Etienne (The Shifters of Shotgun Row Book 1)(43)

“Um, okay. I need to clean up and change clothes.”

“I’ll give you ten minutes when we get home. Just so you know, this date is casual. The bar and the diner didn’t really seem special enough.”

Shit. I was letting on too much.

She pulled back and looked me in the eye. “I think I need to meet this cousin who shot you in the eye. I love looking at the two parts of you. I pretend one is your human eye and one is your gator eye. By the way, when am I gonna get to see that bad boy?”

If my beast could rip through my skin without my permission, he would’ve chosen that moment to do it. He wanted to shake his ass in front of her—hear her gasp in awe—feel her touch his skin.

“Maybe tonight. Let’s just see what happens.”

“Okay. Let’s go, then.”

The half-hour drive back to my house, our house, she teased me incessantly with innuendos and her lithe hand running up and down my thigh.

I wasn’t going to last the night if she kept it up.

Yeah, she was really keeping it up.

“Ten minutes, female. After that, I’m coming after you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, then you carry me off on your shoulder if I’m not ready, grunting and beating your chest. I get it. Ten minutes.”

“Marie didn’t wash your mouth out with soap enough when you were a kid. The sass never stops.”

She stopped with her hand on my front screen door. “That’s a good thing. You love my hot dirty mouth.”

Nope. Not gonna last even an hour.

Giggling, she finally went inside, and I sprang into action. It felt like not enough. Fuck. Any ideas I had for tonight didn’t seem like enough for her. Here I was this Coonass boy with a queen on my arm and not much to offer her.

Except my life, and my love, and my soul. She could have all of it.

Five minutes later, everything was ready. I threw a mosquito net over the whole spread and lit the torches around the edges of the dock to make sure she wasn’t eaten alive while I attempted to romance her.

Fuck, it wasn’t enough.

“Nine minutes. So there.” Hailed by the sound of her voice, I turned around, and the sight of her almost knocked me on my ass. Her red locks were blowing in the soft, humid bayou breeze. She had a white tank top on and underneath, I could see a navy lacy bra. Instead of her regular skirt, she had on some cutoff jean shorts, and a pair of flip-flops replaced her heels.

A few seconds passed before I could breathe again.

My brothers were right. I was one lucky mother fucker.

“That good, huh? You had jeans and a T-shirt on, so I figured it was casual.”

“Casual is good. I like this look.”

“Looks like you more than like.” She pointed to my crotch, which was saying all the things I wasn’t.

“Come on, then. Let’s get this started.”

The sun was setting over the water. Flecks of orange and pinks peeked through the openings in the cypress trees, throwing colors on my Coonass picnic.

“You did this for me?” She took my hand and stopped walking at the sight.

Didn’t she know? In the scope of this female coming into my life and turning it upside down, picking up a meal and throwing down a tablecloth from the store was the absolute minimum I could do.

“Of course I did. I’d…” Shit, this was hard for me. I’d been alone too long here in the damp swamp with just a bunch of renegades to talk to. “I’d do anything for you, Tansy. I fucking love you.”

She turned to face me, and a tear was coming from her eye. This woman was nothing like I’d ever known. She didn’t flinch at ghosts or creepy bears stalking her. She stood still and true when I told her I turned into a gator once in a while.

But she teared up at a picnic.

“I love you more. This is absolutely perfect.”





Tansy

“BLTs.” Before me sat the most romantic gesture, set up by my mate—for me. This wasn’t a movie or someone putting on airs with the hopes of getting some booty. This was his emotions spread before me on a crappy dock in the middle of the bug-infested bayou. It was perfect.

“Get naked,” I demanded, and I instantly regretted not having a camera to capture the shock on his face. “I need to meet your gator so we can mate.”

It was stupid, but in my mind, seeing his beast came somewhere after getting each other off and doing the deed, and my willpower was just about shot, my desire to climb him like a tree growing with every second.

“I bought you dinner.” He moved not a muscle. “We should eat first?” It came out as almost a question, and I could barely contain my amusement.

“Dinner can wait. I need you to gator up so I can mate your ass.”

His jaw dropped at my less-than-church-like language. Mission accomplished.

“You sure?”

I wasn’t even sure if he was asking if I needed to see the gator or wanted to mate or if dinner could wait. It didn’t matter because I was sure about all of it. With Etienne, I had none of the niggling worry I had with anyone else. All I felt was the rightness of it. He was mine. Mine. And soon I was going to mark him for all to see, a desire I didn’t fully grasp but yet so powerful. Mine.

“Do you need me to help?”

“If you do, you’ll never see my gator because I will be too busy making you scream my name.”