“Yeah?”
“Do you have any food?”
That wasn’t what he’d been expecting. “Food?”
She nodded. “I obviously don’t have any food in my house. And I haven’t had breakfast. I’m starving. I mean, we’re neighbors, right? So rather than borrowing a cup of sugar, I’m wondering if you have any cereal.”
“Cereal?”
“Breakfast cereal. Sugary is preferred. If it’s fruit flavored of any kind, bonus points.”
He shook his head. “No cereal. Sorry.”
She sighed. “If you had, you would’ve been too good to be true.”
As her gaze tracked over his naked torso again, Zeke was torn between wanting to laugh and wanting to press her up against the door and kiss the hell out of her before going down on her and making her come in his mouth.
She sure seemed horny for a girl who only wanted to hook up once a month.
And his body definitely liked her.
“I don’t have any cereal, but I can feed you.”
He did not mean that to sound dirty. And maybe it was only in his head.
“So you do have food?”
Yeah, it seemed that her mind was firmly on actual food rather than where his had been.
“No,” he said honestly. “I don’t have any food but I know where we can get some.”
“You don’t have any food? Like crackers or an apple? I’m not picky.”
“I might have ketchup. And I do have beer. But I don’t really eat here.”
“Where do you eat?”
“My mom’s or my grandma’s mostly.”
“You eat all of your meals at your mother’s or your grandmother’s house?”
“In fairness, my grandmother’s place is a restaurant,” he said. “But, yeah, I eat at least most of my meals at her place. If I can’t sit down to eat something, I can always pop into the kitchen to grab something. I go to my mom’s at least once a week though.”
Jill looked horrified. “Can you tell me where the grocery store is?”
“Yes. But I’m not going to. You’re going to go get cleaned up, I’m going to get you some shoes, then I’m going to feed you, then we’re going to go look at the penguin habitat.”
“I could find the grocery store by myself.”
“I’m sure you could.”
“But I really want to see inside the main building at the enclosure.”
“You didn’t pick the lock or break a window?”
“I didn’t even think of that,” she said. “I was wet and freezing by then. But otherwise…”
He grinned. “I know.” Just the amount of detail she’d given him when instructing him on how to construct the habitat said a lot about her passion for the animals and the project.
“Fine. I’ll stick with you this morning. Because of the penguins.”
“Understood.” He paused, then said, “But once you taste my grandma’s food, you’re going to be thanking me for that too.”
“Something you should know about me,” Jill said. “If you’re good to my penguins, you don’t have to do much else.”
7
Zeke got dressed quickly, trying very hard to ignore the sound of the shower running in the bathroom off his bedroom and to not wonder which body wash she was choosing. But he was grinning stupidly the entire time.
He pulled on jeans and a t-shirt and laced up his work boots. Then he headed over to grab shoes from Paige. There were a number of pairs of varying styles on the back porch and he grabbed a pair of short ankle boots that laced up since he and Jill were going to be walking around the penguin habitat.
He left a quick note that he’d borrowed the boots, though he was certain he would run into Paige and/or Mitch sometime today and could tell them then. He was also certain neither of them would care.
He headed over to Jill’s house and scoured her yard, front to back and sides for any signs of stray alligators. It had probably been Chuck. The alligator made a habit of sunning himself behind the houses down here. Of course, the backyard of the abandoned house had been perfect for him and the humans since he wasn’t bothering anyone there.
Until now.
Zeke was going to have to come up with something.
For one, he was going to have to teach Jill what to do and how to handle gators in her path in the future. That was definitely something that happened periodically down here this close to the bayou. For the most part the alligators were well fed from all the boat tours tossing food out so the animals would come close enough for the tourists to see them. But it was important to know to look for them in the first place.
He was sitting on the front steps of his porch when Jill came out a few minutes later. He’d put her slightly damp clothes in his dryer while he’d been at Paige and Mitch’s and then tossed them back on the floor of the bathroom before she was out of the shower. They hadn’t been too wet and he wasn’t sure she even noticed the difference.
“Are you going to tell me where the rotten wood areas are on my porch?” she asked.
He stretched his feet. “Of course. But the strip from the steps to the door is fine. I made sure of that in case anyone was coming over to make any deliveries or anything for you.”
She came to stand right in front of him. With her on the porch and him two steps down, they were a little closer in height.
“Thanks for…everything.”
“You bet. And I can do whatever else you need. We can talk about your house now that you’re here.”
She held up a hand. “I don’t—”
He captured her hand in his. “Yeah, I know you don’t care.”
But he wanted her to care. He wanted to talk about how to make that house amazing for her. The bones of the house were great and yes, it needed a lot of work, but that meant they could do anything. And she had the money. He didn’t want to spend down her bank account completely, of course, but with her finances and that house, he could really stretch himself, maybe try some new, fun things.
Plus he wanted to…take care of her.
Damn, that was a weird thought.
He didn’t take care of anyone.
He barely took care of himself.
But getting her shoes, helping her get cleaned up, having her come to him—even if it had been kind of accidental—about the alligator, and now taking her to eat all felt good in a way that was very different for him.
“Let’s at least talk about the kitchen.”
Maybe if they took it one thing at a time he could get answers from her. He could walk her through the project step by step.
The kitchen was a great place to start since she had a bedroom and bathroom.
“Okay,” she agreed.
He felt a rush of relief.
“Can you get me a refrigerator that keeps my milk and yogurt cold?”
He blinked at her. “Um…of course.”
“Great.” She smiled brightly.
“What else?”
“That’s all I really need.”
He frowned. “But do you want a center island? An open concept? A pantry that—”
“I really don’t care what it looks like. I’m not going to be hosting dinner parties, so I don’t need anything fancy. I’m not really having any big family holiday dinners, so it’s not like I need a huge oven or the double-decker convection thing my mother has. In fact, I really don’t even need a full-sized refrigerator. I could get by with a dorm-sized fridge.”