“Can I help you?” Josh asked Andrew.
“Tori?” Andrew was frowning at Josh, but not addressing him directly. “You okay?”
Josh pivoted sideways so that Tori could look at Andrew. She giggled. “I’m very okay.”
“I told you, this is her date,” Paisley said, grabbing Andrew’s sleeve. “This is the guy she was supposed to meet last night.”
“Yeah, okay.” Andrew scowled at Josh. “This is just…not Tori’s style.”
“What do you think? He’s going to kidnap her in front of all of these people?” Paisley asked crossly.
“Maybe if no one stops them and asks some questions,” Andrew replied.
“Not being kidnapped,” Tori said. “Everything is good.”
“There, see? Everything is good,” Paisley said, tugging on Andrew’s sleeve.
“I’ve just never seen you like this,” Andrew told Tori.
“Upside down?” Tori asked.
Josh was unable to contain his smile.
“Like this. With a guy,” Andrew said.
“Maybe the guys she normally hangs out with aren’t strong enough,” Josh suggested.
“Strong enough?” Andrew repeated with a frown.
“To throw her over their shoulders.” Josh put his hand on Tori’s ass. Possessively. “Which is too bad. Because this gets her really hot.”
He heard Tori gasp softly and she smacked his butt. He laughed.
Andrew seemed to not know what to say to all of this. “Can you…put her down? Please? So I can talk to her?”
“I’m not sure she’s in the mood to talk right now,” Josh said. In fact, Tori had been trying to drag him upstairs for the past hour or so for some definite not talking.
Andrew scowled and Josh realized that he really liked annoying this guy. He’d never been possessive of a woman before, but hell, it fell in with everything else he’d been feeling for the first time with Tori. This was the kind of cause-a-stir-and-make-an-ass-of-yourself stuff his family specialized in.
“Tori,” Andrew said. “Please.”
Josh heard Tori sigh and knew she was about to capitulate.
“Tomorrow would be better,” Josh said, taking a step closer to the staircase.
Andrew folded his arms. “Actually, tomorrow is one of the things we need to talk about.”
Paisley caught Josh’s eye. She gave him a look that clearly said fix this.
What this was exactly, Josh wasn’t certain. But yeah, okay, he’d do what he could. He opened his mouth to tell Andrew that he was heading upstairs right now and he could just talk to Tori tomorrow, but Tori spoke first.
“Yeah, okay.” Tori wiggled. “We can talk for a minute.”
Well, dammit.
Josh realized his desire to make a scene had been a miscalculation. If he’d just taken Tori’s hand and headed upstairs…or if he’d let her tug him through the side door…they could be naked right now and she’d be saying his name with that breathless moan that made him ache. But he’d really wanted to make a production of this. He figured she would understand the gesture. She’d collected flies and bugs in order to defend frogs, for God’s sake. She’d punched two guys for even talking about dumping kittens. She’d covered a girl’s prom dress in cow shit. She knew that when you felt strongly about something, you were willing to get a little extreme. Tori deserved to have someone making a scene over her.
Reluctantly, Josh set her back on her feet and held onto her while she got her bearings. Then he tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and gave her a smile. “One minute,” he told her huskily.
He knew he was doing a hell of a job acting like a guy who was crazy about her. It scared him how easy it was. And how none of it felt like an act. At all.
Andrew was still scowling when Tori turned to face him.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“Just making sure this isn’t…Valentine’s Day 2006,” Andrew said.
Josh glanced at Tori and saw her wince. “Wha—” he started.
“No. It’s not that.” Tori looked up at Josh. “At least, not really.”
“It’s got some similarities,” Andrew said.
It was clear that he and Tori were talking about a shared memory and that Andrew was making a point that was supposed to be just between them.
Josh didn’t like that.
“Everything is fine,” Josh told Andrew. Firmly.
“It’s part of my job to check up on her,” Andrew told him, clearly unaffected by Josh’s tone. “Tori’s not really the red dress and champagne kind of girl.”
Josh scowled at him and then glanced at Tori again. She was chewing on her bottom lip.
