Page 52 of Crazy Rich Cajuns

It was stupid to have a fire at all, of course.It was late summer in Georgia.There was no need for a fire in summer if there were no marshmallows to toast.Kennedy surveyed the area quickly.Were there marshmallows?She wouldn’t have been surprised.But all she saw was a cooler full of bottled water sitting in ice.Well, that was a good idea.She grabbed one and unscrewed the top as she settled onto the chaise lounge chair to Teddy’s left.

The chair was more comfortable than her grandmother’s sofa, for fuck’s sake.She sighed.Sure, some of it was the vodka coursing pleasantly through her veins, but it really was relaxing out here.Someone had turned the music down to a more background level versus a party level.The fireplace was gas and seemed set to give off more light than actual heat.She could hear the crickets and other night noises and, in the distance, outside of the circle of light thrown on the lawn from the house, she could see fireflies winking.Of course, bugs wouldn’t dare come any closer to Maria Baxter’s backyard.But it was reminiscent of the sights and sounds Kennedy would have from her own front porch, and she took a deep breath and sunk further into the cushions.

“So, you and Bennett.”

Kennedy rolled her head to look over at Charles.“Bennett is my boss,” she said, stretching her legs out and wiggling her bare toes.“There’s no me and Bennett.We’re not dating.”

“Okay.”Charles didn’t sound convinced.

“Seriously,” she said.

“I have a feeling Bennett doesn’t boss you around much.”

She laughed.“That obvious that I don’t take direction well?”

“You just seem very sure of yourself,” Charles said smoothly.“Purely a compliment.”

“Bennett needs someone who knows herself,” Teddy said.“He’s got plenty of other people to be pushing and fighting with.”

“Does he?”she asked.“Pushing and fighting, huh?”

Teddy nodded.“His whole job is convincing people to do things his way.”

“At the foundation?”

“Right.”

“He doesn’t do that at the boat tour company?”Charles asked.

Kennedy laughed.“Bennett’s the new kid.He’s still learning.”

“Huh.”

She looked at Charles.“What?”

“Bennett is still learning about the bayou?”

“Yep.”Kennedy watched her toes wiggle in the firelight.“It’s my family’s business.We’ve been there forever.”

“Ah.Okay, that makes sense.”

Kennedy glanced at the men.“What makes sense?”

“Why he’s planning to move his foundation to Louisiana.”

Kennedy frowned.“He’s doing what?”

“Already has, mostly,” Teddy said.“He’s been in New Orleans all this past week.”

So that was why he’d been in New Orleans when she’d called him.But he was moving his foundation there?The foundation she hadn’t even known that he had?

“Why would he move all of that to Louisiana?”she asked.

Charles chuckled.“Guessing the gumbo has something to do with it.But thinkin’ you might, too.”

Kennedy shook her head.“We just kind of started…whatever.We’re just messing around.He’s notmovingbecause of me.”But there was a little voice in the back of her mind that said,You sure about that?Bennettreallyloved the bayou.And her family.And if she was now sleeping with him, he didn’t have a lot of reason to think that he couldn’t just move right in and have it all.

Except…his life was in Georgia.Sure, he said that he didn’t want the politics and everything that his family was trying to push him into.But he was a lawyer here.He had a foundation.She didn’t even really know what that meant exactly, but even the wordfoundationwas a pretty big, solid, permanent-type word.

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