Pieces of Me (Midnight Steel Trilogy Book 1)

by Lori J. Nelson

  Today was just getting better and better. She knew this new idea for a novel would sell. Corie had complete confidence in that. Now all she had to do was find the man that stole her heart for another kiss. And from what she could hear, he was most likely in her kitchen.

  Corie headed toward the sounds that were emanating from the back of the house. She leaned against the frame of the doorway and with a huge smile on her face she watched Alek. He hadn’t heard her come into the room. The radio was playing softly as he was quietly singing along to it. Bacon was sizzling in the pan on the stove, and she could see a carton of eggs, assorted vegetables, and other items covering the granite counter top. It looked like he was trying to cook breakfast.

  Corie watched him flip the bacon over and then wipe his hands on the towel he had draped over his shoulder. Just when she thought he couldn’t get more perfect, he did. “You never told me you could cook?”

  Alek turned towards Corie’s voice and flashed a devastating smile. “I don’t cook much, but breakfast I can almost handle, especially watching you these last few days. So you just sit down at the table, and I’ll have this ready shortly.”

  “I could certainly get used to this,” she laughed as she made herself comfortable at the table.

  “This is about all I can make if you want something edible. Otherwise, I am really good at calling for take-out,” he said with a wink. “How’d your call go?”

  “Long, but good,” she said before taking a sip from the glass of orange juice that was at her place setting. “I’m changing the book I’m writing midstream, so it took a bit of convincing DeeDee that this was the direction to go. I can finish the other one after this.”

  “What’s it about?”

  “Typical boy meets girl, they fall in love, but there’s a big twist to them. And that I’m keeping to myself until I flesh out the details.” Corie could see that Alek wasn’t quite listening to her as he was now cooking with another pan on her stove. When she heard him mutter “Shit,” under his breath, she wondered if she should offer to help him.

  “I got it…I think,” he told her.

  Even though she was dying to see what he was doing and give him a hand if needed, Corie stayed where she was. A few minutes later, Alek brought over two plates and put them down on the table. “What are we having?” she asked.

  “I’m calling it an omelet scramble with cheese, peppers, and onion,” Alek said proudly.

  “That’s…new. Looks good and interesting,” she said trying not to laugh. She could see that he attempted to make an omelet, but apparently, that didn’t work out.

  “This is what you get when you fuck up the omelet, okay? At least I didn’t burn the toast.” Corie could tell he had tried the best he could and his slight pout was adorable.

  “Well, I love the name, and I’ve messed up my share of omelets, too. It looks good. In fact, it looks perfect, Alek. Thank you for doing this for us.” Corie gave his hand a squeeze as he sat down next to her at the round table.

  She then took a mouth full of the eggs and even though it wasn’t the prettiest dish, it made up for that with taste. It actually was delicious. “Hmm,” she murmured as she finished that first bite. “This is really good. I love scrambles as you get a little bit of everything in each bite. I think I’m going to put you in charge of breakfast every day.”

  Alek puffed up his chest with her compliments. “It is pretty good, isn’t it? If you want eggs every day, then I’m your guy, but that’s going to get a bit monotonous, don’t you think?”

  They decided to share the breakfast duty together. Lunches usually were sandwiches, soup, or a salad. Corie handled dinner each night on her own, with Alek helping her clean up after each meal. Their relationship progressed as easily as their dining schedule.

  Visits to town were few and far between as they spent as much time together as possible. Corie still used the morning hours to write, but the afternoons and evenings were all theirs. Sometimes they worked around the property with spring quickly approaching there was always something that needed to be done to the house, the barn, or the chicken coop. However, they were able to steal away several afternoons to go for drives and get away with just the two of them.

  Corie knew that she typically spent much more time with Kelsey, but being with Alek was consuming her life. She loved spending time with him. Occasionally, they headed to town and grabbed a meal there, and Corie would try to include her friend. One night, during a dinner at the café with the three of them, Alek had excused himself to take a call on his cell. He stepped outside so not to disturb anyone and the second he was gone Kelsey started asking questions.

