The Best Laid Plans (Brothers of the Bayou) Read Free Page B

pretend he hadn’t just experienced the most electrifying kiss of his life that had left him with a rediscovered need for the touch of a woman.
    Throughout their dinner of jambalaya and corn bread, Sara chattered on about the baby and ideas for a nursery, blissfully ignorant of the tension surrounding her.  Only Justin had sensed a change in Beaux, but knew he had a propensity for brooding so just tossed it aside.
    “Enough of my talking” Sara proclaimed. “Did you two decide what you want to do tomorrow?”
    Lacy and Beaux froze like deer in headlights, not able to come up with a response. Fortunately, Sara was too happy about her latest news to notice and continued on.
    “You should take her out to Avery Island and see the Jungle Gardens and the Tabasco Factory. I know you both like a little bit of spice and heat,” she suggested innocently.
    This time they both spit out their drinks coughing and sputtering. 
    Sara looked back and forth between them unsure of what she was missing.
    “That’s exactly what we had decided to do,” Beaux announced with a forced laugh trying his best to cover the situation.
    Lacy quickly caught on.  “Great minds think alike. We even joked that you would probably suggest we go there first.”
    Sara didn’t look totally convinced but let it go.
    “You’ll have fun.  I haven’t been in years, but it used to be one of my favorite spots.”
    The conversation died while they finished their meal.   Sara started to clean up, but Lacy stopped her and sent her back to the living room to rest.   She was just drying the last dish when Beaux walked in. 
    “I’ll pick you up tomorrow around ten if that’s good for you.”  There was no trace in his voice that anything happened earlier.  Well two can play that game she thought coolly.
    “Ten-thirty ,” Lacy replied, changing the time for the sole purpose of gaining back control.
    “See you then,” he said and walked out the door without another word.
    Tomorrow was going to be a long day.
     
    Beaux took a little more care in his appearance today, reluctant to admit his reason for doing so. Sleep had eluded him the entire night as he teetered between self-loathing for his lack of self control and a persistent arousal every time he thought of that kiss. Funny, when he first saw Lacy at the airport he hadn’t noticed what she looked like. Now he could picture every visible inch of her from the thick, wavy auburn hair and golden eyes, down to the pert full breasts that heaved up and down when she was angry and the hips that swayed when she walked away from him.  As long as he lived, he’d never forget how his hands fit perfectly on those hips as he had pulled her to him.  It wasn’t just her looks.  There was something else there and he knew she felt it too.  She may have kissed him again in self-proclaimed retaliation, but no woman would kiss a man who had just taken advantage of her like that unless she had enjoyed it. 
    But just because he felt an attraction still didn’t mean he was inclined to do anything about it. He was a man for crying out loud, a man that hadn’t had sex in over two years.  His celibate state must be the reason those kisses were so hot and erotic. Any red blooded man would be turned on by them, especially when he hadn’t so much as touched a female in two years.  That had to be it he decided. Best to ignore it and continue on like nothing ever happened as Lacy had suggested yesterday.   Everything looked better in the sunlight of the morning than in the dark of two am. He walked out the door determined not to be the ass he was yesterday. Regardless of what happened, he wanted Lacy to know the real him and the good that Louisiana offered.  Daniella had thrown him off guard and he had let her affect him for the last time.
    Lacy was waiting for him on the porch wh en he arrived.  A pair of Capri pants hugged her curves in all the alluring spots that turned a man on and the tank top she wore,