Now he was thinking about it a lot.
Jill’s gaze was tracking over him from his shoulders across his chest down his abdomen to the dark gray towel he had slung low on his hips.
Her eyes on him, her body so close to his, the scent of her, all combined and his body stirred.
“You came looking for me?” He couldn’t even express how that made him feel. When he’d awoken alone in bed in the motel, his heart had actually sunk. He wasn’t sure that it had ever happened to him before.
The women he typically went to bed with knew the expectations—that they both have as much fun as they could before the sun came up. It was kind of a Cinderella thing. He’d be Prince Charming for a night, but he was a regular working guy, who was way more likely to own a pumpkin than a fancy coach, again the next morning.
The women he barely knew would continue being women he barely knew. The women he knew, because they’d grown up in the same town, would continue being women he ran into once in a while at the bar, a bonfire, or crawfish boil. And they might end up in the same bed again at some point. But the next day did not mean they would be having brunch together or going to the movies that weekend or to Sunday dinner at her grandma’s house after church.
This time though, when he’d awakened without Jill next to him, he’d been incredibly disappointed. He’d shaken it off, of course, but now looking at her standing in his front entryway and looking at him as if she was very much in the mood for brunch and he was a giant plate of bananas Foster French toast, and hash browns—and yes, he was projecting his favorite breakfast foods here—had his body heating and his cock stirring.
He tucked his finger under Jill’s chin and tipped her head back so that her eyes met his. “How did you find me?”
With her gaze diverted from his chest and abs she shook her head slightly. “I didn’t. I didn’t know this was your house.”
“Really? What are you doing here?”
“I was next door. Then I came out and there was an alligator and I decided I should come and get someone who might know what to do about that.”
“But you didn’t know it would be me?”
She shook her head again. “I figure anyone who lives here would know what to do if there was suddenly an alligator in their backyard.”
He felt his mouth curl at the corner. “True enough. Especially down in this part of town.”
His backyard was basically all of the Landry land that ran from the edge of Autre to the bayou. His neighbors included his brother Zander, his brother Fletcher, and his cousin Mitch. They had called this end of the road Bachelor Row for the past few years since all the guys had moved into the old family homes that were clustered down here.
But now that Mitch and Fletcher were both very much not bachelors, the town was going to have to come up with something else. Plus, the house next door to Zeke was getting remodeled for the new penguin veterinarian who was coming to town. And she was a woman. So not a bachelor. So…
His eyes widened. “You said you were next door?”
She nodded. Then her eyes widened. “Wait, you live here?”
He looked down at himself, then gave her a grin. “I don’t just walk in and shower at other people’s houses.”
Hell, he loved the shower he’d put in upstairs. He didn’t even stick around and shower at women’s houses when he spent the night.
Jill’s eyes dropped from his face to his naked torso and she seemed to lose her focus again.
Laughing softly Zeke again tipped her chin up to look him in the eye. “What were you doing next door?”
“Checking out the house. But there’s not much to check out. The contractor hasn’t done much with it.”
“Why were you checking to see what the contractor had gotten done?”
His heart was hammering harder now. But he was starting to connect some dots.
And he found the resultant line surprising, but exciting.
“It’s my new house.”
Holy shit.
That was…awesome.
Jill was the veterinarian.
He’d been corresponding with her via text and email but her texts had been about the penguins and he’d known her as Dr. Morris. Her email address had been jmorris11 so hadn’t given her name away either. He hadn’t put that together last night.
But now?
He was definitely putting this together now.
This meant the woman who had rocked his world last night wasn’t just passing through town. In fact, she wasn’t going anywhere for a very long time.
“You’re the new penguin veterinarian.”
She was clearly a little surprised. “You’ve heard of me?”
He chuckled. “Definitely. I’m related to the people who own Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild. For one thing.”
She tipped her head. “Really? So you know Griffin and Charlie.”
“Charlie’s my cousin. Of course, I also happened to be the one who built the penguins their new habitat.”
Her eyes went round. “You…what…you’re kidding.”
He lifted a hand to run it through his wet hair.
Her eyes followed the motion, seemingly riveted on his arm. He wasn’t sure if it was the tattoo or what exactly. But he did know that Jillian was fascinated with his ink. She had traced all of it with her fingers and tongue last night more than once. And he had a lot of ink.
He dropped his hand and reached for her. “I’m also the guy who’s remodeling your house.” He ran his hand up and down her arm. She didn’t pull away but she didn’t lean into his touch either. It seemed that she was far more focused on the conversation.
“I thought that was two different guys.”
“Nope. I own Landry Construction. My cousin Mitch takes lead on a lot of the animal enclosures, but I’m the one you’ve been texting with about the penguins. And I do most of the building and remodeling around here.” He tugged her a little closer. “I’ve been the one emailing you questions about that house for weeks.”
She winced. “Yeah. Um. Sorry about that.”
“While, on the other hand, you gave me very detailed information for the penguins.”
She lifted a shoulder. “I care a lot more where the penguins are living than where I will be.”
“Clearly. But now that you’re here, we can finish your house.”
Her eyes widened again, and she stared at him. “We’re going to be neighbors.”
He let his grin grow slowly as he stroked his hands up and down her arm slower. “Yup.”
She tipped her head back and groaned.
But it wasn’t one of the hot oh-my-God-yes groans she’d been giving him last night. This was more of an oh-crap groan.
“You’re clearly not as excited about that as I am,” he said dryly.
Her head came up and she met his eyes. Now there was no roaming over his half naked body. She shook her head. “It just feels complicated to live next door to the guy I’m hooking up with once a month.”
He was confused. “We’re hooking up once a month?”
“That was what I was going to propose anyway. Friends with benefits, you know? After last night I thought that could be kind of fun.”
“That would be fun. Very, very fun,” he said. “But why only once a month? I’m up for that kind of fun way more often.”