“I dread all the days when you leave,” he fired back, confirming her impression. “So, what do you think? Can you stand me for another day?”
Leaking pipes seemed very far away, and Piper couldn’t stand to squash the hope in his voice. “I don’t know. What are the chances you can make other weirdly-delicious instant desserts like this flan?”
She shoveled in another embarrassingly large bite and pulled the plate an inch or two closer. At the rate they were going, they would have the entire thing demolished soon.
Red puffed out his chest, victory shining from his gaze. “The bodega down the block has a whole shelf full of these babies. They’re, like, a buck apiece. We could eat them for a month if you wanted to.”
“Then it looks like we have a date,” Piper told him.
“Yes.” He pumped his fist, then took off in search of his cell phone.
Not one to miss a dessert-related opportunity, Piper took a few extra bites of flan, then followed his voice up the stairs.
Red was pacing the floor near the foot of his bed, saying, “Thanks buddy,” before disconnecting and calling another number.
He winked at her when he saw her come in, setting off a burst of flutters in Piper’s chest like a flock of starlings taking flight.
“Mom,” he said, then stuck out his tongue when Piper gaped at him.
She could hear the other woman’s voice, rapid-fire and strident through the phone.
Red blew out a breath and dropped his head back. “Mother. I realize that. Yes, I know,” he began, attempting to keep up with the flow of words accosting him.
Then, after a long lull, Piper watched Red summon what must have been every ounce of restraint he possessed. “You’re right,” he agreed. “I should not have lost my temper.” He flopped back on the bed, stretching in a long, enticing line of delicious male, right next to where Piper was sitting.
“She probably deserved it,” Piper whispered.
Red widened his eyes and nodded emphatically in agreement.
“Okay, well that is definitely a conversation for another time,” he told his mother. “I was just calling to ask Dad something really quickly. Can you put him on?”
Judging by Red’s expression, that set off a whole new onslaught of invective. When his father finally managed to seize the phone, his son’s relief was immediate.
“Hey, Dad. Yeah, I just wanted to know if anyone is using the Hampton house right now. I need to get out of here for a couple of days or I’m going to inflict bodily harm on—” Red stopped, listened, and laughed. “Yes. And if you could possibly keep Mom out of my hair for a few days, that would be splendid.”
Piper arched a brow at him. It seemed that not only was Red whisking her off for a little field trip to the Hamptons, but he was also making sure his mother wouldn’t find a way to pop in unannounced again. That kind of pro-level effort deserved a reward.
She shifted around and straddled Red’s hips, narrowing her eyes at him when he immediately spread his legs to force her thighs wider apart. He grinned wickedly and sunk his teeth into his lower lip, clearly not paying the slightest attention to anything his father was saying.
“You be good,” Piper murmured, “And maybe I will be too.”
“Dad?” Red asked quickly. “I—”
Piper untied the cord of Red’s sweatpants as slowly as she could, then dragged one fingernail carefully across his lower stomach, from one side of his waist to the other. His reaction was instantaneous, a shudder rippling through his large frame from top to bottom.
His father was still talking, but Red wasn’t hearing a thing. His eyes were glued to the skin Piper was revealing by peeling off her t-shirt, inch by torturous inch.
Once her head cleared the neckline, she tossed it aside. Red lifted one hand to her breast, his palm blazingly hot as he tested the weight in his hand.
“Dad, something’s come up,” he barked quickly.
Piper raised her eyebrows at him. “I’ll say.”
Red blurted, “I gotta run,” checked twice to make sure he’d really hung up, then lunged for her.
EIGHTEEN
AS EXPECTED, PIPER had no trouble changing her ticket to leave Tuesday at lunchtime. It didn’t give them a ton more time but at the moment, Red didn’t have a ton of time to give.
Still, twenty-four more hours before he had to get back to reality was better than nothing. To preserve as much of it as he could, he opted to charter a helicopter out to the Hampton house instead of driving.
