Edge of Disaster

by A. M. Hargrove

  “You’re perfect tonight Alexia.” Pearce reached over and caressed my cheek. “I could stare at you endlessly. I love to watch you eat. You savor every bite.”

  “No, that’s not true. I only savor the good stuff, and you always feed me the good stuff.” I smiled.

  He moved his hand across the table and ran his thumb over my bottom lip. Then he took a hold of my hand, gave it a gentle tug and said, “Come over here sweetheart. I’ve looked at you long enough without touching you.”

  I found myself in his lap being thoroughly kissed by him. Pearce knew how to kiss. I always came to life in his arms and when he started moving his mouth over mine, entangling his tongue around mine, well, I just couldn’t think coherently anymore.

  “Mmm, I love the little noises you make. You’re so damn sexy Alexia.” He moved his tongue down my neck and I sucked in my breath. It always excited me when he did that. He knew exactly where to touch me to send me into a tailspin.

  “How do you do that?”

  “Do what?” he asked.

  “Turn me on so much?”

  He snorted. “Alexia, honey, if you only knew what you do to me.”

  I took his face and held it between the palm of my hands and said, “Tell me Pearce. Please tell me, because you make me burn for you.”

  His voice turned husky and he said, “It started from the very first time I looked at you and it hasn’t stopped. It’s only intensified. Now that I know the secrets of your body, I can’t seem to get enough. Every part of you I want as mine. Your mouth is magnificent. I love to watch you talk, the way your lips move as your mouth forms words. I almost lose it when you stick your tongue out to moisten your lips. I love to watch you eat. I sometimes wake up at night and watch you sleep. You’re so beautiful Alexia. When we’re loving each other and you arch your back in pleasure, I want to imprint that picture of you in my mind forever. But what I love the most is when I tell you to open your eyes and look at me when you come. I see what’s reflected in their depths. You can’t hide that from me. You try to hide a lot Alexia, but your love comes shining through at that very moment. It’s there and it’s only for me.” By the time he finished, his lips were on mine and he was talking against my mouth. Then he started kissing me with all the love he felt for me and I thought my heart would explode.

  “Don’t cry. I didn’t want to make you cry,” he said as he felt the moisture of my tears against his face.

  “I’m crying because I’ve never felt so loved before.”

  I kissed him again and we sat there together, me on his lap, just making out like two teenagers. My hands were on his steely abs, feeling them ripple and his were all over my body. But neither of us made a move to take this any further. We were just exploring each other like two kids, lost in our emotions.

  Later that night we watched the fireworks from the top deck as we toasted the new year and then we went to the state room and did our own kind of ringing in the New Year.

  ********

  The next morning we left the boat and went back to Pearce’s so we could shower and change to go to his parent’s for the New Year’s Day celebration. The guys would be watching football but I had no idea what would be expected of me. I was so nervous, my stomach was doing flip flops and cartwheels. I doubted I would be able to eat a bite of anything.

  “You look perfect,” Pearce said as I came down the stairs, dressed and ready to go. I had on a plain black dress and black tights with black boots. Nothing special because I didn’t have anything special in the clothing department.

  I gave him a half-smile.

  “What? You don’t believe me?”

  I shrugged.

  “Sweetheart, you could be dressed in rags, and you’d look great.”

  “Well that’s good because that’s about what my wardrobe consists of.”

  “Alexia, stop it. It does not.”

  “Yes Pearce, it does. I have to buy my clothes from consignment shops and sometimes I even go to Goodwill. The one over on Savannah Highway has some good things on occasion. Terri told me about that.” I was being an ass and he didn’t deserve it.

  “Would you like for me to take you shopping? We can do that if it would make you feel better. But honestly, I don’t think you could look any better than you do right now.”

  I knew he was being honest with me, and he did make me feel better. I suppose I was more worried about what his mother and sister would think of my attire.

  “No, but you’re very kind to offer that.” I walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek and he hugged me right back. “Let’s go,” I said.