  “Girl talk, real quick. Are you as in love with him as you look? Tell me everything that is going on before he gets back!”

  “Does it show that much?” Corie blushed. “I have never felt this way about anyone before. He’s so perfect I can’t believe it.”

  “I love seeing you this happy, but Cor…what happens when he goes home? He’ll eventually go back to England, right? He has to have an expiration date for his visa. What do you do then?” her friend asked.

  Corie didn’t say anything for a while. She was instantly furious that Kelsey was ruining a lovely evening by bringing up Alek leaving. She and Alek hadn’t even talked about that yet. Even though they were best friends, it wasn’t any of Kelsey’s business. It was between her and Alek.

  Hell, she hadn’t even told him that she loved him. She didn’t want to scare him away, but at the same time, maybe it would bind them closer together. Everything he did showed her how much he cared. Didn’t it? Why did her friend just have to go and ruin everything?

  The more Corie thought about it, the more upset she got. Kelsey had no business butting into something that didn’t concern her. Corie fully knew what she was risking getting into a relationship with Alek. It was her choice, but she didn’t need the consequences of it thrown in her face.

  “Corie? Are you okay?” Kelsey asked when she didn’t get a response.

  Corie looked out the window at Alek who was still talking on the phone. The need to get out of there was overwhelming. She was upset at Kelsey for making her think about Alek leaving. It was something she tried not to think about now. He couldn’t leave her, not now, not ever, but Kelsey had ruined their night bringing it up. Corie felt tears start to well up in the corner of her eyes, but she was determined she was not going to embarrass herself here.

  She grabbed her purse that was next to her and pulled out her wallet. “No, I’m not alright. I don’t need you reminding me that Alek may leave someday. We are too new together for me to even think about that happening. As you can see, it only upsets me.” Corie dropped two twenties on the table not wanting to wait for the bill to come.

  “I think it’s best that Alek and I leave.” With those final words, Corie walked out of the café leaving a stunned Kelsey at the table. The tears that threatened to fall inside started to flow freely as she made her way down the steps to the parking lot. Alek took one look at her and ended his call. “I need to call you back Eth. Later.”

  “Baby, what happened? Why are you crying?” he asked her as he tucked his cell in his front jeans pocket.

  “I just want to go home,” she cried as he pulled her into an embrace and held her tightly.

  “Whatever you want, Luv.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they walked together to the car. As he helped her in the passenger side, Corie didn’t see him glare up at Kelsey who was looking out the window. As they drove down Main Street, Corie was still crying softly as Alek found their way out of town and headed towards home.

  He had no idea what had happened while he was talking to Ethan. All Alek knew was that when he left to take the call, everything was fine. Now ten minutes later, Corie couldn’t stop crying. Kelsey must have said something to her. He had no idea what, but she wasn’t mad at him, so it had to be something that her friend did.

  “Corie…Luv…can you tell me what happened with Kelsey?
”

  He watched her wipe her eyes, with a wadded-up tissue and shook her head. “I’m overreacting, but can we talk about it when we get home? Please.”

  “Of course,” he told her with a smile. It was killing him waiting to find out what happened, but if she needed to have a little patience, he would. At some point, he would need to call back Ethan. He literally hung up on him in mid-sentence with a quick “I got to go.” Even though it was the middle of the night over in London, Ethan often stayed up quite late. After all these years living on the road, they all tended to go to bed later than most people and sleep in. Living with Corie, Alek had adjusted back to a more normal sleep schedule. As long as she slept in his arms each night, he didn’t care about anything else.

  It took another twenty minutes before Alek finally parked the car in front of the barn. Corie had stopped crying by now, and the smile she gave him as they headed into the house was weak and forced. He was ready to get to the bottom of this. He doubted that Kelsey had said anything to her about who he really was. Corie would have been angry at him, when in fact she was looking to him for comfort.

