Burned (Cunningham Security Book 5)

by A. K. Evans

  “Morning, beautiful,” he greeted me first.

  “Morning, sexy,” I returned.

  Pierce cocked an eyebrow at my nickname. All I could do was grin and try to ignore the butterflies in my belly.

  “Is Blaze going to be okay?” I wondered. It hit me that Pierce had been with me since before dinner last night. I didn’t know how Blaze would handle all that time stuck inside. In fact, I didn’t think it was possible for a dog to not be let out to relieve himself in that many hours.

  Pierce’s face warmed at my question before he replied, “I’ve got great neighbors. Millie and Arthur look out for Blaze when I’m gone longer than usual. Before I came to pick you up last night, I went over and asked them to look in on Blaze and let him out for me.”

  My eyes rounded. “Did they know you were going to be gone all night?”

  “I wouldn’t say they knew that because I didn’t know that,” he explained. “But I’m guessing they knew it was a possibility.”

  When I didn’t respond, he added, “Ms. Millie had stars in her eyes the minute I told her I was going on a date with the pretty owner of the new flower shop in town. She’s a sweet woman and has never been shy about telling me I need to find a good woman to settle down with. The promise of you had her offering to have Blaze over for the night.”

  “How old is Ms. Millie?”

  “She and her husband are both in their seventies.”

  I shoved my face into his chest. “I won’t ever be able to meet them now.”

  Pierce’s arm tightened around me, and he asked, “Why not?”

  My head shot back in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? They’ll know!”

  “Know what?”

  My eyes danced back and forth a minute. “That you spent the night and we had sex!”

  That’s when it happened. Out of the blue and without warning, Pierce fell to his back and burst out laughing. The bed shook with his laughter while I watched with utter fascination. Of course, the longer he laughed, the more frustrated I became.

  “This isn’t funny, Pierce.”

  He did his best to rein in the laughter, curled his arm around my shoulder, and tucked me tight to him.

  “Zara, that was hysterical,” he started. “First of all, Ms. Millie and Arthur may be older, but they’re not prudes. They’ve got four kids of their own. Second, they aren’t your parents. Of course, I’m thinking at this point in your life, you don’t need to worry about getting in trouble with anyone because you chose to have sex. You’re an adult and you’re in a relationship. I’m willing to bet that most people assume that a grown woman will be having sex with her man. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “My man?” I asked, veering slightly off topic.

  “Is that not what I am?” he countered.

  Hearing that sent me right back to the thoughts I had been having when I first woke up. Pierce just came right out with it. He was my man. It wasn’t like I was seeing anyone else or even remotely interested in dating someone. Things with him happened pretty fast, and once they started, I didn’t know how to stop them. I also wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to either. The only thing I knew for certain was that I didn’t want to end up hurt again.

  “Uh, yeah,” I replied, hesitantly.

  “You sound confident,” he noted sarcastically.

  I rolled away from Pierce and onto my back. “I’m sorry,” I began. “I just…I hadn’t expected I’d be here again. That’s mostly because I told myself I wasn’t going to allow myself to be in this position. It’s scary.”

  Pierce rolled toward me, settled his body half on mine, and stressed, “I know you’re scared, beautiful. But like I said last night, just give it some time and try not to freak yourself out about it. You’re safe with me, Zara. I’m not him, and I’d never do to you what he did.”

  I wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe it so bad. But Brad wasn’t the only one who taught me lessons the hard way. I’d experienced it with my family, too.

  “I don’t want you to think I’m comparing you to him, Pierce. It’s just that I’ve dealt with a lot of heartache lately and I’m not sure how much more I can take.”

  His face softened as his thumb stroked over my cheek. “I know that, but I’m asking you to try to have a little faith in me.”

  “I’ll try,” I assured him, realizing the minute the words were out of my mouth that I really hoped in doing so I wouldn’t regret it.

  Pierce smiled at me, dipped his head, and touched his mouth to mine.

