by Ali Parker
Each and every one of them probably wished they were in my shoes right now.
And they were probably as confused and concerned as I was.
What had set her off? What went wrong out on that patio out of earshot and sight? What had Christian said or done to send her running for the hills?
It didn’t matter. Not right now. All that mattered in this moment was getting her away from the prying eyes.
The doors slid open. We stepped on.
As soon as they closed behind us, Piper completely unraveled. She pushed away from me to lean up against the wall and then slid down the length of it to sit on the floor with her knees drawn up to her chest.
And she cried.
She cried like I’d never heard a woman cry before, and for a moment, I stood there like an idiot trying to figure out what the hell I was supposed to do. Maybe I wasn’t the right man to be taking her home. Maybe one of the others would be better in a situation like this.
Someone like Wyatt, who looked like his heart was just as broken as Piper’s when we left.
Fuck me, I thought as I raked my fingers through my hair and dropped to a crouch in front of her. I put a hand on her knee.
“Piper? Please. Tell me what I can do.”
She shook her head but no words came out. Mascara left dark tiny streams down her cheeks in the wake of her tears, and she didn’t bother to wipe them away.
I needed to get her home. Now. Our car wouldn’t be outside, not without any notice, so I was going to need to hail a cab. I gathered her up in my arms once more and held her tightly to me as I stroked her hair. I couldn’t think of anything else to do.
“Piper. I’m going to get you home. Okay? You’re all right. I’ve got you.”
She nodded into my shoulder.
I stood up, bringing her with me. The doors slid open, revealing the lobby which was not as busy as when we’d arrived, thank goodness. In fact, there was hardly anyone left inside. Piper put one foot in front of the other while clinging to my shoulder, and I held her up with an arm around her waist.
We emerged outside in the chilly night air, and I hailed a cab. We slid into the backseat, and I gave the driver my address before Piper slid across the seat and tucked herself back under my arm. I rubbed her shoulder for the whole drive and left my cheek on top of her head while she sniffled and tried to pull herself together.
The driver shot several curious glances into the rearview mirror.
The Laurient rose up to greet us shortly before one in the morning like a beacon of hope. I paid the driver, and Piper and I got out of the cab. She’d stopped crying, but the numbness and detached way she was behaving was almost worse than the tears.
Whatever had happened on that patio had shaken her to her core.
I wondered if I was going to have to drive back over there after she fell asleep to kick Christian’s ass. That was something my younger self would have seen to before leaving the club. But I wanted answers first. Maybe one of the other bachelors had handled things after our departure.
For the first time since Piper’s arrival, she did not stop on the landing in the lobby of The Laurient to admire the Christmas tree. She passed right by it and waited for the elevator to bring us up to my suite. Once we arrived, she kicked off her heels and went straight to the kitchen, where she filled a glass with water from the tap and pounded the entire thing back in five gulps.
I stood at attention by her side. “Do you want to talk about it?”
She braced herself against the counter and hung her head. “I can’t.”
“I need to ask you something.”
“He didn’t hurt me,” she said softly.
“Forgive me. But from where I was standing, it sure as hell looked like he did something to you out there. And if he did, Piper, you can’t defend him. If he—”
“Please,” she whimpered. “Please stop. Christian didn’t hurt me. He said some things I didn’t want to hear. But they weren’t untrue.”
“You can tell me.”
“No. No, I can’t.”
That hurt like a kick in the gut from her high heels.
Piper drew a shaky breath and straightened up. She proceeded to fill another glass with water and swallowed that one back too. Then she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and let out a tired sigh. “I knew tonight would be a mess.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I wandered away from the drama with Christian. “Did it at least help to see the others? You were able to talk to everyone, right?”
She turned toward me. Her eyes were glassy again. “Almost everyone.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Then I’m sorry I can’t take this pain away.”
She gave me what might have been an attempt at a smile. Then she hung her head and crumpled again. Her shoulders shook with silent sobs, and I reached out to her. She stepped into my embrace willingly.
“Come up to bed,” I said. “You’ll feel better once you get some rest.”
She nodded against my chest.
I scooped her up. Piper didn’t protest, and I carried her through the living room and up the stairs to my bedroom. I could tell she’d had a bit too much wine as she struggled with the zipper up the side of her red gown. She let out a frustrated whimper and hung her head back, tilting her face toward the ceiling and closing her eyes.
“Let me help you,” I said.
She let me undo her zipper. She wasn’t wearing a bra underneath, and my knuckles trailed down the length of her milky skin from the top of her ribs down to her right hip.
I grabbed her one of my T-shirts from my drawer and held it out to her. I turned my back while she stepped out of the dress and put my shirt on and gave me the okay.
She looked good in my shirt. Almost better than she had in the dress. I wanted to tell her so, but I had a feeling now was not the right time. I pulled back the covers instead and then pulled them back over her once she got comfortable.
I kissed the top of her head. “You’ll feel better in the morning.”
“Where are you going?”
“I was going to call the club.”
