Taking It Easy: Boys of the Big Easy book two

by Erin Nicholas

  Chloe looked like he was trying to hand her a rattlesnake. A shit-covered rattlesnake, to be precise.

  Okay, so the shoestring was more gray than white and more than a little ratty, but…he glanced back at Grace’s shoes. She had bright blue shoelaces. And they sparkled a little.

  “Gracie, can I borrow a shoestring?” he asked, reaching for her little foot before she even responded.

  Grace giggled. “But then my shoe will come off.”

  “I’ll give you piggyback rides everywhere we go,” he told her, untying the closest shoe.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, her eyes round.

  He thought fast. “How about a cemetery?”

  Until two days ago, when Dana had told him about Grace’s ghost fascination, he would have never in a million years thought of taking a six-year-old to a cemetery. But this was no ordinary six-year-old. Her eyes got even bigger and she clasped her hands together as if he’d told her she could have a puppy and a pony. “Okay,” she said, almost breathless.

  He didn’t laugh. But he wanted to. She was something. He pulled her shoestring loose and held it up to Chloe. “Best I can do. But I’m buying a whole stash of hair stuff and sticking it in my glove box, I swear.”

  She rolled her eyes. But she turned her back to him so that he could tie the shoestring around her ponytail. With a big bow drooping over either side, Chloe finally picked up her backpack, gave him another frown, and slammed the truck door.

  Logan winced and watched her run up the steps of the school where her dance class met. When the door closed behind her, he looked back at Grace. “So we’ve got an hour and fifteen minutes. You want to buy new hair stuff before or after the cemetery?”

  Grace gave him a big, bright smile and said, “After.”

  Yeah, he’d seen that coming. He laughed and turned back to the steering wheel. He shifted the truck into drive and headed for the closest cemetery he knew of. The one where the Trahans had been buried for the past hundred years or so. He glanced up into the rearview mirror to find Grace nearly bouncing in her seat.

  Well, at least he was winning one of them over. With dead people, but still.

  And by God, he was going to learn to do hair if it killed him.

  By the next afternoon, he was pretty convinced it was going to, in fact, kill him.

  What the actual fuck?

  He had all of the hair accessories that had been available in aisle eight at Target spread out on the bar at Trahan’s.

  “This is maybe my favorite phone call ever.”

  And he had his supposed friend Caleb on the phone. The only single dad he knew with a little girl and the one who Logan had, mistakenly, thought he could call for sympathy.

  Actually, he had him on video chat. “Just tell me what the hell all of this is,” Logan said, holding up a plastic thing with prongs on one end and flowers on the other.

  “That’s a comb,” Caleb said. “You just…slide it into the hair.”

  Logan realized that Caleb thought this was hilarious. He also realized that if it was the other way around and Caleb was wondering about little girl hair accessories, Logan would have thought it was hilarious too. And that made him kind of an ass. He sighed. “What’s the point of it?” he asked.

  “To hold the hair back. Like everything else,” Caleb said.

  “Show me on Shay,” Logan said of Caleb’s niece.

  “Can’t. We don’t have any of those,” Caleb said.

  “This one!” Shay was on Caleb’s lap with the phone on the coffee table in front of them. She was holding a crown. Actually, a tiara as Logan had been corrected. It was also the only thing Shay wanted in or on her hair at the moment.

  Caleb laughed and positioned the shiny tiara on top of the little girl’s head. “You sure you can’t just talk Chloe into a tiara?”

  “I wish,” Logan said. Or a headband. Caleb had put one of those on Shay a few minutes ago. That one seemed easy enough.

  Caleb had yet to really show Logan anything helpful. Barrettes he understood. The little brightly color clips were clear enough. But Caleb hadn’t done a ponytail or a braid or a fucking twist.

  “Do you even know how to do this stuff?” Logan asked, spinning a puffy yellow ponytail holder on his finger.

  “I’ll admit that Lexi does the braiding,” Caleb said. “But I can do ponies.”

  “What about a twist thing?” Logan asked. “Seriously.”

  Caleb shrugged. “Probably. It’s just a ponytail that’s twisted and clipped, right?”