The truth was, he hadn’t actually expected anyone to be at the house—his mother extended invitations to the family’s vacation home about as often as she admitted she was in the wrong, and never in the off-season—but his call to his parents did have a purpose.
At least now Red could be sure his mother wouldn’t come hunting for him for another day or two. His father would make sure of that. By the time his mom figured out a way around her husband’s goal-tending, Red would be back behind his desk and ready for her, and Piper would be safe at home, three states away.
Not yet, though. Red had one more day to bask in all things Piper, and the thing he was currently enjoying the most was the expression on her face. She was perched on her seat in the back of the helicopter like she half expected to be ejected off the PKM roof without warning. Red bent over to latch her in and wondered if she’d ever flown in something quite so small and fast.
“You sure you’re okay with this?” he asked her.
Piper’s face was grim as she stared at him, her nervousness apparent while he checked and re-checked her straps and buckles. Her hands fluttered around his, trying to help.
“It’s only a short hop. We’ll be fine. Nothing’s going to happen,” she said firmly.
Red laughed and shook his head. “Who are you trying to convince?”
“What do you expect?” she demanded testily. “This kind of outing does not go well for people like…well, fancy people.”
“Piper, look outside. It’s a perfectly calm and clear day. We’ll be back on the ground in forty-five minutes.”
“Famous last words,” she muttered.
Red knew he shouldn’t, not after Spanking Round Two had gone south, but he just couldn’t resist poking at her. “Don’t you think there’s something really kinky about this?” he murmured, low enough so the pilot couldn’t hear. “All these restraints? Giving me a huge hard-on.”
As distractions went, it was an excellent one. Piper’s eyes immediately flew south to assess the situation, but Red foiled her by pivoting and settling into his own seat so she couldn’t get a good look. He buckled up like he didn’t have a care in the world while the pilot ran through his checklist.
“You know,” she said narrowly, “I think you might be a bit of a bad seed.”
The rotors began spinning, but even over the noise, Piper clearly caught his response. “Oh honey, you have no idea,” Red laughed.
Minutes later, they were airborne, and Piper’s eyes went wide, taking in the sweeping view of Manhattan as they banked and turned toward Long Island. Red pointed out a landmark or two along the way, but mostly he just took pleasure in the way her expressions shifted when she registered each new detail, cataloging them and filing them away in her fascinating brain.
The helipad closest to his parents’ house wasn’t much of an airfield—only a tight square of asphalt tucked onto a sandy spit of land between the road and the shore. Red had arranged for the caretaker to leave a car at the small beachside lot for them, and as the helicopter set down, he saw that it was already there. In moments, he and Piper had accepted their bags from the pilot, stepped across the sand and the trampled rushgrass, and slipped into the tan leather seats of the coupe.
The morning air was fresh and crisp but not too cold, so they rolled down the windows for the short drive to the house. It was still early in the off-season, but it was also early on a Monday, so there was barely anyone else around—only the occasional workman’s truck, and some bi
cycles here and there. A handful of people were strolling the beach, and a couple of hardy surfers bobbed out on the water.
The contrast to the hustle and buzz of weekday Manhattan made Red felt like they’d not only left the city but entered another stratosphere altogether.
In the passenger seat, Piper was soaking in the view and the breeze, and looking like she’d shed a huge weight from her shoulders. She clearly hadn’t been kidding when she’d told him she enjoyed being out in nature.
Red drove fast, impatient to see her reaction to his parent’s summer retreat—especially since it was so patently opposite his own home. However, when Red slowed the car and hit the remote for the gate, Piper shot him a look of panic.
“You can’t be serious,” she breathed.
“As a heart attack,” he grinned.
The property was on the large side, and it took them a minute to work their way up the curved pea gravel driveway. Red watched as the house came into full view and tried to see it through Piper’s eyes.
