by Liz Kelly
Because he loved her. And the last thing he ever wanted to do was hurt her. He stumbled forward, planning to throw himself at her feet and beg her forgiveness.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry you found out like that.”
He pulled her to him, encircling her neck with both his arms, rocking her gently from side to side, combing a hand over her curls. “It’s none of my business,” he said. “I overreacted, and in truth, it’s none of my damn business.”
That’s when she started to cry.
Christ. Trying not to be an asshole apparently only makes me more of an asshole.
“Piper, please, baby doll, forgive me. I’m an ass but I’m working hard at not being so much of one. I need practice and, baby, there’s no one to practice on but you. So please, stop crying and help me do the right thing here. We can go back inside and dance. Have another drink. Just forget that Duncan ever brought it up. The truth is, I don’t care if you were engaged to some lawyer. I’m just very relieved you didn’t marry him.”
Piper sniffed and brought her head up to peer at him through the ring of his arms.
“It was your fault I didn’t marry him,” she scolded. “Completely your fault.”
“Good,” he said, tucking her curly head back against his chest. “Happy to hear it.”
She pushed back and he gave her a little more space within the circle of his arms. “Don’t you want to know why?”
“I don’t know,” he said cautiously. “Do I?”
She bit her bottom lip and leaned her head to the side. Then she shrugged. “It’s out there. We may as well…face it.”
“Oh, God. I do not like the sound of that.”
“Well, it has nothing to do with you. I mean, it has everything to do with you, but it mostly has to do with me and my flimsy adherence to a basic morality clause.”
“Morality clause?” He knew he wasn’t an idiot, but he had no idea what she was talking about.
“You know. Once you get engaged, you aren’t supposed to stick your tongue in some hot guy’s mouth, even if you have been overly obsessed with him since you were ten.”
All Vance could do was blink, because he still had no clue what she was saying.
“Vance. That night I walked into The Charlie Horse planning to blow off a little steam? I was in the middle of planning my wedding to Scott.”
“Oh,” he uttered. “Oh!” he said as the night replayed in his mind. “You were engaged? How engaged?”
Piper lowered her brows. “What do you mean, “how engaged?” I was engaged. The wedding was months away. We had it all planned. I was going to quit my job. We were going to have kids. I was as engaged as you can get.”
Vance shook his head, not comprehending. “So what happened?”
“What do you mean, what happened? You happened, you stupid jerk. You were standing there and I’m like ‘Oooh, there’s Vance Evans. He must have heard about my mother and, like my knight in shining armor, has come to save me from my sad, sad self.’”
Vance felt happiness drain from him. “Oh, Piper.”
“Yeah, I was a complete romantic fool and after I saw you standing there, I didn’t think about Scott once the entire night. In fact, I didn’t think about Scott for two days after you left me standing on the dance floor, until he arrived at my parent’s house and asked for his ring back.”
“Jesus.”
“Well…I deserved it.”
Vance angled his head, so sorry for her and so happy for the bullet he dodged. Maybe there was a God.
“You ever going to cheat on me?”
She shook her head no.
“Okay, then. Why don’t we go get it on in my truck?”
Piper burst out laughing.
He pulled her to him. “That was not supposed to be funny.”
“It’s just, I started to despair that you didn’t want me like that.”
That had Vance bursting out laughing. “Baby doll, I assure you, I want you just like that,” he said leaning down to brush his lips against hers. “I want all three of you like that. Only I get a little nervous when I think about taking sweet, precious….” He kissed her again. “…Perfect Piper to bed. ’Cause she left me once, and one false move may make her do it again,” he confessed his fear against her lips. He ran a hand through her hair and looked into her eyes. “And maybe I feel a little more comfortable thinking about getting Naughty Piper naked, because I know how to handle that one. But she’s my hologram—the one no other blonde can measure up against, and that kiss she laid on me five years ago was so right that I turned chicken shit and ran out on her, so….”
