Gator Queen by Tara Lush

Author:Tara Lush [Lush, Tara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-03-25T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

I was a little out of breath from nerves and rage when Jack opened the door to his cabin. He wore low-slung jeans, rumpled hair, and nothing else. Perhaps he didn’t own many shirts.

Admittedly, he looked hot, especially with those abs, but I had more pressing issues on my mind. Like his marital status. And a murder case. Both were intertwined in my mind, because whether he had a wife might influence whether I wanted to continue sleuthing with him.

“Morning, sunshine,” he beamed, motioning for me to enter. For a married guy, he sure seemed happy to see me.

I handed him the donuts and walked inside. “I come bearing gifts. Maple bacon.”

“You might be the perfect woman.” He bit into a donut and groaned. “Holy hell, that’s a good donut.”

“About that.” I put my hands on my hips and scowled.

“I’m definitely a fan of donuts,” he replied.

“No. Women. About women.”

He swallowed and cocked an eyebrow. “You’re going to have to elaborate.”

“Are you married?” I blurted, then laughed. Lord, I was so inappropriate.

He looked confused, probably because I was still chuckling.

“Sorry. I laugh when I’m nervous. And, uh, I googled you, like you suggested, and read the Miami Herald profile about you and your wife.”

“Oh, now I understand.” He paused. “No. I’m not married. Our divorce was finalized last summer.”

I let out a breath, unsure how to take this news. He was single. Probably looking for a rebound hookup. This opened up several questions and possibilities, ones that I didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with at the moment.

“Well, good for you, if that’s what you wanted,” I said in a hearty tone, adding a little pump of my fist for emphasis.

“We grew apart, and she took a teaching position in Spain and I didn’t want to go. No kids, so we parted as friends. It’s what we both wanted.”

We stood there awkwardly, as Jack finished his first donut, still shirtless. His alluring self seemed to fill the room, and I was here for it. There was definitely an attraction between us. I wasn’t that dense. And now that he was single, he was definitely fair game.

Wait. I didn’t want a relationship. But I wouldn’t mind a friends-with-benefits kind of thing.

He licked his thumb and stared at me with those brown eyes, and my mouth watered a little. I wondered if he was going to ask me if I was dating anyone.

He didn’t, so I babbled, because I was a certified dork. “Yeah, being single after college is weird. All those dating apps and shit. Weird.”

“That it is.”

“Full disclosure: I just got out of a relationship,” I offered.

“I know, your sister told me all about it. The novelist in Boston. Literary Fiction Larry.”

“Great. Way to go, Vera.” I rolled my eyes. “His name was Lawrence.”

“An excellent name for a lit fic bro.” Jack grinned and inhaled the second donut. “Did he write anything I’ve heard of?”

“Probably not. He wrote a book about the existential crisis of a teaching assistant at an Ivy League school who then bones several blonde co-eds.

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