Nice and Easy: Boys of the Big Easy book three

by Erin Nicholas

  He took a seat next to James, his best friend from Engine 29, and slapped his hand down on the bar. “I need a beer and Owen.”

  Josh, the bartender who helped Gabe and Logan now that they were family men, continued drying the glass in his hand. “Well, hey, Caleb. I’m great. Thanks for asking.”

  “Josh,” Caleb said with a sigh. “You look good. How’s the swamp?”

  Josh was a quarter owner in the Boys of the Bayou swamp boat tour and fishing company. Along with his brother, Sawyer, their friend Tommy, and their cousin, Owen. The guys from the tiny bayou town of Autre made regular trips to New Orleans and Trahan’s in particular.

  “Wet and profitable,” Josh said, grinning. “The usual.”

  “Wonderful. Lovely to hear,” Caleb said dryly.

  “Thanks. So how can I help you?” Josh asked.

  “I need to talk to Owen.”

  Josh frowned. “You were serious about that?”

  “Yep.”

  If there was anyone in Caleb’s group of guy friends who knew his way around handcuffs, sex toys, and spanking, it would be Owen.

  “Why do you need Owen?” James asked.

  “I…need some advice.”

  Josh coughed and James laughed. Then looked at Caleb and realized he was serious. “You need advice from Owen?” Josh asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Wow. I have to hear this,” James said.

  “Specifically, I need some advice on Lexi,” Caleb said.

  “Marry her,” James said.

  “Make her move out,” Josh said.

  Caleb sighed. “So Owen’s not here?”

  “Sorry, man,” Josh said, not looking all that sorry.

  “Who’s Lexi?”

  Caleb leaned in and peered at the man on the other side of James. He was a big guy and looked vaguely familiar.

  “Lexi is Caleb’s roommate and babysitter,” James said, lifting his beer.

  “She babysits Caleb?” the guy asked.

  James laughed. “Kind of. But no, she babysits Caleb’s niece, Shay.”

  “She’s not my babysitter,” Caleb said with a scowl. But he shifted on the barstool as images went through his mind. Him coming home after work, her studying on the couch with her glasses on, the kids fed and bathed and put to bed. Like a good babysitter would do…

  He coughed and focused as Josh said, “Lexi is hot, in love with him, and sleeping just down the hall.”

  In love with him? Caleb thought about that. Before when his friends teased about Lexi’s feelings, it had always seemed like a hero-worship-crush-type thing. Now though…it felt like more than that. She knew him. She was a part of his life. She was more sure of herself and what she was doing than he’d given her credit for. She might want to be submissive in sex, but she handled stuff. Life stuff. Kid stuff. ER stuff. He didn’t need to worry about her.

  But he still wanted to take care of her.

  Which meant giving her orgasms in whatever way she wanted them.

  He just needed to figure out what exactly that meant.

  “So what’s the problem? Sounds like you just need to move her into a new bedroom,” the big guy said.

  “Who are you?” Caleb asked. And maybe he needed objective input from a guy who didn’t know him or Lexi.

  “This is my brother, Sawyer,” Josh said.

  Ah, the infamous head of the Boys of the Bayou swamp boat tour company. Sawyer didn’t come up to New Orleans very often, so Caleb hadn’t met him before. But he’d heard about him.

  “Hey,” Caleb greeted. “Stella’s told me all about you,” he added with a chuckle.

  Gabe had just returned to the bar from delivering food to the dining room. He rolled his eyes at Caleb’s comment.

  Sawyer grinned at Gabe. “Yeah, that’s why I’m here. Working out the details of the dowry with Gabe.” He pulled a piece of notebook paper from his back pocket and spread it out on the top of the bar.

  I love your boats. I want to be an airboat captan. I think we should get marryed. Friends forever, Stella Ann Trahan.

  It was written in green crayon. And had an alligator drawn at the bottom.

  “Makes sense to me,” Josh said, nodding. “You’ve got that pretty girl from the Department of Wildlife wrapped around your finger and you already know where Big Mac hangs out. That would save Stella the time of figuring that all out for herself. And runnin’ us out of business.”

