“Don’t worry,” he told her. “No one ratted you out. I found it by accident, buried in the footnotes of some paperwork that crossed my desk yesterday.”
“Damn it. The wire transfer,” Piper grumbled.
“It’s almost like you wanted me to find you, sweetheart.” Red couldn’t resist the jab, if only to wrench some sign of actual emotion out of her. He could work with a lot of things—anger, betrayal, and sadness among them—but if Piper had simply stopped caring altogether, he was dead in the water right now.
Piper scowled ferociously. Red was so fucking happy to just be looking at her, he didn’t even have the heart to push his luck.
“Look, I know I didn’t call ahead. If this isn’t a good time, I can…” What? Take a nap on her doormat? Cry all the way home, like a wee little piggie? Hand over her cat and hie back to Manhattan?
Piper stared at him, waiting.
“This is where I’m staying,” Red said. He handed her a brochure that he’d grabbed on the way out of the hotel lobby. “Maybe I can stop by some other time.”
And maybe Piper would up and move again before he could.
She sighed once more. “Have you eaten?”
“I…” Red vaguely recalled some beef jerky at a rest stop somewhere, and maybe…a granola bar? Hard to say.
“No,” he decided.
“All right. Come in,” she relented, stepping back. “You big dolt. I’m sure I’ve got something.”
“Hang on,” Red told her. “I’ve got someone in the truck you’re going to want to see first.”
AFTER PIPER AND Fredo’s emotional reunion, she parked Red in a chair in her tiny kitchen and went looking for food that was obviously not there. She managed to extract a yogurt drink that was past its expiration date from her fridge, and exactly one heel of 21-grain bread from her counter.
In the pantry, Piper tried to nudge a large jar of peanut butter behind a bag of flour where, presumably, Red wouldn’t see it—but she wasn’t terribly smooth about it.
The whole thing was so depressing, Red thought he could actually break down and cry in front of her. If he were a different sort of man, that was. Right now, though, his increasing worry that Piper wasn’t eating properly was enough to take the immediate edge off his own misery.
“Don’t worry. I can grab something later,” he told her. “For now, I’m more worried about telling you a few things that I hope you’ll want to hear.”
Piper slumped into the chair across from him, looking wary. “I hate to break it to you, but I doubt I want to hear anything you have to say.” Her words lacked bite, however.
“You did convey that rather nicely by avoiding me all this time,” Red pointed out.
“And yet,” she retorted, “Here you are.”
“I don’t give up easily.”
“You don’t say.”
Red sighed. What was he doing here? Piper owed him nothing. He ought to leave her alone, and he might’ve—if she’d looked healthy and sane and glad to be rid of him. But something about her appearance and demeanor was registering in his brain as an uncanny echo of his own wretchedness.
Piper was as wrecked as he was. And a person didn’t go through that unless their entire heart and soul was on the line. Red had a sudden, delirious flare of hope. If she’d loved him once, she might still. He just had to prove he was worthy.
“Piper, I’d like the chance to explain. If you hear it all and still want to toss me out on my ass, I’ll understand. I’ll walk right out that door and that will be that. I’ll hate it, because I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but I’ll do it.”
She winced, then glared off into the corner like capitulating offended every cell in her body.
“Damn it, Red. I don’t know why you’re doing this,” she finally growled. “Eat your damn bread. Then I’ll listen.”
He poked at the sad, seedy brown rectangle in the middle of his plate before breaking off a corner and shoving it in his mouth. Fredo was purring outrageously loudly from Piper’s lap.
“I didn’t find out the Dentons were stealing your royalties until after we started dating,” Red began. “In retrospect, I realize that I should have told you right then. It killed me not to.”
Piper arched one delicate brow, stroked her cat, and looked dubious.
Red swallowed another bite of bread and powered on, “I…had to be careful not to jeopardize our investigation, but also, you were so worried about all your house stuff. I thought if I could fix everything at Trident first, then tell you what happened, it would be one less thing for you to have to deal with.”
