Page 40 of Crocodile Tears
A high five?
“Good job,” I echoed, horrified that the all-encompassing kiss that had rocked me to my very core was only casual high-five worthy in her books.
As my libido crashed back down to Earth, Dove hustled to her bucket and spray bottle and darted off without another word. I watched her run away, wishing she felt even half of what I had in that moment, wishing that a million memories and years wasted had flashed through her mind too, wishing she wanted to find another way for my mouth to be on hers as badly as I did. But Dove ran off with quiet determination to finish her shift and didn’t glance back once.
Chapter Twenty
Dove
Deacon did a triple take back and forth between my bucket of raw chicken and the open gate leading to the crocodile moat.
“You can't be serious.”
“You said you wanted to help out,” I countered.
Deacon had decided to stay on the island for another week after filming had wrapped to prepare for the swanky fundraiser and do more promotional work for Lucky Role Conservation Trust. And every single time I saw him, it took everything in my power not to think about the way he’d kissed me on that film set. I’d known it would be good, but I hadn’t expected it to bethatgood. And then I high-fived him . . .
Ugh! That high five would haunt me for the rest of my life!
It would’ve been far smarter to keep away from him, but no.
I kept finding excuses to have him around me. And then whenever he was, I kept him at arm’s length.Curse me to allthe hot movie star hells!At some point, something had to give. I couldn’t keep torturing myself with him. Deacon was a drug I craved and a pill I couldn’t swallow all at the same time. It made the ebb and flow of tension between us all that much worse.
“I thoughthelpingwould involve more sweeping and fewer giant, pre-historic water monsters,” Deacon argued, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the murky green water.
I leaned against the open gate smugly. “This from the man who single-handedly battled an entire zombie army.”
“Those zombies were computer generated,” he replied, never taking his eyes off our old pair of crocodiles, Doris and Clyde. “I was battling a bunch of tennis balls on a green screen sound stage.”
“Okay, action hero.” I shrugged. “You can stay behind the fence if you'd like. I’m used to doing this shift without help.”
“You want to go in by yourself and make me look like a coward?” He puffed up his chest like a grumpy spider monkey. “No. Absolutely not.”
I grinned. “There’s the superhero of the silver screen I know and barely tolerate.”
Deacon ignored that jibe and gestured to the bucket. “You do this every day?”
“Well, usually Crane does it, but all of our routines are kind of messed up right now. We’re all pitching in.” I latched the lock to the fence and tugged it twice out of habit. “Crane is helping Hawk rebabyproof his house for the hundredth time.”
Deacon gave an approving nod. “Well, I'm glad I can pitch in. Just don't tell my agent, or Cody, or Ricardo, or Luca for that matter. I'm pretty sure my next contract with Universal forbids me from risk-taking behaviors, and while feeding crocodiles isn'texplicitlystated . . .” I chuckled as he weighed his head back and forth. “Better to not tell them.”
“Your secret is safe with me,” I said, zipping my lips. “Besides, we're perfectly safe.”
Deacon snorted. “Yeah right.”
I held his gaze for a split second longer than I should. “I wouldn’t put you in harm’s way.”
His smile made my insides melt. He held the gate open for me, and I radioed Heron to let them know that I was entering the croc enclosure. The countdown was officially on, and I had to radio in updates every ten minutes while in close proximity to dangerous animals.
Deacon followed, uncharacteristically quiet as we crept to the edge of the concrete lip that curved down about seven feet before reaching the reed-filled water of the crocodile moat. Beyond the moat was an island holding some of our iguanas and other reptiles, a service bridge already lifted and secured for the night.
I passed Deacon a plastic glove and he put it on. “Having you here is actually kind of nice,” I admitted.
Deacon laughed. “Don't sound so surprised.”
“I mean, it's hard to feed Doris and Clyde when they’re eager and hungry at the same time. Having two people definitely makes it easier.”
“Oh, I thought you meant nice as in romantic.”
