Page 76 of Beauty and the Bayou

Sawyer stopped next to the closest stack of wood.“You think I’m just gonna sit here and watch you work?”

He would.Happily.Watching Juliet do just about anything was a pleasure.But no way was he going to have her pounding nails and putting together his dock while he sat in a lawn chair and drank lemonade.

She shrugged.“Show your family you remember how to relax and kick back.”

He stepped close and reached up to run a finger down the side of her face.He knew it was an intimate, probably unexpected gesture, but the fact that she didn’t seem surprised pleased him.“I think they’re seeing some important changes in me,” he said honestly.He dropped his hand, trusting that she knew he meant they saw how he was reacting toher.“Besides, do you have any idea how much shit I’d get if I sat around while you worked?”

She laughed.“Well, okay.But mostly because Chase is helping Cora with some stuff this morning and then I overheard Ellie and Leo say something about taking him out fishing ‘the right way’ and I need a second pair of hands to get the boards onto the frame today.”

Sawyer grinned.“The right way means with actual fishing poles.”

“Mitch hasn’t been taking fishing poles when he’s taken Chase fishing?”Juliet asked, the corner of her mouth twitching.

“I’m guessing ‘fishing’ with Mitch has been more screwing around on the boats and a lot of bullshitting.Maybe some flirting with girls at the other docks.Probably not a lot of actual fish catching.”

Juliet laughed.“Chase has been having a really good time.I hope he’s been helpful, too.”

Before, he’d been annoyed that Chase had gone off and left Juliet behind to work.Now he was fine with it.Partly because Chase being with his family was actually making Juliet even happier than when the kid was building the dock.And partly—okay, mostly—because now Sawyer got her to himself.

“Ellie and Cora have made sure he’s stayed busy,” Sawyer assured her.He dropped his voice a little.“Mixing business with pleasure is somethin’ we know a lot about down here.”

Juliet grinned up at him.“Even you?”

“Oh yeah.Until I forgot.”Unable to help himself he leaned over, putting his lips nearly on hers.“Thanks for remindin’ me.”

“Happy to help,” she said softly.

When he kissed her, he did so without hands, or even tongue.But he still felt it to his bones.This woman rocked him.In ways that he hadn’t been before and in ways he wasn’t sure he’d recover from.

And he was fine with that.

When he lifted his head, they looked at each other for a long moment.

“Yeah, this distracting thing is going very well,” he finally told her.

“What is it I’m distracting you from again?”she asked.

“Don’t remember.”

“Perfect.”

One more goofy grin and then they actually managed to move apart.

Juliet reached for her safety vest and Sawyer smiled and shook his head.That seemed second nature to her now.He didn’t think she was actually worried about being run into or over, but the vest made her feel better.No, actually, it made her feel like she was reassuring everyoneelseso they’d leave her the hell alone.He lifted a board up onto a sawhorse, thinking about what he knew about her now.He loved it all.

She was strong and smart and self-deprecating and brave.She could think of the craziest What-Ifs there were, but she didn’t let those stop her from doing the things she wanted to do and felt she needed to do.She just used them to help her prepare.She didn’t expect people to make exceptions for her.She researched and planned and then did her thing.

Caleb needed to meet her.

Sawyer measured the board in front of him and cut through it as he thought about his friend.Caleb Moreau was a firefighter and had been raising his niece Shay since his sister’s death two years ago.Recently he’d found out that Shay had sustained a brain injury in the car accident that had killed her parents.The injury caused some weakness and coordination issues along with some learning struggles.Caleb had Lexi, the love of his life and Shay’s favorite person, helping him navigate all the new information and therapies Shay’s diagnosis had brought into his life, but it could be good for him to see a strong, successful woman like Juliet obviously living a full life and managing all of her challenges.

He looked up at the woman he was more and more intrigued with every moment.

She was carefully measuring every cut five times—and that wasn’t a random number he’d thought up—she literally measured five times before every cut.

He straightened to watch.

There really might be such a thing as toocareful.That was the kind of thing that could get annoying, actually.If anyone else was doing it.He simply felt amused and slightly baffled by Juliet.That might have something to do with the fact that he really did love her big brown eyes.And how she filled that safety vest out.But it also could have been that she didn’t seemworried.She didn’t seem stressed or under pressure.Not about any of it, now that he thought about it.She’d put mosquito netting up over her bed, but it seemed practical when she did it, not overreactive.She hadn’t made a big deal about it.She hadn’t freaked out about the bat.She’d given a little shriek when he’d flown away, but she’d seemed way more annoyed about him ruining the sexy mood thanworried.

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