“I’ll have a glass of white wine… I don’t care what type.”

Clint nods as he starts pouring liquids into various sized glasses. “What about you, Zach?”

“I’ll try the bourbon too,” I tell him, having no clue what that means.

I steal a quick glance at Moira and she gives me an encouraging smile, then leans in toward me. “I strongly suggest you only have one. It can sneak up on you.”

I lean back toward her. “I need the fortitude to get through tonight.”

She snickers at me, and I love that we are back to where we can joke with each other.

After Clint gets all the drinks poured, he hands them out to each of us. I take a sniff of the bourbon, and the scent is pleasing. Woodsy, smoky… slightly sweet.

“I’d like to make a toast,” Randall says, “to welcome Zach home. I’m so happy to have him back where he belongs.”

Cara and Clint call out, “Here, here,” but Moira doesn’t say a word. She knows I’m not happy with those words just uttered.

Everyone takes a sip of their drink, except me. I look directly at Randall. “I’m sorry, Randall. But this isn’t my home and it never will be.”

The warm smile slides off Randall’s face, and he takes a step toward me. His eyes are sad. “I’m sorry, Zach. That was insensitive of me. I know you must be very angry with me right now, but I’m hoping you will forgive me and accept my friendship. I really only wanted to make sure you were okay and give you an opportunity to come here. If you don’t want to stay, I’ll arrange for you to return whenever you want. Until then, I hope you will let me share my memories of your parents with you, and you will at least have a good experience while you are here.”

Man, that was good. So good in fact, I actually find myself warming up to the old man. I nod at him and make an attempt at a smile, but before I can say anything to him, Cara steps up to my side and loops her arm through mine. “Oh, poo. Zach is going to have such a fabulous time here that he’s never going to want to leave. I’m going to make sure of it.”

Cara then leans in and presses her body into my side. She’s soft and she smells good, but I’d rather have Moira standing this close to me. Cara is beautiful and has a stunning body from what I can see, but she doesn’t overwhelm me the way Moira does.

Nothing has ever overwhelmed me the way Moira does.

“Let’s head in to dinner, shall we?” Randall says as he offers his arm to Moira. “Zach, you can escort Cara in, and I’ll take the lovely Dr. Reed.”

My hackles raise slightly to see Moira loop her arm through Randall’s, but he does nothing more than give her a kindly pat on the hand. However, my gaze cuts over to Clint, who is walking in just behind, and his eyes are pinned on Moira’s ass.

It makes me want to kill the motherfucker, but I know Moira wouldn’t take kindly to it.

Cara leads me into a large dining room with a table that seats twenty-four by my quick count. Leading me to a chair near the end, she releases her hold on me. She stands there, staring at me, and I wonder what I’m supposed to do.

Shrugging my shoulders, I pull my chair out and sit down, then watch as Randall escorts Moira to the chair opposite of me, and pulls it out for her to sit in. Okay… so that’s a custom I didn’t know about. I look back up at Cara, but she’s already pulling her own chair out to sit down beside me.

“In polite circles, Zach,” Cara tells me primly, “a gentleman should pull out a chair for a lady.”

Moira puts her hand over her mouth to hide a smile, and I can’t help but say, “I’ve lived in a savage world for a long time, Miss Cannon. I don’t belong in polite circles.”

Randall guffaws over that and takes the seat at the very end, and just to my right, while Clint sits down next to Moira.

Immediately, servers come in and start placing plates with silver, domed lids over them before each of us. Once everyone has one, they all lift the lids in one coordinated move. I look down at my plate, not recognizing a damn thing.

“We’re having roasted duck tonight with asparagus and fingerling potatoes,” Randall says beside me and, as I look up at him, he must have seen the lack of recognition on my face. “But if you don’t like it, I’m sure we can whip up something for you.”

“I’m sure it’s fine,” I tell him because I’ll eat anything. “It sure looks better than spider monkey.”

Moira laughs, and Cara makes a choking sound. “You eat spider monkey?” she asks with disgust.

“And howler monkey,” I tell her with a grin. “As well as snake, alligator, and grub worms.”

She gasps and wrinkles her nose. “It sounds awful.”

“It’s actually pretty good,” Moira says across the table, giving me a warm smile. “At least the alligator and monkey I tried were. I would have liked to have tried the snake… particularly the one Zach killed just before it was getting ready to take a nip at my ankle.”

I laugh at the picture and nod. “That would have made you a mighty fine meal,” I tell her, returning her smile, which is private between the two of us.

“Well, thank goodness for our creature comforts here,” Cara says.

“Zach… what’s been the hardest thing you’ve had to acclimate to here?” Clint asks curiously, as I start to cut into the duck. I place a bite in my mouth, and it’s f**king delicious.