The place was a classic, sprawling shingle-style, covered with broad windows and bright white trim. Vivid fuchsia flowers spilled from the window boxes, still surviving into the autumn since there hadn’t been a hard frost to kill them off yet. His mother’s beloved hydrangeas were burgeoning, too, dotting the lawn with pale blue blossoms.
The scent of salt water and seaweed hung pungently in the air, blowing in off the water out back. The leaves on the trees had begun to turn, but the rambling lawns and tall privet hedges were still a vibrant, emerald green. Despite all the irritating social events he’d had to suffer through here over the years, it was still one of his favorite places on earth.
“Red,” Piper gasped. “This is incredible.”
He pulled the little sportscar into the turnaround in front of the porch, and barely had time to get her door open before Piper was up and out of the passenger seat. Then she stood stock still beside the car, gaping around in shocked delight.
“Come on.” Red grabbed her by the hand and led her up the stairs, then let her into the sunny front hall. “Hang tight here for a minute,” he said. “I’ll go grab our bags and be right back.”
Piper hadn’t moved an inch when he returned. Red dumped their stuff at the bottom of the stairs and smiled too. It had been way too long since he’d logged a visit here, and he was glad his first time back was with her.
The décor was still mercifully normal—straight coastal magazine, everything crisp and nautical. Couches slipcovered in marine-blue denim. Seagrass rugs. Shells in pebbled glass jars on the end tables and huge paintings of sailing ships on the walls.
“Oh, Red,” she breathed. “How do you ever leave here? It’s so beautiful.”
He could have made a joke about the hideousness of his loft in town, but instead Red told her, “Not as beautiful as you.” He meant it—her happiness was incandescent, lighting up her tawny eyes and shining from her face.
Naturally, Piper snorted at that.
“Let me show you around,” he said.
While they walked through the rooms, Red sifted through all the things in the area that they could do today, but knowing Piper, food probably had to come first. He’d woken her and dragged her to their flight too early for her to eat much breakfast.
“Are you hungry?” It was a silly question. She only ever answered it in the affirmative. Frankly, if she said no at this point, Red would probably begin to worry.
“Of course!” Piper chirped, not looking his way, but dancing from window to window, so she could peer out at each new vista.
From the living room, Red glanced into the yard and saw that the pool cover was already on for winter, so he reluctantly crossed skinny-dipping off his mental list. However, from the kitchen, Red noticed that the wooden boardwalk at the back of the yard, which led over low dunes to access the beach, looked like it had been reconstructed recently.
That was good news. Once it warmed up more, he and Piper could go hang out on the sand, maybe take a long walk or play Frisbee.
There had been a nice little restaurant about a half-mile east of there, next to the jetty. Looking in that direction, Red had a sudden, visceral memory of eating steamed clams on their back patio and knew, at minimum, he should take Piper there for dinner. He called up their website on his phone and was relieved to see that they hadn’t yet closed for the season.
“Hey, do you like shellfish?” he asked Piper, drawing her attention away from the wide grassy rectangle stretching below the house’s back windows. She sighed and wandered over with an ecstatic look on her face. Red congratulated himself on the best idea he’d probably ever had—next to meeting her to begin with, that was.
“I love it,” she said, then reconsidered. “Though…maybe not for breakfast.”
“No worries.” He ducked his head into the fridge and found that the caretaker had stocked the usual array of staples. “We’ve got bacon and eggs and fruit for breakfast. But I know a great seafood place up the way that we can hit up for dinner if you want.”
“Perfect,” she grinned.
After they ate and mapped out their plan for the day, they dropped their things in his bedroom upstairs, changed their shoes, and headed out to do some sight-seeing. They wandered the wildlife refuge until hunger struck again, grabbed decadent little gourmet pizzas in Sag Harbor for lunch, then browsed lazily through a couple of antique shops before driving out to Montauk to do a tour of the lighthouse.