  Sawyer nodded. “All good points. And she’s bossy. She told Owen that he hadn’t done a good job hosing off the dock the other day. We could use someone like her.”

  “Hilarious,” Gabe told them all dryly. “Really.”

  Stella was Gabe’s seven-year-old daughter. While dating her mom, Gabe had won Stella over by taking her on a swamp boat tour with Sawyer. Now it was a regular thing. And Stella was enamored. More with the alligators than with Sawyer, but apparently she’d figured out a plan for getting her hands on one of those airboats.

  “Who’s Big Mac?” Caleb had to ask.

  “The biggest, oldest alligator in our part of the bayou,” Sawyer said with a grin. “We try to show him off since the tourists get a kick out of how huge he is. But he’s pretty lazy. We feed him too well.”

  “Did I hear you say something about needing advice about Lexi?” Gabe asked, interrupting talk of the bayou and his daughter as a swamp boat captain. “Because, I’m here for you. Clearly these jackasses don’t know anything.”

  Caleb wasn’t sure that was true if he needed advice about tying a woman up for sex. Josh was one of the most popular bartenders in the quarter and not because of his Pimm’s cups. And James had plenty of female company. Caleb didn’t know about Sawyer, and he wasn’t sure he wanted a lot of details about Gabe’s sex life since Caleb also knew his wife, Addison. Then again, Addison was a very happy woman.

  “Any of your girls read erotic romance?” Caleb asked the group.

  “Never get to the point of discussing reading habits,” Sawyer said, lifting his beer.

  Gabe shook his head. “Working mom of three? No, sorry. But she does know every word to If You Give a Mouse A Cookie. Guessing that’s not helpful?”

  Caleb lifted a brow. “Please, I know that one and If You Give A Pig A Pancake by heart,” he said.

  Gabe laughed. “I like If You Give A Moose A Muffin, personally.”

  Caleb looked at Josh. Of the group at the bar, Josh probably had the best chance of knowing something about fuzzy handcuffs. “How about you?”

  “I have no idea if the girls I hang out with can read anything other than a drink menu,” Josh said with a grin.

  Caleb blew out a breath. He wanted to read some of these books to see where Lexi’s ideas were coming from. He could surf the web, of course. Even if he’d never spanked a woman, he did know that the internet would have a plethora of, um, information. Some of which could be way off. He was, frankly, chicken to just Google “spanking and handcuffs.”

  “Yep.”

  Caleb focused on James. “Yep? What’s yep?”

  “I know a girl who reads erotic romance.”

  “You do?”

  “My neighbor.” James gave him a big grin.

  “Your neighbor?” Caleb asked. “You mean Professor Broussard?”

  Caleb had met James’s neighbor…and tenant, since James owned the building. They were the only two apartments on the top floor and they ran into each other a lot, it seemed. Harper Broussard was way too classy for Caleb’s buddy, which he suspected was part of James’s attraction.

  “I do mean Professor Broussard,” James said.

  “Who’s Professor Broussard?” Josh wanted to know, leaning in with eyebrows up.

  “The classy linguistics professor who’s about ten years older than James and shares the third floor,” Caleb said. “And who doesn’t think he’s funny and charming.”

  “Oh, she does,” James said. “She just doesn’t admit it.”

  “She hides it very well,” Caleb agreed.
<
br />   “An older woman, huh?” Josh asked. “Nice.”

  “She’s like four or five years older,” James said. “Not that much.”

  “I was talking in terms of maturity compared to you,” Caleb told him.

  “Oh,” James said. “In that case she’s more like twenty years older.”

  They all laughed and Sawyer asked, “How do you know she reads erotic romance?”

  “I saw the books on her table.”

  “When did you see her table?” Josh asked, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.

  “When I went over to take Ami to the park.”

  “Who’s Ami?” Sawyer asked.

  “The dog.” James grinned. “I call him Fred.”

  “Why do you call him Fred?” Sawyer asked.

  “Because it bugs her.”

  “But the dog’s name is Ami?” Josh asked.