“She looks fucking amazing in red and champagne tastes great on her,” Josh told Andrew. He met the other man’s eyes directly. Yeah, I tasted the champagne when I was tongue-fucking her mouth. Deal with it. “Everything is fine,” he repeated.
“Like I said, I just have to check,” Andrew told him.
“I’m okay, Andrew,” Tori told him, her voice softer. “But thank you.”
Thank you? For interrupting Josh carrying her up to bed? That was not a “thank you” situation.
“I—” Josh started.
“What’s going on tomorrow?” Tori asked.
“The tour got cancelled,” Andrew said. “Something wrong with one of their buses, I guess. Anyway, the plan has changed. We’re going golfing. Do you want to come along?”
Josh almost laughed at the obvious grimace that crossed Tori’s face before she covered it. “Um…sure.”
She clearly didn’t like golf. By the way, shouldn’t Andrew know that? But why wasn’t she just saying no?
“No, no. I told you she should come to the bridesmaids’ brunch,” Paisley inserted. “We’re meeting with the makeup artist afterward.”
“The makeup artist?” Tori asked.
“The woman who will be doing everyone’s makeup for the wedding,” Paisley said. “She wants to meet everyone to get an idea of coloring and what she’ll be doing on Saturday.”
“Oh.”
Tori didn’t grimace this time, but Josh could tell that the idea of a makeup artist was even less appealing than the idea of golfing.
“We talked about this,” Andrew told Paisley with a frown. “Tori is here as a part of the wedding for me. She doesn’t even know the other girls. She can golf with me and my parents and the guys.”
“But she’s still a bridesmaid, Andrew,” Paisley said, clearly through gritted teeth.
“I can’t believe we can’t get this tour rescheduled,” Andrew groused.
“I asked, but it’s too late,” Paisley said, lifting a shoulder. “There wasn’t room for such a big group.”
“What tour?” Josh finally asked.
“We were going to take the out-of-towners on a New Orleans city tour,” Andrew said.
Josh frowned. “One of those big buses that drives around the city to all the famous spots and gives you the history?”
“Yeah. We thought that would be fun for everyone who hasn’t been here before,” Andrew said.
“But it wasn’t really ideal anyway,” Paisley said quickly. “It would take them all away from the plantation all day and they wouldn’t have made it back in time for dinner. And Tori would have missed the makeup consultation,” she added with a tight smile at Tori.
Josh was pretty sure Paisley cared less about Tori’s makeup and more about her being off with Andrew all day long where Paisley couldn’t keep an eye on them. For a moment, he wondered if Paisley would go so far as to cancel the tour and lie about the broken-down bus. Then he realized that yes, she definitely would.
Suddenly Josh had an idea. He didn’t really care if it made Paisley happy, but it was the perfect compromise, really. It would get Tori away from makeup lessons and golf, but it would also ensure that Paisley’s homesick fiancé had a chaperone while he was spending the day with the reluctant bridesmaid who made him homesick.
“I
’ll do the tour.”
The three of them all turned to look at him at once.
“What?” Andrew asked.
“You would do that?” Tori asked at the same time.
Josh focused on her. “Of course I would.”
“What do you mean you’ll do the tour?” Andrew asked again.
“I’ll take y’all around the city,” Josh said. “I can tell you all kinds of stuff. Probably stuff you wouldn’t hear on a regular old tour. We can even make a couple of extra stops. We’ll get dinner at Trahan’s.”
“You’re going to load us all up in the back of your truck?” Andrew asked dryly.
Josh gave him a big grin. He got it. This meant that he’d be there all day, with Tori, and Andrew didn’t really like that idea, obviously. “I have a bus, man. And a driver who knows his way around this city in his sleep.”
“Leo would drive us around?” Tori asked. “And you’d use one of your buses? What about the swamp boat tours?”
“We’ll be fine,” he told her. “This will be fun. No problem.”
And the bright smile Tori gave him made this all worth any shit he was going to get from Sawyer about leaving them short by one bus driver.
