“Damn,bébé, I just wanted a kiss goodnight.”
“The last time you kissed me good night …” I placed a hand on my hip, not even stepping back as he climbed into the window. “I rushed out of your house at the crack of dawn.”
“Who made you leave?” He lifted a brow.
“What are you doing?” I squeaked as he approached my purse. “Uh, no, you didn’t just dig in my purse. Just because you’ve given me money doesn’t mean you can go snooping around.”
He held up the contract. Well, some of it. “Why you got this in your purse, Zuri?” He started to ball it up, but I snatched it away, hyperventilating as I stared at it.
“Zuri?”
“The contract is valid until … the fifteenth.”Way to say you’ve never enjoyed V-Day, Zuri. But whatevs.
“Say,bébé.” His voice, a low rumble, drew my attention, and the world seemed to fade away. He removed the contract from my hand, and the anxious knot in my chest fled. “Take a walk with me?”
The words were an invitation.
“Nope. We can walk tomorrow. I need to …” Do what, Zuri? Super glue and duct tape wouldn’t revive what the contract meant.
“Don’t do me like that.” A slow, knowing smile tugged the corners of his mouth and vibrated through me, soft and teasing. “Which way you wanna go,chère, out the window or the front door?”
“Surprise me,” I retorted, annoyed by how real this should be. I shoved my bare feet into leather biker boots and laced them up. Sacrilegious. No socks.
Should’ve known Big Country. He walked us through the living room and grabbed the throw blanket from the couch and straight out the front door. My heart fluttered with every step past the stables and over the lush grass. Louisiana at night sounded melodic with the soft rush of the Bogue Falaya River.
We settled on a bench in a gazebo overlooking the water. My eyes wandered to the arched wood ceiling. “Didn’t know this existed. Peaceful.”
Montana leaned back, one arm draped over the bench, pulling me closer. “You don’t seem crazy about the outdoors.” His smooth NOLA drawl had a rhythm more soothing than music. “Darius and I got wild outdoor stories. We even got him a toy fishing boat.”
He scrubbed a hand over his jaw, muttering low. “I’ma have to get him a real boat. We start with something small. A johnboat. If he got patience? We might even do something more.”
Ugh. Rather not hear that. Him pretending to make … room for us. I addressed the most innocuous part of what he’d said. “I just see you guys feeding huge horses and … I can’t. I’m good with outdoors. Just not horses.”
He laughed.
“What?” I murmured.
“Why is that contract in your bag? Looks like it’s been through a blender. You think I’ll mess up, so you’re ready to hold it over my head. That ain’t gone happen.”
“No, I …” I burrowed deeper into the cable knit blanket, then forced the words out as evenly as I could. “The contract is real to me, Montana. Foster agencies have this foster parent-child agreement. It includes a bunch of meaningless fluff that doesn’t resonate with loving parents, since they don’t need to sign a paper saying they won’t hurt their kids.I will feed them.I will ensure they have doctor visits.Dental visits.”Love.My knuckles ached as I clutched the blanket tighter, blocking him out. Leaving him in the cold like he’d do me … on February 15th. “That contract connected me to them. Made myfakefamily feel real … until they were done.” I stared at him, my facade emotionless.
Montana nodded slowly, then shrugged. “That paper? Ain’t real. Just paper. Hell, a mistake. The whole contract was a mistake.”
What?
“Gave me power over you, Zuri. I don’t want that. At the end of the day, I ain’t God. You’re supposed to be my equal. You gotmoney and a car? Girl, what I gave you was nothing. I want you to be comfortable. Elevate you. Not have you running around.”
“Montana, do you think Iwantto run off?” Dang, that was a big issue. Not the issue at the moment, though.
“You don’t get this, Zuri?” He shook his head. “I’m saying screw the contract. We done breeched it already.No dips?Please. You real. You that one thing I want,chère.”
My heart ran in circles—Scooby and Shaggy fighting each other over the last sandwich.Was he really saying this right now?Night draped over the gazebo, but the air grew thick and hot. I stared at him, memorizing the strong planes of his face.
The deep set of those eyes and those thick lips pulled me. “Chère, I love you. Your hair that I can’t stop wrapping around my fists. Your toes. When have I not had those toes in my mouth?”
I giggled.
“When have I not tasted, loved, touched, cherished every inch of you? I value even that slight snaggletooth?—”
