Pieces of Me (Midnight Steel Trilogy Book 1)

by Lori J. Nelson

  “He is very good looking, but he’s temporary, Kelsey. He’ll be leaving someday soon to go back to England, and my life is here. That’s why.” Corie tried to keep the sadness out of her voice, but she wasn’t sure she was too successful at it. She didn’t want Alek to leave. Not now, not ever.

  “Well, bring him tonight. I want to meet him. I’m not going to take no for an answer either. We can just go to Black Squirrel. It can be a beer and burger type of night. How does that sound?” It actually sounded perfect to Corie, so she decided to go and bring Alek along with her.

  They agreed to meet at their favorite bar around seven. Corie went in search of Alek who was nowhere to be found, so she went upstairs and heard his strumming his guitar in his room. The door was slightly open, so she knocked lightly. “Alek?”

  “Come in,” he replied.

  Corie walked into the room and found Alek sitting on the side of the bed absently playing his guitar. “I’m sorry. That was my friend Kelsey. She was checking up on me, as she hadn’t heard from me since the storm. She wanted to make sure I was okay.” He looked at her briefly before turning back to look at his fingers as they moved across the strings. She could see he was clearly frustrated.

  “Alek, I’m sure you are losing patience with me,” she said as she sat next to him on the bed. “You make me forget everything so easily when I’m with you.”

  “Is that so bad?” he asked softly.

  “Not if you lived around here, but what’s going to happen when you leave and go back home to London? I’ll be left here alone…with a broken heart. That’s what I’m afraid of,” she admitted to him. Even as she explained where her head was at right then, Corie was having a hard time convincing herself that she needed to keep a distance between herself and Alek. Maybe the time she would have with him, no matter how short or long, would have to be enough?

  Alek laid the guitar behind him on the bed before turning his body to face Corie. “If we don’t give whatever we are feeling a chance, how are we going to know whether it will work or not? I don’t meet sweet, beautiful women like you, I meet vipers, and I know that’s not you. I want to get to know you, Corie. No one else, just you.”

  She knew it was a chance she had to take. Alek was right in that if they didn’t see where it could go, how would they know? Maybe he could stay, or they could figure something out. “You’re right. I had my heart badly broken before, and I was afraid to take another chance.” She looked from where she had been staring at his strong hands up to his gorgeous blue eyes. He was an extremely good-looking man, and she was tired of saying no. Corie felt her heart speed up as she realized she was done saying “no” to him. It was time to say yes. “I’ve had enough of being afraid to love again. I don’t know what will happen between us, but for now, I want your kisses, and I want you.”

  A big smile came across Alek’s face. “And I want you, too. I promise you that I am not in it for just the sex. I spent too many years doing one night stands and moving on. I want you and not for just a night or two. Let’s see how far we can take this. That’s all I can promise right now.”

  Corie saw that he was leaning in to kiss her, so she met him halfway. Their lips were a breath apart as they stared into each other’s eyes. “You’re beautiful, and you’re mine,” he whispered to her a second before their lips finally touched.

  They started out gentle and loving, but very soon their chemistry took over, and the kiss changed. Soft became hard as lips pressed firmer into the others. Mouths opened as tongues sought to explore. Corie’s arms wrapped around him again as Alek held her tight to his muscular chest. After a few minutes, they stopped to catch their breath, resting their foreheads against each other.

  Their relationship was about to move to the next level. One that did not include clothes with a whole lot of increased intimacy. “You sure?” Alek asked her. “I want you to be sure this is what you want and not regret it.”

  “I’m very sure, but there was another reason I came to find you.” God, she hoped he wouldn’t be mad. “I’m going to town to have dinner with Kelsey, and I would like you to come. She wants to meet you. I hope you don’t mind that I said we’d go.” When he didn’t immediately agree, Corie got worried.

  “We can continue this tonight when we get back. I’m not playing games, Alek. I want this. I want us, but we just need to meet up with Kelsey for dinner, okay? She’s my best friend.”

