Piper handed me the dress with one hand and the makeup bag with the other. I grabbed them and Max stood up, narrowing his eyes, pretending to scrutinize her.
“So, why did you choose the Greek goddess of flowers? That’s not something I would’ve pegged you choosing,” he asked, widening his stance and crossing his arms in front of his broad chest.
Keeping one eye on their exchange, I threaded my needle and began sewing the beads and rhinestones into the center of the flowers. It was a costume she had designed and we had taken turns sewing together, or rather, I had used the costume as an opportunity to teach her how to sew. Now hearing his question and examining the flowing taffeta with the myriad of fabric flowers sewn on, I was wondering why I didn’t think to ask the same thing.
She mimicked his stance, down to the raised eyebrow, minus the bisecting scar. “Oh so I see,” she answered. “It’s all right for me to a tomboy, but the minute I’m into something girly, you get all weirded out by it? Not very evolved, Dad.”
He pressed his lips together and he was probably biting his tongue at the same time—if I had to guess. “You got me wrong there, Pipe. Nothin’ wrong with embracing your feminine side. Just curious why this particular goddess.”
“Well, I do love flowers. They’re beautiful and most of them smell awesome and the bees need them and we, like really need the bees these days. They’re dying by the millions and no one knows why, did you know that?”
“Yeah, I heard about that,” he replied, the corners of his eyes wrinkling as he beamed at her. “You’re costume’s perfect. Suits you.”
“Really?” she asked.
He swallowed and stared at her for a beat or two before answering. “You came back into my life over a year ago. It was early April, springtime. I remember thinking I was glad you had come when I could show you around DC at her prettiest, with the cherry blossoms in full bloom. Your mom didn’t have much time left and I wanted you to feel as good as you could, given the circumstances, ’bout being here with me. For some reason, I thought everything being all colorful and full of life would help.
“When you came into my life, I finally understood what it meant to enjoy a perpetual spring. That’s what you are for me, Pipe. Can’t even imagine my life without you in it.”
“I know. It would really suck for you, like Christmas without presents,” she joked, all the while trying to prevent the tears rimming her eyes from falling. I refocused on my sewing, trying to give the two of them some privacy, even though I was sitting right there. I was also attempting to rein in my own tidal wave of emotions over hearing my man not only give his girl the love and adulation she—and every little girl—craved from her daddy but also seamlessly paraphrased Ovid, the Roman poet. I couldn’t help but get a geek-girl head-swoon from such an arcane reference.
He went over and gave Piper one of his tight bear hugs and subsequent headlock, copiously dispensing a series of noogies. That is, until there was a knock at the front door. I looked at my watch: it was only 3:30 p.m.
“It’s too early for trick-or-treaters.” I started to get up.
“Sit babe,” he gently instructed while walking over to the door. “I’ve got it.”
There were Kyle and my sister at the doorway. She had a shiny silver tackle box in one hand and a bottle of Macallan Rare Cask Scotch whisky in the other. Kyle had a potted purple hyacinth cradled in the crook of his arm and the minute I saw it, I busted out laughing. Purple hyacinth was a flower traditionally used to express an apology, one Sam and I had seen our father employ more times than we could count through the years with our mother. In fact, there was a wall of them planted along the wooden fence in our backyard, which Dad often referred to, with a bashful grin, as the “wall of shame”.
“Does that mean we can come in?” Samantha sheepishly asked.
I put my sewing down and stood up. “That is a question you should never even think to ask. This is, and will always be, your home too.”
“I don’t deserve you, you know,” she replied while taking in a deep inhale, as if she hadn’t been breathing the whole time. Max shut the door with a thud, startling my sister, making her jump. She looked up at him, handing him the bottle.
“I know this can’t even begin to mend the rift I made between us, but I’m hoping it’s a start,” she said. He took it from her and placed it on the small table in the foyer, not bothering to acknowledge it beyond that. He crossed his arms in front of him and arched an eyebrow at her, a silent cue for her to continue.
She bowed her head, her gorgeous auburn hair falling forward. I wanted to run over to her, wrap my arms around her shoulders, and tell her it was okay. All was forgiven. But I knew this was between them and not to interfere.
“All right, Max, no bullshit.” She ran her fingers through her mane of hair, pulling it away from her face, finally meeting his eye. “I didn’t think you were good enough for her. Okay? I always pictured my sister with a professor or an architect, an intellectual of some sort. Not someone covered in motorcycle grease and tats, who didn’t finish college. The irony isn’t lost on me that you’re probably ten times more brilliant than any uptight Ivy Leaguer I could have set her up with.” She folded her arms across her chest while Kyle put the plant down and placed his hands on her shoulders, giving them an encouraging squeeze.
“I judged you based on shit that doesn’t matter. The more I let that sink in, the more upset with myself I get.” Her eyes locked on mine, communicating everything she was saying out loud and more, then back to him again. “I don’t have the kind of faith Jess has, like our dad had, but he would roll in his grave seeing how I acted toward you and the reasons why. I hope—I hope you can forgive me.”
His gaze penetrated hers, while waiting a few beats, and I felt my heart beating in my throat all the while.
