Page 70 of Beauty and the Bayou

“Not that I’m aware of,” Sawyer said.“But I haven’t been by this morning.”

Which got him to thinking about their conversation about him climbing out Juliet’s window.

“I’m right here,” Maddie said, coming into the office with a to-go box from Ellie’s.“Owen’s out of eggs so I had to—”

“I got a call from Bailey Wilcox!”Tori exclaimed, cutting her off.

“Hey, Bennett just called,” Kennedy said, coming through the door.“He said somebody at some government wildlife department is all riled up?”

“Bennett called you on your cell?”Maddie asked, looking at the office phone that sat silent on the front counter.

Kennedy opened her mouth, then shut it, then opened it again.“It was an emergency.”

“An emergency that he didn’t call the majority partner about?”Josh smirked.“Or was it really just an excuse to call you first thing in the morning?”

Kennedy shot Sawyer a quick look, then said, “Yeah, who doesn’t need a big dose of Kennedy charm to start their day?”

Josh snorted.

“You don’t realize how important it is because you get it in person automatically,” Kennedy told him.

“Sure,” Josh agreed with a nod.

Sawyer felt a niggle of suspicion.After last night’s talk with Juliet about her mom, he had to ask.“Ken, did you tell Bennett that he should run stuff through you before calling me?”

His little sister shrugged.“I like to flirt with him.You said so yourself.”But she wasn’t meeting Sawyer’s eyes.

Uh-huh.She was running interference.Covering up the bloody knees Bennett might be bringing in so they could heal a little before Sawyer found out.Dammit.

“Okay, what’s going on?”He looked around the room.

“Maddie!”Owen called from just outside the door.“Look out.Tori’s pissed at yo—”

The last word was cut off as the door bounced off the wall and Owen stepped over the threshold.“Oh, hey, Tori.”

Tori crossed her arms.“Hey, Owen.How did you hear?”

“Leo.”

“Ah.”

“Pissed about what?”Sawyer asked, finally setting his coffee cup down and straightening fully.

“Is everything okay?”

Everyone looked over as Juliet peered around Owen.

Sawyer’s heart thunked at the sight of her and he felt himself smile.Her eyes found him almost immediately and she smiled back.

“I saw everyone heading in here and heard Owen say Tori was upset,” she said.“I know it’s not my business but just wanted to see if there was anything I could do.”

As she spoke, she slipped past Owen and into the room, crossing to where Sawyer stood and stopping next to him.She looked up at him.

She’d come in to make sure he was okay.Not because she thought anyone was upset with him but because she knew that these people worried him.And vice versa.Damn, he really liked her.

“Apparently Tori and Bennett are upset.Tori was just about to tell us why.Allof us.Allabout it,” Sawyer said.He wasn’t going to let them protect him from whatever this was.

“Oh, okay, well, I’ll be right outside then,” Juliet said.“I was hoping you could French braid my hair for me today.”

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