by Ali Parker
It had a wraparound driveway with a garden in the middle. Jonathan pulled us right around to the front door and put the Lexus in park. I stayed in my seat as he got up and walked around to open my door.
I stepped out and was amazed at how insecure I felt. I’d done this ten times already. Shouldn’t number eleven be a cinch?
I ran my hands over my red skirt and wished I’d dressed up a little more. My sandals and white blouse seemed terribly casual as I took note of the chandeliers winking through the windows, the three sports cars lined up in front of a massive garage door to the right, and the fountains in the gardens to the left.
I swallowed. “This is very fancy.”
Jonathan hauled my luggage up to the front door for me, and when he walked by me to go back to the car, he put a hand on my shoulder. “Fret not, Piper. The man who lives inside is not nearly as obnoxious as the house itself.”
I giggled. “Thank you, Jonathan.”
He went back to the car. “Now go and knock! He’s been looking forward to seeing you.”
I stood at the front door and listened to the Lexus leave. My stomach twisted into a knot of nerves, and I lifted a fist to knock.
There were no pumpkins. No Halloween decor of any kind. The place was meticulously clean. Almost too clean.
It didn’t matter.
I knocked.
Chapter 4
Max
As I stood at my front door, I was suddenly self-conscious about my clothes.
It had been a long time since I felt that way, but my sister’s ruthless commentary about my wardrobe last night had planted a seed in my brain that I couldn’t un-plant.
Damn it, Holly.
I should’ve made more of an effort, seeing as this was Piper’s first day in my house. The place was cleaner than it had been since I purchased it four years ago, but its owner was looking a little worse for wear. I’d had a hard year, business-wise. Time I used to have to spend on myself and self-care had gone out the window, and I’d practically moved into Apple Headquarters to ensure things were running smoothly.
The tech industry was only becoming more and more competitive, and as CEO, it was my responsibility to ensure my company stayed on top, where it belonged. It was a promise I’d made to myself, my employees, and my consumers.
Piper James was standing on the other side of my door. She’d knocked only ten or fifteen seconds ago, not knowing I was already standing at the door. I’d seen the car pull up and had planned on being there when she got out, but something stopped me.
Fucking nerves.
I never used to be this guy. Pretty girls didn’t make me nervous. Hell, they did the opposite. I was good at charm and witty banter and impressing the ladies.
But something about Piper was different. I’d known it since I first saw her. I couldn’t define it with words, but it was there, a special quality no other woman I’d ever met possessed.
Maybe that was what had me feeling a little off. A little squirrely.
She knocked again.
Instinctively, I reached out, unlocked the door, and yanked it open.
She was already smiling at me.
Her lips were red, just like they had been that first day at the Casanova Club, and her teeth were perfectly straight and blindingly white. She wore a white blouse that was tied at the front and had little red flowers on it with yellow centers. Her red skirt cut off right at the middle of her thighs, showing gorgeous, long, tanned legs, taut with muscle. Gold sandals finished the ensemble, and she’d painted her toes the same shade of red as her lips.
I swallowed.
“Hi, Max,” she chimed. “Long time no see.”
I smiled past my nerves. “Hey.”
Her eyes slid to my pants and then back up to me.
If she thought anything of my old Levis, she didn’t say anything. Instead, she tucked a strand of dark brown hair behind her ear almost bashfully and looked at the ground. “You have a beautiful house. I’m a little afraid of coming inside and ruining things.”
I was quite certain she would be the most beautiful thing in my house once she stepped inside. The words almost left my mouth, but I didn’t want to come on too strong. I didn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket right out of the gate and scare her off.
I had to be practical.
She’d already been with ten other men.
Diving in headfirst when she might very well have already fallen for one of them was a guaranteed recipe for disaster.
So I played it safe. “You couldn’t ruin anything in here. Believe me. Here, let me get your bags for you and show you up to your room.”
I took her two suitcases and pulled them inside, and Piper followed. I couldn’t help but watch her as she blinked up at the ceiling two and a half stories above our heads, outfitted with stained glass. Wooden beams took the place of where most people might have installed crown molding, and they stood out against the white walls and matched the flooring throughout.
“This is…” Piper trailed off and shook her head. “I don’t have any words. It’s a work of art.”
I wished I could take credit for it all. “It is, isn’t it? I never thought I’d end up in a place like this. Prior to this house, I was jumping from penthouse to penthouse, all clean lines and modern finishing. But when I walked into this place, it spoke to me.”
“The ceiling,” she whispered.
“Definitely the selling feature,” I said.
She leaned over to take her shoes off.
“Leave them on if you’re more comfortable,” I told her. “Big houses like this are hard to make cozy. I know a lot of people don’t like going around barefoot on hard floors like this.”
“I prefer it,” she said. She took her sandals off and wiggled her toes.
Fucking hell, she was too cute for her own good.
With her suitcases in tow, I went to the bottom of the stairs and began ascending. Piper followed and trailed one hand along the banister as she gazed adoringly at the stained-glass ceiling. I’d been just as taken with it when I saw it for the first time, and seeing her wonder at it brought back those feelings.
