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“I mean.”

I give a head nod while licking my lips. “It hasn’t happened since I was a teenager.”

“What?”

“Got hard inside a woman. Your pussy is a time machine.” I slowly pull out and thrust into her. She softly gasps and licks her lips. “It’s a souped up DeLorean cunt.” My last orgasm is leaking around our tight seal as I drive into her.

“Then, by all means, give it to me at eighty-eight miles per hour.”

I’m sipping coffee looking at the gulf. There has to be a simpler way, but I can’t get to it in my head. I don’t like the next step, not one fucking bit. I want to shut her away in a fucking safe. She and Brick think she should be fucking bait. She’s already chum in the water, but they want to put her into the shark den. Fuck. She only conceded to my conditions while coming on my face. And if I have to keep her orgasming constantly to be agreeable, well, it’s a dirty job but someone’s gotta do it. I grin to myself and lick my lips while I rearrange my dick. Damn, I love the way she tastes.

The moment she makes that call, I figure we got about an hour or so before he’s at her fucking doorstep in some fashion. Enzo won’t pick up shit if we do this right. She’s convinced that the burner “bat phone” planted at Prohibition Winery a couple years ago is still there. Better be and her fucking cousin David better answer so we can pull this shit off. The other four owners would come charging in to try to save the fucking day, but David might listen. I need Josh, Sam, Bax, and Tabi to stay out of this. No hero shit with this. We stick to a plan, get in and get out with the information we need. We have to run on logic, not emotion.

I believe Enzo won’t monitor Prohibition Winery, because he’ll focus on the family wineries, not their solo project because Poppy’s not directly involved.

We need two things to happen. Give David a clear warning to go to ground. Bodyguards and lockdown, all that shit again. The other is to draw my former shadow to us pretty damn quick. I was shackled to the man for the last five years as I took my Family to the legit side of things. He’ll come at her call.

We need some serious skill and Cady is my personal G-man’s obsession. His icy fingers have spread through channels of scary ass power, and he’s using us as stepping stones to his end. Sinister fuck. After years of searching collectively, we only know of one weak spot, his missing wife. He’s never stopped looking for her. From what we can piece together, she disappeared and no death certificate was ever issued.

Christ, I hate this plan but I don’t have a choice in this. I kick the sand in front of me and watch it spray into the surf. I want all the heads of the goddamned hydra, so nothing fucking pops up again. I want to get pissed on Italian wine on a warm afternoon while Poppy rides me in the goddamn sunset.

Porcelain arms snake around my middle. I can feel her put her head to my mid back. I put my hands over hers and stay in her embrace. Every time I get worried, I remember there’s not one person on this fucking earth stronger than this one. The way she’s endured my shit over the years and taken it all in stride. Hell, she cooked pot roasts to feed my crews. She made a fucking cake when Johnny G got made. She’s learned how to clean guns and sharpen blades for men who would kill for me but die for her.

She put herself in the hospital defending the ones she loves. And all the while everyone thought she was a daffy little know it all who liked to gossip and giggle. She’s that too but she’s also this. What they think about her is only decoration on her fucking titanium soul.

“Get over here.” I reach around, pulling her to the front of me. She’s beaming a smile that’s about to break me in half it’s so sweet. “How are you this goddamned beautiful in the middle of a nightmare and with barely any sleep? You’re stunning.”

“Genetics and great topical creams.” She grins and I lean down to take her lips.

I whisper against her lips, “So delicious.”

“I love you so much. We’re going to be ok, right?” Her voice is wavering just a touch.

“We’re predestined. We’re eternal.” I kiss her again. Then I say, “Of course, we’re going to be goddamned ok. Because I can’t believe there’d be a creator out there who would put us through all this shit, when there’s no payoff at the end. Come on, Gingersnap. We’ve worked too hard not to get our happy from this raw deal.”

She kisses me, and I slide my hands through her curls and hold her head to mine.

“Is it wrong that I am happy? Right here.” I hold my perfect creature tight. “Let’s stop time and live on this shoreline.”

I reply, “No more killing, gangster shit or dirty dealings because we’d be beach bums.”

“Can we be naked beach bums?” She squeezes my ass.

“We can.” There’s a long pause as we both sigh, looking at the wrong side of the ocean. I know it’s the Gulf of Mexico, but it leads to the Atlantic, which takes me to the sea I’d rather be looking at. “Just not right now, Gingersnap. Soon.” Christ, I hope it’s soon.

She nuzzles into my chest. I place my chin on her head, and we hold each other for what feels like not enough time. Coulda been a minute or an hour. Ain’t never enough fucking time. On the other side of this, it will just be me and her sitting around doing boring shit like grocery shopping and fighting about what to watch. That sounds like paradise.

She pulls out of my arms and I say to her, “I want to make toast.”

“What?”

“Toast. Wanna make toast with me? You know, like warmed up bread slathered in either butter or jam.”

“Or avocado?”

“Nah. That green shit should never hit bread and be called breakfast. That generation has done a lot of good in the world and contributed to a social conscious like no other, but that shit, that avocado toast, that’s the blight they’ll leave behind.”

“Better that than global warming.”