Beauty and the Bayou: Boys of the Bayou Book 3

by Erin Nicholas

  “Loaning you a hammer or two is hardly putting anyone out,” Leo told her.

  Juliet shook her head. “I insist on being self-sufficient here.”

  She had a really good idea about what she was going to do for the dock. Of course, getting it from her head—and the page behind the second tab in her accordion file—and actually out on the banks of the bayou was the challenge. But the worst that could happen would be she’d screw it all up and end up paying Boys of the Bayou back to have it rebuilt by professionals. They’d have only lost two weeks. Hopefully, that wasn’t too horrible for them, and hopefully, that would be enough time for Chase to have seen some good role models.

  “What do you want me to do?” Chase asked. He seemed bored. Or irritated. He was probably both. But he was here. That’s all she needed. These people were hardworking, blue-collar, manual labor types. They’d show him how to buckle down and do the hard stuff, even when they didn’t want to.

  “I want you to sit your butt down and tell me if you want your sausage gravy on biscuits or chicken fried steak,” Ellie said.

  Chase looked at her, seeming a little shy suddenly. “I’m okay.”

  That was new. Was it possible that Chase was feeling sheepish about what had brought him back to Autre, Louisiana for the next two weeks? Was it possible she’d found people who could make Chase Dawson self-effacing?

  “That isn’t what I need to know,” Ellie told him. “What did you eat this morning?”

  “Cereal.”

  Ellie rolled her eyes. “Sit down. You’re getting chicken fried steak unless you say the word biscuits in the next five seconds.”

  “I’m fine,” Chase said. “It was Cornflakes. Really nutritious.”

  “Uh-huh. And that’s gonna wear off about the time you swing that hammer the third time,” Ellie said. “Cora!” she called over her shoulder. “Need a chicken fried steak!”

  “But I…” Chase looked at Juliet.

  All she could do was shrug. “They fed me already and if I outwork you today, I’m totally not going to let you live it down.”

  “Of course you’ll outwork me today,” Chase said. “You always outwork everyone.” But he pulled out the stool that had magically become empty next to Juliet.

  “Does she?” Ellie asked.

  “She overthinks and overplans everything and then has to use it all. I think it’s so she doesn’t feel silly about the accordion files,” Chase said.

  Juliet elbowed him in the side.

  “Accordion files?” Leo asked.

  Chase nodded, undeterred by her jab. “Everything in her life is in accordion files.”

  Juliet frowned. “Not everything.”

  Chase gave her a look. “Every project, trip, event, and hobby has an accordion file.”

  Juliet lifted her glass of tea. Well, that didn’t mean everything in her life.

  Ellie gave her a soft smile. “So, something like building a dock would definitely have an accordion file, I’m guessing.”

  But it didn’t feel like Ellie was teasing her. Juliet gave her a smile back. “It does.”

  “What are some of the tabs?” Ellie asked.

  “Materials and tools. Building plans. Resources—local. Resources—general. Photos.” Juliet knew she overplanned. She overthought. She overdid. But those accordion files were her safety net.

  “Sounds like we’re in good hands,” Ellie decided.

  “Did you buy steel-toed shoes?” Chase asked with a smirk, sliding the hard hat on the bar top over an inch. He knew it was hers.

  “I did,” Juliet said.

  “The amount of money you spent on equipment and gear could have probably paid for two docks,” Chase said.

  “Not the point. And you know it.”

  “Me ending up with blisters is the point.”

  She patted his arm. “Yes. Yes, it is.”

  Chase sighed.

  Cora set a plate in front of him a moment later. “Chicken fried steak and biscuits,” she said. “I have a feelin’ you’re gonna need it.”

  He sighed again. But he definitely didn’t push the plate away.

  Juliet grinned and sipped her tea. Her not-really-completely-horrible sweet iced tea.

  Sawyer turned in the direction of Cora’s house. Maddie was staying with her grandmother. She wasn’t a morning person and was likely still in bed or just now nursing her first cup of coffee.

  “Uh, this way,” Owen said, turning up the first sidewalk.

