Montana (Modern Mail Order Bride Book 2) (18 page)

“And what makes you think I am the right man?”

“You have spent more than 20 minutes with me and not once have you looked at me like I was a sex toy even though I have shamelessly thrown myself at you...shit hell, I even proposed,” she confessed to him.

He lowered his head and laughed. Avery was an extremely attractive woman. He sighed, “Can I at least take you on a date first?”

Her eyes were wide, “A date...like what?  To one of them, fancy restaurants where the waiter brings out a bottle of champagne all swaddled up in a napkin like it is some big headed newborn?”

Zachary began laughing loudly.  A throaty laugh which rumbled deep in his chest.

“Nope!  Not for me.  Today was my first time on a plane. Now I am in New York City! I want to order Chinese takeout like I see all those people do in the movies.  Get some of that Sake wine to go with it and order a show from Trap Flex,” she said.

“Trap Flex...do you mean NetFlix?”

“My daddy is cheap as hell, Zachary Peters. We have one satellite dish and a subscription to Trap Flex...mainly all you get is Jeopardy and old cowboy movies, I want to experience the real thing,” she said to him.

There it was.  The sincerest look in those beautiful gray eyes and Avery Jean Johnson now had his undivided attention.  She was beautiful with an easy way about her that didn’t send off any red flags to him, “Okay, I will call and order us some Chinese food,” he said, pulling out his cell phone.

Avery placed her hand over his. “No, let’s order it from your place.  I’m probably going to get real loud as I take you through your paces tonight, Buster,” she said with a wink.

“Well, shit hell,” Zachary said as he stood up and grabbed his keys.

“You’re leaving so soon? You just got here,” Pecola said with her lip poked out.

“Yes.  Yes, I am.  I have a date tonight with my future wife,” he said. “Nice meeting you, Billy Joe.”

Billy Joe was on his feet. “Wait a damn minute.  Where do you think you’re going with my cousin?  You haven’t spoken to me about taking her anywhere.”

Zachary leaned in real close to Billy Joe, his voice lowered. “Now you understand exactly how I feel about you doing the same damn thing with my sister,” he said as he patted Billy Joe on the back. “You didn’t even give me the honor of flying out to give her away, you cowboy hat wearing, horse riding, Montana ranching bastard!”

Billy Joe pulled back at the insult.

Pecola ignored the brewing hostility between her brother and her husband. “Zachary, she has a hair appointment in the morning and dress fittings for tomorrow night’s award dinner,” she said. Her eyes were on her husband, who stood there with his hands fisted, ready to knock Zachary’s block off.

“Don’t worry, little sister; I’ll take care of all of that for Ms. Avery Jean,” he said as he placed his arm on Avery’s elbow.  “Don’t wait up!”

Billy Joe didn’t like it one bit. “Don’t you bring her back here pregnant, Zachary Peters!  If you do, I’ll put a bullet in your ass!”

His words bounced off deaf ears as Zachary carried Avery down the steps in his arms. Billy Joe watched him open the door to the slick sports car, helping his cousin into the passenger seat.  The joy on her face was the happiest he had seen Avery in years.  He had no right to get in between her and this night, but dammit all, she was acting like a stray cat in heat and Zachary Peters was heading down her alley.

She could have at least played hard to get.

T
he pacing Billy Joe was doing in front of the window was driving Pecola to distraction. Her stylist was due at any moment to work some magic on her hair and fit her hubby for a tux. The floor was nearly the same condition as her bed from his tossing and turning all night long.  Each time she dozed off to sleep, he would wake her again by exhaling loudly, grumbling and flopping around being a grumpy bear.

“William, I hate seeing you so agitated,” she told him.

“I know, I’m trying to calm down, but Avery doesn’t have a cell phone.  It is also so noisy here. Do these people ever sleep?”

“Would you like me to call my brother to check on her?”

Billy Joe shook his head no.  Tense fingers ran through the thick black hair; the tender eyes full of worry gazed at her. “I don’t want Avery to think I don’t trust her judgment or anything...,” he said with a pause.

“I also don’t want you to believe that I think your brother is a lowdown scallywag for taking advantage of a country girl like Avery,” he added.

“Oh, calm down.  My brother is used to women throwing themselves shamelessly at him.  I don’t know why the white women are the worst, just downright blatant. Avery will be brought back in one piece,” she said casually.  The words were thrown at him, knowing that he was thinking back to last week with her conversation with Chad.  Zachary didn’t have a ball in his hand nor was Avery blonde, but it agitated him even more. Just as Avery reached for her phone to call her brother, the car pulled up in front of the house.

“They’re back!” he yelled as he ran to the front door.  He gave it a second thought and moved quickly to the couch.  He sat with his legs crossed. He uncrossed them and moved over to the chair whose back was facing the door.  Billy Joe picked up a magazine pretending to read it, but it was a lingerie catalog. 

“Shit hell, what I am looking at here...this woman’s panties has no center,” he said as he chucked the magazine back in the basket it came from. He gave it a second thought, picked it up, rolled in a circle and stuck it in his back pocket.  “I may have to order you a pair of them fancy panties!”

The front door opened to a brand new Avery.  The thick mass of black hair which was usually an unruly mass of dark tresses, was no full of body, and bouncing freely as she walked, tamed in a high ponytail with coiled ringlets hanging down her back.  Black twists framed her perfectly made a face with ideally shaped eyebrows and the perfect shade of pink lip polish.  The gray and yellow sundress did wonders for her figure and skin tone.  The lady absolutely glowed.  Pecola would have hugged her but her arms were full of shopping bags as were Zachary’s.

