Read Croc's Return for Free Online

dryly.
    “You look good.” Again, he spoke without thinking—or filtering. I’d better start watching my words, or I’m going to get myself in trouble.
    Too late. He was in trouble the moment he came seeking her.
    At his praise, she sucked in a breath, and a slight flush heightened the color in her cheeks. “You look good, too,” she said.
    At her obvious lie, his lips tightened. “I’m very much aware of how I look. No need to coddle me.” The burns had left a scar, not just on his skin but his psyche. Even if she could ignore the one, he couldn’t ignore the other.
    “Coddle? I can assure you that would be last thing I’d do for you.”
    Renny always did have that irritating tendency of telling the truth, but even if she didn’t find his scars ugly, that changed nothing.
    “As you can see, I’m back.”
    “So everyone keeps telling me,” she mumbled. “As if I care. I stopped caring a long time ago.”
    A lie that hit him hard and low. She still feels something for me.
    Yeah, lots of anger.
    “I know you hate me, and I just wanted to tell you that I’m going to do my best to stay away from you.” Even if all he wanted was to stick to her like honey on a bear.
    Her brow arched. “So far you’re not doing a good job staying away.”
    “I thought I should talk to you because I figure we’d bump into each other again at some point, and I didn’t want it to be awkward.”
    “Oh, because this isn’t awkward at all.” Renny rolled her eyes. “You’ve said hello. I know you’re back. I also don’t care, so if you don’t mind, there’s the door. Use it.” She turned her back to him.
    Oddly enough, though, he didn’t want to leave. As a matter of fact, all he really wanted to do was snare her in his arms and squeeze her tight. Tell her how much he’d missed her and wished things could have been different. He wanted to peel that tiny shirt from her and cover her body in his. Surround her in his scent. Claim her and make her off-limits to others.
    The time apart hadn’t cooled the attraction on his part at all, but he wouldn’t act on it.
    Mustn’t mark her and claim her and keep. She deserves better.
    Thing was, he needed to make sure she hated him because, if she softened at all, like she did now with her body trembling slightly, he might not be able to resist. “So do you strip for money on top of waitressing? Or do you just strut your shit for every dick with a few dollars?”
    She whirled on him. “Are you seriously insulting me here?”
    “Just questioning your choice in careers.” Because he knew she was capable of being more than a waitress in a strip club. “Couldn’t you find something a little more—”
    “More what? Morally sound? More clothed? Perhaps you’d like me to walk two feet behind men and curtsy when they speak to me?”
    “Now you’re exaggerating. I’m just saying a nice girl like you should have higher aspirations than working in a titty bar.”
    “There is nothing wrong with working here. And that’s a priceless thing to say, given you came here in the first place. If this place is so disgusting, then what are you doing here?”
    Getting a beer? But he didn’t have time to voice his reason. Renny was still talking, her voice reaching an incredulous pitch.
    “You’ve got a lot of nerve, Caleb Bourdeaux, coming back into town after everything that’s happened and acting as if I owe you anything or give a fiddle what you think.”
    Once again, he just couldn’t seem to keep his mouth shut. “Maybe you should give a damn what I think since no one else seems to be. You deserve a job that doesn’t require you dressing like this. For fuck’s sake, Renny, your shirt is so tight I can see your damned bra.”
    “Are my bralines bothering you? Let me fix that.”
    He could only gape in shock as her hands slid under the fabric of her top, and in moments, she’d managed to unsnap her bra and slide her arms through the straps. She tossed the scrap of fabric at