  “Sure, that’s okay,” he told her. “When do we have to leave?”

  “In about an hour.”

  “Then we have an hour to keep kissing, and I will do my best to keep my hands to myself,” he said with a smile. A smile that was so sexy, it almost had Corie calling Kelsey to cancel.

  “Then I suggest we remove the temptation this bed has and head downstairs.” Corie stood up and extended her hand to Alek.

  He leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Luv, I can kiss you anywhere and believe me, you will be tempted.”

  “I totally believe that,” she laughed. “C’mon, let’s go.”

  Hand in hand they headed downstairs to the living room. The large bulge in Alek’s jeans held a promise of what was to come tonight. She couldn’t wait.

  “Alek, are you okay?” Corie asked as she drove them to town. The SUV rumbled down the long country road while the conversation inside the car ride had been relatively quiet.

  He had been looking out the window, lost his thoughts. Here he was again, putting himself out in public and chancing that someone would recognize him. He should have told her days ago, but didn’t. The longer he waited, the harder it was getting. Alek knew he was playing with fire and when this blew up on him, it would be no one’s fault except his own. “What?” he absently asked.

  “You’ve been awfully quiet since we got into the car. Is everything alright?”

  How could he tell her that everything he told her about him was basically a lie? When this all started, he expected to head out as soon as the roads opened up, but instead, his time with her changed his mind about everything. He no longer wanted to leave. He knew he had started to have feelings for her and they were as confusing as they were strong. His vow to never get involved in another relationship again was melting as quickly as the snow that had brought him to her.

  Would she hate him for lying to her or could he get her to understand? They couldn’t start whatever it was they were beginning on a lie. He had to find a way to tell her he was a world-famous rock musician. But the question was how? And when? But not now. This wasn’t the right time.

  He forced a smile on his face before turning to her. When he saw her worried look, he knew he was the cause. He relaxed, and his smile became more genuine. “I’m all right, Corie. It’s going to be good getting out for the night and meeting your friend.”

  “Are you sure? I can tell her that tonight’s not okay.”

  That’s what he wanted her to do more than anything, but that wasn’t being fair to Corie. If he wanted to be part of her life, he had to meet her friends. He just prayed this friend didn’t recognize him. The haircut he had gotten the other day helped. A lot. He had never had his hair this short in years. Probably before the band, so while he knew he looked good, he also didn’t look like Laz. He had thought about wearing sunglasses, but it was night time, and that would bring more attention to him, than hiding who he was.

  Alek reached over and put a hand on her thigh. It wasn’t meant to be intimate, but it was. “I’m looking forward to this, I am. Do you think she will like me?”

  “Of course she will,” Corie laughed. “What’s there not to like?”

  He shifted slightly in his seat so he could face her more. “Like what?” The corner of his mouth lifted up into a sexy smirk.

  “Like you’re drop dead gorgeous, even with the black eye. You’re helping around the farm without me having to ask. You’re a really nice guy and…”

  “And what?” he smirked.

  “And that accent is to die for,” she told him with a w
ink. “Oh look, town is just ahead.”

  Alek didn’t miss that she thought he was “drop dead gorgeous,” but he choose to tease her instead about his accent. “What is it with you American women and British accents?”

  It took Corie a few minutes to answer him as they drove down the main street in Ashland. The street lights were on as night had settled into the small town hours ago. Most of the shops had closed up already, leaving the town somewhat empty. She headed for the faded brown structure at the end of the road. It was surrounded by cars and pickup trucks of every make and model. This was the only bar in town, and they were lucky it served up ice cold beer and the best bar food in the county.

  Corie pulled into the dirt lot alongside the building and parked the SUV. “Well?” Alek asked. “What is it?”

  “Cause they are sexy as hell, that’s why, ” she answered him with a slow smile. Before Alek could say anything back to her, Corie got out of the car and closed the door. He quickly popped out, ran around the car grabbing her hand as she headed towards the door. She spun around into his arms.

