And it is.
Owen
There are very few moments in my life that I’ve bothered to commit to memory, but this moment right here with Piper James’ mouth fused to mine and her soft tits pressed against me is one of them.
A moan vibrates from her mouth to mine, and I swallow it down. My chest rumbles with a dull laugh. And here I thought she was untouchable, a girl that no man should dare go near because his balls might be in peril. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wanted this. That I didn’t want this from the moment I saw her that first day. I may have shown up to watch Rex do his thing at the pep rally that afternoon, but as soon as my eyes snagged on Miss James, there was no one else to see. When that ball flew in her direction, I saw the opportunity and seized it. Most girls would have been grateful to a fault, but when Piper put me in my place, she piqued my interest in a whole new way.
She leans back, nibbling on my lip before looking up at me with those pale doe eyes.
“Perfect.” I moan.
“The kiss?” She tilts her head, looking ever so innocent. The steam rising around us leaves a dewy impression on her skin.
“No, you.” I lean in and steal another kiss off her pillow-soft lips. “The kiss was smoking hot. You do that often, or are you just glad to see me?”
She gives a dark laugh, her knee grazing over my budding hard-on.
“I believe that’s the question I should be asking you.” She bites over a smile, then quick as it came, it dissipates and she takes a full step back, my fingers barely clasping onto hers. Her tits take center stage, but I try my best not to stare at them. Fuck. They’re perfect.
“Where are you going?” I clear my throat.
“I don’t want to give you the wrong impression.” She’s going dark again. That isolative personality trait that hijacks her routinely is taking over.
“Come here.” I tug her back, but she maintains a buffer of a few inches. “I’m not expecting this to go any further. I promise you.”
Piper’s features soften a bit as she grazes her thigh over mine. “Sorry. I can get a little weird about that stuff. The last thing I want is to piss you off. I know how guys can be.”
“And how is that?” I’m chipping down her defenses one pebble at a time, but I’ll take it. Piper is a decent person who’s obviously been hurt by whom or what I don’t know, but she’s ready to lash out like a viper if need be in a moment’s notice.
“Never mind.” She takes a full breath, her nipples popping above the waterline as if to say hello, and my gaze dips. Shit. If I’ve gone over any one rule with my guys, it’s never, fucking never let them see you stealing a glimpse at their tits in the middle of a serious conversation.
She ducks under until she’s submerged to her neck. “I probably should have kept them under wraps. Go ahead.” Her eyes narrow in on me with that insta-rage she’s honed to perfection. “Call me a tease.”
“I don’t think you’re a tease.” I dip down to her level and scoot in until were nose-to-nose. “I want to get to know you, Piper—the real you. You’re beautiful. The entire planet can see that. I want to know that hidden part of you that you’re not showing the rest of the world.”
“My vagina?” She doesn’t miss a beat. That bored look of apathy has returned to her face as the sarcasm queen that lives inside her stabs her way out.
“I get it.” A dry smile pumps from me. “You need that edge, that control that comes with caustic words. But I don’t want you to feel like that around me.”
Her lips twitch and tug as if she might cry. Piper is the only girl I know who runs a rainbow of emotions in less than three seconds.
“Wow, you’re working overtime to get into my pants.”
“I don’t want in your pants, your pretty pink panties, or your body. I’m telling you how I feel. You’re important, and you deserve good things. You don’t need to hold up this wall whenever you’re around me. Trust me, I know the wall. I do the same thing.”
Her lips pull down and quiver as she squints into me. “Okay, you’re starting to be a real buzzkill.” She moves to get out, and I gently pull her back.
“We’re the same person, Piper.” I struggle to keep her eyes nailed to mine. “You don’t need to hide anything from me.”
She pants into me, her anger rising like flames as the steam plumes behind her.
“What are you hiding?” She riots it in my face. Her hot breath stings like a sunburn as she shouts the words.
“Shit,” I whisper, trying to get my ears to stop ringing. I clasp my fingers over her hands and gently steady myself against her. “Why are you screaming?”
