Page 68 of Beauty and the Bayou

“No,” she groaned.

Sawyer sighed.“Fuck.”

Juliet dropped her chin to her chest and Sawyer let her hair go.“That damned bat.”Then she looked up at him.“I’m sorry.”

He lifted a brow.“What the hell for?”

“If I hadn’t put that netting up—” She frowned, frustrated.“If I hadn’t worried about—”

Sawyer bent and covered her mouth, kissing her for a long moment.It was sweet and made her ache with wanting.It was a strange desire though.It was heat and need, for sure, but there was also an ache in her chest like she’d never felt before.

When he lifted his head, he said, “It’s okay.”

It wasn’t.It really wasn’t.She wanted to be wrapped around him.Wanted him wrapped around her.Right now.All night long.

“It’s sonotokay.”Juliet took a breath as he let her go and stepped back.“Most of the time I’m very happy with my choices to be extra careful, but every once in a while, they really get in the way of…being normal.And fun.”

“I know what you mean.”

He did.Spontaneous and fun were hard for him, too.At least now.

“But you’ve been spontaneous since I have.I’ve been careful since I was ten.You’ve only been careful for nine months.”

“Yeah.”He looked at her for a long moment.“And I’m starting to remember how to be fun, I think.Or at least to want to.”

Thank God.She smiled.

But then Sawyer picked up the spray bottle of bug repellent.He sprayed the windowsill and along the baseboard under the window.Then he shot some into each corner—floor and ceiling—of the room.Finally, he came toward her again…and sprayed a circle on the floor around the bed.

He straightened and checked out the mosquito netting, tugging on it lightly to be sure it was secure and then spreading it out so it draped over the bed.With her inside.And him on the outside.

She sighed.Well, the bed would have been too creaky anyway.

Sawyer looked around.“That should do it.I think it’s more than you need but better to repeltoomany bugs, right?”

She nodded.“So, this is kind of like a salt circle?”

He frowned.“A salt circle?”

“Have you ever seen the showSupernatural?”

“Can’t say I have.”

“Oh, well, they put salt circles around rooms, and people, to keep demons out.”

He clearly wasn’t sure what to say to that.

“You can’t tell me that it’s notpossiblethat demons are disguised as black widow spiders,” she said.“Seems very likely to me.”

He chuckled.“I think you’re overestimating the evilness of the black widows, actually.”

That also seemed likely, she had to admit.She nodded.“Well, thanks for doing all of this to protect me even if it’s more than I need.”

He just looked at her for a few seconds, then he nodded.“Happy to do it.”

She tipped her head.“Yeah?”

“Your plans make it so that if something does go wrong, it’s still fixable,” he said.

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