Page 41 of Creole Kingpin
The sheen is gone in an instant, traded out for another glare. “What the hell does that mean?”
This time, my cheeks stretch wide with a grin. “He gave me his blessing when I told him I’d come back to put a ring on your finger. Said he and his wife would be happy to stand up for us when we say our vows.”
The beautiful brat beside me chokes.
Pure shock. That’s the only way to describe her expression.
After a minute, she schools her features. “You don’t even know me anymore. That girl you came back for? She’s long gone.”
“Good,” I tell her. “I’m a grown-ass man. I’m not some john looking for a high-value suck-and-fuck. I came back for a woman, not a girl. I know who you are, and I want everything you bring to the table.”
She shakes her head. “You’ve lost your fucking Mississippi-mud-filled mind.”
I chuckle. “Scared?”
Her expression turns mulish. “Of you? Not a chance in hell.”
“Good. Because Jules is taking us back to your new place. You’re not sleeping alone tonight.”
Twenty-Five
Magnolia
Istare at the man sitting beside me in this silent car that reeks of all the changes he’s made in his life.
A man who came back forme.
A man who told Mount he’s going tomarryme.
Theonlyman I’ve never forgotten for a single damn day in fifteen years, no matter how much I wished I could wake up with amnesia just to erase those two fucking weeks we shared.
Two weeks.That’s all the time we had together.
Right after Katrina turned the city I’d lived in my whole life into something completely unrecognizable, he saved me. And ... I fell hard for him, but when it was time for him to go, choices were made.
I couldn’t leave, and he wouldn’t stay.
Two weeks shouldn’t change you forever, but in the wake of tragedy and chaos, things are different. Unbreakable bonds are formed faster than you can imagine.
But I don’t want to think about that now. No way in hell. If I do, I won’t be able to find the strength to tell him to walk away again.
Moses might have carved out a new life for himself, but so have I. I have a new home and a business that’s still finding its feet, and he doesn’t have to tell me he has no plans to stay here. Just like he refused to before.
The problem we faced fifteen years ago isn’t any different now. I won’t go with him, and I can’t imagine he’ll stick around. Which means I need to watch myself. The heartbreak that comes from falling for Moses Gaspard isn’t something I can experience twice.
Not that I’d ever admit to him exactly how badly it destroyed me.
I stay quiet the entire short ride to my place, completely ignoring the mention of us getting married. It’s simply not based in reality.
When we pull up in front of my gate, pride straightens my spine once more. This place is all mine, something no one, not even Moses, can take away.
The reunion wasn’t bad, but this is where I get off the fantasy bus before someone—like me—gets hurt.
“No need to get out. I’ll see myself inside,” I tell Moses, ignoring his dictate from earlier that I wasn’t sleeping alone tonight.
I reach for the door handle, but it opens without me touching it. His driver, a tall, light-skinned black man with close-cropped black hair, stands there with a smile.
“You aren’t staying anywhere by yourself, Mags. Not until we find out exactly what kind of situation you’ve tied yourself up in.”
