Page 87 of Sweet Home Louisiana

“The alligator wasn’t an actual problem.”

“You didn’t know that, though.”

She shook her head.“I would have.If I’d thought about it.If I’d actually taken a breath and truly thought it through.Like I did with everyone else.The business decisions and Sawyer’s situation were based on facts.The girl with Josh…” She paused and grinned.“That was a little more spontaneous, but it was pretty minor overall.And I did weigh options and decided to do those things.”She sobered and met his gaze directly.“With you—the typhoid, snapping at Ellie, all of that today was pure emotion.Adrenaline.My heart pumping.I reacted because I saw you there in potential danger and…Icouldn’tthink.I just did it.All I could focus on was you.”

Fuck yes.Owen curled his fingers into the edge of the desk.

That was what he’d wanted.They’d been out of control as teens and it had been fun and wild and a thrill.That’s how they’d thought love was supposed to be.

And it was.

In a way, anyway.Guns were a lot.Burning down sheds was a lot.But the emotion behind it?That was spot-on.Did he want a girl who would shoot a gator for him?Damn right.Especially when it was way out of her comfort zone to do so.

“When you were sixteen, you concentrated all of that protectiveness and love on me,” he said, his voice gruff.“And I loved it.Encouraged it.I liked being the center of your universe and the focus of all your emotions.But now…” He cleared his throat.“You’ve grown up.You have more self-control.But you still have all of that love and fierceness in you.You’re just spreading it around now.To all the people that matter.And that’s awesome.”

It was also why she couldn’t paint here, though.

He couldn’t avoid that thought.That realization.That’s what tore him up about it all.Seeing her willing to protect and defend the people she loved…the people they both loved…and seeing that bayou girl inside her coming out made him want her with an intensity he hadn’t even felt as a hormonal teenager.But now he knew that having that outlet for her emotions was taking away her drive to paint.He hadn’t even known she could draw, not to mention paint pieces that other people would buy and hang on their walls, and now he was faced with the truth that the things that made her happy were very different than they had been twelve years ago.

If she wasn’t fully happy about being that girl—if she didn’t like being tough and protective and would prefer to paint out all her feelings instead—he couldn’t be fully happy, either.

And that was the moment when he knew he was falling in love with her again.Because Maddie being happy was more important than Maddie being happy in Autre.

Or maybe he wasstillin love with her, but he’d finally grown up enough to realize what that really meant.Her happiness, whatever that looked like, was more important than what he wanted.

She swallowed hard.“It’s Autre.It’s in the air or something.I’m not like this in California.”

Yep, that’s exactly what he’d been afraid of.

Owen pushed up off the desk.“No.It’syou.It’s who you are.All that amazing passion inside of you…” He stuffed his hands in his pockets.“You just don’t let yourself get close enough to anyone in California to feel that way about them.Here…you can’t help it.We’re a part of you.”

That was going to make her turn around and storm out or—

Maddie took a huge step forward, grabbed the front of his T-shirt, and pulled him close.And kissed him.

She tipped her head immediately so that their mouths matched up fully, and she was the one to open first and lick along his lower lip.

Owen groaned, gripping her hips and bringing her up against him fully, happily returning every stroke of her tongue.Her little moan made sparks of need trip along his nerve endings and he neededmore.

He turned her and backed her up, then lifted her up to sit on the edge of the desk.Papers went fluttering to the floor, but neither of them paused for even an instant.

Her hands slipped under the bottom of his shirt and slid up over his abs to his chest, sucking his breath from his lungs.She’d run her hands over him like this on the boat, too.As if she needed to convince herself that he was real and fine.

Well, he wasveryfine right now.He slid his hands under the back of her shirt and glided up over her smooth, hot skin to her shoulder blades, pressing her close.

She was wearing a bra but he felt her nipples hard against his chest, and his cock ached feeling how much she wanted this.

Maddie’s fingers curled into his sides as if holding on and she wiggled her hips, pressing her fly against his.The pressure was relief and torture at the same time.They couldn’t do this.Not this time.Someone—or more than one someone—was going to come looking for them soon.At least one of whom was going to bepissed.

But he didn’t want to let her go.Not just right now, but…ever.

She’d been hot and fun and sexy as a teenager.She’d been more than happy to drop her panties on the floor of his truck.She’d thought he was amazing and she’d liked the crazy passion and the adrenaline rush between them.That had all been more than tempting.He’d been in love with all of that.

Now he was in love withher.The woman she’d become.The things she’d been through.The way she could still smile and laugh and had a sense of humor.Her protectiveness of the people he loved.The way she just took care of things that needed taken care of.The way she didn’t let Sawyer’s surliness keep her from seeing what he needed and the way she accepted Ellie’s gruff form of love and the way she saw how special Tori was without needing to know her well.The way she was trying to make the business better even knowing she was leaving it because it was good for all ofthem.

She’d grown up.They both had.All of the stuff he’d been attracted to twelve years ago—her smile, her quick wit, her spontaneity, the sense of mischief, and yeah, her legs and tits—were all still there.But it was all…more now.

Maddie was the only woman he’d ever wantedallof.Not just sex, not just a good time, not just a few nights of partying.He wanted to make her laugh and he definitely wanted to strip her bare and bury himself deep.But he also wanted her in his arms when she was scared or sad or angry.He wanted to protect her.He wanted to be the one talking her down when she was riled up.And yes, he wanted her to paint.If that was what she wanted and needed, that’s what he wanted and needed for her.If she needed to put all of this emotion inside a frame and put it up on a wall, someoneelse’swall, where she didn’t even have to see it again after she’d poured it out, then he’d have to be okay with that.Because he wanted to be with her.Where didn’t matter.He wanted to be the one thatknewher, better than anyone did, and yeah, he wanted her to protect him, too.Even when she didn’t really need to.

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