“I have found the perfect pet for you. I’m so excited.”
“Please take that cage back to the pet store.”
“Voila!” She whipped the cloth off with a flourish. “Grayson. Meet your new pet rock.”
“A pet rock?” I scowled.
“Yes. He has his own habitat. No plants, just sand. Here’s his care kit.” She handed me a paper sack. “A rake for the sand, cloth to polish him, and a scrubbing brush.”
I huffed out a laugh and circled the rock habitat.
It was oddly touching.
Lexi, carefully like she was lifting out a baby bird, picked up the rock out of the terrarium. “Hold out your hands,” she said softly.
“This is ridiculous.” Though I felt oddly happy about this inanimate rock.
“What are you going to name him?” Lexi asked, completely sincere.
“I don’t know.”
“I’m personally partial to Crumpet, but no pressure.”
I set the rock on the counter.
“Look, Gizzy, you have a brother,” Lexi said to the iguana, who rose up on his hind legs.
Suddenly I wanted a real pet, plant, baby with her so badly it hurt.
I reached out to turn her to me, lift up her face to mine.
“Thank you, Lexi.”
Then I leaned in and kissed her.
31
LEXI
His mouth met mine, and I closed my eyes and leaned into the kiss. It was fireworks over Cinderella’s castle, pumpkins into carriages, and fairy godmother’s magic. It was better than any movie kiss.
Grayson cupped my face as he kissed me, nipping slightly at my mouth, drinking in the taste of me, like I was everything he’d been searching for. The kiss turned hard, insistent. Grayson knew what he wanted. His tongue swept in my mouth while his large hands roamed over my curves, pulling me closer to him.
As one of his hands trailed up in the chest direction, I floundered, trying to disentangle myself.
“I, um, I actually am late to meet—well, we have a playdate,” I said looking around wildly for Gizzy.
Did I want the kiss to continue? Sure. But Grayson was acting like he wanted to do more than kiss, and your girl had not shaved anything anywhere.
“Gizzy, let’s go. We’ll let you and Crumpet get to know each other,” I called, scooping up Gizzy and tossing him over my shoulder. “Okay, bye! See you at work on Monday.”
“I didn’t realizethat there were this many iguana owners in Manhattan,” McKenna said to me in a low voice when I rushed up to her at the iguana meetup I’d organized.
Matt, the bartender from Alessio, was already there with his three-foot-long iguana, Maxine.
It wasn’t hot out by any means, but we’d found a sunny patch of grass, and the more sluggish iguanas were starting to warm up.
I let Gizzy off his leash, and he lumbered over to the other reptiles.
