Kiss Me Forever

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I was a professional woman. An adult. And one who could control her urges.

I also wanted nothing to do with men, did not want to date, had no desire to be with anybody, and yet…

And yet Reece Fox kept wearing those damn jeans.

I knelt in the soil at the house next door to his current project, small shovel in hand, and did my best to continue to plant the hydrangeas that would be the focal point of the side of the house. As a landscape designer, I knew how to get dirty. I constantly had dirt under my fingernails, on my knees, and in my hair. I never looked quite put together unless I scrubbed every inch of myself and did an everything shower twice over. It had been a long time since I had done an everything shower. A year to be precise. Only I didn’t want to think about those times. I couldn’t.

I swallowed hard, ignoring the grief in my gut that wouldn’t go away, and glared at the man next door.

Why did Reece have to look so good in denim? It made zero sense. My cousins, brothers, and friends constantly wore jeans while working. We wore blue-collar clothes for a reason. Unless we were meeting with clients, we tended to wear jeans or cargos that could take dirt and scrapes and everything that had to do with remodeling or building homes and businesses from scratch. I had dirt covering me up to my chest at this point, because I had been digging holes for literal trees, so I wasn’t looking my best. There was a tear at the knee of my jeans, one that hadn’t been placed there strategically by the manufacturer. I didn’t want to toss this particular pair because I had worn them in perfectly. I would probably just patch them up or ask my mom to do so. She was much better with a needle and thread than I was.

Reece Fox didn’t have a single hole in his jeans. The fact I had noticed how well he filled them out told me that I was probably dehydrated and needed to drink something. I rolled my shoulders back and pulled off my ball cap, letting my hair fall past my shoulders. I’d had it up in a ponytail earlier and had lost the elastic. Now I was just using the back of the cap to create some form of ponytail that was way too loose, and that meant my hair kept sticking to the back of my neck.

I was the epitome of a gorgeous woman, a desirable one, that nobody could stay away from. I snorted at that, and once again pulled my gaze away from Reece’s ass.

He bent over, looking at something, and I needed to stop focusing on the way he stretched that denim. His thick thighs tended to do that anyway, since he was all corded muscle and strength. Why did I notice that? Because I was in a self-imposed drought and I was nearly delirious from lack of water.

I stood up, dusted the dirt off my pants, and put my hat back on so I could fix my hair.

I bent over, pulled up my water bottle, and chugged as much as I could. Some of it dribbled down my chin onto my T-shirt, leaving wet spots, but it wasn’t as if I cared about how I looked at this point. The clients weren’t on the property today, thank God, and that meant I could get my hands truly dirty, and put in as many of the perennials as possible.

I was one of the family owners of Montgomery Construction.

As a Montgomery, I could have gone my own way, found a different career path. I didn’t have to go into landscaping like my aunt, but I had loved it. From an early age I had strived in growing things. I would go with my Aunt Meghan to different job sites and learn the real names and common names of different plants, how to dig a hole, and what to do if something wasn’t working.

I was usually one of the last people on the job site, because, well, because most people thought what I did was just the cosmetics. My family didn’t agree. While my cousin Lex was the architect, and my other cousin Dash was our contractor and foreman, I was right alongside them, as a key element of this business.

And with my cousin Jamie moving to Wyoming to be with the new love of her life—a man I respected, liked, and kind of hated because he had taken my cousin from me—I was also the only woman in the office.

Yes, we employed over a dozen other women in various roles, but it was the three Montgomerys at the lead, and Reece and Cullen right beneath us. Cullen was our master plumber and journeyman—then there was Reece.

A former fireman turned restoration builder. He was the expert in deciding what could be salvageable, safe, and worked with the most delicate of things. He was brilliant when it came to working on buildings that had once dealt with fire, and had leaned into floods, weather damage, and countless other things.

He was an asset to Montgomery Construction, and I knew it. Honestly, he could have gone to work with any other company—including the two other Montgomery construction companies within the family. He could go anywhere in the U.S., with zero ties, and make top dollar.

We didn’t know why he was working with the Montgomerys.

Maybe just to annoy me.

Because he was always so damned arrogant when I was around. Overprotective, overbearing, and just plain rude. It didn’t matter that while I wasn’t technically his boss, I was in a higher place of command. He should show me respect.

There wasn’t that big of a difference in our ages. I wasn’t some little girl who couldn’t handle things. I was Brooklyn Montgomery. I knew what I was doing. And I was damn good at it.

