As I sat there in front of him now, I thought I could still feel the fleeting touch of his fingers on my skin, and on my belly.
I shifted in my seat and found that Cliff was staring at me.
“Are you ever going to tell me why you broke up with me?” I asked him, ripping through the awkward silence between us.
“I’m sorry, Piper, I don’t think I can,” he told me.
I gulped, my throat had gone dry. I was hoping that at the very least, this meeting would give me some sort of closure. I needed to know what happened. What did I do to drive him away so suddenly? For those four months, I thought I was the only girl on Earth for him. How had he so quickly changed his mind?
“Why not? Don’t you think I deserve to know?” I snapped at him.
“Does it matter now, Piper? It’s been such a long time. You said it yourself. You’ve moved on. Why do we need to bring that up again?”
“Then what do you want to talk about?” I snapped at him again.
“Why don’t you start by telling me why you’re still working for that brute of a man!”
“Chef Morris?” I asked, crossing my brows.
“Sure, if that’s what his name is. I saw him in action last night. I saw the way he talks to you and the rest of the staff. He doesn’t deserve you,” Cliff explained his point of view.
I sighed, rolling my glass of cocktail around between my hands. He was the last person I thought I’d be discussing my grievances with. But he was here, and he seemed interested.
“Privy is an excellent restaurant. I’m blessed to have this opportunity to work under Chef Morris. My experience here is going to add so much to my CV,” I said, but Cliff shook his head.
“You sound like you’ve been brainwashed,” he stated.
“Okay, Cliff, I’ll bite. What do you think I should do?” I asked, smiling at him.
“What happened to your goal of buying that property you always wanted?” he said. I looked away from him, licking my lips nervously. I didn’t need another reminder of how big of a failure my life had been.
“I don’t have the money for it, if you want to know the truth, Cliff. I haven’t been able to save enough. The more time goes by, the worse the property’s condition gets and the more money I’ll eventually need,” I replied.
He was looking at me intently.
He had the money. Was he going to offer it to me? That was the last thing I needed. I was going to refuse his money and walk out of this place if that was what he did.
But he didn’t. He clenched his jaw and nodded.
“That is a shame because I’m sure you would do an excellent job of it, Piper.”
I nodded and smiled forcibly at him.
“It’s fine. I’m over it. Things happen, dreams change. Right now, I’m just focused on staying put at Privy long enough so that when I switch jobs, I can find an even better position,” I explained.
He was still staring. Behind those eyes, I could tell he was considering options for me. He wanted to help and to come up with a solution, but I didn’t need his help. I didn’t want him to feel like he owed me something.
“I can see you’ve done very well for yourself,” I remarked, trying to change the subject. “What is it that you do exactly?”
“I invest in small businesses, usually local. I work with the people involved to help their business grow. When they make money, which they always do, I make money too,” he explained.
“That sounds noble!” I exclaimed, and we smiled at each other.
“I’m sorry about Michael from the other night. I want you to know that he’s not a friend and I won’t be working with him. He was pissed off with me and was taking his anger out on you. There was nothing wrong with the food,” Cliff said.
“You don’t need you to explain yourself to me. You also didn't have to stand up for me. I was handling it myself,” I replied, and he narrowed his eyes.
“Don’t worry, Piper. I know you can handle yourself just fine.”
His gaze was intense and meaningful. When he looked at me like that, I was reminded of the way he looked at me the first night that he removed all my clothes.
I never wanted anyone the way I wanted him, and things had not changed much in that department since.
“I am truly sorry, Piper, for everything I did,” Cliff said then. My throat was dry. I tried gulping, but that didn’t help.
“You’ve apologized already,” I said. He leaned over the table, trying to catch my eyes again.
“But I want you to know that if I could do things differently, I would. I don’t expect your forgiveness, but I want you to believe me.”
I couldn’t help but stare back at him. Did I believe him? Did he really do what he thought was best? No. Nothing would have made me happier than being with him.
“You don’t have to keep apologizing to me, Cliff. I’ve forgotten about it. It was a long time ago. We were just kids,” I said.
He took a sip of his drink, but his eyes never left me. My gaze dropped to his chest, and down his muscular arms to his big strong hands. I was picturing him touching me again. He had a rough but gentle touch. He saw me looking, and put down his glass on the table.
“You may have forgotten it, Piper, but I haven’t. I still think about you often,” he said.
His green eyes were dark and on fire, just like my body was. Was he just saying it? I couldn’t imagine him thinking about me in the midst of the life he now led.
“I’m flattered, I guess,” I told him. His gaze drifted down to my breasts, where my cleavage spilled out from my dress. I could see it in his eyes that he wanted me. I wanted him too. He had to have known that.
I couldn’t think of one kind of woman who would not find this man appealing.
“You should be because you still are the most beautiful creature on Earth,” he continued.
This was too much. Now he was just saying things because he could see I was blushing. I looked away from him, gulping down my drink as quickly as I could.
“I think you should stop talking, Cliff,” I told him.
