Sapphire Falls: Going Rate for Mr. Right (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read online

  And it was paradise. On that day and every day after.

  EPILOGUE

  Noah

  Three years later

  Isaiah Benedict Riley—Izzy to his friends and family—was born under a lucky star, on the fourth calendar day in the year of the rat, just like his mother. And like his mother, Izzy was clever and kind and had a mischievous streak a mile wide. But unlike Yasmin, or his unlucky-with-poultry father, the boy was a natural born chicken wrangler. From the moment he could walk, it became clear that the reign of rooster terror would end in his lifetime.

  Now, as Noah watched the two-year-old toddle around his grandmother’s section of the petting zoo, with Sampson the Sixth tucked firmly under one arm and a slightly dusty binkie in the other, he couldn’t help but admire how completely in his element his son seemed.

  “It’s happening today,” Yasmin whispered, coming to stand at his elbow. “The last binkie is getting lost and never found.”

  Noah winced. His son loved his pacifier—his binkie—with a passion he reserved for very few things. Izzy was a sweet-tempered, even-keeled kid, but get between him and his binkie and sparks flew.

  “It has to happen,” Yasmin insisted. “The new baby is due at the end of the summer. If we don’t get Izzy weaned off of his pacifier before then, he’ll be stealing his little sister’s.”

  Noah placed an affectionate hand on his wife’s round belly. “I’m glad we’re having a girl this time.”

  “Don’t try to change the subject,” Yasmin said, smiling as she covered his hand with her own. “I don’t want any sibling rivalry between the kids. That means no binkie rivalry, either. The next time Izzy drops it, I’ll distract him and you swoop in and toss it. And when he asks where it is, we play dumb and say all gone.”

  “All right.” He sighed, nodding toward their son, who had just dropped his binkie in favor of trying to grab one of the fluffy baby chicks scampering around his chubby legs. In Izzy’s other arm, Sampson the Sixth grumbled good-naturedly but didn’t attempt to free himself from the boy’s hold. “Looks like it’s go time.”

  Yasmin nodded. “Go, fight, win.”

  A second later, Yasmin had bustled across the petting zoo enclosure, her gauzy red maternity dress swirling around her legs. Noah was a few feet behind her, already tucking the binkie into his pocket and looking around for a trashcan, when he realized the flaw in their plan.

  Sampson the Sixth didn’t care for his alpha’s mother at the best of times, but Yasmin dressed in red was an irresistible target. Before Noah could hurl himself in the path of danger, Sampson had flapped free of Izzy’s grip and hurled himself at Yasmin in a flurry of pumping wings and scrabbling claws.

  Yasmin cried out and turned to run, the rooster hot on her heels, while Izzy scampered after them shouting, “No, bad roo! Bad! Leave mama ’lone!”

  Noah, who was momentarily trapped behind a cluster of kids who had shifted out of the way when the feathers started flying, could only watch helplessly as Yasmin made a beeline across the town square toward the gazebo, followed closely by Sampson the Sixth, with Izzy trailing up the rear, waving a pudgy fist and shouting two-year-old abuse at his errant rooster. All around them, the activity of the festival paused for a moment as people turned to watch the spectacle.

  “She runs fast for a pregnant lady,” an old farmer standing near the baby duck enclosure observed.

  “She’s in excellent health,” Sada replied with pride in her voice before turning to Noah and shooing him with both hands. “Go on then, Noah. You know you like to be the hero. Go save the day and tell Izzy to hold Sampson tighter next time. He’s the alpha and that bird should know it.”

  With a smile and a salute for his mother-in-law—whom he loved very much, even if she did have a poultry fetish—he turned and raced after his family, feeling ridiculously lucky for his wife, his life, and even that damned rooster.

  After all, a Sampson was responsible for chasing Yasmin into his arms in the first place. And for that, he would be eternally grateful.

  The End

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  Also by Jessie Evans

  The Red Hot Reunions Series:

  Last of the Red Hot Firefighters (FREE in May 2016!)

  To Tame a Wild Firefighter

  The Bad Boy Firefighter’s Secret Fling

  The Firefighter Meets His Match

  The Lonesome Point Series

  (Even HOTTER cowboy romances):

  Leather and Lace

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  About the Author

  New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Jessie Evans, gave up a career as an international woman of mystery to write the sexy, contemporary romances she loves to read.

  She's married to the man of her dreams, and together they're raising a few adorable, mischievous children in a cottage in the jungle. She grew up in rural Arkansas, spending summers running wild, being chewed by chiggers, and now appreciates her home in a chigger-free part of the world even more.

  When she's not writing, Jessie enjoys playing her dulcimer (badly), sewing the worlds ugliest quilts to give to her friends, going for bike rides with her house full of boys, and drifting in and out on the waves, feeling thankful for sun, surf, and lovely people to share them with.

  Learn more at www.jessieevansromance.com

  Jessie also writes HOT romance as USA Today Bestselling author Lili Valente. So if you like it hot check out www.lilivalente.com.