Page 57 of Mother Clucker

Heels too. I scowled at that thought as I lowered the cell.

“What’s up?” Drew asked, emerging from the kitchen.

I pocketed the phone. “Heather’s coming over.”

“So why are you frowning?”

So many reasons and every one of them sounded stupid in my own head. “It’s nothing.”

“It sure looks like something,” Drew said, dropping onto the sofa.

I let out a huff. “Heather put on a dress and heels and drove five hours round trip to see a couple of Navy SEALs with Lucy.”

Drew’s eyes widened. He drew his brows down as he grunted out a, “Huh.”

Maybe it wasn’t irrational that I was disturbed by this recent turn of events, because Drew didn’t look any happier about the situation than me.

Women were enough to drive a man crazy.

At least this one woman was. And when she got here, I was going to do my damnedest to drive all thoughts of any other man right out of her pretty little head.

I’d apologize to Drew for any noise in the morning. He’d understand. That’s what old college friends did for one another.

I was going to lock this woman down before I left for Texas, even if it took me all night.

22

Heather

“They agreed to definitely be there at the adopt-a-thon next weekend, which is huge. Can you imagine the amount of attention the event will get?” I asked, wondering if David was fully comprehending the enormity of what I’d just pulled off.

He didn’t seem as happy as I’d imagined.

“I mean, to have guaranteed attendance means I can start really promoting it on social. Well, guaranteed attendance except for the guys who are still active duty SEALs. They said they’d be there if they’re not away on a mission or something.”

“Mmm. Of course. Away on a mission. Perfectly understandable.” David nodded slowly.

Still no excitement. In fact, if I had to put a name to David’s expression, I’d say he looked almost pissed off.

“Do you understand how huge this is for the shelter? Dani’s even trying to get the cast from Cold Feet to show up. They have like literally millions of fans on their Instapost accounts and the show’s app.”

“The bikini show Drew loves?” David asked.

I smiled. “It’s not a bikini show, but yes, they do wear swimsuits. A lot. It’s shot at a beach house so it kind of comes with the territory . . .”

“And how is this Navy SEAL Danny involved in this bikini show?” he asked scowling.

Ah ha. Was that it? David didn’t like me talking about the SEALs? That was hysterical. And ridiculous.

“First of all, Dani is a woman, and she’s also a production associate for Millennia. She’s working on Cold Feet. Nick, who’s the Navy SEAL, worked security on the show for a few weeks.”

“Ah.” He nodded.

I loved him being jealous that I’d met with the SEALs today.

Did that make me a bad person? Possibly. But seeing a man like David Strickland feeling insecure—over me—was not something that happened often, if at all, in my life.

Horrible or not, I was enjoying it.

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