Page 58 of Cold Foot Croc

“Come back where?”

“To the saloon.”

Garret frowned. “You should be halfway home by now. Is the Crew hanging there longer?”

“No, I told them to leave without me.”

“You’re there alone?” Garret checked his blind spot, then accelerated and busted a U-turn in a hurry.

“I told them to go without me. I wanted to ride back with you.”

“Ride back with…Raynah, I was headed to the woods to Change. I told you that. What if I had been out there all night?”

“Then I would’ve waited. I had faith in you. I want to drive up to Wreck’s Mountains together. I want to show you my nest.”

“You want to…” Garret swallowed hard. “I’m twenty minutes out. Are you waiting inside? It’s too cold out, and your belly is really tight today.”

“I’m inside waiting. I’m warm. I’m sitting by the fireplace.”

The tension was building inside of him again, but this time, it wasn’t from frustration. He didn’t like being this far away from her right now if she wasn’t in the care of the Crew.

“I don’t like fighting with you,” she said, and the earnestness in her voice carved a hole right into his chest.

“That wasn’t a fight, woman. We had a spat.”

“You left.”

“Well, my ex used to start the big fights, and liked to do it in public. I don’t want to fight with you like that. I don’t want to say something I don’t mean.”

“So you weren’t running when things were hard?”

“Hard doesn’t scare me.”

“What scares you?” she asked low.

“You thinking bad of me. You thinking I have some ulterior motive for wanting to be with you. You not understanding me. You not seeing me. That stuff scares me.”

She puffed out a long breath. “Do you want to spend the night in my nest tonight?”

He was shocked into silence. “You’re going to keep me on my toes, aren’t you?”

“Probably. I’m going to be messy, Garret. It’s all I know. I’m going to try, though. There’s an easy promise I can make. I’ll try. I’ll keep trying.”

He could hear the honesty in her tone, and hell, he appreciated it. She really didn’t like to fight. She was swallowing her pride and putting effort into fixing this fast. He did really like that. His ex had dragged arguments out for days and never apologized, never admitted if she was wrong.

“I’m sorry too. Sorry I left. I thought my bear needed to Change. He felt pretty big.”

“You can Change by my nest if you want. I’ll go out there with you.”

“Mmm, we’ll see. I don’t know about you being out in the weather until the baby comes. I saw you wincing when your stomach got tight with those Brixton-Hackie thingies.”

“Braxton-Hicks,” she said with a soft giggle. That sounded loosened the tension in his shoulders more.

His phone vibrated, and he looked down at the screen to see that she’d sent him a picture. It was a selfie of her sitting next to the stone fireplace in the saloon. Her skin was pale and lightly freckled. Her eyes were such a vibrant shade of moss green, and her pupils were elongated. Her hair was down and wavy, framing her face, and the scoop-neck of her dress showed off her perfect cleavage. She looked wild and beautiful.

Hell, that might be his new lock screen now.

She was a stunner.

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