She stared at him. “I have to say, I would never have pegged you for a Mary Poppins.”
“I’m…sorry?”
“Helping the medicine go down with some sugar?”
Oh. Right. “Everything was going so well with us,” Red said weakly. “I was terrified that if you found out before I could make it better, you’d blame me. I didn’t want to let it affect us, but then Rachel leaked it too soon.”
“Yeah, and why did she do that again?”
“Because I kept rebuffing her advances and was about to can her. She thought if she discredited me and PKM, maybe she could keep her contract a while longer.”
Piper muttered, “That woman is not terribly bright, is she?”
“I had to shift some projects around to free up the money, but the PKM board did the right thing and agreed to Trident’s reorganization, and to the Eva East deal.” Red blew out a long breath. “I should’ve listened about Millhouse. You were right about them.”
A delicate rose flush crept into Piper’s cheeks, and she looked away quickly, her eyes shining. She had given him her heart, even though he was a head case. He would probably love her until he was cold in the ground, and then some.
“I’m really sorry, Piper. I tried to do things for you when I should’ve worked with you instead. I won’t make that mistake again.”
Piper lifted her chin and met his eye. Her voice was excruciatingly careful when she said, “What do you want, Red? Why are you here?”
“All I want is you,” he said plainly, “and I came to get you back, my little dove. I don’t know if you’ll forgive me, or even if you still want me. But if there’s a chance, if there’s anything I can do, please tell me. Let me try.”
BY THE RIPE old age of thirty-six, Red had already become a jaded bastard. Yet somehow, it had only taken one bookish female with a very dirty imagination to bring him to his knees. He’d have to remind himself not to take life for granted in the future. It had a tricky sense of humor.
At least he’d finally run Piper to ground, he thought, studying her. She’d tearfully accepted his apology, and finally allowed him to kiss her until neither of them could see straight. Then, she’d dragged him to her living room so she could curl up next to him on her small loveseat.
Red doubted she was pleased about the state he’d found her in. Piper had plainly not been expecting anyone, but he was half wondering when she’d last left the house. Now that he could think past his hammering pulse again, he realized that Piper wasn’t wearing one of her usual, devilishly-enticing outfits. Instead, she had on a gray and black striped t-shirt with a hole near the hem; a baggy pair of fleece pajama bottoms in black, pink, and white stripes; and a thick pair of socks, also striped.
He’d laugh if he weren’t so goddamn relieved that she’d actually relented. “Nice threads,” Red commented, squeezing her shoulder.
Piper sagged against him, pulling her feet up so she could snuggle closer. She peered down at herself and muttered morosely, “Three stripes, you’re out.”
It took him a minute longer than it should’ve to get it. Red blamed Piper’s proximity and the bewitching scent of her hair. Once it dawned on him what she’d said, though, he had to chuckle.
“Oh, God, woman. I’ve missed you. And your clever mouth.”
Piper grinned up at him, and there they were—those insanely cute dimples he
’d been dying to see. Red didn’t deserve her, but he had to try. The alternative was simply too bleak to contemplate.
THIRTY-EIGHT
PIPER’S RELIEF AT being reunited with Red was pervasive. Once she’d decided to forgive him, nearly every part of her life looked rosier. Her apartment was cuter, her cats were a dynamic duo again, and she had some new ideas for how to fix her ailing manuscript.
All that from twenty-four hours in his company. Old Piper might’ve balked at the kind of sway that gave Red, but she was done with that kind of thinking. The past was the past. Piper had learned her lessons from it the best way she knew how, but now it was time to leave it be.
Besides, Red was really turning over a new leaf, too. Piper suspected it wasn’t nearly as easy for him as he liked to pretend, but the way he’d been communicating and considering her opinions on all kinds of things was hard to ignore.
She figured he really ought to be rewarded for making such strides. And when Piper thought about what she could do to show her appreciation, there was only one big thing that came immediately to mind.
