As soon as she settled in the passenger’s seat, she pulled out a map of the zoo, and he drove to the place.

  “I figure we’ll visit the big cats first, the bears after that. Oh, and we’ve got to go to the butterfly sanctuary! The bird sanctuary too.”

  “Is there anything that you don’t want to see?”

  “Nope.”

  He chuckled.

  “When was the last time you went to a zoo?” she asked.

  “When I was a kid. I went with Rafe and Aidan and their parents. We had to see the snakes and the alligators, ride the train and the sky rail. The big cats entertained us too. They were chomping on watermelons.”

  He hadn’t expected Kate to be so organized. He suspected that was why she helped Lexi so much with her business. He liked it, though he enjoyed doing things on the spur of the moment too. But he knew if they had their activities planned out more, they would get more done. And that was great too.

  “Oh, and by the way, your bodyguard called Mike and told him about the tabloid picture taken yesterday of Randall Roberts and me while I was gardening. I just wanted to say that I used to date Randall on and off. There wasn’t really anything special going on between us, and yes, he’s a wolf. I haven’t even seen him in over a year.”

  “Which of my bodyguards talked to Mike about it?”

  “I’m not getting him in trouble if you’re going to chew him out.”

  Derek sighed. “No. I was just wondering who did it.”

  “I’m not saying. Anyway, in case it troubled you or you were worried I was unsettled by the news story, I wasn’t, and I wanted to let you know who he was. There shouldn’t be any further stories about Randall and me. Oh, and he’s a financial advisor, so I assumed that’s why he finally ‘found’ me and was interested in getting back with me. Or at least to offer his financial services. Paid for, of course.”

  “Oh.”

  “Just in case you read the tabloids.”

  “I don’t normally. But Maddie put the rag on the dining room table for me to read first thing this morning.”

  Kate laughed, and he enjoyed her laughter. He was glad she was making light of the whole thing.

  “My staff wanted me to hire a private investigator to check him out and make sure he wasn’t going to cause trouble for you.” He figured he might as well share the whole story with her since she seemed to be getting a kick out of it.

  She smiled. “And learn if he was a wolf?”

  “Naturally.”

  “Well, they don’t have to worry about it. Mike is watching out for me.”

  Derek was glad, but it bothered him that she had to have Mike watch out for her. “The guy was giving you trouble?”

  “I was having a tough time getting rid of him. I’m sure he thought if he hung around long enough, he would have convinced me to talk to him about financial matters. I told him, though I shouldn’t have probably spoken for you and Lexi, that you both have your own financial advisors, so if he thought he might make some headway with either of you because he knew me, forget it.”

  Derek smiled. “I’m glad you did because you’re right. I wouldn’t switch to some other wolf I don’t even know when Liam does a great job with my finances.”

  “I was going to either contact Liam or Lexi’s financial advisor to set things up for me.”

  “Let me know what you decide, and if you want to talk to Liam, I’ll call him. Or you can, of course.” Derek didn’t know why he was taking over her business! “But if you have any further trouble with the guy, just tell me. I can help out there too.”

  She chuckled. “He already might think we’re dating anyway because we went to the gala together.”

  “So he saw the tabloid featuring us.”

  “Uh, yes, that’s how he tracked me down. If I had known I was walking with you yesterday when Randall came by while I was gardening, I would have told him I had to run, and that would have made him leave. But you hadn’t called me to come with you to walk the dogs yet, and I didn’t want to make up any stories.”

  “I should have called you earlier.”

  She laughed. “Mike convinced him to leave.”

  “We could be dating, you know. I mean, beyond this.”

  She sighed. “You don’t date she-wolves.”

  “I would be willing to make an exception in your case.”

  “We’ll see.” Kate still sounded like she didn’t think Derek would ever settle down, and maybe he wouldn’t. But she probably thought that he would stop dating her, afraid of a commitment, and start dating human women again.

  They left it at that for now, but in his own mind, he was damn well dating her. He would do his best to be a wolf she could trust. He felt good about that.

  They finally arrived at the zoo, and he was all set to pay for their tickets, but Kate had a season pass. He would buy their lunch then.

  They started to follow the map of the zoo to reach the big cat exhibits. In the first one, a tiger watched them, and then he wandered down to the waterway flowing through the exhibit and took a sip of water. In the next enclosure, a large lion gnawed on a massive bone, looking perfectly content. A black jaguar slept on top of a giant tree branch in another pen. A cougar was nearly indistinguishable from the rocks it lay on way up above on the cliffs, another pacing near the smudged window below in the next enclosure. It made Derek realize just how easily the cougars could leap onto the cliffs where his wolf kind couldn’t go unless he climbed them as a human. And just how well they blended in with their surroundings. After that, they checked out a group of enclosures where ocelots and clouded leopards slept on top of tree branches.

  Derek got a text message and pulled his phone out of his pocket. It was from Brenda. Couldn’t she get a clue that it was over between them? Forever?

  Brenda texted: I know you’re more into doing things on a whim than I am.

  That was for damn sure.

