Chapter 20
Three hours later, Theo was on the road to Alexandria. It was about a three and a half hour drive, and by the time he'd borrowed Zander's tux, packed and talked to his boss about being gone for a couple more days, he was only partway there when his phone rang.
It was Savannah.
Theo pulled over to the side of the road. "Hey, City Girl."
"Hey, I need your help with something."
His heart started pounding harder just at the sound of her voice. But hearing that she needed him for something made it start racing. "Anything, anytime."
"I need you to…come rescue me."
"I'm on my way." He was so relieved that she’d realized she wanted him at this party.
"Great.”
He could hear the smile in her voice and loved the fact that she’d clearly known he’d agree.
“So, I'm not exactly sure where I am,” she told him. “I think I'm about a mile away from your cabin. I might have made a wrong turn though. But I steered into a big bunch of grass, and I can’t get out.”
He stopped, thought about her words, frowned, then said, "What the hell are you talking about?"
She laughed lightly. "I decided I needed to make this big grand gesture to show you that I'm…” She trailed off, then said. “In love with you. And I decided it would be great if I came down to the bayou and brought an airboat to your cabin to declare my feelings."
His brain had stopped at in love with you . His thoughts were hung up on those words and playing them over and over again, enjoying them immensely.
“Theo?”
He forced his mind to move on to the rest of what she'd said.
"You're in Autre?"
"Yeah. Well kind of. I'm outside of Autre, obviously."
She was in an airboat. Grounded in some grass somewhere on the bayou.
Trying to get to him.
He closed his eyes. "Well…fuck."
She was quiet for a second. Then she said, “Or…maybe this was a mistake.”
His eyes snapped open and he sat up. “No. No, that’s not what I meant. I love that you’re there.”
“You do?” She sounded relieved. “So you can come get me?”
"You don't know how to drive an airboat, Savannah."
His thoughts and emotions were finally catching up now. And he realized this really was a grand gesture. A pretty great one. Also, a funny one.
Or, it would be, if he was in Autre and could go and immediately get her.
The love of his life, his City Girl, had taken an airboat out on his bayou, to go to his cabin, to tell him she loved him.
Yeah, that was pretty great.
It was too bad he was about two and a half hours away from her.
"Well, it's not totally true. I know how . I just haven't done it. But I understand the principle. And I figured I've seen it done enough that it couldn't be that hard."
"Who got you onto a boat?"
"Owen."
Of course. If Theo had let himself think for two more seconds, he would've guessed it was Owen. Owen loved a big grand gesture, and he hadn't been up at Ellie's to hear Theo’s plan to go to Alexandria.
He sighed. "Savannah," he said calmly.
"Yeah?"
"This is not how I expected to say this but…I love you, too. So fucking much. I’m absolutely crazy about you.”
He heard her little sucked in breath and then her letting it out. "Thank God. I was really hoping you would say that. Of course, I want to say and hear it in person."
"You will. But…"
"But what?" she asked, her tone guarded as if she knew this was not going to be good news.
"I'm almost to Alexandria."
There was a beat of silence. Then she asked softly, "You were coming to the party?"
"Yep. I'm even in a tux. I just wanted to be wherever you were. And I wanted to start the new year with you. Because I want to spend a lot of this next year with you. As much as we possibly can."
She sniffed. "So you had a grand gesture planned too."
"Yup."
She sighed. "Oh my God. This is not how I wanted this to go."
He laughed. "I’ve got you, City Girl. I’ll send someone. Then I want your pretty butt in my cabin waiting for me when I get there."
"Okay.”
He knew her smile was back.
“And then we can go spend New Year's Eve with our friends at Ellie's?” she asked.
He intended to make it very difficult for her to get out of bed but…sure. Later. Much later. "Whatever you want,” he said.
She paused and then said, “You, Theo. You’re what I want.”
He felt his throat tighten. “Hold tight. I’m turning my truck around right now.”
“I’ll be here when you get back.”
Theo’s heart was pounding so hard he almost couldn’t hear Zander when he answered his call a minute later, “Yeah?”
“Hey, I need you to go rescue my girlfriend. She’s…stuck.”
A nother three hours later, Theo jumped out of the airboat onto his dock and stalked up the path to his cabin.
He was still wearing the tux.
Savannah met him on the porch.
She was in leggings and a sweatshirt.
“I love you,” he said. That was first and foremost the thing he needed to say, and she needed to hear.