She didn’t want any unpleasant surprises this time around, however. If her idea was going to go off without any hitches, she needed a foolproof plan. A Piper-proof plan.
So, plan she did, in the way she knew best. She drafted the outline and wrote the story, then spent the afternoon fine-tuning it until it was perfect. Piper committed every last detail to memory, to be sure she wouldn’t leave anything out.
When the time came to spring it on Red that night, she told him, “I want to try bondage again,” in as clear and strong a voice as she could muster.
Red didn’t look too shocked, but he also didn’t move a muscle. “Now? Are you sure?” Even frozen, his whole being had gone on alert with her words.
She nodded. Piper was so sure.
“But what if you…” He stopped short before he finished whatever he’d been about to say.
“Have a meltdown?” she asked. “I thought of that. Maybe instead of doing it the same way as before, we could try something a little different.”
“Whatever you want.” Red’s eyes moved restlessly over her face. His hands smoothed down his legs. “Piper…are you really sure about this?”
“Yes. In fact, I already got some things we’ll need.”
That knocked him back a step. Piper suppressed the victorious laugh that wanted to bubble out of her and took him by the hand. And to think, she hadn’t even known her town had stores like the one she’d found earlier.
“Everything’s upstairs. Follow me,” she said.
Red was silent as he prowled behind her to her bedroom. Piper’s heart pounded erratically inside her chest as she handed him the zippered satin pouch the store had given her. She watched Red’s face as he examined the contents, looking for some sign that she’d done the right thing.
He made a low, growly sound and looked up at her. She had him. She knew she did.
Red pulled the long silk scarf free and tossed the pouch on her bed, then stood running the length of soft material through his fingers as he contemplated her. Piper didn’t even wait for him to ask—she just started stripping. Red’s eyes lit with fire.
“I thought—” She cleared her throat, trying to dislodge the tightness that had crept up with a sudden flash of nerves. “I thought you could bind my hands this time but leave my legs free.”
His voice dropped low. “Okay. How do you want me to do it?”
She’d considered that. Piper turned around, presenting her wrists to him. “Behind my back, please.”
Red stepped close and wrapped the scarf firmly around her, tying it quickly. She could hear him breathing deeply, could feel his exhales ruffling the hair on top of her head. She wouldn’t back out now. He needed to know that she trusted him—and he’d given her the exact way to prove it to him, months ago.
“What else?” he murmured, his voice husky in her ear.
“Promise you won’t leave,” she said. “If you want to cover my eyes, keep a hand on me so I know you’re still with me.”
“Easy.” Red reached again for the satin pouch and held it behind her back, rummaging through it. “Anything else?”
“Could you keep talking to me? I think it helps.”
“Absolutely.”
And he did. Red kept up a dirty running commentary on all of Piper’s best attributes, murmuring in vivid detail about how she made him feel and what he wanted to do with her. His words were even better than the ones she’d written for him in her little story.
Pressing up behind her, Red cupped her breasts, kneading them gently and toying with her nipples. Piper dropped her head back against his chest and gave in to the sensation. Bolts of lightning streaked through her veins, leaving her hot and yearning.
She flexed her fingers, testing the restraint around her wrists. Caught between their bodies, Piper’s hands encountered more than the air she’d expected. She could feel the fly of Red’s jeans—and so much more. She gasped, startled.
He chuckled darkly—the hound—and stepped neatly back out of her reach.
“How are you feeling?” he rumbled once more.
“Excellent,” she fired back. “How about you?”
Red laughed again, then trailed a scrap of black satin up her thigh. Good—he’d found the blindfold.
“May I cover your eyes now, little dove?” Piper’s nickname on his lips sounded utterly filthy, and a deep thrill shuddered through her.
What did it matter if she could see? She had her eyes squeezed shut anyway. Piper nodded quickly, holding still so he could tie the blindfold and rearrange her hair. His hands slid down over her hips, warm and safe.
