Page 57 of Sweet Home Louisiana

Maddie smiled.She knew the guys and Kennedy weren’t enthusiastic about the idea of bringing Bennett on, but they could really use him.He not only had money to invest and resources that could help them at times, but he was a very successful businessman.She was certain he’d never taken an engine apart or handled a snapping turtle with his bare hands, but he could still be a great addition to their team.

“Thanks, Bennett.We’ll talk soon.”They were scheduled to meet on the Tuesday before she returned to San Francisco.

She ignored the pang in her chest when she thought about the plane ticket she had tucked into her daily planner.

“Looking forward to it,” Bennett told her.“Take care.”

They disconnected and Maddie blew out a breath, thinking about the call.

She would never have lied to a customer—twice—at the art gallery.

The art gallery doesn’t matter as much to you as this business does.

She acknowledged that truth.She had no personal stake in the art gallery.She liked working there, but she didn’t feelinvestedin it.She was invested in her own art, of course, but if people came through the door of the gallery and didn’t buy, she didn’t take it personally.If there was ever a bad review of the gallery online—which would never happen since their customers weren’t really the online-review-site type of people—she wouldn’t care.Art was subjective.What one person loved, another might hate.That was fine and nothing to get upset about.

But someone not liking a swamp boat tour?

Yeah, she cared about that.

Even though she would have scoffed at that idea three weeks ago.

She wanted people to have a good time down here.She wanted them to think the guys were hilarious and fun.And if they thought they were sexy, too, that was fine.Kind of.She wanted to hear the little kids piling off the boats, gushing about how fast the boat went and seeing the turtles and gators, and running into the gift shop to buy books about the swamp and the animals that lived here.Not just for the money that generated, but because that was what travel and adventures were all about—learning and seeing and experiencing new things that opened minds to parts of the world that were different from what people were used to.

Maddie felt her heart flip at that.

Damn, she was getting invested here.Not monetarily, but emotionally.And not just with the Landry family and her grandmother and all the people of Autre as she’d feared—and expected—but with the business and what it did beyond making money.

It wasn’t just the kids, either.She loved watching everyone disembark, with huge smiles, their hair tousled by the wind, having just had a unique experience, no matter who they were or where they were from.

The Louisiana bayou was unlike anywhere else and the history and culture in the area was, too.She understood why the guys liked to show it off.She really did.

And that was going to be a problem.

She’d intentionally tried not to get attached.She’d thought it would be the people who would present the biggest problem.The people she already knew.And loved.

And she’d been right.They were a problem.

But she hadn’t been expecting the business itself to matter, and she definitely hadn’t foreseen starting to care about their customers.

They didn’t have a lot of repeat business.That was how tourism worked.People came for a visit, you showed them around, and they went home.Yet, even though they were new every time, Maddie cared that people had a good time here.Sure, she also wanted them to keep their hands off the actual boys of the bayou, but she was starting to understand that the guys were kind of playing a part.The hot, happy, fun-loving Cajuns who worked with their hands and got dirty on the bayou…and loved it.It wasn’t a big stretch of course.Which made it all the more appealing.They were actually the guys people saw when they took the tours or went out fishing with them.Maybe with the charm and flirtation and I-once-wrestled-a-gator-like-that-one turned up a notch.

She knew it all drew the male tourists in, too, actually.Even if it was subconscious.Josh, Owen, and Sawyer were the types of guys that women were attracted to, but that men liked, too.They were the guys men wanted to grab a beer with.They wanted to hear their crazy stories—ninety percent of which were true.They wanted to belikethe bayou boys a little even.The tough, pure male, alpha types.

So she probably needed to stop lying to the women about typhoid and brown stains on their shorts just to keep them away.

Maddie blew out a breath and headed back into the office.She needed to redesign their brochure, help Kennedy process about twelve tours today, and somehow stop thinking about how it would all work if she actually stayed in Autre.Because that was ridiculous.

Unbelievable.

Two nights later, Maddie stared at the blank canvas in front of her.

Blank.

Still.

Again.

What the hell was happening?

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