  “Yeah. It means friend in French. But she doesn’t know I know French,” James explained.

  Josh looked confused. “But you do?”

  James lifted a shoulder. “Yeah, my grandmother speaks French about ninety percent of the time.”

  “And you don’t want the professor to know that you know French?” Gabe asked.

  “It’s fun to mess with her,” James said. “She swears in French. It’s adorable.”

  Caleb lifted an eyebrow. “You find her adorable?”

  “Very,” James said, without hesitation.

  “And she reads erotic romance—” Caleb started.

  But Sawyer butted in. “Why were you taking her dog to the park?”

  “He’s our dog,” James said.

  “Is he?” Caleb asked. “Or did she come over and take the dog away from you because she thought you couldn’t take care of it when you were working twenty-four hours at a time? And not all that capable of taking care of yourself?”

  James was a good-looking firefighter who lived in the French Quarter of New Orleans. He was surrounded by bars, music, and women. And he took advantage of all of it. He was also a jazz musician. A pianist, to be exact. He’d been playing since he was a kid, taught by the same grandmother who’d taught him French, and he spent a lot of his free time on Frenchman’s Street, one of the best jazz locales in the entire country. He was damned good, too. Caleb had caught a few shows and had been shocked, and impressed.

  James was definitely letting the good times roll.

  But putting him in charge of another living being on a long-term basis was probably not a great move. Clearly Dr. Harper Broussard agreed. She’d come over to get the dog from James within two days of him adopting the mutt that had been hanging around the fire station.

  “We set up a joint-custody thing,” James said. “I get him in the afternoons when I’m off and he sleeps at my place at least once a week.”

  Caleb shook his head. “Until the good professor finds out that you’re going through her stuff when you’re over there.”

  “The books were just sitting out on her coffee table. She didn’t care that I saw them. And it gave her the chance to give me a twenty-minute lecture on the difference between romance, erotic romance, and erotica.” James rolled his eyes. “But what she reads is erotic romance. Though if you want some erotica, she can probably point you in the right direction.”

  “Erotic romance. A few books. Just the basics.”

  “Okay, what’s the question?” James asked.

  “Lexi reads it. And wants to do…some stuff. I just want to know how this is all spelled out in the books.”

  “Some stuff?” Josh asked. “Do go on.”

  Caleb had known it would get around to this, of course, but he was now regretting asking the question. “She wants me to tie her up in bed. And spank her. And role-play. So—” He cleared his throat. “Thought I needed to see firsthand where these ideas are coming from.”

  “Why not ask her what she reads?” Sawyer asked.

  Okay, that was a good question. And Caleb had an answer. It just wasn’t a particularly noble answer. He loved just knowing the shit Lexi needed him to know.

  “I’ve got a rep here,” he said lightly. “She’s used to me knowing what I’m doing. You think I just naturally knew how to rewire a ceiling fan? I looked that up. Figure this can be the same.”

  “You don’t want to do this stuff?” Sawyer asked.

  “Sure. I mean, she wants it, so I’m game.”

  “But you’re afraid of doing it wrong,” James said.

  Caleb scowled at him. “No.”

  “Yes. You do everything right.”

  Not everything. Caleb couldn’t avoid the thought.

  Was he beating himself up over the situation with Shay? Yep. In the midst of the chaos Shay’s diagnosis had caused, moving Lexi and Jack in with him had felt like a solution to their situation, something he could influence and fix. He’d done something positive for one of the two girls who depended on him the most.

  And then he’d found out that Lexi still had needs that she wanted him to meet that he wasn’t.

  Both of his girls now needed stuff from him that was out of his wheelhouse and that, yes, he was afraid of not being able to fix.

  He’d tried to be proactive with Shay’s situation and had done as much reading about her injury as he could take. But he’d realized that he had to have a lot more information about her specific diagnosis before he went on. There was a huge variation in types of brain injuries and their consequences.

  So now he was going to focus on Lexi and meeting a need that he should be able to handle.

  Still, there were countless kinks out there and a spectrum of ways to explore and indulge each of them. He wanted to start learning about role-playing and the rest the same way Lexi had. That seemed the most logical approach.