“I’m not the one who started this war.” She yanks her hands free, splashing me in the face in the process.
“Why does everything have to be a war with you?”
“Because that’s how life works!” she yells, stealing the serenity from the wilderness around us. “It takes a shit on you, and you have to deal. And after that? You don’t fucking assume the position waiting for it to happen again.”
“Whatever they did—whoever they are—I’m not them! I’ll never be them. You don’t need this wall around me. You can let me in. I’m not the enemy. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Piper stands frozen. Her watery gaze set on mine, her jaw still clenched in anger.
“No judgment?” A tear slips down the curve of her cheek, but she doesn’t acknowledge it.
My finger caresses that single tear right off her face, and I bring it to my lips to let her know I care.
“No judgment.” I pull her body to mine, and, slow as honey, her skin sears over me once again. “Believe me when I say this. I’m in no position to judge a single soul.” There are no truer words.
Her face inches to mine. Her lips part. Her chest heaves with each passing breath. Piper is gunning for that next kiss whether or not she knows it.
“I have a confession to make,” she whispers right over my mouth, and my gut aches to have her.
“Anything.”
“I kind of like being a bitch.” A weak smile comes and goes. “I’ve played the part for so long, I don’t know anything else at this point.”
My heart breaks to hear her say it. “Well then, I’ve got bad news for you. You’re not a bitch. You’re a good person with her defenses set on high alert. The whole world isn’t out to get you. I promise you that.”
She tilts in, a thread of a seductive grin comes and goes like a ghost. “Are you out to get me?”
I tick my head back and let out a breath I’ve been holding since that soul-melting kiss. “Confession,” I whisper, and her brows arch in amusement. That look right there is enough to make me come for weeks. Piper is the exact woman I’ve been waiting for, wanting for so long, and here she is, naked in all the right places with her body pressed to mine. “I have been out to get something from you—your attention—ever since that first day in Founder’s Square. You are too beautiful to ignore. I wanted to see you, hold you right then and there.”
“You were pretty subtle.” She nods into me, her eyes squared over mine with that knowing look she wears so well. Piper always looks as if she’s in on some grand joke and makes you feel as if you’re along for the ride.
“I try.”
“Yeah?” She swallows hard. “Maybe you can give that kiss another try?”
“Did I not impress you the first time, sweetheart?”
“Are you kidding? I was so damned impressed I thought I might be dreaming.” She wrinkles her nose. “There’s no way you’re that good.”
“Dreaming, huh?” My arms wrap around her tiny waist as she presses her firm belly over my dick, and I hold back a groan. Her soft chest presses to mine, and I suck in a short breath. “I’d better give you another dose of reality.”
My eyes stay trained on hers a beat too long before I dive over her lips. Piper meets me right there with all of the passion, the primal ache that comes from the bottom of my hungry heart. Her hot tongue melts with mine as
we lose ourselves in a wild kiss that seems to have no beginning and no end in sight. I never want to stop loving her like this, showering her with all of the affection she deserves until her walls, all of her defenses come tumbling down, one brick at a time.
A fury builds in me at whoever or whatever hurt her so bad that she feels as if sarcasm and cutting words are her only true defenses. I want to show her that there are still some people worth trusting, and that I’m one of them. I want to show her that there aren’t a hell of a lot of people worth hauling a lifetime worth of anger around over. I should know. I’ve hauled enough aggression around for both of us these last few years.
I was right. Piper and I are the same person. And I’m hoping we just might be the key to healing one another, too.
* * *
The first game of the year is WB versus Thurston, a quasi-ivy-league school that should focus on boasting about its esteemed Fortune 500 graduates than it ever should football. The game is a shutout. Rex lives to be a hero on campus another day. I watch as the team rallies around him, lifting him up on their shoulders while the coach takes a Gatorade shower in the background.
“Someone is getting laid tonight.” Jet slaps my leg hard as he lets out another howl for the team.