“Well, that’s very…nice,” Paisley said hesitantly. But she did look like she’d relaxed a little.
Yeah, she could rest assured that with Josh around, nothing would be happening between Tori and Andrew. But it really was about making Tori happy. Josh would just have to have Ellie explain to Sawyer why this was important. His grandma would love this.
“It’ll be fun,” Josh said. “And then, afterward, maybe Tori and I will head down to Autre.”
Paisley’s eyes went wide. “Excuse me?”
He nodded. “I never get to see her and I want her to get to know my family better. So I’m thinking we should spend Friday down there.”
“You’re going to introduce her to your family?” Andrew asked, clearly surprised.
Josh gave him a smile he knew was very smug. “Oh, she’s already met them. But they can’t wait to spend more time with her.” All true. Very true. He loved that.
“You’ve met his family?” Andrew asked Tori.
He thought Josh was lying about it? Asshole.
“I have. They’re wonderful,” Tori told him. Then she smiled up at Josh.
And Josh knew that was completely true as well. Because Tori didn’t lie. She might bite her tongue. She might not always say everything she thought or felt. But when she did, she didn’t lie.
Man, he really liked her.
“But, she has to be back by Friday night. She has to get her hair and makeup done early Saturday morning,” Paisley said.
Josh couldn’t help but notice Tori’s little shudder. Josh put his arm around her, pulling her up against his side. “We’ll figure it out.”
“You mean, ‘I’ll be sure she’s back in time,’” Paisley told him with narrowed eyes.
Josh nodded. “Or something.”
“Josh—”
“It will be fine,” Tori said quickly. “Josh and I understand that this is your big day.”
Paisley sniffed, in the snootiest way Josh had maybe ever heard.
“Fine,” she finally conceded.
Clearly Tori being out of the way and occupied by Josh rather than Andrew was more important to Paisley than Tori having the perfect hairdo.
“And now, if you’ll excuse us,” Josh said, looking directly at Andrew. “I’m going to take my date upstairs.”
Andrew’s jaw tightened and he said nothing.
“Of course. We’re so sorry for interrupting,” Paisley said. She grabbed Andrew’s arm again.
“We’ll want to leave early tomorrow,” Andrew said, not moved by his tiny fiancée.
“Absolutely,” Josh said. “I’m used to late nights followed by early mornings.” He bartended in the Quarter a couple of nights a week and was up with chores for the tour company every day. But he was very happy to let Andrew assume he meant those nights went late because of women.
Sometimes they did. But he never spent the night with women. They were almost always tourists or women he knew from the bars in New Orleans. They weren’t spend-the-night-and-have-breakfast-with-me women.
He really wanted to have breakfast with Tori. Did she like grits? Because sweet grits were one of his favorite things in the morning and he’d love to make them for her. Of course, he was certain shower sex with Victoria Kramer would easily knock the grits out of the top spot on his list of favorite morning things.
“You’ll join us for breakfast?” Andrew asked, directing the question to Tori.
She wiggled, itching a spot on her rib cage and then one on her thigh. “Um,” was all she said.
Fuck Andrew if he thought his breakfast was better than whatever Josh was going to be offering her when the sun came up.
“I’ll take care of Tori,” Josh said, squeezing her waist. “Just meet us out front at nine.”
Andrew’s eyes narrowed and he looked from Tori to Josh and back. “There will be blueberry muffins.”
And fuck Andrew if he thought his blueberry muffins could top Josh’s sweet grits.
“Well, you know I love blueberry muffins,” Tori said with a little smile. Then she dug her fingernails into that apparently very itchy spot on her side.
Also fuck Andrew for knowing about her love for blueberry muffins. “I’ll get you whatever you want,” Josh told her.
He wasn’t playing a part here. He really wanted to be the guy supplying Tori with breakfast food. That was crazy. He’d never cared a whit about what the women he spent time with ate for breakfast. But it worked into the whole scheme of him being Tori’s completely enamored wedding date, so he didn’t pull it back.
“I promise my grits are going to be the best thing you’ve ever put in your mouth in the morning,” he told her.
