Page 13 of Beauty and the Bayou

He took his hand off the door handle for a moment, seeming to be pondering something.Not going in?Not confronting his family and partners?

“You do wear your seat belt, though, right?”he asked.

“Of course.Unless I’m driving near water.”

He opened his mouth to reply, but she cut in.“Just kidding.I wear my seat belt and always carry a multi-tool.”

Sawyer seemed surprised, but she was certain he knew what a multi-tool was.A guy who lived and worked on the bayou, fishing, hunting, and boating for a living, probably had one of the handy metal tools that included everything from a knife to a can opener to scissors in one of his pockets at all times.

“What if you can’t reach your purse when you’re in the car and it’s goin’ under?”he asked.

Thewhat-iffrom him made her smile.“I don’t keep it in my purse when I’m driving.”

“What if you can’t reach your pocket?”

“I don’t keep it in my pocket, either.”

“Okay, where do you keep it?”

“In the front of my bra.”

His eyes, predictably, dropped to her breasts—okay, in fairness, to the front of her bra that she’d just mentioned—then came back to hers.“Oh?Think you can always reach that?”

“I think I could shimmy it up to my mouth and then drop it to a hand if I couldn’t move my hands for some reason.”

His gaze went back to her chest and she knew he was trying to imagine that.

Yes, she’d practiced it.It took a lot of shimmying and some hunching and great neck range of motion, not to mention a certain bra, but it was doable.

“I don’t have it in there right now, if you’re wondering,” she said, after a few seconds of him studying her breasts.

“Oh, I was definitely wonderin’,” he said, his drawl a little lower and longer.

She wondered what else he’d been wondering about.“I’m not driving right now,” she said, as an explanation.

“You had it in there on your way down here?”

“There’s a lot of water around here.”

He just nodded, seemingly accepting that explanation.“Right.”

“I know that seems like I’m a huge worrier.”

“Just seems prepared to me.”

She gave him a big smile.“Thank you.”

Then he blew out a breath and grabbed the door again.

“Well, as prepared as you seem to be for bein’ down here, I don’t think you could really be ready for what’s about to happen.”

Juliet felt her eyes widen.“What’s about to happen?”

“You’re about to meet my family.”

She relaxed a little.“Oh, I’ve met them, remember?”

He gave a short laugh.“Uh, no.Not even close.”

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