Page 30 of You Had Me At Pumpkin Patch
To her surprise, Zain moved his crouched body towards her. She almost felt herself moulding to his warmth, like ice cream around particularly hunky jelly. Hmm. She’d have to work onthatdescription before it got anywhere near her novel. Zain showed her the screen, which was displaying the noises, almost like a heart monitor. ‘They’re here to eat the insects over the lake, not you. They’ll hibernate soon. Nice to get a last look at them.’
Rosie shuddered. She didn’t know much about bats, other than their association with eerie darkness and vampires, neither of which were on hernicelist.
‘Fear of the unknown,’ said Zain, as though he was somehow in tune with her tremors. Which heobviouslywasn’t. ‘Like the spiders, you’ll get used to them. You might even grow to...’ He looked up at her, his walnut-brown eyes seeming to consider something.
‘Like them?’ she asked.
He frowned and looked back at the screen.
The contours of his face really were something, and it wasn’t her fault if she often found herself studying them because he didn’t say a lot, outside of his specialist subjects. What else did she have to go on, besides those angular lines that tried to radiate annoyance but gave occasional glimpses of the passions beneath? Even if it was a touch unusual to get passionate about bats.
‘There they are,’ he whispered with an excited urgency that would have knocked Rosie onto her bum if she wasn’t on it already.
He wrapped one strong arm around her and pulled her back up into a crouching position, and with the other he pointed towards the sky whilst his bat detector went wild with noises.
They huddled by the water, watching the swoop and soar of the tiny, dark-winged creatures as they hunted for flying insects. Zain’s stifled excitement was strangely infectious, and batsweresort of cute when they kept their distance.
‘Some species are at serious risk of extinction, Rosie.’ Had he even used her name before? It sounded so soothing as it danced across his tongue. ‘Sorry if I was harsh earlier, but I’m not just a dumb guy who obsesses over pumpkins – I’m here forallof it. Even Agnes, in all her saucepan-wielding ridiculousness. And I care about this land. These little guys play an important part in the bigger system, and humans are screwing up their habitat. I’m just trying to do something good. My bat houses are working, even if it’s only a small thing in a messed-up world.’ He exhaled an almost despairing breath.
‘Oh, they’re bat houses! So you don’t live with a bunch of gnomes.’ That explained those funny wooden boxes she’d seen in his cabin.
His eyebrows twisted. ‘Gnomes?’
‘Please tell me you put the bat houses in trees, and that there aren’t breeding bats lined up near your sock drawer.’
‘What?’
‘Nothing.’ She giggled, and they both looked up to the sky as the bats began another round of clacking and diving through the air.
‘They have their own traffic rules up there.’ His voice was full of wonder, like he was lost in his own thoughts. ‘To avoid crashing. They use echolocation to find their prey, but also so they can follow each other’s flight paths.’
How was he making the least sexy subject ever seem so fascinating?
‘We need them for insect control. More bats, less pesticides,’ he continued, his voice still a barely there whisper. She might have thought he’d forgotten her presence if his arm wasn’t still around her. Maybe he didn’t want her to move and frighten his bats. ‘And more bats, more chocolate.’
‘Really?’ Now she was interested.
‘They play a big role in pollination. Not that we’re growing cacao around here, obviously. But they take over flower pollination when the butterflies and bees are sleeping. Kind of like night duty. I grow flowers and herbs around my patches, to help with pollination and pest control. Told you I was a fun guy.’
His serious face relaxed into a smile, and he turned his head towards her, their noses almost touching when she mirrored his turn in. She sensed herself smiling too and drinking in this moment. His warm breath against her lips, his eyes slowly moving down towards them. Watching her so intently. She was overwhelmed with an urgency to kiss him – and it wasn’t just so that she could write about it.
What?She blinked a few times. Where didthatthought come from?
‘Sorry.’ He shook his head and moved it back a few inches. ‘Shouldn’t have invaded your space.’
‘Erm. I think I invaded yours. Maybe it was my echolocation.’
‘And now I’ve got you telling bat jokes.’ He clapped a palm against his head. ‘Which is exactly why I should keep myself to myself.’
He stood then, nearly toppling her, but catching her quickly and pulling her up with him.
‘Getting overenthusiastic about nature, like a big kid.’ He pushed his free hand through his long hair. It was as black as the night and not tied back like it usually was. The thick curls lifted and fell like a sigh. ‘Not that I really got to be a kid.’ He said the last part even more quietly.
Was he about to share something about his past? Rosie held her breath, wanting to know more about him. And for once, it wasn’t for the love of a good story.
But he shook his head. ‘Honestly. I should go,’ he said, pointing to his cabin.
‘You were here first.’ She shrugged and looked back at hers.
