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“I thought we were friends, El,” Henry tells her.
“We were, until you did something to my friend Ruby to make her come flirtin’ with the bayou boys.”
With that, Henry steers me away from the bar and toward the big table at the back of the room where there is a huge group gathered.
“Nice to meet you, Ruby!” Ellie calls after us, laughing. “See you whenever!”
“Thanks, Ellie!” I call back.
“I’ve changed my mind,” Henry says. “You can’t come back here.”
I laugh. “Oh, I want to come here all the time now.”
“You’ll hate it. The gumbo is terrible. Way too spicy. And there are no other British accents.”
“I’ll be okay. She said I can eat red beans and rice. And the Louisiana accent is also very?—”
He stops, turns, and cups my face, bringing me in for a long, deep kiss.
When he lets me go, everyone at the back table is watching.
He points at them.
“All ofthosebayou boys are married,” Henry says. “Now they know you’re mine, and theywillkeep an eye on you, so your sweet smiles and flirty eyes and panty-less ass are forme, and onlyme. Got it?”
God, I love when he gets possessive.
I love that he’s bringing me into this world that means so much to him.
I love these people already because of how happy they make him.
I lovehim.
I nod. “Only yours,” I say softly.
He was expecting a sassy, teasing retort, and he blinks at me in surprise for a moment. Then he smiles. “That’s right. Mine.”
I’m going to miss him so damned much.
At least now I have a whole assed bar to come hang out in and drown my sorrows.
And bread pudding.
It won’t fix my lonely heart, but bread pudding never made anything worse.
Chapter 25
Henry
Ruby, of course, charmed everyone. I hadn’t been worried. Well, until Ellie started talking about setting her up with Autre boys.
The Landrys and their friends are an easy group to get along with, and Ruby attracts people naturally. It’s the way she sees people for who they are and accepts them as is. That will be what makes her fit in with this group perfectly. I suspect it won’t take long before she comes to Autre on a regular basis and, not because she really needs anything, but simply because she enjoys it.
They’re a rowdier bunch than she’s used to, but they’re all big-hearted and definitely subscribe to the idea that you don’t have to be blood to be family.
As we pull up to the big house where Cian and I lived during our time in Autre, I feel the need to tell her, “I’ve never brought a woman to this house.”
“You’re not trying to tell me you were celibate during the time you lived in Autre, are you?” she says, giving me ayeah rightlook.