Page 79 of Bourbon Sins
“I do,” he said, as he took it out of my hair and placed it gently in the center console. “When we get to our destination, we’ll put it back in.”
With that, he revved the engine alive and pulled out of the back driveway. I watched as the sinew of muscles on his forearms contracted with every shift he made to the car. His other hand was on the steering wheel, as if he was meant to be a racecar driver. Confidence exuded from his body as he weaved his way through the side streets of the Garden District. Fucking hell, the man was a walking turn on.
Gently pulling my eyes off the brilliant man to my side, I took in the colorful pastels of the houses surrounding the famous neighborhood, marveling at the wonky trees that flanked the streets, and the old wrought iron charm New Orleans emanates on a daily basis. We rode down St. Charles Street, passing the trolley that stopped every hundred yards to pick up a new group of mixed locals and tourists. Beads from previous Mardi Gras parades dangled from the power lines and trees, no one bothering to remove them, since they were all a part of the beauty of the city.
I took in a deep breath as fresh air filled my lungs. It had been awhile since I actually left the confines of the Lafayette Club and with the sun beating down on me and the sex god sitting next to me, I felt refreshed, wanted, and taken care of.
We drove in silence as Jett navigated his way through the streets of New Orleans, dealing with one-way streets, trolley tracks, and detours from construction. We pulled up to the harbor was stunned when he pulled up next to a man in a suit waiting at the curb.
Jett left the car running, hopped out, handed the man on the curb something and then opened my door, holding out his hand to help me out. We were not in an area where there was valet parking, so there must have been a look of confusion on my face when Jett helped me out of his car because he said, “He works for me. I don’t trust public parking around here.”
“I wouldn’t either if I was driving that penis enlarger.”
Jett’s eyebrow raised as he looked down at me in question. “Penis enlarger?”
“Yeah, you know,” I said, while using my hands to gesture to the car and then to his crotch. “Men with fast cars are compensating for something.”
Jett leaned down and whispered in my ear, sending chills straight to my core. “You know perfectly well, that’s not the case here.” He pulled back as a sexy grin spread across his face. He lifted his hand and placed the yellow and orange flower back in my hair and then looked me in the eyes. “Perfect.”
Grabbing my hand, he led me past the Gumbo Pot and up to a round booth near the water.
“Ever been on the Steamboat Natchez?” he asked, as he pulled out his wallet and asked for two tickets.
“When I was little with my parents.” The memory of them taking me on the steamboat on a bright Saturday afternoon flooded my mind as I thought about the pack of peanut M&M’s my dad got me that I ended up spilling all over the deck. I was so upset, he got me two more packs . . . just in case I spilled them again.
“Hey, you okay?” Jett asked, as he guided me toward the line for steamboat. I nodded my head, but he didn’t take that as an answer. “Little one, do you not want to do this?”
“No, I do.” I relayed to him the story about when I went with my parents and how it just made me miss them. I needed to go visit them soon; I hadn’t been to their gravestone lately. Guilt washed through me before I was able to tamp it down. I looked like a brat and was acting ungrateful, so I shook out of my funk and followed Jett as we were guided onto the boat.
“This way.” He walked us quickly to the back of the boat where the big red wheel poked half out of the water and half in. He pressed my body up against the rail, his front to my back, and wrapped his arms around the front of me to hold onto the railing. Even if I wanted to move, I couldn’t.
The organist that sat at the top of the boat played classic maritime songs, making me almost feel like I was at a Disney park. Kids ran around the boat screaming like lunatics as their respective parents lectured them and told them to stop running as the remaining passengers boarded.
Jett leaned down next to my ear while his body pressed up against mine, sending all my synapses into overdrive.
“This is my favorite spot on the boat, listening to the water run off the wheel and seeing the wake we leave behind. It’s funny, such a big wheel can cause such a disturbance in the water but then as time goes on, the water goes back to its normal ripple; it always recovers.”
Not quite understanding what he meant, I asked him. “What do you mean?”
His freshly-shaven face brushed against my cheek. “Hurricane Katrina took so much from you, put a huge disturbance in your life, but you’re just like the river out here, little one. It might have rocked your world for a while, but as time goes on, you’ll return back to your normal ripple. I promise you will.”
I soaked in every last word Jett spoke to me and pushed back the tears that threatened to fall. The man could be so eloquent, so honest at times and so . . . loving that it nearly ripped me apart.
Even though I knew I never directly told him about my parents, I could only imagine the connections he had to find out what happened in my life . . . the devastation I’d lived through. I leaned against his body as he enveloped me in his strong embrace. We didn’t speak; we didn’t need to, we just enjoyed each other’s company as we watched the red wheel rotate, propelling us forward.
In the faint distance, I could hear a tour guide talk about our surroundings, but his words were not registering in my mind. All I could think about was the way I was so very quickly falling for a man who I didn’t know, and who wanted nothing to do with being in a relationship.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“If I Lose Myself”
JETT
Goldie was still leaning against the railing near the wheel when I walked up behind her. She stiffened for a second at being startled, but then sank back into my chest.
I tried to ignore the fact that I enjoyed the way she fit me perfectly, the way our bodies molded together and the way her hair reminded me of hope, of sweet days to come. I just tried to soak in the moment for what it was worth, spending some time with a beautiful companion and enjoying the sights around us. That’s all it was.
“I could have been anyone,” I said into her ear, as I leaned down into her.