It was amazing, really. When Red visited with his parents, there were always new restaurants to try, familiar old haunts at which they had to put in appearances, and charity events to navigate. There was a familiar roster of people that they knew from the city, parading their assorted unmarried daughters in front of him. It didn’t often feel like rest, so much as his regular life with a different backdrop.
But now, alone here with Piper, Red had nothing to do but have a good time. They didn’t tackle a single Gina MacLellan-approved thing for the entire day, and it was like his brain was drunk on the concept—flooded with ideas of even more they could try, if only he could convince Piper to come back again.
Measuring her indolent smile on the drive back to the house, Red didn’t think it would be too difficult a task. He let his mind go sprinting into the future, where there bloomed a joy-filled place of their own, with laughing little kids and dogs running around.
Which was crazy, of course. Red was hardly father material and had no idea whether Piper, the cat person, even liked dogs. What was more, she had a full-blown life already in progress somewhere else and entertaining too many fantasies of her pulling up stakes to join his circus was ambitious, even for him.
Still, Red reached across the gearstick and wrapped Piper’s hand in his. It was impossible not to touch her. At first, he’d worried it was some jealous, proprietary thing, but eventually realized he wasn’t registering other people at all—Red only had eyes for Piper, and his hands were compelled to follow wherever his eyes led.
He simply couldn’t keep them to himself. If he looked at Piper’s hair, or her slim, tan arms, or her oddly enticing collarbones, his fingers tripped along moments later—like Red couldn’t help but feel what he was seeing. What he was studying with such fervent appreciation.
The scenery around them made about as big an impression on him as a stage prop. But was Red trying to commit Piper to memory, since she was leaving again tomorrow? Or was he just doing what came naturally—learning a new terrain with the complete concentration that helped him succeed at nearly everything he attempted?
He didn’t know.
At least he could dispense with the thought that maybe he was measuring Piper against that ever-present, unknown paradigm he’d been searching so long for. Women he met had never been able to live up to it, before now—but Red didn’t think Piper would even have to try. Somehow, in the short time he’d known her, Piper had become the ideal.
What that meant was anyone’s guess. Back at home, while they showered and chan
ged for dinner, it occurred to Red that his particular…needs, such as they were, had mostly been laying low with Piper. Sure, they’d tried some spanking, with inconclusive success. But as for all the rest of it, the domination and submission, the restraints and toys and total control—Red felt remarkably indifferent to its absence.
He didn’t need it. Not with Piper. It was confusing and odd, but also kind of freeing. He wondered how long it would last.
AT THE END of the day, they conceded defeat and admitted to each other that they were too tired from playing tourist to make the walk up the beach to dinner. Instead, Red tucked Piper into the car and drove the few minutes to the restaurant. She was as fresh as a spring daisy after her primping, and Red almost wanted to skip dinner and feast on her instead.
He’d start at the top of her glossy light brown hair and work his way down, charting a map of every gorgeous inch of her. And then, once he’d made it to the tip of her pretty painted toes, Red would reverse course and wander his way up again.
“Food is for suckers,” he muttered, pulling into the small, roped-off parking area.
Piper was, understandably, startled. “What?”
Red shook his head. “Never mind,” he said, resolving to tolerate her current, clothed state—for the next hour or two, at least. This had been his brainy idea anyway, and he didn’t want to disappoint her.
Now that it was fall, the restaurant was quieter than he was used to—sitting on its rocky outcropping like a little jewel, its nautical brass fittings gleaming and big windows reflecting the sinking sun.
Inside, the bar was mostly empty, the music was soft, and the unhurried staff was attentive. He and Piper sat at a small table on the covered porch in the back, warmed by a nearby heating lamp while they devoured clams and oysters and chowder. It was heaven on earth, watching Piper survey the sailboats drift lazily by.
Something she’d said recently had been nagging at him, though, like a small but sharp thorn in the back of his mind. Without thinking it out, Red blurted, “Tell me about this former fiancé of yours. Who was he?”
The Titan Was Tall (Triple Threat Book 1) Page 20