Page 54 of Cold Foot Croc

“And weird,” Timber added.

“Thank you,” Cash said as he held his hand out for the hundred-dollar bill Reed was pulling from his wallet.

“Do you want to open presents?” Sasha asked, gesturing toward a table piled high with wrapped gifts.

“You guys did way too much.”

“This is the first Crew baby,” Timber pointed out. “You can hand this stuff down to the next babies when yours is older, if you want to look at it that way.”

“Yeah, we’re basically buying stuff for our kids eventually,” Cash said.

“Boy, you don’t even have a girlfriend. Who is going to have a baby with you?” King asked.

“Boy, maybe I’m on bangaboarlander-dot-com and looking for a love match. Mind your business. I bet I’ll have more babies than all of you.”

“Mmm,” Timber said. “At ten-ten tonight I’m going to make a wish that Cash does not, in fact, populate these mountains with a bunch of miniature hims.”

“I’ve already picked out their names,” Cash told her. “Dash. Smash. Lash. Flash. Crash. Stephanie. Mash. Slash—”

Wreck was leaned back in his chair, and flickered a flame to life just above his palm.

“I will play the quiet game,” Cash whispered.

“Good idea,” Wreck murmured.

It took awhile to open all the presents, and Raynah was absolutely blown away. Apparently Timber had built a registry at a local store, and the Cold Foot Crew had gotten anything andeverything she could even imagine for the baby. This wasn’t a jinx, right? It wasn’t going to be bad luck.

Her stomach tightened again. Maybe this was stress.

When the time came to pack up and clean up the room the Crew had rented, Garret made sure she stayed seated and comfortable while he helped the others load everything into the trucks outside.

“Do you want me to help unload everything at your place?” he asked carefully. “I can take you home if you want. Or you can ride with Katrina again.”

“You…you would be okay with coming up to the Crew territory?”

“He’s already been there,” Wreck uttered as he walked by with a stack of presents in his arms.

“What?” she asked, stunned.

Garret offered her a handsome, crooked smile. “I went and had a beer with Wreck, and asked if I could come here today for you.”

The burning sensation that filled her eyes was immediate. After he’d been open with not wanting anything to do with the Cold Foot Crew, he’d gone up there alone just to ask the Alpha if he could be here for her today?

“Fuck,” she whispered.

His chuckle reverberated right through her as he knelt in front of her knees. “If you don’t want me around your den, it’s okay.”

“Nest,” she said in a small voice.

“You call it a nest?”

“I filled it with plants. I made a nest.”

His smile got bigger. “That’s fuckin’ adorable. Want to show me your plants? It’s okay if not.”

“I like how you don’t put pressure on me or the animal.”

He puffed air out of his cheeks and shook his head. “Do you know how hard it is for me to stop from asking to go to your ultrasound and see the pictures of the baby with you?”

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