Read Turn of the Pipes (A Redpoint One Romance) for Free Online Page A

surprised to find him not angry with
her request. So many people would make excuses for their pets being
in areas they didn't belong. Offended anyone should call their pets
anything less than perfect in all ways.
    "Would you like to see the other enclosures?"
Ignacio asked suddenly into the awkward silence. "I don't have as
many as the big programs, but I'm quite successful with those I do
work with."
    Rachel let the handle of the bucket roll
across her fingers, setting it swinging. Part of her wouldn't mind,
but the more she thought about it, the more she knew she needed to
make this another long day. "As much as I would like to, I have to
get back to work. Thank you for letting me watch the
birth."
    She turned away to head for the front door,
her mind already turning to the list of repairs. Maybe she could
get some of the smaller repairs out of the way and start with the
big stuff again in the morning.
    "Perhaps you would allow me to take you to
dinner one of these evenings to make up for your inconvenience?"
Ignacio said, and then stopped.
    Rachel stared at him in shock, not quite
believing what she'd heard, to find red staining his face.
"Dinner?"
    He flushed even more, but stood tall and said,
"I'm inviting you to dinner. You saved my newt from possible death
or dismemberment in the piping of the station. Let me show my
gratitude."
    Rachel opened her mouth to say it wasn't
needed. She'd done her job. Nothing more.
    Then she stopped. A dinner with a handsome man
who did something worthwhile with his life? Who could feel and
display real emotion and passion while also carrying on a decent
conversation with a little wit thrown in? How long had she been
looking for something like that, even if he did breed lizards?
After dating so many losers, maybe this could be the start of
something special.
    Rachel licked suddenly dry lips and smiled.
"Dinner it is, then. Day and time?"
    ***
    He must be insane. An angry woman appears at his front door
with one of his runaway newts, and he asks her for dinner less than
an hour later?
    A date? A real honest-to-goodness
date?
    Working alone with his newts and salamanders
must be getting to his brain.
    Before bed he allowed himself to look in on
the Silky Newts. He spotted four of the babies, still looking fine
and healthy. He would need to write up a report to the Wilkins
Conservation Society on the development. They would be thrilled
with the possibility of more Silky Newts released into their refuge
within the year.
    He should be thrilled, too. And, he was, but
now something else distracted him. Sleep didn't come as easily as
it should after such a long day. He knew the reason why to both
problems.
    He ended up oversleeping. He woke up in time
to make a morning appointment only because he'd programmed a
warning alarm into one of the apartment cleaning robots.
    The distraction continued, making his meeting
with a conservation group more stressful than it should. When it
was over he grabbed a fast-food breakfast, eating it on the way to
the site of the upcoming Redpoint One Exotic Pet Show.
    Paul Elliott waited for him in the center of
the circle of buildings, tapping the watch on his wrist. "Not like
you to cut it so close."
    "Long story," Ignacio said, trying to pull the
wrinkles out of his shirt. He threw the wrapper to his breakfast in
a nearby garbage can, promising himself a decent dinner. "What's
going on?"
    "We have the finalized floor plan for the
buildings," Paul said, gesturing to two metal buildings on the flat
hard surface of the fair grounds. "We'll be able to start setting
up the insides by the end of the day."
    Neither of the two buildings appeared large
enough to handle the sheer number of exotic animal displays they
would need. "Which one is for the rare animal exhibit?"
    "It's not erected yet. It will be on the south
side." Paul handed him an e-pad with the fair grounds marked
clearly, pointing to one elongated rectangle on the plan. "The
committee approved the extra