Page 34 of My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding

“Doesn’t matter.”Kennedy stepped between them.“You’ve got a tour too,” she told Owen.“A bachelor party.”She gave him an evil grin.

Owen groaned.“That’s the fourth one in a row.Why are you givin’methe bachelor parties?”

“Because you need to have your hands full to keep you out of trouble.And because the lastbacheloretteparty I gave you came back in wet T-shirts.”

“There were other parts of them wet too,” Owen said with a grin and another wiggle of his eyebrows.

His grandmother elbowed him again but she smiled at Kennedy.“But those girls ended up buying four new T-shirts from us, and not one of them complained, so he did a good job.”

Kennedy nodded.“I’m not keeping him away from bachelorette parties because they don’t like him.”

“Exactly.They love him.”Ellie was clearly as proud of and as willing to brag on Owen as she was Josh.

Kennedy gave her cousin a small smile.“I’m doing it because I like picturing Owen trying to rein in a bunch of drunk frat guys who act a lot likehedoes on any given Saturday night, and hosing off the boats when they all get sick from bumping over the bayou in the hot sun.”

“You’re a wicked woman, Kennedy Landry,” Owen said.

“Thank you.”Then she turned to Tori.“So I guessIwill be taking care of the new girl.”

“Uh, no,” Josh said.“I’d like to keep her in one piece and thinking I’m amazing.At least for a little while.”He looked down at Tori.“Don’t believe anything Kennedy says about me.”

“There are a lot of ‘don’ts’ around here,” Tori said, completely amused.

“There really are,” Josh agreed.“I can write all the rules down if you need me to.”

“Or you can summarize it by saying, ‘fifty percent of the people around here are full of bullshit, and the other fifty percent are cuckoo.You just have to figure out which half is which,’” Sawyer said.

Josh nodded.“Yeah.That.”He turned to Tori.“Remember when I told you not to trust anyone with a N’Awlins drawl or a bayou drawl?”

“Yep.”

“That goes double down here.Guysandgirls.”

She did laugh now.These people were…yeah, a little crazy.Or something.But they seemed sohappy.So accepting.So comfortable with one another.Clearly they could do or say whatever they felt and were thinking at any moment.The things they’d said might be nuts, sure, but their love for one another and how much they enjoyed each other was obvious.She felt a little warm just being around them.

“Tour boats,” Kennedy said, snapping her fingers and pointing at Josh, Owen, and Sawyer.“Now.”

“See ya around, Tori,” Owen said, giving her a wink.He started around the building to where the boats were docked.

Sawyer followed him, but turned back and said to Tori, “Stay away from Ellie’s rum punch if you want to remember the rest of today.And that’s not crazyorbullshit.”

He gave her a grin that actually startled her.He didn’t seem much like the grinning type.And yes, that scar was kind of hot.

“How do I know that for sure?”she asked.

He chuckled, the sound low and rumbly.“Good girl.”Then he disappeared around the corner of the building.

Josh was the last of the guys to go.And even though the rest of his family was still standing there, he moved in close to her and slid a hand to the back of her neck.“Stick with the sweet tea and crawfish pie over there,” he told her, “and you’ll be fine.”

With him this close, she felt heat slide through her in spite of their audience.“Didn’t you tell me last year that the crawfish pie and sweet tea would make me forget all about Iowa?”

He gave her a slow grin that was sexy as hell—and mischievous.“Yep.You’ll never want to leave.”

She mostly forgot, or maybe stopped caring about, their onlookers.She rose on tiptoe and put her lips against his.

He took over in point four seconds.His fingers curled into her neck and he opened his mouth.The kiss was all-consuming and he clearly didn’t give a crap about who was watching.

He didn’t let her go for nearly two minutes.When he did, her heels thunked back down against the wooden slats of the dock, and she stood staring up at him.

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