“Oh good,” he replied, somewhat lamely. Red surveyed her as she took another swallow, enjoying the movement of her pale throat as she drank. “It’s a…”
He paused. Glanced down at the label once more. Piper wouldn’t care one whit what the vineyard was, or the vintage year. She might care what he’d paid for it, but probably only so she could squawk about it.
She would care whether she actually liked it, though, and she did. She’d said so.
“It’s a—?” Piper prompted him. Her expressive eyebrows drifted upward. Right. Red was supposed to be speaking.
“It’s a pinot noir,” he smiled. “I’m glad you like it.”
This woman. Everything felt so much simpler with her. Consequently, that made this fling of theirs much more complicated. She was destined to make him crazy. Red already adored her.
“I do,” Piper replied. She eyed his glass quizzically. “Don’t you?”
He looked down and realized that he hadn’t touched his glass since he’d taken that first exploratory sip. Red had been too preoccupied with his own rioting thoughts and too transfixed by the vision of Piper savoring the taste of the drink. He hadn’t even remembered to toast her, much less join in.
Red raised his glass now, inhaling the scent of the wine within, taking in its color, cataloging the various flavor notes as they washed across his tongue. And then—then, he allowed all those details to dissipate, like smoke in his mouth. He just tasted and enjoyed.
He smiled wider at the sorceress across the table. “I do,” he answered. “I like it a lot.”
Easy.
Piper clinked her goblet against his, beaming right back at him. “To technology that works as advertised,” she said.
Red laughed. “To seeing where things go,” he fired back. He really, really hoped it would be toward a bed.
AFTER DINNER, THEY didn’t pile into his car right away. Instead, they strolled lazily up the block, holding hands and enjoying being together again. They came to a large bookstore first.
“Want to go book shopping?” Red asked her.
“Always. But not in there.”
“Why? It’s nice. And, they have coffee.”
“But they don’t have a romance section,” Piper explained. “And for your information, they aren’t very nice, either. The jerks at Millhouse & Rock are high and mighty snobs, and I wouldn’t buy a book from them if it was the last book on earth.”
“That sounds serious. I had no idea.” Red examined the façade of the store again, trying to find evidence of Piper’s assertion. “They look so elegant.”
“It’s okay,” she said, tugging him along. “They fooled you with all the brass and the wood paneling. That’s how they get everyone.”
At the next storefront, Piper’s interest picked up significantly. It was hard to miss the way she did a longing double-take on a sexy pair of cheetah-print heels in the window. She tried to keep walking, though, her hand tucked sweetly into the bend of Red’s elbow. She seemed surprised when he tugged her to a stop.
Red nodded toward the shoes. “You would look terrific in them.”
Piper smiled faintly. Her eyes roved over the street, the window display, and the name of the store. There was a tiny flicker of apprehension, maybe, or discomfort—but it was gone in an instant, and then Piper was back to looking happy.
“Thank you. But maybe this isn’t the best time to drool over them.”
“Nonsense.” Red pulled the shop door open and gestured her in. “No time like the present. Maybe there will be others inside that you like even more.” Hell, based on what he was seeing, he was fairly certain there’d be more that he liked, too.
Piper stepped in reluctantly, then froze about two feet later to stare around like a deer caught in headlights. Red leaned over the waist-high wall to lift the object of her affection from the window display, then handed it to her.
Piper accepted the shoe reverently, cradling it in her hands with wide eyes.
When she spoke, her voice was forlorn, however. “I really should try to fight my love of animal prints a bit harder. It seems very trashy of me to be so fixated on them.”
“Nah, they’re fine if they’re done right. Those leopard ones you wore to our meeting were perfect. Besides, if something this innocuous makes you happy, then who cares what other people think?” Look at him, acting all open-minded.
Before Red could dwell on the deeper ramifications of that mental oddity, he grabbed Piper’s arm and led her deeper into the store.
