Page 108 of Beauty and the Bayou

“To the dock.We have to check on the cage for Gus,” she said, hitting the wood and hurrying around the corner.“If he’s in there, he could be in trouble.”

“Fuck.”

Juliet headed for the railing where Sawyer had found her that first morning.She was sure he realized it, too, especially as she got down on her stomach to peer over the edge.The bank where Gus lived and played for the tourists was right below where she’d nearly fallen that first day.The cage was right about where she’d dropped her phone.

“Oh, crap,” she said quietly.

Sure enough, there was a frantic river otter inside the cage below the dock.

“Fuck.”

She looked over at Sawyer who was lying beside her.

“We have to get him.”

Sawyer nodded.

“You have to lower me down there.”

He didn’t seem surprised by her suggestion.But he shook his head.“No way.”

“Yes.It’s the fastest way, Sawyer.”

“But what if—”

She covered his mouth with her hand quickly.“We don’t have time for that.Yes, there are things that could go wrong.But if they do, we’ll deal with them.”

His gaze burned into hers for a moment, but finally he nodded.

She moved her hand and leaned in to kiss him quickly.“I love you, Sawyer.”

He cupped the back of her head and pulled her in for a longer kiss.“I love you, too,” he said, when he let her go.“And I’m the one going down there.”

Juliet got to her feet.“Don’t be stupid.You’re too heavy for me to pull back up and the dock is too high for you to pull yourself up.You can lower me down and pull me back up easily.”

He got to his feet, too.“You’ve had a big day already.”

“Yeah.”

“You up for more?”

“Doesn’t matter.This has to happen.”

He shook his head, but it was as if in wonder rather than to negate what she’d said.“You think you don’t belong here?You dig deep when you need to and you don’t let a little dirty water set you back.That’s the bayou way.”

Juliet gave him a smile.“Well, then, I guess I was wrong.”

Emotion flickered in his eyes.“I’m not letting you go.”

“I really hope you mean when you’re lowering me over the side of this dockandforever after.”

He chuckled.“I mean all of it.”

“Okay.Then let’s do this.”

It wasn’t graceful and Juliet definitely needed another shower afterward, but they managed to rescue Gus and get him up to Tori.

The second shower was a lot more fun than the first, though, because it was in Sawyer’s shower.With Sawyer.He was a very good…soaper.

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