Sometimes when you see something every day, you forget how beautiful it is.
I stopped outside the guest bedroom I’d decided to give Piper for the month. The house had four guest rooms in total, but two were fairly masculine, and one was too small, whereas this one felt just right.
I opened the door, slid the suitcases inside, and invited her in.
Piper stopped in the middle of the room and stared incredulously at me. “Are you serious? I get to stay in here all month?”
I nodded. “If you’d like to. Yes.”
“Like to?” she asked as she turned in a full circle, soaking it in. “I’d love to. This is unreal, Max! Hold up, is that a balcony?”
I chuckled. “Yes.”
She blew past me to the double French doors and pulled them open to step out onto her own private balcony, complete with plants and two white lounge chairs. It overlooked the backyard and the pool down below.
Piper darted back inside and explored the rest of the room. She had a king-sized bed, her own reading nook and desk if she so required one, a coffeemaker with cups and tea and sugar, and a mini-fridge fully stocked, and her own guest bathroom. She made her way into said bathroom and marveled at the giant soaker tub, massive rain shower complete with steam room settings, and makeup vanity.
“This is unreal,” she said. “It’s like a hotel room. Only nicer.”
“I’m glad you like it. Can I show you the rest of the house?”
She nodded. “Please.”
I took Piper through the entire house. She met every new feature with as much excitement and glee as the last, and her enthusiasm rubbed off on me. Piper especially loved the gourmet kitchen. I stood back as she explored it and ran her fingers over the white quartz countertops.
“I’ve always dreamed of a kitchen like this,” she said softly. Her eyes went to the
dining room on the other side of the island. It was a separate room of sorts, open from the kitchen but boxed in with windows all around it and a door that led off to the pool deck. The living room was the same but on the other side of the kitchen. “This place is an entertainer’s dream.”
I leaned against the kitchen cabinets and slid my hands into my pockets. “Am I doing my house a huge disservice by not hosting any dinners?”
“Never?”
I shook my head.
“Yes,” she said, nodding decisively. “Yes, you are.”
“That’s a shame.”
“It is,” she agreed, moving through the kitchen into the living room, where she discovered more stained glass trimmed along the top of the ceilings. She gazed up at it like they were the Northern Lights. “I would never get tired of this.”
“When the sun hits it just right, the whole living room is painted with a rainbow of light.”
“What time?”
“Morning, usually.”
“I know where I’ll be every morning,” she said.
“By all means, enjoy it. I want you to feel at home here for the month. Whatever you need, use it. Feel free to enjoy the kitchen. I must admit I do not use it as regularly as I should. I tend to spend a bit too much of my time at work.”
Her big brown eyes flicked toward me.
“I’m stepping back a bit this month,” I said. “So that you and I have the proper time to get to know each other.”
Her smile was almost bashful. “I appreciate that, Max.”
I wondered if some of the other men had not offered her the same courtesy. She more than deserved it. What girl wanted to come and spend a month in a stranger’s house and have to entertain herself all week from nine to five while her suitor was off at work when he had a fair amount of time to prepare for her visit?
“Speaking of time,” I said slowly.
Piper cocked her head to the side. “Yes?”
“I’m taking you for dinner tonight. So we can start this out on the right foot.”
“A first date already?” she teased.
“We might as well get to know each other as soon as we can, right?”
“Right.” She nodded. Her gaze wandered through the kitchen, living room, and dining room one last time. “Well, I suppose I should start getting ready then, shouldn’t I?”
It was five-thirty. “I figure we leave at seven?”
“Okay.” Piper fidgeted with her hands. She seemed suddenly nervous. “I’ll go up to my room, then.”
“All right.”
I watched her leave. The air suddenly felt thinner. I fished my phone out of my pocket and called my sister.
Holly’s voice was full of playful menace when she answered. “Hi, big brother. What? Did your live-in date scare you off already?”
“Shut up, Holly. She’s fine. It’s fine.”
“Then why are you calling me?”
I grimaced. Damn it. “Something feels off. Forced.”
Holly laughed. “No shit it does, Max! You two are on an arranged month-long date. It’s going to feel weird at first. But once the dust settles and the ice breaks, I’m sure it will be fine. Just use that classic Max Fisher charm you’re always bragging about. You’ll win her over.”
“I bet she’s already fallen in love with someone else,” I muttered.
“Maybe. But so what? That doesn’t mean you don’t have a shot. The whole point of this is that she has options. So put on a nice suit for fuck sakes. Treat her to a night out. Give her the chance to surprise you.”
I sighed.
“Max?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t get in your head about this. The only thing that stands to sabotage your month with Piper is you. Got it?”
“Got it,” I said.
Chapter 5
Piper
Jonathan arrived to pick Max and me up for our date at seven o’clock sharp. At that time, I was ready to go, but I’d been hiding up in my room, trying to figure out why things felt a little unbalanced in my heart and my gut.