  “I’m not always right,” Caleb answered James. “But I can do my damnedest to get as close as possible.”

  “Okay, I’ve got you.” James had his phone out on the bar and he’d already dialed.

  “James? What’s wrong?” a feminine voice answered.

  “Hey, Professor. Nothing’s wrong.” James was grinning at the phone even though it was not a video call.

  “Then why are you calling me?”

  “I have a question.”

  “Okay.” Now Harper sounded suspicious.

  “If a guy ties a girl up in bed—”

  “Oh my God, James. Does she have a safe word?”

  He frowned. “Who?”

  “The girl you’re tying up,” Harper said. “You’re sure she wanted you to do that? You have to talk about this stuff.” James opened his mouth to reply, but Harper was still going. There was a bang and a rustle on her end of the phone. “I’m coming over.”

  “You’d come over if I have a girl tied up in bed?” He looked stunned and amused at the same time.

  “Do I need to bring scissors?” Harper asked. There was another bang on her end that could have very well been the sound of a drawer slamming shut.

  “You think I tied her up and can’t get it undone?” James asked. He was clearly trying to be offended but he was grinning. He lifted his eyes to Caleb.

  Caleb had to admit this was…interesting.

  “Zut! I don’t know where my scissors are,” Harper said. “I have a knife. That will work. But tell her not to freak out when I come in.”

  “Not to freak out that you’re carrying a knife when you come storming into my apartment where she’s tied to the bed and can’t get undone?” James shook his head. “Wow, Professor. Take it down a notch.”

  “Open the door, James,” Harper said.

  “I’m not home.”

  “Where are you? I need to drive this knife over to you?”

  James looked around at the men surrounding him, all of whom were staring at the phone as if it was the most interesting thing they’d ever seen. “Put the knife down, Harper,” James said firmly. “I’m not home. I don’t have a woman tied up. I was asking…for a friend.”

  “Did she know it would be tw
o of you?” Harper said. “You really have to talk this stuff out ahead of time. Avocado makes a good safe word.”

  Now her voice sounded completely normal.

  James blew out a breath. “You aren’t standing outside my door, are you?”

  “No.”

  “You’re also not holding a knife, are you?”

  “I’m not even at my apartment,” she said. “But I’ll have you know that I know exactly where my scissors are.”

  His eyes narrowed, though a grin was teasing his mouth. “You think you’re pretty smart, don’t you?”

  “If you called to tell me that you had a woman tied up in your apartment and couldn’t get the knots undone, I’d call 9-1-1,” Harper said.

  “Because you couldn’t stand the thought of seeing another woman in my bed?” James asked.

  “Because all of your firefighter and cop buddies would show up and would torture you over it forever,” she said.

  The grin on his face broke free and he picked up the phone. “I’m taking this outside,” he told Caleb, Sawyer, Josh and Gabe.

  They watched him go.

  Josh gave a low whistle. “That woman might just be able to handle him.”

  Caleb laughed. “I’m guessing she’s too smart to even try.”

  Gabe moved down the bar to wait on a new arrival, and Josh pushed another beer at Sawyer.

  They sat drinking without talking for a few minutes.

  Then Sawyer said, “So, obviously, you’re crazy about this girl.”

  Caleb looked at him. Crazy about Lexi? Yeah, he was. He hadn’t really thought of it in those terms before. He was protective of her. He was attracted to her. He was impressed by her. But yeah, he was crazy about her. She made everything better. When she wasn’t with him, he didn’t feel right. And when she was with him…yeah, definitely crazy.

  “I am. She’s…special.”

  “So you need to be sure she sees you reading those books,” Sawyer said.

  “The romances?”

  “Yeah. I mean, she needs to know what you’re willing to do to make her happy.”

  Caleb thought about that. He shook his head. “I don’t know, I kind of like the idea of her thinking I just know what I’m doing.”

  Sawyer chuckled. “Yeah, but if you’re in love with her, you need to let her see the real you, right? The one who doesn’t always know what he’s doing.”