Heat unfurled in her stomach at that. She was fully independent. Could handle anything. Had a pretty great life, even having lost her husband. But dang, there was a little bit of her that liked that Logan had never felt like this before. And that liked the idea of being Logan’s. Because that would make him hers too. And she liked that a lot.
“But don’t you dare go barefoot all the time,” he said, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Because these fucking sandals are hotter than hell. In fact, they’re staying on tonight. All night. No matter what we’re doing.”
She laughed, her entire body warm—including her heart. His words weren’t flowery or romantic, but they were sincere. Logan Trahan, French Quarter playboy, was totally into her.
And vice versa.
“So where are we going?”
His thumb was stroking over her bare shoulder and she was kind of hoping that he’d change his mind about not going to her house.
“Autre.”
Okay, that wasn’t what she’d been expecting. “What’s there?” Well, other than his buddies and their tour and fishing company.
“Crawfish boil.”
Her eyebrows went up. “Really?”
“Really. Crawfish, beer—sweet tea for you—music, and a bunch of crazy Cajuns.”
That sounded…awesome.
“You up for it?” he asked.
“Absolutely.”
He gave her a grin that curled her toes. “That’s my girl.”
Damn, she really liked when he called her that.
8
The bar was owned and operated by Ellie Landry—Josh, Sawyer and Owen’s grandmother. It didn’t have a name. Because when her grandfather opened it, it was a shack that sold beer and whiskey to fishermen and it was the only place in town, so it hadn’t needed a name. It had never needed a name. There were other bars in town now, but if someone said they were going to “the bar”, they meant Ellie’s place, and pretty much everyone in the area just called it that—Ellie’s.
And honestly, the place was pretty much like visiting Ellie at her house. She spent more time there than she did at home, she personally poured eighty percent of the drinks, and all the food was prepared according to her recipes and was cooked by her or her best friend Cora. Ellie knew every person who walked into her bar within five minutes of them being there and once you’d visited, you couldn’t wait to go back.
Logan would never admit it, even under threat of death, but Ellie’s pecan pie was better than any woman in his family could make, and if you hadn’t been at a crawfish boil at Ellie’s, you hadn’t really been to a crawfish boil at all.
Her ex-husband, Leo, and her new boyfriend, Trevor, did the actual boiling, but Ellie kept a careful watch over them and she was in charge of all the fixins’ and extras. Including the best sweet tea in the South. Logan would fight anyone who said differently. As would everyone else who’d ever tasted it.
Logan watched Dana take the first sip. Her eyes widened and she swallowed quickly. “Wow.”
“I know. I’m tellin’ you, you have never had food like you’re gonna have tonight.”
She smiled up at him. “This is nice.”
It was. It was peak crawfish season and the time of year with some of the nicest weather to be had in Louisiana. It wasn’t cold, but the heat and humidity hadn’t climbed yet. It was the perfect time to be outside, with twinkle lights strung from poles stuck in the ground, live music playing, great food, and friends gathered around. These were the nights that made Logan feel the most content, and he was surprised for only about two minutes that it felt even better with Dana there. He’d never expected that it could feel better. But this woman just made him happy.
Well, not when she was insisting on doing all the heavy, hard work herself with the girls, but that was…a conversation for another time.
Which was what he’d been telling himself for a week.
Dana had come home late Tuesday and Thursday this week, his nights off from the bar so he could go to dance class, and she’d fallen asleep on him before they could really talk. Or do anything else. He couldn’t fight with her when she was snoring softly against his shoulder. Especially when she felt so bad about it when she woke up, blinking and brushing her hair back from her face, confused about where she was and what time it was.
But Logan loved that she could lean on him—literally—and relax enough to fall asleep. He guessed that she hadn’t done that much before. Because more often than not, there was no one there to prop her up.
And now, tonight, having her away from the house, away from her responsibilities, and surrounded by good people, good food, and good music, he wasn’t going to bring anything difficult up. Tonight was all about his specialty. Having fun.
“Let’s dance.” He took her cup from her hand and set it on the table where they’d sit for dinner. It was still a little bit until the food would be ready, the band was playing, the moon was rising, and he wanted to get his hands on her.
“No one else is dancing,” she said with a laugh, letting him lead her to an open area on the side of the bar’s building where the band was set up.
“Why’s that matter?” He spun her once, then started two-stepping her around the space.
Her hand flew to the skirt of her dress and she laughed. “Whoa, okay, if we’re going to do this, we gotta take it easy on anything that’s going to make this skirt fly up too high.”
Right. No panties. He gave her a wicked grin. “Yeah, I’m not sharing that.”
So, he dialed the spinning back a little. But much to his surprise, and delight, she knew what she was doing. They were soon swinging all over the dirt patch and four other couples were right there with them.
When the music stopped, he dipped her back—carefully. Bringing her upright again, he said, “You dance.”
She smiled and nodded. “I dance.”
“I love that.”
She seemed to think about that for a second. Then she said, “Yeah, me too. I haven’t done it in a long time.”
The dinner bell rang just then—yes, Ellie had a big old cowbell that she rang when it was time to eat—and Logan took Dana’s hand, linking their fingers.
