Must Love Alligators

by Erin Nicholas

  Chase shook his head and turned to follow her, his chest filled with the mix of amusement and affection that she automatically brought up in him.

  She was used to spending her days out on the bayou, mostly alone with nature. She dealt with people—locals with nuisance alligator reports, visitors camping where they weren’t supposed to—and shouldn’t—hell, locals camping where they weren’t supposed to. She received calls about injured animals and people trying to capture or keep animals they weren’t supposed to. She definitely dealt with people.

  But she preferred the animals.

  Except maybe when it came to Chase. And the Landry family who had essentially adopted her now. Even they got to be a little much for her, though. Bailey definitely preferred the sounds of bullfrogs and birds and crickets to the sounds of traffic and people. So D.C. was always a little overstimulating for her and Dulles made her a little crazy.

  She suddenly stopped and he nearly plowed into her. She let go of her suitcase, blew out a breath and looked around.

  “Bailey,” he said, putting a hand on her upper arm.

  Clearly acting on instinct, she threw her elbow back, catching him in the ribs as she whipped around and away from his hold. Her eyes were wide.

  Used to this stuff by now, Chase lifted his hands in surrender, giving her a chance to register it was him.

  “Oh my God!” She put a hand to her chest. “You scared me! You know better than that!”

  “I should,” he agreed with a grin. Then he braced himself for what was next.

  On cue, she launched herself at him, her arms going around his neck, her legs around his waist. His hands went to her ass and he held her against him, breathing her in, absorbing the feel of her.

  She plastered herself to him, peppering his right cheek with kisses. “I missed you”—More kisses to his left cheek—“So much”—Kisses over his forehead—“I love you—”

  Her lips met his in a quick, sweet kiss.

  When she tried to pull back, he put a hand on the back of her neck, keeping her there. He deepened the kiss, tasting her fully, drinking her in. He’d missed her so fucking much too. This was the part that was hard. They talked, they shared, they laughed over the phone. That was all amazing. The sex was amazing when they were together and he missed that when they weren’t, of course. But this was what made his chest feel hollow at times—not being able to just hold her. Kiss her. Feel her. Smell and taste her and just have her.

  Finally, she pulled back and he let her. She gazed into his eyes.

  “So much,” she said, finishing her thought. Her eyes were soft, as was her voice.

  He nodded. “Me too.”

  She wiggled to swing her feet to the floor and he moved his hand from her butt. Once she was on her feet again, they stood looking at each other, smiling stupidly.

  “I want to ask you something,” he said.

  Suddenly this was the right time. He didn’t need a special place or moment. The cabin in Autre seemed appropriate in a lot of ways to ask her to marry him, but here and now, when all of his love for her was bubbling up and he couldn’t contain it any longer was the time. Because anywhere that they were together, any moment, even the most random ones, was special. He wanted her to know that.

  He wanted her to know that even by luggage claim five in the middle of holiday crowds at Dulles, with her hair falling down and right after she’d elbowed him and been about to mace him, he loved her and that she made him so damned happy he couldn’t contain it.

  “Okay,” she said. Then her eyes widened. “Oh! I have something for you!”

  She started to turn, but he grabbed her wrist. “Bailey, wait.”

  She was still in the process of moving and his grasp turned her, causing her to take a step back instead of forward. The back of her shoe hit her suitcase and before he knew it, the suitcase had rolled and she was tipping backward. For some reason, he didn’t let go of her as she went down—to try to keep her upright? To prevent her fall? he wasn’t sure—and he ended up going to his knee on the hard tile floor of Dulles airport.

  Bailey landed on top of the suitcase, the bag from her shoulder falling to the floor beside her, and tipping to its side, spilling it’s content. The ring box that Chase had been holding in his hand landed beside the suitcase.

  Looking down at her, his knee throbbing a little, Chase realized he should have been expecting this, too.

  She looked up at him. Her grin was self-deprecating. She shook her head. “Some things never change.”

