Page 5 of Where We Bloom (The Blackwells of Montana #3)

“This is a Louis Vuitton blouse with the tag still on. Fifteen hundred dollars! It’s insane.

This stuff is brand-new or nearly new, all of it is luxury, and I only paid three hundred dollars for all of it because Martha, the owner, knows I’ll donate it back when I’m finished with it.

It’s an insane deal. I love clothes so much, but there’s no way I could afford to dress like this normally. Oh! Let me show you?—”

She reaches down to unbuckle again, but I cover her hand in mine over the clip and growl.

“You’ll stay where you are, or I’ll spank your arse.”

“You’re a bully.” There’s not much heat in her voice as she narrows her eyes at me. “I wanted to show you the Hermès coat I found. It’s gorgeous and so soft.”

“It’s July,” I remind her.

“It won’t always be July,” she counters and gestures at the clothes still in her hands. “I just need to put these away.”

I take the garments from her and toss them over my shoulder into the back.

“If those get stained, I’ll kick you in the shin.”

I raise an eyebrow. “If they get stained, I’ll buy you new ones.”

I fucking hate that she’s wearing someone’s castoffs. I’ll buy her whatever she wants. Hell, I’ll take her to Paris, New York, wherever she wants to go to shop until she has everything she could want.

“I don’t want new ones,” she replies as if she’s talking to a child who doesn’t understand the words coming out of her pretty little mouth.

“I want those. Besides, there’s so much waste in the fashion industry.

Fast fashion drives me bonkers. Sure, you can get a cute top for sixteen dollars off some site, but by the time it’s been washed twice, it’s no longer worth wearing because it’s misshapen and shrunk three sizes.

So it gets tossed, and then something else is bought, and all of that goes into the landfill.

Yes, luxury costs a lot of money, but the materials are so beautiful and well made.

Sure, my dry- cleaning bill is more than some mortgages, but I don’t care. It’s worth it.”

She shrugs and crosses her arms over her chest.

“Glad you asked, aren’t you?”

“I know it’s surprising to you, but I’m interested in hearing about these things. I like knowing more about you.”

“Right.” She sighs and looks out the window. She doesn’t believe me.

“I have a question. What happened to that funny, intelligent, kind woman I had dinner with and shared the best night of my life with last year?”

I watch her roll her lips together and narrow her eyes. Her cheeks flush, and her breathing increases.

“You want to know where she went?” she asks softly.

I catch her chin in my fingers and make her look at me. There’s a vulnerability there, and it makes me want to pull her into my arms.

“I do, aye.”

“That girl is no longer available to you.” She turns in her seat to face me but glances at Miller.

“He’s not here,” I say, and she nods.

“I had no issues with a one-night stand with a sexy man I met by chance and had a good time with. There’s no shame in that.

It was fun. It made me feel good. No harm, no foul.

Sure, the whole leaving without saying goodbye thing bruised my feelings a bit, but I got over it.

It was a nice memory to tuck away and pull out once in a while to admire. ”

She clears her throat, and I want to fuck her right here, in the back of this car.

“But it turned out that you weren’t a stranger, Connor.

You’re my best friend’s brother. The same best friend who will probably marry my brother.

So it’s not like I can avoid you. You’re everywhere.

London? There you are. My store, Birdie’s dance recitals, even the house I grew up in, you’re there.

And I could be a grown-up about that. I could shake it off and laugh about it.

What a coincidence! Crazy small world. But when you’re near, you want to put your stupid magical hands all over me and kiss me until I can’t think straight. ”

She’s ranting now. The words are pouring out of her, and I have no intention of stopping her because I need to know everything she’s saying.

I should have asked a long time ago.

“You want to put your hands on me and make me lose my mind, but that’s it.

Then you walk away like I’m a stranger, and you’re so fucking cold .

I don’t even have your phone number. I don’t even know where you live.

I don’t really know anything about you at all, except you run an empire, and you’re the brother of one of the sweetest people in the world.

That’s it. So it’s not like it was a random hookup that was fun, and then I can just get on with my life.

And I’m worth more than the five minutes of good you’re willing to give me whenever we happen to be in the same room together. Orgasms don’t cut it, Connor.”

She shakes her head and looks outside again.

“I’m an adult,” she mutters. “I can be civil. ”

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

“Billie, I’m sorry. You’re right, I’ve been a daft idiot, and I shouldn’t have treated you like that. I’m so fucking attracted to you, I?—”

“You know, I don’t want to hear it.” She shakes her head again, sounding weary. “I just deserve more respect than what you’ve been handing out. That’s what I’m trying to say.”

