“Uh-uh,” she confirmed. “I’ve got things to do right here, as it turns out.”
“Please let me be one of them,” he muttered fervently.
“You are. And after that, I’ll even let you take me to dinner.”
“You are everything kind in this world,” Red told her.
THEY ARRIVED A bit early for their dinner reservation in SoHo. Felix dropped them off at the corner, so they could stroll up the block and enjoy the mild fall night before they ate. The street was lined with boutiques, and since he’d kept Piper inside all day, Red thought she might like to do a little window shopping.
Besides, it could be eye-opening to wander stores with a woman. The things they pointed out, even the way they did it, always gave Red interesting insight into who he was dealing with. It was an old gambit better suited to a different kind of person, but maybe he’d find out a little bit more about what made Piper tick.
There was a steady stream of people who were also out enjoying the weather but, of course, Piper was unique. She didn’t seem overly aware that they were walking past open shop doors at all, and that included two different luxury shoe boutiques.
That was remarkable for a woman who loved shoes as much as Piper. He hadn’t forgotten those fiendish leopard-printed numbers she’d worn to their first meeting. They hadn’t made another appearance yet, a fact which saddened him deeply. He’d like to see her in them again. Only them.
Piper did a quick double-take when they passed a display of handbags in a large window, noting the sign over the door, and passing a keen eye over the brightly-colored leathers. And then she kept walking, with barely a pause in her step.
Purses, Red thought, possibly she liked purses, just—not these particular ones. He glanced back at the store over her shoulder. They might be haute couture, but he wasn’t surprised that she’d passed them by. They would have fit right in with his former home décor.
Red ran an admiring eye over Piper, taking in her ivory cashmere turtleneck and tall suede boots. She mostly wore classic, streamlined pieces, nothing fussy or frilly. Occasionally she threw in a flourish like those animal-print heels, but she managed to be judicious about it. She wasn’t flashy or terribly trendy. She was…as elegant as a goddamn duchess.
Shitty home repairs notwithstanding, Piper didn’t appear to be hurting for money too badly, but Red couldn’t help wondering what she might do with a bank account like his to play with. Somehow Red suspected there still wouldn’t be any great influx of spangles and flounces. Piper was an understated woman. A practical one.
Honestly, it drove him crazy. Red couldn’t remember ever wanting to rile up a woman more. Which was a switch—normally, he preferred women to stay reserved, unless he told them when and how to let go. But Piper had him nearly slavering with the desire to make her lose her undentable composure. Oh, how the tables had turned—how the mighty had fallen.
Red grinned, peeking down at the siren who’d felled him.
Piper’s attention had finally been snagged by no less than the venerable jewelry store known for its turquoise blue boxes. Her attempts to peruse the window displays without obviously craning her neck or losing a step were clearly requiring some effort. Piper had totally forgotten to keep making conversation or to walk in a straight line.
Red chuckled—oh well, she was only human. Something on this street of temptations had been bound to entice her. He checked the time, then tugged her to a full stop.
“Hey, Piper?”
He’d been taking a strange amount of pleasure in the way her hand felt tucked in his elbow. Now it fell away, and she looked up at him in query.
“Wanna go in?” he asked, smiling at her.
“Oh!” Piper was startled.
Busted. Red laughed harder.
“Well…” she hemmed. “Do we have time?” She tried and failed to keep the note of hope out of her voice.
“Plenty. Come on, it’ll be fun,” he urged, holding the door open and grabbing her hand.
She looked cautious, but she came along anyway. That was good. Maybe he was making some headway with her.
The second they entered, however, Red was hit with an icy blast of wrath. Damn it. His ex, Monika, sailed toward them, an infuriated expression on her face. He’d forgotten that she lived nearby and loved to linger here, trolling for her next conquest, drafting a wish list…whatever it was that she did.
How long had it been? Two years? Three? Monika had lasted longer than many, but Red struggled, just then, to remember why. She certainly didn’t have an ounce of submission in her. She’d only been an ornament for his arm when an event had called for it—nothing more.
