by Eden Butler
“What the hell do you think…”
“Come on, nizhóní,” Ed said, offering me a hand and helping me out of the booth. “Let’s go home.”
He led me through the small congregation of inspectors, toward the diminutive woman who’d outfitted me with the mic.
“It’ll be just a few seconds, Miss Warren,” the woman said, ushering me to the bathroom.
“Thank you. I really appreciate you all letting me have this,” I told the woman, nodding to Slim as he led Sam out of the dinner. Then I froze as Sam shifted his weight against the agent and ran straight for the door.
“Easy,” Ed said, standing in front of me, swinging his arms around to keep me at his back as the officer who’d been trying to get the mic flanked behind me, her hand reaching for her sidearm.
Sam didn’t make it far, ending up flat on his face with a bloody nose, near the exit as Slim jerked him up by the collar and Ed turned to face me, hand on my face, then to my shoulders, looking me over.
“You alright?”
“I’m fine,” I said, nodding to the woman as she went back to remove the mic. I managed a smile, nodding Ed toward the door. “I’m ready for this to be over.”
“It is,” he said and I hoped he was right. All I wanted was to go home with him and start making up for a lot of lost time.
Ed
There was a lot I missed being in Stillwater.
The taste of the first cup of coffee on a cold, crisp fall morning. The feel of a horse’s mane between my fingers when I scrubbed its coat after an afternoon ride. Most of all, I missed the smell of Piper’s hair and the sound of her voice when there was nothing between us but a dark sky and a million stars. Like we were now, on the cottage front porch, her feet in my lap and whiskey in our glasses.
“Should I feel sorry for Erin?” she said, pulling the throw tighter around her shoulders.
“Save your pity. Even if she was raised by criminals she knew enough about the law to tell what was legal and what wasn’t.”
“Sam used her. For years.” She pulled the tumbler to her lips, eyes tight as the whiskey went down, not saying what I could see plain on her face. Piper valued loyalty. It was one of the reasons my supposed robbery hurt her so bad. But Sam claimed to be her friend. He’d stood by her through everything. In the end, he’d betrayed her worse than anyone ever had before.
Slim’s call had come a half hour ago with the news. We’d hurried afterward to check on Tasso and Evie, and even Piper’s parents. They’d been surprised to discover what Sam had been involved in and relieved that he’d been caught.
Erin was picked up and immediately turned against Sam and the sheriff.
“None of them deserve our pity,” I told Piper. Sitting here, with her feet in my lap, swinging back and forth, was comfortable, familiar, something we hadn’t been together in a long time. “Dexter ran that place like a syndicate. Erin and the other deputies planting evidence, then selling drugs and guns they ‘forgot’ to process to the bikers? Accusing innocent people of shit they didn’t do?” She shook her head, taking another drink and I mimicked her. “Red and his crew doing whatever Sam told them to do and I’d bet anything that meant killing Maddox to keep him from asking questions about my case.”
Slim hadn’t found Red yet, but he was on his trail, and looking into Maddox’s death. I hadn’t had the heart to find Keene and tell him what I suspected.
“And that reporter? You think that was Red, too?” Piper moved her feet together, leaning against the pillow behind her when I rubbed my thumbs in her arches.
“Guess we’ll find out when the charges are handed down.”
Piper’s features relaxed as I worked my fingers harder against her feet, and she leaned her head back, making a soft, sweet sound I’d always loved hearing from her. But damn, it had been a while.
When I moved my hand up to her ankle, working over the back of her tendon there, then to her calves, she sat forward, setting her tumbler on the floor before she leaned close, brushing her fingers against my face.
“You don’t like my foot massages?”
“No one is better at them than you, Eddie,” she said, the smile she wore fading before she swung her feet off my lap and tucked them behind her.
