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“For exercising my rights?”

“No, for blocking the entrance to Town Hall with a lawn chair and four potted mums.”

She scoffs. “I’ve left enough room for folks to walk through.”

“They’re scared. You’re yellin’ and accusin’ folks of not carin’.”

“They don’t,” she shoots back. “Pickles hasn’t been seen in three days⁠—”

“Adeline—”

“And those kittens are gonna die if we don’t do somethin’.”

They’ll just find shelter and ride it out like the rest of us.

However, to Adeline, this storm is like a hurricane that’s going to possibly wipe out every living creature that’s not sheltered up.

“That ain’t gonna happen,” I assure her as calmly as I can. “They’re smart. They know what to do.”

Adeline bristles and averts her attention ahead. “We need to do somethin’. And I’m not gonna rest until they’re taken care of.”

I’m not going to detain her because her brother, Briggs, will kill me, but it’s my job to keep the peace around here.

Plus, if I don’t remove her, folks are going to look at me like I don’t know or don’t know how to handle a sassy, curly-haired woman whom I just happen to want to fuck.

“Ya gonna motivate folks by just sittin’ there?” I ask before I call Briggs to convince her to move. He’s in spring training right now, for the big leagues, and he will fly down here to beat my ass if I put her behind bars.

“Yes.”

“Ever thought about lookin’ for them yourself?”

“I have.”

“When?”

“This mornin’ before work. But I can’t do it alone. I need folks to be on the lookout.”

For the love of God and everything holy…

“How ’bout…I send out a bulletin for folks to let us know if they see any of these scared, poor little animals, and I’ll handle it.”

Adeline shoots her undivided attention back on me with a little bit of hope in her green eyes. “Ya will?”

“Yes.”

“Today?”

“Sure.”

She quickly rises to her feet, and that’s when all my calm resolve dissolves in one fluid movement from her.

Adeline is in this white floral dress where the sleeves just drape off her naked shoulders, bringing my attention there.

The hem comes mid-thigh, and I’m surprised the calls weren’t because she was distracting men as they walked on by.

But then I realized all the callers today were females. Not one man phoned in to complain that Adeline Kerrigan was out here causing a ruckus with her big mouth.

A mouth I devoured the other day and tasted like sunshine and need.