“Miss. Miss.”

At that voice, I did my best not to clench my jaw. I couldn’t afford to break a tooth so I put on my best smile. How I wish I could only focus on the way Reece filled out his jeans, versus the person I now had to deal with.

“Hello, Mrs. Green. How are you today?”

“I would be better if you could follow a simple direction.”

I tilted my head and tried not to react how I desperately wanted to. “I don’t understand.”

“No. You just don’t listen to me.”

“What is it that you think is wrong?” I asked as I gestured towards the landscaping. “We’re following the plans. Why don’t you talk to me over here so we can discuss it?” I did not want to get yelled at in front of my employees. I had four people on my team right now, all sweating and working their asses off to make sure Mrs. Green was happy. However, based on the way this project had been going, I knew this woman would never be happy.

Ever.

She wore gray slacks and a white blouse with a soft pink bow of some sort on it. She’d pinned her hair back aggressively, and overlined her lips so they looked even larger than natural. And she had beautiful lips to begin with. She wore high heels but didn’t step on the grass thankfully. We hadn’t had to put down sod—something I refused to do during the high heat of summers—and we were taking our time to ensure that the grass that remained from the start was healthy. Having high heels aerate it probably wasn’t the best.

“Look at that. It’s a pile of sticks. I want fullness. I want color. I want lushness. And you don’t seem to be taking any of my needs into account.”

“Mrs. Green—”

“Don’t Mrs. Green me, Ms. Montgomery. I need to speak to your supervisor.”

“I am my own supervisor. I’m one of the owners of Montgomery Construction. And if you’re unhappy with our work, we can discuss it. How about we meet at the office and we can go line by line?”

I didn’t have to listen to her berate me. Sure, the customer was always right might be a slogan people leaned on, but not me. I wouldn’t be put down in front of my team when I knew for a fact Mrs. Green only wanted to yell. She notoriously did her best to get free things—something I wasn’t aware of until after we’d signed her on.

She narrowed her gaze at me. “Do you think I have time for this? I have to meet with the board, and I don’t have time to deal with some little girl who thinks she knows what she’s doing. It isn’t just planting pansies. And if there’s a single pansy in this yard, I will be irate. I will report you to the Better Business Bureau.”

“Mrs. Green,” I said, my voice firmer. She narrowed her gaze at me, her eyes turning to slits. “Everything that you see is in the middle of construction. As I’ve told you prior, you are welcome to visit in the middle of our project, but it won’t look like how you need it to look until the end. Every single thing we are doing has been approved by you twice over. If you have a problem, come to me, but do so at the office where we can go through things list by list. I am one of the owners of Montgomery Construction. And I’m not a little girl.”

“How dare you speak to me this way. I’m going to go speak to one of the men in charge.”

So she was one of those. Why not lean into the patriarchy because the patriarchy clearly has aided her in some way. Who cares about a woman having a job or any type of autonomy when you could make sure that the man in charge knew what he was doing. I knew for a fact that the board she spoke of was for a charity. One that maybe held one gala a year to donate money. The rest were just so they could pat themselves on the back and do lunches.

It was the same board my former fiancé’s mother was part of. Not that Mrs. Green knew that. In my dirty jeans, and dirtier hair, I did not look like the Brooklyn Montgomery who had once been on the arm of Duke. Duke Rochester. But I wasn’t that girl anymore anyway. She died right along with Duke.

“Do we have a problem here?”

I nearly jumped at the sound of Reece’s voice behind me. He didn’t stand in front of me or even beside me. No, he hovered right at my shoulder, but a few inches behind. That way I was still the lead, but now a man could come protect me.

“Are you the one in charge? Are you the one who can control this?” Mrs. Green asked Reece.

“I’m working on the house next door, and I wanted to see how things were going with you and Brooklyn Montgomery here. She’s the owner of the business I work for.”

“Hmmph.” Mrs. Green mumbled. “We’ll see what your boss has to say about this.” And with that, Mrs. Green stomped in her high heels to her convertible, slid in the seat, and slammed the door.

I was surprised she had the top down, but then she put a fat pink bow thing that turned out to be a scarf around her head, tied it under her chin, put on large sunglasses, and sped out of the cul-de-sac.

If I didn’t hate her, I would admire her fashion sense. Because that was kick ass.

“You okay?” Reece asked, that deep voice of his oddly soothing and annoying at the same time.

“I was handling it,” I said as I turned towards him.