He kissed her gently, letting his arms drift over her back, feeling her silky skin, stroking her luscious curves. When his hands brushed against her backside, he groaned, squeezing his fingers into her plump bottom and hauling her lady parts up tight against his growing need. “And then we have The Lawyer Beaumont.” His voice dropped low and husky. “Who’d probably have me arrested before I finished doing all the dirty things I fantasize about doing to her.” He licked his lips before using his tongue to mate with her mouth, wanting desperately to press her back up against the wall. He cut the kiss off before he lost control. “So, yeah,” he said, breathing heavily, staring right into her eyes, “I want you that way. I’ve just been a little preoccupied about messing things up.”
She came in close, snuggling into his arms, her fingers opening his shirt so that she could kiss the spot on his chest that was level with her lips. “You can’t mess things up, Vance,” she breathed against the hair of his chest. Looking down at the top of her head, he watched as she kissed him again.
Oh, he could think of a few ways he could mess this up.
“I fell in love with Fourth Grade Vance before he ever needed Perfect Piper.”
He smiled at that. He’d have given anything for it to be true.
“It was the day Willie Prescott brought in his Popsicle-stick log cabin for show and tell. It was pretty big and glued to a large piece of cardboard. I don’t think Willie had but a couple of friends, but he was proud of his work and he did a good job talking about it in front of the class. We all thought it was cool.
“Later on, some bully bopped the whole thing out of Willie’s hands and it blew apart all over the hallway, right as the entire fourth grade started heading to the cafeteria. Before the teachers could react, before anybody did anything, you gave a loud whistle and shouted for everyone to stop where they were. Then you made everyone pick up the pieces of Willie’s log cabin, and during lunch you had an entire tableful of kids helping Willie put it back together.
“I don’t know if you were Willie’s hero that day, but I do remember that that’s the day you became mine.”
Piper lifted her head, her heart shining deep within those baby blue eyes.
Oh dear God, she’s done it to me now.
Vance couldn’t speak, he couldn’t breathe. But he was her hero. So he held on to that.
She ducked her head again, addressing his chest. “Can I remind you of somethin’ nice you and your mother did together?”
He rubbed his hands over her back thinking that would be a refreshing change of pace.
“And maybe this is the reason I felt your pain so acutely when she left, because I remember this better than anything.” She kissed his chest again, her fingers toying with the hair there. He kept watch over her blond curls as she spoke quietly.
“It was your birthday, and your mother brought in cupcakes. They were special because the girls’ were pink and yellow, and the boys’ were blue and green. And there was a Hershey Kiss on each. But the best part…the best part was that she had written each of our names in icing on our own cupcake. Even the teacher’s.”
Vance remembered.
“When I asked you why your mother did that, you told me you’d asked her to. That even though it was your birthday, you wanted everyone to feel special.” Piper dropped her voice to a whisper. “How was I not going to fall i
n love with that?”
She kept using that word.
That big word that both scared and intrigued him. She’d used it when she met his grandmother and she’d just used it now.
“Vance, you were funny—just had a way with words. And even back then you had a nickname for everybody. You always won the spelling bee, you were the best reader in the class, and I never played dodgeball because you threw the ball too hard. But the best part about Fourth Grade Vance was that you had a smile for everybody. You were a happy kid.”
“God, Piper," Vance sighed, taking a step back. "I don’t ever remember being a happy kid.”
“You laughed all the time,” she insisted, shaking her blond curls.
“How do you remember all that?”
“I remember everything, Vance. I remember far more of you being happy than you being sad. Grief is a part of life. And you had the misfortune of going through it way too early. But that sad kid grieving for his mother is not who you are or who you’ve ever been. You have always been Vance Evans, the boy I loved for more reasons than I can name.”
The boy she loved.
Past tense.
But it was a start. Something to build on.
