Page 23 of Madam Temptress
He holds my chin up with his thumb and index finger. “It can be as easy as you want it to be. I wasn’t telling tales when I said I came back to put a ring on your finger, mama. You and me, this is permanent. I’m not letting you go again or walking away. I want you in my life and by my side every day.”
“What if I want to stay here in NOLA? Will Mount let you?”
Moses’s jaw tightens. “You leave him to me. But know this—no one is standing in the way of us being together. Not now and not ever fucking again. Not even Mount.”
More than anything, I want to believe what he’s saying. But even if Moses is wrong about Mount, I’ve got a trump card. “If he gives us trouble, I’ll get Keira involved. If she knows this is what I need to be happy, then she won’t let him fuck with it, because I haven’t had a lot of that in my life.”
Moses stares at me thoughtfully. “I’m gonna make it my life’s mission to give you as much happy as you can handle, mama. Mark my words, that’s what I aim to do.”
I slide my arms around his waist and squeeze. “You’re already off to a good start. Now ... if we could just get rid of the cop who wants to pin the murder on me and the guy who wants me dead, we’d be doing even better.”
Moses presses a kiss to the top of my head. “I’m working on it. Now, you get some sleep. I’ll be back in later.”
As I crawl into bed by myself, I can’t help but think about everything that’s gone crazy in my life since Moses showed up.
My business is totally on hold, what’s left of my savings is taking a beating just to pay the bills, the house I worked so fucking hard to make my hidden sanctuary is already on the cops’ radar, the house I’m selling Desiree is being watched by the Feds, one guy has tried to kill me, and another is trying to finish the job.
Despite all that, I’m going to bed with a smile on my face.
There’s gotta be something fucking wrong with me, I think as I pull the blankets up around my shoulders. And then I remember the reading Celeste did for me.
Everything’s changing, and I just gotta get through to the good shit. Because that’s coming too.
Twelve
Moses
“I’m coming with you,” Magnolia says with her hands on her hips and a mulish expression on her face.
“Mama, I know you want to help, but this is something you need to stay clear of.”
“Goddamn it, Moses. If I hadn’t been there at the impound lot, shit could’ve gone sideways. I can handle myself. I’m not some PTA mom who thinks she can get into robbing houses with no problem.”
I can’t hold back my laugh at her example. “I know you can handle yourself. But it’s barely a two-man job, and there’s no need to put you at risk or chance giving Cavender more to investigate. You know I’m right.”
Magnolia bares her teeth, and it takes everything I have not to pick her up, throw her over my shoulder, and take her back to bed for a repeat of the morning wake-up call I gave her.
I lean down to nip at her lip. “I’d think you’d be less surly considering the orgasms you had this morning.”
Her glare could cut me to ribbons. “I’ll be damned if you think dicking me down first thing in the morning will make it so you get your way for the rest of the day.”
My laughter comes out in a booming burst. “Goddamn, woman. You’re so fucking perfect for me, I can’t even begin to tell you.” I school my expression into a sober one. “But you’re not going. My job, my rules. You stay with Trey and give him a hand. Jules and I have this.”
Magnolia is pissed, but I can tell she’s finally going to concede when she rolls her eyes.
“God save me from overbearing men who think they know best.”
“God ain’t saving you from me, mama. You’re stuck with me.”
I grab her hips and yank them toward me. She crosses her arms over her chest right before she collides with my body and I give her a deep kiss.
“Be pissed at me if you want. I’m keeping you safe, and that’s not negotiable.”
“Fine. But you gotta go by my old house and somehow not be seen by the Feds because Desiree still hasn’t checked in with me. I’m fucking concerned about her too.”
“You got it. We’ll go in through the alley. I’ll tell her not to worry you like that again.”
“I appreciate it,” Magnolia says, but she looks like she’s got a mouth full of sour grapes.
