Page 20 of Rubber Duckie Shifter Next Door

He purses his lips.

In the week that I’ve known him, there’s been a palpable connection between us. Each moment, each conversation… everything between us has felt right… until now.

Sig seems to realize it, too, because his expression turns serious. “Rachel, we need to talk.”

A heavy feeling settles in my gut. Everyone knows there’s only one reason a man would ever say ‘we need to talk.’ Sig is breaking up with me!

Not that we’re actually together. We were just getting to know each other.

My heart doesn’t seem to care.

It doesn’t make sense. Why does Sig care that I don’t collect duckies or cruise ships or whatnot?

Maybe it’s not about collecting things. Maybe he’s finally realized that he’s got his life together, and I don’t. He owns an entire water park, and I don’t even have a job. But he’s the one who made me realize that I don’t need those things. And now he’s dumping me over it? Seriously?

At least it’s happening now, after a week, before I got really invested in us. But then why does it hurt so much?

I’m no stranger to being dumped. One time, the guy I’d been seeing did it in bed, while we were both still naked. Sig and I haven’t even had sex. I shouldn’t care!

So then why does this feel different? Why does being with Sig feel different?

Don’t cry, Rachel. You barely know each other!

But in my heart, it feels like we’ve known each other forever… Like we’re two parts of a whole who fit together to become one.

I want to be one with Sig. I want him naked. I want him in my life. I want him forever.

My eyes widen as the realization slams into me like a wave. Somehow, in the span of a week, without even sleeping together, I’ve managed to fall in love with Sig.

And I’m about to get my heart shattered into a million pieces…

Chapter 9

Sig

Rachel grabs the edge of the pool and pulls herself up like a goddess. Water streams down her delicious body, and my eyes snap to her hot, round ass.

She looks so ducking hot in that pink bikini. The way it clings to her body when she turns around makes me rock hard, and I’m glad I’m submerged in the pool so she can’t see the tent in my trunks.

“You don’t have to say anything, Sig,” she says breezily. “We’ve only known each other a week. If you’re not interested in pursuing whatever this thing is between us—”

“I am interested,” I snap. A bit too loudly.

She frowns. Like she’s the one who actually doesn’t want this.

“We’re good together, Rachel.” More than you know. “I want this. I want us.”

I’m about to climb out of the pool… Wrap her in my arms… Beg if I have to… when she sits down on the edge next to me and dips her long legs in the water. “What was up with that whole conversation, Sig? Why do we need to talk?”

I grimace.

How do I explain that I’m a shifter who transforms into a rubber duckie? And that if I take her home, the magic will turn her into a shifter, too? Not a duckie shifter, like me. No, she’ll be something else. Possibly a ducking cruise ship, and a full-sized one, minus the ducking part.

I rub my temples, because it hurts my head just thinking about it.

How the duck am I going to explain it all to Rachel? I shouldn’t, that’s how. I should give this thing between us a couple of months. Make sure we’re solid.

But she looks so frustrated with me, all because of the things I’ve kept from her. And I’m tired of lying. Terrified I’ll accidentally shift in front of her again and make it all so much worse than it needs to be.