“I’m going to move you for a second, angel. Just relax.” She smiled blissfully, thinking she could do nothing else but relax considering the altered state they’d worked her into. Gage fiddled around with another bag, and then she felt the unexpected sensation of him cleaning her up with wet wipes. “Just cleaning up real quick,” he murmured as he brushed a soft kiss to her neck. Once the job was done and the Ziploc put away, both men cuddled close to her.
“You okay, sweetheart?” Duke asked as he tenderly kissed her cheek.
She burrowed her forehead against the crook of his shoulder and said, “Oh, yes. That was incredible. I love you.” The last thing she remembered was whispered endearments from both of them and kisses to her face and shoulders before they bundled up together and fell asleep.
Chapter Twelve
Gage lifted Emma’s camera from the café table and shot a picture of her with powdered sugar dotting the tip of her nose while she happily nibbled on her beignet. He chuckled when he pointed it out to her, and she crossed her eyes to see as he snapped a picture.
Laughing at her antics, Duke removed the piece of yellow paper from his pocket and unfolded it. Gage handed him a pen, and Duke said, “Beignets and café au lait at Café Du Monde, New Orleans. Check.”
Emma giggled and wiggled in her seat as she crowed with a mouthful of beignet. “Yeah!”
Watching her enjoy herself was worth so much more to him than whether or not they ever completed every item on the list. They’d taken a different route through Louisiana on the trip to Georgia, so on the journey home they’d driven through New Orleans so they could stop at the legendary French Market coffee stand.
Gage looked at the list and said, “We’ll have to swing back through here one spring and mark Mardi Gras off our list.”
Duke looked up from the page and grinned. “You won’t have to twist my arm to come back to New Orleans. You know, it’s not technically a bucket list item, but next stop…”
Gage laughed out loud and said, “We could probably time it so we hit Henderson at suppertime. Mmm.”
Emma licked the confectioner’s sugar from her upper lip and asked, “What’s in Henderson?”
Duke rolled his eyes dreamily and replied, “Only some of the best crawfish étouffée to be found in the Atchafalaya Basin, and crawfish pie that will bring tears to your eyes, sweetheart. I guarantee you have never seen anyone put away as much Cajun food as we can.”
“I’ve never had crawfish before.”
Duke grinned at him, and Gage said, “Well, angel, this is your lucky day. They have all kinds of seafood there, plus chicken and steaks. Although, I think you would like the crawfish. They make it more ways than any other place I’ve ever been to.”
Emma had spent two nights with them in the Chattahoochee National Forest in the North Georgia mountains, hiking, fishing, tree camping, and making love until they could barely breathe or move. Now today, on the way home, she looked more relaxed and contented than Gage had yet seen her. The time away from the stress and long hours of work had been good for her.
The second night they tree camped, a rainstorm had come, and they’d barely gotten the canopy down before it reached them. They’d made love to the sound of the fat droplets landing on the canopy, leaves, and branches around them. Snuggled up in their warm little haven had been a magical moment that he’d never forget. Thankfully, the temperatures never dipped below the fifties either night.
Emma said, “I’m up for trying something new. Crawfish it is.”
Later that evening, after a supper at Pat’s Fisherman’s Wharf that was fit for a king, the three of them decided to stay overnight and have breakfast in Henderson before making the last part of the journey home the next morning.
“My stomach is so full I could bust, guys. I’m glad we decided to stay,” Emma said sleepily as they carried their bags into the motel room at the Edgewater Inn, next to the restaurant. “Do they serve breakfast?”
Both men chuckled, and Gage said, “That’s how you know she liked the food. She’s stuffed but she’s already asking if they serve breakfast.”
They showered together and fell into bed in an exhausted, overfed coma. It rained on the way home the next day. Even though it was a long drive, riding with Emma cuddled up next to him in the truck was a nice way to end the first vacation any of them had taken in years. The thought of her parting ways with them when they got home came to Gage, and even though she would be mere feet away from him, it brought a lingering pain to his chest. She could come home with them. She should come home with them. Gage pondered it for a while and, not for the first time, thought what it would be like if they did live together.