Chapter Fifteen—Montgomery

He hadn’t been to his parents’ grave since he hightailed it out of there to the rodeo. Their small, personal cemetery sat in the middle of a cleared space in the woods behind the ranch house.

Not many people knew it was back there, and those that did had happened upon it while hunting, not realizing they’d strayed over to the Kings’ property.

Mont felt convicted after Swayze told him she worried about their relationship. He parked his truck along the trail that ended a mile from their markers.

Getting out, he trudged through the overgrown brush and pushed his way toward the large oak where his parents were buried. The polished stones looked out of place in the wooded area, a black iron fence protected them from outsiders, but the surrounding area looked raked and cleaned. Kaden must keep the place up, which sent another round of guilt through his heart.

Kaden stayed behind to keep up with what their family had built, and part of Mont knew it was wrong for him to leave, but the other part knew it was for the best. He couldn’t have stayed round here, wallowing in the self-pity, being reminded of his parents every turn he made.

It wasn’t how Mont healed.

Sighing, he stepped over the iron gate and dropped to his knees in front of them. He missed them all the time, but moving on separated the strong from the weak. He loved both his parents until their last breaths, and nothing would ever change that.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there, talking about his life when he heard a leaf snap in the distance. Bounding up, he searched in the direction of the noise, hoping to see a deer, or some kind of animal.

Instead, he noticed a blur of someone dashing off into the distance.

“Get out of here,” Mont shouted, but whoever it was had disappeared.

Mont stepped over the small gate and walked back to his truck, grabbing one of his shotguns from the gun rack behind his seat, sat it in his lap, and started his truck. Trailing down the small path, he watched the woods, not noticing anything unusual as he made it back to the back gate.

Mont jumped out, listening to the sound of the woods, and the eerie silence that followed him made the hair on his arms stand up. He followed the fence attached to the gate, noticing where someone had cut through, providing a path for what looked like an ATV.

He vaguely remembered Kaden mentioning a tear in the back fence when he first arrived. Nerves skated down his back, and the unnerving thought that whoever scared Swayze was hiding out in the woods slammed him.

Hurrying back to his truck, he pulled through the gate and locked the deadbolt back. Kaden’s pickup was parked at the barn on the west side, and it looked like he was baling hay.

Mont took his time going over, trying to gather his thoughts and words. What would he say to Kaden? It only took one word, and Kaden would flip his shit.

“Kaden.”

Kaden looked up from the tailgate of his truck, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Where have you been?”

“Mom and Dad’s grave.”

Kaden stared at him for a few minutes before going back to tossing hay. “What do you need?”

“I noticed the back fence was cut through again.”

“Where? By the gate?”

Mont nodded.

“Damn,” he said, jumping down. “Did you fix it?”

“Not yet; I just noticed it. I planned on going back, but I wanted to ask you if you’d noticed anything funny around here? Any trespassers lately?”

Kaden shrugged and pulled his work gloves off. “Nah, not really. Did you see somebody?”

Mont didn’t want to scare Kaden, but he needed to know. His family lived here. “I thought I heard someone when I was visiting the graves. I hollered for them to get on and got my gun, but when I searched on my way home, I didn’t see anyone.”

Kaden clamped his jaw. “What should we do?”

“Get some dogs, maybe? Cameras. Electric fence.”

“An electric fence is going to be pricey.”

“I can swing it,” Mont said.

“I don’t want your rodeo money,” Kaden snapped.

Mont chuckled humorlessly. “Well, I guess we need to get us some hounds then. Unless you want to install some cameras.”

Kaden scratched the back of his neck. “It’ll take several months for a puppy to be big enough to protect. I’ll have Swayze look into some cameras online for us.”

“I’ll go tell her,” Mont said. “I was heading that way.”

Kaden nodded and went back to his hay. Mont grabbed the tools he needed to fix the fence from his toolbox in the bed of his truck and headed out.

He wanted to make sure the ranch was as protected as it could be, regardless that whoever did it could easily hop over the gate or cut through the fence again.

Mont fixed the fence in thirty minutes and drove his pickup toward the back of the house, hurrying to get to Swayze while Ryker was asleep.

He found her bent over her desk, scribbling away at something. She jumped when he cleared his throat.

“Jeez,” she whispered, meeting his gaze. “Give someone a heart attack.”

“Kaden wanted me to tell you to look into some cameras for the property when you get time.”

Swayze tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and bit the corner of her lip. “Why? Has something happened?”

Mont shook his head, making sure not to scare her. “Nah, just a precaution.” Her eyes skated down to her hand and the scar, so Mont knocked his knuckles against the desk to distract her. “It’s almost lunchtime. You feel like going somewhere with me while Ryker is asleep?”

Swayze looked over at the wall clock. “You mean during my work time? Am I going to be docked pay?”

Mont chuckled, bent down, and swooped Swayze into an infant’s cradle. Her soft scent drove Mont crazy, so he pressed his lips against the curve of her jaw, loving the way she moaned. “I’ll make sure you’re reimbursed generously,” he whispered against her ear.

