Page 7 of Cold Foot Croc

“That’s a nice truck,” he told her. “It’s good for the weather here. You could put some bags of sand or rocks in the back of it, and the tires will get better traction. It’s a light truck.”

“Okay. It has been slipping a little. I will try that.”

He nodded. “I have saltine crackers and peanut butter, but not the bananas or the chocolate covered raisins.”

She huffed a laugh and shook her head. “I’m really fine.”

“Your stomach growled.” He held his hands out like he was trying to convince her. “You don’t have to come in. It’s not appropriate, and I know that, but I can be back in two minutes with something good, since you like fish.”

“Oh.” He was too hot to say no to. “Okay. It’s not really inappropriate for me to go in your house though.”

“It is. Stay here,” he told her, and left her on the porch, confused.

He probably has a mate. The hiss of her crocodile scared her. The words drifted through her head, but for months, she’d been alone in her mind. Chills rippled up her spine, and Raynah wrapped her arms around her middle like that would keep her pieces together.

His mate is probably very beautiful. They’re probably bonded. That’s why he’s keeping distance.Raynah felt overwhelmed with the presence of her other half. She’d missed this part of herself so much in the months she’d been carrying her pregnancy. She missed Changing. She missed feeling powerful, and pretty. She missed feeling water against her scales.

What her animal said made sense. There was no way Garret didn’t have someone. Not with how he looked. Not with being so sweet and capable. This was the angle. Right? Why else would he talk about her going inside his house being inappropriate?

What was she doing here? She was so pregnant, and spinning out, and her house was grating on her nerves, and she didn’t feel like she deserved any of the good things that had been happening. She was adjusting to life outside of Cold Foot Prison, but she wasn’t handling it well. And now she was seeking attention from a clearly-unavailable male right when she needed to be seeking attention from her own self?

Shaken, Raynah jogged down the porch stairs and bolted for the side of the house. This time she didn’t take the time to step into each boot print.

She made it all the way to the street, where she’d parked, before Garret’s voice stopped her in her tracks.

“Why are you going?”

“Oh.” She turned, her cheeks burning with a blush. “I just remembered I have to be somewhere. With someone. With a man.”

He had been walking across the yard, her jacket in his hand, but at that, he stopped. He cocked his head and his eyes blazed a lighter teal. “Like a date?”

She couldn’t lie directly or he would hear it, so she danced around the answer. “Oh, I’m just keeping my options open, you know.”

For three seconds he was completely silent, and then he shook his head hard and offered her jacket.

“Oh! Right.” She could’ve kicked herself for forgetting his jacket! She struggled out of his oversized jacket as fast as she could and traded him, but as she took her jacket from his hand, the envelope fell out of her pocket.

Mortified, she lurched downward to grab it, but Garret was faster than her and snatched it off the snow.

“I’ll take that, it’s mine,” she rushed out, reaching for it, but he yanked it easily out of her reach. At his height, she couldn’t reach it unless she jumped.

He took a few steps back. “It says my name.”

“It’s…” How could she explain this. “Look, I just want it back and I’ll go, and we can pretend today didn’t happen. Pretend I was the cool girl at Murdoch’s!”

To her horror, Garret was ripping into the top seam of the envelope.

“No!” she shouted, lunging for it.

He was so damn fast. “A baby shower?”

Raynah pursed her lips and wished the earth would open up and swallow her whole. “Look, I didn’t come here to talk about chainsaws. Not really. I was just going to be nice and give you that invite, but now I feel ridiculous and I don’t really need you there. I was just being polite.”

He glanced at her, and then looked at the other side of the invite where the date and location were printed. “This is in a few days.”

“Can I just have it back?” she asked softly.

“Why?”

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