The rest of our clothes fell away one by one. Laughter tangled with moans, nerves melting with heat. Every barrier stripped. Every kiss more breathtaking than the last, until nothing was between us but hot skin and pounding hearts. He played with my hair again. No, that word seemed juvenile. He praised my tresses with each caress. Pressed his lips to the top of my head and said something in Louisiana Creole that warmed my insides.
Montana picked me up and laid me on the bed, his presence filling the air as he loomed above. His forehead pressed against mine, breath ragged. “Ain’t no walls tonight,bébé. Just us.”
“Yes,” I rasped, my voice low, sultry, desired.
“Before Big Country makes this real for you, you gotta promise me something.”
As long as I’m in the presence of Montana and not that crazy fool. I tried to get the words out. Too many words. Too many hardened muscles for me to preview. I murmured, “Anything.”
“That you’ll never leave again,” he said between planting kisseson my eyelashes. “Coz it would be the worst pain you’ve ever caused me.”
Because my actions got him stabbed. My breath caught in my throat and then escaped in a stutter. I nodded. “I won’t go. But I want the man, not the legend.”Yay, I wasn’t that delirious.
When his mouth claimed mine again, the world blurred. Paris no longer existed. No past. No secrets. No dead body between us. Just rain outside, heat inside, and a truth too loud to speak.
This had to be love.
montana
. . .
I’d carried her miles through the Paris rain. The second I picked her up? I knew I didn’t have the strength to let her go.
Rain soaked us to the bone. Didn’t need towels. Now, we’d somehow ended up on the floor. Me on my knees. Pride never humbled itself for love. Never drops to its knees to bring itself equal, but she deserved every moment of this praise I offered.
Her thighs, sturdy and thick, wrapped around my waist. As I stripped away the fabric from her skin, it felt less like undressing her and more like unveiling her.
The streetlight glow leaked past the curtains, painting her skin in shades of gold and shadow. If I weren’t on my knees already, seeing her this way would’ve undone me.
“You tryna hide yourself from me,chère?” My voice cracked in my own ears, too raw to hide.
She didn’t answer. Didn’t seem capable yet, and we hadn’t even gotten started. But she offered a laugh, shaky and nervous. I kissed her. Kissed her as though my entire life was contained within that kiss. Her mouth was the beginning and end of my entire existence. Sliding home during the World Series didn’t compare. I treasured each taste of her mouth. Kissing her slower. Slow enough to learnher rhythm, her breath, the way she tilted her chin, leaned in, breasts crushing against my chest for more. By the time we broke apart, her eyes were hazy and unsure, and I was one heartbeat away from kissing her all over again.
Her fingers trailed my chest. Hesitant and bold. That mix—nerves and desire—undid me.
As she explored me with her hands, I kissed her harder, leaving nothing between us. No secret past. No silly ass fake date contract. Lips, teeth, tongue. I was going to explore her tonight.
Starting with that hair she hid. Thick, golden-brown Sisterlocks framed her face. The crown she almost lost in hiding. My fingers dragged through them, felt the strength and texture, the way each coil resisted and yielded under my touch. I pressed my lips to the top of her head, murmuring something for the two of us. Me. And this hair.
There’s something about a woman with this type of hair—woven, intricate, untouched. The sweet after-rain scent. I’d memorize every strand. She just couldn’t escape me.
Damn if I weren’t ready to imagine how much I’d hold her. Then I placed her in the center of the bed. “Ain’t no walls tonight,bébé. Just us.”
“Yes,” she said, her voice a husky whisper.
“Before Big Country makes this real for you, you gotta promise me something.”
“Anything,” she murmured, her breath warm against my chest.
With each kiss on her eyelashes, I said, “That you’ll never leave again, coz it would be the worst pain you’ve ever caused me.”
Her legs wrapped around me, drawing me in as her voice, strained with emotion, spoke of her promise to stay. “I won’t go. But I want the man, not the legend.”
My God. She was mine.
I needed this woman. Forever.
Sunlight pressed through the curtains, bright and merciless. I blinked awake to find Zuri tangled in the sheets, and me tangled around her curves. Her head rested on my chest, locs damp from drying in the night, fanned across my arm. An easy smile rode my lips. “Thought I’d had you wrapped around my knuckles last night, you had me wrapped around you,” I told her hair.