Now that he had Piper, he couldn’t believe he’d lived like that for so long.
By way of greeting, Monika barked, “Red.” He hadn’t missed that tone of hers, that was for damn sure.
She looked pointedly from his face to Piper’s, then down at their still-linked hands. Monika snorted in amusement, or possibly derision. Was it really so hard to believe that he’d found something real, or was this just disbelief that it hadn’t been with her? Hardly mattered, at this point.
“Seriously?” she demanded. “This is who you’re with now? And when have you ever brought someone here?”
In the past, Red’s pride might have been pricked. He might’ve dropped his date’s hand so he could face off with Monika and deliver her the set-down she so clearly deserved. He would have been disgusted with the situation for any number of reasons, but he would’ve been most unhappy with himself for giving Monika the opening to take a shot at him.
But Red couldn’t ever recall caring quite so much about the feelings of the woman he was with before. He looked at Piper, checking her reaction, and decided she could use some bolstering. For the hell of it, he lifted their joined hands and kissed her knuckles, putting as much apology and reassurance into his gaze as he could muster.
Monika emitted a harsh sound, but when Red turned back to her the sneer had slipped a bit. A flicker of uncertainty crossed her face. It seemed he wasn’t the only one parading around vulnerable today.
And she’d asked him a question. Red supposed he ought to reply.
“I could not be more serious if I tried,” he told her. Monika edged back at that, so he moved past her with Piper in tow. Red registered his ex’s silent departure somewhat absently, though, because now Piper was frozen in place, refusing to venture further into the store.
She studied him a moment, then looked away. “So, how long did you date her?”
No point in denying it, he supposed. “Long enough,” he admitted.
Piper watched Red’s face. “You really weren’t exaggerating about the kind of women you know, were you?”
“Not at all.”
“I see. And, just estimating, how many people like that did you go out with, would you say?”
He smiled. He couldn’t even venture to guess, but, “Even the one was too many, don’t you think?”
“Yup. Sure do.” With that out of the way, though, Piper still didn’t seem inclined to move her feet. Other patrons were starting to circumvent them with curious stares.
Red wasn’t in a huge hurry, but he did hope to eventually eat dinner tonight. “So, what happens here,” he said, “Is that we browse around and look in the cases. When you see something you like, you point it out to me. You say, ‘Isn’t that pretty?’ and then I nod and try to commit it to memory. The next time I want to buy you something, I’ll come back here and look for it.”
Piper’s eyes rounded at that, so Red took her arm and guided her to the first case, an innocuous collection of delicate silver necklaces meant for kids. Her eyes passed dispassionately over the display, so he nudged her along the row. Next came charms for bracelets, then men’s watches. The real fun was in the center of the store, with its glittering banks of diamonds.
Red slid his arm around Piper’s waist and spun her in that direction.
“When you want to try something on, just
let me know and I’ll make it happen,” he murmured into her ear.
“But,” Piper argued, “How am I supposed to…” Her mouth snapped shut at the sight of the rows and rows of sparkling earrings, and she squeaked a little. “Oh. Wow.”
“Just like that,” Red smiled, and gestured over the keen-eyed employee watching them.
“I have stuff like this saved on my online pinboard,” she whispered furtively, “But I’ve never actually been brave enough to come in here and try it on.”
“Why not?”
“Because then they expect you to buy stuff!”
“Not necessarily,” he replied.
The salesman approached and rested his hands on the glass. “How can I help you today?” he inquired, looking between them and sizing them up.
Red chuckled—Piper stood ramrod straight beside him, a serious expression plastered on her face. She shot him a panicked look, and he knew he’d have to do the talking.
“We’d like to take a look at this pair,” he announced, hazarding a guess and stabbing a finger toward the middle of the pack. The employee nodded and reached for his keyring.
“Actually,” Piper cleared her throat. “It was these.”