  At that precise moment, Callie came strolling in and let her presence be known. After several seconds of her perturbed meows, I declared, “The queen has spoken. It’s time for breakfast.”

  He gave me one final squeeze before he rolled off me and moved off the bed to locate his clothes. I was still feeling self-conscious, despite the worshipping Pierce had done last night. So, I stood and kept the sheet from the bed wrapped around me as I walked to my dresser. Once I grabbed a pair of panties, a t-shirt, and a pair of warm, fuzzy socks, I scooted to the bathroom to take care of business.

  Minutes later, when I stepped back into my bedroom, I found Pierce had moved out of it. I tossed the sheet on the bed and scurried out to join him in the kitchen. I entered the room to find Callie was quiet and no longer angry. As it turned out, Pierce had gotten out her food and filled her bowl.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  His eyes raked over me. “It wasn’t a problem.”

  “Coffee?” I asked.

  Pierce leaned in, kissed me on the cheek, and replied, “Yeah. I’m going to use the bathroom while you get that started.”

  With that, he walked back into my bedroom and I turned toward the coffee pot. After I’d sorted that out, I put my tea kettle on the stove. While I was standing at the refrigerator trying to decide what to make for breakfast, two strong arms slipped around my waist. As Pierce’s lips went to my neck and one arm was wrapped just below my breasts, his other hand settled right on my belly. Immediately, I tensed thinking about the fact that his hand was touching a spot on my body that made me uncomfortable.

  Even though he’d made it abundantly clear last night that he thought I was beautiful, one night of hearing that wouldn’t erase a lifetime of never hearing it.

  Quickly, I linked my fingers with his, pulled his hand away, and turned in his arms. My palms landed on his chest and slid up around his neck. This time, I leaned in to kiss him.

  “Do you have a breakfast preference?” I asked after my lips left his.

  He offered a sly grin before he replied with a question of his own. “What are my options?”

  Unable to miss the intention in his look, I assured him, “Not me. We have to get Blaze and go on our hike this morning. I’d love to make you my crumb cake, but between prep work, bake time, and cooling time, it would be at least an hour before we could eat.”

  “I don’t mind waiting,” he stated. “Ms. Millie and Arthur will make sure he gets out. As long as we get him this morning and he can get his walk in, it’s all good.”

  “Really?”

  Pierce just smiled and nodded slowly at me.

  After he gave me a peck on the lips, I got to work on making crumb cake. Once I’d had it all assembled and in the oven, Pierce and I took our mugs, filled with coffee for him and tea for me, and moved to the couch in the living room. I had my legs slightly outstretched, my feet resting on the middle cushion, and Callie had hopped up on my lap for a cuddle. Pierce was sitting at the opposite end of the couch.

  As I doted on my girl, Pierce shared, “My family has a Fourth of July get-together every year. I’d really like to bring you with me this year.”

  Meeting the family.

  Yep.

  This was not good.

  Not at all.

  “Well,” I replied, drawling the word out and hesitating to answer.

  Before I could say anything else, Pierce asserted, “I promise it’s a good time. This year is Theo’s first, so it’s
extra special. I don’t want to miss that for him, but I also don’t want to miss having you there.”

  Now he wasn’t exactly fighting fair. Why did he have to bring up his new nephew? If I declined now, I’d just feel like a heartless monster.

  “Okay, I’ll go.”

  Pierce grinned.

  “Is there anything I need to know before I get there? Do you have any crazy family members I need to watch out for?”

  “Not really. Everybody is pretty mellow,” he said through a chuckle.

  Great. His family was all put together and nice to one another. Even though I continued to talk with my mom on a semi-regular basis, it still felt like my family had fallen apart. That was especially true when I remembered how things used to be between us.

  I was so caught up in my thoughts, I hadn’t noticed Pierce’s hand move. It wasn’t until he’d curled his fingers around my foot and pulled it into his lap. He gave my foot a squeeze and assured me, “They’re really laidback, Zara. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

  Being so distracted by my foot that was already in his lap and the other that he was guiding next to it, I could only nod. Or, that was all I did until he began massaging my calves. That was when I started to feel myself tense. Either Pierce didn’t care or he didn’t notice because he didn’t stop. He moved his hands farther and farther down my leg until one hand went to grip the sock at my toes while the other slid underneath the sock at my ankle.

