Sweet Home Louisiana

by Erin Nicholas

  She nodded. “I know. I’ll be fine with you there.”

  He looked like he was going to say something more but he finally just nodded. “See you on the dock in a bit.”

  11

  Maddie escaped, taking deep shaky breaths all the way up to her grandmother’s house.

  It didn’t help. She was still jumpy and hot by the time she got back to the dock in tan shorts and a green tank top. Maybe more so. She was going out on the bayou. She hadn’t been out there in over a decade. And there was nothing out there that she wanted.

  She detoured through the office to grab an overpriced Boys of the Bayou cap from Shirts and Slabs —seriously the worst business name ever—grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler, and then headed out the back door.

  Owen was loading his boat with a big cooler as she came around the side of the building. He was bent over, his fine ass in the khaki shorts he wore, tight and hard, his back and arm muscles bunching as he worked.

  And she realized it was going to get a lot hotter.

  This wasn’t about the sun. This was about this man. This rugged, charming, protective man that she’d never gotten out of her system. It was one thing to climb into his lap spontaneously last night. Now they were partnering up because they were concerned about their friend and their business, and the idea that Owen was pleased by that, had kissed her because of that, made her hot.

  Worst decision ever. Owen and gators. Terrible combination of things she should be staying the hell away from.

  “You aren’t doing this.” Sawyer had come up behind her as she watched Owen.

  She jumped and spun, feeling like she’d been caught running her hand over Owen’s ass instead of just ogling it.

  She looked up at the big man who was frowning down at her. This was her out. Sawyer was bossy and in charge and if he put his foot down, what was she really going to do?

  She turned to face him, put her hands on her hips, and said, “Yes, I am.”

  Okay, apparently she was going to stand up to him.

  “I don’t need you to do this.”

  She softened her expression but kept her tone firm. “Yes, you do.”

  “I’m not losing it.”

  “I know.”

  “I’m going to get my shit together.”

  “I know.”

  “You hate alligators.”

  She shuddered. “I know.”

  Kennedy poked her head out of the office. “Josh is loading up your boat. Everyone is checked in.”

  Awesome. She forced a smile. “Great.” She looked at Sawyer. “I’m doing this.”

  He sighed. “I’m sorry.”

  Maddie felt her heart ache. She’d grown up with Sawyer. He was like a second big brother. He’d never been the flirt that Josh was or the prankster Owen was. He was more serious, more responsible, even before Tommy had died. But he’d laughed and joked and given his family crap like they all did. She’d only been here for a couple of weeks and she’d already seen the huge change in him. He was grumpy and was constantly telling the guys to “knock it off” and yes, overdid the safety checks and lectures on his own boats, but she’d also caught him rechecking Owen and Josh’s stuff as well.

  PTSD. That had to be it. Tommy had been her brother and she missed him, but Sawyer and Tommy had been inseparable since first grade. And he’d been there when Tommy died. No one missed Tommy more than this guy.

  “You’re sorry about the alligators or Owen?” she asked, giving him a smile.

  She was relieved when he returned it.

  “Both. Equally.”

  She laughed. “I’ll be okay.”

  He looked at her for a long moment, then gave her a nod. “Yeah. You will.”

  “We both will.” Then she leaned in and gave him a quick hug before turning and heading for the boats.

  Owen was watching as she approached. When she got close, he said, “All good?”

  She shook her head. “No. But it’s not worse. And for right now, that’s probably enough.”

  He gave her a soft smile. “Yeah. It is.” Then his grin grew. “Now let’s get you out on that water.”

  She groaned but followed him to the boats.

  The airboats were parked one in front of the other and Owen went to stand between the two.

  “Hey, everybody,” he greeted. “I’m Owen and this is Maddie. We’re going to be your captains and tour guides today.”

  The tourists returned the greeting with big smiles.

  “So we’re gonna head out,” Owen said. “The airboats are a lot of fun but they’re also pretty loud. You’re gonna need to wear those to protect your ears.” He pointed to the headsets that hung in front of each seat. “And you won’t be able to easily talk to each other or to us until we get out to our first stop. But once we get out there, we’ll stop and look around and tell you a bunch of cool stuff and you can ask us questions. We’ll make a few different stops and…we’ll just have a really good time.”

  The riders were clearly excited, and Maddie found herself smiling in spite of the fact she was about to get on an airboat. In spite of the fact she was about to drive an airboat.

  She climbed aboard and took her position on the seat at the back of the boat. She looked around. Everything was very familiar.

  “You ready?” Owen leaned in and adjusted the metal box under her seat.

  She took a hold of the rudder stick with her left hand and put her right foot on the accelerator. She gripped the armrest of the tall seat with her right hand. “I think so.”

  Owen reached over and peeled her fingers off the cracked leather. He squeezed them, then put a bottle of water in her hand. “Hang onto this instead. It’ll make your passengers less nervous.”

  She gave him a smile. “Do I look nervous?”

  “Yep.”

  She was. She felt jumpy and like she was losing her battle to not get involved by the minute. But honestly, she’d only lasted about a week before she’d started to feel a part of everything. She wasn’t sure why the hell she’d thought that she could fight it and win. Naiveté? A faded memory? Overestimating how much she had changed?

