Page 17 of Stuck Bayou

It was adorable.

It was small, but it was cozy and clean. It smelled like fresh air and flowers. She couldn’t place the scent any more specifically than that, but hey, she was a City Girl. She wasn’t an expert on Louisiana flora. Or any flora, really. Though she did really like roses and lilies. Which she knew was very stereotypical and so she was not going to say that out loud to Theo Taggart. Ever.

There were windows on both the front and back of the cabin that let in lots of natural light. It wasn’t direct sunlight because of all the trees outside, but the room was bright and, dare she say, cheerful?

Part of the ambiance came from the long, overstuffed sofa and chair that sat perpendicular to one another facing the stone fireplace to her right. They were a bright coral color. The back of the sofa was draped in a multi-colored woven throw blanket, and there was an equally colorful braided rug on the floor under the coffee table that sat in front of the furniture. There were even throw pillows in a dusky blue and a bright yellow sitting in the corners of the sofa and on the chair.

The ceiling of the cabin arched above them about ten feet with exposed wooden beams. A fan circulated lazily in the center.

Behind the sitting area was a wooden table pushed up against the wall with three wooden chairs. Above the table hung a painting of the bayou. It looked to be a view from the front porch of this very cabin.

To her left was the kitchen area. It consisted of a refrigerator, a short countertop, a sink, and a stove, with a few cupboards hung over all of it.

Everything was in one big room, but the bedroom and the bathroom. She assumed those were down the hallway she could see through the doorway to the right of where the table sat. Theo had promised there was a claw foot bathtub.

She turned to face him. “This is actually really charming.”

He’d been watching her from the porch, barely leaning in the main doorway. He had a hand braced on either side of the doorjamb and was standing just on the other side as if not willing to actually come inside. “Good. Okay, then. There’s some food in the fridge. Gumbo for reheating. Stuff like that. Towels and such are in the bathroom. There’re no mints on the pillows or robes and slippers or anything.”

Savannah put a hand on her hip. “That’s fine. I don’t need a robe. I much prefer walking around naked.”

His jaw tightened just slightly, and she noticed only because she was watching for it. She hid her grin. But hell, she really might walk around naked. Who was going to see her through the windows here?

“Wouldn’t sleep naked here—or sunbathe for that matter— City Girl. You never know what might be lurking around wanting to take a bite.”

Yeah, okay so her jaw might have tightened a little too. Another, lower, part of her sure did. He’d remembered what she’d said the other night about sunbathing naked, though. Ha. “Thanks for the advice. Guess I’ll just walk around inside naked, then. Then I can see all the potential threats coming.”

His gaze tracked over her from head to toe. He met her eyes again and said, “Good idea. You always want to be prepared for things that can show up suddenly and mess with you.”

She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. God, messing withhimwas so damned fun. She nodded, trying to look solemn. “So true.”

“So stay the fuck inside this cabin, New York,” he said. Then he turned and left, pulling the door shut behind him.

She listened to his boots stomp across the porch and down the steps.

But she didn’t have to hide her smile anymore with that door shut.

In fact, she laughed out loud.

Then she quickly fished her earbuds out and put them in, turning up her music and taking her bag into the back bedroom—which was also fucking charming with the brass headboard, and fluffy pillows, and bright, multicolored quilt.

If she didn’t see or hear him leave on the airboat that was her only way to get from this cabin to, well, anywhere else, then maybe she could stave off the panic and feelings of being stranded.

He’d told her to stay inside, and she fully intended to do just that. Not because of the wildlife and insects and God-knew-what-else threats outside—okay, notjustbecause of those—but because she was going topretendthat she was in a cute bed and breakfast in Anywhere, USA with a main street teeming with quaint businesses and friendly people right outside her door. And that she had a car parked right next to the cabin. And that she was a thirty-minute drive from an airport.

And she was going to keep that delusional thinking going until tomorrow when Theo showed back up.

She frowned.

He hadn’t said what time he’d be back tomorrow.

But hewouldbe back tomorrow.

She was sure of it.

She wasprettysure of it.

Okay, she was about fifty-percent sure of it.

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