“What is it?” I asked, not liking how her smile grew smaller, or the dip that appeared between her brows. “It’s over now. It’s going to be fine…”
“No, it’s just…” Then Piper shook her head, holding my face between her hands before she kissed me. It was barely a brush of skin against skin. Hardly a kiss at all, but it lit a sleepy fire inside me that I thought had long been doused. She pulled away, leaning her forehead to mine. “Eddie…I’m so sorry. I can’t say sorry enough to you. I’ll never stop saying it. I…”
“Nizhóní, stop,” I told her, pulling onto my lap. “It’s over. I’m here, and tomorrow my name will be clean.”
“But how can you just forget?” She adjusted over my lap, her shaking head throwing that thick, wild hair against my face. But I didn’t care. We were here. Alone. And even though she was feeling guilty and didn’t seem ready to let loose the worry she wallowed in, I couldn’t find it in me to fight the smile trembling over my mouth. Piper dipped her eyebrows, her mouth moved into a line and the longer she talked, the redder her face got. Christ, she was beautiful. “After all that time? I didn’t believe you and…I can never make it up to you.”
“Yeah. You can.”
“How?”
I pulled her closer up my lap, holding her around the waist. “Stop talking and give me a real kiss.”
Her hard expression softened, her eyes shifting, the worry pinching her eyebrows together going soft. Then, Piper’s features relaxed, her gaze warming into something I’d spent years trying to remember just right.
The reality was a hell of a lot better than my sad imagination.
A spasm at the corner of her mouth.
The shift of her eyes moving to my lips, like she’d only just realized she was close enough to kiss me. Then, she leaned down, coming at me like the air around us froze and my heart ran like a jackhammer waiting for those lips and a longer, sweet taste of what I’d been dreaming of.
We were always good at this.
Her mouth on mine. Her soft tongue warm and wet when it came at me. Piper was responsive. Sweet. Generous. And after five years and a couple weeks of almost and half-ways, this kiss went from good to golden before I realized what was happening.
She relaxed against me, her weight solid, comforting as I held her, taking what was mine, that breath, that heat with each kiss, each slow, delicious sweep of her mouth on mine.
The swing moved back when Piper spread her legs, steadying herself on her knees to hover over me, looking down with her bottom lip sucked behind her teeth and her breasts rubbing against my chest.
“I missed you,” she said, arms around my neck, her lips following until I slipped my head back, letting her kiss up my neck, tugging my earlobe between her teeth. “No one does this to me. Makes me want, makes me need the way you do…”
“Piper…” The sound was a muddle of breath and syllables, want and heat and I didn’t hold back, aching everywhere she touched me—her warm pussy against my stiff cock as we moved together, her soft breasts pressing against me. There was no need to hold back now. Nothing that lay between us would keep us apart anymore.
Piper’s low moaning gasp followed her jerking limbs when I pushed her down on my cock, my hand at the center of her ass. “You feel me? Feel what happens just from you kissing me?” She could only nod, her eyes slipping closed, rolling up behind her lids when I tugged her head back with my fingers in her thick hair, kissing her neck, pulling her shirt from her shoulder to nibble the skin there. It was salty and sweet, like the rosemary lotion she used and the night air that blew around us.
“Eddie,” she whined when I cupped her, pushing her breast up to suck on the nipple through her shirt. “Oh…”
A breath whooshed out of h
er when I tugged her beltloops, pulling her against me, holding an arm at her waist as I stood, loving how she held onto me, letting me kiss her neck at the same time I moved from the porch.
I could have been blind, likely bumped into every wall that got in my way, but the cottage was no more than five hundred square feet. There was only a front door to push open with the tip of my boot and four steps to take inside before I had Piper down on my small bed.
She didn’t pull away when I laid her down. She went on kissing me, arching into my open mouth when I pushed her shirt up her torso to get at her ribs, her stomach, spotting the pretty lace covering her.
“Red…” I muttered, just then spotting what she wore, her small laugh making me realize I’d said that aloud. Glancing at her face, I shrugged, not bothering with an excuse. “It’s a good bra. I like the lace.”
“I remember.”