“I’m going to step back, beautiful girl. Just two steps, and then I’ll be with you again. Is that all right?”
She hesitated, but Red was doing everything she’d asked. “Yes,” she agreed.
“I’m right over here,” he assured her. Piper stood quietly, listening to some indistinct rustling next to the bed. There’d been one more thing in that bag she’d given him. Maybe he—
Abruptly, Red was touching her again, fastening what felt like a whisper-light chain around her waist. Piper shifted as it tickled her and discovered that another short chain hung from the first. This was not the toy she’d given him. This was something entirely different. Where had he gotten it?
Red’s hand stroked down her belly, then grasped the weighty metal device grazing the very top of her sex. He twisted it in his fingers, and the pendant began vibrating. Its maddening hum spread quickly through the cradle of her hips.
Red growled low in her ear, “You didn’t think I’d let you have all the fun, did you?”
The chain around Piper’s waist was torturous. It wasn’t heavy enough to provide any real friction, but it was inescapably there—caressing her hips with every move she made and every brush of his fingers. The sinful pendant added a whole other layer of anticipation, not quite low enough to hit where it could really do her any good, but making its presence known, nonetheless.
Piper should’ve anticipated that she’d never be able to tame Red all the way. Standing there letting him kiss her neck and shoulder, feeling his hands smooth over her burning skin, she knew she’d never want to.
Red MacLellan was the romance hero she’d always hoped to write, but never dreamed was real. To think that he not only existed, but was hers, was almost too much to believe.
“You’re a goddess,” he told her.
Piper managed only an incoherent whimper. She couldn’t, for the life of her, remember any of the witty, sexy banter that she’d scripted for herself, not now that he’d managed to turn her scene inside-out on her.
Red slid his hand across her stomach and down, pressing the humming metal against her pubic bone as he cupped her. His long fingers stroked and rubbed, his other hand molded to her breast, and his teeth nipped her ear.
Piper’s knees buckled under the onslaught. Red wrapped an arm around her waist to hol
d her upright, and at last she could reach what she wanted and get her revenge. She wriggled her hands into position and then she had him.
He groaned at the feel of her hands stroking his cock through the thick denim of his jeans. Red didn’t pull away this time, though. Instead, he ground his hips forward into her grip, aiding Piper’s cause while he continued to work his fingers and the pendant over her.
“Fuck. I love you so damn much,” he ground out.
Piper was so, so close. Hovering right at the precipice.
“Red, please. I don’t want to finish this way,” she gasped. “I want to feel you inside me.”
In an instant, he’d whirled her around. Piper felt him fumbling with his pants and putting on a condom, and then, just as suddenly, he reached behind her and freed her hands. Red sat on the edge of the bed, lifted Piper bodily onto his lap, and sank into her with one deep, heart-stopping thrust.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and dove for his lips. He was ready for her, sucking Piper’s tongue deep into his mouth while he drove into her. Hot, hard and in control—that was Red. Her Red. The insidious pendant hummed against her skin each time they pressed together.
Maybe they were still working through the long stretch of deprivation, because he sent Piper hurtling over the edge in only moments. Her body gripped Red’s while the shockwaves quaked through her, and then her big, strong man was ruined, too. He stopped thrusting, gripped her hips tightly against him and roared out his release.
They remained like that, panting and damp with sweat, for several quiet minutes. Red slipped off Piper’s mask with shaking fingers and cupped her face. His eyes brimmed with emotion.
“Hi,” he whispered.
Piper bit her lip, abruptly shy. “Hi.”
“You sure know how to spoil a guy.”
“I love you,” she told him.
His eyes dropped down, and he searched for the clasp of the chain around her waist. “And I love you. I am curious, though.”
Piper could’ve predicted that. In Red’s orderly world, all things had defined causes and effects. This would be no different.
The Titan Was Tall (Triple Threat Book 1) Page 37