Page 4 of Refurbished

“How come you live in a sanctuary?”

“Do you have children?”

“Are you a boy or a girl bear?”

When most of my daily chores were completed, I no longer had an excuse to avoid him. Finally, I headed toward the buildings where I took deliveries and handled medical needs. My guest sat there still waiting. “Let me see what you have.” I didn’t introduce myself. My name wasn’t necessary to take possession of some wild critters.

“Oh. Hi. I’m Angus. This here is North and South.” I looked up at him. Was this guy messing with me? Barnaby caught up to me and sat between my feet. “I didn’t want to leave without properly introducing you to them. Their mom has been missing for at least forty-eight hours, and I don’t think she is coming back. Her name is, was, Storm.”

“That’s odd. Do you know if there were more kits?”

“I looked, but couldn’t find a den anywhere, or any sign of the mom. I’ve had numerous families through my shed, and nothing like this has ever happened. I knew it was time for human intervention.”

“You’re not wrong. They need to be fed and cared for from now on. Shame their mother disappeared.”

“It is. You’ll take good care of them?”

“Yes. I will make sure they get the right nutrition and care until they can move in with some of our other raccoon rescues. That habitat is about four acres, so they should be fine.”

“Good, good.” I reached for the box, but he pulled it back a little. “Can I visit them?”

“You what?”

This guy was… weird? No. Gentle? Kind? Sweet? Nope. I went back to weird. I recognized it because, in a lot of ways, he was acting as I would, which made me feel off-balance. “You want to visit them?”

“Yeah. A couple of times a week, if possible.”

“I guess. Sure.”

My skin itched at the idea of him being around that often, but he didn’t give me much of a choice. Whatever. I didn’t have to interact with him if he actually came back. When I reached for the box again, he let it start to leave his hands, but he stopped it a second time. “Let me say goodbye to them.” He looked in the box; his tone and eyes softened. “Okay, North, South, you be good for—“ he looked at me. “I didn’t get your name.”

“Eion.”

“You be good for Mr. Eion, and he will help you grow up to be big and strong. And behave yourselves. Don’t cause him any trouble. I’ll be back in a few days to visit. I promise.” He looked at me and gave me a solid nod. I took the box and headed toward the medical room, where I did all my quarantine and intake procedures. Angus followed. Usually, once the animals were handed over, people would leave. This was a new situation, and I wasn’t sure how to deal with it. Barnaby followed along behind both of us like it was completely normal to have a stranger in our space.

“Was there something else you wanted?” I turned and looked at Angus.

“Do you call a vet for them now or something?”

“I am a vet.”

“Cool, cool. Is it only you here?”

“Yes. Did you need—“

“Oh. I’d like to pay for their care.”

“Thanks for the offer, uh, Angus. That’s not necessary. You can make a donation on our website.”

“Oh, I will do that. But I would like to care specifically for North and South. They are family after all.”

Even though this guy was now frustrating the piss out of me, something about him was adorable. I refused to let my brain think about it too much because adorable men were my kryptonite, and he liked animals, which was more than I could take. “How can you tell which is which?” Why would I engage with this man.

Why was he still here? Now I was about to engage with him. He was already breaking down my defenses. I needed to get him out of here and have a long talk with my traitorous dog, who was rolling around on his back while Angus rubbed his belly.

“Oh, that’s easy.” He walked over next to me. I could smell him, and it was nice—way more than nice. He reached over my arms into the box, and I was unable to do anything but soak in the warmth of him against my body. It had been too long since a man I was attracted to was this close, and my dog wasn’t the only thing being a traitor. My cock stirred, wondering what was happening, and was ready to participate in anything that involved the person waking him up from his long slumber.

Adorable and loves animals, this was bad.