“No,” she said, propping herself up on one elbow. “I don’t need you to fight my battles for me, Camden. Please. Stay with me. I don’t want to be alone.”
She didn’t need to ask twice.
I changed into a loose shirt and a pair of sweats before sliding into bed beside her and wrapping her up in my arms. She drew her knees up and fit against me perfectly.
I held her tighter when she started crying again, and I kissed her shoulder. I didn’t let go until she fell asleep. And even then, I held on until sleep took me too.
Chapter 21
Piper
Camden deserved better than what he got out of me for the week following the Casanova Christmas party.
It was like he and I had done a complete role reversal.
Where he was withdrawn and closed off at the beginning of the month, he was now open and willing to do anything that would help mend my spirit, and I was the one shutting down. The walls were no longer closing in. They’d closed. The jig was up.
I was a terrible human being. A fraud.
And there was no telling what happened at the party after Camden and I left. Maybe Christian told all the men what he and I had talked about on the patio. Maybe the men had forced it out of him.
Over and over, I found myself thinking about their faces when they learned the truth.
Wyatt’s face.
The only man I hadn’t gotten around to sitting down with and the only man who’d been there when things went south.
Not even Christmas music brought me out of my slump leading up to my favorite holiday. Camden tried his best to heal me with his humor and affection, but nothing seemed to work. And when Christmas Eve rolled around, I found myself sitting on his living room floor in a sea of wrapping paper and ribbon. We sipped hot cider while we wrapped gifts. Camden helped m
e wrap for my family, who I would bring all their presents back to when I left on the twenty-eighth. The tree was lit, the fire was burning, and I had every reason in the world to be happy.
But happiness seemed like such a luxury now, a luxury I would not have for a long time to come.
Camden wasn’t very good at wrapping, and teaching him offered a good distraction from my torrent of self-loathing thoughts.
“You should only need to use three pieces of tape,” I told him as I folded the edges of red and green plaid paper at the ends of a gift box. I showed him what I meant before wrapping a sparkly gold ribbon around the package and securing it in a pretty bow. “See?”
“You could do this for a living,” Camden teased.
“I don’t think there’s much money in gift wrapping.”
He nodded.
I sighed. “Sorry.”
“For what?”
“I’m just… I’m easily irritable after the party.”
“You’re beating yourself up.”
I chewed the inside of my cheek.
Camden set his present aside after slapping a gift tag onto it. “I know I’ve said it a thousand times, but if you change your mind and you want to talk about the party, I’m here to listen. Okay?”
“I know. Thank you.”
“And if I can do anything to help, I will.”
“I know.”
Camden shifted backward to lean against the front of the sofa while I moved on to tackle the next gift, a robe for my father. He watched me neatly fold the plush navy-blue fabric, using the sash to secure it in place before tucking it neatly into a wide box lined in Santa-printed tissue paper.
Once I taped the lid down, I sat back on my heels. My stomach growled obnoxiously, and I placed a hand over it while wincing at Camden.
He chuckled. “Food should be here soon.”
He’d ordered his annual Christmas Eve dinner: Chinese food. I’d never had anything other than appetizers on Christmas Eve, which was my family’s tradition. While we wrapped last-minute gifts and stuffed each other’s stockings, we’d munch on a delicious spread of goodies we only ever indulged in during the holidays: hickory-smoked honey sausage, brie cheese smothered in cranberry chutney and baked with sugar-coated pecans, decadent crispy crackers, and other little sides we liked.
We’d wrap gifts well past midnight, taking our time and enjoying each other’s company. In my family, that was what it was all about. Quality time. Gratitude. The knowledge that we were all together and all healthy and very, very blessed.
But I didn’t feel blessed right now. I felt trapped. And unworthy.
“You’d better make sure all your wrapping is done before dinner arrives,” Camden said when he caught me staring off into space for the fifth or so time that evening.
I blinked. “Why?”
“Trust me. You’ll be glad you’re finished.”
I arched an eyebrow suspiciously at him. “Do you have something up your sleeve?”
“Perhaps. But I’m not telling you. And we have more wrapping to do in fifteen minutes. Think you can handle it?”
“I’m a wrapping master,” I said.
“Then let’s see it.”
I rose to Camden’s challenge and made it through my last three gifts in less than fifteen minutes. My pile of neatly wrapped parcels was moved under the Christmas tree and arranged on top of the tree skirt. Camden placed his there as well, and we both stood back to admire the final look before getting two bags and separating our recycling from our garbage. Camden moved both bags into the closet near the elevator. As he was closing the door, the buzzer rang from the front desk.
Camden pushed the button on the wall and spoke into the speaker. “Yes, Daniel?”
Daniel’s voice flooded the entranceway. “Your guests are here, Mr. Wood. Shall I send them up?”
“Yes, please.”
Camden turned toward me with a cocky little smirk.
“What guests?” I asked. I looked down at myself. I was wearing leggings and a red Christmas sweater with a pair of snowflake earrings. “I’m not fit for you to have people over. Delay them. I’ll go upstairs and change into something more appropriate.”