Max was the perfect gentleman. And we’d had electric chemistry the first time we saw each other at the Casanova Club. And I couldn’t deny I’d checked him out at the last Club party, before I’d felt overwhelmed and bailed, of course.
But something felt strained now, like we were two people being forced toward each other and neither of us really wanted to be. Maybe it was my own reservations about falling in love with another man. My heart couldn’t take it.
Or maybe it was something to do with him. Cold feet. A lot could change over the course of ten months. Perhaps he’d met someone else and he was only doing this because he’d signed on the dotted line on his contract with Jackson Lee and the club.
I had no idea.
Either way, this was the first month where I’d been more than happy to hide up in my room. Well, aside from how things started between Cooper and me.
But when Max called up to me that our driver had arrived, I was forced to go downstairs. I met him in the foyer by the front door and discovered he’d cleaned up nicely, too.
He was dressed in a navy suit with a crisp black shirt underneath. His short dark-blonde hair was nicely styled and pushed back. He’d shaved, too, and his facial hair was cut short to his square jaw. His eyes looked somehow even bluer than they had this afternoon, and I wondered if it was just the navy of his suit making them pop.
They were gorgeous. Like the ocean. And deep. So deep a girl could easily get lost staring into them if she wasn’t careful.
“You look nice,” I said.
“As do you.”
I smiled but didn’t really feel his compliment sink in. I hadn’t gone overboard. I was wearing a knee-length black cocktail dress with a high collar and no sleeves. It hugged my shape tightly and made my legs look dangerously long, especially when paired with the black pumps I’d opted for. It was a sexy look, for sure, and I wondered what some of the other men before Max might have said if they saw me in it.
Levi would have lost his mind.
Wyatt, too.
Christian wouldn’t have been able to keep his hands to himself, and I would have reveled in the way he’d pin me against the wall and strip the dress off me before we even made it out the door to go to dinner.
“Are you ready?” Max asked, offering his arm.
I swallowed to push down the sudden arousal pulling at my insides. “Yes.”
Jonathan greeted us out in the drive by the back door of his Lexus, which was already open. Max slid in first and I joined him. As Jonathan pulled away, he asked how my day was going so far.
“It’s good,” I said, wishing I’d brought something to drape over my shoulders. The car was cool. “Max gave me a wonderful tour of his home, and now I’m being spoiled and treated to dinner. What more could a girl ask for?”
Max didn’t say anything.
Jonathan turned off of Max’s street, and we headed back into the valley, which was spread out beneath us like a blanket of twinkling stars. “I suspect you will enjoy your meal, Miss James. I mean Piper. The restaurant Mr. Fisher has selected is renowned for its superb dishes.”
I didn’t admit that I was craving a greasy cheeseburger. Or that I would have preferred a quiet place with food that was terrible for you and loud music and slow service. Those were the kinds of places I felt comfortable.
When we pulled up in front of the restaurant La Bouche, I realized it was exactly the opposite of the kind of place where I would feel at ease.
The entire restaurant was made of glass. It reminded me of a greenhouse. The windows were tinted so you could barely see inside, save for the wrought-iron chandelier fixtures strung up inside. Jonathan pulled up to the curb so the back door lined up with the black carpet that led from the sidewalk up the path to the front doors of La Bouche.
I got out first and pulled the hemline of my dress down. Max stepped out second and closed the door behind us. He did not put a hand on the small of m
y back or offer me his elbow. Instead, he fixed his suit jacket, went to the passenger window of the car, and knocked. Jonathan rolled it down.
“Pick us up at nine-thirty?” Max asked.
“See you then, Mr. Fisher.”
Jonathan drove away.
Max gestured for me to go forward, and we made our way down the carpet to the front door, which was pushed open from the inside by a hostess dressed in all black. She smiled politely and greeted Max by name.
Once inside, I resisted the urge to blend into the background. This place was fancy as hell. Tables were well spread out so guests didn’t have to hear the conversation of other people while they dined. There appeared to be one server per every three tables, so service was quick and doting.
Max and I were brought to a corner table, where we received no menu but were served two glasses of water. I sipped mine for something to do as Max undid his jacket and leaned back in his seat.
“Do you prefer red or white wine, Piper?”
“Either,” I said. “I guess it depends on what we’re eating.”
When the server came back to our table, Max ordered a bottle of Chardonnay. I didn’t say anything about preferring sweet white over dry, and when I tasted a sample, I couldn’t tell the difference between this and a normal twelve-dollar bottle. I was sure this one was upward of a couple hundred, at least.
We sipped our wine, and I held my tongue about the menus. How was I supposed to know what to order without a menu?
“So, Piper,” Max started as he straightened out his cutlery. “Tell me about yourself.”
“Um.” What?
Why did this feel like a job interview and not a date? Where did I start with a question like that? How did I decide what was relevant information and what was not?
I licked my lips and sipped my wine to buy myself a second to collect my thoughts before I answered. “Well, I don’t know what there is to tell. I was born and raised in New York City. I have a little brother named Phillip, and he and I grew up going to our parents’ restaurant after school every day. When we were old enough to work, we started working there, too. Um. What else can I say?”