Which meant she did not understand the incredulous expression on his face. “I came in the back door.”
“Oh, because they couldn’t possibly be watching my alley?”
“I was careful, Piper. I’m pretty used to watching my back and being aware of my surroundings.”
Goddammit. “Whenever you say stuff like that it just inflates my guilt.”
“That’s not my intention.”
“I’m aware, which only makes it worse.”
“That’s not why I’m here.”
“Obviously. So how are you going to save me this time?” The minute the words were out of her mouth, Piper wanted to take them back. They sounded petty and ungrateful, which couldn’t be any farther from the truth.
“I have no idea.”
It took a minute for Piper to realize what Stone had said. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
“Yeah, but I was pretty sure my brain had processed something incorrectly. Because why would you come all the way down here, risk being seen and making things worse, all without an actual plan?”
Piper wasn’t sure which emotion was stronger, incredulity or anger. “Seriously, Stone. Did your time in prison zap all of your intelligence, because that’s probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”
Something hard flashed through Stone’s eyes, but it was gone practically before she could register the emotion. Sagging back into the chair, he rubbed his hands across his face for several seconds before finally erupting into laughter.
The sound of it, deep and rich, rolled through her. It made her skin tighten and places she didn’t want to think about right now tingle.
“Yeah, probably not the smartest move I’ve ever made.”
Which begged the question, why had he done it? But for some reason, Piper didn’t really want to ask. Possibly because she wasn’t ready to hear the answer.
Leaning forward, Stone stared at her. The expression on his face was...so serious. So direct. Piper felt his gaze straight at the center of her gut. Restless energy, uncomfortable and unwanted, began to crackle just beneath the surface of her skin.
Hell.
Needing to move, Piper stood up and walked a couple paces. “Well, thanks for stopping by?”
But she didn’t get far. Stone lunged after her, grasping her upper arm and holding her in place.
“Piper.”
That was it. Just her name. But she heard so much more behind that single word. Frustration, yearning, denial.
Or maybe she was just projecting.
Warmth from his fingers seeped through the flimsy fabric of her shirt. How could his simple touch make her burn? She didn’t want this. Didn’t want him.
And that was such a lie.
“What?” Jerking her arm, Piper tried to get some relief from the dangerous sensation. But he wouldn’t let her go. His hold on her tightened as he rounded the chair, invading her personal space.
Stone had been closer than this more times than she could count. As little kids they’d slept in the same bed. Many summer nights they’d found a patch of grass at the back of her stepfather’s property, her head in his lap as they’d had contests about naming the constellations. Even as teenagers, before things had changed, they were constantly touching each other. Innocent exchanges.
Nothing about right now felt innocent. At least not to her.
Which was why she needed to get Stone out of there before she did or said something embarrassing.
“What are you going to do?” he finally asked.
The heat of him radiated across her side, where he held her. Piper purposely didn’t turn to him, struggling not to give in to this craving for him that just wouldn’t go away.
“Piper?”
“What?” she croaked out.
“What are you going to do?”
“About what?”
“The reporters camped outside your front door.”
Oh, yeah, that. “Well, I’m hoping a couple men from my father’s security team will be here shortly to clear them out of the way. Again.”
“That’s only a temporary solution.”
“True. Which is why I’ve contacted a local reporter and agreed to an exclusive interview with her.”
“You did what?”
There was something about the dangerous quiet in Stone’s voice that had her gaze whipping to his. Anger sparked through his eyes, reminding her of the tiger’s-eye stone she’d bought on a field trip to the natural history museum as a child. She’d chosen it then because it reminded her of his eyes, all gold and brown swirled together in a pattern that mesmerized her.
“We’re meeting in—” Piper’s gaze flicked to the clock mounted on the wall behind Stone’s head “—a couple hours.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because it’s the best way to get their attention off of me. One of my patients had to walk through that crowd on her way in this morning. Most of my clients are recovering from traumatic experiences, Stone. Do you know how devastating that encounter was for her? She was a shaking mess when she got inside. I had to reschedule the rest of my clients today.”
“I never thought you’d become the kind of woman to care about losing billing hours.”
Disappointment and sadness filled Piper. She wanted to be angry, but couldn’t find it in herself. This, right now, was cold, clear evidence that Stone no longer knew her. And it hurt.
“You might not know me anymore, Stone. But you know enough to understand my motives have absolutely nothing to do with money.”
Something hard flashed through Stone’s gaze, but it was immediately replaced by regret. “I’m sorry, you’re right. I know your motive is to help people.”
His words helped, but they didn’t completely take away the sting...or the regret for what they’d lost.
“But that doesn’t make an exclusive a good idea, Piper. Talking to the press is going to stir the pot and make you more of a target, not less.”
Piper shrugged. “I disagree. I’ll give them what they think they want and they’ll go away.”
