Paige knocked and waited, holding her breath.
She heard footsteps inside and her stomach swooped.
A second later the door swung open.
And a gorgeous brunette, with streaks of pink in her hair and tattoos that ran the entire length of her left leg and her left arm, opened the door.
Paige knew that the leg tattoo went from ankle to hip because the woman was wearing nothing but a t-shirt. As in, no pants. The shirt was at least three sizes too big for her and covered everything important, but it still left a lot of skin bare.
Paige could only assume it was a man’s shirt. As in Mitch’s. The man who lived here. Who would have t-shirts here.
Paige’s swoopy stomach knotted and the breath she’d been holding came whooshing out.
Dammit.
This kind of…hurt.
“Hi,” the woman said, looking at Paige with a combination of surprise and curiosity. “Can I help you?”
“Um…yes, if you can tell me this is not Mitch Landry’s house.”
That would be good. Sure, it looked exactly as Bud had described it, but maybe there were two white houses with big trees in the front and a screened-in front porch. None of those things were particularly unique.
The woman smiled. “No, this is Mitch’s place.”
“Dammit,” Paige muttered.
“You okay?” the woman asked.
“I mean… maybe. I could be. If you told me you’re his sister.”
Though that would mean the woman was lying to her.
She and Mitch had been texting for nearly six months between his two visits to Appleby and they’d shared about their families. Mitch was a from a big, loud family that all lived within about ten square miles of one another. But he was an only child to a single dad. He had lots of cousins and aunts and uncles, but no siblings.
The woman leaned into the doorjamb. “Not his sister,” she said with a knowing smile.
Paige nodded. “Yeah, I figured.”
“Cousin.”
Paige nodded again, but then paused. “Oh.”
The woman smiled. “Yeah.” She stuck out her hand. “I’m Kennedy.”
Paige took it. “Paige.”
Kennedy’s eyes widened and her hand tightened on Paige’s. “Iowa Paige?”
Paige felt her brows arch. “He told you about me?”
“He told Chase and Owen who told Sawyer who told Juliet who told me,” Kennedy said. She tugged on Paige’s hand. “Come on in. I can’t even tell you how awesome it is that I get to meet you first.” She pulled Paige into the house. “I mean, I do get to meet you first, right? You haven’t seen anyone else? Because I haven’t gotten any texts or calls.”
Paige had no choice but to follow the chatty woman through the living room. “Um, just Bud, at the gas station.”
Kennedy nodded. “Good. Okay. I mean, he’ll tell someone. Or call the bar. But I get to meet you first.” She gave Paige a grin. “That’s very good.”
“Oh. I…” Paige had no idea what to say.
Kennedy had thrown a lot of names at her. Chase she recognized. He and Mitch were good friends. The others she had heard of but she wasn’t sure who they all were exactly and how, or if, they were even all related. As far as she could tell, everyone became a part of the Landry family once they spent about five minutes with them.
Ah, and that would be reason number six that this is a bad idea.
She had her own big, meddlesome family. She was trying to get away from them and have some space. Why had she come to Louisiana where she knew that Mitch’s family would be up in her business too?
Because you have a thing for that hot Louisiana boy and when you thought of escaping and hiding out somewhere for a few weeks you immediately thought of him and how nice it would be to let him take care of you the way he says he wants to.
Temporarily, of course. She didn’t need taken care of in the long-term.
Probably.
She’d never actually been on her own. She’d lived in the same town that her entire family had lived in all their lives. She knew everyone in Appleby. There wasn’t a single thing she could need that her family and hometown couldn’t and wouldn’t provide.
Except peace. And solitude. And independence.
That’s what she wanted. That’s what she was looking for.
But in the short term while she made a plan for all of that independent solitude? Yeah, hanging out with Mitch would be nice.
No one could blame her. The guy was good with his mouth. When he was doing delicious dirty things with it and when he was using it to sweet talk her or charm her entire hometown.
And he knew the score. She’d told him about her plethora of proposals and he’d seen her family in action. He knew where she stood on relationships and overly involved families.
A short-term getaway and a little friends-with-benefits on the side with Mitch had sounded perfect.
But now one of Mitch’s relatives was already pulling her through his house and into his kitchen.
“He did not tell us you were coming today,” Kennedy said, nudging Paige into a chair at the kitchen table and crossing to the fridge. She pulled out a pitcher of what looked like iced tea and then went to a cupboard.
