Page 22 of My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding

And he was more pissed about that than he really wanted to admit.To anyone.And certainly to the family who would be floored…and would then insist he do something stupid like drive to Iowa to find her.

Which he was already considering.

“Josh!”

Fuck.He pretended that he didn’t hear Owen calling to him.

He was really not in the mood for Owen.Owen loved to push buttons and really didn’t worry about little things like pissing people off to the point that they took a swing at him.He could admit that he sometimes deserved getting popped in the mouth, but he also had really good reflexes, so it didn’t happen as often as it probably should.He was especially dedicated to making sure the people around him didn’t take things too seriously.Except work.Owen took their business seriously.

But that was convenient since their business was, after all, showing people a good time.The people who came to the Boys of the Bayou Swamp Boat and Fishing Tours were here to ride around on airboats and pontoons, drink, laugh, see a few things they didn’t get to see back home, and make some memories.

Owen especially loved the swamp boat tours full of bachelorette parties.Not because he loved women—which he did—but because he especially loved women who had no business on the bayou in their high-heeled sandals and spray tans.He loved to get them a little dirty.Literally.And wet…though when he saidthathe added, “in all ways a pretty girl can get wet.”

It was hard to be in a bad mood around Owen.Unless he was flirting with a girl you were interested in, because Owen had a bad-boy air about him that seemed to always trump Josh’s good-guy vibe.

But today, Josh really thought he could be in a bad mood around Owen.

Victoria Kramer had stood him up last night.

His reaction to that fact told him everything he needed to know about how he felt about her.He’d had no intention of sending her back to Iowa untouched this time.Hell, he wasn’t so sure he’d had any intention on sending her back to Iowa at all.

Maybe it was better she hadn’t shown up.Was he ready to get married?Because he wasn’t really able to envision any other way for Victoria Kramer’s second trip to Louisiana to end.

“Josh!”That was Kennedy’s voice.

Josh finally sighed and turned.If Kennedy was out here, it was about business.One of the tours had gotten messed up or something.Kennedy was his little sister and she handled all the bookings and scheduling.She’d grown up around the muddy waters of the bayou, but she wasnotan outdoorsy girl.She resented every time she had to come out on the docks.

Which meant she’d probably tried to text or call him.Well, he’d had his phone turned off.Because he wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone.

But when he turned, he realized that was one luxury he was never going to get.Not in Autre.Not with his family.Not only were Owen and Kennedy approaching, but Sawyer was with them as well.What the hell?

Josh reached up and turned his cap backward on his head and took his sunglasses off.“What’s going on?”he asked as they got close.

“There’s a girl here for you,” Kennedy said.She was frowning, but it looked more concerned than annoyed.That was unusual.To say the least.Sawyer, Owen, and Josh had been annoying Kennedy for about twenty-four years now.He wasn’t even sure what it would take to make her concerned about any of them.

“A girl?”he asked.

“Yeah.”Kennedy looked a little pained.“She was booked on the next airboat tour with Owen but she came rushing in, giving me some story about how she’d just been trying to get here no matter what and she’d booked the tour because our bus picks up at the hotels.”Kennedy rolled her eyes.“Apparently Uber seems sketchy to her, and the idea of taking a taxi by herself seemed unsafe and she didn’t have another way to get down here.”

“A girl booked one of our tours just so she could get a ride down here?”Josh asked.

Their grandpa, Leo, and their cousin, Mitch, drove the buses that went around to the hotels in New Orleans to pick up tourists and bring them to Autre for the tours.They also directed them to Ellie’s bar across the street for a pre or post tour cocktail.They both also delighted in using the time to play good old, downhome, Cajun music over the stereo system and to tell the tourists all kinds of crazy facts about living in Louisiana.Like that there is a five-hundred-dollar fine if you have a pizza delivered to someone without them knowing about it and all about the haunted Manchac Swamp Bridge.

“I guess,” Kennedy said.“And now she’s insisting she needs to talk to you.She’s been sitting on the dock waiting for you.Doesn’t want the tour with Owen.”She was clearly put out by this girl.

“I even went in and introduced myself,” Owen said.“She said no thanks.”

Josh had to laugh at the look of disbelief on Owen’s face over that fact.“Really?She’d rather wait for me than get on a boat with you?I gotta meet this girl.”Josh suddenly felt a little better about things.Tori hadn’t shown up, but some girl had booked a tour just so she could get to Autre.For him.And she’d been unimpressed by Owen.Yeah, he definitely wanted to meet her.

“Hold on there,” Sawyer said.“We’re…concerned.”

Okay, Owen thought this was funny and Kennedy was probably torn between amused and worried.But very little amused Sawyer these days, so he was obviously firmly in the concerned camp.

“A girl choosing me over Owen isn’t cause forconcern,” Josh said.“I mean, come on.”

“Not that.She seems a little…off,” Kennedy said.

“Off?”Josh asked.

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