  He took my hand and off we went. His parents also lived downtown, but they lived too far to walk...or that’s what Pearce said anyway. When we pulled up to their house, I almost started hyperventilating.

  They lived on Murray Boulevard, right on the battery, overlooking the Charleston harbor. It was one of the grandest homes on the peninsula. My hands started shaking and dripping with sweat.

  “I know what you’re thinking, but please don’t.” He got out of the car and walked around to open my door. When he reached for my hand, I moved it away from him so I could wipe it on my leggings first.

  “Sorry,” I said sheepishly as I put my hand in his.

  “Honey,” he said as he brushed my hair back from my face, “I would never put you in a situation that made you feel uncomfortable. They’re really excited to meet you. Especially Gran. Lisbeth has bragged so much about you she’s acting like a kid getting ready for a play date.”

  I laughed a little at that.

  We walked to the back entrance. You couldn’t really call it a door because it was quite grand. It had a porte-cochere that we parked under. The door opened into an entryway where there were two servants waiting to take our coats, except we hadn’t worn any.

  Pearce hugged one of the women and introduced me to both of them. The first one, Betty, had worked for the Middleton’s ever since Pearce was three years old. She was extremely pleasant and I briefly wondered if maybe I could hang out with her for the day. No luck on that one because Pearce moved me right along, past the ginormous kitchen and down the hall where I could hear lots of booming voices. We finally reached our destination, but my mind was overwhelmed by the exquisiteness of this mansion I was seeing.

  “Did you grow up here?” I asked softly.

  “I did,” he answered as he watched me closely.

  “What was it like?” I was caught in the dream like quality of my surroundings. It was indescribable. Beautiful antiques that were no doubt priceless and I’m sure dated back to the 1700’s; paintings of what looked like the original Middleton’s that settled Charleston and artifacts that no doubt cost more than I would make in my lifetime. The thing about it all was that they fit in perfectly and didn’t look stiff like most mansions you would expect to be. This place looked comfortable...like Pearce’s home.

  “It was my home. That’s all I can say,” he said with a smile.

  “I can tell. It’s perfectly gorgeous, but yet it’s inviting.”

  “You really think so?”

  “I do.”

  We were interrupted by a loud voice calling out, “Are you two going to join us or are you just going to stand out there all day?”

  We looked over to the source and it was a man who looked very similar to Pearce, but perhaps a bit younger. Pearce shook his head and whispered to me, but loud enough for the other man to hear, “Ignore him Alexia. He’s nothing but a pain in the ass brother of mine.”

  Then everyone was laughing and we were surrounded by his family...him mom and dad, two brothers and his sister. Pearce was right. They made me feel perfectly welcome and I totally forgot that I had ever been nervous.

  We were pulled into the living room, where a giant flat screen was playing one of the many football games we’d be watching that day. I was handed a Bloody Mary and a tray of appetizers was passed around and everyone was conversing about this and that.

  Pearce h
ad me tucked into his side, with his arm around me the entire time. One of his brothers, Justin, who was two years younger, cracked a joke about it.

  “Jus, if you had a girl that looked like Alexia, would you let go of her for a second?”

  “Not a chance,” was Justin’s reply.

  My face grew super hot as I blushed furiously.

  Pearce’s mom, Susan, winked at me. His dad, Henry, laughed and said, “That’s right. That’s exactly how it was when I met your mother. Isn’t that right Susan?”

  “Eww! Dad! We don’t want to hear about that!” Pearce’s sister, Ava, exclaimed.

  “Ava, it’s a beautiful story. I wasn’t going to tell any deep secrets. I was just going to say that she was the most beautiful girl in the world and I wouldn’t let her out of my sight for anything. That’s why I asked her to marry her after knowing her for only three days.”

  “That’s right,” Susan said. “My parents were not happy, but they got used to it after they met Henry and the rest is history.”

