Page 12 of Cold Foot Croc (Wreck’s Mountains #3)

Stop.

Garret gritted his teeth against the urge to slam on the brakes.

Stop , the bear said louder.

“You stop. You stop! I’m doing what you fucking asked me to. Raynah said I need to compromise with you, and you said we need to Change, so I’m taking you to the woods to Change.”

Stop , he said again.

Garret jerked the wheel and pulled over in a rush to the shoulder of the road, then hit the brakes and skidded to a stop. “What?”

Not like this.

“Not like what?” he growled, and now he didn’t even recognize his own voice. He sounded like a demon.

Not a demon. We’re just angry.

“ We’re not anything. I am upset, and you are confusing.”

The bear was quiet, and Garret gripped the wheel until it squeaked in his grasp. Part of him wished the bear would keep pissing him off so he could take his frustration out on his animal, and part of him wanted the animal to shut up.

What was this? What was it? His emotions were up to the freaking moon right now, and for what?

I want to go back to her. I changed my mind. I don’t need to Change.

Garret let out a purposeful, long breath. He closed his eyes and forced himself to relax back into the seat.

She’d hurt him.

I know , the bear whispered. She didn’t mean to. She’s scared of us.

Garret shook his head. “I wouldn’t ever hurt her. Not on purpose.”

“She hasn’t figured that out yet.” Geez, he’d said the bear’s words out loud. That was scary. He could just control his speech like that?

“I can kill someone with your body too, but I don’t.”

Garret shook his head hard and clamped his mouth shut. It was hard to think straight when the bear was so big in his head right now. He picked up his phone, checked the screen, and froze when he saw a text message from Raynah sitting there.

I’m sorry. You really didn’t do anything wrong.

He blew out a breath and connected a call to her, then leaned on the window frame, staring out at the woods beside the truck.

“I’m sorry,” she answered the phone.

And just like that, the uncertainty inside of him evaporated. It was the heartache and the guilt in her voice that softened any harsh emotion he’d had.

He swallowed hard, and closed his eyes at the relief of the confusion melting away from him.

“I don’t know why I started that fight. You have been so kind to me. I think I have moments where I feel like it’s all too good to be true.”

“You feel like you have to test me?”

She paused for a few seconds, thinking it over. “Yes. That feels right.”

He nodded. “Okay. Test me then. I’m not going anywhere, Raynah. It’s a waste both of our time testing me, but if you have to do it to feel better? Okay.”

“Can you come back?”

“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.

Sexiest woman he’d ever seen, easily.

“You look so pretty today,” he murmured, eyes on the road again.

“Okay, I’m going to say something, and then I’m going to hang up, because I’m a coward, and I don’t want you to feel pressure to say anything back. If you want, you can ignore it and pretend I never said anything at all when you get here. Okay?”

He couldn’t help his baffled smile. “Say it.”

“I have a crush on you. Okay, bye.” Click.

He checked the phone screen and sure enough, she’d hung up. Now his smile was growing megawatt, and took over his whole face. He felt the stretch of it.

She had a crush on him? Well, he’d known that. He’d felt it this week, but hearing her say it out loud? Hearing the truth in her voice as she admitted it? No one had ever got his heart racing like this.

He’d never cared about someone this deeply, or thought about someone outside of himself this much. He’d never checked his phone this many times with such hope inside of him. He’d never gotten so excited and happy just thinking about seeing someone, or being around them.

He’d never craved for someone to understand him this much.

When he pulled his truck up to the front street parking, right in front of the entry door, Raynah was outside on the worn wooden deck, her left cheek in the soft orange neon glow of a glowing bar sign that hung in the window. Her hair was floating in waves in the breeze, and she wore the prettiest smile. She looked as relieved as he felt.

He could tell from here that her belly was tight again. The second he got the truck into park, he pushed open his door and jogged around to the other side, strode right up to her, pulled her into his arms, and rested his cheek on the top of her head as he held her. She let him sway them side to side, let him hold her as tight as he wanted, let him kiss her head and grip the back of her hair firmly enough to pull her face back and up for him to kiss her lips.

“I care about you too,” he murmured, because the first thing he wanted to say to her was a response to her telling him she had a crush. It was too soon to tell her he loved her with every bone in his body, but he could say he cared about her, and hope she understood what he really meant.

