“How?” she asked, strolling slowly. “My heels stabbed your toes.”
“I remember.” I shook my head, matching her stride. “Still worse.” The pastry left a little something, something on her lips. As I stepped into Zuri’s path, I savored the sweet taste of sugar dust on her bottom lip with my tongue. And then I stepped back before she could kiss me. “That’s all you get. And I’m talking about me and the beignet.”
Just before I took a big bite, she shoved me. Not a cute, playful shove. Zuri had me doing a two-step to stop from colliding with a vendor handing out beads.
“Damn,bébé, you big mad over fried dough? Or is it Big Country?”
“Gimme the goods, Montana,” she ordered, hand on her hip.
I bit my half, a little more than half, then handed it over as we strolled toward Madison’s place. Depending on my ex-sister-in-law’s mood swings, she might be a hammock in a hurricane or the sistah Washington met and loved from Stanford University.
Once we arrived on St. Peter’s, I was still feeling a buzz from Zuri’s petty little beignet shove, when I glared up at the sign. “Final Sale! Everything Must Go!”
That sign hung in the drafty-ass wind. Man, Washington needed to know his wife—who’d already hit rock bottom—had thrown on a hard hat and started swinging a metal bat to see how low she could go.
“See!” Zuri dragged me inside. Although a small area, Madison had always kept the place cluttered with her hand-blown-glass pieces. Them shelves were now balder than somebody’s edges.What happened?I knew it all went downhill since Elijah, but this? No matter how much Momma prayed for them to get it together, it never happened.
Zuri checked out a curvy, confident woman figurine in a bright-pink dress, striking a so-what? pose. She bounced—same asDarius, just needed some light-up shoes—to another cobalt-blue phoenix.
“Oh, this one!” She ran a hand over a transparent glass figurine. “This one is giving meI’m thriving despite the chaos of my lifeenergy.”
“It’s beautiful,bébé.” I glanced around.Mad? Where you at girl?Forget the 50 percent-off sign on the door. The five-finger discount seemed the way to go.
No one around. I followed Zuri to a glass vase and made my move. Had to. When Momma was away … I brushed a loc from her cheek, pulling her in, right between two empty display cases.
A grin spread across her face as she took a quick look around. “Montana?”
“Uh-uh, don’t gimme that Awkward Black Girl Energy, Zuri. Give me desperate, chaotic,I want this man so bad, I don’t care where we atvibe,” I murmured against her mouth.
“Here?” she gasped between kisses, her eyes wide, but her body molded to mine.
“Ain’t nobody here.” I tightened my grip on her waist and pulled her flush. She was so short, stood just under my chin. Exactly where she needed to be. “Since we came back from Paris, you been running from me. Now’s my time. I’ll buy it. The little magenta woman. The whole damn store,chère.”
She laughed, a throaty, sexy sound that made me forget we were in public. She started kissing me back, but because she was so tiny, her mouth moved from mine, tracing a fiery path down my neck, then my chest. Man, she was graceful with it. She worked her way down.
“Not there,” I groaned.
“Yeah, there.”
“You know my belly button is ticklish.” I chuckled, twining some of her hair around my hand as she continued lower.
A forced cough, soft yet snappish, interrupted us. “Well, now! Don’t let me intrude on the private showing.”
My eyes snapped open. I yanked a frozen Zuri to her fullheight, almost knocking off her wig. Arm around her waist, we turned around. “It’s alright,bébé. This is my sister.”
Madison pushed back her black, razor-sharp bob—the only thing that looked ready to cut today—and smirked. “Loving the passion, Montana. I don’t know if it’s because she’s so pretty and short compared to your overgrown behind, but ma’am … were you working your way down … somewhere.” She smirked suggestively. “Perhaps, the floorboards.” She let the shade hang in the air.
Zuri’s body tensed, embarrassment radiating off her. “Hahaha.” Zuri extended a hand. “Those are very intricate floorboards. So … nice. You must be, Washington’s wife—ex-wife, Mad?” Zuri stumbled over the words, trying to recover. I doubted she was secretly shading her back.
“Mad?” Madison raised an eyebrow, eyes narrowed.
I chuckled under my breath, softly squeezing Zuri.Damn.Me and my brother’s secret nickname for Madison was coming back to haunt me. Should’ve known Zuri didn’t get that joke.
“Maddy?” Zuri corrected, cheeks all flushed. “Mad-dee. Something was stuck in my throat, I meant to say?—”
“Stuck? Not yet.” Madison folded her arms, giving her a long, slow look that made Zuri melt against my chest. Then she broke out in laughter and pulled Zuri into a quick hug. “Girl, I’m messing with you. This man thinks he’s God’s gift to the female race. He’s a bad influence. Run. Now, what’s your name?”
Since Zuri’s golden complexion still looked a little flushed, I spoke up. “Zuri Caldwell, MD.” I pulled her close and kissed her forehead. “She’s a real doctor, sis. You know my skills. I just persuaded her with promises of this permanent upgrade.”