  As I looked around the room I noticed how much all the guys in the family looked like their father, who was dark haired and gray eyed like Pearce (except Henry’s was peppered with silver now), while Ava looked exactly like Susan, who was blond. They were all exceptionally attractive, but Pearce stood out in my eyes.

  Susan came over to me and asked me if I’d like a tour of the house. I felt Pearce give me a gentle squeeze as I got up to follow her. We went from one beautiful room to the next and I just followed her with my mouth hanging open like an idiot. I could hear my mother saying how I’d be catching flies if she could see me. It was almost impossible to take it all in.

  After we completed the tour of the main level, we headed for the huge stair case. When we reached the top Susan stopped and grabbed both of my hands. “I know this whole place can be quite intimidating the first time around, but I hope you don’t feel that way. It’s just an old pile of bricks Alexia. We’ve tried to instill that in our kids. I come from pretty humble roots myself. My folks are from North Charleston and my daddy worked for Westvaco in the paper mill all his life. I hope you can feel at home here.” Then she smiled at me and I felt the weight lift off my shoulders.

  I smiled back at her and squeezed her hands. “Thank you Susan. You’ve made me feel so welcome here. Pearce told me about how you and Henry met, but I’ll admit I was still really nervous about coming here. I envy your family and how close you all are.”

  “Thanks. I wish you had that with your family. Pearce didn’t say much to me, but he did say you didn’t have much of a relationship with them. Honey, I’m sorry for you. I don’t know what I’d do without my kids. I could never let them go.”

  I gave her a watery smile. I wished my parents felt that way about me, but that wasn’t going to happen. I shrugged and said, “Something happened between us that they blame me for and maybe it’s justified but I didn’t do it on purpose. It was an accident, but they don’t see it that way. So they decided to turn their backs on me. I’ve learned to deal with it though. I won’t say it doesn’t hurt, especially on holidays and my birthday. But there isn’t anything I can do about it so I’ve just moved on.”

  She nodded in understanding and then hooked her arm through mine and showed me the rest of the house. When we made our way up to the widow’s walk, which was much bigger than Pearce’s, she told me how much she loved it up here. It was an incredible view of the Charleston harbor. You could see the Sullivan’s Island lighthouse, Fort Sumter and Castle Pinckney. We lucked out on the weather again so the sky was a flawless blue and the water sparkled like crazy. I even spotted some dolphins in the distance.

  “That grin on your face is priceless. I’m going to have to get Pearce to bring you up here more often.”

  Her words brought me back to Earth and I giggled. “Sorry, I was just so...”

  “Oh honey, don’t be sorry. I know what I was like the first time Avery brought me up here.”

  “Avery?”

  “Avery Miles Middleton. That would be my mother-in-law. You’ll meet her shortly. She doesn’t usually come down until early afternoon.”

  “Come down?”

  “Yes, honey. She claims it’s age, but she’s as sharp as a tack and don’t let her fool you.”

  I laughed and we went back down to join the rest of the family.

  Betty brought in more trays of all sorts of appetizers and another round of drinks appeared. This time they were Bellinis. They were delicious. We toasted and then Justin and Andrew, Pearce’s youngest brother and I started talking about my job.

  “So how are you liking working at MedSoft?”

  “It’s really good. I’m working on a proposal right now for the Greenville Hospital System. They’re looking into switching their entire software when all their physician offices go to electronic medical records.”

  Pearce looked at me and said, “Wow Alexia. You didn’t mention this. That’s great news.”

  “Yeah, I guess I sort of forgot.”

  “Damn, Pearce, I wonder why,” Justin ribbed him. “You probably can’t keep your hands to yourself long enough for her to tell you anything. Am I right Alexia?”

  My face really burned with heat this time. “I...I...well, maybe a little,” I stammered.

  I looked at Pearce for help, but he was laughing.

  Then Ava yelled out to me that I just needed to ignore the boys because they were totally obnoxious all the time.