  “Fuck if I know.” Logan shook his head. “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation.”

  Caleb didn’t laugh at that. He nodded. “I know. Weird right?”

  It was definitely that. Logan straightened. “Okay, show me the twist thing.”

  Caleb reached for the tiara on Shay’s head, but the three-year-old clapped her hand down on top of it. “No!”

  “Come on, baby,” Caleb said. “Let’s show Uncle Logan really fast, then you can have your crown back.”

  Shay frowned at the phone. “No!”

  “Come on, honey,” Logan tried. “Help me out. Chloe needs pretty hair.”

  “No.”

  Caleb rolled his eyes behind Shay’s back. “Lex will be here in a little bit. She’ll get Shay to do it. She can show you.”

  Logan was desperate. “Okay, great. Actually, come down here. Bring them all. I’ll buy you dinner.”

  “Sorry, can’t. I’ve got to work tonight and Jack’s been sick,” he said of Lexi’s little boy.

  Both single parents with crazy hours, they took turns watching each other’s kids. Lexi and Caleb were like the perfect married couple. Without the living together. Or the sex.

  “You’re ridiculous.”

  Logan looked up to see Josh unloading a tray of glasses into the bin behind the bar. He was helping out in the restaurant tonight while Gabe was off. He knew that Josh had heard the whole conversation. He’d certainly noticed the blue, pink, green, yellow and purple hair accessories of all shapes and sizes on the bar.

  “Dude, give me a break. How would I know how to do hair?” Logan asked him.

  “It’s not that hard,” Josh said. He wiped his hands and turned to face Logan with a grin.

  “You don’t think so?”

  “I know so,” Josh said. “For starters, are you trying to do a bun or a French twist?”

  Logan stared at him. Then he looked at the phone. Caleb looked a little confused too. “I have no fucking idea,” Logan told him. “She said it had to be up and be twisted.”

  Josh sighed. “Well, there are lots of variations of both of those things.”

  Logan leaned in. “If you’re messing with me, I’ll kick your ass.”

  Josh laughed at that. “I’m not messing with you. But you do have to find out what exactly you’re supposed to be doing.”

  “And then you can show me?”

  “Sure.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “I’ll prove it.” Josh turned and called out, “Hey, Alli, can I borrow you for a second?”

  A pretty blonde at the second table from the bar, looked over. “Sure.” She pushed her chair back and came over. “What’s up?”

  Josh gave Logan a sly grin, then said, “Come here,” to her, crooking his finger.

  Alli rounded the bar and came to stand right in front of Josh, looking up at him with a flirtatious grin. “Like this?”

  “Yeah, just like this.” Josh brushed her hair back from her face. “Can I use you to show Logan something?”

  “Sure. What do you want me to do?”

  Josh gave Logan a wink. Yeah, yeah, the girl was willing to do whatever Josh wanted. Got it. Great. Logan twirled his finger in a get-on-with-it gesture.

  Josh smiled down at Alli and put a hand on her head, stroking down along the length of her hair. “Can I show Logan how to put your hair up?”

  “My hair?” Her eyes got a little wide. And interested.

&
nbsp; “Yeah. He needs to help his baby mama’s little girls with their hair. Okay?”

  Alli looked from Josh to Logan and back to Josh. She seemed a little…amazed. She nodded. “You know how to do that?”

  “I’ve got a lot of secrets.” Josh gave her a wink.

  She laughed lightly and then turned around, presenting her back to them. Her long blond hair hung to her shoulder blades in loose waves.

  Josh waggled his eyes at Logan. Logan frowned at him. He’d better fucking know how to do this and not just be using it as a way to come on to this woman.

  Josh ran his fingers through Alli’s hair, combing it out.

  Alli’s eyes slid shut as she slightly tipped her head back. And she gave a sexy little sigh.

  Logan felt his eyebrows rise. Josh shot him a little told-you-so nod as he kept combing Alli’s hair out. Logan rolled his eyes.

  But he was, admittedly, interested now.

  “Your hair smells amazing,” Josh told Alli. “And it’s so soft.”

  And damned if she didn’t lean back against him a little. “Thanks.” She sounded a little breathless.