  Neither said a word as they went inside and hung up their coats. Shoes were left by the door as Alek took her by the hand and brought her into the living room so they could sit on the sofa. Alek kept her hand in his as they sat down. “Okay, we’re home. Talk to me, Corie. What the hell happened with Kelsey?”

  Alek watched her close her eyes and take a deep breath before answering him. “When you went out to take the call, she asked me if I was…as happy as I looked. Of course, I am, but I didn’t realize it was that noticeable. Then she asked if that was a good idea, because…”

  “Because what?” he asked when she didn’t finish.

  “Because someday you’re going back to England and will leave me,” she blurted out as tears started to gather again in the corner of her eyes.

  Alek sat there quietly for a second. He understood that Corie’s friend was looking out for her welfare, but this was between the two of them. It really wasn’t any of Kelsey’s business. “Do you think I’m going to leave you? Is that why you are so upset?” He watched as Corie nodded her head as she stared down at the area rug in front of the fireplace.

  “Well, it wasn’t Kelsey’s place to bring that up. This is between you and me. Corie, look at me.” He watched her slowly raise her eyes from the floor to meet his. He could see that she was scared. “I’m not planning on going anywhere anytime soon. I know what happened between us was unexpected. Hell, the best damn thing I ever did was get lost and hit that fucking tree during the blizzard.” He didn’t miss the corner of her mouth lifting up into a small smile. “I’m serious. The stupidest thing I ever did ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me. You happened to me. And yeah, at ome point I will have to go back to England, but that doesn’t mean I’m packing up and leaving you.”

  “Don’t you need a visa or something to stay here? I know you weren’t planning this, so is that going to be a problem?” she asked.

  “Yes, I do. And I have one. My lawyer renewed it for me last week. It’s good for six months. I will have to go back and deal with some business issues at some point, but why can’t you come with me? Your job is portable, right? You can always bring a laptop and write over there if it wasn’t a quick trip. But this is turning into a home for me. I’m a guy that grew up on the city streets, but I really like this quiet country life you have. This is all I need. You’re all I need, Corie. I love you.”

  He hadn’t meant to tell her, it just slipped out, but now that he said it, he wasn’t sorry. Alek thought he’d never love again. He wasn’t going to allow himself to get that close to a woman so she could rip his heart out like Caroline did. But the one thing he knew about Corie was that she wasn’t Caroline. Corie was the perfect woman that Caroline wasn’t. She didn’t have a devious bone in her body.

  Alek watched as his words hit Corie. Her eyes widen at surprise first, before relaxing into a beautiful smile. “You do?”

  “Yes, Luv. I do.”

  Corie threw her arms around Alek, kissing his face. “Oh my God, I love you too. I was afraid to say anything and scare you off. I am so happy now! You’re staying, and you love me too!”

  The kisses that started on his face easily found their way to his waiting lips. God, he wanted to kiss her so bad that he immediately had his tongue dancing with hers. Every kiss, every touch between them had him instantly sizzling inside. No woman got him hotter faster than she did. He couldn’t ever remember wanting a woman like he wanted her all the time. Even as weeks went by, the need to be inside of her was overwhelming. Just like it was now.

  However, there was a little voice in his head that kept trying to push through his passion overloaded brain telling him he had to talk to Corie about Midnight Steel. He had kept putting it off over and over again as he wrestled with the right way to tell her. It had to be done now. Alek pulled his lips away from hers. “Corie, I need to talk to you about something first.” The pounding in his chest was both a combination of both lust and fear.

  “Later,” she murmured as she rained kisses down his neck as she undid the buttons on his shirt.

  “This won’t take long,” he told her. Either she’d kick him out or understand his reasoning, so yeah it wouldn’t take long.

  “No, later. I need you first,” she said in a soft husky voice.