  In one fell swoop, Pierce removed my sock and I practically jumped out of my seat. I pulled my feet out of his lap and tucked them under me, and I’d done it so quick Callie jumped off of me and went in search of a safer spot to relax.

  Shocked by my hasty reaction, Pierce sat there staring at me, completely confused.

  I nervously bit my lip, hoping he’d ignore what just happened and move on. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that lucky.

  “What was that about?”

  “I hate my feet,” I blurted.

  He shook his head at the same time he blinked his eyes, opening them wide at me. “I’m sorry…what?”

  “My feet. I hate my feet,” I repeated.

  “You hate your feet?”

  I nodded.

  Pierce held my eyes for several long seconds. I held my breath the entire time. Finally, he spoke. “Can I ask you a question?”

  I hesitated a moment, but ultimately rasped, “Sure.”

  “What do you like about yourself?”

  No.

  No. No. No.

  “Pardon?” I returned, hoping to think of something to distract him from this conversation.

  “Every time I turn around you’re putting yourself down. It makes no sense, Zara. You’ve got to be one of if not the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on, and you’re so self-conscious. Why?”

  He thought I was the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid his eyes on?

  I shrugged.

  “What am I missing here, beautiful?”

  I pressed my lips together and shook my head.

  Pierce eyed me even harder. Suddenly, he asked, “Why did you decide to open a flower shop?”

  “I told you,” I started. “I was good at my old job, but I didn’t love the work. I wanted to do something that I’d enjoy doing and look forward to every day.”

  “Right. I get that, but what made you decide to do flowers when you hadn’t really done anything with them before. Why did you choose flowers?”

  I didn’t know where he was going with this, but I decided to humor him. “Because they’re pretty and people like looking at them. Flowers make people feel good. Even at a funeral…seeing them makes people feel a little less sad. I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say that a bouquet of flowers was hideous. I guess I wanted to be responsible for putting something that pretty into the world.”

  His eyes narrowed and he pressed, “Did someone tell you that you weren’t pretty?”

  I was not going to cry.

  I was not going to cry.

  I was not going to cry.

  When the silence stretched between us for too long, Pierce stood and held his hand out to me. “Come here,” he stated, his voice firm but gentle.

  I put my hand in his and stood. Once I was there, Pierce walked me into my bedroom, stopped in front of the full-length mirror, and shifted so I was standing in front of him.

  “What do you see, Zara?”

  “What?”

  “In the mirror,” he began. “What do you see?”

  My brows pulled together. “Me and you.”

  “And what do you see when you look at you?”

  I swallowed hard at his question. What did he want me to say? I couldn’t be honest with him. It was humiliating.

  I was silent so long, Pierce brought his lips close to my ear and whispered, “Why did you pick flowers, Zara?”

  My throat was so tight, I was shocked when any sound had actually escaped. “Because they’re pretty.”

  “And what are you?” he pressed, still whispering.

  Shrugging my shoulders, I felt the tears prick the backs of my eyes.

  “Normal…average,” I finally replied, my voice quiet.

  He cocked an eyebrow at me in the mirror, questioning me. “Average?”

  I gave him one quick nod of my head.

  “Is there anything about your physical appearance that you think is above average?” he wondered.

  My eyes raked over my scantily-clad body. When they met his in the mirror again, I answered, “I guess my legs.”

  His hand immediately dropped to my thigh and ran along the skin there while he shared, “Your legs are fantastic, Zara. They’re long, toned, and feel amazing wrapped around my back.”

  Wow.

  That was nice to hear.

  Pierce wasn’t done. He brought one hand up to my hair, clutching it in his grasp. “What about your hair?”

  “My hair?”

  Now it was his turn to nod.

  “It’s often difficult to tame,” I explained.