Game on.
TWENTY-SIX
OVER DINNER, PIPER had worried that she might have gone a little overboard at the jewelry store. Once her intimidation had worn off and it became clear that the sales guy was happily on board, she’d gone All. In. How often did a girl get to try on diamonds with five- and six-digit price tags, after all? Not often enough, if you asked her.
Still, in case Red started drawing unfortunate parallels between her and that horrid ex of his, Piper had reached for the quickest change of subject she could think of.
She’d mentioned a Broadway billboard she’d seen on the way there, then told Red that they ought to catch a show sometime. Red, master of making things happen, had immediately whipped out his phone.
“If you can hang around for another couple days,” he’d said, “I could probably get us tickets for tomorrow night.” That, at least, had to be a perk of being who he was.
Piper’s eyes must’ve lit up—how could they not? “I’d love that! Let me see if the cat sitter can do the extra days.” She’d smiled, “Again.”
“That woman is going to be buying her own island at this rate.”
“That’s the truth. But this time, my sitter is a teenaged boy,” she’d laughed. “He lives down the street and he’s saving up for a new video game. Though I’m positive he’s going to be a vet someday. He loves animals. He’d probably bring home strays all the time if his dad wasn’t allergic.”
AS SHE’D EXPECTED, Piper’s cat sitter was not only available, he was thrilled. Piper had told him that if he also got her mail and watered her plants, she’d throw in a good bonus, too.
Overhearing that, Red had pulled out his phone, ordered the new game her neighbor wanted so badly and said he’d pick it up at the store the next day for her.
All of which explained why Piper found herself sitting pretty at the theater with Red on Monday night, instead of moping around Maryland all by herself, missing him. Out on the town with her tall, handsome date, worries about work and her house seemed very far away.
After the show, however, she and Red ran into Trident’s former owners in the lobby. Lisa Denton made a beeline right for them, towing her husband along in her wake.
She had transformed, somewhat, since Piper had seen her last. The bookish grandmother persona had been scrapped, disconcertingly replaced with a society maven that was all hard angles.
Mrs. Denton looked Piper and Red over, then said coyly, “How peculiar to see the two of you here together. And, also oddly fitting.”
“Don’t be mysterious, Lisa,” John said, giving her a repressive look. “Why shouldn’t they spend time with each other? They work together now.”
“You’re absolutely correct, though of course she never had much time for Jim.” Mrs. Denton pursed her lips, hiding an unkind smirk. “Anyway—what did you think, Piper? Did you enjoy the show?”
“I did. The cast did a terrific job,” Piper said, as neutrally as possible. Red stood tense and bristling at her side, making her wonder if the Trident negotiations had been testier than she realized.
“As they do,” Lisa agreed, her eyes skipping back and forth between them, measuring. Calculating.
John Denton leaned on his cane with one hand and reached for his wife with the other. “I think that should do it,” he told her. “We’re done here.”
“Not quite,” Red gritted out between clenched teeth. He gestured to Felix, waiting at the curb, then asked the Dentons, “Might I have a private word?”
Mrs. Denton turned to her husband with a wide, triumphant smile. “I told you, John. Didn’t I tell you?”
Denton, gray and rigid, assented with a short, cursory nod.
Red pulled Piper a few steps away. “Listen, I need to talk to these two, but I don’t know how long it might take. It’s freezing, though, and you don’t have a coat. Why don’t you head home in the car so you can get warmed up, and I’ll grab a cab as soon as I’m done?”
Something odd was going on. Piper asked, “Is everything okay?”
“Totally fine.”
“You sure about that?”
“I promise,” Red told her, though he didn’t look fine at all. He was absolutely seething. “Go on and have a nice long bath. I’ll be there before you know it.”
He was packing her off, but what choice did she have? These people could have all kinds of unfinished business with each other. If they were going to have words, she’d really rather not be a bystander in the paparazzi photos that were bound to surface.
