by CM Albert
THAT NIGHT, PIERCE called me for the first time. My condo felt lonely, and all I could think about as I curled up on my sofa with a blanket was how I wished I really did have six cats, just like Anna Akana.
“Hey,” I said quietly, trying to imagine what Pierce looked like right now and where he was.
“Hey yourself. Everything okay? I was worried about you today.”
My heart.
“I’m better now,” I said.
“Want to talk about it?”
I thought about it. Did I? Or did I want to continue keeping things easy and surface-level with Pierce? It would be so much easier that way.
But my heart. I had to start listening to it again.
“I would, actually.”
“I was hoping you’d say that,” he said, just as my doorbell rang.
“Hang on,” I said. “Someone’s at my door.”
“I’ll wait.”
I fixed my robe and headed to the door, wondering who it was this late. When I peeked through the slats of my blinds, I saw a delivery guy standing there with a gigantic bouquet of fall flowers. My favorite. Huge palm-sized sunflowers, rich crimson roses, sunset chrysanthemums, dark green fall foliage, and a splash of winterberries for texture. Being a Scorpio, fall was my favorite time of year. And only Lindy knew that this was the type of arrangement I wanted to carry down the aisle one day.
She was the best.
I threw open the door, ready to sign for my flowers when the bouquet shifted, and Pierce stood there grinning at me. “Hey, beautiful.”
My heart blew wide open into a million pieces, and I started crying.
“Shh,” he said, reaching out to cup my face with one of his hands. I pressed my cheek into his palm and closed my eyes.
Why did he have to be so damn perfect?
“Can I come in?”
I nodded, laughing through my tears. It had been that kind of day.
“Sorry.” I waved him into my townhouse and stepped aside so he could enter. “Those are gorgeous.”
“So are you,” he said. “Where can I set them?”
“How about in here?” I led him into my cozy living room and pointed to the pass-through bar off the kitchen. I’d be able to see them from any room in my downstairs space from there. He set them down, then walked over to me, his eyes raking in my white robe.
“Nice,” he said, wrapping a hand around my waist and pulling me to him.
His other hand found refuge in my hair, and I sighed. I was wearing it down tonight, so it tumbled past my shoulders and halfway down my back. Just the feel of Pierce’s fingers on my scalp triggered something so primal in me. He hadn’t done anything overtly sexual—he was just holding me. But my entire body was on fire. I was on fire. And more than anything, I needed him.
I looked up into his midnight-blue eyes. “I need you to fuck me. My heart hurts tonight, and I want to talk to you about everything. But I need to forget first. I just need to feel,” I said through my teary eyes.
His mouth crashed down around mine, and the world fell away. All of my problems. All of my fears. Every fractured piece of my heart flew back together, and I gave myself to Pierce. I led him up to my bedroom, which was the entire top floor. And for the rest of the evening, Pierce fucked away my pain. Then he kissed it and sewed it back together. It was nearly three in the morning the last time he made love to me. When we were done, and my body ached in the most delicious way possible, I rolled over and let him hold me until I’d nearly fallen asleep. I asked him sleepily if he’d stay the night. I needed him to.
That’s how I ended up falling asleep with Pierce curled around me, the big spoon.
It shouldn’t have surprised me, but we were a perfect fit.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE MORNING CAME too fast, but I kissed Pierce and sent him out the door. Luckily, I lived close to work and Uptown, so neither of us would be late. We’d be exhausted. But not late. Besides, I think the boss would give me a pass this one time.
When I stepped into my office, I was immediately reminded of Noah, his elegant bouquet of flowers still sitting front and center on my desk as if they’d just been delivered. I touched one of the petals, lost in thought.
“Should I be jealous?” Pierce asked from the doorway.
I turned, surprised to see him here already.
“They’re from a friend,” I said.
“The same friend who’s on my calendar for Tuesday?” he asked point-blank.
I’d already told him that the deal was coming through an old friend—it was how we had the in, after all. “Yes,” I answered simply, truthfully. I would never lie to Pierce or to Noah.
His eyebrows furrowed. “Do we need to talk about this, Brynn?”
I nodded. He came into the office and closed the door behind him. The blinds were still closed from yesterday, but I noticed he locked the door automatically.
“I didn’t necessarily mean right now,” I squeaked. “I still need to read the proposal for Tuesday, as well as Eve’s first book in the series. Not to mention,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him, “I now have an entire team I need to restructure and provide a little direction for.”
“You’ll get it all done,” he said confidently. He sat down in one of my chairs and looked at me until I finally sighed and sat down next to him.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re stubborn?”
He laughed. “Every day of my life.”
“Typical Leo,” I said, but my heart had softened, and I was ready to open up to Pierce about everything.
“So, the gentleman we’re meeting with on Tuesday is Noah Chance,” I said.
“Yeah, I know, Brynn. I’ve done my homework. I know exactly who he is, who he works for, who his clients are, and what his track record is. I know his strengths and weaknesses on a professional level, and how he’ll come into the negotiations on Tuesday. What I don’t know is what he means to you.”
