Nice and Easy: Boys of the Big Easy book three

by Erin Nicholas

  “Sometimes they eat fruit,” Lauren said. “But that’s not usually part of their diet. Fish and frogs and snails and things are.”

  Shay looked disappointed. “Can we feed Mike instead?” she asked.

  Lauren laughed as she led them to another table. “Maybe in a couple of weeks,” she told Shay. “But you should try what Ollie eats. Remember you didn’t like apples, either, until you met Mike?” She handed them each a little plastic cup. “This is crayfish. Ollie loves it.”

  Shay wrinkled her nose, but she picked up the tiny piece of crayfish. Jack happily stuffed his right into his mouth, but Shay took her time looking at it and smelling it. Finally, she tasted it.

  She didn’t look entirely impressed but she swallowed and nodded. “It’s okay. I like apples better.”

  Lauren laughed. “Me, too.”

  Ah, so that explained the new appreciation for apples.

  “So that’s Lauren,” Lexi said to Caleb.

  “Yep. That’s Lauren,” Caleb agreed.

  Lexi looked up at him. He was looking at her. Not watching Lauren with their kids.

  “And that’s why Shay likes apples now?”

  “Well, more Mike, probably, but yeah, Lauren, too,” he said. “We met her a few months ago when we stopped by here. She was talking to the kids about Mike, the spider monkey, and feeding him apples. Shay told her she didn’t like apples and Lauren said that they were Mike’s favorite. So Shay tried a piece with her and that was that.”

  “Did she paint their faces like monkeys?” Lexi asked. Clearly they bathed before she got home on Fridays. She’d never seen them painted as animals.

  “She did. It’s a whole thing. They get their faces painted, eat what the animal of the day eats, then listen to Lauren tell about the animal while she handles it. Then, sometimes, they get to touch it and ask questions. It’s the main reason we come every Friday.”

  Lexi sighed. “She’s great. She’s one of the vets?”

  “Zookeeper,” Caleb said.

  That was cool. Damn. “Does she handle snakes and spiders, too?”

  Caleb nodded.

  Lexi blew out a breath. She was beautiful, smart, and had a very cool job. “That’s pretty awesome.”

  “It is.” He still wasn’t looking at Lauren.

  “She’s also beautiful.”

  He nodded. “She is.”

  That made Lexi’s stomach clench. Not in a good way. But if he’d denied it, she wouldn’t have believed him anyway. Lauren was beautiful. It was just a fact.

  “And she got Shay to eat apples.”

  “Yep,” Caleb agreed. “She has great melons, too.” He was watching Lexi carefully, the corner of his mouth curling slightly.

  Lexi lifted a brow. They were just playing, but there was something about his tone that made her wonder if he was gauging her reaction. Did he want her to be jealous? Did he want her to not be jealous? Did it really matter how she felt? Caleb dated. She knew that. She ignored it—or tried to anyway—but she knew it. And it definitely made her jealous. She hated that feeling. That feeling of wanting what another woman was getting. The sex, of course. Of course. But also just time with him. One-on-one time with him. Talking to him about things other than tantrums and runny noses and counting games and work schedules. Seeing him laugh about something other than a goofy kid joke or something one of his buddies said at support group. Making him laugh.

  But she could have that now. Living with him would certainly give them more chances for all of the above.

  “She knows a lot about bananas, too, I’d guess?” Lexi asked, deciding that she could tease and make light of this.

  Maybe that would drive him a little crazy. He seemed to think he knew her well. Maybe leaving him guessing, surprising him even—because no one who knew her would be surprised if she was jealous—would be good for him.

  “I’m sure she does,” he said smoothly.

  “Cucumbers, too?” she asked. “Or only fruit?”

  “I’ve never seen her handle a cucumber,” he told her.

  “Hmm,” Lexi said, “how about eggplants?”

  Everyone knew that the eggplant emoji in texting meant penis. At least, she assumed everyone did. She and Caleb didn’t text with emojis. They texted with boring stuff like stuck in traffic, be there in 10.

  “Never seen her with eggplants, either.”