“She’s the only blood you’ve got left, and she means everything to you,” he said, not losing any of his intensity. I swallowed and reminded myself to breathe while he kept talking. “Jessica’s too good for me and I know it. But she’s mine now. As long as you remember that, we’re good.”
“I think that would be a hard one to forget.”
That’s right when I started crying, bathed in such relief that the two people I loved more than anything were finally mended. I wiped my tears away as the rest of them laughed at me.
“Get used to this, Max,” my sister counseled. “Jess is a big ol’ sap.”
I probably shouldn’t have been as tense as I was. I should’ve trusted that my sister would find her way to the right side of her fear and my man wouldn’t make her work for it.
“So, we can move past this shit now?” Max asked Samantha.
She vigorously nodded. “Absolutely,” she said and then turned to all of us. “In fact, I brought something to take our minds off all these deep feelings and onto the fun.” She lifted the silver box. “Halloween makeup!”
“Ohmigod, are you serious right now?” Piper squealed, racing over to Sam and practically barreling her over. “Is that full of makeup? Can I see it? Can I touch it?”
I immediately made room for my sister’s stuff and she opened the box with its multileveled, terraced shelves, all filled to the brim with a rainbow of colors. Piper’s eyes went wide.
“This is all yours?”
“Sure is.” My sister laid out all her brushes and powders and creams. “When I decided to make acting my life, I became obsessed with every aspect of the theater world. One of my favorites has always been hair and makeup, so I learned how. Here, have a seat, sweetie,” she said while patting the back of the chair. Piper sat down, gawking up at Samantha, completely starstruck, not that I was surprised. Samantha had always had that effect on people.
“Do you want me to apply your makeup so you look like a living flower? Or are you more interested in a—” she raised her chin and gave us her best queen wave, “—‘goddess amongs
t us’ look?”
Piper let out a cackle. “You’re funny, Aunt Samantha. I want to look like a goddess, like you.”
Now it was my sister’s turn to appear gobsmacked, and I knew the impromptu “aunt” label had thrown her, but to her credit, she schooled her expression and rolled with it, eyeballing the three of us.
“Okay then, gorgeous goddess of the flowers it is.” She got busy applying a beautiful array of pinks and peaches with touches of iridescent shimmers.
“Can I get you a beer or something else to drink, Kyle?” I offered.
He gave a chin lift. “Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks.”
I walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge, going to the corner of the bottom shelf where I kept all the beer brands Max and others liked. I grabbed a Blue Moon for Kyle, twisting off the cap and reaching for a beer mug, but he gingerly took it from my hand before I had the chance.
“No need, Jess. The bottle’s fine.”
Max sauntered in and I automatically grabbed him an Alpine Bad Boy. Supposedly it was a really good beer, but to me, it all tasted like horse pee, so what did I know.
“Thanks, babe.” He threw his arm casually around my shoulder and I molded myself into him, fitting perfectly to his side. I felt him press his lips onto the top of my head.
“Are we good, man?” Kyle asked.
“There wasn’t a time we weren’t good,” Max answered without hesitation. “Samantha’s your woman and you backed her the way you’re supposed to.”
The muscles in Kyle’s jaw ticked, and he took a swig from his bottle. Words I thought would comfort him only seemed to agitate him further.
“Hey, man, I knew she would come around eventually. She’s a stubborn li’l thing and I’m bettin’ her warming up to the idea of me for Jess so fast had something to do with you.”
Kyle rubbed the back of his neck while expelling out a harsh breath. “If it’s any consolation, Sam doesn’t thinks anyone is good enough for her sister and she went ballistic on me after what went down with Pierce.” His eyes shot in my direction. “Real sorry ’bout that, Jess. If I had known he’d be such an ass, I would’ve never put you—”
I reached out and touched his arm, interrupting him. “Kyle, you haven’t even married my sister yet and you’re already my brother, which means you don’t have to explain yourself. Okay? I know you’d cut off your own arm before letting anything hurt me.”
“Jess! Kyle! She’s done!” Samantha called out from the other room.
We came in to find Piper looking like something out of a Disney fairy tale. Not only had Samantha done her makeup, but somehow she’d teased and curled and sprayed her shots of white blonde into something resembling actual princess hair.
“You look beautiful, darlin’,” Max said, his voice getting hoarse. “I can’t get over how grownup you look.”
“I know,” she said in a singsong voice, twirling back and forth so her skirt made a swooshing sound. “Now can we please go? I don’t want to be late!”
“Yeah, baby, let’s go.” Max grabbed his keys.
“Actually, Daddy…” Piper replied while tucking her hand in my sister’s. “Aunt Sam offered to take me to the party. Is it all right if I have her and Uncle Kyle go with me instead?”
“Really?” I asked, totally surprised. My sister certainly had charm and sass enough for any demographic, but I couldn’t picture her wanting to spend her evening with a roomful of ten-year-olds.
“Yes, really. Besides, if I’m going to be called ‘Aunt Sam’, I’m thinking I should earn the title. Don’t you agree?”
“Um, I guess so…Max?”
“Oh please, can they?” Piper pleaded.