  Okay, okay, that was all fine and good, but Logan wasn’t trying to seduce anyone here. He gave Josh a bored look. Josh just grinned.

  But he kept working with her hair. He started gathering it back into a ponytail, holding it with one hand while his other fingers acted like a comb. When he held it all at the back of her head, he twisted the ponytail around one of his hands and then wrapped the ends of the ponytail around the knot in his hand. Then, like magic, he slid the hair around his hand over the wrapped ends. He grabbed the pencil that he always kept behind his ear and slid it into the knot of hair. He lifted his hands in a ta-da gesture and, sure enough, the bun stayed.

  Logan stared at it. Then at Josh. No bobby pins? No ties?

  Alli’s hands went to the back of her head, feeling the bun. She turned with a wide smile. “Wow.”

  Logan had to agree.

  “How did you learn to do that?” she asked Josh.

  “I have a little sister.” He lifted his shoulder. “We were required to do her hair before school.”

  “Oh, that’s so sweet!” Alli said, her eyes wide. And clearly impressed.

  Josh laughed. “It didn’t seem sweet when I had to hold her down while Sawyer did French braids, or the time we used a jump rope to tie her to a chair when we had to do something fancier for Christmas Eve service at church.”

  Alli laughed. Logan gave a low whistle. He knew Kennedy Landry. He couldn’t imagine making her do anything she didn’t want to do. Even when she’d been a little girl. And he definitely couldn’t imagine how spitting mad she must have been to be held down and braided. But he grinned. That would have been something to see.

  “Who taught you to do it?” Alli asked.

  “My mom would do it on Kennedy once and then Sawyer and I were on our own,” Josh said. He leaned in. “But I’ll tell you one of my secrets…it was a great way to get girls my age to spend time with me. Like two or three at a time. They loved showing me how to do hair.”

  Holy crap, Josh had been using hair to get close to girls for years.

  Logan couldn’t help but think about Dana’s hair. It was long and silky and a fascinating combination of browns. And he loved running his fingers through it. So maybe he needed to practice some hairstyles…

  “And I’ll tell you another secret,” Josh said to Alli. “I find watching girls do their hair extremely hot.”

  “Well,” Alli said, definitely leaning into Josh’s personal space now. “It just so happens that I have a wedding to go to this weekend. If you want to go with me, I’ll let you watch me put my hair up into a very elaborate twist style.”

  He put his hand on her hair again and looked down at her with a half smile. “If you let me help you with it, I’m in.” He leaned in. “And I’m very good at taking hair down at the end of the night.”

  “Definitely,” Alli said, her voice breathless and her cheeks pink.

  Jesus. Logan rolled his eyes. That was almost embarrassing. If it hadn’t been damned impressive.

  Not only did Josh know hair, but he’d just turned a girl on and gotten her to ask him out, all by doing a bun. And he’d done it with a pencil. Logan would never admit it, but that that was superpower level in his book.

  “Damn.”

  Logan realized he’d forgotten that Caleb was on video chat on Logan’s phone. He looked down as Josh walked Alli back to the table where her two friends were sitting, also looking captivated by him.

  “Right?” Logan asked Caleb. “Our boy has some moves.”

  “Tell me I’m not the only one thinking about inviting him over for beer and brats…and hair tutorials,” Caleb said.

  Logan laughed. “You’re the only one, man.”

  “Seriously? He knows things.”

  “He does. But he also gave us some very important intel.”

  “What’s that?” Caleb asked.

  “Girls love to show guys how to do hair. I’ve got Dana and you’ve got Lexi. Why not let gorgeous women show us instead of a cocky guy who spends his time in the swamp?” Logan asked, carrying the phone down the length of the bar. He needed to get going on work tonight.

  Caleb was frowning. “That would work for you and Dana, but it’s not like that with me and Lex.”

  Logan wasn’t so sure Lexi thought that was true. “Lexi is sweet and gorgeous and saves your ass repeatedly,” Logan said. She cooked and did laundry and errands for Caleb, not to mention picking Shay up from daycare at least twice a week. Of course, Caleb paid for all the groceries and insisted Lexi drive his truck on the errands so she didn’t have to fill her car with gas as often. “You’d be a dumbass to pass up a chance to run your fingers through her hair. Period.”

