14
“We’ll have to walk a bit down to the far dock for the pontoon,” Mitch told her as they coasted up against the dock.
But it was immediately evident that their plans were about to change.
Maddie, Tori, Juliet, and Kennedy were coming down onto the dock.
Well, fuck. He was about to lose her. “Or we could make a break for it,” he said dryly.
Paige laughed. “We’re outnumbered.”
He just sighed.
“Hey girls,” he greeted as he jumped from the boat to the dock to tie it up.
“We need Paige,” Tori said.
“You’ll have to get in line.” He meant that. She was his. At least for tonight. As much as he loved her helping out with the weddings—and he really fucking did—he wasn’t into sharing her tonight.
“Nope,” Tori said sweetly.
Dammit. Tori was the hardest one to be firm with. Juliet was second.
He could absolutely be an ass to Kennedy and Maddie. No problem. But Tori and Juliet hadn’t grown up on the bayou, and it showed. They were nice. And it made everyone want to be nice to them right back.
He finished securing the boat and straightened, planting his hands on his hips. “What do you need her for? It can’t wait?”
“It can’t.” Maddie held up a few sheets of paper. “We found these.”
“What are those?”
“Oh crap.” Suddenly Paige was beside him on the dock. “You weren’t supposed to see those.”
“Yet,” Juliet said. “I hope you mean yet. Because you better have intended to show these to us at some point.”
“What are they?” Mitch pressed.
Paige sighed. “Some of my wedding notes. I thought I got them all when I left the office. Guess I missed a few.”
“This is just some of them?” Tori asked her, eyes wide. “You have more?”
Paige pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded.
“Oh my God, yes, we need to talk.” Maddie reached for Paige and grabbed her hand, pulling her forward.
“I didn’t mean to step on your toes,” Paige said. “I was just thinking and jotted a few things down and—”
“Step on my toes,” Juliet said. “Please. I will gladly hand over my binder and everything. This is amazing.”
Mitch knew he was standing there with his mouth hanging open. He felt like he’d just been hit by a tornado. A very blond and brunette, nice-smelling tornado.
Tori, Maddie, and Juliet practically carried Paige up the dock toward Ellie’s.
“Hey! It’s date night!” he called after them.
Maddie looked over her shoulder. “What do you mean? You’re just friends.”
Then she gave him a wink. And kept walking Paige away from him.
He should probably save her.
But he felt himself smiling.
Paige needed a place to belong. She needed to be a piece that fit somewhere. She needed to take care of a few people.
So maybe he’d take his time about saving her.
“My God, you’re head over heels already, aren’t you?”
He looked to his left to find that Kennedy was still on the dock with him watching the other women go.
“How can you tell?” he asked, instead of denying it.
“That stupid grin on your face,” she said. “It’s how Bennett looks at me,” she added with a stupid grin of her own.
He shrugged. “Yeah, I’m pretty much fucked here.”
Mitch was no better off two weeks later.
In fact, he was far, far worse.
Not only was he crazier about Paige, but he was horny as hell.
Paige had been officially installed as the wedding planner for all three Landry weddings, and she seemed thrilled. She’d been glowing since the girls had whisked her off to Ellie’s.
His family loved her, and they were including her in everything.
And that meant he’d been cock-blocked.
Repeatedly.
Ever since their swamp boat ride.
Okay, she hadn’t exactly been glowing the next morning after their first official wedding consultation.
They—and “they” included the girls and their fiancés, Ellie, Leo, Cora, and Zeke and Zander—had introduced her to Bayou Whiskey, i.e., the moonshine Leo made behind his house.
That was a not-very-nice thing to do to a woman you wanted to help you with the biggest day of your life, and the girls had been apologetic the next day when Paige had shown up at the tour office looking like, well, an Iowa girl who’d accidentally gotten wasted on moonshine. Or paint thinner. Leo’s moonshine could be that too. It was also a great de-icer for windows when it got particularly chilly.
Thankfully, Cora had the perfect hangover remedy. That, along with some grits—yes, she’d eaten grits and loved them—had gotten Paige back to near-normal by noon, and Owen had declared her well on her way to being a bayou girl.
She hadn’t even winced at that idea. In fact, she’d grinned, almost proudly.
And she’d been glowing since then.
That made Mitch want her even more than he had before.
Her being involved was one thing. Her clearly loving it was another. And his family embracing her and including her, even when his sorry ass was sitting at home alone—well, with grumpy Griffin and the five cats—made him want her with an ache that he wasn’t sure he could ever fully relieve.
But he hadn’t so much as seen her naked breasts since the day in the shower.
The girls had needed wedding planning consultations that ran very late and fell, not-at-all-coincidentally, on Tuesday nights and Saturdays. All-day long.
Last Saturday, they’d all gone to New Orleans shopping and had ended up at Trahan’s bar in the French Quarter. Trahan’s was owned by two of Josh’s best friends, and the girls had ended up there on Erotic Book Club night, which they’d been invited to join. Along with half-price drinks, because they were Josh, Owen, and Sawyer’s fiancés, the girls hadn’t called Josh for a ride home until well after midnight.
It seemed when Paige’s free time wasn’t occupied with something wedding-related, Cora needed help with her plants or new cream recipes.
Both Friday nights since he’d taken Paige out on the bayou, Kennedy and Maddie had gotten Paige very drunk at the crawfish boil, and she’d wanted to stay for the dancing.
Then last Friday, Paige and Ellie had gotten into a loud, fairly ridiculous argument about the inhumane treatment of crawfish.
But ridiculous or not, it had somehow led to Paige crashing on Ellie and Leo’s couch and having French toast with them the next morning rather than spending the night in Mitch’s bed.
He knew none of it was accidental. He’d made the mistake of telling his family upfront what Paige’s plans were for her stay in Autre, and now that they sincerely liked her, they were going to help her not get any more involved with him.
Apparently, that included keeping her from spending too much time alone with him. And definitely included keeping her fully clothed whenever he was around.
His family was a huge pain in his ass.
“Damn, we should sell tickets for this encounter,” Owen said. He was leaning on the new fence that surrounded the otter enclosure.