“Yeah, it’s cool. Just don’t take advantage and drag ’em ’round the neighborhood past eight thirty,” he answered.
“Okay, bye!” she called out, practically dragging my sister by the hand out the door. Kyle followed behind, laughing to himself.
Locking the door behind them, I felt Max’s warmth envelop me from behind, his large hands snaking around my middle and pulling my back to his front.
“Looks like we’ve got some time alone,” I said as I felt his lips brush back and forth along the nape of my neck.
“Mmm,” he rumbled into my skin, vibrating straight to my core. “Means you’ve got a choice.”
“I do? What kind of choice?”
“Door number one or door number two?”
I giggled, both from my spiking excitement and nervousness. Max and I were new, really new, but every time we were together, he pushed the sexual boundary a little further. His hands shimmied upward and were now cupping my breasts. I was wearing a blouse with a threadbare bra underneath, so when he pinched my nipples between his thumbs and forefingers, I felt the effects as if he were touching my bare skin.
“Do I get any hints what’s behind each one?”
He pushed my body against the front door and ground his impressive length along the seam of my bottom. I let out a sound between a cry and a moan.
“Me,” he growled as he started to suck on my earlobe. “You get me and that’s the only hint you’re gonna get, baby.”
I ran the tip of my tongue along my top lip, already panting. “I think I like surprises, so you pick. Do whatever you want to me, Max.”
His mouth was still on my skin: by my ear, along the curve of my neck, tickling right along my hairline. He pushed away from the door. I could hear him walking across the room and I turned around. He was no longer the good father or the guy who was being nice to my pain-in-the-butt sister. Max was this feral thing, like a wild animal.
“Take off your clothes, every piece, right where you are, and then crawl over to me. And you’re to look at me the whole time.”
I was already breathing hard and I hadn’t done anything yet, but I knew why. It was because he owned me. All of me. My heart. My brain. My body. As I began to unbutton my blouse and toe off my shoes, I knew whatever he asked of me, I would do it.
Anything.
Chapter Nine
Several hours later
My sister leaned in, her shoulder bumping against mine, her voice barely above a whisper. “You may want to fix that.”
I raised my brows. “Fix what?”
She eyed my blouse. “That.”
I glanced down and that’s when I saw what she meant: my buttons weren’t lined up right. I felt the hot blush hit my cheeks as I surreptitiously pivoted my torso while I fixed them.
“Glad you made good use of the time alone.”
I cleared my throat. “Yeah, um…we managed to pass the time.”
Flashes of the last three hours played in my mind: Max binding my wrists to the outside of the canopy poles of my bed, then blindfolding me. Remembering how he placed my feet in some ridiculously high heels I could barely balance in, ones that made my body naturally arch for him as he moved my shoulders forward with my bottom out, legs spread.
That’s when the glory began as he worked my body. I got his tongue and his teeth, the slap of his hand and the sting of his belt, all while he toyed with my clit and both my entrances until I was keening, begging him to fill me.
And he did. When he took off my blindfold and showed me the lube he brought, I knew he was silently asking for all of me. And I gave it to him.
As rough as he could be while eating me out or sinking into my pussy, he was just as careful and considerate when taking me from behind. He took his time. It was unlike anything I had every experienced and I couldn’t wait to do it again.
Samantha let out a sound between a snort and a laugh. “From that faraway, satisfied smile on your face, I’d say you did better than just ‘pass the time’.”
“Whatever,” I said while watching Piper dump all her loot on the living room floor. The Halloween party was a big hit, but leave it to Max’s girl to cajol
e my sister and Kyle into another two hours of trick-or-treating all through the neighborhood. She had brought two pillowcases with her, which, at the time, I had thought excessive, but wouldn’t you know it…Piper had both filled to the brim.
“Okay, now this small one is just the candy from the party,” she explained, pointing to the pile that didn’t look small to me at all, “and that one is from trick-or-treating. Personally, I think the neighbors had much better candy and toys than at Luanne’s party. I mean, what the heck is this thing anyway?” She reached in and pulled out a doll with a candy bar and a rolled note with a thick rubber band wrapped around it. “I mean, this just looks…whack!”
The doll had white-blonde hair, just like Piper’s, with almost the same light-green eyes. It wasn’t a typical Barbie either: more like her younger, sturdier little sister. But the minute I saw the doll’s neck and the way it was cracked in the middle, bile burned the back of my throat. It looked deliberate.
Max’s hand swooped in and grabbed it right out of her hand.
“Hey!” she cried out.
He didn’t bother to answer, and all of us stilled just from the intensity rolling off of him. Max’s jaw was so tight, it looked like it was ready to crack. He took out the note and opened it up. He read it to himself and I saw the veins in his temples and neck pulsing.
“Pipe, what do you say about having a sleepover at Pop-Pop’s this weekend?”
She stared in response, blinking a couple of times. “What’s wrong, Dad? Is there something bad in that note?”
He threw the doll with the note and the candy bar on the dining room table and crouched down, balancing on the balls of his feet. “That note’s for me, not for you. Someone’s pulling a bad prank and I have to take care of it.”
Girl Breaker Page 12