Her lips curved up in the prettiest smile. “Really?”

Garret brushed a flyaway strand of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear, then leaned down and kissed her again.

She trembled under his touch, and he eased back. “You’re cold.”

“I’m a mess,” she whispered.

“You’re fine,” he assured her. “Come on.”

Garret got her in the truck and settled in. As soon as he got in, he reached into the back seat and grabbed his jacket, then pulled it over her lap. He turned the heat up as high as it would go. He would be scorched alive in no time, but that was okay as long as Raynah warmed up.

He needed to do more research on crocodiles in the wild, and also crocodile shifters. He’d done a few internet searches, but they hadn’t given him much information. He needed to dive deeper into it.

She leaned forward in the seat, hunching over her belly. Worried, he slid his hand to the swell there. It was so tight. “Hurting?”

“Just uncomfortable. I probably did too much today. I read these can go on for a few weeks before the baby comes.”

“Okay,” Garret said, making a mental note to research the Hixie-things tonight after Raynah went to sleep. Maybe he could figure out some tricks to make them ease up. Maybe certain foods would help? Or a massage? Or maybe he could ask the doctor tomorrow when she got the scan of the baby.

All he cared about was making things easier on her. It was much too soon to admit it, but Garret was starting to breathe for her smiles.

He connected a call to Wreck, who had given Garret his number yesterday before he’d left.

“Yep?” the Alpha of the Cold Foot Crew answered.

“Hey, Raynah has asked me to come see her place. I wanted to check in with you and make sure it was okay.”

Wreck took a few seconds to respond. “Garret, you don’t have to ask permission to come up here anymore. You’re welcome here.”

The line went dead, and Garret had to check his feelings for a moment. It meant something that Wreck was okay with him in his territory. As an outsider, it meant something big.

Raynah slipped her hand around the back of his arm, and rested her cheek against his arm as he kept his hand splayed protectively on her stomach.

“You liked that,” she said softly.

He nodded, unable to find the words to respond.

The rest of the drive, Raynah talked about her favorite parts of the day, and the funny things the Crew had said and done. Her voice lightened more and more as he pushed his truck up the mountain road, and when at last they crested the final ridge and pulled into the clearing with the U-shape of A-frame cabins, he felt nothing but happiness coming from her in waves.

Because of that, he could see the benefit to being this—a shifter. He could feel her emotions, and when they were good, it fueled him with this deep sense of joy that he hadn’t felt since he was human, and never this potent. Not even close.

Now, when he looked back on his human life, it wasn’t only with nostalgia and longing. Now, the memories seemed dull. With each passing day, he was beginning to feel like he was going to be all right. He could Change now without much pain, and he could control it more. He understood the bear more, and he had found the beginnings of friendships with people who were like him, who wouldn’t judge him because they managed animals too.

And it was all because of this beautiful woman sitting next to him, staring over at him with this soft smile that said she was really here, really in this with him.

Her stomach had loosened up, and the baby moved under his touch. This was the moment, right? This was one that would be burned into his heart for the rest of his days. It was the moment when he knew no matter what, things could be okay.

What a relief after so long of believing he would never feel comfortable in his own skin again.

This was that rainbow-at-the-end-of-a-long-storm moment.

As they walked up to the second-to-last A-frame cabin on the right-hand side, Raynah turned apologetic. “I haven’t done much with it since I moved in.”

When she pushed open her front door, he could see instantly what she meant. There was no furniture in the living room, and nothing decorating the kitchen table. The price tags were still hanging off the chairs. The kitchen counters were bare, and the fireplace still had the sticker on it from installation that said she hadn’t ever used it.

There were several plants along the front wall, but other than that, the home didn’t look lived in. There were no pictures on the walls, no trinkets on the fireplace mantle, no rugs on the cold hardwood floor. Beside the stairs that led up to a loft, the Crew had piled all the presents, still in their boxes, which gave another layer of coldness to the space.

“Can I take this off?” he asked, gesturing to the sticker on the fireplace glass.

“Um, sure. I don’t really use it.”

He peeled the sticker off, then pushed the button on the wall that ignited warm-looking flames. He lowered his hand near the vent, and was happy to find that the gas fireplace gave off heat. So this thing wasn’t just for looks.