  Brenda continued: But I thought we could drive down to the pier and have lunch.

  He turned off the text notifications and pocketed his phone. He suspected now that Brenda had the notion that if she kept texting him, she would wear him down until he began dating her again. Maybe if he just ignored Brenda, she would finally get the message.

  He walked with Kate to the next exhibit, but he felt a bit of tension between them. He hadn’t planned to mention Brenda texting him because he didn’t want to upset Kate. But he figured it would be better to tell her what was going on. “That was Brenda. I’ve told her we’re not going out together further, but she’s not getting the message.”

  “What did she want to do with you?”

  “Have lunch down at the pier.”

  “We could do that sometime.”

  Loving the idea, he smiled at Kate. She had a bit of the devil in her. He guessed it was her wolfish nature that said she was seeing him and hands off to any other woman. “That sounds great. Just let me know when.”

  “Okay, maybe the weekend after next since we’re camping next weekend.”

  “That sounds good.”

  The bear exhibits were next. A big old grizzly lay half-asleep on his bed of straw, his tongue hanging out, one eye watching them. In the next enclosure, a Southeast Asian sun bear stood up, watching all the people observing him; another slept behind him on the rocks.

  Then Kate took Derek to see the giraffes and purchased tickets to feed them. “I’m going to take pictures of you feeding the giraffe to show how it’s done.”

  He laughed. He was having a ball with Kate. He held out the lettuce and smiled while Kate took pictures of him hand-feeding the giraffe, its long black tongue snaking out to grab the food. Then it was her turn, and Derek took a picture of her feeding the giraffe next. But she needed one of them together too, and when she moved in close to take the picture, he wrapped his arms around her in a way that said they were truly with one another. He didn’t know where she was going to post the pictures, if at all, but he was enjoying this too much not to take advantage of the gesture.

  She smiled up at him, and this time, he took the shot.

  “I’m going to share them on all the social network sites,” she said, “after we leave. And Brenda, if she’s watching, can enjoy.”

  He laughed. “I’ll be sure to post them on my sites as well in case she misses your postings.”

  “You have a deal.” After that, Kate appeared to be having a blast taking pictures of them everywhere—at the train station, on the sky rail, even petting the goats in the petting zoo. They got up close and personal to the ostrich who was standing right next to the fence and the baby African elephant that was trying to reach imitation plants in a hanging basket next to his enclosure as he had climbed halfway through the fence.

  Derek was taking just as many pictures of them together too. He would be posting his on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram later.

  “It’s lunchtime, don’t you think?” Kate asked.

  “Yeah, we’ve worked up an appetite.”

  “I like to go right at eleven when it’s not as crowded. A lot of people wait until noon.”

  “That’s a good idea.”

  They headed to the glassed-in facility that housed monkeys and parrots, quickly finding a seat right by the windows before anybody else took it. “Pepperoni pizza for me. What about you?” she asked.

  “Hamburger and fries for me. I’ll go get them.”

  “I was going to pay for lunch,” she said, “since going to the zoo was my idea.”

  “No way. I never thought I would enjoy visiting the zoo like this until I had kids, of course. Besides, you paid for our entrance. You can get dessert later if you would like.”

  “Okay.”

  When he returned with the food, she was taking pictures of a spider monkey nursing her infant.

  “So what else would you like to do?” he asked.

  “You mean today? I think our schedule is pretty full. But next chance we have, we could go to the botanical gardens.”

  “I thought you would never ask.”

  She laughed and pulled off a slice of her pizza.

  He’d never been to the botanical gardens before, but with Kate? He was certain she would make the trip entertaining.

  He ate his hamburger and watched the baby monkey curled up in its mother’s lap. “This is a really good hamburger. I hadn’t expected it to taste as good as what I would make on the grill, but it does.”

  “I’m glad you’re enjoying it. I love their pizza here. I had thought the same, that the zoo food wouldn’t be that good. I was pleasantly surprised the first time, so now I always grab a bite to eat before I leave. I come here about three times a year at least. I enjoy walking around the exhibits; it’s good exercise, yet I don’t really notice it because I’m having so much fun seeing the animals.”

  “Do you always come by yourself?”

  “Most of the time, sure. I came with a guy on a date one time. Lexi and I went together last year, and we had a really nice time. I can’t wait until she has her twins and we can take them to the zoo.”

  “Twins?” Derek asked, surprised.

  “Oh, sorry. Maybe she hasn’t told everyone else yet.”

  “She might have told the others. I just hadn’t gotten the word. I won’t mention I know until someone else shares the news with me in case she hadn’t planned to share yet.”

  “It could be because you’re a bachelor male and she didn’t think it would interest you. Thanks for not letting on about it though, in case she hasn’t told anyone else about it.” Kate pulled off another slice of pizza.

  Derek took a drink of his lemonade. “Is that why she made you a partner in her firm?”

  “Yeah, that’s part of it. She knows I’ll be driven to continue to make it succeed when she’s busy with the babies.”

  “You’re so good at it.” He finished his hamburger and ate one of his french fries. “Fries are good too.”