Leaning back, I licked my lips, squinting at the smile she wore. “So you planned this?” I said, motioning to the pair of us spread out on the bed barely keeping us off the floor.
“Sugar, I’ve been planning this since the night at the bar.” Piper tugged on my collar like the half a foot between us wouldn’t do. “Red bras, black bras, red and black bras, hell, there are a dozen or more in my dresser and I’ve been wearing a different one every day on the off chance we’d end up somewhere remotely close to this position.”
The material was soft, lace, and in my way, something I illustrated when I pushed Piper back on to the mattress, getting her shirt over her shoulders to have a better look at the garment in question. “You’ll have to show me the rest later…” The strap came off her shoulder without much fuss and whatever Piper had planned to say got clipped into a low, grunting moan when I unhooked the clasp at the back and threw her bra onto the floor, hurrying to get hold of her breast.
“Eddie…”
My insides tightened at the thought of having her half-naked and buzzed, realizing this was it. Nothing would stop us. I was here with her after all this time, touching her, tasting her, and it was better, sweeter than I could have ever imagined.
“Harder,” she said when I sucked a nipple into my mouth and my head got fuzzy with the sensation of her nails on my back digging in deeper the harder I took her.
“This…won’t go on long,” I admitted, coming to her side, watching her close as I moved my fingers down her stomach, tracing an invisible line from her nipple, down her ribs, below her stomach to unfasten the button of her jeans. Piper held her breath, not speaking, her gaze shifting to my fingers, eyes widening as I lowered her zipper.
“Wh…what do you mean?”
If I rushed, moved too fast, I’d lose it and she’d regret coming through the door. I couldn’t have that. Not after all this time.
So I went slow, though I was sure it might kill me. Though I was convinced the blood rushing below my belt would leave me so dizzy I wouldn’t be able to keep my head off the mattress.
“I’ve been thinking of this…” The zipper was lowered. Her jeans pulled down and still Piper watched, bottom lip between her teeth as I slipped my fingers beneath the red lace fabric of her thong. “This…for a long time.” I scooted closer to her, wanting to be near enough to kiss her neck, to watch her expression as I played with her. It was the only distraction that would keep me from losing what small slip of restraint I had.
“Thinking of…” She shut her eyes when I touched that warm, wet skin, her shoulders sinking into the mattress, moving her leg up to shimmy out of her jeans.
“Touching you, really touching you. Not almost touching like that night when we were drunk at the B&B. Touching you, slow nizhóní, so I can enjoy it.” I leaned over her, moving my fingers away from her long enough to tug her thong over her hips and push her knees apart. “Feeling how soft you are. How warm.” Piper gripped the blanket underneath her as I knelt between her, kissing one hip, then the other, slowly coming to her center before I looked up, resting on my knees. “Seeing if you taste the same.”
“Eddie…”
She made the smallest whimper of a noise when I held my hands under her, stretching her out in front of me. My heart raced so fast now I could hear the pulse throbbing in my head. “I’ll be useless the first time I’m inside you, baby because I’ve wanted you so bad, for so long.” She slipped her eyes opened long enough to catch the kiss I place at the cleft of her thigh. “So, first, let me make sure you’re ready for me.”
She melted against me, warm, tangy, and I thought right then I’d lose it, just from tasting her. Piper arched against my mouth, her grip on the blankets tightening as I licked her at the center, teasing her clit, wanting to dive in completely, bury myself inside her and never come out. Warmth became a searing heat. The wetness became a river as I sucked on her, drinking her up, reaching two fingers inside her, moaning against her skin when I felt how tight she still was, how she clamped around my fingers.
“Deeper, oh, God, Ed…please…”
I remembered this. How many nights had the noise of other men grunting in their pillows had me shutting my eyes trying to remember every curve and contour, every taste and texture of Piper’s body? Too many to name. Even when I thought I hated her. Even when I was convinced she’d never believe I was innocent, it was her body, her face, her sweet, decadent taste I tried to recall.