  “Sexy, huh?” he said in a soft low growl as he lowered his mouth towards hers.

  “Very,” she whispered back just before his lips crashed down onto hers.

  They stood in the middle of the muddy parking lot making out like teenagers until Alek broke the kiss first. “Come on, we can’t keep your friend waiting,” he regrettably admitted before pulling a slightly dazed Corie along with him.

  “Yeah, sure,” she mumbled. “This better be a quick dinner.”

  That’s exactly what he was hoping too. Alek held the door open as Corie walked in ahead of him. The bar actually was better than he expected from the outside. It was somewhat crowded for a midweek night, but he liked the dim lighting. That would help him not to stand out and be recognized. It was the type of dive bar he always felt comfortable in. It reminded him of the pubs from back home before they became famous. Back when he could walk around freely without fans asking for autographs or photos nonstop.

  “I see her,” Corie said as she dragged him past the brightly lit jukebox and over to a table near the far wall. There was a cute brunette waving at them. Corie’s natural beauty overshadowed her friend…easily. She was pretty, but not enough to ever have sparked any interest for him.

  When they got to the table, the brunette stood up and hugged Corie. Alek stood back letting them greet each other. He was absently tapping his left hand against his thigh while he waited. He was praying that she wouldn’t recognize him before he could tell Corie the truth.

  “Alek, this is Kelsey, my best friend,” Corie said introducing them. “And Kels, this Alek.”

  “Pleasure to meet you, Luv,” he said smiling at Kelsey as he extended his hand to her.

  When Kelsey’s eyes met his, he saw instantly what made her unique. Her eyes. She had the most beautiful golden eyes that he had ever seen. “Nice to meet you, too,” she told him. “C’mon let’s sit down, and I want to hear the story again about how you found and rescued Alek.”

  Alek sat back and let Corie tell her friend about how she found him during the blizzard. Kelsey hadn’t recognized him, so he breathed a sigh of relief. Now he had to just get through the rest of the night. A slightly harried waitress had come over, and they ordered a pitcher of beer for the three of them. By the time the story was done, as Kelsey had been asking questions the entire time, their dinners were delivered to the table. There were two bacon cheeseburgers for the girls and Alek got one with everything on it.

  He was pouring them each another glass of beer, when Kelsey exclaimed, “I always have loved this song!” Alek recognized his guitar immediately. It was “Next Time Around” from their third album that was playing over the loudspeakers. He needed Kelsey to not say anything about the song or Midnight Steel.

  “So, Kelsey. Corie tells me that you run the town’s library, how did you get into that?” he asked before taking another bite of his burger. He was surprised how good it was.

  “Reading. I love to read. I volunteered there when I was a teenager, and since I love books, it was a natural fit for me. I got a degree in Library Science, and all roads led back to Ashland. I love this little town,” she told him. “Books and a minor collision in the drugstore is what brought Corie and me together as friends.”

  “Collision?” he asked raising his eyebrows in surprise.

  “Oh my, God,” Corie laughed remembering that day. “We both weren’t paying attention and literally walked into each other. Kelsey started to fall, so I grabbed her. The display of Antacids next to us wasn’t as lucky. There were boxes all over the place. And we’ve been friends ever since.”

  The three of them laughed over the story, but Alek noticed that Kelsey was looking at him a bit intensely. “You look so familiar to me, Alek. Are you sure we haven’t met before?” Kelsey asked him as she took a sip of her beer.

  Damn it.

  “Well, I have traveled a lot, but this is my first time in this part of America,” he told her. Butterflies were starting flutter wildly in his stomach. He knew she liked Midnight Steel, so had to know what Laz looked like. What he used to look like with the longer hair.

  “Huh,” she said staring at him. “I swear either I have seen you before or we’ve met. I’ll figure it out.”

  That’s exactly what he was afraid of.