Red had managed to keep that from happening once, but odds were that he wouldn’t be able to do it again.
Piper let him kiss her on the cheek, then she waved at the Dentons and left.
AS MONDAY MORNINGS went, Red’s had been spectacularly unproductive. Wayne had called in sick but still managed to email him his schedule for the day. Red had tooled around on the internet for a while, then sat through a short debriefing with Rob and some of his team members—but walked away having learned nothing new about the Denton’s skullduggery.
Around lunchtime, he’d broken out of his office to pick up the video game for Piper’s cat-sitting neighbor, then grabbed a second one for the kid that the store manager insisted was the newest, hottest thing. After all, if it wasn’t for Dr. Teen, DVM, Piper would’ve been on a plane home instead of spending more time with Red.
He’d taken a walk and run smack into the Wall Street location of that jewelry store they’d visited. And then Red had gone inside. He’d excused that bit of absurdity by reminding himself that he needed to buy a gift for Anika’s upcoming wedding. That had worked reasonably well, too, since Red managed to purchase her a very nice set of candlesticks from her registry.
But he also bought Piper a ring. Not the life-changing kind, God help him, though he had strolled pretty slowly by that case. No, Red only lost his mind once he spotted the very ring he’d seen on Piper’s online pinboard account that morning. Like magic, he remembered the salesman from the day before announcing Piper’s ring size, and the rest was wallet-shrinking history.
Red had spent the rest of the day getting used to the shape and feel of a ring box in his pocket and found that it didn’t bother him as much as he would’ve expected. Still, Piper was going to blow a gasket when he gave it to her. Therefore, he had spent the better part of his afternoon concocting the perfect plan.
HE’D INTENDED TO give Piper the ring before they went to the theater. By the time Red headed home that evening, he’d had it all planned out. What he’d say—how he’d kiss her.
Instead, she’d walked down the stairs from his bedroom wearing a sinful pair of shoes he’d bought her many weeks ago, taunting him with crisscrossing black laces that marched up the tops of her pale feet and ankles.
They’d turned Piper
’s simple little sheath dress into something painfully erotic.
So Red had sat next to her at his dinner table and made normal small talk for a while. They ate the take-out he’d picked up on his way home, and Piper got excited about seeing her first Broadway show.
When Piper finished, he dumped their plates in the kitchen sink, grabbed dessert from the bag on the counter, and set hers in front of her. Chocolate mousse. Piper liked chocolate. Red had taken her fork and fed her a bite and enjoyed the way her lashes fluttered in pleasure.
He did not say, I got you something, as he’d planned.
Piper didn’t have the chance to be perplexed, to wonder why, though. He knew she would’ve, and he loved that she didn’t appear to have an avaricious bone in her body.
In the face of all her mousse-induced groans of pleasure, all his pre-arranged words had evaporated like they’d never existed. Red hadn’t felt like explaining why he’d been stalking the aisles of that store that day. He honestly wasn’t sure he knew for himself.
Red had simply needed her. So, he’d urged Piper up onto the edge of the table, smoothed his hands over her ankles, then undid the thin leather cords tied in bows there—those fiendish little tassels dangling seductively from each end.
He’d dropped Piper’s shoes on the chair next to him, slipped a hand inside his suit jacket, and touched the small box hidden there. Her eyes would’ve gotten big as moons if she’d spotted it, Red knew. She might not have managed to stay quiet long enough for him to even explain.
It’s not what it looks like, he’d meant to say. I imagine we’ll get there soon enough, but I wanted you to have something to wear until then. So, this ring is for your right hand—they called it an eternity band. Aptly put, since he didn’t think eternity would be long enough for him to get his fill of Piper Mae Fulham.
Red was supposed to have taken out the ring and said, I liked the sound of that, and I thought it was perfect for you. Then he should have taken Piper’s hand and placed the damn thing on her finger.
The Titan Was Tall (Triple Threat Book 1) Page 28