I Married a Stranger to Ruin Them novel · Chapter 18 of 32

Chapter 18: Not a Year

I put the ginger ale down on the step.

My hands weren't steady, so I put the foreclosure notice down too.

"No," I said.

He nodded slowly.

He started to stand up.

"Matt. Sit down. I'm not done."

He sat.

"It's not a year," I said. "It stopped being a year at the river. It stopped being a deal at the river. I've been saying business for three weeks because I was scared, and because you told me to wait, and I'm very good at doing what makes sense."

"Alice."

"I'm not finished."

He shut his mouth.

The corner of it was starting to go up.

"You told me to finish the sentence when it was paid," I said. "It's paid. So here it is."

I came down one step, so we were level.

"This was never business," I said. "Not since the willow. Maybe not since the bucket. I don't want a year. I don't want a deal. I want you, and I want you tonight, and if you say one word about the bar I'm going to push you in the river."

He looked at me for a long, long moment.

His hazel eyes had gone dark again, the way they had in the snow.

"Say it again," he said.

"Which part?"

"The part where you want me."

"I want you, Matt."

He put one big hand on the side of my face.

His thumb brushed my lip.

"Lady," he said, very low, "you have no idea how long I've been counting."

Then he kissed me.

It wasn't furious this time.

It was slow and deep and sure.

I slid off the step into his lap.

He caught me without thinking, one arm around my back, the other hand spread over the little curve of my belly, careful and warm.

I kissed his jaw, his beard, the corner of his mouth.

I could taste the champagne he'd had one glass of, and the smoke that never quite washed off him.

His breath went ragged.

"Inside," he said against my mouth. "Before my mother looks out a window."

"She's up the hill."

"She has binoculars. I'm serious."

I laughed into his neck.

He stood up with me in his arms, and carried me through the kitchen and down the hall.

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