  Suddenly the doorbell rang and I heard this high pitched voice. It reminded me of nails on a chalkboard. Everyone looked around and the room became dead silent. I wondered what was going on when this tall, stick thin, gorgeous red head waltzed into the room. Dressed in high fashion, and I mean designer stuff from her Christian Louboutin stilettos, her Louis Vuitton handbag and her D&G jacket, she looked fabulous. I felt like the poor church mouse in comparison.

  Then she headed straight for Pearce. It didn’t matter that he had his arm around me. She bulldozed into him and pushed him backward, threw her arms around him and kissed him soundly on the mouth. And not just for a second, or two or three. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they broke apart, while he was still trying to pull me back into him by my hand. Then she screeched out in that godforsaken banshee voice, “Why Pearce darling, it’s been far too long! I just got in from Milan. It is so good to see you. Now you know the two of us just have to spend some time together while I’m here. I’ll be staying at my parents for the next two weeks. Maybe we can rekindle our flame, darling. Remember those days? We had some good times didn’t we?” Then the banshee had the audacity to rub herself against him.

  I stood there and tapped my foot against the floor, waiting for Pearce to say something...anything...to whoever the hell this she-demon was. If he didn’t, I was going to rip that red hair right out of her fucking scalp.

  I suddenly felt an arm go around me and looked to my left. Justin was standing there, grinning. I wished someone would tell me what the hell was going on here.

  “Why hello Carmody. Nice of you to bust right in here,” Justin said.

  Banshee Carmody looked over at Justin and smiled. It was more like a grimace. Now that I had the chance to examine her closely, I was thinking she was looking more like a Gremlin...and I’m talking about Stripe, not Gizmo. Yeah, I’m pretty sure her teeth were pointy.

  “Well hello Justin. Is that your girlfriend?” she sneered.

  “Um no, it’s not. As a matter of fact, it’s Pearce’s girlfriend.”

  I looked at Pearce and he was trying his hardest not to laugh. There was something fishy going on here, but I still didn’t like the way Banshee Carmody Stripe was leering at my guy. She looked like she wanted to eat him for dinner and by the looks of that greeting she gave him, she nearly did.

  She looked at Pearce and then at me. Then she started to laugh. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” she exclaimed. “Why Pearce, I always took you for a man of good taste.”

  “Thank you Carmody.
I believe I do have good taste. In fact, Alexia is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

  Pearce finally shrugged free of Banshee Carmody Stripe’s arm and pulled me into him.

  “Thank you Pearce. But I wish you’d stop telling me that a hundred times a day.”

  “But why sweetheart? It’s true and it’s the way I feel.” Then he ran his hand down my cheek and leaned in and whispered, “She a fucking bitch and I hate that she’s here. I’m so sorry you had to witness that display of nastiness. As soon as I can, I’m going to brush my teeth.”

  I burst out in a fit of laughter. Everyone looked at me and I could tell they wanted to laugh too but the banshee was getting really pissed by now.

  “So Pearce, aren’t you going to invite me in?”

  “Sure Carmody, whatever.”

  Then he turned to me and said, “Come on babe,” and he tugged me away from that awful scene.

  We hurried up the steps and he pulled me into his old bedroom. True to his word, he went straight to the bathroom and brushed the hell out of his teeth.

  “Dern Pearce, you’re going to scrub the enamel off if you’re not careful.”

  “Ugh, I almost gagged when she put her mouth on mine.”

  “Pearce, did you ever sleep with her?”

  He stopped dead in his tracks and his face went white.

  “Yes, I did,” he admitted. “It was a long time ago. I didn’t think she was so disgusting then. I’m sorry Alexia.”

  “Don’t be. It happened before us. I just wanted to know because she’ll throw that at me one day. At least now I’ll be prepared. Is she one of the girls you thought you might love?”

  “No! Never her. We grew up together but the older she got, the more pretentious she became. Just like her mother. I’m really sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault honey. Don’t worry about it. I could tell your family was not happy about her arrival.”