Page 16 of Love is Trash in Hallow's Cove

His smile drops when I stand there and stare at him for a moment too long.

“Raccoon!” I blurt. “The raccoon is back. I thought you said you’d talk to it,” I add with a weak laugh.

Jake’s cheeks burnish a little. “I did?”

“Yeah, I didn’t know if you meant it literally or not, since you’re a shifter.”

“Oh no, I can’t talk to animals. Damn, that’d be really cool, though.” He strokes a hand over his beard. “Or awful, depending on how their life is going and how intelligent they are. It’d also hinge on if I could turn that power on and off or if it’d be going on 24/7, because insects are pretty much everywhere, so I’d never get a moment of peace and probably lose my mind.”

I blink at him as he laughs at his own thoughts.

He’s really cute and funny when he’s not acting like he’d rather be anywhere but talking to me.

“Sorry, what were we talking about?” he asks, his cheeks growing even darker.

“I read a book once where the bad guy could speak the language of ants and used that to command them. He took over an entire kingdom in the jungle using them. So there are pros and cons.”

Jake’s mouth falls open, clearly surprised by me engaging with his strange tangent. “Whoa, that sounds cool. But yeah, I, uh, I meant it metaphorically. I thought the raccoon would move on, but I guess it didn’t.” Jake winces like it’s a personal failing that the raccoon returned. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine!” I say quickly, not wanting to ruin how well this is going.

He shakes his head, lips down turning as he looks away and sucks in a shaky breath.

Oh god, is he going to cry?

“I’m sorry for how weird I acted when we met. And at the café. I’d, uh…” Jake rubs the back of his neck, still not meeting my gaze. “I was exposed to some fumes, and it messed with my head. It’s super embarrassing, and that’s why I’ve been… why I haven’t talked to you since.”

“Oh shit, no worries.” Tension bleeds out of me at his apology and explanation. It might be the people pleaser side of me who wants everyone to like me that’s happy, but the relief I feel knowing Jake doesn’t hate me is intense. “Are you feeling better now?”

“Much,” he says with another dazzling smile.

The urge to ask him if he wants to go get coffee rises in me. I surreptitiously scan his throat for a mating bite, realizing that I have no clue if he’s single. I don’t find one, and there’s no ring on his finger, either.

“Would you like to—” I begin, but Jake speaks at the same time.

“We can do a stakeout—”

My brow furrows, my question forgotten. “A stakeout?”

Jake nods. “Yeah. For the raccoon. We could get together tonight and watch the dumpster to see if it comes back.”

“Uh…”

“I’ll bring dinner,” he offers, looking worried that I’ll decline. “What kind of food do you like?”

My weird, sexy neighbor inviting me to a raccoon stakeout/dinner date was not on my strange interactions bingo card. Butterflies fill my stomach as he waits for my answer.

“I like tacos?” It comes out like a question.

“Me too!” Jake says excitedly, and my damn horny brain interprets that as some kind of euphemism. “Okay, meet in the alley at sundown. I’ll bring the tacos and you bring the raccoon bait.”

“The what?” I sputter, thinking he means another pair of used panties. Not that he could know that’s what the raccoon stole.

“Something tasty to attract it. Something that smells really good.”

Am I imagining his voice growing thick as he speaks? Is it possible he knows?

No, there’s no way.

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