“Yeah, and his name is Rex. You got any prospects I don’t know about?”
“Since when do I need a prospect? I’m a last minute, come as you are—and they will come—kind of a guy.”
“You’re a real prince.” I scan the lower quadrant of the student section once again, where my eyes have drifted for most of the last two hours, and spot Piper talking to her friends. It’s almost impossible to distinguish them from one another at this distance, with their ponytails and their fire engine red lips. Usually, I wouldn’t gravitate toward a sorority girl, but Piper has me breaking every single one of my rules.
“Any progress with the Ice Princess?”
I smack him in the gut. “Don’t call her that. Piper is a sweetheart.”
“What? Where’s this coming from? Dude, check your boxers. I think she swiped your balls when you weren’t looking.”
I’d say some smart-ass remark, but he might be right. “We kissed.” I’m not the type to kiss-and-tell, but I know it’ll set Jet straight and hopefully shut him up about this for a while.
“You kissed her? There you go.” His meaty mitt lands over my back with a congratulatory pat. “She’ll be bouncing on your lap anytime now. I bet you can practically smell the money.”
“Enough. We had a good time. She even took a picture of the two of us to commemorate the occasion. See? No harm, no foul. She was thrilled to be there.”
“Pictures, huh?” He twists, trying to get a better look at her. “That seems a little quick.”
“That’s because you put us on a timer, remember?” I’m teasing, because for one, I’m not racing Piper to my bed for money. Any other girl, any other day, not this one. “Worry about your own dick.” I say it disinterested at the moment as I watch Winston make his way over to her. Piper looks stunned for a second, and I’m hopeful she’ll yank his balls right off, too, but in a much more aggressive manner. But she doesn’t. He wraps an arm around her shoulder, and they melt into the crowd as they take off for the night.
Shit.
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch.” Jet leans in. “Theta House is still trying to gain a few suckers, so we can watch the show firsthand.”
“Nice.” Not nice. “He’s just an obstacle she needs to hurdle. She knows she has to play nice until she gets herself into the house.” This is precisely why I’m not a Greek, and the precise reason I’m anti Alpha Chi. Aubree got into a house all right. The big house.
We take off and follow the herd to Theta Tau like a bunch of cattle readying up for branding. Jared Latsco, a kid I helped land a smoking hot chick from Gamma Gamma Gamma during the summer, struts over with his chest puffed out, a swagger to his step. That’s the first thing I teach my guys. You want to get laid? Act like you fucking deserve it.
“What’s up?” I slap him some skin as we scan the room together. Rule number two, always look disinterested in your surroundings when you’re with other dudes.
“A friend of mine wants to cut loose his girlfriend.”
“How long have they been dating?” For every month you date a girl, there is a different tactic that needs to be utilized.
“Six months.”
“Bad timing.” I shake my head. I’m just messing with him. Six months is the easiest. Chicks are smart. They pick up on an emotional cutoff long before the breakup ever happens. It’s the ones that want to end things three weeks in after they’ve banged the shit out of the poor girl that provides the biggest challenge. At that point, she’s still green, in love—correction, lust. They’re so blindsided. Half of them actually expect a ring at that point. The honeymoon zone is the most dangerous of all. I’m not sure I can pull anyone out of that hole. “Two hundred bucks.” That’s the going rate for a standard breakup, so I don’t feel too bad asking. “If he wants, I can cut him a deal. Two hundred for the breakup, and fifty to land a new skirt in his lap. That’s a savings of over a hundred dollars. If he’s smart, he’ll take it.”
“He’ll take it. Pen that masterpiece by tomorrow afternoon, and he’ll be ready to hit a few parties with you by nightfall.”
“It takes a week. I don’t do turnarounds. It’s bad taste. Tell him to visit his grandmother. Jack off in the shower for seven days straight. I don’t care what he does as long as he avoids the radar.”
Jared gives a reluctant thumbs up and takes off.
Rex comes over, and Jet and I offer up a round of high fives. “We’re not worthy.”