“How about crawfish?” he asked. “You know how to do that?”
She looked up at him, clearly offended. “Where do you think I’m from, Mr. Trahan?”
He thought about that. She did have the soft Louisianan accent. And she danced like a southern girl. But he obviously didn’t know that much about her.
“I have a crazy idea for the night,” he told her as they took their places at the long wooden picnic tables covered with paper and big metal buckets spaced at intervals down the middle for the crawfish shells. “How about we talk? Tell each other about ourselves? Share some stories.”
She looked at him. “Huh. That is kind of a crazy idea. For us.”
He leaned in. He suddenly wanted to know everything about this woman. “I’ll tell you what—for every story you tell me, I’ll give you a kiss. And you can choose where that kiss goes.”
With a smile that was sweet, and cute, and sexy all at the same time, she said, “You’re on, Mr. Trahan. But then you better find us a quiet, private place to talk.”
He knew just the spot.
But before they headed that way, they ate, drank, talked and laughed with his friends. And yeah, Dana was clearly a Louisiana girl. Or at least, she’d lived here long enough to know how to eat crawfish and knew that you couldn’t do it without corn and potatoes and that you had to do it with your hands. She dug in with the rest of them, twisting the heads off of the crawfish, eating the corn right off the cob, and she put back at least three glasses of sweet tea.
Logan was also grateful for the nosiness of his friends. Of course, none of them could leave a pretty girl alone if their lives depended on it, but in this case, they got her talking about her job and bosses, about her girls, and he found out that she was actually from Layfette. She shot him a little smile when she said it.
Well, that made sense. She was a Louisiana girl. He also discovered that, while she loved pralines, her favorite dessert was bread pudding.
“Ellie makes amazing bread pudding,” Owen said. The guys referred to their grandmother by her first name, because they had three grandmothers living in Autre who had lived there all their lives, and if they simply said “grandma,” the instant question was “which one?”
“Ellie makes amazing everything,” Leo, Ellie’s ex-husband but best friend, said.
It was a strange relationship, but it worked so everyone just rolled with it. Knowing both Ellie and Leo, Logan could imagine that they were both a lot easier to like if you weren’t living with them.
“Ellie’s gator sausage is the best, hands down,” Gabe agreed from down the table.
“I don’t love alligator,” Dana said, twisting the head off of a crawfish. “I don’t hate it, but it’s not my favorite.”
“Well, then you have to try mine,” Ellie said. “I only use wild and the ones I get myself are always the best.”
Owen laughed. “You always say that, but you don’t know which is which.”
“The hell I don’t.” Ellie lifted her bottle of beer.
Owen just shook his head.
“You actually hunt alligators?” Dana asked Ellie.
“Of course.”
“She’s the one that took us out when we were kids,” Owen said. “Our dads and Leo went along too, but Ellie’s the one who taught us to shoot.”
Dana’s eyes went round. “Wow.”
“You wanna go sometime?” Ellie asked. “You could bring your girls.”
Dana’s eyes widened further. “Um…I don’t…”
Logan laughed. “Stella would never speak to any of you again.” He shot Ellie a wink. “Though you could teach Dana to make bread pudding.”
“Can’t,” Ellie said. “That recipe goes with me to my grave.”
“I told you I’m selling that recipe at your funeral to the highest bidder,” Cora said, returning to the table with a pitcher of sweet tea and heading straight to Dana’s cup.
“You’re just gonna get up there next to the preacher?” Ellie asked her.
“Yep, right after the eulogies when everyone’s feeling mellow and fond of you. Before they think about how much quieter it’ll be around here.”
Ellie flipped her friend off and Cora laughed.
Logan glanced at Dana. The two older women were in their late seventies but hunted alligators and swore and flipped each other off. But Dana was just grinning as she held her cup up for Cora to refill.
“You sure you don’t want some of the rum punch? I made that. I’m no Ellie, but I’m not all bad,” Cora said.
Dana shook her head. “Oh, I’d love it actually, but I can’t.” She looked around the table. “I figured…you all…knew.” She looked at Logan.
He grinned. The guys knew she was pregnant, of course. But he hadn’t told Ellie and Cora yet. He hadn’t seen them since he’d found out about the baby. And for all the things his friends were, they didn’t run their mouths about stuff that wasn’t theirs to blab about.
“Knew what, honey?” Ellie asked.
“Uh…”
“Dana’s not a big drinker,” Logan started. If Dana wasn’t ready to share their news with a big group of virtual strangers, he was okay with that.
“Logan and I are having a baby,” Dana said right on the heels of his statement. She took a deep breath and looked up and down the table again. “I’m due in mid-September.”
“Hoo-eee!” Ellie exclaimed, clapping her hands together. “Logan Trahan, that’s the way to do it, boy!”
Logan felt something happen that hadn’t happened in years. He blushed. He gave Ellie a grin. “Thanks. I’m pretty…proud of myself, too.”
Ellie cackled at that. “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than to be good.”
And Logan nodded. He couldn’t deny that getting Dana pregnant really did seem lucky.
