Pierced: Pierced Trilogy Boxed Set

by Lashell Collins

“I’m fine,” he snorts at me. “Just pissed at losing to this guy once again! From now on, you’re not invited anymore,” he says, and Paul laughs.

  Everybody files out around midnight and, after I close and lock the front door, I’m slightly startled to see Sam standing behind me.

  “Hey, thought you’d be sleep by now,” I say softly.

  “Nope. I was waiting for you.”

  I smile at her response and shake my head slightly. Who is this goddess and what the hell is she doing here with me? I stand in silent wonder as I watch her slowly move over to the kitchen table and begin to clear away the trash. I join her and gather up the cards and together we go about cleaning the kitchen. We talk while we work and she marvels at the fact that the crockpot is completely empty.

  Once the kitchen is cleaned and put back together, we head off to bed. And as I’m climbing between the sheets next to her, I can’t help but remember Lee’s words from earlier tonight. About how happy I seem with Sam, and I know he’s right. I have never felt this kind of happiness before her. And I know that Lee’s right about something else too. I would be the biggest fool in the world if I fucked this up somehow and she left me. He asked if I wanted a future with Samantha, and I do know the answer to that question, but it scares the shit out of me.

  “Are you tired?”

  Samantha’s soft voice cuts through my silent musings, and I smile at her. “I’m not too tired to make love to you, if that’s why you’re asking,” I say, lightly moving a strand of her hair away from her eyes. She giggles at me.

  “Men really do have a one track mind, don’t they?” she asks, still giggling.

  “Mmm. Most of us, yeah,” I answer, smiling at her. “Sex. Cars. Sex. Sports. Sex. Job. Sex again.” Her giggles turn to full-fledged laughter, and she is so freaking pretty right now, I can’t stop myself from kissing her. Then I look deep into her bright green eyes for a moment, lightly running my thumb over her cheek. “Thank you, Samantha,” I whisper as my thumb brushes over her bottom lip. “You were amazing, the whole night.”

  She kisses my thumb and smiles. “The night’s not over yet,” she says softly, her eyes never wavering from mine. “I can be more amazing.”

  Without another word, she sits up and places her hands flat against my chest, gently indicating she wants me to lie back. I comply and she quickly straddles me. Bending down, she kisses me deeply as her silky hair falls around us like a veil and my hands are drawn to it, fisting in it as I hold her mouth to mine. We’re both breathless when she pulls away, trailing soft kisses down my chin to my neck and over my chest.

  She wastes no time getting to her intended destination and when she does, her mouth closes around me, warm and soft and luscious, and I hold my breath for a moment and savor the feeling. She moves slowly at first, smooth and fluid, languidly taking her time as she tastes every inch of me. And I can feel my cock repeatedly hitting the back of her throat. Her pace is steady, never missing a beat, up and down, in and out, swirling around and around, deeper and deeper. Oh, this feels so good! But I don’t want to come this way.

  “Stop, baby.” Leaning up, I grab her gently by the arms and pull her up to me. “I want to be inside you,” I whisper harshly, turning her over and laying her down. Kissing her deeply, I let my hands roam over her soft flesh, squeezing and caressing as they go, and she writhes and squirms beneath me. I can’t take it any longer. I enter her quickly and she cries out in ecstasy as she lifts her pelvis up to meet me.

  We move together then, a quick, steady, pounding rhythm as I drive my cock deeper and deeper with each thrust. I know her body’s building quickly as she begins to moan loudly and her legs stiffen around me. Her inner muscles start to quiver and she moans a garbled version of my name as I pound away.

  “Come on, Sam!”

  She shatters around me, her body trembling and convulsing as she screams. Oh, thank fuck! And I let go, exploding deep inside her as my body goes rigid. I look up at her and rest my forehead on hers as we each struggle to catch our breath. I pull out of her then and roll over, pulling her to me in a spooning position, and lightly kiss the back of her head as I hold her tightly and snuggle in close.

  “I love you, Joshua,” she whispers.

  I kiss the back of her head once more as I swallow anxiously. “I love you too, baby.”