  He chuckled. “Knew I should have gotten knee pads before coming to pick you up.”

  She leaned in, putting her arms around his neck again and putting her lips against his in a quick kiss. “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “I’m very okay,” he told her sincerely.

  She then pivoted on the suitcase to begin gathering the items from her bag. Chase reached for the ring box. Just as he leaned in, she swung back to face him, catching him in the jaw with her shoulder.

  “Oh! What are you doing?” she asked. “I’m sorry!” She lifted a hand to his face.

  He couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m fine.” He grabbed the box. “Just picking this up.”

  Bailey had her hand stuffed inside her bag. A book, a notebook, two wrapped gifts, a pair of shoes and several pens were still scattered on the floor. She froze though, staring at the box.

  Even better than a random, chaotic moment in an airport for a proposal was a moment where they were both on the floor from falling, a mess around them, laughing and not even fazed anymore by these occurrences.

  “What is that?” she whispered.

  “A ring box.” He opened it, showing her the two carat round cut diamond solitaire ring set in the black velvet. He pulled the ring out and held it up. It caught the light—even the awful airport fluorescent light—and sparkled beautifully.

  “Holy…” She just stared at it.

  “Bailey, will you marry me?” He could hear the gruffness in his own voice. The emotion.

  She raised her eyes to his. “Yes.”

  He blew out a breath and felt his grin break free.

  “But I can not wear that.” She pointed to the ring as if it was a pile of turtle crap.

  Chase now stared at her. “What?”

  “There is no way I can wear that thing down on the bayou!” She actually balled her hands into fists and tucked them against her stomach as if he was possibly going to try to force it on her hand. “Can you imagine if that slipped off? Oh my God! We would never find it!” She looked up at him. “I work in the mud, Chase! I handle alligators and turtles and—”

  “I know,” he interrupted.

  “I can’t wear a big old expensive fancy diamond ring down there!” she exclaimed. “Even if it doesn’t fall off, I’ll probably gouge someone’s eye out with that! Maybe my own!”

  “I just…” He trailed off, looking down at the diamond.

  “I mean, look at that thing! I could probably cut fishing lines with that!”

  “I…” But finally Chase shook his head. Then started laughing.

  Her mouth fell open. “What is funny?”

  “What was I thinking?” he asked. He laughed harder. “Why in the hell would I buy you—the most unusual, amazing, out-of-my-league, nothing-like-any-other-woman-I-know woman a typical, big, shiny, fancy engagement ring that any other woman would love?”

  He’d never bought an engagement ring before and had, stupidly, gone for huge and shiny and expensive—the way he’d gone for most things in his life before ending up in Autre, Louisiana—rather than thinking about the woman it was for specifically. He was still learning.

  Bailey looked puzzled for a second, as if trying to figure out if he was serious or upset or just crazy.

  “Honestly.” He curled his fingers around the ring, tucking it into his palm. “Bailey, that ring is not you. You’re totally right.”

  She scooted to the edge of the suitcase she was still sitting on and took hi
s face between her hands. “But I will marry you, Chase. Definitely. Absolutely.”

  He nodded. “That’s all that matters. We’ll get a different ring. Or one of those trendy new bands that people wear who work with their hands. Hell, girl, I’ll put a bread sack tie around your finger. As long as you are mine, I don’t care what you wear.”

  “Really?” she asked, her eyes sparkling a little with what might be tears.

  “Really.” An idea occurred and he reached up to the back of her head. He pulled the ponytail elastic from her hair and held it up. “This doesn’t ever seem to do a ton of good in your hair. How about we use this right now?” He reached for her hand and pulled it toward him.

  She extended her fingers with a smile and he looped the elastic around the ring finger on her left hand.

  She held it out, admiring it, wiggling her fingers.

  “That will work,” he decided with a nod. “For now.”

  Bailey nodded, too. “You realize, of course, knowing us, that it will probably cut the circulation off in my finger and we’ll have to cut it off later.”