Tori’s eyes widened and Paisley actually made a little choking sound.
He didn’t rush to amend that he really did mean grits. Besides, after they ate, they could work on some other great ways to start the day. Things that also included her mouth.
“How are you going to give her grits?” Andrew asked. “There’s a cook here who is in charge of meals. Not sure she’d just let you take over the kitchen.”
Josh gave him a slow grin. “When it comes to making Tori happy, there’s no limit to what I can do.”
That was a very Landry kind of thing to say. Ellie would be proud. She would also make the grits and send them up in a Thermos with Leo. Really, obtaining sweet grits was the least of Josh’s challenges here.
“She really likes blueberry muffins,” Andrew said.
Josh almost rolled his eyes. Were they really having a pissing contest over what Tori would be eating in the morning? Seemingly. But Josh knew that it was about more than that. This was about who knew her and who she’d rather have breakfast with.
“Blueberry muffins are great,” Josh said easily. “But I’m winning her over to Southern ways, and grits are definitely a part of that.”
“You’re winning her over to Southern ways?” Andrew asked. “You sure about that?”
Josh looked down at Tori. She was staring at him and Andrew as if she had no idea what was going on or what to do.
“I’m giving it my best shot,” Josh said, realizing it was true. He wanted her to love it here. And to stay.
Wow, that had gotten deep fast.
“Tori is an Iowa girl,” Andrew said. “Mardi Gras is one thing, but her home, her animals,” he emphasized, as if Tori might have forgotten, “are in Iowa.”
The animals. Those were always going to be the key to Tori’s heart.
Fuck Andrew.
Josh opened his mouth to reply, but Tori spoke first.
“Josh has a river otter.”
Pleasure rocked through him at Tori’s response.
Andrew frowned. “What?”
Tori nodded. “Josh has a river otter. Gus. He lives by the dock. He
’s pretty cute.”
“You’d leave your cows for a river otter?” Andrew asked. His scowl was deeper now.
And just like they hadn’t really been talking about grits and muffins earlier, they weren’t talking about otters and cows now.
“We have cows in Louisiana,” Josh said. Anything Tori had in Iowa that she loved, he would get her here. He’d get her a dozen cows if that was what she wanted. And that was way crazier than wanting to make her grits.
But he didn’t miss the way Tori’s brow was now furrowed slightly. Dammit. Andrew had her thinking about her regular life and all the reasons she couldn’t just pick up and move to Louisiana.
“You don’t have Tori’s cows in Louisiana,” Andrew said, clearly feeling a little triumphant at the look on Tori’s face.
He’d succeeded in, if not popping Tori’s I-love-Louisiana bubble, at least making a small hole that could easily turn into a slow leak.
“My grandpa’s best friend has a dog that thinks he’s a duck.”
Andrew, Tori, and Paisley all looked at him. Josh sighed. Okay, that sounded pretty desperate. But it was true. It was also true that he felt a little desperate to fight Tori’s doubts about Louisiana.
He shrugged. “They found him as a puppy, apparently abandoned, and took him home. There was a duck with babies that wandered around the property and the puppy started following along like one of the ducklings. He slept with them and the ducklings cuddled right up to him to keep warm. Now he’s just one of the family.”
Tori’s big brown eyes were round and full of happiness, and Josh almost laughed at how much that pleased him.
“Really?”
Josh nodded. “I’ll introduce you. The dog’s name is Duck.”
She laughed.
Andrew cleared his throat. “I’m just saying that Fiona and Travis and Bert would miss you.”
Yeah, fuck Andrew for knowing the names of Tori’s animals too. Okay, sure, Andrew knew her. He’d been involved in her life. Great. Josh got it. But that didn’t mean anything.
Mostly because Andrew was getting married in two days to another woman.
Josh gave him a “fuck you” look and said, “Fiona, Travis, and Bert?”
“The fainting goat, the pig, and the alpaca,” Andrew said smugly.
My Best Friend’s Mardi Gras Wedding: Boys of the Bayou Page 15