  Ah, Maddie was at his place.

  But they didn’t get all the way to Owen’s house. Maddie met them on the street halfway between Owen’s and Ellie’s. Clearly Owen had texted her a heads-up.

  Her hair was up in a messy bun, she wore a baggy T-shirt and shorts with one of Owen’s button-down shirts over it all, and slip-on sandals. She had her glasses on and she looked not-quite-awake. Also, not-quite thrilled about the impromptu partners’ meeting.

  Maddie blinked at them all. “So, she’s a morning person, too? That’s just great.”

  Amused, Sawyer asked, “Who?”

  “Juliet Dawson.”

  He nodded. Maddie had definitely been expecting Juliet today.

  “Apparently,” he said. “She was down on the dock when I got there. And I think she’d been there awhile.”

  Maddie took a breath. “Okay, before you say anything more, this is a great idea. We all think so.” She gave Owen and Josh a look that clearly said they were expected to agree with her.

  “We all think so? I don’t remember voting. And I thought I was the majority partner,” Sawyer said dryly, folding his arms and looking down at her.

  “Well, that’s what’s so great about our arrangement,” Maddie said. She squinted up at him, clearly still coming through the not-quite-awake cobwebs. “You can still be outvoted if we all agree on something you don’t.”

  “That’s a great thing about our arrangement?” Sawyer asked.

  “Checks and balances,” Maddie said with a nod. “It’s good when it’s in the best interest of the business. Even more so when it’s for the good of one of the partners.” She finished with a yawn that she tried to hide behind her hand.

  “Juliet and Chase Dawson have no construction experience. They have no experience on the bayou or with boat docks. Oh, and Chase was the one who trashed the dock we’re rebuilding. Don’t really see how this is good for the business.”

  “Because you’re going to end up firing Skip and Tanner by day three. If they don’t quit after day two of you bossing them around,” Maddie said.

  Skip and Tanner were the guys Sawyer had talked to about rebuilding the dock. He’d intended to do it, but he did need more hands and he couldn’t pull Josh and Owen off the boats for that long. They had to keep doing tours to keep money coming in.

  “And then where will we be?” Maddie asked. “Still without any help and even farther behind. With Juliet and Chase, you’ve got two pairs of hands but they’ll listen to you. They expect to be bossed around.”

  Sawyer shifted slightly at that. Why did every thought or mention of bossing Juliet around sound a little dirty? And why did he think that was a possibility anyway? Because she’d been agreeable out on the dock that morning. She’d acknowledged the risks. She’d admitted he had some good points. She’d been wearing a fucking life jacket and hard hat.

  Agreeable.

  Someone who admitted he was right.

  Someone who took safety seriously.

  She was a rare gem around here for all of those reasons.

  “They don’t know anything about building a dock,” he felt compelled to point out. To his business partners. Who’d had a meeting and set this all up without even telling him.

  Maddie rolled her eyes. “It’s not like you’re building a rocket ship,” she said. “It’s a dock.”

  Not that Maddie had ever built a dock, either. Sawyer lifted a brow.

  “Basically, they’ll be cutting boards and nailing them together, right?” Maddie ask
ed. “So, you just tell them where to cut and what to nail.”

  Sawyer shifted again. It was juvenile as hell to think dirty thoughts whenever someone said “nail” or “nailed.” He wasn’t fourteen. But Juliet and Brandon had been talking about the same stupid thing. There really were a lot of construction terms that could sound sexual. It was going to be a long two weeks.

  Was he seriously considering going along with this plan?

  Yes. Because, other than the thing about these guys going behind his back, it wasn’t a bad plan.

  “So, you set this up to protect Skip and Tanner?” Sawyer asked. “They’re big boys. And they’re getting paid. They can handle me being picky.”

  Maddie snorted. “They shouldn’t have to. They build docks for a living, for fuck’s sake.” She sighed. “Listen, Sawyer, you’re going to insist on overseeing everything happening with the new dock anyway. Now, instead of worrying about and snapping at the tourists or worrying about and snapping at us all day, you’ve got two people who signed up for it and kind of deserve it and can’t quit.”