  His eyes widened and he grabbed for her hand. “Holy shit, Bailey.”

  “The elastic band! We’ll have to cut the elastic off! Not my finger!” She pulled her hand out of his reach. “And I’m just kidding. Mostly,” she added. “I’ll keep an eye on it.”

  “Yeah, let me know when your finger turns purple,” he said dryly.

  She giggled, then launched herself at him again. He caught her as her arms went around his neck and her mouth met his. He was just sinking into the kiss when he heard the soft ping as he felt the ring slip from his palm.

  “Shit.” He pulled back from the kiss.

  She frowned. “What?”

  “I dropped the ring.”

  Bailey twisted to look. “What? Oh no!”

  She popped up and Chase pitched back before catching himself. He got to his feet too, scanning the floor. He saw the glint of the diamond at the same time Bailey did. It had bounced about a foot away. They both stepped toward it, but they were still in a busy area and a man with his eyes glued to his cell phone got to it first. Kind of. His toe of his shoe did anyway. He kicked it and the ring went skidding over the tile. Not that the man noticed. His attention was firmly on his screen.

  Chase’s chest tightened as he watched the ring come to a rest. Another man’s dress shoe just missed it, but then a black suitcase wheel hit it, pulled it along for about a foot, then bumped over it.

  “Oh crap!” Bailey started after it.

  Chase was right on her heels.

  Another suitcase hit it, then someone stepped on it, then someone picked it up. That someone was about six years old.

  “Mommy! Look!”

  “Don’t pick things up off the floor,” the woman said, as she pushed a stroller in front of her and pulled a suitcase along behind.

  “But it’s pretty!”

  “Put it down, Spencer,” she said, her voice tired.

  Spencer sighed. “Okay.”

  “Hi, Spencer,” Chase said, quickly.

  But Spencer had already let go of it.

  The ring hit the hard tile and bounced again. Chase rolled his eyes. It landed about two feet away and was stepped on again before Chase finally swept it up.

  He turned, holding it up triumphantly. Just as a man, who was walking backward, keeping an eye on his three kids, plowed into him.

  Chase hit the ground hard. The man stumbled and nearly landed on top of him. The guy’s heavy duffle bag did land on him.

  “What the hell, man?” the guy demanded.

  “Really?” Chase asked, shoving the bag off of his lap.

  But before he could say more, Bailey was there. “Who walks backward in an airport? You need to watch where the hell you’re going!” she told the guy. She was a foot shorter than the man, but she had her hands on her hips, her head tipped back, and she was clearly mad.

  “He can’t just stand there in the way!”

  “What were you doing? Are you even aware of the fact that there are other people here around you?”

  “I’ve got three kids!” the man blustered.

  “So we’re all just supposed to clear the way for you guys?” Bailey demanded.

  As a matter of fact, people walking around them were giving them plenty of space at the moment.

  “Okay, let’s go,” Chase wrapped an arm around Bailey’s waist and picked her up. “Let’s not start any fights.”

  “But he could have hurt you!” Still, she didn’t resist his hold.

  Chase was sure she was glaring at the man as he turned and started in the other direction with her.

  When they were several yards away, back by their bags, he set her down. “Bailey.”

  “What?” She was still frowning.

  “I love you.”

  Her eyes snapped to his and her expression softened immediately. “I love you, too.”

  “I can’t wait to marry you.”

  She stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I can’t wait to get somewhere alone with you where we can take our clothes off.”

  He put his lips against her neck. “Yeah. That too.”

  “So, we should obviously stick with less expensive, easily replaced rings.” She giggled.

  “Obviously.” He cupped her butt and brought her up against him for a deep, searing kiss.

  “Excuse me? Sir? Ma’am?”

  They pulled apart to find two guys with airport security uniforms standing there.

  “Yes?” Chase asked.

  “Are these your bags?”

  “They are.”

  “They were reported as unattended. We need to take a look.”