“Whatever you say, Freckles.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“I can’t help it. You have so many damn freckles. I lean into the name.”

“Meaning they’re so original? Thanks. I know I’m covered in freckles. Have been for most of my life. Now if you could go back to doing what you were doing, I’ll go back to my job.”

“I didn’t come over here to take over.” He didn’t snarl the words, but it felt like he wanted to.

“Really? Sure felt like it.”

“I came to remind you that we have a meeting down in the office soon. We were only supposed to work a half day today.”

I cursed under my breath and pulled out my phone. I had four texts and one missed call, but I didn’t recognize the number for the call, so it was probably spam. Each text was from a family member, and I felt oddly disappointed that it wasn’t Chelsea. She was supposed to text me back yesterday, but I knew Duke’s sister was busy. She was always busy these days. I ignored the bile rising in my throat at the reasons why and put my phone back in my pocket.

“Thanks for the reminder. And I didn’t need backup.”

“No, you didn’t. Just because you can handle it though, doesn’t mean you have to do it on your own. Would you fight with your cousins if they stepped up?”

“Yes. But they know better than to try to act like I’m the little lady.”

“We both know that’s not what I did. We also know that they would one hundred percent show up to take care of that woman for you. Just like you would for them. It’s not a man-woman thing. It’s an adult thing. Get over it, Brooklyn.” And with that, he turned away from me and sauntered towards his truck. Perhaps it wasn’t a saunter, but he always moved with such purpose, that I couldn’t help but wonder what was going through his head.

And just because he might be right in his insinuations, didn’t mean I had to appreciate them.

With a sigh, I made sure my team knew what was going on, and to contact me if Mrs. Green came back.

My team member winked dramatically. “Don’t worry about it, Freckles. We’ve dealt with her kind before.”

I shook my head, annoyed with Reece all over again. Though I knew he wouldn’t say the name again. “You shouldn’t have to deal with it.”

“True, but you deal with it for us. Thank you, boss.”

I smiled then and headed towards my truck. Reece was already gone, and for that I was grateful. We didn’t always work on the same project sites. In fact, we rarely worked together. But we had gotten the contract for two homes in this neighborhood that happened to be side-by-side. Meaning there were plenty of Montgomery workers on call at once, and soon I would be moving over to Reece’s side. That is if I ever made Mrs. Green happy.

I drank the last of my water and thought about pulling in for coffee, then realized that maybe I needed to since Jamie was no longer there.

When we had built this subset of the company, Jamie asked to be our house manager. She worked for a few businesses, organizing us, keeping us on topic, and making sure we knew what the hell we were doing, and she was brilliant at it. She still organized us and did the admin for the company. She just did it from Wyoming. Much like she did for the other companies that she worked for.

Jamie also used to bring in coffee for us, knowing exactly what we wanted.

I missed my cousin something fierce. We would eat lunch together and plan shenanigans. We’re more like sisters than cousins. And as someone with two older brothers, I liked having another woman in my life. But she was happy, thriving, and the move was good for her.

I quickly pulled into the next set of businesses and parked in front of Latte on the Rocks. It was owned by two women who had married into the Montgomerys and were technically my cousins now. The tattoo shop next door was owned and operated by a couple of cousins, as were the two end businesses—Montgomery Security and Montgomery Gallery. I only felt a little sad that our office wasn’t in this area, but it didn’t make sense to have a construction and architectural office in a strip mall section of the town. Not that this felt very strip mall. There were gorgeous trees everywhere, and with the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, you couldn’t go wrong.

I walked into the cafe and smiled as Raven stood at the cash register. She had her dark and hot pink hair pulled back from her face and looked radiant.

“Hey, Brooklyn. I didn’t know you were coming in today.”

“We have a business meeting, and I figured I would pick up some coffees to go. What do you say, in the mood to make things pretty?”

“Of course. I’m just sad that Jamie’s not here to pick them up. Not that I don’t approve of her move. I just don’t know if I like Montgomerys not living in Colorado.”

I pressed my lips together, trying not to laugh. “I was just thinking that. I know it’s one state away, but it feels so far.”

Between her and Libby living so far away, it’s just not fair.

One of our other cousins had married the brother of the man Jamie was with. I didn’t know all of the family tree, but it was nice that everybody seemed so connected, and my two cousins weren’t alone.

“So how many coffees can I get you?”

“It’s way too hot outside, so I’m going to need an iced praline latte.”

“Got you. What about for the boys?”

