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He knew it was a good thing that she’d realized what shedidn’twant, but he still felt a pang of loss when he thought back and realized that moment had been when he’d realized hedidwant a family of his own and roots here on this bayou with a woman who wanted the same. Someday.
“Yeah, yeah, Savannah is not my type. I get it,” Theo said.
“Oh no, sheisyour type. That’s what I’m worried about,” Zander said. “Why can’t you fall for a small-town girl that already likes to fish, can make gumbo in her sleep, and cusses like…a Landry?”
Theo grinned. “Why would Ieverhave another woman make my gumbo when I have your grandma?”
Ellie Landry made the best gumbo in Louisiana. Probably in the south. He wasn’t kidding aboutnotlooking for a replacement.
Theo knew Zander was giving him a hard time. But Zander knew exactly why Theo didn’t fall for those girls.
Theo had grown up here and knew those girls very well. Loved them, trusted them, respected them, understood them, and had a ton in common with them. Which meant, those girls made fantastic friends. They were easy and fun to be around, and he loved to hang out with them.
Justhang out with them.
The girls that got his blood pumping were the ones that started out buttoned up, prim and proper, all tucked in and twisted up. Even though he knew it wouldn’t last, he loved the thought of teaching them a few new things, getting them a little dirty, and making them a little wild.
Those fun, laid-back bayou girls were great, but he wanted the don’t-you-dare-wrinkle-my-white-silk-button-down-blouse types. For whatever reason. Some reason he probably needed to delve into in therapy. Or something he should ramble about while getting rip-roaring drunk on an airboat with his buddies.
Or something he should not overthink and worry about, and just enjoy.
That last one was what had been working so far.
Which was why he’d accepted the fact that he was going to have to fuck around with those prim and proper city girls…and then let them go. Catch and release.
Because he wasn’t leaving the bayou, and he wasn’t getting anyone stuck here who didn’t want to be.
As if on cue, Savannah Lee pulled onto the packed dirt area by the dock just then in her white Audi S5 convertible.
Theo felt his gut tighten, but he worked on not reacting, lest Zander think he was right about everything.
When she stepped out, she wasn’t in a white silk button-down blouse.
Nope. It was much, much worse.
She was wearing a white silk tank top.
And red shorts. That were very short.
And white wedge heels.
“Jesus Christ,” Theo muttered.
Zander just laughed.
What the hell did she think she was dressed for? A cruise on a yacht? Brunch and shopping with the girls? It was October, for shit’s sake. Of course, it was Louisiana, so October was still warm. Far warmer than her native New York. So yeah, this probably felt like shorts-and-sandal weather to this gorgeous, long-legged, blond bombshell Yankee.
But still, that outfit wasn’t practical for…anythingin Autre. And definitely not for a boat ride down the bayou to a remote cabin where she was going to be spending the nightby herself.
Fuck. Zander was right about everything.
four
Savannah pushedher huge red-framed sunglasses to the top of her head as she strode across the dirt. Her white sandals were going to be gray at the end of the day, but she wasn’t going to give Theo the pleasure of seeing her even glance down.
She should have known this stupid boat dock would be a rickety wooden thing held together by wire and duct tape, hanging precariously off the banks of the bayou with nothing more than a patch of dirt and weeds to park on.
But no. She’d thought it would be like the paved parking area, well-built wooden walkway, and wide, smooth dock where the Boys of the Bayou swamp boat tours took off.
