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“I would have,” Maggie said.
“Me, too,” Katrina said.
“That’s fine, you know how my baby is; he goes in his crib and sleeps or I threaten to put him out for the wolves. Anyway, Chris ended up staying the weekend. The first night, he slept on the couch.”
Annie closed her eyes to remember the sequence of events that first weekend with Chris. He’d swept her off her feet. After the lovely day at Bayou Cottage, he followed her home, then got dinner to go from a local place. They had a romantic candlelight meal on her porch overlooking the creek. Canoers and kayakers passed by at dusk, music from a party somewhere in the village echoing to her backyard.
“I want to see you again tomorrow,” Chris said, looking at her through the flickering light.
“Is that right? Well, I want to see you, too.”
“I got a room at that place out on the highway,” he said. “But I hate the night to end.”
“You are welcome to sleep on my couch,” she said. “I’ve slept on it before, and it’s comfy.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m totally sure. I don’t want the night to end, either. You’ll see me looking ratty in the morning and my routine with the baby. If that doesn’t scare you away, nothing will.”
“The couch it is,” he said. “I like you, Annie. I knew the moment I saw you I wanted to get to know you better.”
“Was the stroll through the marsh with baby and me that enticing?” she asked, teasing him.
“It was extremely enticing. I love your honesty.”
“I’d be a terrible liar because my short-term memory is nonexistent since I had the baby.”
Darkness settled over the yard, a few lone boaters drifting by, torchlight reflecting on the water. They cleared off the table and sat on the couch together.
“I’d like to be in a boat right now,” Chris said. “What about you?”
Shaking her head, she gave him a sultry smile. “I like it right where I am. It’s like I’m in a foreign country with a handsome stranger. I’ve never sat out here after dark. That music, the laughter, it’s the perfect backdrop for a lovely evening.”
He looked at her and reached up to hold her face while he kissed her. Her body responded immediately. His mouth was cold and tangy from the wine he’d drunk, his hand on her back big and warm, his lips soft and his beard prickling her skin. It felt like a long time since she’d really been kissed. If he tried anything, she would have lain back on the sofa and let him have his way with her.
Fortunately, Chris was a gentleman. He ended the kiss, grinning at her.
“I wanted to do that all day.”
“Now you can relax,” she said.
“Um, no, now I have to stay on my toes.”
“Ha! Okay, I’ll help,” she said. “I’ll be on my best behavior.”
“How are my brothers in that department?” he asked, grinning. “Are they gentlemen? It’s easier to make judgments based on what I see, but it helps to hear the woman’s perspective, and they seem like a handful.”
“Ha! I don’t know about that, but my girlfriends sure love them a lot.”
The next day, they had a leisurely breakfast together and then lazed around, talking. In the afternoon, they took a ride out to Bayou Cottage so he could help Justin with the barn doors.
That night, he surprised her. After she’d put the baby down for the night, he played slow dance music on his phone. Holding out his hand, he gently pulled her to his body and danced around the living room with her. It was so romantic, she never questioned what happened in the next hours, how they somehow ended up in bed together.
A year later, she related the story while they drank a bottle of wine in the park. “It was the best sex I’ve ever had.”
“It must be hereditary,” Katrina said. “Dave too, he’s so sexy, just the things he says to me. Thinking about it gives me the chills.”
“It’s testosterone, I’m telling you,” Maggie said. “It’s the bayou.”
