The Accidental Mistress (36 page)

For that I am grateful. I'm happy your
family has the Oasis back. I know it was what you needed. I wish
you happiness too. I'm not afraid of love anymore, Zuri, so I guess
I had to write this letter to thank you.

Ton image hante mes nuits, me
poursuit chaque jour, elle remplit ma vie.

Christophe.

Zuri read the letter twice, three times,
before she could catch her breath. The last line was poetry. He
said her vision haunts his nights, follows him through the day and
fulfills him. She put a hand to her heart and repeated the words
out loud.

"Oh, Christophe."

Behind her the mobile phone beeped. It was
picking up a signal. She turned it on, keeping it plugged into the
wall to maintain a charge. With shaky fingers she discovered seven
missed messages from him and twelve text messages. She read them
all. She could hear his fatigue when he arrived in New York to help
her, and the reason why he didn't call her the night she waited.
She could hear his desperation when he knew his mother on her way
to Martinique. He warned her to avoid the meeting, to wait for him.
That he would solve everything. It hurt to know how close she came
to having him. All of it was too much. But this letter didn't say
it was too late.

"Hey? Let's go," Joi said from the open
door. "I'm ready for Chi-town!"

"Um, okay, yes, okay," she said collecting
the letter and grabbing her phone and charger. "Right, let's
go."

Epilogue

Three Months Later -

"Zuri, are you done with the Langford
brief?"

Zuri glanced up from her
computer screen.
Was he kidding?
He gave her the damn thing yesterday. Calvin
Nguyen was up next for partner in the firm. A tall handsome Asian
man with dark hair and a sly smile, he spent many days hounding her
and the other young attorney's over the simplest of tasks. Zuri
suspected it was one of his many attempts to flex his might. She
found him exhausting. "You gave it to me yesterday, I'll have my
revisions done by the end of the week."

"Cancel it. I need you to look at this." He
tossed a file to her desk.

She frowned. "Why? What is it?"

"Montague, Have you heard of them? Some
Fortune 500 gobbling up the resort industry the way Wal-Mart
gobbled up convenient store market. Got a new client. This one here
might bring us in a pretty bonus if he has a case. He said he was
forced out of his company and wants to sue them. He's based in
Seattle so it might end up with our offices there. He has offices
here in Chicago so we'll see. Read it. Tell me your thoughts. I
need to know before the next board meeting," he grinned. Calvin
sure did talk fast and a lot. She barely listened to him. She just
stared at the folder as if it were an amputated limb. She couldn't
stop her heart from racing.

Mark leaned over to the top of her cubicle.
"How about a drink later? I know a pub that plays jazz for happy
hour. My treat."

"Um, no thanks," she said forcing her arms
to move, her hand to touch the folder and lift it to her keyboard.
She felt him leering and glanced up. "I'll read this and get back
with you."

Mark winked then walked off. Zuri opened the
folder with a shaky hand. The best way to get over Christophe was
to pretend he never existed, especially since she failed miserably
at locating him. Even Joi helped her in the search; they made a
trip to New York and visited his office, only to be turned away.
They tried everything to reach him. The mobile number she kept in
her phone was disconnected. His office wouldn't return her calls.
Letters to the address she was able to scrounge up from an Internet
search were returned. Finally, she gave up. Her life made it easy.
Between studying for the bar and taking the exam she found her work
to be the best therapy. Now, out of nowhere, Christophe drops into
her life again? This couldn't be a coincidence.

Zuri poured through the documents. To her
shock, she learned that Elliot was now running Montague.
Christophe’s name was nowhere to be found. She skimmed down the
papers to a name. Davis. Zuri dialed the number listed for him.

"Um, yes, my name is Zuri Baptiste. I'm
calling from Lloyd and Burke Attorney in Law. I need to speak to
Attorney Davis please."

"I'm sorry, Ms. Baptiste. He’s in
court."

"Can you have him return my call as soon as
you get this message?" She gave her cellular number, expressed it
was an emergency, and then hung up. She didn't care about the
lawsuit. She wanted to find Christophe. After all this time, she
wondered if it was wise.

***

Zuri sat down with her bowl of ice cream in
front of the television. She picked up the remote and turned the
channel to Discovery. Her addiction to watching crab fisherman
brave a frozen sea had her DVR loaded with episodes. She looked on
the sofa and saw the brief's and unread case files stacked up.
Sighing, she knew it would be a long night.

Her phone rang. She picked it up to find
that the caller was unlisted.

"Hello?"

"Zuri Baptiste?"

"Yes?"

"This is Davis."

Her heart lurched. "Ah, um, yes. Thank you
for calling."

"I'm sorry for the late hour. I was curious
as to why you called?"

"This might sound strange, Mr. Davis, but
you're my last hope."

"Are you in trouble?"

She found the question
strange and personal, as if he knew her or even better expected her
call. "No. I um, yes, I guess I am. I need to find Christophe. I
knew him from
—
"

"I know where you knew him from, Zuri. Why
are you looking for him?"

Zuri glanced to the file folder on her
coffee table. She could lie and say it was about the case. But she
was done with lies. She was done pretending that she didn't need
him too. "I want to see if he's okay."

The phone went silent.

"Mr. Davis, I understand that you have no
reason to trust me. But I know he's not with Montague anymore and
that company meant a lot to him. I've tried everything to find him.
There are unresolved things between us. I need to talk to him."

"I understand. I think he'd
want to talk to you. He lives in Bethel Ridge, Georgia. He prefers
his solitude, Zuri. However
—
"

"Yes?"

"I think seeing you would do him some good.
Do you have a pen?"