  Chapter Eight

  Samantha

  I wake early and Josh’s arm is still wrapped firmly around me, still spooning, and it feels wonderful. He said he loves me last night before we fell asleep. He’s said it before. Three times before, to be exact. Not that I’m counting or anything but, when a man tells you he’s afraid to say those words, and he actively searches for other ways to show you how he feels … then has a breakthrough and suddenly begins saying the actual words, you sort of pay attention to how often he says it. Four times and counting. The thought makes me smile as I snuggle closer to him.

  Reaching out to check my phone, I see that it’s nearly 9:30. I need to get up and take my pill. Carefully, so as not to wake him, I slowly slip out of bed. Josh mumbles in protest as I slide away but, he doesn’t wake up. It’s so unusual for me to wake up first but, I’ve noticed on the weekends when he doesn’t have to set an alarm to get to work, he tends to sleep much later than normal. I smile again as I look down at him, he is so adorable.

  Grabbing my green silk robe, I quietly leave the bedroom and slip it on as I walk down the hall. I find my purse on the couch where I left it last night and dig out my pills. Popping one into my hand, I replace the pack to my purse and head into the kitchen for a small glass of water to swallow my pill with, and my stomach growls. Breakfast! Hmm, maybe an omelet.

  I take my pill and then set about making us some breakfast. But I need music first. I sneak back into the bedroom, moving quietly as I find my iPod and then hurry back to the living room. Placing the iPod into the docking station, I flit through my playlists and settle on one of my favorites with lots of romantic slow songs. And as I set about gathering eggs, cheese and mushrooms out of the fridge, the soulful, mellow voice of India Arie washes over me. And I marvel at the truthfulness of her words as I begin my task.

  I whisk the eggs together in a small bowl and, as I’m pouring the mixture into the omelet pan, I suddenly feel Josh’s arms around me and he kisses the top of my head and inhales deeply.

  “Good morning, baby.”

  “Good morning,” I smile as I continue cooking with his arms around me, waiting for the omelet to set. “This song is how I feel about you,” I say softly.

  “Oh, yeah?” he asks, and I can hear the smile in his voice. “Hmm?”

  He lets go of me and walks over to the iPod and stops the song, hitting replay, and the music starts once again. And now I’m slightly bashful knowing that he’s listening carefully to the words. He turns up the volume and walks back into the kitchen, wrapping his arms around me again as I fill the omelet with mushrooms and cheese. And he starts to sway slowly to the music, saying nothing as he listens and holds me closely. He lightly kisses that spot behind my ear, making me shiver as I relax into him, and we dance this way as he listens to the words and I can feel him smiling. When the song ends, I turn off the stove as he kisses my temple. “I’m a beautiful surprise?” he asks, whispering in my ear.

  “Yes,” I breathe.

  “I love you too, baby,” he whispers, his lips lightly brushing my ear, making me shiver once more. And I feel overcome by emotion. Forgetting the omelet, I turn swiftly to face him, kissing him passionately for a long moment. In one graceful motion, he bends, and I am lifted up into his arms and he turns.

  “Josh, our breakfast!”

  He smiles wickedly at me. “We’ll eat later,” he says softly before carrying me back to the bedroom.

  *****

  “You’re like the energizer bunny this morning,” I pant softly. The side of my face is pressed against the mattress and Josh’s head is resting in the middle of my back as he pants with me. The sheets are a tangled m
ess around and beneath us and I’m idly trying to work out how long we’ve been in here. I remember making breakfast and then abandoning it. How long ago was that? What time is it now?

  He lightly kisses my back and then moves, gently climbing over me to his side of the bed, and moving up to lie back against the pillows. “It’s all your fault,” he breathes.

  “My fault? How is it my fault?” I ask, propping myself up onto my elbows as I continue to lie on my stomach. “I was making breakfast, minding my own business, when you came out and carried me away! You have locked me in this room and had your wicked way with me for God knows how long now. Is it even the same day?”

  He is laughing at me and it makes me smile, and I move over and lay my head on his chest. “Locked you in this room? The door is standing wide open, you know, and I didn’t hear you complaining one bit, Miss Colby!” His arms fold around me and he lightly runs his fingers over the skin of my back and I take a deep breath.

  “Mmm. This feels good. Let’s just stay in bed all day,” I suggest, not really expecting him to take me up on it.

