Easy Nights (Boudreaux #6)

We can’t do awkward.

“Thanks again,” he says and waves as he jogs down to his car. It’s a new one. I haven’t seen it before. The shiny black of the jeep suits him.

And then he’s gone, and I’m left standing on my porch, feeling torn in half. I love him. I’ve always loved him. But this is Ben.

So, I need to get over it. Maybe I should try to go out on a date with someone, just to see if there are any of the same twinges when I’m with someone else.

The thought makes me a bit queasy, but I grab my phone on my way upstairs and call Kate.

“Hello?” The baby is crying in the background. “Eli, can you please take her?”

“It’s okay if you can’t talk,” I say immediately. “We can just text.”

“It’s fine, she’s just fighting sleep. Eli usually has better luck getting her to sleep anyway.”

The baby’s cries get softer as she walks away from my brother and tiny niece.

“I want to come see the baby soon.”

“We would love that. Okay. I’m blissfully alone. What’s up?”

“Well, I was just thinking that maybe I should start dating.”

Crickets.

I pull the phone away to make sure I haven’t dropped the call.

“Kate?”

“I’m here,” she says. “I just… are you sure?”

“No.” I sit in my chair with a laugh. “I’m definitely not sure, but I think I should at least try. I mean, if it doesn’t feel right, I don’t have to do it again, right?”

“That’s true. And I absolutely love it that you’re thinking about this. It means you’re in a really good place now.”

“Best place ever,” I confirm. “But I don’t want to date just anyone. Certainly not anyone online. I still have trust issues.”

“Completely understandable. Hmm, let me think. We know plenty of single men.”

“I don’t want my brothers to set me up,” I reply. “They’d either forbid it altogether, or set me up with someone’s grandpa.”

“You’re so right,” Kate says with a laugh. “But they love you, and it’s their job to protect you.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m also a grown woman, and I don’t need my brothers to play bodyguard. I’m a badass now.”

“Yes. You are. Okay. Let me think on it and I’ll text you.”

“Okay. No pressure and no rush. Really. Because now that we’re talking about it, I might feel like I need to throw up.”

“Oh, honey, that’s perfectly normal for any woman. Dating is hard work, and it’s about ninety percent bullshit.”

“Yeah.” I nod, even though she can’t see me. “Dating sucks.”

“Big time sucks. But there has to be at least one guy in New Orleans who is single and not a douche.”

“Let’s not forget someone who has his shit together. Because frankly, I’m not looking to find someone I have to save or take care of. Just like I don’t need anyone to save me. He has to be a productive adult.”

“Well, that narrows it down to just about nobody,” Kate says with a laugh. “I’m kidding.”

“No, you’re probably right.”

“Let me think— Wait! I know!”

“Okay.”

“Oh, what’s his name?”

“I have no idea.”

“Damn it, I swear, I still have pregnancy brain where I forget everything. He works with Simon.”

Simon is my sister, Charly’s husband. He’s a famous British motivational speaker.

“Is he British?”

“I think so.”

“No.” I shake my head. “No one who lives across the ocean most of the time.”

“It’s not like you can’t afford to go visit him,” Kate says, sarcasm dripping from her lips.

“Too much effort. Think of someone else.”

“You’re awfully picky.”

“Damn right I am.” I grin. “Every woman should be picky. Which is why I’m so confused as to why you married my brother.”

“I heard that,” Eli says.

“Stop eavesdropping.”

“I’m not, I’m just sitting right next to my beautiful bride.”

There are kissy noises, turning my stomach.

“Ew. Get a room.”

“We’re in our room,” Eli says with a laugh. “I’ll find someone for you to date.”

“No. Fuck no. Kate, tell him no.”

“No,” Kate says. “You keep your nose out of this.”

“She’s my sister.”

“I’m going to hang up now,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Let me know if you think of anyone. And tell Eli to mind his own damn business.”

“You are my business, sugar.”

“Goodbye,” I say loudly and hang up the phone. Good God, what have I done? Now he’ll be recruiting my brothers to find me a date too.

Damn it. I should have just kept my big mouth shut.

I shrug and walk into my beautiful new bathroom and run a bath. I strip down and sink into the hot water, lay my head back. I’m ridiculous. Honestly, the thought of meeting a stranger and going out with him, potentially kissing and having sex with him makes me want to throw up.

I’m not ready for that. I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready for that.

Frankly, when I think of being intimate with anyone, it’s Ben. It’s always been Ben. And yes, the man is so hot he could start a fire at fifty paces. Those muscles, the tattoos, the amazing blue eyes. It’s all incredibly hot.

But it’s what he is on the inside that pulls at me, almost more so. He’s gentle and kind, and when he smiles at me, it feels like everything in the world is just right.

And no one, aside from my Daddy, as ever made me feel that before.

I wonder what Dad would say about all of this. He’d have words of wisdom. I wish there was a phone line to heaven that I could call and speak to him.

But there isn’t.

My phone, sitting on the teak tray across my tub, pings with a text.

It’s Ben. My heart flutters and I bite my lip as I open his message.

I’m sorry I’m socially awkward.

I laugh, relieved that he’s making the uncomfortable moment from earlier a joke.

You’re not. I am. And, as it turns out, bad at flirting.

The three dots blink as he types out his response.

You’re just rusty. Soak those muscles tonight in a hot bath and you won’t be so sore tomorrow.

I grin and snap a picture of my feet resting against the far side of the tub, just out of the water and send it to him.

Two steps ahead of you.

He doesn’t reply for a long while, and then finally sends, Goodnight, Van.

I sigh, regretting the photo already.

Good night.





Chapter Three


Ben

“What the fuck happened to you?” Beau asks as I walk into the gym at Bayou Enterprises. Beau, Eli and I have a standing appointment here three times a week. Their other brother, Declan, sometimes joins us as well, and we talk trash and beat the shit out of each other.

It’s my favorite part of the week.

“You should see the other guy,” I reply, not answering the question at all. What am I supposed to say? Your sister, who weighs a buck-ten soaking wet, kicked my ass?

Eli smirks and jumps up on the pull-up bar to do some pull-ups.

“You look tired,” I tell him.

“I have an infant,” he reminds me.