Her sassy response could stop a second line mid-parade. With her breast pressed against my chest? Damn. I felt that. I cleared my throat and proceeded with caution and stupidity.Please. When getting on a woman’s bad side? You play dumb. Ain’t no shame in that.
“The ranch is located in Glendale, Arizona.” I hugged her naked body to me, tugging the blanket to keep her warmer, while my ass froze on a cold bench. Scratching the back of my neck, I hoped the shifts in conversation threw her off guard. Made her less angry. “Contract handled. Probation lifted. Let’s celebrate. You know how we do?”
“How do we do?” She smacked her lips against mine, more of a threat than anything. Then she shoved my chest.
Yeah. Saw that coming.
“Montana, you know good and well I wasn’t asking about the location. When did you learn they hadn’t benched you for spring training?”
“What happen was …” I began.
“Save it.” She growled, climbing off me. With a shiver, she slipped back onto my lap. “Too cold … too cold.”
She fell into me again, soft in the places that made a man forget his name. “That’s right. Stay right here,bébé.”
Zuri smirked. “They lifted your sanctions last month, huh?”
“Yep.”
“So instead of celebratingmeand my monologue,you created this stupid contract. Don’t worry. We can celebratemelater. Come clean. Now.”
Please. “You made it seem important, Zuri. Had those my-precious eyes. You know, from that corny-ass movie.”
“First,Lord of the Ringswasn’t corny. I can imagine fourBaby-Nosbinge-watching as snot-nosed kids. Second, you loved it. Every moment withmeandthose movies. The books were page-turners too.” She cleared her throat.Should I tell her I read ‘em too?Nah. “Second?—”
“You’re on third.”
“Thank you,” she said, “Third, my eyes aren’t like Gollum’s.”
“Who’s Gollum?”I knew. But I was a dude, a Dodger. Had to put on a front.
“The tiny, weird thing thatsays,‘My Precious!’ ”
“Oh.” I nodded. “Say,bébé …”
She melted into me. “Mm-hmm.”
“I want to show you something,” I said.
“Tell me, ‘Say, baby’ again.”
“What?”
With a dreamy tone, she breathed, “Repeat it.”
I chuckled. “Nah. I’ll use that against you later.”
“Mm-hmm, Montana. So you know you’re no good.”
“Won’t be a lot of trouble. Never that. Just a little trouble. Or when I really need your attention because you’re stuck inside your head.”
She rolled her eyes away. I turned her on my lap and grabbed my phone from the bench next to me so that we could look at my social media. “You never looked up the images online?” I asked.
“No. I’ve hidden so long.” Her voice got wobbly. “I was scared to see myself.”
Bruh, where you at with an update on Edwin and that gang?
I clicked into the app and showed her what I’d been posting.