“Shut up.” He’s wearing his signature ear-to-ear boy next-door dirty grin, eyeing the cheerleaders like they are candy. And to him they are. He can have a bite out of any one of those girls if he chooses, and on most nights he chooses. “What’s going on? Is Jet getting laid tonight? I know you’re not.”
“I am getting laid.” Jet nods over at a group of long-legged heavily bronzed brunettes. They still have the kiss of summer on their faces, heavily tanned, glittering hair from all the chlorinated highlights. “I’m thinking the one with the bungee cords wrapped up to her thighs.”
“Dude, they’re laces.” I inspect her further. “She’s hot. But she knows it. I’d wait until she downs a few more beers. You’ll look a hell of lot more like her type at that point.”
“You wish. I’m going in sober, and so will she.” Jet heads over, flipping us the bird as he takes off. It takes less than ten seconds for him to separate his intended victim from her group with a drugged smile on her face. I may be good, but Jet has always been the master.
“One down.” Rex looks ahead intensely, and I follow his gaze to a familiar group of ponytail wearing beauties, one of which is Piper. My stomach bites with heat with just one look. A few of the girls shift, and I spot the idiot she’s looking up at—Winston. His hand sits in the hollow of her back, definitely a comfortable move. Everyone knows you don’t initiate that kind of contact unless you feel as if you’ve long surpassed the friend zone.
“Winston.” I shake my head at the surly sight.
“You think she’ll bite his hand off?” Rex takes a quick swig of his drink. “That’s the exact reason I don’t date crazy chicks. There’s not enough insurance in the world to protect my limbs—my dick included, from that kind of insanity.”
“Would you shut up? There’s nothing wrong with her. She’s been hurt.”
“Defensive, are we? Things moving along for you two?”
“Very well, thank you for asking. In fact, I had her lying on top of me naked this afternoon with her tongue down my throat.”
“No shit?” He leans in as if inspecting her for horns and a tail. “Then why the hell are you letting that asshole get in on it? Go over there, and don’t let me see your face until you’ve scored a touchdown. Jet is serious as shit. You get six grand out of the deal.
I don’t see him waving that wad of dollars in my direction.”
“He’d take a loss to you.” I watch as Winston rides his hand up and down Piper’s back, making her laugh over whatever stupid shit is coming from his mouth. “He’ll take a loss to me, too.”
“Yeah? When is that going to happen? After the preppy has his way with her? Ten bucks says he’s going to finger her before the night is over.”
“Would you shut the hell up? He’s not touching her—like that anyway. She’s just being nice to him because she has to. She wants in on Alpha Chi so bad she doesn’t mind a conversation or two with that walking pop-up collar.”
“It’s going to suck for him once he realizes it. He looks pretty convinced he’s got this one in the bag.”
“He doesn’t.”
Winston wraps his other hand around her back. It looks as if they’re slow dancing, having a moment, and she’s not fighting him off like he was an attacker.
He doesn’t have this in the bag.
Does he?
* * *
The week starts off great with Piper coming over after our time at the office, and on Wednesday I cook us up a five-star feast of frozen waffles and bacon. I offered to take her to dinner, but she swears she’d rather eat at my place.
“You mind if I turn the channel?” she asks.
“Go ahead. I’m not watching anything. I just turned it on.”
“Just making sure. It’s wrestling or some shit. You boys and your fascination of watching two grown men rubbing each other down with lube—I don’t get it.”
I peer over at the screen. “That’s an MMA fight, sweetie. Those boys are out for blood and balls—” I look to her, and the spatula nearly drops from my hand. Piper never wanted my permission to turn the channel. She was merely trying to get me to acknowledge the fact she’s stripped off her T-shirt and sprawled over my sofa in a pair of skintight jeans and an emerald green bra.
“Holy shit.” I switch off the stove and bring the plate of bacon over to her. “I may have forgotten to tell you, but I’m allergic to the color green.” I slide in next to her and pull her onto my lap.
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