Mont carried her outside, smiling at the eye Abigail gave them, and walked her to his truck. The light smile on her face was worth every mean scowl he’d earn from Kaden for taking her somewhere during work hours.

He’d deal with it later because he planned to spend every second of the afternoon with her, showing her how much she meant to him.

“Where are we going?” she asked when he got into the driver’s side.

“To my house first, and then to where we’re going.”

Swayze redid the bun that had fallen from her hair and grinned as she pulled her knees to her chest. “Where we’re going, huh? And that would be…?”

“Swimming.”

Swayze glanced at Mont’s Carhartt shirt and jeans. “In that?”

Mont’s grinned widened. “Nah, girl. We’re going without the clothes.”

Swayze’s cheeks turned a bright shade of red. “I still have some things I need to do—”

“We won’t take all day. It’s not even lunchtime yet; calm your jets.”

Her shoulders relaxed as they pulled into Mont’s driveway. “Wait here; I’ll be right back.”

Mont jumped out of the parked truck toward his front porch where he flung the door open and grabbed a bottle of wine from his cabinet.

Swayze sat on the edge of her seat, laughing as Mont got back into his truck. “I never pegged you for a drunkard,” she laughed.

“Hey, you won’t be saying that when you taste this.”

Mont pulled a corkscrew from his middle compartment and unscrewed the cork. “Here,” he said. “Taste it.”

Swayze laughed as she took a sip, letting her eyes drift closed. “You’re right, it’s great. I think I’ll keep it,” she said, sitting back in her seat.

Montgomery backed out of his driveway and took a small dirt road very close to his house. “Kaden is gonna be mad,” Swayze said over another sip.

“Ah, he’ll get over it,” Mont said, taking the bottle and a long sip.

“What’s the occasion for this?”

Mont gave her the bottle back, studying her giddy face. “Nothing. I just wanted to spend some time with you.”

Swayze bent her head to look at her lap, hiding her grin behind her curtain of hair. She most likely hadn’t heard that in a long while. Mont would gladly help her build her integrity up again and make her feel like Wonder Woman if she needed it.

He pulled up to a small pond that sat in the back of his property and killed the engine. Swayze sat up on her knees and began to laugh. “A fish is gonna bite my ass in there.”

“Ah, come on, you’re too city to get in that pond?”

Mont wiggled his eyebrows her way and started unbuttoning his T-shirt and untucking it.

“Hey, I grew up in the—”

“Ah,” Mont said. “You grew up where, Sways?”

She smiled, her eyes a little unsure. “Georgia. I grew up in Georgia originally. I played in the mud puddles, went fishing, and I’m not afraid to get dirty.”

“Then let’s get dirty, girl.”

Swayze chuckled, pulling Abigail’s worn LSU sweatshirt over her head. Mont couldn’t help the feeling of longing as she tugged the small tank top underneath over her head.

Have mercy…

She’d seen him shirtless plenty of times while working, but he’d never seen her undressed, not that he hadn’t imagined what she’d look like a million times a day.

She cut her baby blues his way and opened the door to step out in only a gray bra and her leggings. Mont still sat with his shirt untucked and clothed as she dragged those tight as sin leggings down her slender legs.

He could have sworn that the heavens opened up and dropped Swayze there in front of him. She looked like a million bucks, and knowing she liked him made him all the hungrier for her.

Grinning, he took her in slowly, like he wanted to memorize every inch of her small waist and pretty, tanned skin.

She popped her head to the side. “Come on, cowboy. Your turn.”

“Feisty,” he said, stepping out.

Mont felt her eyes on him, and the shameless look that crossed her face had his hormones tuned into overdrive.

Tossing his hat from his head, he pulled his T-shirt off and then his tank top beneath. Swayze grinned as he unzipped his jeans and stopped. “Anticipation is key in a relationship.”

“So, we’re in a relationship now? Am I your little girlfriend, Montgomery?”

Mont laughed, jumping forward to snake his arm around her waist, bringing her bare stomach flush with his. “If it’s meant to be, it’ll be,” he sang.

Swayze laughed hard, pushing against his chest. “You’re not getting away with it,” she laughed. “That song is not our song.”

“Oh, so now you’re giving us a song. Cling much? Next, you’ll be planning our wedding.”

“Oh my gosh.” She rolled her eyes. “Get over yourself.”

Mont pinched the point of her chin and started pulling down his jeans until he stood in his boxer briefs in front of her. “Now, we’re talking,” she said. “Finally getting stuff done.”

Swayze reached inside the truck and grabbed the half empty bottle of wine and took a long gulp. “After you.”

Mont grabbed her underneath her legs and swung her up to his chest as she downed more wine. “Better get some before I finish it off,” she said.

Mont shook his head. “Nah, girl. I want to be sober for this. I knew you’d need some liquid courage. That’s for you.”

“You’re right about that.”

Mont sat Swayze down on the bank, their toes sinking into the soggy mud beneath them. “Ladies first,” Swayze said, giving him a sideways look.