“Baby, you’re sweeter than I remember,” I said against her, using my thumb on her clit as I angled my fingers deeper inside her. My chest got as tight as my insides watching how she moved against my fingers, how she chased the sensation moving inside her. “You missed this? As much as I did?”
“More…more…”
Impossible.
I leaned on my free hand, needing to watch her closer, kissing her chest, taking a nipple back into my mouth and the noises Piper made got louder. She released the blanket and reached up, her nails against my shoulders, at the back of my neck, just stopping at my braid as I moved my fingers faster and sucked harder against her nipple and then, she let go, coming so hard, she clamped around my fingers flooding my hand with her hot release.
“Ed…God…yes…”
She curled her arms around me, hands on my face as she took my mouth, kissing me like she was hungry, and I couldn’t hold back, didn’t even try. Piper was a meal, and I was starving, too.
She went on kissing me, her tongue thick, just as greedy, as eager as mine and we both got my shirt off and tugged at my jeans until I was as bare as she was, until Piper’s nails scratched against my thighs and up my ass. Then she slowed, taking my cock in one hand, stroking me as I looked down at her, fighting the sensation to dive right into her and forget I had any self-control.
“My body is humming,” she said, sounding satisfied, but still hungry. She tightened her hand around my cock, brushing a thumb over the damp head. “You want me to suck you—” She grinned when I shook my head, cutting off the generous offer. There was only one thing I wanted right then. “Are you sure, because…”
I didn’t wait for another offer I knew I’d turn down. Instead, I used a knee to push her legs apart, glancing at her face with my eyebrow cocked. It was all the request I could manage with every bit of my blood flooding to my dick.
Piper nodded, that grin delicious, she steadied her hands on my shoulder and held her breath, like she wasn’t really sure this was gonna happen. Couldn’t blame her. I didn’t seem able to breathe myself, not until I slipped past her wet lips, until I felt all that searing heat envelope me and couldn’t do more than groan against the sensation.
I wanted to memorize everything about the moment—how she shook, how she tightened around me, how I could taste the honey from the Chapstick on her lips and feel every ounce of sensation of her body against mine; her breath warming my face when she kissed me, the tips of her nails on my cheeks as she held my face, her sweet, warm pussy holding me tight, her feet against the back of my calves keeping me in place.
It was too much and not enough, and I knew I had to move.
“You…feel bigger,” she said through a moan.
“Couldn’t…work that muscle out …with…weights…”
Her laugh distracted me long enough to stave off the rushing orgasm, and I was grateful for it. This would be over too soon, I knew that, but I didn’t want it to end.
“So…damn…tight, hot…good…” I was reduced to one-word syllables and when she kissed me again, widening her legs even farther, I knew the edge was speeding closer.
Five years without touching a woman, especially the woman I loved, would reduce me to something pathetic. And here I was, proving it.
“Piper…” I said, warning her, “don’t…”
“Sugar, please. Come for me.”
“I’m sorry…I can’t…”
“I’m not.” She kissed me again, clamping tighter, meeting each thrust I gave her, moving in time with me. “Let go, baby.”
And then, I was on the edge, twisting, my body on fire, speeding forward, my lungs burning and my head full of nothing but Piper, Piper, Piper and for the first time since I’d left Stillwater, for the very first time, I felt free.
The bathroom wasn’t big enough for us. Not for a shower. No bath. No double sink to stand in front of and watch ourselves.
“Oh, God…”
But a round mirror hung over the butcher block counter in the small kitchen and that’s where we stood—Piper in front of me, her neck twisted to the side as I stretched her leg out and took her from behind.
“Open your eyes,” I told her when she closed them for a second time. She blinked and a lazy smile spread across her lips as she caught my gaze in the mirror. “I like watching you, seeing everything on your face when I’m inside you…”
“It’s…so good…” She reached an arm up, her fingers against my neck, scratching the skin there, but she held back, lowering her arm when she brushed her fingers against my braid.