Four Weddings and a Swamp Boat Tour - Erin Nicholas Page 0,20

to be.”

He meant that. He wanted more than he knew she was going to give, but he could deal with that. He wasn’t going to make this hard on her.

“Wow,” she said softly. “You really mean that.”

“Of course.”

“It’s just… I mean, I’m used to my family pushing me to go on dates and settle down and get a real job and get married. I have guys I’ve known my whole life asking me to marry them after a couple of dinners. Everyone is just always pressuring me. I guess I’m not used to someone actually really caring what I want without thinking they know better. And I’m not used to them being okay with it when what I want isn’t what they want.”

And all of that was exactly why he was going to do the right thing here and let her call the shots. It was the reason she was here in the first place, and he was damned glad she was. For however long it lasted.

Her hair had fallen forward from behind her ear, and he reached to tuck it back again. “No pushing,” he said.

She pressed her lips together and nodded.

“So tell me exactly what you want from me.”

“To hang out. Get to know you better. See where and how you live. Laugh.” She leaned in. “Kiss. A lot.”

He pressed his lips to hers, then released her. “Done. All of that.”

“But—” she added.

He sighed. “Lay it on me.”

“Maybe separate rooms?”

Shit. He should have seen that coming. He took a breath and let it out. “Okay.”

“Really?”

“My house has four bedrooms. Only two are in use. You want your own space you can have it.”

Fuck. He hated all of that.

“I want to spend some time in your room though,” she said. “Is that terrible? Does that make me a tease? Is that not fair to you?”

Well, he hadn’t even thought about touching another woman since he’d met her, so it wasn’t as if he’d be having women over if they were just roommates.

“It’s fair if we both know upfront that we’re roommates with benefits. And friends,” he said.

She nodded but didn’t say anything for several seconds. Finally, she responded with, “You’re a really good guy.”

Yeah, he’d been told that all his life. It was what he worked to be. What he prided himself on.

But now he thought that maybe he was just a dumbass.

5

There was no one waiting for them at his house when they got back.

Which was a surprise and a relief. But Mitch needed to talk to his family.

He and Paige went in through the backdoor, stepping into the kitchen.

“Tell you what,” he said. “You make yourself a grilled cheese. I need to head up to Ellie’s.”

“I don’t have to go?” She winced. “I mean… should I go?”

He gave a short huff of a laugh. “Not this time. I’ll tell them about you wanting the receptionist job and everything, get that ironed out. There will be plenty of time to meet everyone.”

That was an understatement. His family was going to be pissed when he showed up without Paige.

“Okay.” She hesitated.

“What do you need?”

The look on her face with his question was a combination of surprise and relief and gratitude that was becoming familiar already.

Did no one in this woman’s life give a shit how she was feeling or what she wanted?

“Maybe you could bring back some bread pudding?” she asked.

That was not what he’d been expecting. He grinned and nodded. “Absolutely. But I’ll warn you,” he said, moving in close. “One taste, and you might find yourself heading up to Ellie’s on your own sometime.”

“That good, huh?”

“Yep.”

She seemed to be thinking it over. Then she nodded. “Yeah. Bring it. I mean, I’m going to meet and get to know them all when I’m working at the office, right?”

“For sure.”

It was going to be like throwing red meat to wild cats, as a matter of fact.

“But Ellie’s is right across the road from the office, so at least that’s a perk to having to put up with them all.”

And he wasn’t exaggerating when he said them all.

Leo, his grandfather, drove the bus for the tour company that picked tourists up in New Orleans and delivered them back to their hotels after their bayou tours.

Sawyer, Owen, Josh, and Maddie, Owen’s fiancée, actually did the tours, taking airboats full of visitors out onto the bayou to see the plant and animal life and to teach them about this unique part of the world.

Kennedy, until recently, had been the receptionist and general