Well, fuck. That didn’t go as planned.
“He was my next-door neighbor growing up. We were best friends. Had innocent childhood crushes. That kind of thing. He moved to London with his family when he was twelve and I was ten. Like I said, we were young.”
“And that’s it? He just happens to turn up at our publishing house with a deal of a lifetime, demanding that you be in charge of the negotiations?”
“He never did that,” I said. “He emailed me and let me know about the opportunity, asked if we could meet to discuss it. So, I set up the meeting with him.”
“Yes, but when I contacted him directly this morning, he bristled hearing from anyone other than you. When I explained who I was and how you worked for me, he still didn’t back down. He said the deal was non-negotiable unless the negotiations went through you. Mind explaining that?”
“I—can’t,” I said. “I mean, we’re friendly still—”
“How friendly, Brynn?”
“I don’t know, okay?” I practically shouted. I took a deep breath to calm the fuck down. I felt cornered, and I didn’t like it one bit. “I haven’t seen or heard from him in eighteen years, Pierce. But he was special to me. He is special to me. He’ll always be a friend. That’s all I know.”
“But he wants you,” he stated.
I shrugged. “I don’t know that for sure.”
“You’re lying, Brynn.”
“I don’t lie, Pierce. And I’d be careful before you start accusing me of something I haven’t even done yet.” I stood up, getting more upset. “Besides, we don’t have any strings attached, remember?”
He stood up next to me, his dark, midnight eyes bearing down into mine, gripping my soul and my heart in his hands. “What if I want the strings, beautiful?” he said, surprising me. He moved closer, running a hand down my hair and over my shoulder. “What if I want to complicate things and make
them messy and call you mine?”
I shivered, my body betraying me. But it was more than that. After last night, I knew that if Pierce called me his, it would be body and soul. I knew he could meet me on any level I needed him. He’d held me, listened to me talk about my grampa and my fears, and then he’d kissed them all away. Buried himself deep inside of me until all I could see behind closed lids were the stars he was putting there.
“I’d like that,” I said honestly. Pierce was only the second person I’d told about my ties to Sterling and Masters—Lindy being the other, of course. I think his respect for me tripled in size after that. I could feel the pride bubbling over as we talked about everything and how it was important to make my successes my own. Besides, it wasn’t as if my grampa owned the company anymore. The key was, Pierce got me. He understood why I’d stuck with Sterling and Masters all this time. And why my heart was so damn invested.
“But I don’t know if I can give them back just yet,” I said, wishing the words were easier—or different. “Not until I know for sure that I can give them back a thousand percent, Pierce. I won’t be a cheater or a liar. I’ve had one of those before. My heart doesn’t work that way. And I’m starting to care about you. A lot, considering how little time I’ve actually known you.”
“Yeah, but you know as well as I do that some things are just meant to be, Brynn. You felt it, too, when I took you in my arms that first time. Sometimes home is a person, not a destination. And your body is my home, Brynn. I can’t explain it, but I feel it with everything I have. But it’s not enough for me. I want your heart too.”
He gathered me in his arms and soothed me, rubbing my back as we stood there, molded together. It was reckless to think about giving anyone my heart this fast. Especially someone I’d just met.
So why, then, did it feel like he already had a good chunk of it?
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
THE WEEK FLEW by in a blur. Pierce took me out again on Friday night, and we met up with Lindy and Walter for drinks and dancing afterward. Walter and Pierce got along smashingly and had no problem finding common ground to talk about while Lindy and I gabbed all things wedding.
I was nervous about Tuesday, but I didn’t let it stop me from exploring what Pierce and I were cautiously building. Brick by brick, we were building a foundation. I just hoped Hurricane Noah didn’t come in and tear everything to the ground.
Noah and I talked a few times that weekend too. But I didn’t meet him any further than my heart was able. For once, I was determined not to let my heart get swept away, but to be patient until I could see him again in person. Then, my heart would know.
Meanwhile, Pierce did everything he could to convince me of our connection, and it was working. I’d spent nearly the whole rest of the week in his hotel room—and in his bed. Okay, so maybe not just in his bed. I mean, we had to revisit the sauna. We broke in the bathtub too. And his hotel room desk. The small built-in bar. And the large sofa overlooking the city below. Pierce had rearranged the furniture and placed the gigantic black-tufted couch right in front of the large floor-to-ceiling windows. Then, one night, he turned off all the lights and closed the privacy blinds almost all the way, leaving a space big enough for us to see out of. Then, he’d turned me around and fucked me hard up against the glass window, the stars our only witnesses.
He was wooing me too. When I mentioned how I was considering getting a cat, he drove me to the shelter on Saturday to look at kittens. I let him drive my grampa’s Rolls, and he looked awfully smooth behind the wheel. I didn’t know if I would find a kitten I connected with, but it appeared I had a little love left in my heart to spare.
