Page 22 of Refurbished

I am pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to hear that part, but it made me smile. Clearing my throat, I entered the room. “Figured I would find you here. Your clothes are hanging in my trailer. I wasn’t sure about this box, so I brought it back out.”

“Oh, that’s filled with treats.”

The entire box was filled with the soft granola bars he made for the animals. “You made all of these?”

“Oh no. I told my mother how many animals you had, and she arranged to mass-produce them using my recipe.”

“There are four more boxes in the car. Should last at least a few weeks. I am pretty sure everyone here can eat them, but there is an ingredients label on the side of the box.”

There were probably five hundred bars in this box, enough high-quality treats for all the animals. This had to cost thousands of dollars, and he handed them over to me like it wasn’t a big deal. There were nuts, honey, berries, oats, and a bunch of vitamins that he had clearly researched.

“I’ll be honest, I am not sure how to make better ones that have protein in them. I am testing options using beef powder, but they don’t hold together. Those first ones I made might be the best bet.”

“Angus?” He looked up at me, completely unaware of how he casually talked about something that was really big. Making high-nutrition treats for a sanctuary of my size was a lot. But then trying to make ones with protein. These were big things.

“Eion!? Come join me with the kids.”

He sat down on the floor and patted the ground next to him, then gave me a smile that made my heart do that wild dance thing. Well, regardless of what's happening with the treats, I could certainly sit with him and enjoy baby raccoons. The kits ran over his legs. Barnaby joined the fray and rolled around with them. After we settled in and watched them for a bit, I had to go back to my original question.

“Angus. What did you mean your mother arranged for the treats?”

“Oh. Mom knows how important the Sanctuary is for me, and I told her how the bars were a big hit. She asked how many animals were here and how many they might eat each week. I made sure to tell her you wouldn’t give them more than a few a day because you are very careful with their health. Then she got my recipe and called one of her kitchens and had them made.”

“She had them made.” I was doing everything I could to avoid looking completely confused. He was talking about making thousands of fresh bars, like whipping up a peanut butter sandwich.

“Yeah. We figured you could make it two weeks before they would be too crispy. Nothing in them really goes bad. I won’t be able to bring them every week, so I’ll arrange for delivery.”

“Angus.” My voice might have been firm because I was confused.

“Did I do something wrong? All the animals seem to like the treats. Oh God, are there allergies? Do you not want the treats? I’m sorry, I should have asked. I thought it would be great for the Sanctuary. The ingredients are all of really good quality. I knew you wouldn’t want anything less. We can add more vitamins. I’ll take them home.”

He was spiraling, and I didn’t know what to say, so I wrapped my hand around his neck and kissed him hard. It was possessive and filled with appreciation—maybe I tried to convey how much I wanted him, too. I pulled back and looked him in the eyes. They were bright, and he looked a little dazed.

“Oh. Hi.” I laughed at his response. The kiss had done what I had hoped—it calmed him down. Now I needed to dig a little deeper into what he was actually saying. There was obviously something in this situation I wasn’t understanding, but I was more than willing to listen to him. There was no way I would let him spend so much money on the Sanctuary. He had also been able to donate a large amount of money. I knew he worked hard, and he couldn’t sacrifice everything for the animals. Though the thought that he made sure they had high-quality snacks meant he went a little deeper under my skin.

It was all confusing.

Chapter eleven

ANGUS

When Eion grabbed me and kissed me to stop my rambling, it made my toes curl. I liked how he handled the situation; it was certainly better than being shushed. He looked at me like I held answers, but I wasn’t sure what the question was.

“What do you mean when you said your mother ‘had them made’?”

After a minute, the question registered. Money had always been a non-issue in my life. If I wanted something, it happened. My Mom would do little things to make me smile. Feeding the animals at the Sanctuary made me happy, so she helped me do that. I never really had to explain it to someone before because nobody had been this close. “Oh. I guess I have something to tell you.” He looked at me and started to pull his hand away. “No, no. It’s not a pull-away kind of topic. I hope. Maybe it is. God, I hope you don’t freak out. Would you freak out? Please don’t freak out. It doesn’t seem like something you would freak out about. Oomph—”

His lips were on mine again, much quicker than last time. I wished I didn’t have the problem, but when I got nervous, I panicked and started saying the things in my head. I shifted my hips to face him better. His forehead rested against mine. “Okay. Breathe. Then tell me.”

I did as he said, then looked at him. He had such gorgeous eyes. I could see he was curious as he raised an eyebrow. Right, I needed to tell him the money thing. “Okay. Well. It’s not a big deal, but I’m rich.”

“Rich?”

“Yeah. It’s not a big deal, really. You’ve seen my car, and I live in a nice cottage with my mom, and work full-time at the bar.”

“Hmm? Rich enough, you can make snacks for all the animals here for how long?” He said slowly.

“Forever,” I said quietly. He cocked his head at me and then grabbed a couple of the kits. Looked at them, then he petted them for a bit, rolled them on the floor, and made growl noises. It gave me chills, because it was so adorable. It was obvious that he had questions.