She sighed, “You live in a very rarified world, don’t you?”
Red shrugged. It was what it was. He moved away to peruse the displays scattered around, strolling slowly until Piper finally allowed herself to look around. Once she did, he observed her, instead.
She didn’t look at prices, at least not that he saw. That was probably wise—these babies undoubtedly cost as much as some people’s first car, and Piper would give herself a heart attack if she saw that.
“So rarified,” he told her, “That I don’t believe I have ever felt compelled to take a woman shoe shopping.”
Just then, Red’s attention was snagged by a display he hadn’t inspected yet. Piper followed his line of sight, searching for what had diverted him. In two steps he was there, hooking his finger under the strap of a dark crimson, patent leather heel. He turned and extended it.
“Try these, too,” he instructed. The heated look Piper gave Red in return had all the blood in his skull abruptly decamping for points south.
An employee had glided up, so Red handed her the shoe he held instead. Then he grabbed Piper’s cheetah-printed number and passed that off, too.
“She’ll try these in a size…?”
“Eight,” Piper supplied weakly. She shuffled over to the low, padded leather bench the other woman indicated and sank down.
A second employee approached, this one a man with slicked-back hair, heavy cologne, and a slight potbelly. His expression was avid as he made to kneel in front of Piper. He’d greeted her too warmly, oozing obsequiousness.
Red’s gut-level reaction was instantaneous. “No,” he barked, waving the man off.
The guy straightened quickly and backed up, no doubt used to the peccadilloes of the customers who usually shopped there. Red stepped into the breach, lest there be any further confusion.
“I’ll do it,” he told him, demanding the man’s departure with his most commanding glare.
Once he’d gotten his way, Red knelt at Piper’s feet. As he had at the Japanese restaurant a few weeks back, he removed her shoes carefully. The short brown boots looked downright sensible next to the two sexy samples on the bench next to her. It was almost laughable the way Piper could move between the two extremes so effortlessly.
Red caressed her ankles lightly while they waited for the first woman to return. Piper sighed and ran a hand into his hair. He had to look away, so he wouldn’t be tempted to spread her knees and dive between them, right then and there.
Once the female employee reappeared, Red slipped the cheetah pumps on Piper first, securing each tiny buckle on the row of straps with his too-large fingers. Seemed like a perfect fit to him, but she was the one who had to walk in them.
“How are they?” he asked, shifting back.
Piper was already so in love, she may as well have melted onto the floor. But she dutifully stood and took a few steps, transfixed by her own feet.
“Oh. Wow,” she marveled breathlessly. “They’re a lot more comfortable than they look.”
“And they look hot, hot, hot,” enthused the oily shoe salesman, sidling up once more.
Hadn’t Red already run this one off? He scowled a bit more ferociously this time, which immediately had the guy’s cohort clamping her lips together and shooing him into the back.
Red turned back to Piper. “Fine Italian design,” he told her, leading her back to the bench. “Now try mine.” He crouched and switched the cheetah heels out for the dark red ones.
Piper rose and walked away again, watching her feet in the mirrors that lined the walls. Red devoured the long lines of her legs, the sway of her hips, the arch of her spine. Much more of those wanton shoes and he was going to need to get Piper alone—and soon. They looked even better on her than he’d expected, and that was really saying something.
When she sat again, Piper looked a little shell-shocked. Red could empathize.
He told her, “You walk differently in these.”
Piper stared at him, and he willed her to read his mind. He’d pay any price if it meant she left this store with those shoes in her possession. He’d do anything if she’d wear them for him later.
The employee broke the mood simmering between them with a polite little cough.
“I’m not sure what you’ll think of these, but I spotted them in the back earlier. Do you want to try them, too?” She extended the open box carefully, revealing a strappy pair of heeled sandals nestled in tissue paper.
Piper hissed between her teeth and grabbed for them, slipping off the crimson shoes and quickly setting them aside.