A tiny white and greige-colored runt caught my eyes—maybe because, like Pierce, her eyes were a striking shade of blue. The lady at the front said a litter was brought in by a woman who had found the kittens on a golf course. She wasn’t certain, but based on her markings, and those of her brothers and sisters, she was most likely a mix between a Persian and a Ragdoll—quite rare to find at a shelter. So, even though it meant a lot of fur, I snatched her right up. She had me at hello when I nuzzled her close to my ear and asked her if she wanted a forever home. Her happy little motor purring in my ear was the only confirmation my heart needed.
If only men were so easy.
“I’ll take her,” I said and filled out the paperwork.
That night, Pierce slept at my house again so we could snuggle with Gracie. I knew right away when I first saw her what her name would be. I wasn’t sure it was normal, but I gave her a full and proper name: Graceland Lucine Hartley. It didn’t take long for me to indoctrinate her as a full Southern girl and start calling her by her two first names—Gracie Lucine!
All weekend, we played house, and I was getting a little too comfortable with it. I was able to put Noah in my back pocket and focus on my connection with Pierce. I needed to figure out if there was more than just our physical chemistry. That, we had in the bag.
The problem was, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that the answer was yes. If Noah wasn’t a factor, I knew for certain I would’ve thrown my heart to the wind by now and jumped both feet first into the deep end with Pierce.
Well, not that I hadn’t already.
I just had a hunky lifeguard waiting on shore for me if I needed saving. And that lifeguard was in town as of Monday night, making it hard for me to get my head in the game by the time Tuesday rolled around.
I was at the office bright and early that morning, getting everything ready. Pierce and I had spent all day Monday poring over the proposal, the number projections, and the manuscript, looking for any holes. We’d had Legal draft a contract with room for improvisation, just in case. It was a risky move, but I could tell Pierce was thinking with his career and not his dick.
That was, until Noah walked through the conference room door. The moment I laid eyes on him, I realized I’d been fooling myself all this time.
“Noah!” I said, standing. Pierce also stood, but I could tell by his posture that he was not amused. I walked over to my long-lost friend and gave him a quick hug. The only problem was, Noah didn’t let go. He held on to me far too long for a professional gesture, and I suddenly wanted a hole to open up in the conference room floor and swallow me.
It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy his arms around me, but the daggers I felt in my back from Pierce made me realize what a horrible decision this had been to put them both in the same room together. Why had I thought I could pull this off?
Because the truth was, if Pierce hadn’t been there, I would’ve held on even longer.
Noah finally pulled back, holding my hands as he gave me a once-over. “You’re a sight for sore eyes,” he said.
Then he reached out a hand to Pierce—who stood there stony-eyed, taking in our little reunion.
“Noah Chance,” he said. “Chance and Chambers Creative. You must be Mr. Abrams.”
Sir.
I looked between the men in my life, my hormones on overdrive and warning bells firing in my head.
Pierce shook his hand briskly, then gestured for Noah to take a seat.
“Miss Hartley is our new romance editorial executive, so as such, I’m giving her full carte blanche over this deal,” he said, surprising me. “She has the final decision on whether or not Sterling and Masters wants to acquire Miss Donohue’s new series. It was nice to meet you, Mr. Chance.”
With that, Pierce left the conference room, leaving Noah and me in stunned silence. He looked at me, then looked at the door, his jaw hardening.
“Why didn’t you tell me, Brynn?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know damn well what I mean,” he said. “Pierce? Really?”
“I did,” I said quietly. “I told you I’d met someone else and it was a little complicated.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t tell me you were fucking your boss. That�
�s a whole other level of complication. Especially when my client’s future is on the line.”
“Luckily for you, I know how to keep my personal and my business emotions separate. Do you?”
His jaw twitched, and I saw the successful literary agent behind his gorgeous hazel eyes for the first time. He was here to negotiate, not date.
We hammered out the deal over the next few hours, and I thought long-term with my business brain and not my heart—or my vagina. The truth of the matter was that Donohue was a huge gamble for Sterling and Masters. But at the end of the day, with great risk comes great reward. And I’d done my homework.
By one o’clock, we’d signed the paperwork and reached a deal. It just needed Pierce’s final signature for the financial piece, so I told Noah I would have it signed and couriered over to his hotel later that evening.
“It was a pleasure doing business with you, pigtails,” he said, relaxing for the first time since he’d walked in our doors.
I grinned and reached out to shake his hand and seal the deal, when he pulled me back into his arms. I glanced at the office door nervously. The negotiation room was the only office space on our floor without window walls. It was a war room, where utmost privacy was expected and required. Unfortunately, it also left me utterly defenseless in Noah’s arms.
“Do you have any idea how sexy you are when you negotiate?” he said, hugging me fiercely. “I don’t like the way he looked at you.”
I glanced up at Noah. “What do you mean?”
“Pierce,” he said protectively. “You sure he’s got your back at the end of the day? Or will he stab you in it for the next big deal?”
“That’s not fair. You don’t know Pierce like I do.”
“I thought it was still new with him. Has something changed?” he asked.
What could I say? Yes? No? Maybe?
“Let me guess—it’s complicated.”
I grinned sadly. “It is. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see you while you’re here or that we can’t spend time together. I’ve missed you.”