Page 111 of My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding

“It’s okay that’s nothing’s wrong with her,” Tori said.

“I can get you some peacocks,” he said.“But I’m not sure there’s anything really wrong with them either.”

She laughed.“That’s okay too.”Her eyes twinkled a bit.“I would love some peacocks though.That’s really cool.”

“You don’t need crazy animals?I mean, we can move yours down here.”Of course they’d move hers down here.

She nodded.“Okay, but—” She lifted her shoulder.“Maybe it’s time for me to try taking care of some crazypeople.”

Love, lust, and a happiness he never imagined washed through him.Letting people in.Being crazyaboutthem and risking that it wouldn’t always be reciprocated.Thatwas a grand gesture from Tori.

Of course, itwouldbe reciprocated.She’d have so much love she wouldn’t know what to do.But being willing to take that risk was exactly what they both needed.

They kissed, long and sweet, but couldn’t press too close together because of the kitten.Josh lifted his head, grinning.He desperately needed to press close to her.Very, very close.He took the kitten from her and moved to open the door.As expected, Kennedy, Owen, Sawyer, Ellie, Cora, Jerry, and Leo were outside, leaning on the railing, waiting.

He handed the cat to his sister, gave them a grin, and then shut the door again, locking it.He turned back to Tori, ignoring Kennedy’s, “Dammit, Josh!”

“Now about the Mardi Gras beads and naked breasts I heard about…”

“Well, it’s not really Mardi Gras anymore,” Tori teased, even as she pulled one of the strands of beads from her pocket and tossed it to him.

“Oh, darlin’.”He stripped off his shirt, flashing her in exchange for the beads.Then he tossed them back to her.“For us, every day is Mardi Gras from here on out.”

Epilogue

Three months later…

“Andrew called.”

Josh rolled his eyes.“Don’t care.”

Tori gave him a grin and handed him Chuck, the kitten that he’d brought in to have her check over.“Chuck is perfectly healthy.”

“Awesome.”Josh lifted the little cat and looked him in the eye.“Welcome to the family, bud.”

It was the third cat he’d brought home in two months, including Bernie, the kitten from the plantation, and Jax, the ten-year-old cat he’d found in the shed at the back of their new property.The farm had come with several outbuildings and they were still going through them all and finding all kinds of treasures—and junk.The cat had clearly been living out there for some time, but he’d taken to being in the house—and on Josh’s lap—quickly.

Josh and his new cat obsession was potentially going to be a problem.

But for now, Tori just grinned as she cleaned up the exam table.

“He said that he doesn’t think he and Paisley are going to get back together,” she said.

“Still don’t care.”Josh gave her a frown.“And no, he can’t come to the crawfish boil on Friday.”

The last time Andrew had come down, he’d drunk three mason jars full of moonshine and passed out in the Boys of the Bayou office.He’d slept through the first four tour groups of the next morning.Right there in the middle of the floor with tourists stepping over and around him.

“Oh, come on,” Tori teased.“You know you have nothing to worry about.”

Josh scoffed.“I’m not worried.I know exactly where your sweet ass is going to be every night.I just don’t like him.”

Tori loved when he said stuff like that.And yeah, there was no question where her ass, and the rest of her, was going to be.Right here.In Autre, Louisiana.With Josh Landry.She’d only been here for three months and she already felt like she was home.

She took Josh’s hand and they headed for the house.She already had a veterinary practice built up.That amazed her.But the nearest vet prior to her arrival had been thirty minutes away.And well, she was a Landry—kind of—and that meant that everyone in and around Autre trusted her implicitly.

They put Chuck in the house with Jax and Bernie and then headed into town and to the tour office.Which really only required them walking out their front door, turning left, and walking a few blocks.Their farm was on the edge of town with their property stretching back behind the house nearly to the county line, but their front yard was on the last street of Autre.

Josh had two tours later on, and Tori was going to stop by a couple of houses to check on patients.But first, Sawyer had wanted to meet with everyone.

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