“Piper,” he said, catching my hand before I had time to flee up the stairs. “Trust me. You’re not going to need anything fancy. This is a comfortable evening.”
“Did you invite Bradley and his family or something?”
“No,” he said, his sapphire eyes glittering with mischief. “Not Bradley’s family.”
“Who then?”
“You’ll see.”
“I don’t think I can handle any more surprises this year.”
“You’ll like this one. I promise.”
“Camden, I swear to God, if you don’t tell me—”
“You’ll what?” he asked, cocking his head to the side and blinking innocently at me.
I frowned. “Well, I don’t know.”
Chuckling, he came to me and put his hands on my shoulders. “Look. I know you’ve had a rough week. And I’ve tried to help. But I realized you needed something I don’t have. But I could bring it to you. Merry Christmas, Piper.”
My lips parted to ask him what he was talking about, but at that very moment, the elevator doors slid open. The music in the speakers rolled over to a Michael Bublé Christmas tune, and my eyes widened as Camden’s surprise stepped out of the elevator.
My family.
My father shook Camden’s hand in greeting while my mother crossed the landing and hurried down the steps to meet me in the living room, where she threw her arms around me in a hug. “Merry Christmas, Piper.”
I didn’t want to cry, but I couldn’t help the surge of emotion that rolled through me, pushing a happy sob from my throat. I clung to my mother and buried my face in her old wool winter coat that smelled like her moringa perfume and cinnamon spice. She pulled away and held my face in her hands. I only had eyes for her and was oblivious to the laughter and greetings happening up on the landing as she looked into my eyes.
“Camden said you were having a bit of a rough week. I’m sorry, baby. I know this has been hard on you. But we’re all together now. And this will be a wonderful Christmas. Right?”
I nodded through my tears. She wiped them away for me. “I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too, sweetheart.”
My brother pried my mother away from me and pulled me in for a rough side hug, messing up my hair in the process. “Merry Christmas, Pipes. Look alive.”
I pushed him away as my tears gave way to joyous laughter. My father came in for his hug next and kissed the top of my head. “Merry Christmas, baby girl.”
“Merry Christmas, Daddy.”
And there, up on the landing, standing beside Camden with her arms loaded down with gifts, was Janie.
She gave me a big goofy grin. “Hey, Pipes. Can I get a hand with this shit or what?”
Everyone laughed. Camden helped unburden her, and we brought all the parcels into the living room to tuck under the tree amongst all the other gifts. Camden saw to pouring everyone drinks and told them all to indulge. He’d be arranging for a luxury car to get them all home safely, or if they preferred, they could stay the night.
I sipped wine with Janie, who gushed about how beautiful Camden’s suite was and how happy she was to be here, and Camden and my father and brother talked in the kitchen while sipping the most expensive bourbon I imagined ever graced either of their lips. My mother stood at the window overlooking the city lights down below.
I put a hand on Janie’s back. “Give me a minute?”
She nodded. “Go ahead. I’m going to go get me some of that expensive liquor.”
Janie moved into the kitchen while I stepped up beside my mother. She let out a contented sigh and gazed at me. “How are you holding up, Piper?”
I shrugged. “It’s been hard. But it’s almost over. And I can see the finish line.”
“You know,” she said softly, looking over he
r shoulder to make sure she couldn’t be overheard. “This doesn’t have to end the way you’ve seen it all year. This doesn’t have to be about the money. About me and your father and your brother. I think… I think it’s unfair of your father and me to let you bail us out of a mess we put ourselves in.”
“Mom,” I said sharply. “No. I have to do this. It doesn’t matter how we got here. What matters is that I’ll have the solution to all our problems in my hands in one week. And all of this will have meant something.”
“It would mean something no matter what, Piper. Look at the life you could have.” My mother turned back toward the window. The lights of the city reflected in her dark brown eyes, and a smile curled the corners of her lips. “This is what a mother wants for her daughter. I don’t want you to forsake love because of us. I don’t want you to lose out on a man like Camden for money.”
“This is my choice to make. Mine. And I will do what I think is right. Okay?”
My mother searched my eyes as her smile faded. “Okay. But please know this, Piper. Your father and I want you to choose happiness. We want you to make your decision without us as a factor. Please. Promise me you’ll do that?”
Chapter 22
Camden
Piper was Piper again.
Just like that.
She was radiant and bright and full of life as she flitted through my home to refill drinks, share appetizers, and talk with her family. I played host and made sure everyone was comfortable until the food arrived, at which point Piper and I had a moment alone together while we set everything out on my counter and her family admired our Christmas tree.
She put her hand on my wrist as I took lids of takeout boxes of ginger beef and chop suey. “Camden. This means so much to me. Thank you.”
“I couldn’t keep you and your family apart for Christmas. Not when they live so close. And you deserved a break from all this Casanova shit.”
She smiled and stretched to the tips of her toes. Her lips grazed mine, and she cupped my cheek before pulling away and bowing her head to press her forehead to mine.