“I think I’ll take you with me.”

“Wait—” she squealed as he grabbed her and jumped to submerge them both in the water.

The cold water soothed his heated skin. “That feels good,” he whispered into her ear.

She turned to face him, maneuvering around so that her legs wrapped around his waist.

“Oh yeah?” she whispered, downing the rest of the bottle before tossing it onto the riverbank.

Mont slowed his speed, running a flat palm around her hip to rest on her bottom. Her flesh meeting his hand sent fire into his bones.

His other hand wrapped around the nape of her neck, steadying her to meet his gaze. “You are something else, Demi. You want me to call you Demi, huh?”

“When we’re like this—yeah, for sure. But I don’t want you to be confused and say it—”

“I wouldn’t do that to you,” he whispered, trailing his lips against her jaw. “But when I kiss you, touch you, eventually bring you to my bed, I want it to be you. Not this person you’ve made up. I want you.”

Swayze closed her pretty eyes and rested it against his forehead. “You’re too perfect,” she whispered. “I have all these secrets, and here you are, perfectly put together, and I’m a mess. I don’t deserve this. You needed to hear it.”

Mont pressed his finger against the fold in between her brows. “Ah, Demi, baby, you’re perfect for me. Ryker and you are what I want. I want a wife, a family…I want Demi and Ryker. And I’m gonna make sure you know it before this is all over. You do deserve to be treated right and feel safe.”

Swayze nodded slowly, stretching her palms out against his shoulders and wrapping her arms around his neck. “I’ve never wanted a man this much,” she whispered.

Montgomery hadn’t ever heard anything so sweet to his ears. Damn, if Demi wouldn’t drive him crazy. The thought of him having his way with her felt like a soft whisper in his ear, but it couldn’t be some romp in a dirty pond behind his house.

“Yeah? Finally, you come out with the truth. I knew you liked me. It took you long enough.”

Swayze sighed. “I had to get my mind straight the first time I saw you. I thought you were Kaden coming in, but then you smiled.”

Montgomery kept still, but his eyes kept lowering to her mouth, and then slowly, like he hated to do it, he looked back up to meet her stare. “This isn’t news to you, but I’ve wanted you from the first moment I saw you. Those ridiculous shorts they make the servers wear. I wanted to bend you over the table,” he whispered.

“Oh yeah? Because you haven’t done that yet, and it’s been a hot minute.”

“Don’t take my patience for not being interested, sweet girl. I’ve told you about that voice in the back of my head?”

She laughed.

“She comes out to tell me how to treat you because this is something I’m invested in, and she had always said I would know when it was right.”

Swayze turned her head to the side, and he brought it back with his palm. “But first,” he whispered. “I want to kiss you in this dirty ole pond.”

Swayze shrugged her shoulders, giving him a come and get it look.

Mont leaned forward, pressing his mouth against hers, prying it open within three seconds of tasting her, loving the moan that slipped from deep in her throat.

Never feeling like he could get enough of her, he deepened their kiss, his tongue invading her mouth with such pent-up desire that he could break her jaw from the force of wanting her so badly.

She wiggled against his hips, the water splashing lightly against them, and causing too much havoc down south for him.

He pulled away, mumbling something and walked them to the bank, where he laid her on the mud.

She obviously didn’t care and pulled him on top of her, settling nicely between her thighs. Swayze cried as he moved his hips against her, and she tangled her fingers into his hair.

Mont felt himself losing control but couldn’t leave her so hot and bothered, so he kissed her deeper, letting his fingers run down her stomach to the top of her underwear.

Swayze arched her back in encouragement, and Mont took the gesture, running his palm down the mound of her sex. Finding her slick heat sent a round of temptation that he wasn’t sure he could handle.

Closing her eyes, her fingers dug into the muddy bank as he slipped a finger inside of her, feeling everything he wanted to sink into himself.

“Shit,” she whispered.

He pressed his thumb against her most sensitive spot and began moving in and out, driving her crazy.

Her soft moans and gentle tugs against him were all the pleasure he needed. Those sounds and the cry of her climax had him hard, but he’d deal with it later.

Demi needed a release from reality far worse than he did.

And he’d have something to imagine that night when he took care of himself. That sweet smile and hooded, heavy eyes were all he needed to get off.

“Montgomery,” she whispered, but he stopped her with a kiss.

“You’re perfect,” he said.

God, at this point, I don’t think I can wait any longer.

“It’s been a long time.”

Mont nodded, pressing kisses against her stomach as he straightened her panties.

“I can tell. Can you imagine how badly I want you right now?”

Swayze closed her eyes. “Oh, I can imagine.”

Montgomery helped her up, trying his best to wipe the mud from her back, but bringing her closer. “You ready to go back?”

“On wobbly knees, maybe, but yeah, we better.”

Mont kissed her mouth one more time and slipped his palm around her backside. “I’m gonna live up to my promise, sweet girl.”

“I’ll hold you to it.”