” Boone was so fixated on the new development that he almost didn’t notice the way Lindsey was staring at Cooper’s bare chest. She’d completely forgotten about her dinner and was wholly focused on her crush. “Knock that off.” He flicked her ear, causing her to screech. “You’re going to give him a complex if you keep staring like that.”
Cooper jerked up his head, frowning when he realized what the father-and-daughter duo was talking about. “Can we not take it to a weird place? I’ve had a really long day and I just want to heat up my dinner and then crawl into bed.”
“I think you’re looking at this all wrong,” Tyler countered as he ran the towel over Jinx a third time. “What guy doesn’t want to be the object of affection for teenage girls the world over?”
Cooper was incredulous. “Um, me.”
Tyler snorted. “Oh, you know you always dreamed about having a centerfold in those teeny-bopper magazines the girls loved so much back in the day, something they could hang up over their beds and drool over. What? Just me?”
“Just you,” Cooper agreed.
“It’s not natural for a chest to be that smooth,” Boone explained to Lindsey, inclining his head toward Cooper. “Men are supposed to have hair. That’s manly. What he’s got going on there is like something straight out of a horror movie. It’s completely impractical ... and weird. It’s totally weird.”
Lindsey rolled her eyes. “It’s called manscaping and all the guys do it. It’s completely normal ... and expected.”
“That is not normal,” Boone countered. “He looks like a hairless rat.”
Hannah walked out of the restroom in time to hear the last statement, and when she looked toward Cooper and realized he was the subject of the conversation, she snorted out an unladylike laugh. “Oh, that’s pretty funny.”
“Laugh it up,” Cooper warned. “I’m not going to let you snuggle with the hairless rat tonight when your feet are twenty degrees colder than the rest of your body. We’ll see how you like it then.”
Hannah didn’t immediately say anything. When it became apparent Cooper wasn’t going to pick up on his unintended double entendre, she decided to do the heavy lifting for him. “You’re not going to let me snuggle with the hairless rat, huh? That sounds ... terrible.”
“What?” Cooper furrowed his brow as he looked up. “What did you say?”
“Think about it,” Tyler prodded as he reclaimed his chair.
“Oh, don’t be gross,” Cooper complained when realization dawned. “I’ve had a freaking long day.”
“Fine.” Hannah held up her hands in defeat before moving to the table to
