He shone his flash light on them, his expression unreadable. “I didn’t see you in any state of undress,” he admitted. “But there’s no overnight parking here.”
Lauren nodded. “Can we be on our way then? No harm, no foul?”
Behind her, she sensed Sylvie was going to say something. She reached back and squeezed her hand.
“I suppose.” He turned off his flashlight with a click. “But I don’t want to see you back here again, okay?”
“You got it,” Lauren agreed with a smile.
Before he could change his mind, Lauren turned Sylvie toward her white Jeep. For a moment, Sylvie remained rigid and unmoving.
“Sylvie,” Lauren warned quietly.
Sylvie broke her staring contest with the twelve-year-old cop and turned.
When they were in the car, and on their way out of the parking lot, Sylvie grumbled. “We weren’t doing anything wrong. It’s not overnight parking when it’s barely ten o’clock at night.”
Lauren laughed. “I can’t remember the last time I was out so late on a date.”
Sylvie relaxed, allowing her hands to slide down the sides of the steering wheel. “Before we spent this week at the Whitney, I don’t think I’d been awake after sunset in forever.”
Reaching over, Lauren took Sylvie’s hand and interlaced their fingers. “Breakfast tomorrow?”
The corner of Sylvie’s lip twitched. “I have to go to the airport in the morning. Where are you going to be?”
“I have to be in Little Havana waiting for a delivery. New gas ovens,” she explained, caressing Sylvie’s hand with her thumb.
“Will you be there at eight?”
“Yep,” she replied, her chest already tightening at the prospect of seeing Sylvie again so soon.
“I’ll bring something.”
Lauren smiled. “It’s almost like you don’t know what you’re going to do with yourself now that we’re not going to see each other for fourteen hours a day.”
Sylvie rolled her eyes, but the squeeze to Lauren’s hand indicated her real feelings. “I don’t know who’s going to teach you how to do things properly now. Without me you’ll continue to put nut milks in lattes.”
Lauren laughed. “I’m going to miss you, too.”
“No, you’re not,” Sylvie snapped before daring a glance at Lauren. “Because I’m going to see you tomorrow.”