Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 74383 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74383 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
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 my fake family 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 got money 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 I want to 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—”
“I don’t have—”
“The canine one. Turns a quarter centimeter. Listen, I wouldn’t have noticed. But Big Country saw it one day. Don’t worry, we both love it.”
“Montana, you’re crazy.” I shoved him away as he opened the blanket between kisses. I muttered, “I’m cold and snaggletoothed.”
“Mm-hmm, but I love your snaggletoothed behind, bébé.” He wrapped the blanket around us, nipping the pulse at my throat.
He snatched me onto his lap, hands pressing at my face. Hot. Callused. Rough and firm. “Chère.” His voice was hoarse. “I need you.”
The gazebo became our world. Night wrapped around us, a blanket pressing out everything but our intertwined bodies. His hand traced my hips, while mine slid over the strength of his brown skin.
As I straddled him, he leaned in, low and deliberate, his breath warm against my neck, teasing before claiming. “Zuri, I love and cherish all of you …” Every nip along my throat made me shiver and melt all at once.
“Love the way you …”
His affectionate words made me moan softly as they resonated within me, finding a home in the deepest parts of my heart.
“You protect yourself. Makes me want to protect you forever,” he murmured against my lips, voice rough and sexy.
“You l-love me?” I moaned, sliding my palms against him in shock.
“I love you, bébé.” He pulled me so close that oxygen didn’t exist between us. And then an unexpected fierceness with which he nipped my lip took me by surprise. Ouch.
“Chère, if you don’t say I love you too, I’ma …”
My chest heaving and falling against him, I quickly spoke the words. “I love you, Montana.”
The vow fell out like I’d tripped over every syllable. And for a second, I wasn’t sure my words even reached me. My heart thudded so loud it drowned everything else.