  Chapter 12

  Corie turned her Tahoe down the long dirt drive that led to her farmhouse. The car splashed through the muddy puddles left by the melting snow as it slowly made its way down the rutted road. It had been a fun night out with Alek and Kelsey, and she had really enjoyed herself. However, she was glad that the evening was finally over and they were headed home. In the beginning, Alek had seemed a bit nervous to her, but as the night went on she felt him relax, and the three of them spent the evening laughing and enjoying themselves. It was important to her that Kelsey and Alek got along. They were the two most important people in her life.

  And Alek was about to become an even more integral part of her life. Just thinking about what lay ahead tonight for them had her nervous that it was finally here. While she was wildly attracted to him, this next step in their relationship was scary. Her hands were starting to sweat inside the warm gloves she had on.

  They had been living in the same house for almost two weeks. Fourteen days since Alek had crashed his way into her life and into her heart. And almost the same amount of time she had been trying to resist him. But now that she had decided she wanted him on much more intimate terms, the fact that it was about to happen tonight had her very unsure of herself. It was the first time she had ever felt that way with a guy.

  Alek had done nothing wrong to make her feel this way. This was solely her being a little scared of this next step, of them sleeping together and becoming a real couple. What if when it came down to it, they didn’t have any chemistry in bed? No, that couldn’t happen she realized because every time he touched her she wanted him more and more and from the look in his eyes, he felt the same. Corie was sure he was far more experienced than she was and what if he found her lacking? Disappointing him would not only crush her but also crush her chance of keeping him. As much as she tried not to, she knew she was falling in love with him.

  Starting a new relationship was always so hard. It was still nagging away at her, that he didn’t live here. What would she do when it was time for him to go back to England? She would be left with a shattered heart, but she had to do it. Corie had to see if she and Alek had any type of future together and tonight was the start of the taking that next step.

  “I liked Kelsey,” Alek told her breaking the silence in the car.

  Corie smiled over at Alek as she parked the car in front of the barn. “She’s been a terrific friend to me ever since I moved here. I’m glad that you liked her. It’s just a bit weird that she thought she knew you from somewhere.”

  “Guess I just have one of those faces,” he said as he got out of the car. They both closed the v
ehicle’s doors at the same time, and Alek met up with Corie at the back of the car. He clasped her gloved hand in his, and they walked through the muck to the side door of the kitchen. They left their muddy boots on the little porch there and headed inside.

  As Corie hung up her coat, she wasn’t sure what to do next. It was like Alek read her mind when he said, “You look nervous. I don’t want you to be, and I don’t want you to do anything that you aren’t ready to do.”

  When she turned, he was standing right behind her. Instinctively, she just melted into his arms and laid her head on his chest. “I am nervous, but I shouldn’t be. I…just don’t want to disappoint you.”

  “Hey, look at me,” he told her, his voice was soft and gentle. Corie raised her eyes to meet his and felt him touch her face.

  “You could never disappoint me, Corie. Never. Let’s go upstairs and go to bed, just like we used to. No pressure. Okay?”

  The look he was giving her was sincere. No pressure. No expectations. Just falling asleep with him. That she could easily do and then if anything happened, she would be more comfortable. “Thank you,” she smiled at him. “I’d like that.”

  Hand in hand they headed upstairs. Alek stopped outside of Corie’s room. “I’ll go change and come back.”

  “Sure,” she told him. Corie was already much more at ease than when they walked in the door. Alek dropped a light kiss on her lips before he headed toward his room.

  She watched him disappear behind a slightly closed door before she headed into her room. The dreamy smile on her face vanished as she realized she had no idea what to wear to bed. She didn’t want to be too sexy, at least not yet and her regular pajamas were for warmth and comfort and just so wrong to wear tonight. She needed to find something in the middle and fast. Corie started rummaging through her dresser trying to find anything that would work. It had been a long time since she had a man in her bed. Downstairs during the storm didn’t count. That was out of necessity, and this was because they wanted it.