  Just as he was about to protest, she got up off his lap where she had moved to and stood in front of him. He watched her unbutton the shirt she had on and let it slip to the floor. Then the camisole she wore under it followed. Alek took a slight gulp as she stood there only in her jeans and bra. Her hungry eyes never left his as she popped the top button on her jeans and slowly lowered the zipper. Alek unconsciously licked his lips as she deliberately shimmied out of them as slow as possible. They were kicked mindlessly out of the way.

  He didn’t realize she had taken her socks off as he stared at her beautiful body clad only in her underwear. The smile on Corie’s face was pure sex. She knew what she was doing to him. He wanted her more every single day. His need for her was stronger all the time, and Alek had never experienced anything like it. Even when he thought he was crazy in love with Caroline and they were fucking all the time, but it didn’t come close to what he felt when he was with Corie. He finally realized that Caroline was pure sex, but with Corie, it ran deeper…so much deeper.

  Alek had completely forgotten that he was going to confess who he really was. That he should be doing this now was once again pushed aside. Seeing her practically naked body, knowing…praying that she was going to take more off had him only thinking about one thing…sex with Corie.

  The best sex of his life.

  Corie walked away from him and over to the base of the stairs. There she unhooked her black lace bra and hung it on the end of the banister. Alek stood up to get a better look at her. He loved her breasts. At every opportunity he could, he was touching them, squeezing them, and tasting them. Morning, noon, or night, he could never get enough of her. He took a step towards her, and she took a step up the stairs. By the time he stood looking up at her from the bottom of the staircase, she was at the top looking down at him.

  Their eyes met once again. Alek let his shirt slip off his shoulders. His eyes silently challenged her to take the final step…to remove her last piece of clothing. Corie turned her back to him, and as slowly as she could, she lowered the panties that matched the bra until they dropped to her ankles. In the second it took her to kick them out of the way, he was at the top of the stairs pulling her against him. Alek felt her bare round buttocks pressing against the obvious erection he sported in his pants. He was so hard that the jeans he wore were starting to become exceedingly uncomfortable. His body was begging to be released.

  Instead, he cupped both of her breasts in his large hands and felt her head fall back onto his shoulder. After these last few weeks, Alek knew how she liked to be touched and teased. His hands played with her
breasts as soft moans started to come from her. Then she turned in his arms and after a brief, but still scorching kiss, her hand cupped the hard bulge that was pressing into her belly. A flick of her fingers had the button undone and then she carefully lowered the zipper a little bit at a time. He was dying as he was so turned on by what she was doing.

  When Corie started to push his jeans off, Alek took matters into his own hands. Pants and underwear were shoved down and at his ankles briefly before being kicked off down the stairs. Now they were both completely naked. He saw the gleam in her eyes as she looked down at his hard shaft then back up at him. Before he could grab her, Alek watched her saunter down the hall towards their bedroom. Damn, she looked so hot from behind as her hips swayed her naked ass back and forth.

  Alek was on Corie the second she got near the bed. He had her bent over at the waist and started teasing her from behind rubbing himself over her wetness.

  “Do it,” she begged him. “Do it!”

  With his hand, he positioned himself right at her opening. “Is this what you want?” He growled at her.

  “Oh God, yes,” she panted.

  With one thrust of his hips, he was completely inside of her causing them both to moan loudly. Alek then held onto her hips as he started to pull out and slam back into her repeatedly. Over and over again, he entered her until he felt her start to shake under him. A few more thrusts were all it took for the wave of electricity he felt building to rise up inside and explode as his orgasm claimed him. When he was done, he briefly collapsed on top of Corie, before pushing up off her.

  “Damn, that was good,” he mumbled falling back onto the bed.

  “We’re good,” she told him with a smile.

  “We’re fucking great,” he laughed, pulling her on top of him. Even though Corie’s hair was a mess and her cheeks were red from their lovemaking, just looking at her had his heart racing all over again. This was what love was all about. He knew he had fallen crazy in love with her and to his immense relief she loved him back too.