  The way he said it, Lexi knew that he knew that emoji. She looked over to where their kids were babbling to Lauren about who-knew-what. Lauren was smiling and listening to every word. She pulled a wet wipe from behind her stand and wiped Shay’s hands, nodding at whatever Jack was telling her as she rescued a cup of crayfish from being stuffed in his pocket.

  “This is all pretty cool,” Lexi said honestly.

  “It is. The first time we met her she had a baby tiger in here.”

  Lexi smiled in spite of the jealousy. “And Shay as a fan for life.” She didn’t add the dammit on the end of that sentiment. “Have you gone out with her?” She didn’t really want to know. But she kind of wanted to know.

  “I haven’t,” he said. He met her eyes directly.

  “She turned you down?” Lexi asked dryly. Maybe Lauren was married. Which would be great in some ways. But Lexi kind of wanted Caleb to not want to go out with her rather than just not dating her because he couldn’t.

  “I haven’t asked.”

  Lexi glanced over at the other woman. “Well, why the hell not?” She looked up at him. “She’s great with kids, loves animals, and is beautiful.”

  “I don’t need a woman who’s great with kids, loves animals, and is beautiful,” he said.

  “Doesn’t every guy need a woman like that?” Lexi asked. Okay, maybe some guys didn’t care about kids and animals specifically, but it meant Lauren was sweet and patient and loving. Surely all guys wanted that. Even if they also wanted to get laid.

  “The smart ones do anyway,” he agreed. He reached up, tucked a strand of hair behind Lexi’s ear. Then he leaned in and said, “But I’ve already got one.” He kissed the top of Lexi’s head and then stepped around her to go to the kids.

  Lexi stood stock still and stunned for a moment.

  That was…sweet. And uncharacteristic. And hot.

  Wow.

  Maybe she didn’t need nipple clamps. Maybe she just needed that.

  She turned more slowly, but went over to meet Lauren. The other woman seemed sincere when she said she was thrilled to meet Jack’s mom, and she didn’t give Caleb any more attention than she gave Lexi, honestly. The only person who she really flirted with at all was Jack.

  Lexi watched, surprised and amused, as her son put his hand in Lauren’s and gave her a smile along with a “you wook pretty” that made Lauren laugh and hand him another bite of crayfish. Jack took it happily. But kept his hand in Lauren’s as he ate it.

  Lexi realized she might be in trouble. Jack’s charm might be genetic. Seth had certainly been charming and flirtatious and knew how to make a girl feel special. But her son also spent a lot of time with Caleb, who was the most impossible man to resist who Lexi had ever met. Caleb was less playful and more intense than Seth, but there was no denying that it worked on women. If Jack took after either man, or, God forbid, a combination of the two, the women in New Orleans better look out in a few years.

  They settled onto the wooden benches that faced a little stage where Lauren brought Ollie out to meet the kids. For the next fifteen minutes she talked about Ollie and how he lived, as he played and showed off for the kids. But Lexi’s mind wasn’t on the animal or the zookeeper. It was on the big guy next to her.

  Caleb had said he already had a woman who was good with kids and animals and was beautiful. That was a little cheesy and probably a lot I-want-to-have-sex-with-you-now-that-you’re-living-with-me-and-if-you-initiate-things, but she had to admit it was making her feel good. Even better than when he’d said he thought she looked good in red or when he told her the pistachio dessert she’d made was on
e of his new favorites.

  She blew out a breath as the kids went up to pet Ollie and ask questions. Yeah, Caleb influenced her all right. There was very little Caleb could ask of her that she wouldn’t want to do. Moving in, pillow fights, a trip to the zoo—maybe even the insectarium. And initiating sex with him.

  The show ended and they headed out of the exhibit, turning toward the elephants. “Shay,” Lexi said, forcing her thoughts away from all the things she would love for Caleb to just do to her without her asking. “Ollie eats crayfish.”

  “Ollie eats crayfish,” Shay repeated. They played this game a lot and the little girl knew what was coming.

  Lexi smiled. “Right. But he also eats snails.”

  “Ollie eats crayfish and snails.”

