To my surprise, when we settled into the couch, I noticed the French door slightly ajar. Somehow, Jacoby must’ve managed to escape in the handful of seconds I’d had Ty out of the room. While his absence helped me relax, no longer worried about the repercussions of Ty finding out that Jacoby knew the truth, it also made me sad. A large part of me had hoped that he’d still be here after Ty left.
He’d gotten me all worked up for nothing.
10
Jacoby
I had to admit that Tasha was a breath of fresh air, which was a nice surprise. I wasn’t used to women like her—in fact, I was pretty sure she was literally one of a kind. There couldn’t possibly be another woman like her in the world.
She played video games, enjoyed lounging around in comfortable clothes, and she even drank beer. From a can. I found her to be funny, smart, and capable of holding a conversation without finding a way to bring up clothes, cars, her boobs, or money. Then again, I wouldn’t mind if her breasts somehow found their way into our conversation—and my hands.
Tiffany Lewis was a model. Anyone with partial eyesight could see that she was an attractive woman on the surface, but that’s the extent of it. Tasha might’ve been her identical twin, but they were complete opposites in every way. Tasha was sunshine, whereas Tiffany was a storm cloud. Some people liked the rain, but I preferred a bright, warm day.
“Are you even listening to me?” She giggled, her smile lighting up her eyes.
I shook my head, clearing away the thoughts that kept me from paying attention to anything other than how amazing I thought she was. “Sorry, I was lost in thought. What did you say?”
“You were staring right at me, yet you have no idea what I said.” Tasha rolled her eyes teasingly, though she never stopped stroking Sir Terry’s head. “Anyway, I asked… Why does he always lick me?”
“Do you blame him? If I could, I’d lick you all day, every day.” That might’ve sounded like a joke, but I was not kidding. Ever since that brief encounter on her couch the other day, I hadn’t been able to think about anything else. The way she rode me, the rhythm of her hips as she rolled them into me, breathing heavily, her fingers tangled in the short hairs behind my head…I just knew she was on the verge of coming apart right in front of me.
Ever since, I’d been obsessed with the need to see her get off on my tongue.
“I’m being serious, Jacoby. Every time I hold him, he does nothing but lick me. I’ve never seen him do that to you when you hold him.” She sat in the porch swing with my bearded dragon in her lap while I cleaned up my sister’s flower beds.
That was how I repaid Jessa for letting me stay in her pool house.
“It just means he likes you.”
“So he doesn’t like you?”
“Beardies usually lick people to smell them. Since he always does it to you, it either means he smells something on you that he really likes, or he’s learning your scent because he feels comfortable with you. I’m leaning more toward the latter since he always seems quite content with you.”
The corners of her lips slowly curled until a contagious smile lit up her face.
Staring at her made the yard work take nineteen times longer than it should.
“To be honest with you, I’ve never understood the appeal of having a reptile as a pet. Don’t get me wrong…I don’t dislike them or anything, but I guess I just don’t understand the enjoyment of having one. I get why people like dogs and cats.”
“Cats? Really?” I gawked at her as if she’d just said the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard. But rather than get into my laundry list of reasons why I disliked cats, I waved it off and responded to her actual question. “I can’t speak for all reptiles, but beardies are actually great pets. They are very loving, and unlike dogs, they require very little maintenance.”
She continued to stroke Terry’s head while he sat there, sunbathing and soaking up the attention she gave him. I never thought I’d be jealous of a pet, yet here I was, envious of a freaking lizard.
“Yeah, but what does he do other than lie around and eat?”
I wasn’t surprised by her curiosity; most people were completely unaware of the awesome personalities of bearded dragons. They were just like any other pet—some were lazy and didn’t do much, and others were much livelier. Some were standoffish, while others were playful and fun. It all came down to how they were handled, and how much love they received.
And Sir Terry Drago received a lot of love.
He’d gotten me through a tough breakup.
“Well, he enjoys going for walks around the yard, he likes to swim, and he loves to chase around a laser. As far as tricks are concerned, he comes to me when I call for him, climbs on me when I tell him to, and smiles and sits on command.”
“Seriously?” Wide eyes, filled with awe, held my attention captive. “So you take him swimming in the pool and stuff? And when you walk him, do you put a leash on him?”
Laughter rolled through me, and I had to go back to looking at what I was doing in the flowerbed. Otherwise, I would’ve been out here all night finishing this one task. “Chlorine is bad for them, so he has his own pool. And yes, he has a special harness that he wears for walks. He gets excited when I get it out, because he knows what that means.”
It didn’t take long before her soft amusement called my attention away from the weeds once more. I was
