Page 21 of My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding

Hey, she was going home to Iowa in a few days.What was the worst that could happen?

Josh threwthe rope onto the boat, kicked the cooler out of the way, and stomped onto the deck behind the group of tourists who had just debarked the airboat.

“Thanks so much, Josh, we had such a great time.”Barbara, the forty-something who had brought her three kids and husband on the swamp boat tour, handed him a thirty-dollar tip.

He gave her a smile.“Hey, thanks, I appreciate it.Y’all were a lot of fun.”

They hadn’t been.The boys hadn’t shut up the entire time and their father kept insisting on answering their questions, incorrectly, before Josh could.But part of his income was tips, so if he had to push the charm out between gritted teeth, he would.He could definitely use the extra cash tonight.He could drink at his grandma’s bar for free, but he couldn’t get shit-faced drunk there without a ton of questions that he didn’t want to answer about his pissy mood andwhyhe was getting drunk.He’d have to buy his own liquor tonight.

“Thanks a lot, Josh.”Another of his tour attendees handed him forty bucks.

“You bet, Randy.Great to meet you guys.”He clapped the older businessman from Bismarck on the shoulder.

He collected tips and thanks from the rest of the group and smiled through it all.But the second the last person disappeared into the gift shop, Josh dropped his smile and headed back to get the boat ready for the next tour.

They had a busy day ahead and he was determined to just keep his head down and get through it.He could handle the tourists.They paid him.But he couldn’t deal with his partners today.His brother Sawyer owned thirty-five percent of the business with Josh and their cousin Owen each owning fifteen percent.The other thirty-five percent had been owned by Sawyer’s best childhood friend, Tommy.

Tommy had died about six months ago and his portion of the business was now, legally, his sister Madison’s.But Maddie lived in San Francisco and was a silent partner.They sent her cut of the profits regularly, but she didn’t give input into the business.

The guys got along great and everyone worked hard.Even more so since Tommy’s death.Losing him suddenly had brought them all even closer.Their business was thriving.But working together, and living in the tiny town where their families all also lived, made it hard to even sneeze without fifty-seven people blessing you.

Josh realized that sounded like anicething but, well…yeah, it was mostly a nice thing.But some days a guy just wanted to sneeze in peace.He did not want to get into what was making him a surly asshole today.And he would be a surly asshole if any of the guys got on his case about anything.

He threw new packages of raw chicken into the cooler as he tried not to think about last night.The gators were active today and he’d found four to feed for his last tour.He’d head down a little more east this next time and see who was swimming around down there.

He stored the cooler and made sure all of the life jackets and headphones were put away properly.Then he propped his hands on his hips and looked around.Shit.There wasn’t much more to do before the next tour.

Tori didn’t show up at Bourbon O last night.

He couldn’t fucking escape the thought.Even with the work.On the airboat, a lot of the time it was too damned loud to talk to anyone.So that left a lot of time in his own head.He couldn’t do any educating or “tour leading” until they got down into the areas where the cypress trees and old shacks and gators gave them the real bayou experience.Then people loved to hear the stories and facts and ask questions.And then he fired up the airboat again and it was too loud to hear a thing.Except his own thoughts.

Why didn’t she show up?Does she have a boyfriend?Is she okay?Did she just forget about him?But mostly…did she have a boyfriend?

He wanted her to be healthy, of course.He definitely didn’t want to think that she’d forgotten him.But holy shit, the idea that she had a boyfriend was the thing making him downright intolerable.Even for himself.

It had been ayear.She was gorgeous and smart and funny and sweet.He knew that of the three options—she’d forgotten, she was sick, or she was taken—taken was definitely the most likely.

He stomped up onto the dock.He’d hose the boat off.That wasn’t as good as breaking shit, which was really what he felt like doing, or getting drunk—also definitely a preference—but it was something.

Turning the faucet on full blast, he aimed the water at the deck of the boat, hosing off bits of mud and grass.

And still thinking.Dammit.

He’d known that the chances of her being there had been slim.Who met a person, spent six hours together talking, and then agreed to get back together ayearlater with no contact in between?

No normal person.

Sure, every other member of his family would do that.Butnormalpeople, like Tori Kramer, did not.Tori had beenverynormal.Clearly out of place on Bourbon.Clearly out of place at Mardi Gras.And it had drawn him like a fish to bait.She had so clearly been a tourist on her first trip to the Big Easy, like so many women he met every night, and yet…there had been something refreshing about her.She’d owned not fitting in.She’d been onto his I’m-charming-you-for-tips bit from the minute he’d opened his mouth.And yet, he hadn’t been charming her for tips.He’d immediately wanted to make her smile.He’d immediately wanted to be the thing she thought about when she went home and thought back on her trip to New Orleans.

He really hadn’t understood why at the time—or in the three-hundred-and-some days since then—but he’d wanted to make her laugh, kiss the hell out of her, and protect her.He’d really wanted to send her back to the farm untouched by the stupid-drunken-what-happens-in-NOLA-stays-in-NOLA experiences that most visitors took home with them.He’d wanted to go to her hotel room and taste every inch of her.But even more, he’d wanted to take her home and introduce her to his grandma.

That’s what had made him send her back to her hotel room alone.Twice.

He’d been waiting all his life to meet a girl who made him want to act like a crazy, romantic ass for her.It was Landry family legend that the men all eventually stumbled uponthegirl that made him willing to throw all pride and sense of self-preservation out the window.When he found her, he married her.

Josh had sent Tori back to Iowa without even having her phone number, not quite trusting the love-at-first-conversation thing that he’d felt happening, but trusting that if she was the one, she’d be back.On Mardi Gras.At Bourbon O.

And then…she hadn’t been.

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