"Yes!" she smiled. "One second."

Zuri scribbled down the address. She thanked
the attorney profusely and hung up the phone. She had his address.
Now she had to decide what to do with it. Zuri dropped back on the
sofa, smiling at the numbers and letters. She knew exactly what to
do.

Bethel Ridge, Georgia

"Damn it." Zuri glared at
her GPS, then returned her eyes to the road. It stopped working
less than a mile back announcing: you have arrived.
Arrived where? The middle of nowhere land?
There was nothing: no cabin, no signs, just a two
lane highway with a forest on either side more intimidating than
the northern hills of Martinique that led to Mount Pele. She'd
flown into Atlanta and had been driving two hours. She had hoped to
arrive by now.

Zuri reached for her phone. Checking it, she
found her signal was lost. The tree cover nearly blocked the sky.
"Damn it," she groaned again. She would need to find a road to turn
around and ask for directions. Slowing, she allowed her car to
creep along until she did indeed see an approaching mailbox. To her
surprise the numbers to his address were in red on the black oblong
box.

Why would he move way out here? It was the
middle of nowhere. Bethel Ridge was fifty miles back the way she
came. She turned down the rocky road. Her rental seemed to sputter
over the rough terrain. She gunned the gas a bit and forced her
tires to spin out dirt and twigs, but she was again on her way.
Silently, she drove along the worn path until she breeched the
thicket. It was then she drove out to a two-story log cabin with a
black pick up truck parked out front.

She had done quite a bit to make this
reunion a reality. She probably made a mortal enemy of Calvin by
going above his head for the approval. She told Dennis Lloyd that
the firm could gain leverage for the client if she found Christophe
Montague and convinced him to align with them. All of it was
bullshit. She had no intentions of doing anything but convincing
the man she loved to forgive her.

Now parked, next to his truck, uninvited,
doubt settled in. What if he was involved with someone? What if he
had no desire to see her again? Could she stomach rejection again
from Christophe?

The door to the cabin opened. Zuri gripped
the steering wheel in fright. He stepped out with a worn over blue
baseball cap pulled low to his brow. He was different. His hair was
a big longer. It curled out from under his cap, and he had a
mustache goatee. He wore a red cotton shirt with sleeves rolled up
to the elbow and faded blue jeans. He took another step and she
knew he could see her. There was no turning back. Zuri opened her
car door. She stepped out. The morning air was much more frosty in
the mountain town than it was in Atlanta. She should have reached
for her jacket.

Christophe stepped down the stairs
immediately, and the closer he drew the clearer his face became. He
wasn't smiling. He was frowning and her heart sank. "What are you
doing here?"

"Hi, Christophe."

"How did you find me?"

She closed her car door. "I know I had no
right to track you down like this. I, I had to see you."

He looked at her for a long moment.
"Why?"

"I got your letter
and
—
"

"That was over four months ago, Zuri." His
voice broke over hers huskily.

"It took me that long to find you. You left
Montague, your penthouse, the state. How was I to know how to reach
you?"

"You weren't." His voice hardened
ruthlessly.

"Oh, I see. I guess the mistake is
mine."

Christophe turned and walked back to the
steps. "Have a safe trip out," he mumbled.

"
Ton image hante mes
nuits me poursuit le jour elle remplit ma vie,"
she shouted to his back.
He stopped. She couldn't do this again. Not again. "Those were
your words, Christophe. Do you remember what you said in the
letter? Why did you write that to me if you didn't mean
it."

He cast her a look over his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, but you wanted me to find you.
You said I healed you and that you weren't afraid of love. Why are
you turning your back on me now?"

"Maybe it hurts too much to see you. Maybe I
can't forget how easy it was for you to walk away," he said.

"Then let's fight. Let's talk? Let's make
love. Do something, Christophe. Ask me to stay. If I go, I won't
come back. It's over."

He looked away.

She took a step forward. "Have you thought
of me? I thought of you every day. You know what I listen to when
it gets to be too much. Wait! Wait right there."

He watched her curiously as she ran back to
her car. She opened the door and found her purse. Removing her cell
phone, she quickly dialed her voice mail. Putting the phone on
speaker, she played his messages for her. She never deleted them.
She would listen to them often.

He stared at her phone, then her.

"I kept them. I tried to find you. I don't
care about our mistakes. I just want another chance. Do you?"

Christophe shook his head. "You drive me
crazy, Zuri. I never know what to expect with you."

Zuri laughed and she smiled. "You a mountain
man now?"

He glanced up at her and smiled.

It was all she needed. She walked to him and
into his arms. "I've missed you."

"Say it to me in French," he whispered.

She tilted her head
back.
"
Tu me manques. Je veux etre avec
toi,
" she said.

"I want to be with you too."

Her heart began to hammer in her chest as
his lips came down on hers. Her mouth throbbed as his covered hers
with a passionate message. A brief shiver of excitement rippled
through her as she removed his hat and let her fingers slip into
his damp locks. Christophe lifted her to him and she felt the heady
sensation of his lips leaving her mouth to drift over her neck. She
sighed as he carried her inside. They could talk later. First she
wanted to enjoy all the passion starting over would surely
bring.

About the
Author

Sienna Mynx is your naughty
writer of Paranormal, Contemporary, and Historical Interracial
Romance for readers that love the bad boy's but desire to be the
women that tame them. A current resident of south of Georgia,
Sienna Mynx has just emerged into the e-publishing arena. Her
novellas reflect her thirst for romance told from a fresh
perspective with the diversity she craves in erotic Romance. Look
for more to come. Visit Sienna Mynx at
http://siennamynx.com