  “Juliet deserves it?” Sawyer asked mildly, feeling a little tightness in his chest. Yes, he did worry and snap. He’d been doing it for nine months now.

  Maddie lifted a shoulder. “Well, Chase does. And Juliet’s here voluntarily. This was her idea. If she’s as willing to help her brother out as she seems, then she’ll put up with you for a couple of weeks.” Maddie gave him a little smile. “I’ll handle your portion of the tours and all will be well. Consider it a little two-week vacation.”

  Sawyer gave her a little frown. “I’m not supposed to worry about you out on the bayou on an airboat?”

  She’d taken over a tour for him last week and it had ended with her pointing a gun at a gator she thought was going to make a snack out of Owen. All had ended well, but one of the tourists on the boat had been pissed as hell and had caused a huge ruckus about it. They’d smoothed things over eventually, but Sawyer couldn’t shake the truth that it had all been his fault. Maddie had taken the tour over for him because he’d growled at a boat load of tourists earlier in the day. In fact, that was a relatively regular occurrence. People didn’t take safety out on the airboats seriously enough. Maddie had taken the tour over to give him a break. And, okay, to ensure their customer reviews didn’t totally tank because he was unable to lighten up and make the tours fun anymore.

  But truthfully, he knew that Maddie getting on that airboat—in spite of the fact that was way out of her comfort zone and hadn’t turned out that well—had been because she was worried about him. She didn’t care as much about the customer reviews as she did about his well-being. The fact that his emotional baggage was putting the people he loved in uncomfortable, and somewhat dangerous, situations was not okay.

  He needed to get his shit together.

  “Hey, the only person I almost shot was Owen,” Maddie said, giving her boyfriend a huge smile. “And if that does end up happening, he’ll forgive me.”

  Owen grabbed her wrist and pulled her close, kissing the top of her head. “You’d nurse me back to health?”

  “I’d make you alligator gumbo out of the fucking lizard that tried to take a bite of you,” she said, with a little frown.

  “Okay,” Josh said, interrupting their…whatever it was. “Anyway, Maddie can take your tours and you can oversee the dock building,” he said to Sawyer.

  Maddie smiled. “Yeah, you might worry about me a little, but I think you’re going to be pretty distracted for the next couple of weeks.”

  He’d called it. They’d taken one look at Juliet, heard her plan to come rebuild the dock, and had instantly thought “vacation from Sawyer’s bitching.”

  Hanging out with Juliet Dawson in her hard hat and safety goggles? Distracted was one word for it. Turned on. Mixed up. Amused. Those were all definite possibilities as well.

  But turned on and amused could be good things. They were certainly things he hadn’t felt much of over the past several months.

  “Okay.”

  Maddie blinked up at him, but now it was with clear confusion rather than sleepiness. “What?”

  “I said, okay. Let’s have Juliet and Chase rebuild the dock.”

  Maddie’s eyes widened. “Really? Just like that?” She looked at Owen. “That’s all it took?”

  Owen shrugged. “Big brown eyes. I knew her big brown eyes would get to him.”

  Sawyer didn’t deny it. But it wasn’t Juliet’s eyes that had gotten to him.

  Okay, it wasn’t just her eyes.

  Josh gave Sawyer a huge grin. “Sure. Her eyes. Couldn’t have been those curves underneath the hip waders.”

  Sawyer took a deep breath. He and Josh and Owen hadn’t joked around a lot lately. Josh and Owen were two of the most laid-back people Sawyer had ever met. They were friendly and fun and knew how to make people feel instantly comfortable. And they’d been walking on eggshells around him, protecting him by taking on more of the tours and dealing with customer issues as much as they could, trying to make things easier on him since Tommy had died. He’d still been worrying too much and bitching at them.

  “She had on hip waders?” Maddie asked, her eyes wide.

  “And a life jacket,” Owen said with a grin.

  Sawyer really liked when Josh and Owen and Maddie grinned and teased. He wanted them to joke around and laugh. With him.

