Page 40 of Beauty and the Bayou

“I told you five days ago.”

“I remember you telling me to do it.But I don’t remember saying yes.”

“You don’t have to say yes.You just have to do it.”Sawyer gave her a knock-it-off look.“That’s whatemployeesdo when theirbossestell them to do things.”

“You’re going to fire me if I don’t?”she asked.

She knew the answer to that.He couldn’t.Boys of the Bayou had been Leo’s before it had been Tommy’s and Sawyer’s, and part of the agreement they’d made with their grandfathers was to employ anyone in the family who wanted a job.Thankfully, that only meant Kennedy full-time and Mitch and Leo both part-time.They couldn’t have afforded a much bigger payroll, for one thing.For another, working with family was its own particular brand of hell.

Especially mouthy family with sassy attitudes.

Leo entertained the tourists from when he picked them up at their hotels in New Orleans until he let them out on the path that led down to the dock.He was often mentioned in the online reviews on the travel sites.Mitch mostly did the work because it was a great way to meet girls.Most importantly,touristgirls—i.e., the kind that didn’t stick around and get attached.

Kennedy was the only one who worked full-time besides Sawyer, Owen, and Josh.She was also the only one who got a regular, full paycheck.The owners took out of the profits and, obviously, the amount of those profits determined how much they each made.Kennedy, on the other hand, got the same amount each week.

“Worse,” he said.“I’ll tell Leo on you.”

Everyone knew that Kennedy had Leo wrapped around her little finger.Especially Kennedy.It had been that way for twenty-five years.As the only girl in a family of boys, and the youngest of his grandchildren, Kennedy had been Leo’s favorite from the second she was born.But he’d get on her when it came to the business.Boys of the Bayou meant a lot to him.Which was why he rarely had to get on Kennedy about it.She knew it mattered to him and she liked making him proud.

“Fine.I’ll send them,” she said to both Sawyer and Bennett.“They’ll be in the email with the subject lineYou’ll Never See Me In a Pencil Skirt.”

Sawyer couldn’t hear Bennett’s response, but he did note the tiny smile on his sister’s face.The tiny, not sarcastic, he-actually-kind-of-amuses-me smile.

He didnotneed to know that Kennedy and Baxter were flirting.He couldn’t fire Baxter, either.The other man owned seventeen-and-a-half percent of the business.There was no policy against employee fraternization in their handbook.Mostly because they didn’t have a handbook.But also because the guys who owned Boys of the Bayou and employed Kennedy were all related to her, or, in Tommy’s case, had been family-by-association and had thought of her as nothing more than an annoying little sister.They’d given each other a lot of shit.Maybe that’s what this was with Baxter.Maybe she was looking for a new place to direct her sassiness.

Or maybe she wanted in Baxter’s definitely-not-denim pants.

Sawyer shook that off.He didn’t want or need to know that.

Kennedy disconnected with Bennett with a, “Sorry, I can’t hear you.The cell reception down here in Hicksville is shit.I’m losing you… I…can’t…” She hit the END button on her cell.

Bennett Baxter did not think of Autre as Hicksville.That was Kennedy putting words in his mouth.He might be from Savannah, but he loved everything about their little town and the bayou.He’d been born into a wealthy family and golfed and went to horse races, but he was like a little kid down here and had romanticized everything about the bayou from the crawfish to the voodoo legends.But Kennedy refused to give the guy any slack.

“You know what I think?”Sawyer asked her.“I think you don’t send those reports to him until he calls because youwanthim to call so you can flirt with him.”

Kennedy gave him a bored look.“Of course I want him to call so I can flirt with him.”

Sawyer blinked at her.“You admit that?”

She lifted a shoulder.“He’s hot.And he’s got a great phone voice.And he flirts back really well.”

“I thought…” Sawyer frowned.“I thought you didn’t like him.”

“I don’t.”

“But, you’re flirting with him.”

She shook her head as if Sawyer was just too slow.“He’s hot.”

“You mentioned that.”

“And he’s got a great phone voice.”

“That, too.”

“But he’s not good for much else,” she said, almost regretfully.“What’s he gonna do?Fix my car?Build me a she-shed?Get rid of the bats that are living in Ellie’s attic?I don’t think so.”She shrugged.“So, I’m just enjoying what hecando for me.”

“Be a target for your sarcasm?”

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