Page 12 of Beauty and the Bayou

He studied her for a moment.Then he said, “I guess a girl doesn’t show up with safety goggles on a whim, huh?”

Juliet felt her mouth tug up on the left in a little smile.“That’s a pretty good assumption.”

He let out a breath that seemed resigned.“Cora better have sausage gravy this mornin’,” he said.

“Sausage gravy will make it all okay?”

“Well, sausage gravy never made anythingworse.”

She was going to have to take his word for that.

Sawyer turned and started across the road toward the rickety-looking building.

“Um…where are we going?”

“Oh, the rundown shed has you worried?”he asked.

“Maybe a little.”

He gave a soft chuckle.It was a low, rumbly sound that made her shiver again.But it was a warm shiver.

“Well, you can stay down here while I go talk to them,” he said.“Just watch out for the snakes.”

Juliet picked up her pace.She couldn’t do much.She didn’t walk quickly to start with and when she tried, she was at risk for dragging her right foot and catching her toe.The heavy boots made it even worse.But until she could look up more about the snakes in this part of Louisiana, she was just going to avoid them.And keep these cover-almost-everything boots on.“That’s okay.I think I’ll risk my luck in the shed.”

“Okay, but you should know that sheds and garages and outhouses and stuff are the perfect spots for black widows.”

He sounded amused, but Juliet’s shiver was definitely cold this time.She definitely knew that black widows were spiders.

“What is wrong with you?”she asked him.“Trying to make it so I won’t sleep at all while I’m here?Between the alligators and the snakes and the spiders, what the hell are you all doing down here?”

He actually outright laughed at that, and for a second Juliet thought she’d risk a few spider bites to hear more of that.They surely had antivenom in the hospitals around here, right?She’d look that up, too.

“I guess we don’t know any better,” Sawyer said.He stopped in front of the door to the shack.He looked down at her.“I should say that I’m sorry for scaring you, but…” He lifted a shoulder.“I’m not.I’d rather someone be scared and think I’m an asshole butnothave a black widow bite than think I’m a nice guy and end up in the ER.”

She met his gaze.“For what it’s worth, I’d think you weremoreof an asshole if youdidn’twarn me about spider bites.”

For a second, a little warmth flickered in his eyes.Then he said, “We’re gonna get along just fine then.I can scare the hell out of you about hangin’ out down here and I won’t even have to exaggerate.”

“Um, yeah, the whole scenario with me strangling with the rope I would use to tie myself to the dock?Not something I would have even thought of and I’m aproat the What-If game and Yeah, But game.You’re good.”

“The Yeah, But game?”he asked.

“For instance, someone says, ‘I’ll be sure to put my seat belt on in the car’ and I say, ‘Yeah, butif your car ends up in the river and is going under, you would wish youdidn’thave it on.’”

His eyes widened.“Wow.”

She nodded.“That’s what I’m saying.You might have met your worst-case-scenario match, Sawyer Landry.”

Again, that little spark of warmth flickered in his gaze.“Maybe we’ll have to make that into a drinking game or something.”

She grinned.“Hey, maybe.Though I’m a lightweight.”

Sawyer’s gaze ran over her body again.“Do you get more morbid or less when you’re tipsy?”

“Oh, more.For sure.”Yes, she tended toward the macabre, but she could keep it under control, for the most part.Liquor changed that.

He nodded as if that was the right answer and gave another almost-smile.

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