“Wow! Look at you!” Pecola said helping her with the bags.

Billy Joe gave Zachary the stink eye as he followed his cousin to the guest bedroom with the first set of bags.  Pecola left them alone, returning to the living room to find her brother seated by the window, staring out into space.

“You okay there, big brother?” She asked him.

“Buster is one lucky damned horse,” he said quietly.

“Evidently, so were you. That’s a lot of shopping,” she said.

Zachary turned to face her. “Pe,” he liked to call her when it was just the two of them. “It wasn’t about the sex. It was off the chain but, I mean this morning, she was up early cooking. She made me a veggie omelet so light and fluffy, I thought Jesus had touched it Himself.  When I said as much, she popped me in the mouth again for taking the Lord and Savior’s name in vain,” he told her.

Pecola pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. Zachary was not an emotional type of man.  He liked what he liked.  If it was a certain shoe, he would buy it in every color.  They once stopped by a restaurant in Long Island for some seafood.  He enjoyed the restaurant so much he bought it.

“After breakfast, she drew me a bath and climbed in with me, scrubbing my back and feet. I swear Pe, I have never felt more of a man. I wanted to take care of her, so I called over to Angie’s and got them so send someone over to do her hair and nails...I told Angie what size clothes and she brought everything else,” he said.  “Funny, after all, the glitz and glam, I like her better the other way,” he said.

Billy Joe felt the same way.  In the guest bedroom, he closed the door so he could speak with his cousin in private, once again, scolding her for being so easy with a stranger.

“Avery, all of this,” he said with his hand waving in the air. “All of this is okay with you?”

“Billy Joe, even if it was for just one night, I got to be the winner.  I was the fairy princess and he was my knight,” she said.  “I am not ashamed of my evening with him; honestly, it was bettern’ I been treated in a very long time...all of the pretty things he gave me...I deserve these plus a whole lot more.”

She peered at him out of the corner of her eye, only adding, “I didn’t see you giving back any of the nice clothes Pecola bought you.”

He had nothing more to say to Avery.  She sat there on the bed pulling out the pretty underwear which was similar to what Pecola had worn on their wedding night. This only made Billy Joe even angrier.

His next conversation was with Zachary Peters.

Z
achary was waiting for him.

“When are you guys heading back to Montana?” he asked Pecola.

“Monday morning,” she said.  “We have an early flight.”

“I want to head back with you, take a look around. Avery said she wanted to spend some time in New York honing her painting skills.  I was thinking of maybe meeting her folks, letting them know I would keep an eye on her while she’s in New York,” Zachary said.

“But who is going to keep an eye on you!” Billy Joe stated.

“Pull back on your reins, cowboy.  She can stay here at Pecola’s while my sister is out in Montana,” He said.

“Oh, that’s convenient.  It would be so easy for you to swing through and drop off some pretty panties and fancy shoes when you need to blow off some steam!”

Zachary took exception to the accusation, bounding to his feet. Billy Joe took on a defensive stance, his anger covering him like a shroud, “My cousin is not one of your groupies or some dumb whore to suck the polish off a door knob!  She deserves a helluva lot bettern’ than some Long Island Lothario,” Billy Joe said. The usually nurturing eyes were filled with anger as he stared at Zachary, who also did not back down.

“Either you think very little of me, or you think even less of your cousin,” he spat at him.  “We are two consenting adults but no, that was not my intention.  I plan to have something more with her.”

“Bullshit!” Billy Joe yelled. “You ain’t no different than any other swinging dick with too much time and money on his hands.  Speaking of hands, you keep yours off my cousin.”

“Why, because I’m a black man?”

“No, because you’re an asshole!” Billy Joe said as he went for Zachary.

Pecola jumped in between them.  Avery, who had returned from the bedroom in the nick of time, grabbed for Zachary and Pecola wrapped her arms around Billy Joe.

“William,” she said in a soothing voice.  “Why are you so angry?”

“He’s treating my cousin like some corner store whore.  She is a good person.  She has a beautiful heart and a lovely spirit and three months in his world is going to ruin her,” he said his voice full of emotion.

“I know she is a good person, which is why I had all the extra stuff done, because she deserved it, not as a payment for services rendered,” he told Billy Joe.

That statement only pissed him off more. “Services rendered?  Services rendered!  You mush-mouthed mackerel, I will knock your block off!”

“I should knock yours off for courting my sister through the mail like she is some lonely hearted bedridden zombie,” he said.

“Shut up!  Just shut up,” Billy Joe yelled some more.  “Before your sister’s head even touched my pillow she was my wife.  When she laid down next to me, she was my wife.  When we awoke the next morning, she was still my wife.  I never disrespected your sister like you have done my cousin!”

“I didn’t disrespect anyone.  Avery came after me!”

“And you were such a gentleman to turn down a lonely star struck country girl.  Bravo, you football toting bunghole!”

It was too much.  Pecola’s mouth dropped. Avery’s lip began to quiver. “Thanks a lot, Billy Joe,” she said as she took off towards the guest bedroom.

“See what you did!  Who’s the bunghole now?” Zachary asked as he went after Avery.

The doorbell rang, breaking the tension as the stylist entered the residence along with Montana Hart’s agent.

“Good Heavens! Who is this hunk of male perfection?” Heidi, Pecola’s agent, wanted to know.

“Heidi, this is my mail order husband, Billy Joe Johnson,” Pecola said.

Heidi passed out on the floor.