“Flannel pajamas.” The last bits of hope evaporated from his voice. “You gonna go all independent on me if I take this cooler out to the car?”
“I suppose I can give you this one little show of macho.” Her duffel bag lay open on her bed, ready for one last check. She pulled a pair of pajamas from her cold-weather drawer and turned to deposit them in her bag on top of three new Mae Daniels novels she’d snagged at his house last night. “Is it that bad? It’s not like we were going to be alone.”
“How about you let me know how those flannel pajamas are working for you in the morning.”
She heard the distinct sounds of cooler handles groaning as they took on the weight of the ice and food packed inside, then footsteps toward the door. She was about to flip her duffel shut when something green and wiggly stuck its head out of the corner and leaped onto the bed.
She yelped. “Ohmigod!”
The lizard froze on the bed. Its throat pumped, and it trained one beady eye on her. Jackson flung himself into the room. “Anna?” The lizard dashed over the corner of her comforter and disappeared somewhere on the opposite side of the bed.
She sucked air through her nose. “Gecko.”
She couldn’t leave with a lizard on the loose. What if it stayed? What if it left lizard slime in her bed or it crawled in her underwear drawers?
She tried to rub the shiver out of her arms. Jackson took two steps around the bed, but she flung a hand out. “It’s okay. I’ll get it.”
He pinned her with one of thosequit being an irritating femalelooks she was seeing too often from a guy who was a friend with benefits, then continued around the bed and squatted. “Think he went under?”
Her toes squirmed inside her hiking boots. “If you hadn’t come running in here, I could’ve grabbed him off the bed.” She shuddered. Did lizards bite? What about their tails? Could that one drop his tail? Shesodidn’t want to get stuck holding a lizard tail.
Did the tails still move after they detached?
Would there be blood?
Jackson peered over the side of the bed. “Probably looking for a warm place to hide. He’ll find his way out if he gets hungry.”
Hungry?Her gaze flew out to the gigantic brandy snifter on the counter beyond her bedroom door. “Walker,” she whispered. Did lizards eat fish? Or swim?
“Walker?” he asked.
“My fish.” She dropped to her knees and squinted under the bed, but she couldn’t detect any lizardy movements.
Jackson stared back at her from the other side. “You named your fish Walker?”
Still nothing lizardly. She reached into her nightstand and pulled out a flashlight, then trained it under the bed. “Long story. Not appropriate for a gentleman’s ears.”
He chuckled. “Got me there.”
“Do you see it?”
“You quit shining that thing in my eyes, I might.”
There was a knock on the door. “Hell-lllooo?” Louisayelled.
“Oh, there he goes!” Anna lunged and banged herself across the temple. The flashlight clattered away. Something heavy bumped the bed, and her mattress slid above her.
“Got it,” Jackson said.
She rolled over. He winked at her on his way out. The lizard dangled from his fingers, and she swore the stupid thing blinked at her. “You stay right there, Anna Grace. Back in a minute to help you up.”
If she could’ve reached a pillow, she would’ve thrown it at him.
Louisa poked her head in the bedroom. “What’s going on?”
“Luggage malfunction.” Anna pulled herself up. She tugged her hair to straighten her ponytail, then zipped her duffel up with the same efficiency she was using to slow her pulse.
“You guys making out?”
