Page 28 of Crazy Rich Cajuns

“Come on.”

“You come on.There are spirits all over.Good and bad.”

Good and bad.Right.Was she messing with him?It was about fifty-fifty, he figured.“You don’t worry about the bad ones?”

“Well, not when I’ve got the gris-gris bag my grandma made me.But that’s back home in Autre.”

Bennett sighed.He didn’t know if the Landrys actually dabbled in voodoo or not.He knew they went to the local church so it wasn’t their primary religion or anything, but voodoo seeped into many of the Louisiana traditions and legends.It wouldn’t surprise him a bit if there were talismans or charms to be found around the homes and businesses.He had no doubt that Kennedy had a gris-gris bag—a traditional voodoo charm that consisted of a small cloth bag filled with herbs, stones and personal items that would ward off evil spirits—that Ellie had made for her.“Of course.”

“But if you get scared tonight, I’ll be happy to come sleep in your room.”

“You’d scare the ghosts off?”

She snorted.“How would I do that?”

“Then how are you going to protect me?”he asked, his grip gentled and he ran his thumb over the sensitive skin of her inner elbow.

“If I’m with you in your room tonight, you’ll be too distracted to notice anything else going on.”

That wasn’t a bad point.“We’ll talk about the sleeping arrangements later,” he told her as the huge front door swung open and his mother stepped out onto the porch.

“Oh, let’s not.Let’s sneak around,” Kennedy said.“That’s way more fun.”

He gave her an eye-roll.“Stay right there.I’ll come around and open the door for you.”He started to get out.

“I can open my own door.”

“I know.”

“So that’s stupid.”

“Humor me.”

“I might consider it romantic,” she warned.“Which means I’m totally going to feel your ass as we walk up those steps to greet your mother.”

He ducked his head back into the car.“Well, the joke’s on you,” he told her.“You’re trying to give me a constant hard-on with that stuff?Thing is, I’m already hard for you just seeing you smile and hearing you talk about gris-gris bags.”

“That’s pathetic,” she told him, but she was clearly fighting a smile.

“I know.”

“And kind of romantic.”

“Yeah.”

“So I’m definitely not wearing panties to dinner tonight and I’m hoping that you’ll pull me into a dark corner and finger me.”

Bennett dropped his head and blew out a breath.“You’re going to kill me.”

“That’s a nice change,” she said.“Usually, people want to killme.”

Bennett openedthe car door for her, which wasn’t really that romantic—it was more a stupid patriarchal tradition that she really wished would die—and then threaded his fingers with hers as they climbed the wide stone steps to the porch.

She suspected the hand holding was to keep her from pinching his ass.But it was also nice—and yeah, a little romantic—and she liked it more than she should.

When they got to the top, though, she was fully focused on Bennett’s mom.

She was a Cajun.Kennedy hadn’t been expecting that.She felt more comfortable instantly just knowing that.

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