She made her way to the fridge, opened it, and stared at the chaos of all the leftover food the Crew had stuffed in there. “Um, maybe later we can eat some of this,” she said softly.

“We could picnic in front of the fireplace,” he suggested.

She twisted around and gave him this little smile that made his heart beat faster. “Whoa, mind-reader. That’s what I was thinking, too.”

Garret looked around. This home was simple, but had the highest-quality everything—from the real wood floors, to the cedar-plank walls, to the stainless-steel appliances and granite countertops in the kitchen. Even the stair railing looked like it belonged in magazines. He pointed to the empty space beside the stairs. “Christmas tree goes there, I bet.”

She shrugged. “I didn’t do one this year.”

“Next year. And do lights all up the railing. It’ll be the baby’s first Christmas.”

Her eyes were so soft right now, and full of some emotion he could only guess at. “Will you be here next Christmas?” she asked so low, he almost missed it.

Another test?

He closed the distance between them and pulled her into a hug. “If you want me here, I’ll be here.”

“I’ll want you here,” she whispered. “This is the first time I’ve felt comfortable in this home. You are a fixer.”

He smiled and hugged her tighter. Silly woman. Couldn’t she see? She was the one who was fixing everything.

“Where do you sleep?” he asked.

Raynah eased out of the hug and pointed her finger at the ceiling right above the kitchen.

“The loft?”

She nodded.

“Want to show me?”

She inhaled deeply, and nodded again. Raynah took him by the hand and walked him up the stairs, then hesitated at the top, waiting for him to take it in.

Garret looked around the bare bedroom. There was no bed, no bedside table, no dresser. She’d set up a wooden, folding partition to block off the corner.

Raynah squeezed his hand and tugged him to where he could see the twin-sized mattress behind the partition. There was a phone charger plugged into the wall, a bottle of water, and one single pillow on the neatly-made, small mattress on the floor.

“I have issues,” she said, breaking the silence.

“You were in jail a long time, weren’t you?” he asked, trying to understand.

“Yes.”

“Is the small space more comfortable to sleep in because it’s familiar?”

“Yes. I measured the space to be the same as the cell I shared with Katrina. I can’t sleep in big open spaces.”

He turned to her, and admitted, “I want to know everything about you.”

“Wh-what?”

“You’re surprising, and interesting. You always have a reason for your quirks, and I want to learn all the reasons.”

“So you…you would be okay with sleeping in my little prison cell with me?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I slept on a love seat for three years when I was growing up. We didn’t have much money, and me and my brother each had to pick a couch because we didn’t have bedrooms. He got the big couch. I had to sleep in the fetal position as soon as my growth spurts started happening. I can just sleep on the floor beside the mattress.”

“You just don’t get scared off, do you?” she asked.

“Nope.”

“I ate a man and went to prison for it, and I’m having another man’s baby, who was not planned, and I live in an empty house with thirty-two houseplants.”

“You punished a woman-beater and served the consequences for that, and had something terrible happen to you in there. You live in the house in a way that has made you comfortable, and I like your houseplants. You’ll probably get houseplants for every holiday from here out because you clearly love them.” He gestured to the trio of plants in the corner of her tiny cell-room. Behind them was a pile of sticks and leaves and forest debris. “I like your nest.”

“I probably need a baby bed.”

“Well, lucky for you, I’m pretty okay at reading instructions and can put one together for you. There’s one downstairs at the bottom of the present pile. You can eat the leftover canned seafood while I work.”

“That…” She dropped her gaze to the floor, but he’d seen it—the moisture building in her eyes. “That’s really nice of you,” she whispered thickly.

“Let’s decorate your home. Get it ready for your life with baby Billy-Jack.”

“Baby Maybe-Billy-Jack,” she corrected him.

He patted her perfect ass and murmured, “Come on. I’ve got some work to do.”

“ We’ve got some work to do.”

“Oh yeah? You’re going to help me?”

“We are going to teamwork this. You dig the crib box out of the pile, and I’ll make us snacks. We can build it by the fireplace. I mean, if you want.”

“I want that,” he said easily.

Her eyes were full of such deep emotion still, and God, could she hear his heartbeat drumming against his sternum? This woman owned him.

She was going to figure that out at some point.