“You think anyone else would be as into it as we are?” Mitch slid his cousin a look.
Owen’s gaze was firmly on Maddie. Where she was bending over in the middle of the grassy space that took up this end of the otter enclosure.
“I mean, I know I’m biased, but fuck yeah,” Owen said appreciatively.
“Don’t think yoga is supposed to be a spectator sport,” Sawyer said with a frown. He was leaning in next to Owen. He was scowling.
Juliet looked as hot as Maddie did in her yoga gear. But that was probably what was making Sawyer scowl. He was more than a little possessive of his fiancée, and no doubt hated the idea of anyone else ogling her.
Not that it was keeping him from ogling her. At all.
Josh was next to Sawyer, his eyes firmly on Tori.
Kennedy and Bennett were leaning on the fence, too, watching the entire scene in front of them.
Otter yoga had finally happened.
The otters had moved into the finished enclosure two days ago. They’d been climbing and sliding and swimming and chattering to Griffin in what could only be excited gratitude every time he came in to feed and check on them. He’d said he’d never heard them louder. Griffin had said it with a put-upon tone—how Griffin said most things, especially otter related things—but Mitch had been quietly thrilled the critters were so happy.
There was enough flat grassy area for about eight people to spread out for yoga. That was also no coincidence. Mitch had asked Paige to stretch out on the living room floor, and he’d done some measurements from fingertips to toes in a variety of positions.
Which had led to some very fun making out. Finally.
Which would have led to some very fun more-than-making-out, if Fletcher hadn’t called Mitch needing help with his lawnmower, and Maddie hadn’t called Paige needing help with something she was trying with her hair.
He didn’t believe those two calls had come in at the same time by chance.
Fletcher hadn’t confessed, but he hadn’t denied that he’d been paid in homemade pralines to make that phone call.
Everyone was in on the cock-blocking.
Mitch hated them all.
And loved that they cared enough to help Paige with what she thought she wanted.
He’d really love it if they’d all start talking to her about how staying unattached and eventually leaving Autre wasn’t what she wanted at all though.
“Why aren’t you in there with them?” Bennett asked Kennedy from down the fence.
“I’m afraid I’ll lose my edge if I get too Zen,” Kennedy told him.
Bennett snorted.
Kennedy did have an “edge,” but it was mostly B.S., and Bennett wasn’t a bit afraid of it. In fact, she was a lot softer than she’d been when she’d met the nerdy millionaire, and she knew it. Everyone knew it.
“Still, wouldn’t mind watching you bending and stretching like that,” Bennett said.
“You could join them.” Kennedy nudged her fiancé. “I wouldn’t mind a little bending from you either.”
“Maybe we can just do bedroom yoga later.”
She wiggled her eyebrows. “I call Downward Dog.”
“Well, Downward Dog wouldn’t work as well if Bennett was the one doing it,” Owen scoffed. Then he paused. “Would it?” He paused again as if thinking that through. “Never mind, I don’t want to know.”
“Oh, you kind of want to know,” Kennedy said, laughing.
“I don’t want to know. At least not if my little sister is the one explaining it,” Sawyer broke in.
“I’m surprised Paige got Bailey to do yoga,” Josh commented about Chase’s girlfriend, who was also in the middle of the otters. He was probably hoping to change the subject. Kennedy was his little sister too. “Bailey doesn’t seem like the meditative type either.”
Bailey was a sweet, adorable, klutzy bookworm.
Proven a moment later when she tipped over from the one-legged stance the rest of the girls were doing without any trouble.
The chuckles at the fence were completely affectionate. Everyone loved Bailey. She was another newer addition to the family. Hell, so was Chase, really. But it didn’t take long for someone to be welcomed into the Landry fold. If one Landry loved you, all the Landrys loved you.
Mitch focused on Paige again.
He loved her.
He knew that.
He hadn’t told her that. Of course. He didn’t want her high-tailing it back to Iowa just yet. Or ever. But he loved her. He just wasn’t so sure that he was the reason the rest of them loved her. It was very possible they all would have loved her anyway.
She was making potions with Cora. She was bullshitting with Leo in between his trips to New Orleans to pick up busloads of tourists. She’d had Owen, Josh, and Sawyer address wedding invitations in between their tours. She was handling every detail of the job in the tour office and putting together not just one wedding but three. Well, kind of one. But, also, three.
The three weddings were now one big happy shindig.
The ceremonies would each happen individually. Tori and Josh would get married on the main dock first. Then everyone would pile onto a pontoon and head out onto the bayou to watch Maddie and Owen say I do in “their” cove prior to coming back to witness Juliet and Sawyer’s vows on the dock they’d built together.
Then there would be one big wedding reception at Ellie’s afterward.
Nearly every problem had been solved. They were all sharing the same decorations and flowers and menu. The ceremonies themselves would be simple. The venues were, obviously, taken care of. And since the three couples shared so many friends and family in common, the guest list had already been nearly identical. Now the people coming for Tori’s and Juliet’s wedding were just getting a swamp boat tour out of the deal too.
Because they’d moved everything back to the bayou, they’d decided to do all the food out of Ellie’s. Tori and Juliet wanted to introduce their out-of-state guests to local cuisine, and that meant things like boudin balls, fried pickles, etouffee, and meat pies. They were going to have some beignets too, but, of course, planned a huge wedding cake.
Which had resulted in a call back to Iowa as soon as they found out that Paige’s sister worked in a bakery. Josie was well-known for her wedding cakes, and she’d been thrilled to get on a video call with Paige, Ellie, and Cora about the cake. She was even sending some embellishments—whatever the hell those were—because they wouldn’t be able to get them delivered in time from anywhere else.
Everyone was ecstatic about every fucking thing.
Except Mitch. He wasn’t getting laid, and he was falling in love, and that combo was making him itchy as hell.
But Paige was happy. And he couldn’t bring himself to say or do a damned thing that might change that.
He had broken their rules one night and snuck into her room, and they’d had quick, hot, dirty sex. But he’d tried to be good since then. They’d put those rules in place for a reason. And just because his family kept her busy, or drunk, or both, on their supposed date nights, he wanted to be a man of his word.
Finally, yoga was over, and the girls all headed for the fence, stepping carefully around the otters.
Paige approached him with a smile.
“So, it worked,” he said.