“You know better. You’ve been around the media long enough to understand that’s not how things work. Ignore them for a few days and a bigger story will come along to take the heat off.”
She laughed, the sound cracked and brittle. “Please. You weren’t here, Stone. You missed the media storm that followed Blaine’s death and your confession. Everyone has been waiting ten years for the full story.”
“Well, they can wait a hundred more because they’re not getting it.”
“No, they’re not. But ignoring the media completely isn’t going to make them go away. Oh, they might get distracted for a little while, but they’ll keep coming back. Hell, it’s been ten years and they haven’t lost interest. But we can use this to our advantage. Give them a little taste so they go away for good.”
It was Stone’s turn to laugh, the sound scraping down her spine like nails across a chalkboard. “If there’s one thing I learned inside, Piper, it’s that you don’t mess with someone who has more power than you do. Not until you’re damn sure you can beat them. Talking to anyone right now would be a mistake. You don’t have anything valuable to offer...and you suck at lying. You’re more likely to slip up and make yourself a bigger target than you already are.”
“Forgive me for not being versed in deception, but I’m just going to have to risk it.”
Using his hold on her arm, Stone applied pressure until she turned to face him. Slowly, he shifted closer. Air stalled in Piper’s chest. Her lungs hitched, trying to pull in oxygen even though nothing seemed to be working right.
She needed space.
Taking a step back, she tried to find some distance. But Stone had no intention of letting her have it. Instead, he followed her. One step. Two. Fi
ve, until her back collided with something solid.
His voice was low, rough. His jaw flexed, teeth grinding together. “Don’t, Piper. Don’t talk to them.”
He was upset. Piper could clearly see that. But it didn’t matter. “Unfortunately for you, there’s nothing you can do to stop me. I’m a big girl, Stone. Perfectly capable of taking care of myself and making decisions about my own life. I’ve been doing just fine without you for a while now.”
Something sharp pinched in the center of her chest. She wasn’t sure which made breathing more difficult, the way Stone loomed over her or the pain of the truth she’d just given voice to. Dammit.
Stone growled beneath his breath. He shifted, the solid wall of his chest brushing against her and drawing a soft gasp from her parted lips.
Whispering an expletive, his hold on her shifted. His arm snaked around her body, lifting her up onto her toes. Before she could register what he was doing, his mouth hovered above hers.
She leaned toward him, and everything changed.
* * *
He had no idea what he was doing. But that didn’t matter. The millisecond the warmth of her mouth touched his nothing else mattered.
Like it ever could.
The flat of his palm slapped against the door beside her head. Piper’s leg wrapped high across his hip. Her fingers gripped his shoulders, pulling her body tighter against him.
He’d never wanted to devour anything or anyone as much as he wanted Piper.
Her lips parted beneath his, giving him the access he desperately craved. The taste of her, sweet with a dark hint of coffee, flashed through him. And he wanted more.
One taste would never be enough.
That thought was clear, even as everything else in the world faded to nothing. Stone didn’t care where they were. Who was close. Or what was going on around them. All that mattered was Piper and the way she was melting against him.
His fingers twisted in her hair. Stone tilted her head so he could get more of her. Their tongues tangled together in a dance that was years late. Her nails curled into his skin, digging in and leaving stinging half-moons. But her tiny, breathy pants made the bite insignificant.
He needed more of her.
Reaching between them, Stone began to pop the buttons on her blouse. One, two, three. The backs of his fingers brushed against her silky, soft skin driving the need inside him higher.
Pulling back, Stone wanted to see her. He’d been fantasizing about this moment for so long. He didn’t want to miss a single second of it.
Piper’s head dropped back against the wall. She watched him, her gaze pulsing with the same heat burning him from the inside out.
But instead of letting him finish the buttons, her hand curled around his, stopping him.
The tip of her pink tongue swept across her parted lips, plump and swollen from the force of their kiss. Moisture glistened. He leaned forward to swipe his own tongue across her mouth, to taste her once more.
But her softly whispered words stopped him. “Let me go.”
Immediately, Stone dropped his hands and took several steps away.
Conflicting needs churned inside him. No part of him would consider pushing when she’d been clear that she didn’t want his touch. But the pink flush of passion across her skin and the glitter of need in her eyes...he felt the same echo throbbing deep inside.
“I’m sorry.”
“You seem to be saying that a lot, Stone,” she murmured.
“I shouldn’t have done that.” He felt the need to say the words, even though they felt wrong. Everything inside him was screaming that he should have kissed her. Should have done it a hell of a long time ago.
Touching her, tasting her, wanting her was right. The most right thing he’d ever done.
But it wasn’t.
Piper deserved so much more than he could ever give her.
Turning away from her, Stone dropped his forehead against the door he’d had Piper pinned against. “It’s been a long time since I’ve touched a woman, Piper.”
