Four Weddings and a Swamp Boat Tour - Erin Nicholas Page 0,26

living with a woman you’re crazy about for seven months isn’t the best way to keep things casual.”

“I’m not going to push her for more than she wants to give,” Mitch said, his frown deepening.

“But it will be hard on you,” Juliet said. “You are being her friend, giving her a place to go when she needed to get away. That’s great. But there’s plenty of other places for her to stay.”

There were nods around the table.

Of course, there were. There were multiple houses in the family, and none of them were full to the brim.

“What? She’s gonna come stay with you and Sawyer?” Mitch asked.

“No,” Sawyer said immediately. “Juliet and I need the whole house to ourselves.”

Owen snorted. “You can’t have sex in one room with the door shut?”

Sawyer, who had been a grumpy asshole a lot of the time before Juliet had shown up, shrugged. “Not for seven months.”

Juliet blushed.

“Why not?” Owen countered, his grin huge. “It’s kind of what bedrooms are for.”

“It’s not what my bedroom is for,” Cora said. Cora had been widowed for years and didn’t date. Her late husband had been the love of her life, and she wasn’t interested in being with anyone else.

“And you and Maddie were sure using your kitchen in ways that went beyond cooking the other day when I stopped by,” Fletcher said from the next table.

“You ignored the t-shirt on the door handle,” Owen said with a shrug. “That’s your own fault.”

“I wasn’t complain’ about the view of Maddie’s bare ass I got as she ran upstairs,” Fletcher said, shooting Maddie a grin. “Just sayin’.”

Maddie shook her head. “I’m not sure if I should be blushing right now or saying thank you.”

“Thank you,” Fletcher assured her. “Nothin’ to be embarrassed about.”

“Then thank you very much, Fletcher. What a lovely thing to say,” Maddie told him, her tone dry.

“What, no compliments for my ass?” Owen asked. “You got a pretty good look at that too.”

“And a lot more,” Fletcher agreed. “But dude, I have a mirror. I mean, it’s not really fair to you to compare, I know, but I can’t help it.”

“You tell yourself that,” Owen said. “I don’t want to hurt your pretty boy feelings.”

Mitch couldn’t help but grin. His family shared everything. Which meant they often over shared. There were very few filters and very few topics that were considered out of bounds.

“Pretty boy?” Fletcher asked. He stretched tall, making his muscles bunch and ran a hand through his hair. It hung to the top of his collar, and Maddie and Tori both complained that he had better hair than they did.

Zeke and Zander had longer hair too. They wore it pulled back in ponytails a lot of the time or sometimes “man buns.” At least that was what Kennedy called the style. They both had tattoos too, and Zeke had a few piercings.

Owen and Josh both had tattoos as well, but nothing like the younger Landrys. They were all just a touch wilder. Owen had done some pretty stupid shit in his time. He loved women and loved a good party and raised hell growing up. He and Maddie had been pretty wild together, as a matter of fact.

But Fletch, Zeke, and Zander were just a bit more. It was hard to put his finger on it, but Mitch always knew that going out with Owen meant he’d have a really good time. Going out with the others meant he’d have a really good time and possibly need bail. Or stitches.

Okay, Owen had spent some time in the little cell in downtown Autre. And in the hospital. There was an epic story about Owen and Maddie’s brother, Tommy, and a plate-glass window. It had always been Owen taking the younger guys to parties with him when they weren’t quite old enough.

So, it was all Owen’s fault. Yeah, that made sense.

“You are such a pretty boy,” Josh agreed. “The hair, the jewelry.”

“Jewelry?” Fletcher asked, dropping his arms. “This?” He pointed to the ear that was pierced.

“And that.” Josh pointed at his wrist.

“This is a leather band,” Fletcher said, holding his arm up.

“It’s a bracelet,” Josh said.

“It’s leather.”

“So?”

“So…” Fletcher looked at Zeke and Zander.

They just shrugged.

“Well, the girls don’t mind,” Fletcher said, reaching for his beer. “I care a lot more about what they think than what you think.”

Mitch grinned as he sat, taking this all in. This was how it usually was with his family. He got to sit back, listen to them all, watch them