Page 8 of Cold Foot Croc

“Because it’s inappropriate, like you said. Or,” she said, brightening up as an idea hit her. “You could bring a plus-one. It’s no big deal. Just a little hamburger cookout or something, I’m not sure. The Crew is still planning it. It’ll probably be over in a half an hour, tops. But if you want to bring someone, like a significant other, you totally can.”

“Uh, okay.”

“My plus-one will be there too.” Okay, now she was just making stuff up. Raynah felt like such a loser. She would have to either move out of the country, or possibly pay someone to pretend to be her significant other, or perhaps she would just become a hermit and never talk to anyone ever again because she didn’t know how to do this anymore! The art of flirting had been lost to her during the time she’d spent in prison.

Panicking, she stepped forward and offered her hand for a shake. For a shake? What was she doing? “It was very nice to meet you.”

“We’ve met three times.”

“And I hope to see you around town sometime. Please don’t feel pressured to come. I might cancel the entire thing. In fact, I am definitely considering canceling it.”

“Why?” he asked, shaking her hand slowly.

“Because it’s weird, right?” She asked in a higher pitch than she’d intended. “It’s a prison baby.”

“I don’t know what that means,” he said, and gah! The way he was looking at her—like she was crazy.

“I am crazy,” she assured him out loud.Steady,her crocodile rumbled. Raynah blew out a steadying breath. “Prison baby. I got pregnant in prison.”

“You were in prison?”

Her heart fell to her shoes. “You didn’t know that?”

“How the hell would I know that?” he asked, still shaking her hand slowly. “I tried to look up your social media but I couldn’t find you. I don’t know your last name.”

“It’s Furrow. Wait, you looked up my social media?”

“I tried to.”

Her hand tingled where their palms touched. “I don’t have any social media, on account of prison.”

His reaction would be to close down and release her hand, back away and wish her a good day, and then walk away judging her. That was the natural one. The only one that made any sense.

Garret released her hand, but he forgot to do the rest. Instead a slow smile took his lips, and he removed his beanie and ran his hand through his wild hair, his glowing eyes on the ground for a few moments before he looked back up at her. “I bet you have some fun stories.”

“W-what?”

“I spent the night in a drunk tank with some of my friends one time. I met four people in jail that I still think about from time to time. I bet my stories can’t even touch your prison stories.”

“Uuuuuh.” She frowned, waiting for him to tell her to get off his property. “I have a few.”

“I’m real interested in the prison-baby story,” he admitted.

A flash of the Jackal’s face made her heart pound a little harder. “It’s a long story.”

“I don’t have any plans.”

“One I don’t want to ever talk about,” she told him softly. “I’m sorry.”

He looked in the direction of Wreck’s territory. “All the males in the Cold Foot Crew were in prison with you?”

“All but Wreck.”

He nodded, a faraway look in his gaze. “Which one of them is it?”

She didn’t understand. “Which one broke me out?”

“Which one put a prison baby in you?”

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