  “Hmph. Sounds like a perfect day to me,” he says, tightening his arms around me as he snuggles in close.

  “Are you serious?” My voice sounds surprised even to my ears and I raise up and look at him.

  “You’re not?” he asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

  “Well … I don’t know. We’ve never done that before!”

  He smiles at me. “Well we don’t have anywhere we have to be today until this evening.”

  “This evening?”

  “It’s Saturday, Sam. Band goes on at ten.”

  “Oh, that’s right,” I gasp. “I forgot that I was dating a rock star!” He laughs at me and his arms tighten around me once more as I lay my head on his chest again. “And we get to go together this time, and no one’s going to care.”

  “I know. Weird, huh?”

  We lay quietly for several minutes and his fingers begin to play in my hair. And I think he dozes off because his breathing becomes slow and even, and after a while, I drift off and join him. At one point, I feel him move and when my eyes flutter open he is untangling the sheets and covering us up. Then he takes me into his arms again and snuggles close once more. I’m not sure how long we nap but, we are awakened by a ringing phone.

  I struggle to reach for it, trying to wriggle out of Josh’s grasp over his protests. When I answer my phone, it’s Lola and she’s frantic. Something about a mix up when a few of the sketches were being matted and framed. I can tell that this is going to be an involved conversation and I don’t want to disturb Josh’s nap, so I move to exit the bed, but he won’t let me. He tightens his arm around my waist and, when I look at him, his expression is so serious.

  “Baby, we had a plan,” he grumbles quietly. And he looks so adorable I have to kiss him.

  “Lola, can you hold on just a second, please?” I lean in and kiss Josh’s lips gently then.

  “So much for staying in bed all day,” he grumbles again.

  “You can still stay in bed,” I say softly.

  “It’s no fun without you,” he pouts.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” I promise.

  “You’re leaving?” he asks with wide, surprised eyes.

  “Yes, sweetie, I’m leaving the bed,” I say smiling at him. He’s so adorable when he’s being a brat. “I’m just going to the living room. I’m not leaving, okay?”

  “Okay,” he pouts again, and I kiss him once more before I get out of bed.

  I trudge out to the living room, pulling my robe around me as I go, and sit on the couch as I try to talk Lola down. I know that we spent an exorbitant amount of time the other day, carefully and painstakingly choosing just the right mat and frame for the sketches so, I know that to Lola, this is a very serious problem. And I know that I should be thanking my lucky stars that she is so focused on all of the little details. But honestly, at this point, I just want this show to happen and then be over with because sometimes I feel as though I might lose my mind over all these tiny details.

  We talk for over half an hour and, as we do, I wander into the kitchen and clean up the mess from this morning, throwing away the abandoned omelet and washing the pan and the dishes. And once Lola and I have the problem all hammered out and I finally hang up the phone, I am really starving.

  I go back to the bedroom expecting Josh to be fast asleep but, I’m surprised to find him sitting up in bed, arms folded across his chest, waiting for me. Neither of us says a word, and he watches me intently as I cross the room and climb back into the bed beside him. Finally, he takes my hand and brings it to his mouth, lightly kissing my knuckles.

  “Everything all right?”

  I nod my head silently. And then my stomach growls at me and I shake my head ‘no.’

  “No?”

  “No. I’m hungry,” I say softly, pouting like he did earlier.

  He smiles slowly and then laughs at me. “Okay. Where would you like to go eat?”

  “I still want breakfast. No place is serving breakfast anymore.It’s lunchtime now.” I’m still pouting and he leans over and kisses me.

  “Don’t pout. It’s too adorable,” he says kissing me again.

  “You pouted.”

  “Yeah, but I’m not as cute as you are,” he smiles at me. “Okay, let’s get a shower and get you some breakfast.”

  “Where are we going to get breakfast at this time of the day?”

  He laughs at me. “Never heard of IHOP?”

  “Well, yeah … I’ve heard of it. I think. But I’ve never been there.”

  “You’ve never been to an IHOP!” He sounds as if he can’t believe what he’s hearing and I bite my bottom lip as I shake my head slowly. He chuckles softly. “Well, you’re in for a treat. Get up!”