  Maddie looked up at Sawyer. “You made her put a life jacket on already?”

  He was going to relax. Chill out. Show them that he was not a complete emotional wreck and that he could be happy.

  Even if he had to fake it every single day for the next two weeks.

  It would be easier to convince them if he was on the shore building a dock while they were doing the tours though. They all spent long hours every day together. It was damned difficult to hide anything from anyone around here. But if they were out on the bayou, focused on their customers, and he was on land, preoccupied with Juliet and Chase, it would be a lot easier to fake laid-back and happy when he was with his family after hours.

  And he would be with them after hours. In Autre, Louisiana, there was no escaping the Landry clan. They worked, played, ate, fought, laughed, and cried together. For better or worse.

  Sawyer tucked a hand in his front pocket and consciously relaxed his shoulders. “I found her that way,” he said, as he’d told Leo.

  “She showed up in a life jacket and hip waders?” Maddie asked. “No way.”

  He nodded. “Yep. Seems Ms. Dawson is all about preparedness and safety.”

  He couldn’t help the little smile he felt thinking about that. They’d played the Yeah, But game. Juliet Dawson might be as big a pessimist as he was.

  Maybe he wouldn’t have to fake everything about relaxing and enjoying things with Juliet around over the next two weeks.

  “Wow,” Maddie said. “I didn’t even know that about her.” She gave Owen and Josh a conspiratorial smile. “This should be interesting.”

  Could he let the Dawson siblings try to build a dock, shrug a little, say “sure” a few times to make his family feel like he wasn’t a total emotional loss?

  Sure.

  “And she has her own safety goggles.”

  There was a long pause and then they all laughed. Sawyer felt a pang in his chest. Fuck, when was the last time he’d made them laugh?

  Tori and Maddie had made him grin a few times. Even Josh and Owen with their stupid jokes and the way they handled the customers made him smile. But he hadn’t made them laugh in far too long.

  “She also has on very short shorts,” Josh filled in for Maddie. “Under the hip waders, of course.”

  Maddie grinned at Sawyer. “You would go for someone who was capable and cautious.”

  Yeah, it seemed to fit. He could admit. But that was the thing. He wouldn’t have gone for that type typically. Wearing hip waders and a life jacket on a boat dock when she had no intention of getting in the water and was doing it as a just-in-case
measure was an overreaction. A year ago, he would have seen that. That would have been his first impression, in fact, rather than thinking it was the hottest thing he’d seen in forever. He would have been all about her stripping it all off rather than thinking about her putting safety goggles on.

  A year ago, he would have been flirting his ass off rather than talking to her about potentially strangling herself over the edge of the dock. Okay, that had felt a little flirtatious—strangely—but that was not sexy. Hell, a year ago that wouldn’t have even occurred to him.

  A year ago, he would have thought this whole plan was great, in fact. He would have thought that Chase Dawson should rebuild the dock, and he would have thought Juliet wearing those hip waders was hilarious. He would have loved the idea of torturing a spoiled frat boy with manual labor and would have already asked Juliet out.

  That would have been normal. His usual.

  If he embraced it all now, it would surprise his family. But it would also make them happy. Relieved, even.

  “Well, if she comes out in steel-toed boots, I’m a goner,” he joked.

  Joking.

  He remembered that. Vaguely.

  He took in the slightly stunned, but very pleased, looks on Josh, Owen, and Maddie’s faces and felt like he’d just given them a fucking gift.

  God, had he been that bad? That wound up? That hard to be around?

  Yeah, he had.

  The last few months had been hell.

  He thought about Juliet again. Gorgeous, worst-case-scenario pro, worried-big-sister, willing-to-get-her-hands-dirty-to-make-things-right Juliet. She was out of her element here, clearly. If she was a worrier by nature—and the pocket knife in her bra indicated she was…and then some—the bayou was going to give her all kinds of things to fret about. Cottonmouths and black widows were only the beginning.

  But he had a feeling she was going to be a step or two ahead of him.

  He smiled thinking about that. Again.

  Smiling.

  Yeah, he vaguely remembered doing a lot of that, too.

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