Page 10 of Searching for Sunshine (Crestbrook Cove #1)

She nods and unlocks the door, pushing it open and stepping back. “No offense, but I’m gonna let you go first if you don’t mind.”

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid, Stella,” I tease, walking inside and taking in the living room and kitchen. “See, all good, There’s absolutely nothing to worry about.”

“Okay, fine. I’m sorry I’m being a baby. And you’re right. The inside really doesn’t look that—” She starts letting Duke inside, walking toward the bedroom door, and opening it before letting out an ear-splintering scream.

I run over, trying to figure out what the hell's wrong. Behind us, Duke barks loudly at the outburst. Pushing her aside, I look inside the door frame. “Wait, what’s wrong?” I ask, eyes wide at the scene in front of me.

The room is completely empty other than the bed and a dresser in the corner, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what she freaked out about.

“In the corner!” she cries, causing me to look further into the room.

“Oh, holy shit,” I mutter, seeing what she’s talking about. I don’t know how she spotted it so quickly, but there’s a huge lizard coiled in the corner closest to the door. “Um, how the fuck did a lizard get in the house?”

“That’s a great fucking question!” she yells, clearly beside herself with panic. “Wait, wait, wait. Why the hell are you walking toward him?”

Ignoring her, I step further into the room and closer to the green lizard coiled up in the corner of the room. He’s gotta be almost a foot long, and I cringe as I notice how sharp his claws look even from across the room. He lets out a low hiss, and Stella screams again.

“Whoa, it’s okay. I’m almost certain he’s harmless. He doesn’t look poisonous,” I reassure her, trying to find something positive about the situation.

“I don’t give a shit what kind of lizard he is,” she cries, holding her leg out to stop Duke from coming inside. “Duke, my sweet boy, you cannot go in there.”

“It’ll be fine. Just keep Duke out of the room while I go find a shovel from outside and then I’ll take care of the lizard.”

“You can’t kill him,” she yells, and I look at her in surprise.

“Wait, so you don’t want me to kill him?” I ask, trying to figure out what she’s asking for.

“No. I don’t want him in here, but he can’t help that he ended up in the wrong place.

And I absolutely cannot handle lizard guts all over the floor.

Plus, he’d be kinda cute if he wasn’t in my damn bedroom.

If we open the window, can you scoop him up and throw him out or something?

” she asks, petting Duke’s head as he continues to bark.

“Uh, yeah, I guess I can do that,” I say, looking down at the reptile. “Do you happen to know where a shovel might be around this place?”

“Not a clue. I know she used to keep some gardening stuff in the back shed around here. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine.”

“Let me go look. Give me a second,” I say, rubbing my face with my hands and walking out to the small shed beside the cottage. After searching for a moment, I find a decent sized garden shovel and head back inside.

I find Stella and Duke huddled in the doorway, watching the lizard with wide eyes. “Okay, let’s get this taken care of.”

Stella nods at me and says, “God, I owe you for this one. There’s no way in hell I could have taken care of this by myself.”

“Sure,” I tell her, opening the window and turning back to the lizard. “Come on, little guy. I’m not gonna hurt you but I need you to let me move you. You can’t stay here.”

He hisses at me as I move closer and Stella lets out a tiny scream.

“Hey, hey. It’s fine,” I reassure her, taking the shovel and scooping the lizard up.

He continues to hiss at me, and as I move toward the window, the lizard starts to climb up the wooden base of the shovel toward me.

“Oh my god,” Stella yells. “Just throw the whole damn thing out the window.”

Deciding she’s right, I throw the lizard and the shovel outside where it lands with a clunk and the reptile scampers off into the trees around the cottage.

I look down at Stella and see Duke looking back and forth between me and the open window, his eyes wide in surprise.

“Wyatt, is this really how we’re starting our marriage?” she says, her eyes wide. “This has to be the worst omen in the history of the world.”

I can’t help but laugh at her outburst. “It’s fine. I think it’s just a sign that this year is going to be a big adventure.”

“I guess you’re right. But holy shit, I just thought about it. What if there’s more? I’ll never be able to sleep in this place.”

“It’ll be fine. We’ll get your stuff moved in and then you can stay in the hotel tonight. We’ll call an exterminator tomorrow to make sure there aren’t any openings or holes where critters can get in.”

“Okay, good point. I need to calm down. I swear I’m not usually this much of a disaster,” she says nervously. “This week has just been a lot.”

“No worries. Now, are you ready to head back? The guys will never let me hear the end of it if they think I brought them over here to work and ran out on them.”