  Unattended. Of course they had been, as Chase and Bailey chased the engagement ring. “We were only a few feet away!” Bailey said. “We were right over there!” She pointed.

  “We’re going to need to take a look,” the man repeated stoically.

  Bailey opened her mouth to argue, but Chase hugged her against his side. “It’s fine. You can take a look.”

  “Thank you. This way, please.”

  Chase sighed as the men turned to lead them away. Bailey grabbed her suitcase as Chase swung her bag up onto his shoulder and took hold of the handle of his suitcase.

  “We’re going to airport jail?” Bailey asked.

  “Hopefully just to an office,” Chase said.

  She blew out a breath. “Well, I guess it’s safe to say that we’re probably never going to be bored together.”

  He laughed. “Maybe we’ll even get to the point where we hope for a quiet night at home with nothing going on.”

  She grinned. “Maybe. Then again, we’re going to be living near the Landrys, so that’s probably not going to happen.”

  “True. Well, I’ve increased my health insurance coverage, got a new knee brace, stocked up on ibuprofen, and I am, after all, in medical school…so I’m ready for you, girl.”

  A few minutes later, the airport security guards had their bags open and several things from one of Bailey’s bags spread out on a table in a back room.

  “The alligator beer steins?” one of the men, Murphy, asked.

  “For Chase’s dad,” Bailey said.

  “And the alligator garden statue?” Murphy asked.

  “For Chase’s mother.”

  “And the alligator skull?” Murphy asked, an eyebrow up.

  “For Chase.” She grinned at her fiancé. “It’s real. Cool, right?”

  “Very cool,” he agreed, laughing at how excited she was. “You haven’t hurt yourself on those teeth, have you?”

  She shook her head. “Oh, alligator teeth aren’t really that sharp. They have incredible jaw strength and rely on that to hold onto their prey, but they don’t chew, so their teeth only need to grip, not really bite through things.”

  “Alligator teeth aren’t sharp?” Murphy asked dubiously.

  “No,” Bailey said. “But they’re very effective
. And if one breaks off or falls out, a new one grows back in to replace it. They go through two to three thousand teeth in a lifetime.” Her eyes were bright, talking about one of her favorite topics.

  Chase sat back in his chair, settling in for the impromptu lesson on alligators. This could take a while. Murphy had no idea. He thought he was punishing them for leaving their bags unattended? Yeah, well, Chase hoped Murphy didn’t have anywhere he needed to be.

  “They bite with a force of over two thousand pounds per square inch,” Bailey said, sitting forward on her chair. “A human’s bite is only one hundred and fifty pounds per square inch.”

  “Wait,” Murphy said. “A human can bite with a hundred and fifty pounds per square inch?”

  Bailey nodded. “Crazy, right?”

  “That really is,” Murphy agreed. Which was probably the worst thing he could have said—if he wanted to get out of this office any time soon.

  Bailey’s face lit up at the obvious new—and interested—audience she suddenly had.

  For the next twenty minutes, Bailey regaled Murphy and his friend with more alligator facts and even crazier stories of her work on the bayou.

  Finally, they were free to go and as she was packing up, Bailey held up an alligator bottle opener. The bottle cap fit in the alligator’s mouth, of course. “This is for you,” she said.

  Murphy looked like she’d just given him the diamond ring from Chase’s pocket. “Really? You don’t have to give me that.”

  “I want to. I have a ton of alligator stuff and I love that you’re so into everything I told you,” she said, handing it over.

  Murphy took it. “This was actually fun.”

  She grinned. “You should come down to Autre, Louisiana, and take a swamp boat tour. Boys of the Bayou. They’ll show you real gators. And you can win the trivia contest now with everything I taught you.”

  “Wow,” Murphy said. “You must really love alligators.”

  Chase laughed and gave Bailey a big hug.

  He didn’t love alligators, but he sure loved the nerdy, alligator-obsessed, bayou scientist. And that was kind of the same thing.

  Thank you so much for reading Must Love Alligators! I hope you loved Chase and Bailey’s short story!