I hold up a hand to stop her there. “No wife. No kids. I fucking swear.”
“And are you fucking with me about wanting to make this real? Or is everything else you said the truth?”
I reach out and take her hands in mine before I meet her gaze. “Every goddamned word was true.”
“Then why the hell did you wait fifteen years to come back and set things straight? Because one lie in the beginning doesn’t mean shit. But telling me you’ll be back and then disappearing for a decade and a half? That’s what I have a fucking problem with.”
I should have known she’d want to know more, and she deserves it.
“That job I said I failed to pull off and pay back Mount?”
“Yeah.”
I lick my lips. “I did some fucked-up shit when I found out it went sideways.”
Her features sober. “How fucked up?”
“I had a woman killed.”
She doesn’t even flinch, but her stare is razor sharp as her chin rises. “And how did that keep you away for fifteen years?”
“Her man . . . he wanted revenge. Any man would. But I couldn’t risk him taking you out to get even, and then he disappeared. It took me a long fucking time to hunt down that ghost, and when I did, I had to bide my time to handle it right. I needed to do it right, because I needed to prove that I wasn’t the man I used to be. I couldn’t come back to you until I was certain as fuck about that. We took care of it, though. Got creative and made it work for all of us. I know down to my bones that the situation is no longer a threat. I wouldn’t have come back if there was a chance that I’d be leading danger to you. Not after all this time. No way. No how.”
Magnolia’s eyes grow even wider and more curious. “It took you fifteen years to make sure he didn’t come back and take an eye for an eye?”
“Like I said, it was a complicated situation that required every skill I have at my disposal to end it the right way. But that’s not the only reason.”
She shakes her head, and her pretty hair swings. “Out with the rest.”
“After I delivered the hard drive—two weeks late—Mount kicked me out of fucking Louisiana. That was the late fee he demanded.”
“Two weeks late,” she says quietly. “Because you stayed with me instead of going straight to him with the hard drive.”
Finally, she’s understanding, and it’s like the weight of the past lifts off me.
“Yeah.”
“And you didn’t push me to leave with you because of the guy whose woman you had killed.”
“It wasn’t the best plan. I’ll admit that all day.”
Magnolia holds up a finger. “Wait. One thing I don’t get. Why did you risk coming back to Louisiana now if Mount banned you?”
I meet her whiskey-colored gaze. “I was done waiting. I told Mount he could kill me or he could meet with me, but I was coming back all the same. We worked out a deal . . .”
“And part of that deal was you telling me the truth?”
It shocked me too. “I don’t know when the bastard turned all sentimental and shit, but he was adamant you know everything. And I was going to tell you. I was working it out in due time. There’s kind of been a lot going on.”
Magnolia only hums instead of replying, and then she reaches for the door handle and climbs out of the car. I do the same, wondering what she’s going to do now.
I don’t have to wonder for long, because she marches around the car to stand in front of me.
She pokes me in the chest with a finger. “You listen to me, Moses Buford Gaspard. I do not give a single shit that you didn’t tell me the truth. Like I said, lying to me is not the worst thing you could do. But despite all that, you lie to me again about something that matters, and you’ll be fucking your hand for a month. You hear me?”
Relief—sweet, sweet relief—floods my body as I wrap my arms around my woman and crush her against me.
“You’d better fucking believe it. I won’t make that mistake again,” I whisper into her ear.
“Good, because I’d hate to have to go hunt down someone else to get me off now that I’m used to the idea of good sex on the regular.”
I loosen my grip and stare hard into her face. “No one touches you but me. Never fucking again. You better trust you belong to me and no other man.”
Her lips curve up into a sly smile. “Then you’d better take me inside and remind me exactly why that is. Because a few orgasms would go a long damn way to smoothing out this situation.”
Four
Moses
When your woman tells you a few orgasms are your penance for fucking up, you deliver like your life depends on it—and you make that shit memorable. I’d repent for days on end, if needed.
I lift Magnolia into my arms and carry her through the house, ignoring the questioning looks from Jules and Trey, and kick the bedroom door shut behind us. “You need a reminder? I’ll give you one you won’t forget anytime soon.”
I lower her to the bed, following her down with my body. That’s when she surprises me, hooking a leg around mine and rolling us until she’s on top.
“Maybe I need to be the one to give you a reminder,” she says with a grin. “Just so you understand what you’ve got to lose if you decide to fuck this up.”
“That ain’t happening, mama,” I tell her confidently. I’m not letting her go again. Ever.
“It sure as hell won’t after I’m done with you.” With that, she moves down my body until her hands are on the waistband of my shorts. She drags them down, and my dick, already rock hard for her, springs free. “Damn, I love your cock. So thick and long and hard.”
I can feel the look on her face—all heat and need—in my balls as she stares at my cock. All the blood in my body has officially changed direction, going straight to where her hand wraps around my shaft.
“All for you, mama. And not that I’m fucking complaining right now, but I thought I was here to give you all the orgasms.”
Her gaze cuts up to mine for a moment. “You’re here to give me whatever I want. And what I want right this minute is your cock in my mouth, so you remember exactly why it’s mine. Pay attention, Moby. Because this is a lesson you don’t wanna miss.” She readjusts her position, kneeling between my knees, and sucks the head into her mouth.
Hot. Wet. And oh so fucking good.
She’s right. There’s nothing about this I want to miss, and I’m done arguing. If this is what she needs, then she can have it. She can fucking have anything and everything I’ve got.
And when she takes my entire cock down her throat, her nose pressing against my lower abs as she works it, I see heaven.
Magnolia Marie Maison can have my fucking soul too.
She sucks and pumps my cock until pre-cum drips down the head, and then she laps it up like it’s her reward. When she grabs my hand to jack my dick so she can suck my balls into her mouth, I almost come right on the spot.
And that’s not fucking happening.
I move, gripping her shoulders and dragging her up my body.
“I wasn’t done,” she says with a pout.