Page 13 of Crazy Rich Cajuns

“So, I’m taking Kennedy to Savannah for the weekend,” he said to Ellie and Leo once he saw the coast was clear.

He wanted to get a read on the family reaction to him and Kennedy spending more time together, and Ellie and Leo were the best ones to start with.For one, they had no filter and would tell him exactly what they thought.For another, they liked him.

He knew that the guys—Sawyer, Josh, and Owen—liked him, too.Mostly.But that was, at least in part, because he’d helped save their business and was willing to come down and lend some muscle to whatever project was going on.He wasn’t sure how they’d feel about him dating their little sister-slash-cousin.

“You’re going to introduce her to your family?”Ellie asked.She wasn’t wearing quite as big a smile as Bennett might have hoped for.Or expected.

He nodded.“Yeah.It’s my dad’s retirement party.I’ll be there for the weekend and thought it would be fun to take her along.”

“Why do you want her to meet your family?”Leo asked, frowning slightly.

Yeah, definitely not the bright smiling faces he’d been wanting.Bennett shifted on his stool.“Because I talk about the bayou and all of you a lot.Thought it would be good for my family to get to know one of you.To see what has me so…charmed down here.”

Leo shrugged.“I’m free this weekend.I could go with you.”

Ellie nodded.“Me, too.I haven’t been to Savannah in years.”

Bennett’s eyebrows lifted.“Um.You two want to go to my dad’s retirement party with me?”

Leo and Ellie shared a look.Ellie nodded.“We could.I mean if you want your family to meet some people from down here, we’re a great choice.We’ve been here the longest.”

“We’re the fucking backbone of this community,” Leo agreed.“We know all the stories, the whole history.You want your family to have a taste of the bayou, you can’t go wrong with us.”

“I can whip up some food to bring along.Leo can bring his fiddle.”Ellie gave them both a grin.“We can even take some bayou whiskey with us.Really give ’em a party bayou style.”

“And hell, we charm people every fuckin’ day, don’t we, darlin’?”Leo asked his wife.Who had been his ex-wife for a while.Then was his secret girlfriend for a while.Then just his girlfriend.And was now his wife again since they’d “eloped” to New Orleans a couple of weeks ago.

Ellie gave him a smile.“We sure do.Leo drives the tourists around on the bus all day every day and I feed and water ’em.Nobody more charmin’ than the two of us down here.”

Bennett nodded slowly.He could imagine Ellie and Leo showing up at his parent’s estate with crawfish pie, bayou whiskey—aka moonshine made in the backyard—and a fiddle, and entertaining the guests with the colorful stories from the bayou, including, of course, plenty of legends and myths mixed in with the hard-to-believe-but-mostly-true stories of real people living here.Not to mention some of the crazy tourist stories.

The governor and the millionaires and the local celebrities would all be very…entertained…by it all.Or something.It would be entertaining for Bennett at least.

His mother would hate it.

Of course, once her family showed up—the crazy Cajun side of his family—Ellie and Leo would fit right in.Someone would probably set something on fire.Someone—or more than one someone—would end up naked in the swimming pool.And his mother would end up in bed with a migraine for the rest of the weekend.

“Is there a reason that you think Kennedy would be abadchoice to go along with me?”he asked, attempting to turn the tables a bit.A near impossible feat with these two but worth trying.

Ellie narrowed her eyes.“Why don’t you tell us why you’rereallywanting to take her to Savannah.”

Leo leaned in closer.

Bennett swallowed hard.“I do want my mom and dad to meet her.”

“Because?”

“I…like her.”

Leo chuckled.“’Course you do.Everyone likes Kennedy.But not everyone wants to spend three days straight with her.”

Bennett couldn’t help but smile.He wasn’t going to tell them it was going to be five days.

“Do you want her to go to Savannah with you because ofheror because she’s a single woman you know that you’re attracted to who might be willing to spend the weekend with you at a fancy party?”Ellie asked.

Bennett swallowed.That was a fair question.“Because of her,” he said honestly.“Not to sound like an asshole, but there are a lot of beautiful, single women I could have asked.”

Ellie nodded.“I figured.Just wanted to be sure.”

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