“Lex, Dash, and Cullen will be there for sure,” I said, naming off their drinks. I knew they also liked different versions of iced coffees, so they would get what they got.

“Anyone else?”

I grit my teeth, annoyed that I was even annoyed. “And one hot black coffee for Reece.”

Raven rolled her eyes. “He’s had a latte in here before you know.”

I tried not to perk up at that. I did not want Reece Fox. He was annoying. Too old for me, and a man. I did not want to be with anybody ever again.

“Brooklyn?” Raven asked, her voice soft.

“Then get him what you think he likes. I don’t know.”

“We have a good daily coffee, I’ll make sure he gets that.” She winked as she said it, and I felt bad. Reece had been nice to me all day, even if he called me Freckles and growled about it. I needed to get over whatever was going on.

I stood off to the side people watching as I waited for my coffees. Latte on the Rocks had grown in business over the years and even during the slower times, there were still countless people coming and going. Raven came forward, coffee carrier in hand, and I reached out to help her.

“Thank you. Seriously.”

“It’s my job. I also put in an iced praline latte for Reece, because I think he might like that too. Just in case. And a few Danishes because I’m me and I can’t help it.”

“I love you. Thank you.”

“I love you too, boo.” She hugged me tightly, and since my hands were full, I couldn’t hug her back.

The Montgomerys all hugged and touched and loved one another. But this hug was different. I knew it, she knew it, but there were no words needed.

After all what did you say to a person who wasn’t a widow, because they didn’t have names for fiancées left behind? Duke hadn’t even given me a name or a title before he had decided to end his life. I could be angry with him for that. And sad. And destitute. And every other word you wanted to use to talk about what you said to the person left behind.

Everybody walked on eggshells when it came to me, and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say to get them to stop doing that. I set everything carefully in my truck, grateful that Raven had packaged it so tightly, and headed down the highway one exit to our office. I was probably running late, but they would just have to wait. After all, I was bringing coffee.

Reece opened the door for me as I walked in, and I smiled up at him, determined to be nicer. “Thank you. Sorry I’m late. I got us coffee.”

“Looks like it. I think Lex got some too,” he whispered.

I cursed. “I probably should have texted the group chat. We’re a little off without Jamie.”

“Let me help you,” Reece said as he pulled everything from my hands without even bothering to let me answer. Typical Reece.

“Thank you,” I bit out, and we made our way to the front desk.

Lexington smiled up at me and pointed to the coffees that he had also purchased. “You’ve got the better ones, so we can all be caffeinated. Thank you.”

“I should say thank you. But did you just get me black coffee?” I shook my head, a smile playing on my face.

“Maybe. I was distracted.”

Considering the hickey on his neck, I knew exactly who had distracted him, and I did not want to think about that too carefully. I ignored him and handed everyone their drinks.

When Reece looked down at the two with his name on it, he glared at me.

“I didn’t know what you’d want. You seem like a black coffee kind of guy.”

“Yes, but I’m going to have this praline iced latte just to annoy you.”

“That sounds about right.” I shook my head, sipped my delicious sugary drink, and stared at the men in front of me.

Two of them were family, two of them not, but we had all been working together for years at this point. They didn’t treat me any different than one another, and for that I was grateful. I just needed to remember that.

“Ready to head to the conference room and get this over with?” I asked, wondering why they were all staring at me.

“Sounds good to me,” Lex said. Before we could move though, the door opened, and two older people walked through, as another man in a dark suit followed them.

I frowned, looking down at my phone quickly to make sure that I hadn’t missed an appointment.

“Hi, how can I help you?” Dash, ever the people person, strolled up to them, hand out. “I’m Dash Montgomery.”

The man who looked like a lawyer, briefcase in hand, shook Dash’s hand. “Hello. We’re here to see Mr. Fox.”

Reece stiffened at my side, and I set down my coffee, ready to do what I didn’t know, but it felt like Reece might need someone.

That’s when I noticed there was a little girl standing by the older couple, her dark hair wavy around her shoulders, and a glare on her face. But I saw the fear in those eyes, and what the hell was going on? The girl had to be what ten, twelve?

“I’m Reece Fox,” Reece said as he took a step forward. That’s when I realized Reece’s gaze was on the girl as well, and it looked like his face had lost all color.

“So you’re Reece Fox,” the girl snapped.

The pause nearly broke me, and I wanted to open my mouth to say something, but Reece merely tilted his head, his face still pale. “That’s me. And you are?”

“I’m Bella. I guess I’m your daughter.”