  Caleb scowled. “Stop it. She’s like a little sister. She’s my babysitter, for fuck’s sake.”

  Logan had no idea why the babysitter thing made any difference. But he knew from experience that Caleb didn’t like it when his friends pointed out that there was a ton of babysitter porn out there that proved it was anything but a turn-off.

  “Whatever, man. Run your fingers through Josh’s hair then. I know how I’m going to handle this.”

  Caleb shook his head. “I gotta admit—if you show up with those ladybug barrettes at Dana’s house, that’s gotta get you big points.”

  Logan grinned and grabbed said barrettes, along with a few others, off the bar top and slid them into his front pocket. “I’ve got to make up for tying her daughter’s hair up with a shoestring.”

  Caleb laughed. “I think you’re going to be okay. And think about it—if you can master that pencil move of Josh’s, you won’t need to worry about shoestrings or barrettes.”

  He had a point. But Logan was determined to never not have ponytail holders and barrettes again.

  “And hey, if you don’t want those kitty barrettes, Shay would love those,” Caleb added.

  Logan nodded. “They’re all yours. If,” he added, “you never use the word ‘kitty’ in front of me ever again.”

  Caleb laughed and gave him the finger.

  It was after ten and she was in her pajamas, but when she heard the light tap on her front door and looked out the window to see Logan’s truck in her driveway, Dana’s heart flipped a little and she happily pulled her front door open.

  “Hi,” she greeted.

  He’d clearly come from the bar. He wore blue jeans and a Trahan’s Tavern T-shirt with a couple of spots of blue—some kind of liquor, she assumed—and something that could only be mustard on it. He looked great.

  But when he held out his hand and said, “Help me,” she had to blink a few times.

  There were four ladybug barrettes in his palm.

  She looked up. “With what?”

  “Girl hair.”

  She laughed and reached to grasp his wrist, pulling him inside. “You need help with girl hair?” she asked.

  “Well, I can�
�t keep getting by with shoestrings, you know?” he asked.

  “Shoestrings?” She led him to the couch and wondered how long they needed to talk before they could make out.

  She didn’t know if it was pregnancy hormones, or the fact that now she was pregnant she really didn’t have to worry about anything and could just let go, or if it was just Logan’s effect on her libido—which had, admittedly, been like this since she first met him—but she definitely wanted to climb into his lap like the other night.

  “Chloe didn’t tell you?” he asked as he sunk onto the couch.

  Dana took the cushion beside him, tucking her feet under her and facing him. “Tell me what?”

  “That I had to tie her ponytail with Grace’s shoestring last night.”

  Dana just looked at him. “What?”

  He nodded and told her the story. She was grinning by the end. “That was very…resourceful, of you.”

  “But she didn’t tell you?” he asked again.

  She shook her head. “Nope. Didn’t say a word.”

  “Huh.” He seemed puzzled by that.

  “You thought she’d tell me?”

  “She was upset.”

  Dana nodded. “Probably. But why would she tell me about it after it was over?”

  He frowned. “I don’t know. To let you know that I’d messed up.”

  Dana thought about that. “Well, either she didn’t think you did. Or she didn’t want me to know.”

  Logan’s frown cleared. “Huh.”

  She laughed again. “Which of those surprises you?”

  “Both.” He turned to face her and ran a hand up her thigh.

  She had thin cotton pajama pants on but she felt the sparkles of sensation from his touch anyway.

  “I guess I had this idea in my head that she might not want me taking her to dance class. And that if I messed up, she’d tell you and you wouldn’t have me do it anymore.”

  It was going to take a lot more than a bad hairstyle to get Dana to not have him take Chloe to dance class anymore. He’d brought the girls home after class, had given them a snack, and had reviewed Chloe’s homework folder all before Dana got home. They’d been in their pajamas and reading books in their bedrooms by the time Dana had washed her makeup off and changed into lounging clothes. Logan had kissed her sweetly—hotly, but sweetly—at the door, but he’d headed to Trahan’s after she was settled in.