“I love you too.”
Then he scooped her up in his arms. Her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms went around his neck. He carried her into the cabin, kissing her deeply.
He went straight for the bedroom, tossing her onto the bed, then shrugging out of the tux jacket.
“Oh, hang on,” she said. Her eyes roamed over him, from head to toe. “Damn,” she said approvingly. “I like the tux look, Mr. Taggart.”
“I’ll wear it to Ellie’s.”
Her eyes widened. “You will?”
“If you wear whatever sexy thing you have in your bag that you’d planned to wear to the party tonight. And no panties.”
She gave him a grin. “Deal.”
He started unbuttoning the shirt.
"I quit my job by the way. When I told Steve I wasn't coming to the party. I told him I wasn't going to work for him anymore.”
He paused. “You’re sure? Because we can make it work?—”
“I’m sure. We had a big argument, as expected, about Monroe Farm, and…I have savings and I emailed a travel agency yesterday. It’s owned by this really amazing woman named Monica and she wants to talk on Monday.”
"I'm selling this cabin and buying a house in New Orleans."
" What ?"
"If that's where you're gonna be, even for a couple days at a time, then that's where I want to be. When you come home, then I want you to come home to me. I know you won’t be there all the time, but I’ll take two days here and there over none.”
Tears were shimmering in her eyes. "Theo, I… that’s so sweet. Oh my God.” She got up and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face into his chest. “I can’t believe you’re even considering that. But…” She leaned back and looked up at him. “I don't want to live in New Orleans.”
His breath jammed in his chest, and he was pretty sure his heart stopped beating. "No?"
Fuck.
But…okay. He’d move. Wherever she was going.
"No. I was thinking maybe a house in Autre."
“Fine. Okay. I can do that. I’ll go wherever you want to go.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Theo?”
“Yeah?”
“Did you hear what I said?”
“Yeah. You don’t want to be in New Orleans. I want to go with you. It will be an adjustment. But every state needs wildlife officers and?—”
“Autre,” she said, firmly. “I’m moving to Autre.”
He stopped. Studied her face. Repeated what she’d said in his head. Then frowned.
“Here?”
“Well, not here , maybe. Seriously, the total darkness and the critters out here kind of freak me out. And clearly I need more airboat practice. But home is where the heart is and my heart… you… are in Aut?—”
He squeezed her tight and lifted her off her feet. “I fucking love you so much, Savannah.”
She laughed. “Ah, there he is.”
He took the two steps to the bed and tossed her onto the mattress, then followed her down. “You really want to live in tiny little Autre? It gets dark there too, City Girl.”
“Well, there’s dark and then there’s dark . And maybe I’ll make you hang up some twinkle lights on our back patio or something,” she said with a grin. “But yeah. Our friends and family are there. And you’ll be there. And?—”
“I thought that everything that made me who I am was here in Autre,” he interrupted. “Until I met you. You have made me into… even more. More of who I want to be. I’ll go anywhere with you.”
Her eyes glittered with tears, and she took a deep breath and nodded. “I love you. And yes, this is where we should call home. In between our travels. A place that’s a combination of getting away from the big city life and the outdoorsy stuff you need and the civilization that I need."
He laughed and pulled her closer, nuzzling his face into her neck. "I'm not sure most people would consider Autre civilization, but I'm very glad you do."
She arched closer, capturing his lips with hers. They kissed deeply for several long moments.
Then she said, "But we could also keep this cabin, right?”
He lifted his head. “You want to keep the cabin?"
"Well, Louisiana doesn't get enough snow, so we need a place where we can get away for a couple of days all by ourselves,” she said, running her hands down to his ass and squeezing. “This would be a pretty good place to sneak away and come up with something like running out of gas or getting a flat tire or something once in a while, right?”
He laughed and started stripping her clothes off of her. “It’s private property. I’ll put up a big sign that says No Trespassing.”
“Even with the Landry boys around?”
He paused, then nodded. “You’re right. We’re going to need a big fence, some barbed wire, and a few trained gators. But I’ll get it done.”
“You’d do that for me?” She gave him a sweet, but mischievous smile.
He pulled her sweatshirt over her head and then gathered her close, kissing her neck and running his hands up and down her back. “You can have anything you want, City Girl. Just stick with me.”
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Thank you so much for reading Stuck Bayou! I hope you loved Theo and Savannah story!