Page 10 of Must Love Alligators

Then she slipped past him and walked away.

Currently…

Chase sighedand swung his legs over the side of the bed.

He’d hoped to sleep in, have a huge homecooked southern breakfast, and lots of loving attention from Ellie and Cora, the grandmotherly women who’d adopted him during his two week stay in Autre, Louisiana this past summer.

Now he was wondering where Bailey was and what she was doing and if there was a chance of running into her.Then reminding himself that he’d made an ass of himself and should be thinking all aboutavoidingher.

But to avoid her, he needed to know where she was and why Owen and Josh were talking about her.

Good thing Cora had a remedy for everything, including hangovers.As a first-year medical student, Chase knew that he should be focused on Western medicine with proven research behind it.But dammit, Cora’s cream had healed a cut on his hand in two days.Two days.And he’d used her hangover cure far more often in a two-week span than he should admit.Her homemade potions and lotions were magical.Of course, he’d deny that to any of his med school professors, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have bottles and jars with handwritten labels on them all over his apartment.

“Shit, Maddie just texted.”That was Owen’s voice.

Oh, God, they were coming up the stairs.Groaning, Chase leaned over and grabbed his jeans from the floor.

“She’s running out of ways to stall Bailey.”

Chase froze with his zipper half-way up.Bailey was with Maddie?That meant she was down at the Boys of the Bayou tour company’s office.The docks were about two hundred yards from Cora’s house, where Chase had crashed in the same bedroom he’d used a few months ago.

The Boys of the Bayou was an airboat tour company that took people up and down the bayou as well as out on hunting and fishing expeditions.It was owned and run by the Landry boys—Josh, Owen, and Sawyer—and Kennedy Landry’s boyfriend, Bennett Baxter.

Juliet was the last woman Chase would have imagined making a life on the bayou—what with the bugs, humidity, and alligators.Not to mention her fear of the water.But she was truly happier than he’d ever seen her and if he hadn’t loved the Landry family all on his own, the way they’d embraced Juliet and helped her blossom would have made him a die-hard fan.

But yeah, it was very difficult not to fall for the Landrys.Every single crazy, loud, over-the-top one of them.

“Mitch said to drag Chase’s ass out of bed for help with Bailey.”

They were right outside his door.Chase fastened his pants, grabbed a T-shirt from his open suitcase, and reached for the knob.“I suppose y’all think you’re whispering?”he asked them, as he pulled the Georgetown University School of Medicine T-shirt on.

“Whispering?”Owen asked with a grin.“What’s that?”

Exactly.These people had no idea how to whisper.Not that they ever had much need.They all liked to be heard and everyone seemed to always have a lot to say and they all knew each other’s secrets anyway.Whispering wasn’t much use around here.

“I am not going down to help stall Bailey,” Chase told them.

“Mitch said you were the best man for the job,” Josh said.His grin said that Mitch had told them more about Chase and Bailey than that.

“Not true,” Chase said.“She thinks I’m a dumbass.And, frankly, when I’m around her it seems that’s true.”He lifted a shoulder.“I’m not too proud to admit that.But Iamtoo proud to have a repeat performance.”

“We don’t need you to dazzle her with your wit and intellect.Or even seduce her,” Owen said with a grin.“I mean, if you’re not up for any of that.”

Chase wanted to flip him off.But the truth was, he’d put his foot in his mouth more than once and she’d ducked his attempt to kiss her so…yeah, he might not be up for any of that.

“We do need you to distract her though,” Josh said.“For like an hour.Do you think you can keep her busy for an hour?”

One of them would possibly end up with a black eye.But Chase had to admit that the idea of seeing Bailey again had his gut tightening.He’d thought about her in the months since he’d stepped on her foot twice and she’d raked him with her nails.He still had no idea why the woman wouldn’t leave his thoughts, but hell, if she was just down the road, it wouldn’t hurt to see her, would it?

Actually, that was bad phrasing.It really could hurt.If not physically, then certainly his ego.

Still, he said, “How about forty-five minutes?”

“How about you keep her busy until we have all the otters rounded up?”Josh asked.

Chase frowned.“Allthe otters?”He knew about Gus, the river otter that lived under the Boys of the Bayou dock and entertained the tourists while they waited for their swamp boat tours.

Josh nodded with a grin.“Gus has a girlfriend.And they have five pups.”

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