“This really is good,” Cora agreed, taking her seat now that all the tea glasses were topped off. “Little Cooper looks so much like Logan. It’s only right to spread those genes out a little more.”
“Um, excuse me,” Gabe said from three seats down.
Cora grinned at him. “Oh, you’re a good-looking guy, Gabe,” she assured him. “And we’re all hoping your new baby looks like you. Because Cooper could be Logan’s.” She turned back to Dana. “It’s the brown eyes and the smile. That little Trahan boy is going to be just as much trouble as his daddy and uncle.”
Addison laughed. “I don’t know. Cooper isn’t quite as…carefree as Gabe and Logan.”
Cora gave her a knowing smile. “You just wait, Mama. Once that little one learns what a sucker girls are for big brown eyes, you’re gonna be in trouble.”
Addison grinned, but she didn’t argue.
“Well, I’m kinda hoping for a girl,” Logan said, draping his arm around Dana’s shoulders. Damn, this felt good. Having her here with these people that he loved so much. Having her so comfortable. Seeing her laugh and smile and eat and just relax.
“Are you now?” Ellie asked.
“Oh, be careful about those kinds of wishes, boy,” Leo said.
“No, really,” Logan said. “I know how to do barrettes now. I’m set.”
They all laughed. But there really were a lot of boys represented in this family as well as his own. A little more estrogen could only be a good thing. Speaking of girls, Logan realized that Kennedy, Josh and Sawyer’s sister, was missing from the party. So was Sawyer, as a matter of fact.
“A little girl that’s a combination of you and Dana?” Ellie asked. “The mamas of Louisiana better be locking their boys up, because she’ll have them all wrapped right around her finger.”
Dana laughed and Logan looked down at her. “Shit,” he said.
“What?”
“I just realized I’m in trouble.”
“Yeah? Just now?” she said with a grin.
He nodded. “If this baby is a girl, she will definitely take after you and…well, being a guy who became a sucker for you far too easily, I just realized there’s no chance I won’t be wrapped around her little finger.”
Dana’s eyes softened and she put a hand on her stomach. “I’ve seen you with my girls. I already knew there was no chance of you not being putty in her little hands.”
He laughed and hugged her close as the rest of the table chuckled with them.
Yeah, he was in trouble. But there was nowhere he’d rather be.
“Are alligators nocturnal?” Dana asked a half hour later, as Logan drove them about half a mile down a dirt road toward the edge of the bayou.
“Yep.”
“So going closer to the swamp in the dark is maybe not a great idea?”
He shot her a smile. “We’ll be in the bed of the truck.”
“They can’t jump?”
“Uh…”
She snorted. She knew gators could jump. The chances of one jumping into the truck bed were minimal, of course, but she was definitely not setting foot on the ground out here.
“I’ll keep you safe,” Logan said, pulling into a little nook in the midst of some trees and shutting off the engine. “I’d fight a gator for you.”
“Well, how about we just avoid that whole situation? I would prefer if you kept all of your body parts intact,” she said.
He turned on the seat, settling his hand along the back of the seat. “All of ’em? Not just your fifteen favorites?”
“I have fifteen favorites?” She also turned, tucking a foot under her butt.
“Well, there’s the obvious one,” he said.
She nodded. There certainly was.
“And then there’s lips and tongue.”
She swallowed. Uh, yep. Those were certainly on the list.
“And then there’s all my fingers and both hands.”
She laughed softly. “Each finger counts separately?”
He tipped h
is head. “I like to think they’re each worthy of individual mention.”
“Maybe you could use them each and demonstrate—”
“Nope.” He pulled back and opened his door. “You’re not tricking me into that. We’re gonna have a talk.”
“Tricking you?” she repeated. “Is that what I do?”
He looked back at her. “You and that magic pussy of yours.”
Dana’s eyebrows rose. “Magic? Really? Well, thank you very much.”
He snorted. “Get out here. We’re going to be romantic. And not naked. And no one’s allowed to say the word pussy again. For…like an hour.”
“You’re the one who said it, not me,” she reminded him.
“You’re not above saying it, if you think it might get me naked.”
Well, that was true. “But I’m not getting out.”
“Why not?”
“Gators.”
“Gators aren’t going to get you.”
“Not if I don’t get out, no.”
Logan shook his head, got out and slammed his door. A minute later he was by her door, pulling it open, scooping her into his arms, and carrying her to the back of the truck. He set her on the open tailgate and then climbed up beside her.
“We shouldn’t let our legs dangle,” she said, scooting back deeper into the truck bed.
He followed.
“And put the tailgate up,” she told him.
He did. Though she could hear his sigh. But she knew a gator wouldn’t jump up and climb over a closed tailgate. At least, she was ninety-five percent sure.
“Here.” He reached for something and a moment later had a sleeping bag unrolled for them to sit on. He also had a lantern that cast a soft yellow glow over the back of the truck. That was nice. “Gator jerky?” he asked, holding out a packet.
She laughed. “No. Thank you.”
He grinned and tossed it back with the pile of supplies.
“What is all of this?”
“Hunting, fishing, and camping stuff,” he said, moving to sit beside her on the sleeping bag.
Taking It Easy: Boys of the Big Easy book two Page 14