  Plain old hope?

  She’d hoped this would be easy.

  It wasn’t going to be.

  “It’s just a boat ride,” she said.

  And that was just good old lying to herself. And him.

  He nodded. “Yep. Exactly.”

  Owen didn’t believe her, either.

  “So let’s do it.”

  “Okay.”

  He leaned in a little further and she realized that he was only pretending to make adjustments.

  “Just so you know, you’re kickass and even if we only have you for a month, I’m really glad you’re here.”

  Shocked, she stared at him as he leaned back.

  He gave her a grin and a wink. “And you look fucking gorgeous right now.”

  Maddie knew her mouth was open as he turned and started toward the front boat. She looked gorgeous right now? Her hair was a wavy, frizzy mess from the humidity and pulled up under a cap. She’d given up on makeup days ago. She was wearing shorts and a tank top. And she no doubt looked completely uncomfortable—physically and emotionally.

  Gorgeous? If so, she’d been trying way too hard for over a decade.

  She watched Owen climb aboard his boat and give everyone a huge smile. He said something to the kids sitting on the edges and they laughed. He leaned in and shook an older man’s hand and then he went down on one knee in front of the man’s wife. She had white hair and there appeared to be a cane leaning against the bench seat next to her. Maddie couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she saw Owen put a hand over his heart with a smile that was less bright and charming and more sincere and touched. The woman reached up and patted his cheek, and Maddie, even without knowing what they were saying, felt her heart flip.

  He was such a good guy.

  It wasn’t that it was a huge revelation. Of course he was a good guy.

/>   It didn’t surprise her that he was good with kids. He was basically a big kid himself. It didn’t surprise her that he was good with guys—and women—his own age. He’d been a flirt and a good old boy his whole life. It didn’t surprise her that he was good with older people. He’d grown up laughing and loving with a whole group of the older generation that, while maybe not typical in a lot of ways, had instilled a respect and affection that was clear now.

  Crap.

  Not only was she already sucked in with the business and worrying about Sawyer, but her attraction to Owen was only getting stronger. He was a man now. He ran a business, he was a wonderful son and grandson, he was a loyal friend, really practically a brother to Sawyer and Josh, and Tommy.

  And he was still protective of her, but he was good with her doing this. He was encouraging her. He was going to be there for her, in case she needed him, but he was letting her take the controls here. Literally.

  And, this sounded stupid even in her head, but he liked her. He liked how she was handling the Boys of the Bayou business and he liked how she was taking care of the guys. He wasn’t a bit jealous. In fact, it felt like they were partners in looking out for Josh and, especially, Sawyer.

  It wasn’t as if he hadn’t liked her before. In high school, he’d liked her. Even before that, before they were a couple, he’d liked her. They’d known each other all their lives. Their families spent almost all their time together. There had been nothing really not to like.

  But, once they were a couple, in the short time they were together, they’d had a lot of…heat. When they weren’t taking ex-girlfriend’s cars apart and rebuilding burned down sheds, they were having sex. A lot of sex. It had been clumsy but also enthusiastic and awash with teen hormones and often the risk of getting caught, and a feeling that they’d each won the other’s heart away from someone else.

  So yes, he’d liked her. But they hadn’t really gotten around to sharing deep emotions—regrets and grief—or respect.

  In two weeks, they’d gotten to all of that.

  He stretched to his feet and looked back at her. She gave him a thumbs-up. She needed him to know she was okay here. He didn’t need to worry about her.

  In part because when he worried about her, her panties got a little warm.

  In part because if he was worried about her, he might not pay attention out there and he might do something dumb.

  Owen climbed into his seat.

  “Okay, everybody, headsets,” Maddie called out as she pulled hers on over her ears.

  They both started the boats and pulled out.

  Her palms were sweating, her heart pounding, but going straight ahead wasn’t really a problem in an airboat in a decent amount of water.

  When they got past the docks and out to the wider part of the waterway, Owen hung back and let her pull up next to his boat.

  He shouted something to her and pointed to the floor.

  She shook her head, indicating she didn’t understand.

  “Stand on it!” he shouted.

  Well, she read his lips anyway.

  Yeah, yeah. Okay. She gave a little sigh. Airboats needed a lot of gas so that the boat lifted up and skimmed over the top of the water. The slower they went, the deeper into the water they sunk and the more the boat dragged. She’d been holding back. This was her first time on the water in twelve years. She thought she should ease into it.

  But then she looked over at Owen’s huge grin, the wind mussing his hair, his arms flexing as he steered the boat. A little thrill shot through her. She pressed on the accelerator and the fan sped up, pushing the boat forward.

  “Whoo-hoo!”

  She didn’t know if she’d heard Owen’s cheer or just saw it, but she did feel the adrenaline dump into her blood stream. She didn’t love the heat and humidity and the critters out here, but it was really hard to not feel good with the wind whipping past her face, the power of the boat under her, and the hot guy grinning at her like she’d just made him the happiest man in the world.

  Damn, she was in trouble.

