Trucker (The Good Guys #1)(33)

"Aren't they just the cutest?" she gushed.

"They are pretty cute." I had to agree. "Kinda smelly, though."

She laughed at my honest observation and leaned her head to one side to  look at me. "You're kinda smelly, too, sometimes, but I still like you."

Grinning, I started tickling her sides. She squealed and spun away from  me toward the petting zoo. When I caught up to her, I gave her a long  kiss that was borderline indecent for a public place.

The goats were definitely my favorite. There was a food dispenser where  you could get a handful of pellets for twenty-five cents.

"How genius is this?" I asked Angel as I inserted a quarter into the machine. "We pay the zoo to feed their animals."

"It's a win-win for everyone. Looks like they're not hurting for a  meal," she said, pointing to the groups of people crowding the area  waiting for their turn.

The goats eagerly stuck their heads through the wide slats of the fence, necks stretched out to reach the closest hand.

"It feels so weird." Angel snickered as the soft muzzle nibbled at her  palm. "Now, now. You have to share with the others," she softly scolded  the greediest one and offered the rest of the food to a smaller goat.

After our hands were empty, we attempted to pet their heads, scratching  them behind the ears. But once they realized their snack was gone, they  moved on to other people who were willing to give them what they really  wanted.

It only took us about forty-five minutes to get through the entire zoo.  Before we left, Angel excused herself to the restroom and I sat down on a  bench to wait for her. Since I had the bench to myself, I was able to  man-spread as I relaxed into the seat.

Don't judge. Man-spreading was comfortable.

A squawking sound came from somewhere close behind me and I turned  around to find my face mere inches away from a goose standing on the  other side of a chain link fence.                       
       
           



       

Laughing, I looked my new companion in the beady eye he had cocked in my direction.

"Well, hi," I said, and he honked in response. "Sorry, I don't have any  food for you." I held up my empty hands so he could see I was telling  the truth.

He flapped his brown and white wings, wiggled his tail feathers, and let  out a shrill squawk. I wasn't sure what he wanted from me.

Thinking maybe he wanted me to pet him, I started to stick my fingers through the hole in the fence.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Angel warned as she stepped up beside me, a smirk on her face.

"I think he likes me." I went back to poking my finger through the chain link fence.

"I think he wants to bite your finger off," she retorted.

As if to prove she was right, the goose stuck his beak through the hole and snapped at the tip of my finger.

"Ow." I pulled my hand back and glared at him. "I thought we were friends. Not cool, dude."

Angel laughed, then kissed the end of my smarting finger.

All better.

After we left the zoo, I drove to a small town called Elmer, which was  about twenty minutes away from Tolson. My plans for the day weren't  finished yet but I refused to tell Angel what we were doing, no matter  how much she pestered me.

I'd just parked the semi when Hank called.

"What's up?" I answered.

"Travis, what's your twenty?" he asked professionally, making me chuckle.

Angel started bouncing in her seat and motioning for me to give her the  phone. Smiling, I handed it over. I'd taught her some trucker lingo on  the way to the drop-off this morning and it seemed she wanted to put it  to good use.

"Hi, Hank?" she said after putting the phone up to her ear. "What's our  twenty?" With raised eyebrows, Angel sent me a look that said ‘I've  totally got this'. The sun glinted off the sequins on her flip-flops as  she propped her feet up on the dash, then proceeded to babble random  trucker talk. "We're double nickels in the hammer lane and a dragon  wagon."

I had to stifle a laugh with my hand, playing it off like I had an itch because I didn't want her to know I was laughing at her.

She had it completely wrong. More or less, she'd just told Hank we were  going fifty-five-miles-per-hour in the fast lane of the highway with a  tow truck.

So, not even close since we were parked in front of the grocery store in Elmer.

Even though the phone wasn't on speaker, I could hear Hank laughing on  the other end. Angel laughed along with him before turning to me.

"He said I did good!" she whisper-yelled at me with a proud expression on her face.

That time I did laugh out loud. She spouted off a few more nonsensical  phrases then said "Ten-four" and hung up. At least she got that last one  right.

I gazed over at her, entirely amused and caught up in how gorgeous she  was. I must have been staring too long because she started to look  uncomfortable.

"What?" she asked, self-consciously pawing at her face and hair.

"You're beautiful," I told her with tenderness in my voice.

"Thank you." Her lips tipped up and her cheeks pinked.

Fuck, yeah. I loved that I could still make her blush like that.

"You ready for this?" I asked, getting out of the semi.

She made a face at me. "Well, I could answer that question if you told me what we're doing."

"Not a chance," I replied before kissing the scowl off her face.

I made my way through the store to the deli section and picked up a package of bologna.

Angel raised her eyebrows. "Are we making sandwiches?"

"No." I chuckled.

"Are you going to tell me what we're doing?"

"No."

"Just a hint?" she begged.

"Nope." I laughed and she huffed.

*

The gentle sway of the paddle boat was calming as Angel and I drifted on  the water of Elmer Lake. I was sitting patiently with my line in the  water, waiting to get a nibble.

Something tugged on the hook, causing the bobber to briefly dip into the  water. After reeling in my fishing line, I was annoyed when I saw my  bait was gone, yet I had no fish.

"Maybe you're not doing it right," Angel suggested with a teasing smile as I loaded the hook with another strip of bologna.

I shot her a look. Before I could respond, Angel's bobber got tugged  under the water as she caught another fish. She squealed with happiness  as she lifted the good-sized catfish out of the water.

"I can't believe how good the fishing is here!" she exclaimed, handing me her catch, which was still on the hook.

Shaking my head in amusement, I carefully removed the hook from its  mouth because Angel couldn't do it. Said she couldn't stand the thought  of hurting them. My girl was a sweetheart.                       
       
           



       

As I placed the new addition into the five-gallon bucket, I counted the  six fish we'd caught. Well, Angel caught most of them. The smallest  bluegill flapping around in the shallow water was my only  accomplishment.

I frowned. "If this were a contest, you'd totally kick my ass."

"What can I say?" She shrugged. "Fish love me. Probably because I won't eat them."

"You won't eat fish? Even if it's cooked?" I asked, remembering her adorable rant about sushi on the first day we met.

"Don't look at me like that. Not everyone likes fish. Try hating seafood  while living in Maine. I was basically a social pariah," she joked.

"This isn't seafood." I pointed out at the water. "That's a lake."

"It's still fish." She wrinkled her nose.

"So you're saying we have to throw them back?" I whined.

"Of course." She looked shocked that I would even suggest otherwise.

"Colton will be disappointed. He loves a good fish fry."

She waved her hand dismissively. "I'll just make him sloppy joes and he'll be happy again."

"Okay. But not tonight. You're not cooking on your birthday."

*

We finished off the day with dinner from Pizza Palace.

"It smells so good," Angel said, holding the large pepperoni pizza on her lap as we drove back to my apartment.

"Best pizza you'll ever have," I told her. "Let's just hope Colton isn't home. He'll eat half of it himself."

Trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, she slowly lifted the lid  on the cardboard box, snuck her hand in to pull out a corner piece and  started nibbling on it. I wasn't sure why she was trying to be sneaky  about it, but it made me smile.

"If you're hungry, you don't have to wait for me," I encouraged.

She smiled gratefully before flinging the lid off and digging in. After  she devoured at least a quarter of the pizza, she held a small square  piece out to me.

"Do you want some?" she offered, but since her mouth was full, it came out more like ‘ju ju wum shum'.

I laughed. "I'll wait, thanks. It's kinda hard to eat and drive."