Page 38 of Crazy Rich Cajuns

Bennett looked up at his friend.

“Don’t make me say it,” Duke told him.

Bennett cocked a brow.“Oh, I think I’m going to need you to say it.”

Duke sighed.“You already know it.”

“Maybe.But I don’t know if I care anymore.”

“You do.Somewhere down deep.Where the moonshine and hot bayou girl haven’t quite gotten yet.”

Bennett frowned.“It’s not like Kennedy has talked meoutof anything.She doesn’t even know any of this is a possibility.”

“So you’re not running away?”

“I’mchoosingsomething else.”

“Why?”

“Because it feels like something else can matter more.”

“Yeah, well, I think that’s where you’re wrong.”

The two men sat looking at one another for a long moment.

Finally, Bennett said, “I think you have to say it.”

Duke muttered something that sounded like, “Asshole,” under his breath, but then said, “You were born for elected office.You would be a fantastic public servant, Bennett Baxter.”

Bennett took a deep breath.His oldest friend might not have given a lot of thought to the perfect woman for Bennett, but Duke knew exactly what words to use when he was trying to make a point.Public servant.Duke had specifically used those words instead of “you would be a fantastic governor”, or “you’d make a great state senator.”Public servant meant more.Sounded better.

And dammit, it did make Bennett listen.

6

A soft knockat the door made Kennedy jump.Her heart leapt into her throat.It wasn’t Bennett.He wouldn’t knock.He’d walk right in.And he wouldn’t be coming from the hallway.They had an adjoining bathroom.

From which she could hear the shower running.She’d been sitting on the bed imagining Bennett in there, wet and soapy, only a few feet away.Wondering what he’d do if she walked in and joined him.Definitely wondering about that multi-jet system in there.

Please just be someone delivering the dresses.Please just be someone delivering the dresses.Please don’t be—

“Hi, Mrs.Baxter,” Kennedy greeted Bennett’s mother, who was standing on the other side of the door with two garment bags.

“These just came for you.”

“Thank you so much.I appreciate it.I’m so sorry that Bennett didn’t tell me more about this weekend so I could have been more prepared.”

Maria Baxter didn’t hold the bags out for Kennedy.She was clearly keeping them.For now.“Perhaps he thought that you would just assume what kind of dress code this would require.”

Kennedy couldn’t help but laugh at that.“I don’t think that was it.”

“No?Why is that?”

Maria stepped forward and Kennedy didn’t have a lot of choice but to step back and let her into the room.It was her house after all.She also didn’t strike Kennedy as the type of woman to take no for an answer.

“Because where I’m from, when someone says party at their parents’ house, that means shorts and T-shirts, and beer and barbecue in the backyard.”

Maria laid the bags on the bed and unzipped them.“Maybe Bennett didn’t realizethat.”

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