  Owen pulled back in front and she followed him down the waterway. Her heart rate was already up, but her heart kicked hard when he turned down the first narrow bend. She took a deep breath and eased up on the accelerator, then took another one and pressed harder, moving the rudders, and praying a little. The boat jerked hard and she bumped into the thick mess of water hyacinth, but she got it straightened out and after a few minutes, she relaxed and eased into driving.

  It only took her three more turns to realize that Owen was leading them on a meandering path way longer than necessary to get to the first stopping point.

  He was giving her a chance to practice and get comfortable.

  Man, it’s going to be so hard to avoid kissing him later.

  The thought should have surprised her. But it didn’t. Not even a little.

  Owen finally turned them into an area that was a little like a cul-de-sac on a street, with a rounded dead end ahead that would require them to turn around to get out. He let up on his accelerator, letting his boat drift to a stop about twenty yards from the bank. Maddie followed, pulling up a few feet from him.

  He stood up and moved to the front of the boat, addressing the group. He told them about the vegetation they were seeing and some of the animals and birds they’d seen on the way down. Then he turned and pointed to the shoreline.

  “And now you get to meet a few of my friends,” he said. “There are three gators that live over in this area. Alligators are very territorial, so they like to be alone, but in this case old Fred is the alpha and he lets Wilma and Betty live over here, too.” He pointed and everyone leaned to look. “Right over there was where Wilma built her nest.” There was a mound of dirt and grass about ten yards up the bank. “She’s got some eggs in there right now.” He looked back at the kids on the boat. “Alligators lay eggs like birds, but they don’t sit on ’em like chickens. She covers ’em up with mud and grass and then parks herself there to guard them. Raccoons, some birds, even other alligators love gator eggs.” Owen pivoted just slightly and said, “And look right there.”

  There were several gasps and some pointing, and many of the tourists pulled out their phones to record when they spotted the alligator that was basking on the mud at the edge of the water. The thing was eight feet long and blended perfectly into the dirt and weeds. If you didn’t know she was there, you wouldn’t see her.

  Maddie shuddered. That was probably Wilma since she was near where Owen had pointed out the nest, but Maddie didn’t care. It was an alligator. That’s all she needed to know.

  On one hand, this was good. Tourists took these tours to see alligators. That was just a fact. They were happier and gave better reviews when they saw one.

  It did make Maddie wonder where Fred was, though. If this was his territory, he wouldn’t be far.

  Owen continued explaining about how baby alligators make a high-pitched noise when they’re ready to hatch and how the mom then uncovers them and helps them and how the temperature of the eggs while they were in the nest determined the sex of the babies.

  The kids were fascinated, and Maddie found herself hanging on his every word, too. Not because of what he was saying—alligators were huge, nasty lizards that gave her the heebie-jeebies—but because he looked so freaking hot doing this. It wasn’t the June sun beating down—and it was very much beating down—but because he was so into this. He loved making the kids’ eyes go wide, he loved showing people around his beloved bayou, he loved being out here on the water, in the sunshine and fresh air.

  She was being turned on by watching Owen talk about alligators.

  She was in so much trouble.

  “I see another mound over there,” Owen said pointing at a spot a few yards in the other direction. “I’m gonna go check it out and see if maybe Betty has some eggs, too.”

  He gave everyone a grin and promptly stripped off his shirt.

  Maddie blamed that for the fact that it
took several seconds to process what he’d just said. It sunk in about the time that Owen turned and jumped into the water.

  She was up and out of her seat immediately. As was everyone else. Every person on both boats got on their feet, watching Owen wade toward the shore. The water hit him just above the waistband of his shorts, then slowly dropped as he got closer to the land.

  Holy shit. What the hell was he doing?

  There were fucking alligators in that water. Not just that, but one female who definitely had a nest to protect and possibly a second.

  Female alligators with nests were nasty. All alligators were nasty in Maddie’s opinion, but females with babies were especially so.

  She realized she was holding her breath while the rest of the people on the boat were filming and gasping and talking about how cool this was and questioning if he was crazy.

  Yes, yes he was.

  That was a fact. Owen took risks. Period. He liked to go hard, he loved the adrenaline rush. And he was cocky. These guys all thought they knew everything about the bayou.

  Well, her brother had grown up on these waters. And he’d died here.

  Suddenly Maddie felt a cold wave wash through her body. She gripped the arm of her chair, watching Owen pull himself through the water. She scanned the area. Where was Fred? Generally alligators were like other wild animals in that they preferred to avoid humans when possible. The Landry boys had been swimming and boating in these waters all their lives and they knew what to look out for. She kept repeating that to herself. But her brain wouldn’t stop staying, “So did Tommy.”

  Then someone shouted, “Oh my God, she’s in the water!” and Maddie swung around to see Wilma ease herself into the water.

  And turn toward Owen.

  Maddie suddenly felt like she was going to puke.

  She couldn’t lose him. She wouldn’t survive that. There was so much she needed to say and do. Why the fuck was he out here risking his life like this when she was here now and they’d barely gotten started again?

  Owen pulled himself up onto the bank and bent some of the tall reeds and grass to one side. He turned to the boat and gave them all a big thumbs-up. He’d found another nest?