***
“Piper,” she heard him whisper, standing tall in the night. “Piper…I,” he stammered, moving in closer. She saw his focus narrow to her shoulder, “I…” he began again, distracted, reaching out with a single finger, touching her shoulder, and then lazily trailing it down her arm. The sensation was light and hypnotic, and it echoed inside her chest.
“I want…to….” His words tapered off as his gaze followed the slow advance of two fingers sliding back up her arm, leaving a delicious sort of tingling in its wake. Like a domino effect, those sent other tingles all over her body.
He whispered the words, “I thought maybe it’d be best…” as he watched, captivated by the way his whole hand now glided over her skin from bicep to wrist. “God, you’re soft,” he breathed, raising his gaze to meet her eyes.
The usual emerald green had darkened to a smoky shade of forest, and she was taken in by the intensity of his stare. She felt his hand ease up her arm, linger over her shoulder, and move on to caress her neck. Every place he touched heated, causing her breathing pattern to accelerate. His palm slid across her cheek. “Mind if we continue this discussion in my truck?”
With one brief nod, Piper found her hand caught up in Vance's vise-like grip pulling her behind him, behind The Situation, and over to his truck. He propelled her into the passenger seat, slammed the door, and was climbing in the other side before she had a chance to fully exhale. Bossy really did work for her. She threw herself at him as he grabbed for her in turn, her mouth landing on his, his mouth taking them both to the next level.
He pushed her from him once, holding her at arm’s length, breathing heavily for a few counts before relenting and pulling her back to him.
It thrilled her when he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to kiss or talk. “You….” he’d say. “Piper….” he’d call. “I swear to God,” he’d exclaim, all the while pulling her mouth back under his, using his tongue, his teeth, and his lips to convey what he couldn’t quite get out.
He wanted her. Really, really wanted her. And when his hands finally found her breasts, she pressed herself farther into him and moaned her appreciation for him finally getting around to that.
“Christ, Piper,” he groaned into her mouth as he laid her down across the bench seat of his beat-up truck. He followed her down, his mouth on her neck. His hands on her breasts. His tongue and teeth tickling her skin. She felt his hot breath as he labored over her throat.
“Tell me to stop,” he panted. “Tell me to stop,” he pleaded as his thumbs roused her nipples under their cotton covering. “We don’t want our first time to be here,” he insisted even as his hand pulled one of the straps of her dress down over her shoulder.
“Okay,” she whispered. “You’re right,” she panted, loving his weight on top of her, his hands, all the attention he was giving her body. “We don’t want our first time to be…oh God,” she said as he put his mouth over the nipple he’d just uncovered and sucked mightily.
The intense pull she felt down deep inside almost had her coming. She grabbed his dark head in her hands and held him to her. “Just…maybe…we could…take the edge off.” He sucked again and in response she bucked her pelvis against his rock-hard abs.
She felt his hands slide down her sides and crawl up under her dress as his teeth and tongue toyed with her nipple. One of her legs was stuck beneath him and against the back of the seat, but her right leg was able to be released from the fabric wound around her knees. She let it fall to the side.
His hand eased up her thigh and scooted over her bikini underpants. They were damp and that must have turned him on because he moaned, which caused her to buck against him again, and this time his thumb got caught in the way—like the night before—perfectly. Right on that spot. Right where everything was focused. Twice more she raised her hips. Twice more he rubbed his thumb over her in just the right place as his mouth drew in her nipple and sucked hard.
She tried not to squeal as the orgasm ricocheted around her body. She held her breath and locked her lips tight, but some sort of sound came out as she shuddered beneath him. In the end, her arms flailed around from Vance’s head to his back, flopping where they would as she whispered, “Oh God. I’m sorry. I just…couldn’t…stop myself.”
Vance loomed over her, his arms stretched up on either side of her hips. His smile was broad when he looked at her and said, “Now why would you ever want to?” He tucked his head and plucked a few kisses from her lips.