  *****

  “This is the greatest place ever,” I exclaim finishing off my plate of blueberry pancakes, and Josh smiles at me.

  “Well, you have eaten enough for a lumberjack today,” he says glancing down at the table at the empty plates. “Guess you worked up an appetite somehow this morning.”

  “Hmm, I can’t imagine how that happened,” I say with a smile, and he grins at me. “Besides, my omelet came with pancakes. I had to eat them!”

  “Mm hm. Well, what do you say we go for a walk and try to work some of it off?”

  “Okay. But try to keep up!”

  He smiles broadly at me. “You are a little spitfire today!”

  He pays the bill and we leave the restaurant, climbing into my car and heading for Discovery Park once again. I watch him as he drives, admiring the contours of his handsome face. He really is incredibly good-looking. And I can’t help but think about the pictures I’ve seen of his dad. Danny Pierce. It’s easy for me to understand how Olivia found him so attractive. On the surface, he was gorgeous … just like Josh. Same thick, wavy dark hair and bright, piercing blue eyes. The same sculptured lips and chiseled features. And from the pictures at least, he seemed to have a similar height and build as well. If that’s the case, I can only imagine how terrifying it must have been for her when he was angry and coming at her. Yikes!

  That thought makes me slightly queasy. I can’t imagine how horrifying it must be to find yourself in that sort of situation. Being attacked by a stranger is one thing, and not something I ever want to experience again. But being attacked by someone you love … repeatedly. I just don’t understand how a person lives that way. And I don’t understand how a person can claim to love you and then terrorize you like that. Maybe I’m just young and naïve but, I don’t get it at all.

  I’m still thinking about it as we park the car and get out. We begin our walk hand in hand, and I’m tempted to ask him about the things on my mind but, we’ve had such a great day and I don’t want to upset him. But I have so many questions about his dad, so many things that I’m curious about. I don’t think he’d get angry at me for asking, the way he used to. Not now that I know the whole sto
ry about his dad’s death. But knowing him the way I do … I believe my questions would upset him and ruin the lighthearted mood he’s in.

  “You’re very quiet.”

  “I’m sorry. I’ve just got a lot on my mind, I guess,” I say softly.

  “Thinking about your show?”

  I smile up at him, not really wanting to lie. But I don’t want to admit I was thinking about his dad either. So I say nothing and let him assume he’s correct.

  “You’ve got nothing to be nervous about, Sam. People are going to love your work, baby. You are so talented.”

  “And you are so very sweet,” I smile up at him and he wraps his arm around me and kisses my forehead, and I slip my hand into his back pocket.

  We walk for quite a while and we talk then about the band and about going to the bar tonight. We talk about last night’s poker game and he fills me in on all the details that I missed, like the fact that Lee informed them last night that he’s looking to retire within the next two years. Josh seems sort of saddened at that news and I smile at him.

  “It’s not like he’ll be retiring from you,” I say softly.

  “Yeah, I know. It’ll be weird though … not having him at the station every day.”

  “But you can still spend as much time with him as you like. You’ll never get rid of him,” I say with a smile. “He loves you; you’re the son he never had! He couldn’t brag about you more if you were his own flesh and blood.”

  Josh laughs at my words, but I know it makes him feel good. “Yeah, I know.” He grows quiet for a moment and then says softly, “There have been many times in my life when I wished he really was my dad.”

  Oh, Josh! I have no idea what to say to that. So, I say nothing and just tighten my hold around his waist.

  By the time we finish our walk and return home, it’s late afternoon and I am slightly exhausted. I kick off my shoes and stretch out on the bed as Josh goes straight to the closet to pull something out for tonight. And I watch as he grows a little aggravated with my luggage blocking the closet door. And once he moves the suitcases out of the way and gets the door open, he is met with a large block of my clothing squished in among his things. It’s not a new phenomenon; it didn’t happen overnight. The problem has been growing steadily worse since I arrived. His closet simply isn’t big enough for the both of us, and neither is his chest of drawers. He’s cleared out the bottom drawer for me and stuffed the items he took out of it into another drawer that he now must struggle to open and close. The bottom drawer now houses all of my underwear, nighties and socks. I bite my bottom lip as I watch Josh’s frustration grow.