“Okay, then what would you like me to do?” he asked.
I faced him again, with determination in my eyes. I wanted him to see that I knew what I was saying. I wasn’t drunk or being silly.
“I want you to take me home,” I said.
Cliff’s eyes grew larger as he leaned back in his chair in disbelief.
“Piper…” he began to say. I knew he was going to protest.
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” I snapped.
“Piper, you have no idea how badly I want to take you home right now, but…”
“But what?”
“But our history!”
“Exactly, it’s history. It’s in the past. Don’t tell me you don’t indulge yourself in one night stands!”
Cliff clenched his jaws, his face darkened as he stared at me. Then he stood up and extended his hand to me. I took it, standing up as well. I knew I was digging my own grave. There was no turning back from this. But I wanted nothing more right now than to be in his arms again.
“You are an extraordinary woman, Piper Cohen,” he whispered in my ear as he led me out of the bar.
* * *
Cliff’s house was beautiful and big, but I didn’t have the time to notice its decor or splendor because he was leading me to his bedroom.
He walked ahead of me while slipping off his jacket. I took off my shoes. My heart was racing. Never in a million years would I have imagined this happening again, like this.
We spoke all the way here. I felt like we were connecting. It was as if almost no time had passed. I shuddered as I entered his room, deliciously anticipating seeing him naked again.
Cliff came closer to me, to shut the door behind me but he kept his hand steadily on the door, over my shoulder. Our lips grazed, and I felt his hot breath fall on my face.
The kiss seemed to happen out of nowhere. Within moments his tongue was down
my throat, and I weaved my fingers in his hair. I pressed myself toward him as he encircled an arm around me. Our kiss was hungry and wild. I could feel my lips throbbing from the pressure and roughness.
When he pulled his mouth away from me, I was panting.
“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to do that,” he grunted. I watched as he got down on his knees in front of me.
He slid my dress down, revealing my nakedness. His hands were on my panties, rolling those down my thighs too. Before I could even react, his mouth found my pussy. My hot throbbing wet pussy and he slid his tongue in.
It was happening so fast, I barely had time to think. All I could do was revel in the rapturous pleasure of his mouth on my pussy. His tongue slid in and out of me, he was lapping up my juices, pleasuring me with each stroke.
I clutched his hair, twisting it in my hands, holding on to him for support. I was on my toes, with my head thrown back, knocking against the bedroom door. He reached his hands up, traveling over my belly until he was cupping my breasts. He found my pebbled nipples through the lace of my bra, and he flicked them.
My clit was swollen with desire. My pussy throbbed and ached for his cock, while he stroked my folds with his tongue. He was slowly pushing me to the edge of reason. I knew I was going to come.
Just when I was about to, he slipped his tongue out of me and started to stand up.
“I want to be inside you, Piper,” he growled. I rolled my hips, watching him from under my heavy lids. He slid his belt off and pushed down his pants, undid his shirt and threw that off too. Within moments, Cliff was standing naked in front of me in all his glory.
He stroked his big throbbing cock as I smiled. I wanted to tell him I missed him, but that would be a mistake.
He stepped up to me again. This time, he lifted me up in his arms. I threw my legs around his hips, trapping him between my thighs. My arms were around his neck. He pushed me back against the door again.
“You are so beautiful, Piper,” he said, in a low growl. He kissed my chin and my neck.
I could feel his growing cock between his legs, inching closer and closer to my pussy. I felt like I would explode if he didn’t enter me now.
Holding me up like that, with my legs around him, he thrust himself into me. I gasped and dug my nails in his back.
Nothing could ever feel better than having Cliff inside me.
He filled me up with his big cock, stroking me right where I needed to be touched inside. Then he started bouncing me in his arms, thrusting his cock deep in and then sliding it out.
I cried out with pleasure as he pounded me.
He was big and strong. He held me in his arms and thrust into me like I was no weight at all. I could feel the length of his cock sliding deep inside, filling me up and then pulling out.
In and out.
Our bodies crashed together. My breasts bounced in front of his face, and he didn’t slow down or stop.
I was on the edge again. A few more moments and…
I came. My toes curled. I held on to him for dear life while my juices flooded down my thighs. Cliff grunted. His body jerked and I knew he was coming too.
I could feel him shooting his seed in me. Filling me up with his sticky cum. Nothing was more fulfilling than knowing that I had a part of Cliff inside me. I could feel myself warming, and glowing. An irresistible laugh rose up in my throat. This was beautiful.
When my orgasm finally started to subside, I stared into his eyes. He slowed his pace but was still sliding himself in and out of me.
Cliff’s face had darkened, his neck had grown reddish from the exertion. But he still wasn’t tired. His grip on me hadn’t slacked.
I took a moment to feel his strong body against me. I admired the bulge of his biceps, the rock-solid touch of his shoulders and his chest against my breasts.
This moment wasn’t going to last forever.
Cliff clenched his jaws and then slowly, started sliding his cock out of me. I felt an emptiness, a void when he was leaving me.
