Page 15 of Beauty and the Bayou

She nodded again.They didn’t need to know everything was only about two days old.Truth was, she probably should have owned a hard hat a long time ago.

The man shook his head slow and gave a low whistle.“Wow.”Leo looked at Sawyer.“Don’t think I could have described your perfect woman until I saw Juliet here.”

Juliet’s eyes widened.“Oh, no.I’m here to—”

“We know why you’re here, honey,” the older woman behind the bar cut in.“Let’s just say the life jacket is kind of a cherry on top.”

Juliet opened her mouth to reply but Sawyer sighed.

“I’m sincerely offended that you all thought it would be this easy,” he said to the room at large.

No one replied, but there were several looks exchanged.

“What would be this easy?”Juliet asked him softly.

He looked down at her.“Distracting me.”

Juliet lifted a brow.“Distracting you?From what?With what?”

“From being on their cases.And with you,” he said.

His voice was lower and a little husky suddenly, and she felt another shiver dance down her spine.After a long moment, he lifted his head and looked around.

“I’m kind of a hard-ass and I worry too much and I harass them—according to everyone here anyway.If I toldthemabout the potential to accidentally hang themselves with a rope off the edge of the dock, they would just roll their eyes.”

Juliet looked around, too.“But that’s a pretty serious risk.”

“The chances are about a million to one.Maybe more,” Sawyer said, looking at her again.

“Still, there’s achance.”

He gave her a smile thatalmosttugged that other corner of his mouth up.“Exactly.”He glanced at the group again.“But they don’t see it that way, so they recognized the perfect opportunity to get my attention on the new girl traipsing around my boat dock with an electric saw she doesn’t even know how to use.”

Juliet opened her mouth to protest but the truth was, she didhavean electric saw and she did not have any idea how to use it.It was still in the box.

“I’m sure they’re imagining me following you around and giving you detailed instructions with drawings on a white board and begging you to wear safety goggles.”

She narrowed her eyes.“You carry a white board around?”

“I would if I thought it would make someone listen.”

“I have no intention ofnotlistening,” Juliet said.“But I don’t need white board drawings and I already have safety goggles.”

“Exactly,” he said.Like before.

Then he gave her another very pleased look, but this time with a nearly full smile, and for a second Juliet found herself staring at his mouth.Damn.

“They knowmevery well,” he said.“But they didn’t plan onyou.”

He seemed almost triumphant.Like maybe he’d won a round with his siblings and partners.

She wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but she liked that he was smiling about it.

“So how muchdoyou know about building a boat dock?”

“On a scale of one to ten?”she asked.

“Sure.”

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