  “Awesome job,” Lexi told her. “But he also eats one more thing. Ollie eats crayfish, and snails, and frogs.”

  “Ollie eats crayfish and snails and frogs,” Shay said. Then she wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like that he eats those things.”

  Lexi put a hand on her head and smiled down at her. “It’s okay. It’s what he’s supposed to do.”

  Shay sighed. “Okay.”

  “Now tell me one more time what Ollie eats,” Lexi said.

  “Crayfish, snails, and frogs.”

  “Good job. I’ll ask you again in a little bit.”

  “Okay.” Shay went over to the fence around the elephant enclosure and peered in at the big animals basking in the sun.

  “Another memory game?” Caleb asked, pulling the wagon. It was empty because Jack was up at the fence next to Shay.

  Lexi nodded. “And those three things have meaning for her since we just met Ollie, so they might be easier for her.” She grabbed a pamphlet about the fundraising project to expand the elephant enclosure, pretending to study it as she pondered her next question for Caleb. “I hate when she falls like that.” She flipped to the back of the pamphlet. “Do you notice that happening a lot?”

  Caleb didn’t respond right away and she glanced up at him. “She’ll be okay, Lex.”

  Lexi found herself searching his eyes. He met her gaze, and she felt the very familiar sense of comfort that he inspired so easily. She nodded. Yeah, of course Shay would be okay.

  “Kawa!” Jack said, pointing down the path to the left and climbing back into the wagon.

  Caleb’s attention shifted to the two-year-old. “Well, when it comes to beautiful women, this guy has no trouble remembering where to find them.”

  He took Lexi’s hand and they started down the sidewalk. Lexi braced herself to meet yet another sweet, beautiful girl who had a cool zoo job and had captured her son’s affection.

  Caleb pulled Jack out of the wagon and set him on the ground as soon as they got to the place where the path forked.

  “Kawa!” Jack called as he hurried into the gift shop to their right.

  Lexi followed, keeping him in site between the racks of T-shirts and bins of stuffed animals.

  He came to a skidding halt in front of the cash registers.

  “Jack! Yay!”

  Lexi watched the girl come around the counter and squat down to fold Jack into her arms. She’d been right. Kara was beautiful. She had curly blonde hair, bright blue eyes, a sweet smile, and clearly had Down syndrome.

  Lexi looked up at Caleb, but he was watching Jack and Kara.

  “Hi, Kara!” Shay headed in their direction, too, and Kara opened one arm to pull Shay in for a hug, too.

  “The gift shop is his favorite, huh?” Lexi asked, her voice soft.

  Caleb looked down at her with a smile. “He doesn’t care about the stuff. He just loves Kara. The first time we met her she was the one renting out the wagons. She’s been promoted.”

  He looked over at Jack, Kara, and Shay and the expression on his face sucked the air right out of Lexi’s lungs. He was proud of Kara. Lexi felt her throat tighten. He was just such a good guy. Hot. And a dirty-talker, apparently. But just good.

  Yeah, she didn’t really need to be blindfolded in bed.

  “I think there’s something about a person who’s just so damned happy to see you that’s impossible to resist, you know?” he asked, his attention back on Lexi now. “But I can never tell who’s happier to see the other, Jack or Kara.”

  He would know exactly how that felt. Lexi was always damned happy to see him.

  Blindfolds or not.

  “You okay?”

  She swallowed and nodded. “Yeah. I, um…need to use the bathroom. I’ll, um, be right back.” She turned quickly and beelined it out of the gift shop. She didn’t need the bathroom. But she did need some space. She kept walking until the path veered off to the left. She stopped and just took some deep breaths.

  She thought about Caleb a lot already. Now she was living with him and they were spending the day together. There was just no escaping him. And even hanging out at the zoo showed her how awesome he was and made her want to be with him. All. The. Time.

  She groaned and looked around. The petting zoo. Great.

  “Baaa!”

  She looked at the sheep that had come over to the fence. “That’s how I feel about it,” she told him.

  Another sheep joined the one at the fence. “Baa!” she added.

  “You, too?”

