Page 11 of Beauty and the Bayou

He sighed.Dammit.He might be screwed here.

Screwed.There was another building term that could also be sexual.

2

Sawyer Landry.

She’d read about him in the brochure and online, but no one had mentioned that Sawyer was still, currently, an active part of the business.

Juliet tried to keep up with his long strides as he headed up the ramp that led off the dock and onto the paved path outside Boys of the Bayou.But between her short legs, the hip waders, and the fact that she just didn’t do long and hurried very well, she was several feet behind him before he noticed and stopped.

Though the view from behind Sawyer Landry was nothing to be upset about.

The man was big.As in tall and broad and with big muscles.Really big muscles.Like oh-my-god-I-want-to-squeeze-those biceps.That had actually been her first thought when she’d seen the soft green cotton of his Boys of the Bayou T-shirt wrapped lovingly around those upper arms.She wanted to squeeze them.Feel them bunching.The way they would if he were to lift her up and—

“You comin’ or what?”

She blinked and jerked her thoughts away from Sawyer Landry’s wet-panty-inducing biceps.There was the rest of him to think about, too, after all—the shoulders, the ass, the scar.A little shiver went through her.That scar was hot.It made his otherwise if-I-was-a-model-for-hip-waders-everyone-would-own-them face and body a little less perfect.More touchable.Rugged and wounded.Those were the words that came to mind when she paired that scar with the broody look in his eyes.She wanted to know everything about that scar.She wanted to trace it with her finger, then her lips.She wanted to find out if he only smiled with half of his mouth because he was always only mildly amused, the way he’d seemed on the dock with her, or if it was because there was some nerve damage under that scar.

She stopped in front of him on the path where he was waiting for her.“These are my bayou-wading boots, not my running boots,” she told him.

He looked down at the hip waders, his gaze lingering on her upper thighs.

Ooh, tingles.She liked those.

“I can’t believe you’re wearing hip waders,” he said, almost to himself.

Juliet put a hand on her hip.“I was coming down to the bayou.I don’t know much about how things work down here, but I understood water and mud.”She lifted a foot, turning it back and forth as she studied the boot.“Regular boots didn’t seem like enough.So, I went to the local sporting goods and hunting supply store, told them what I’d be doing, and this is what they recommended.”

Sawyer nodded at her.“Good thinking.”

For some reason that surprised her.He didn’t seem like the type who gave a lot of compliments.She already had the impression that he liked things a certain way—his way.And that he expected most people to fall short.Surely a girl showing up out of the blue—apparently Josh, Owen, Maddie, and Bennett hadn’t only neglected to tellheraboutSawyer—without a clue as to how to build a dock but insisting that she teach her brother a lesson, could be a tad irritating.

But shereallyneeded to teach her brother a lesson.

Chase wasn’t a bad guy.He’d just had a really easy life and hadn’t needed to make a lot of hard decisions or take responsibility for much.Their father was wealthy and connected, their older brothers Ryan and Rhett were all about success and power and had no qualms about using their father’s influence to get ahead.They were four and six years older than Juliet and until she’d turned ten, they’d been okay big brothers.But after her hospitalization, things had changed.At fourteen and sixteen they hadn’t had the patience to deal with her and her new limitations and they’d given up quickly, leaving her behind more often than not.Chase had been younger by three years and, being the baby brother, had already been left behind by the older two a lot.He could keep up with Juliet and so they’d grown closer.Now, though, since he’d been at college and in their older brothers’ fraternity, he was showing signs of being infected with the Dawson family asshole-itis.

She was going to do whatever she could to put a stop to that.

Owen and Josh Landry had seemed like the perfect hardworking, blue-collar, fun-loving, responsible, andniceguys to be a good influence on Chase.

Yeah, she really did think that Chase needed some dirt under his nails and a few blisters.

Now, looking up at Sawyer, she wondered what he’d think of Chase and if Sawyer would give him a chance.What she knew about building a boat dock had come from Brandon and a few YouTube videos.

Chase knew even less than she did.

“You think me getting hip waders was good thinking?”she asked.

“I like a girl—aperson—” he corrected, “who does their homework and prepares,” he said.

Then you’re gonna love me.Thankfully, she didn’t say that out loud, but if homework and preparation got him going, he was going to beintoher.Not that she’d want that.Not that she’d expect that.Not that it was even worth thinking about.She was here for two weeks to build a dock—but mostly to make her little brother work hard for a change and hang out with some good guys rather than his spoiled rotten, idiotic, frat brothers—and there was no reason to get caught up in some guy.

But yeah, if Sawyer liked preparation, he was going to go gaga over her accordion files.

She’d learned over the years that she’d rather beoverprepared than surprised, or worse, embarrassed.Shit happened, and she’d found that expecting that and having a plan for when it did, served her well.

“Well, I can assure you that, if nothing else, I have a plan,” she told Sawyer.

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