“Gee, how flattering. I was your friend for years and you never once expressed any interest in me as a woman. But give you ten celibate years behind bars and I’m good enough to want.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Turning, Stone pressed his back against the hard surface of the door. Several paces away, Piper stood, arms wrapped around her body and bravado stamped all over the gorgeous features of her face.
God, she was beautiful.
Pushing away from the door, Stone stalked closer. “Let’s get a couple things straight.”
He had to admire the way she stood her ground, although she couldn’t quite hide the desire to move. Not with the way her shoulders swayed away from him before she squared them up again.
Her chin notched up and her bright blue eyes glinted with fire. Amazing. A grin twitched at the corners of his mouth, but Stone was smart enough not to let it free.
“First, I’ve never needed to use sex to get anything I want and I have no intention of starting now. And, yes, that means exactly what you think it does, considering where I’ve been the last ten years.”
Piper’s eyebrows slammed down into a tight frown. Her mouth opened for a second and he waited to see what kind of remark she might make to that confession. But she snapped her lips shut without saying anything.
“Second, I’ve wanted you for a long damn time, Piper. But I needed you as my best friend and wasn’t willing to lose you over a little lust. We were both too damn young and not ready for anything permanent.”
Reaching out, Stone let his fingers slide across the soft skin of her cheek, down the curve of her neck and across the silky surface of her shoulder. She shivered, goose bumps erupting across her skin. Her eyes dilated, deep pools of black pushing against the gorgeous ring of blue that would forever remind him of a perfect summer sky.
“Luckily, neither of us is young anymore,” he growled before turning on his heel and walking away.
It was either that or push everything off her desk and take her right there.
And Piper deserved a hell of a lot better than that.
A hell of a lot better than him.
Seven
Piper’s head was still spinning. What had he meant they weren’t young anymore?
Even several hours later, her skin still tingled where Stone had touched her. The echo of it reverberated through her body. Very inconvenient considering who was sitting across the desk from her right now.
She could dissect the minute details of the experience and try to decipher what Stone wanted from her later. Although, she wasn’t likely to come to a different conclusion now than she had earlier.
Which was: she had no clue.
“You grew up together?” Madelyn Black shifted in her seat.
The woman was professional, gorgeous and had a reputation for being the kind of reporter who was fair and ethical. Piper wasn’t completely stupid and had checked before agreeing to speak with her.
“With Blaine or Stone?” Piper asked, stalling for time to get her head back in the game.
The hint of a smile tipped up Madelyn’s plum-colored lips. The dark color suited her skin tone and perfectly matched the tight skirt and blazer she was wearing. Something told Piper that wasn’t accidental. The woman clearly knew how to put pieces together to create a picture. “Both.”
“Yes. I was six when my mother married Blaine’s father.”
“She was a teacher, right?”
“Yes. At the private school Blaine attended.”
“But you didn’t go there?”
“Not until later.”
Madelyn made a humming noise beneath her breath and jotted a note onto the pad of paper in front of her.
“I met Stone soon after moving onto the estate. Our families have always been close.”
/>
“All accounts suggest you and Stone were inseparable as children.”
“I suppose that’s true. Until he graduated high school and left for college, we saw each other daily.”
“That must have been difficult.”
“What?”
“Him leaving you behind.”
Piper shrugged. “That’s life. It was difficult, but also not unexpected. I wanted him to do the things he wanted and live the life he envisioned.”
“Instead he ended up in jail for murdering your stepbrother.”
Madelyn paused, probably in the hopes Piper would make some response. Fill the silence. She could wait a very long time.
“Do you know what the fight was about that night?”
“It was my graduation party. I was a little preoccupied with my friends.”
Another smile played at the corners of the other woman’s lips. Piper expected Madelyn to press, to fling a series of rapid-fire questions at her, hoping to trip her up and get more information. Instead, she seemed to switch tactics.
“Tell me about the photograph.”
Piper swallowed. Beneath the desk, she unfurled the fingers that had folded into cramped knots in her lap.
“A misunderstanding.”
“It always is.” This time Madelyn didn’t bother to hold her reaction back, revealing the bright white smile that had won her hordes of local adoring fans and would catapult her onto the national news scene sooner rather than later.
This coup was going to help her achieve that goal. Which was part of the reason Piper had chosen her. Madelyn Black was hungry...and would hopefully accept the gift she’d been handed wrapped with glittery ribbon.
“Stone and I were...having a conversation.”
“A passionate conversation.”
“You could say that. I was angry with him.”
“Are you still?”
Piper couldn’t stop the short bark of laughter. “Occasionally.” Piper shrugged. “I haven’t seen or spoken to him in ten years. We had a couple things to hash out. The photograph was taken out of context. I realize it looks like we were about to kiss, but we weren’t. We were both angry.”
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