  “It’s gorgeous. Long, shiny, and incredibly soft,” he insisted.

  I loved that he thought that. I always saw it as mostly unmanageable.

  His hands both dropped to my ass. After giving it a squeeze, he declared, “This is well above average, especially when you’re wearing those pants on our hikes.”

  He liked my ass in my workout gear. I had to admit that felt good and I smiled inwardly.

  Pierce’s hands came around to my front and drifted up to my breasts. “These are perfect. No joke, the best I’ve ever seen. The shape and fullness is sexy.”

  I bit the inside of my cheek.

  “Your eyes are seductive, your pink toes are adorable, your hands are exquisite, and your skin is not only flawless but also unbelievably soft. All of that makes you not average, Zara. And do you know what takes you off the charts?”

  Is there anything left? I thought.

  I gave him a slight shake of my head. His low voice rumbled, “Your smile. Exceptionally gorgeous. Anything you do, any day of the week, you’re beautiful. But when you do any of it smiling, you shine like a diamond.”

  My lips parted. His words shot straight through to my soul, warming me and making me feel better about myself than I could ever remember.

  Pierce pressed a kiss to the skin right where my neck met my shoulder. “Now tell me why you think you’re just average and why you hate your feet,” he demanded. “Who told you that you weren’t beautiful?”

  “Someone doesn’t have to say those words to make you feel that way,” I pointed out.

  “Well, they did a bang-up job of making you feel so bad about yourself that you actually believe the only way you can bring beauty into this world is by making bouquets.”

  Pain seared through me as I experienced an awful churning in my belly.

  “There’s a lot to tell,” I warned him.

  “We’re waiting for crumb cake,” he reminded me.

  We
walked over to my bed, climbed in, and Pierce tucked me tight to him.

  I took in a deep breath and blew it out. “Brad and I were together for roughly four years, and we were engaged for a year of that time. In the beginning, it was great. He treated me right and was very attentive, going out of his way to make me happy. One day, maybe six or seven months into our relationship, he made a comment about my feet. At that time, I didn’t understand it for what it was, but looking back now I realize that was the first time I started to question my physical appearance. Who would have that thought someone could make you feel bad about yourself making a comment about your feet?”

  I paused a moment recalling how I started buying closed-toe shoes. Even if it was summertime, I always made sure my toes were covered. It was the first time I felt like I was less than, the first time I believed I wasn’t good enough. Physically speaking, anyway.

  “With the exception of that one time, Brad never said anything to make me doubt myself. Not for a long while. But as our relationship progressed, I got comfortable. I spent a lot of time in the car, driving to meet with clients for my job, and by the time I got home I was excited to be able to spend time with him. So, I let myself go. I gained some weight. It was enough that Brad felt compelled to point it out to me, suggesting I join a gym and stop eating sweets.”

  “He sounds like an ass, Zara,” Pierce announced.

  “He was observant,” I reasoned. “My clothes had gotten more than just a little snug.”

  Pierce’s hand came up to clutch my hair and tilt my head back so I had no choice but to look at him. “It does not matter. He claimed to love you. It’s not acceptable for him to treat you poorly or make you feel bad about yourself. If he really cared, he wouldn’t have treated you that way.”

  “But I really did have the weight to lose. It was making me unhappy.”

  “Okay. As your man, he should have seen that and found a way to be gentle about it. He could have suggested something for the two of you to do together. Clearly, he didn’t.”

  I couldn’t say Pierce was wrong. If Brad truly loved me, he could have offered to exercise with me. And if he wasn’t prepared to do that, he should have kept his mouth shut about my body.

  Deciding it was time to give Pierce the rest, I went on, “I guess Brad’s way of doing something about my weight was to prove irrevocably just how disgusted he was with my physical appearance. He never came out and said that it was his reason, mostly because I never gave him the opportunity to, but I saw the woman he cheated with. She was gorgeous, and she had no idea I even existed. I think the worst of it for me was standing there at the side of their table in the restaurant and listening to him apologize to her about being engaged.”