She stretched for a higher shelf and Paige was relieved to see the edge of a pair of denim shorts peek out from under the bottom of the big t-shirt she wore.
“We were working on the otter enclosure today and the board I was standing on shifted and I ended up on my ass in the water.” Kennedy laughed. “Came in here to wash and dry my stuff and clean up. He’s still down there.”
“Oh, should we call him?” Paige asked.
“Hell no. Not before I have a chance to grill you,” Kennedy said. She looked at Paige over her shoulder. “I mean, get to know you.”
That sly grin did not say that there was going to be anything quite as polite as “getting to know each other” going on. Kennedy wanted to get some dirt.
Or maybe give it.
She brought two glasses to the table. “Peach sweet tea,” she said, setting one down in front of Paige. “I’ll happily buy you a beer when we get to Ellie’s but I have to wait for my bra to dry. And I want to be the first to hear all about Iowa.”
Kennedy plopped into the chair perpendicular to Paige’s and tucked a foot up under her butt.
“Ellie’s?” Paige asked.
“Our grandma’s bar,” Kennedy said, taking a drink of her tea.
Right, his grandma owned a bar. Paige knew that.
“You’ll meet everyone at dinner,” Kennedy said. “Unless they hear you’re in town or see your car and end up here before that.”
“Everyone has dinner together?”
“Most nights,” Kennedy said with a nod.
“How many people is ‘everyone’?” Paige asked with trepidation.
Kennedy tipped her head and appeared to be counting in her head. “It varies a little but fifteen, maybe twenty.”
Paige barely kept from groaning. This was so not going to be a laid-back, relaxed getaway. She’d pictured a little cabin on the bayou, out in the trees, crickets and frogs singing at night while she sat on the front porch with…okay, the sweet tea fit that little daydream. And that porch swing.
The hammock though…that was next level.
A big noisy family that was all too curious about her and Mitch and what it meant that she’d driven all this way out of the blue to be with him was not.
“You know, I’m more of a grilled-cheese-all-by-myself-for-dinner girl,” Paige said.
Kennedy laughed. “Okay.”
“Is it?” Paige asked skeptically.
“Sure it is,” Kenney said with a nod. “As long as you’re good with not having any of that while you’re in Autre.”
Paige sighed. That’s what she’d figured. “You don’t have cheese down here?”
“’Course we do. What do you think we put on our chili cheese fries?”
“So then your family just doesn’t believe in people being alone? Ever?”
“Not my family, not most of the people who live in Autre, not most of the Cajuns I know from anywhere.”
Paige thought about how far she could get if she got in her car and started driving again right now. She’d have to stop for the night again, but she could put Autre pretty far in her rearview before that. She could head back to Iowa. Or she could head to Colorado, which was her plan for six months from now. Or she could just drive and see where she ended up.
But her car was making a really bad noise…
“I can’t believe Mitch thought he was goin’ to keep you bein’ here a secret,” Kennedy said.
“Oh. Um.” Paige lifted her glass for a sip.
She tasted the sweet, peach flavored tea and…sighed. But this time with pleasure. Damn, that was good. She took a bigger drink before setting the glass down again. “He doesn’t know I’m here. I wasn’t supposed to show up for another three weeks.”
Kennedy’s brow lifted. “Is that right?”
“Yeah. I…was coming for Josh and Tori’s wedding but…I decided to come early.”
“I see.” Kennedy lifted her glass again.
“It’s not like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like what you’re thinking,” Paige said, taking another drink and wishing for some peach schnapps to add to her glass.
“What do you think I’m thinking?” Kennedy asked.
“I think you think that I’m either a crazy stalker or I’m madly in love with Mitch.”
Kennedy nodded. “If the spectrum is crazy stalker to madly in love, which end are you closer to?”
Paige set her glass down and regarded Kennedy. She didn’t know this woman. If she was madly in love with Mitch and was planning a future with him, she might think that she should try to make Kennedy like her.
But…
“I’m just here for the hot sex, the otters, and the wedding cake. Someone else’s wedding cake.”
Kennedy’s grin was quick and bright. “That is—”
She was cut off by the sound of heavy footsteps thudding across the back porch.
Paige’s heart thudded just like those footsteps.
The door opened and then there was a pause.
“This is going to be sooo good,” Kennedy said, lifting her tea glass again.
