Page 5 of Cold Foot Croc

“It’s just, you told me before when I met you that Sasha and I should be carrying a chainsaw in the back of our trucks. For windy days, you know. In case a tree falls across the road.” She shoved her hands in her jacket pockets and fingered the small envelope she had stuffed in the right one.

His bright-teal eyes drifted toward her little two-door Ford Ranger, and then back to her. “I can give you a list of ones I think you should invest in.”

“Yes. Absolutely, that would be great.” She did not give one single shit about chainsaws, but here was her chance. “Do you want my number?”

“Ummmm…”

“To text me the list?”

His gaze drifted to the swell of her belly and then back to her face, and the expression on his face was completely unreadable. “I’ll just write it down, okay?”

Oh God, she hadn’t done this in so long. She’d been in Cold Foot Prison for years, and was only exposed to the female part of the building and the breeding rooms. Clearly, she didn’t have any game anymore. That, and he definitely wasn’t interested in a pregnant lady. He’d looked at her belly a lot in the store too. Crap. This was so stupid.

“I’m kind of in a hurry now. I’ll just see you around.”

“You don’t want the list? I can write fast. It won’t be as neat, but I can do it.”

Embarrassment scorched her cheeks. “Oh, don’t worry about it. I’m sure I can find a good chainsaw on the interweb.” She turned and left, shaking her head as she repeated in her mind,the interweb?Stupid.

Of course he didn’t want her number.

“Do you want to see my back porch?” he called.

Well, that stopped her in her tracks. “What?”

He’d traveled to the edge of the driveway now and stood by his truck, while she’d stopped in the middle of the street. “I was just cleaning the snow off my back porch. Do you want to see it? I promise not to serial-kill you.” He offered her a grin. “That was a joke.”

She formed her lips into the shape of a duck beak and glanced at her escape vehicle, parked just a few yards away from her, then back to him. “I like porches.”

“Okay. Maybe come out of the middle of the road so no one hits you. The roads are slick, and sometimes people drive too fast on this road.”

The worry in his voice caused a fluttering sensation somewhere in the vicinity of her heart. She strode back to theedge of his yard and wrapped her jacket closer around herself out of habit, but it didn’t cover her belly.

“I gotta bigger jacket that will cover the baby,” he said, yanking on the door handle of his truck. He pulled out a wool-lined jacket that looked like the miniature one she’d been looking at this morning.

“You have the Carhartt,” she said lamely.

“Yeah, this one is nice and worn in.” He came to a stop in front of her and handed it to her, his eyes intent on hers.

She was pretty chilly. “I’m from Louisiana originally. I get cold here,” she admitted sheepishly.

“Because you’re a crocodile shifter.”

“Yeah. Maybe.” He’d listened when they’d met the first time, and remembered the conversation. “I’ll give it right back after you show me the porch,” she said fast.

“Sure, that’s okay, yep,” he said, equally rushed.

She shrugged out of her jacket and he took it from her, which was way better than her putting it on the ground like she’d planned while she shrugged into his huge jacket. Garret was a good foot and a half taller than her, and had very broad shoulders. The jacket enveloped her. It was cold from sitting in his truck, but it would warm up fast enough thanks to the zipper fastening comfortably right over the mound of her belly. The baby kicked, and she gave a smile. It was his little thank you, she liked to think.

“How do I look?” she teased, holding out her arms. The sleeves hung limply half a foot over her hands, and the jacket reached her knees.

“Beautiful.” He winced. “I mean perfect. Fuck.” He inhaled deeply, his nostrils flaring slightly. “You look warm.”

She dropped her gaze to hide her smile. He’d said she looked beautiful. It had been a long damn time since anyone had said that to her. She didn’t feel that way at all lately, so hearingthe word made her eyes burn with tears. It was probably the hormones.

“Okay, we are going to go this way now,” Garret told her.

There was panic in his bright-teal, glowing eyes when she looked up. “Are you going to Change?”

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