  A baby sheep came over next. He just looked up at her.

  “I don’t have an answer,” she said. “I mean, hot sex is important, right?”

  “Baa!” This from the bigger sheep. Perhaps the mother telling Lexi not to talk about hot sex with her offspring.

  “Yeah, sorry.” She looked at the baby. “Sex isn’t the only thing that’s important.” But it’s very important, she added silently. “I could use some advice, if you’ve got any,” she told the mama sheep.

  The older sheep didn’t even have a baa for that. Lexi did need advice, though. She pulled her phone out and tapped Ashley’s name. Her friend answered a moment later. “Hey, girl.”

  “Hey, need to talk.” Lexi looked around. No one else was in the petting zoo at the moment, thankfully.

  “Sure, what’s up?”

  “So, um, how important is the handcuff sex? Say, on a scale from zero to ten.”

  7

  There was a long pause on Ashley’s end. She heard her friend say, “I’ll be right back,” to someone on her end, then to Lexi, she said, “Hang on. Let me go to the back room.”

  Ashley was getting her business degree but she was working part-time at a cell phone store. She pretty much ran the place and Lexi was almost always able to get a hold of her.

  She heard a door shut and then Ashley said, “What?”

  Lexi sighed. “I kissed Caleb last night.” She rubbed a hand over her forehead. “Wait, let me back up. He helped me up to bed and then he was trying to get me to take ibuprofen before I fell asleep and when he leaned in, I kissed him.”

  “Whoa,” Ashley said.

  “Yeah,” Lexi agreed. “And it…turned into more. It was a pretty heavy make-out session there for a while.” Her body heated as she remembered it. It seemed like a lot longer ago than last night.

  “Just a make-out session?” Ashley almost sounded disappointed.

  “He pulled back because I was drunk.” Lexi had to admit that had been the noble thing for him to do. “And because he knows that he can easily influence me.”

  Ashley laughed at the tone in Lexi’s voice. “Well, he can.”

  “Yeah.” There was no point in denying it. “But that kept him from acting on anything else. He says that he was wound up about everything last night and he really wanted to—”

  An older woman and two little boys joined her at the fence just then. The boys leaned over, holding their hands out. The sheep ate the food pellets from their palms. Lexi gave them a smile and moved several feet down the fence line where she could talk about having Caleb tie her up for sex without old women and little kids overhearing.

  She should probably feel bad about this.

  She didn’t
.

  Her sheep and goat friends came with her.

  “Baaa!”

  “Where the hell are you?” Ashley asked.

  “The zoo.”

  “Why?”

  “Caleb wanted to come.”

  “Baaa!”

  “I don’t have anything,” she told the animals. “You should stay down there with them.” She nodded at the little boys. The sheep didn’t care.

  “You’re at the zoo with Caleb?” Ashley asked.

  “And the kids,” Lexi said.

  “And you’re thinking about handcuffs and sex?”

  Lexi blew out a breath. “Yeah. It’s a problem.” She dropped her volume. “He said that he was wound up and wanted to make me need him.”

  “So, that’s good.”

  Yeah, it should have been. “But then he said that was why he pulled back. He didn’t want the sex to just be about proving he had influence over me or that he could boss me around. He said when it happens, it will be all about pleasure and taking care of me.”

  There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, and then Ashley breathed out and said, “Damn, that’s hot.”

  It really was. “And then he said I’m in charge of if and when it happens. I have to initiate it all.”

  Again, Ashley didn’t respond right away.

  “Ash? A little advice here, please?”

  “What advice do you need?” Ashley said. “Put the kids to bed tonight, take off your clothes, and tell him you want him to handcuff you to the bed and have his wicked way with you.”

  God, even hearing her friend say that made Lexi’s breathing speed up. “Yeah, but…I… don’t know if he’ll do it.”

  “Really?”

  “I…” She glanced around to be sure no one was nearby to overhear and lowered her voice even though she was now alone. “I want him to blindfold me and restrain me and stuff. I don’t know if he’ll do it. He’s pretty protective. He’s all about taking care of me. Do you really think he has it in him to…spank me?”