What had I done? Why did I ask him to bring me here?
How was I ever going to get over him now?
He released his hold on me, and I swung my legs down to the ground and straightened up.
Cliff staggered away from me like he desperately needed to put some distance between us.
This wasn’t a night I’d be forgetting quickly.
Chapter 10
Cliff
Piper dressed quickly, and I pulled up my pants. I could sense that she was getting restless to leave. I didn’t want her to leave. I didn’t want her going anywhere.
This was not what I expected from this night, but now that I tasted her again, I couldn’t just let her go.
I watched her as she ran a hand through her silky blond hair. She was avoiding my eyes.
“Do you want a drink?” I asked. She shook her head.
“No, thanks, I should be going,” she said.
How could I make her stay?
I could tell her the truth about why I broke up with her. I had a feeling that would make her stay, at least for a while. But that would only be a temporary sort of pleasure because after she knew the truth, she would understand why we could never be together.
“Do you want to talk?” I said, and she finally looked up at me.
“Do you have something to tell me?”
I kept my lips pursed together. I knew what she was hinting at. She wanted me to tell her the truth.
“I didn’t intend on this happening tonight, Piper. You should know that” I said to her instead.
She held her chin up proudly.
“Yes, Cliff, I believe you. Tonight was supposed to be an apology and an attempt at mending old wounds. But the truth is that it can never happen because you won’t tell me why you did it,” she spoke with a calmness in her voice.
I wanted to tell her how much I still loved her, and how it ached me to be inside her knowing that I couldn’t have her.
“And I think I know what the truth is. It is that you didn’t really have a good reason at all. You broke up with me because you didn’t want me. You thought we were headed towards making a commitment you wouldn’t be able to keep. You were hiding your Harvard admission from me, and when you got that, you wanted to break away and live your life.”
While she spoke, she collected her purse and stepped out of the room to put on her shoes.
I followed her down the hall, unable to protest. What was I supposed to say? It was probably for the best that she leave if she hated me, and thought those things about me.
She refused to look at me again as she stormed to the front door.
“I’m glad you broke up with me, Cliff,” she snapped, pulling open the door. “You did me a huge favor.”
She shut the door on my face, pulling it behind her.
I felt tempted to follow her or to say something but that would be useless. If I wasn’t prepared to tell her the truth, then I didn’t deserve to chase after her either.
Chapter 11
Piper
I was furious with myself, shaking with rage when I returned home that night.
I ran from Cliff’s house and kept running until I was able to hail down a cab that brought me back to my apartment. When I agreed to meet him for a drink and dinner, having sex with him was out of the question.
Yet, I couldn’t blame him for what happened tonight. I was the one who instigated it. I was the one who told him to take me home.
Now I knew I had made the biggest mistake of my life.
In my apartment, I turned off all the lights. I couldn’t bear to look at my things, my life or my face. I steered clear of all the mirrors. I didn’t have the energy or the interest to change. I thought I could still smell his cologne on my clothes and it made me want to cry.
Why did I do it? It would have been so simple just to have a drink and leave, and hope that he never hunted me down again. Instead, I slept with him. I could still feel him inside me. If
ten years wasn’t enough time to be rid of that feeling of desire for him, what was tonight going to do to me?
Another ten years of languishing and pining for him?
I needed to speak to someone. The only person I could think of calling was my sister, Lily.
She answered the phone after several rings, and from her voice, I could sense she was sleeping.
“Sorry, did I wake the baby?” I asked her, sitting down cross-legged on the rug in my small living room.
“No, he sleeps like a log. Brian woke up though and mumbled something. It’s fine, what’s up? I’m in the kitchen now,” Lily said.
My sister was four years older than me, and very well settled in her life. She always wanted different things than me. The fact that she never moved out of our little town didn’t seem to bother her. She and Brian had been dating since high school, and now they were married and had a baby together. She was happy, and I was so happy for her.
“I have to tell you something,” I told her. She must have guessed it was something serious, from the tone of my voice.
“What’s going on, Piper? Did something happen?” she asked.
“I met Cliff. Cliff Evans.”
Lily was silent for a few moments, then I heard her sigh.
“When you moved to Boston again, I always thought there would be a chance that you would bump into him. He runs an investment firm there. He’s doing quite well, isn’t he?” Lily spoke calmly.
“Yes, he’s doing more than well,” I said.
“I think he’s a millionaire now!” Lily added. “Who would have thought? Cliff Evans with his long hair and tattoos, in his leather jackets!”
She added a small nervous laugh, but I wasn’t laughing. I knew Lily always had solid opinions about him when we were dating, but I didn’t think she would still say it.
“You were always wrong about him, Lily,” I snapped at her as she fell silent again.
“Maybe I was, but how did it go?” she asked finally. I pressed my eyes closed. I could not have told her. I could have kept the crucial bit hidden from her, but then, I told my sister everything.
Daddy CEO: A BILLIONAIRE SECOND CHANCE BABY ROMANCE Page 4