“Do you mind?” she begged. She looked a little guilty, poor thing.
But Red could be magnanimous when the situation warranted it. “By all means.”
He let the women handle the donning of this pair themselves, standing back and smirking at how smitten Piper already looked. Thin cords crisscrossed the top of each foot, then wound around her ankles. Her pale skin contrasted beautifully with the narrow straps of black suede. Tiny tassels dangled from the loose ends of each bow.
Once Piper was ready to stand, Red laced his fingers through hers and helped her up.
“I’m beginning to think you’ll look gorgeous in every pair in here,” he told her.
She sauntered away, did a runway-worthy spin, then came back. Those fiendish tassels danced around her ankles with every step. “We don’t have that kind of time,” she joked.
Red disagreed. If it meant watching Piper sashay around the boutique in increasingly stimulating pairs of heels, then he had all the time in the world.
Sadly, she sat down too soon, then clapped her hands together.
“Okay!” she chirped brightly. Red didn’t like the note of finality in her voice. Piper didn’t actually think she was leaving those shoes here, did she?
“Woman, you’re going to break hearts all over town, when people get a load of you.” They were shoes that could tempt a saint, and Red was clearly not one of those.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Piper rolled her eyes, and then finally did what he’d hoped she wouldn’t—she peeked at the price tag. Then she blanched, paralyzed in the act of untying that second erotic bow at her ankle.
Before the moment could get away from him, Red turned to the tidy woman beside him and declared, “We’ll take all three.” He turned back to Piper and asked, “Do you want to wear those out?”
“What!” she screeched. “Red!”
He nodded at the employee, who ducked her head and began packing up the loose shoes. She tucked Piper’s boots into the last empty box and stood, waiting expectantly.
Piper stammered, “Oh—oh my God. Red, you can’t do this.”
He could so. Red handed his credit card to the saleswoman, and she took off for the register at the back of the store. Probably didn’t want to hang around too long, in case Piper was successful in robbing her of her commission.
“I cannot accept these from you,” Piper protested again, in a slightly firmer voice.
Red grinned. “Up we go,” he instructed, holding out his hand.
“Wait,” she wailed, bending to re-tie both bows quickly.
The employee returned with a large bag and a sales slip for Red to sign, and then, miraculously, he was able to hustle Piper toward the door.
“Please,” she pleaded. “Will you listen to me?”
“I listen to every word you say,” Red told her, “And even some you don’t.” He tucked his card and receipt inside his breast pocket, then towed Piper by the hand out to the sidewalk.
His driver was still idling by the curb where they’d left him. When Felix spotted them, he threw the car into park and trotted over. Red handed him the bag to put in the trunk, then returned to Piper’s side before she could budge.
“You’re insane,” she muttered.
“Why fight it? You adored those shoes, and so did I.”
“I hate to break it to you, big guy, but you might be in the throes of a full-on shoe fetish.”
Oh, she had no idea.
Red said, “Why don’t we agree it’s a ‘you’ fetish and call it a day.”
Piper scowled. It made him a little testy.
“Jesus. There’s no catch, woman. All you have to do is enjoy the gift and move on. Wear them for me sometime, if you want.”
If he’d hoped to chasten her, it didn’t work. “Still, you didn’t have to do that,” she insisted.
“No, I didn’t. But I wanted to. Is that really so bad?”
Piper peeked at her feet. “I guess not,” she murmured. “So…thank you.”
“My pleasure, believe me.” Red pecked her lightly on the cheek. “There’s not much else up this way, and those new kicks of yours really ought to be debuted properly.” At her look of inquiry, he admitted, “Okay, fine. I’m not ready to relinquish you, yet. I want to show you off, like the caveman I am. Happy now?”
Piper finally smiled and nodded. “As a matter of fact, I am.”
“Good, then we have one more stop.”