  “Great.”

  “So about the guy you took on the date to the zoo…” Derek wanted to know if the guy was human.

  Appearing amused Derek would ask, she smiled at him. Which meant? Was he human or a wolf?

  “Oh, well, this wolf kept wanting to take me out to nightclubs. I like them, but I love doing outdoorsy stuff too. A variety of things. I would love to go to a theme park or a water park—or even whitewater rafting.”

  “Hmm, theme parks.”

  “Yeah, so if you’re ever up for it, we can do that.”

  He realized the more he got to know Kate, the more he was up for it. “Yeah, sure. I would love to.”

  “Anyway, the wolf was not interested in anything at the zoo. He liked the food, but that was about it. He didn’t like how costly everything was. He was a dentist, so he made enough money, but he was a cheapskate. I ended up paying for a lot of the stuff because he balked at the price of things the whole time. Even back then, I had a season pass and could take a friend. So he didn’t even have to pay for that. When we saw the crocodiles’ yellow teeth, that reminded the dentist of dental cleanings. Then he shared all kinds of stories with me about people’s dental issues. Believe me, it wasn’t the greatest date material to talk about. At the time, I was working as a lifeguard, so if he was going to share his work experiences with me, I figured I would share some exciting stories with him about saving people or catching thieves on the beach, and I swear he yawned twice while I was telling him about them.”

  “Clown.”

  “Yeah. He didn’t know why I kept turning him down for dates after that. His idea of a date was doing a pub crawl. Which can be okay for a special party, but to do it all the time? Nope.”

  “Yeah, I agree. What about us going for a pedal boat ride sometime? A lake is located near us where we can take out a pedal boat, see the swans and geese and ducks, get some exercise, and we could have lunch at the marina.”

  Kate gave him another one of her sunshiny smiles. “I would love to.”

  Chapter 12

  Later that afternoon after visiting all the primates and the reptile house at the zoo, Derek and Kate had soft chocolate-and-vanilla-swirl ice cream in sugar cones. She normally never had ice cream at the zoo, but this was fun on a date. In fact, she was having such a wonderful time, she decided she was dating Derek, and no other wolf—or human—need apply for the position!

  He might not always be this accommodating, but for now, he was a dream date.

  She couldn’t believe it when he took her hand and led her to the booth to pay for rides on the carousel. “You really want to do this?” She loved that he would be that adventurous.

  “Yeah. You wanted to. You pick the animal you want to ride, and I’ll stand next to you and take photos.”

  She laughed. “Okay.”

  When they finally got onto the carousel, she saw just the animal she wanted to ride and dashed for it before someone else got it. Once she was seated on the gray wolf, he took pictures of her and the wolf and then them together as the carousel began to move. She was having a blast.

  After that, they visited the bird house filled with parrots and another filled with hummingbirds. They went through the butterfly exhibit next. One of the brilliant blue morpho butterflies took a ride on Derek’s shirt the whole way through, and she was amused, taking pictures of the two of them to show off to the world. Though at one point, Derek pulled her in next to him so he could get a shot of Kate, the traveling butterfly, and him. When they finished seeing all the beautiful butterflies, one of the zoo staff moved the morpho to a piece of fruit, and then Derek and Kate left the butterfly house.

  “I thought you were going to take your new little friend home with you,” Kate said, grasping Derek’s hand.

  “I would much rather take you.”

  “Hmm, speaking of going home, we were at the zoo for so much longer than we planned, I was thinking of us having dinner at my place if that works for you,” Kate said.

  “That would be great,” Derek said.

  “If you still want to swim, Lexi said we could anytime.”

  Derek shrugged. “Maybe we could watch a movie at your place instead.”

  “Sure, we can do that. We did get tons of exercise with all the walking we did. Relaxing tonight sounds good.” She suspected he just wanted to be with her tonight.

  Then he drove her home, and she really was glad she had asked him to go to the zoo with her today.

  When they arrived home, she wasn’t expecting him to come into the kitchen and help her make dinner, but she appreciated that he would. “How about chicken cacciatore? We can have it served over rice. It will take about thirty minutes.”

  “Yeah, that sounds great. I’ve never made it, so I’ll have to ask Maddie to serve it sometime. But this will give me an idea of how it’s made.”

  “Sure, if you like it well enough. We just need to cook some onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms first.” Kate began cutting up the peppers, and Derek cut up the mushrooms and onions.

  Once the vegetables were softened, she added tomato paste, garlic, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes and let them cook another couple of minutes.

  “Then we add wine, heavy cream, crushed tomatoes, and tomato sauce.”

  “My stomach is already grumbling,” Derek said.

  She smiled. “It’s delicious.” She added chicken to the skillet and cooked it for another fifteen minutes.

  Soon, she was serving up the dinner, and she added chopped parsley and parmesan cheese on top.

  “Would you like a glass of wine?” She brought out a bottle of cabernet sauvignon.

  “Sure.” Derek poured glasses for them, and then they took their seats at the oak dining table for six. “This has been a great day.”