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I explode in exasperation, “Where are we going?”

“One second.” He puts his finger up and I’m about to break it off.

“Boomer, did you deliver the other package?” We’re at a light and Boomer turns to me and lowers his sunglasses. “Ms. Aganos is safely on her way home, full of beignets. You were right. She inhaled three of them in the car.”

My whole body relaxes, then I ask, “And you knew not to kick her out of the bar.”

“Only I sent her picture to Sal.” He turns back to the front as he explains it was Sal who orders her to be safe.

“Gingersnap settle in. We have a little drive,” Sal says.

“Where’s Lou? Where are we going? Are we flying out of here? Where are we going?”

He unbuckles my seatbelt and gathers me on his lap. “Shh. Lou’s a big boy. We had a plan. He knows what to do if we’re separated.”

“We have to find him.”

“You’re the priority.”

“Really? Doesn’t seem that way lately?” He kisses the top of my head and my body slumps against his hard chest.

“Shh. Just shh. Let me hold you. Let me make up for lost time. Boomer, head to the alternate location.”

I can barely get my words out. I’m so tired and sapped of everything. He’s here and I’m surrounded by the smell of Bergamot and his heartbeat drums in my ear. The rhythm of life puts me in a state where I let the world slip away because the only thing that matters are his arms around me.

“After this, you start telling me things.” I pat his chest.

“What things, my love?”

My voice is drifting as the words slowly ooze out of my mouth. “All the things.”

He kisses the top of my head again. “Let it all go. Time for that. Rest now.” And it feels like the first time in forever since I felt I could. But this time, dreaming won’t be nearly as good as being awake.

His voice is low and slow and perfect. “Don’t know why there’s no sun up in the sky, stormy weather. Since my man and I ain’t together…”

Chapter

Twenty-Three

POPPY

I open my eyes with my head in his lap and we’re parked. Boomer is nowhere in sight, and the two of us are alone. “You let me sleep?”

“I figured it was the least I could do.” He plays with my hair as I curl my arms around his thick thigh.

“If you’re awake, maybe you could use this position to both of our advantages.” He laughs and I sit up.

“After all the shit you put me through, you think you deserve a blow job?” He lifts me to him, and I straddle him.

“You deserve to feel good, too. And as much as I missed your rants and sass---” His hands cup my butt as he scoots me onto his erection. “I missed this ass more.”

“Where are we?” His full, lush lips take mine again and I get lost in the black scruff and his tongue taking as much of me as it can get. We thrash, and my hands find purchase in his hair and pull on the longer than normal dark locks.

I grind down on him and it’s as exciting and hot as it was the very first time. There’s no place to hide from our chemistry.

A harsh knock on the window startles us, and we lean back, disentangling our tongues. A diminutive black woman is hitting the car with a ladle.

“No screwing, fussing, or lustin’ in the parking lot, ya hear? Now geetcha asses in here.” Sal laughs and I scramble off his lap and out of the car. I stand looking at a very large cottonwood tree whose branches run through parts of this parking lot. I smell food that’s familiar to me now. That’s the aroma of a stellar boil. We can’t be far from Louisiana. The thick air and smell are the same.