ELEVEN
AS WITH MOST things in the city, getting wherever they were going was a long, slow slog across town. Piper finally buckled and had to ask Red if they could pull over somewhere for a potty break. The look he gave her made it clear he thought she’d been rusticating in the suburbs for far too long.
As luck would have it, though, the nearest bathroom turned out to be the one at his place. In the dark, the neighborhood seemed edgier than it probably was. The streets made Piper a little nervous as the car rolled along them, and that didn’t dissipate once his driver let them off at the curb. It was eerily quiet on his block. She’d clearly lived in the suburbs too long.
“Nice place,” she tried. The elevator ride up to Red’s floor wasn’t helping.
He chuckled. “Wait until you’ve seen it. Then decide.”
Piper steeled herself for what Red’s apartment might look like. Given his wealth, she would’ve expected some old-money townhouse replete with monograms and estate silver. Maybe some paintings of hunting dogs, expensive urns on pedestals, the lingering essence of stuck-up ancestors in the air. Based on what she’d seen so far, though, that idea was dissolving pretty quickly.
Even with Piper’s shaky understanding of city real estate, she was aware it could cost an arm and a leg. Despite all his success, maybe the best Red could manage was some setup in a hip, gentrifying neighborhood, with a decent amount of space and a large threat of mugging.
Judging by the no-frills lobby and the clanking elevator, Piper was now betting that Red’s apartment would have an industrial vibe, something with exposed pipes and bare light bulbs. There would probably be old movie posters on the walls, but they’d be framed nicely.
Piper peeked at Red out of the corner of her eye while he studied the flickering floor numbers over the metal elevator gate. No, not movies, she decided. Red would have concert posters, but they’d be for bands she’d never heard of.
Still, Piper suspected this little detour was going to be a challenge. So far, she’d tried to take the elegant dinners in stride. The whole shoe-shopping thing Red dropped on her tonight had been kind of preposterous—but it had also been heavy with eroticism, and somehow that softened the edges.
But Piper had the feeling she was about to be hit over the head with exactly how different she and Red really were. He probably had all sorts of savings and investments, the sort of debt that was calculated for leverage only, and no financial worries whatsoever. She expected that
if this man wanted something, he bought it. If something was broken, he hired someone to fix it. Simple as that.
It wasn’t like Piper was hurting for cash herself these days, but she still budgeted and spent what she had carefully. It was part of why she was doing okay—part of why she didn’t have to agonize over every cent like she’d once done. At least her parents had taught her that much.
It was a skill that was coming in awfully handy now that she’d taken over her grandparents’ old house, and especially now that the royalties from her backlist were beginning to drop off so much. It would be a welcome relief if PKM could launch her new series into success.
The elevator slowed as it neared the top, and Piper resolved not to judge Red. She wasn’t going to envy the man for his good fortune, knowing how hard he probably worked for it. Besides, success like his came with a price, didn’t it? Red had said as much.
All she really wanted was the chance to understand him as a person, without the interfering static of his wealth, his reputation, and his notoriety. Maybe that was possible, and maybe it wasn’t. Only time would tell.
He was quiet. Piper wondered if he’d picked up on her unease, or if he was nervous himself, for some reason. The thought was unexpectedly endearing.
“So,” Piper said, “You’re in the penthouse, huh?”
Red’s voice was wry. “Yeah, well, I wanted to make sure I got one with a bathroom. Just in case.”
“The other apartments don’t have bathrooms? Do they, like, share one at the end of the hall or something?” She grimaced, not even wanting to contemplate the germs involved. Too many shades of youth hostel for her.
“It was a joke, little dove.” He shook his head. “Come on.”
The elevator gave a sickening lurch, then stopped. Red pushed back the metal gate and led Piper out. The outer hallway wasn’t much to look at—it could’ve been in a factory or a mental hospital, for all its aesthetic appeal. But then, Red unlocked his door and casually swung it wide.
The Titan Was Tall (Triple Threat Book 1) Page 12