I push my hand through my hair and blow out a breath.

She’s absolutely right.

“I’m going to nap.” She leans against the door and closes her eyes, and I take that time to watch her.

Billie Blackwell is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I didn’t realize she was Skyla’s friend that night when I asked her to dinner and then to my room. When I discovered she was one of the friends Skyla had been talking about, I was stunned.

I didn’t think I’d ever see her again, and there she was, standing right in front of me. And I couldn’t help myself.

I can never seem to help myself where she’s concerned.

If she’s nearby, I want to have my hands on her. I want to consume her.

I want to claim her.

But I’m pure shite when it comes to relationships, and this woman is close to fifteen years younger than me.

It wouldn’t work.

Yet I can’t stay away from her.

Her breathing has evened out, and I notice Miller looking at me in the mirror.

“She’s good for you, boss,” he says.

I glance her way again. Her head is angled badly, and she’ll get a crick in the neck like that, so I unbuckle her belt and slide her across the seat until she’s next to me.

She opens her eyes, but she’s still out of it.

“What are you doing?”

“Hold on,” I say softly and secure her with the other belt, then pull her against me. “I’ve got you, angel. Just sleep.”

She’s so sleepy that she doesn’t fight me. She wraps an arm around my middle, nuzzles her face into my chest, and goes right back to sleep.

I’ve spent the past four hours holding her, breathing her in.

She slept the entire rest of the drive as if she was bloody exhausted.

I remember her telling me before that she doesn’t sleep well.

She was going to drive for four hours, but she was clearly too tired for that, making me irrationally angry.

I wish I knew why she doesn’t sleep at night. Does she have nightmares? And if so, what are they about? Or is it that her mind is simply too busy to quiet down?

I want to know everything .

But I don’t have any right to.

Because although I held her and let myself drag my fingers over her soft skin, I also decided that after this, I won’t touch Billie again.

She’s right in that our families are connected now, so I’ll have to see her from time to time, but I won’t seek her out.

I won’t pull her away to steal a moment with her.

I won’t be that guy.

I have so much respect for this hardworking, incredible woman. She deserves everything she desires, including a man who knows how to open up to a woman outside of the bloody bedroom.

Miller pulls up in front of her small house in Bitterroot Valley, and I press a kiss to her head.

“Wake up, angel. You’re home.”

She stirs, yawns, and then sits up and stretches. The material of her dress pulls tight against her breasts.

Fuck me.

“Wow, did I sleep that whole time?”

“You did, aye.” I unbuckle her belt, then mine, and step out of the vehicle to keep me from wrapping her in my arms and pulling her close. How can I have just spent all afternoon hugging her, and I still want more?

She climbs out of the car and walks up to her door to unlock it.

Just a key. No keypad. No alarm. No cameras.

She should be in a safer house.

“I’ll get those,” she says as Miller lifts the totes out of the back of the SUV.

“No, miss, I have them. I’ll set them just inside. ”

She nods. I’ve never seen the inside of her house, and I’m jealous of my own bodyguard as he walks in to set down the totes.

“Thanks for the ride,” she says to Miller, offering him a smile when he walks out the door.

“My pleasure,” he replies with a nod and walks past me to the vehicle, where he’ll wait.

“I already sent messages to have your car towed,” I inform her. “It should be at Brooks’s garage first thing in the morning.”

“Oh, just let me know what I owe you for the tow.” She bites her lip, and I shake my head.

“You don’t owe me anything.”

“I can pay for the tow truck, Connor.”

“I said no.” I sigh and push my glasses up my nose. Christ, I love her sassy mouth, but I also miss that sweet side of her from that first night. I wish she’d smile at me. When she smiled, laughed, gasped, moaned, she lit up my whole world.

But she doesn’t smile. She’s scowling.

“You want to put your hands on me and make me lose my mind, but that’s it. Then you walk away like I’m a stranger, and you’re so fucking cold. I just deserve more respect than what you’ve been handing out.”

She’s not wrong. And I don’t deserve those smiles anymore.

“Fine. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” I nod and turn to walk back to the SUV, but she calls out my name.

I fucking love it when she says my name .

“Connor?”

I turn and raise an eyebrow.

“Thank you.” Her voice is softer, and those delicious lips lift in a small smile. “I appreciate your help.”

“You’re welcome,” I repeat, gentler this time. I shove my hands in my pockets and make myself walk to the car before I beg her to forgive me and let me have her in my life.

I can’t do that to her.

It wouldn’t be fair.