She gives me another one of those assessing looks, like she’s seeing more of me than I want her to.
Then, unexpectedly, she tips her head to the side and laughs. “Jenny? Really? You named a turtle with bubble butt after J Lo?”
I just shrug.
She leans over to pet Jenny’s head. “Your daddy is way wittier than he want’s people to know, isn’t he?”
Fuck me.
The turtles clearly doesn’t give a shit if she’s talking to them, but my cock is down for her baby talk.
I have got to get her out of here. ASAP.
“You’ve seen the turtles. Now you know why I’m staying.” I gesture toward the door. “Get yourself to the mainland. I’m sure we’ll still be here when this is all over.”
She straightens and looks at me with her head tipped to the side. “Okay, I get it. You don’t want to leave them. Can’t we just bring them with us?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Jenny is a green sea turtle. She weighs over two hundred pounds. Noah is a fully grown loggerhead and is over four hundred pounds. Normally, they’re in the pond out back. It took me, Raul, and another guy he brought with him to even move them in here for the storm. Even if I had a place for them on the mainland, there’s no way I could get them out to the boat.”
“Oh.”
She blinks and I can’t tell if she’s surprised by how heavy they are or because that’s the most words I’ve ever said to her at once.
Maybe to anyone.
She straightens and rolls back her shoulders. “I can help.”
I snort a laugh.
Her gaze narrows. “That’s not nice.”
I shrug, then carry the crate over to the corner where I keep the empty crates, then walk back over to the tank and check the temperature of the filtered water that’s pouring back into the tank.
“Okay, if you and I can’t do it together, then let’s get Raul back here. And Eli or whoever else. We’ll get the turtles on the boat and then—”
“Then what?”
She paces, frowning, looking from the turtles to me and then back again. “I don’t know. A hotel?”
“They need circulating water. And they won’t fit in a bathtub.”
“What about a pool?”
“You know a hotel on the mainland that’s going to let me drain out their pool, add in salt water that will ruin their pump, and then be okay with these guys shitting in their pool for a week?”
She wrinkles her nose. “I guess turtles poop a lot.”
“You have no idea.”
Her gaze roams over my face, studying me with an intensity that makes heat flush my cheeks and my balls tighten.
“You’ve really thought this over, haven’t you?”
I just nod, focusing on not getting a chubby.