She slid her arm between them then, her hand easing down the front of his pants. “Dear God,” he said lifting his lips from hers. “Piper—Oh, Christ,” he said as she smoothed her palm down the increasing length of his shaft. “Damn that's nice.” His body started moving against her palm and she didn’t try to do anything special. She just let him slide his taut erection up and back, using her palm and fingers. “Baby doll,” he said with his eyes closed, his body moving, “you have…no idea. Your hand…feels…so good. Christ!” He opened his eyes, looking down at her while he kept moving.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “Because things are about to get messy.”
Piper licked her lips, adding a little more resistance to his stroke. “Go ahead.” She smiled. “Mess me up.”
Chapter Twenty-eight
Monday morning, Vance woke up alone.
With a smile.
Because after years of meaningless sexual encounters and close to three months of celibacy, a hand job from his hologram was as close to heaven as he’d ever been. Given that, along with everything else that had transpired between him and Piper last night, it could probably sustain his soul for weeks to come. Although he wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep from tossing that tiny little temptress on her back the next time he saw her. Which was going to be Thursday. Three days from now.
He smiled, remembering how much fun he’d had tucking her luscious little body into her sporty TT while throwing around some Bad Cop orders as he stole a kiss and copped a feel. He told her he’d be leaving for New York today on business. He told her that she was to wait until Thursday afternoon to deliver her butter-and-cinnamon laden bribe to King Kong and the gang. He wanted to escort her in and out of the precinct so that all of Raleigh’s finest would know Vance Evans, small-town cop with zero jurisdiction, had her back. Then he suggested, well, maybe it was more like insisted, that she have her bags packed and her lawyer business wrapped up for her two-week vacation to Henderson.
She didn’t give him a promise, but he didn’t need one. Piper Beaumont was coming to Henderson with him one way or another.
For the first time he could remember, he got up and ran for the sheer pleasure of moving his body after a good night’s sleep. He went to the high school, lifted weights, ran home, showered, packed, and was standing on the do
orstep of E&E Investments turning his key in the lock before eight AM. God, it was good to be alive.
“Whoa,” he said as he came up short, looking at the scene before him. “What do we have here?” he whispered in glee, slowly walking toward the desk and shooting glances around the rest of the reception area.
Prim, proper, ball-busting, Tansy Langford, was completely passed out and practically falling out of her chair. Her upper body was sprawled across the top of the desk, one arm cushioning her head, which lay limp and heavy. Her face was a mess of smeared eye makeup and, to make the whole thing just that much more perfect, she was drooling.
Vance took out his phone and snapped a picture.
On closer inspection, Vance realized she was wearing the same clothes he’d seen her in the night before, only now half the buttons on her blouse were torn off and the rest were askew. He couldn’t be sure, but it looked like her leather skirt might actually be on backwards. Her shoes were missing, two of her fingernails were broken, and her long blond hair looked like squirrels had wrestled in it.
This day cannot get any better.
He took another picture just for the fun of it.
That’s when he heard sounds coming from down the hall and went to investigate. There were no lights on, but he definitely heard something moving inside the conference room. Vance quietly opened one of the double doors just a crack and peeked in.
Oh. No, you didn’t.
“Pinks!” Vance whispered, stepping quickly into the room and closing the door behind him.
There was Davis, on top of E&E’s brand new conference table—moaning—trying to roll onto his side from his back.
“Are you out of your mind?” he whispered as he took in the scene. A double D bra lay on the rug at his feet, there was skimpy girlie underwear a few paces down, Pinks’ badass black T-shirt was tossed in a corner, and, good God, a pair of boxer briefs had landed in the chair Vance considered his. Even the belt Vance coveted, the one Pink’s own mother had handmade for him stitch by stitch, was cast aside at the end of the table. Thank goodness The Ninja had his jeans on, although his fly was only half zipped. Vance groaned, not wanting to be a witness to anything that came flying out.