by Ali Parker
I gazed up at her as she wiped her tears away. “I’ll be right here, guarding the wine.”
At least I earned a smile out of her before she slipped out of the restaurant.
Chapter 14
Piper
I paced the sidewalk, back and forth, back and forth, aware of all the eyes on me from people walking or driving by and people in the restaurant.
I didn’t care.
After five minutes, I pulled my phone out of my purse and stared down at the screen. I pulled my father’s number up, and I stared at that, too.
“Just call him,” I whispered to myself.
How hard could it be? All I had to do was say I was sorry and that I loved him. Even if he didn’t forgive me right away, at least I would have said it, right?
I sighed and gazed up at the sky.
I thought about what Wyatt had told me about his own father. It was impossible not to wonder what had gone down between the two of them the last time he saw his father, but that was not a question I was going to ask, and it was something I would understand if I never found out. It was a private moment. A moment Wyatt would carry around with him for the rest of his life, along with all the shame and guilt that came with it.
My heart ached for him. He was too good a man to have a burden like that.
There was no doubt in my mind his father would have forgiven him. Regardless of what had been said, he would have forgiven his son. I wondered dimly if there was a way to make Wyatt believe that.
I considered going back inside and calling my father tomorrow when I hadn’t already had three drinks. I could write out what I wanted to say. I could prepare. There would be fewer margins for error.
But I knew all that was just me putting it off. And like Wyatt had said, life was unpredictable.
“Call him now,” I whispered to myself. “Stop being a baby.”
What was the worst that could happen? He was still mad, and he didn’t accept my apology, and he hung up on me. That was worst-case scenario. And I couldn’t see my father behaving that way unless he was really, really angry.
I swallowed and hovered my thumb over the green button beside his name.
After taking three deep, calming breaths, I pressed dial and lifted the phone to my ear. It took a minute for the call to connect, and when the first ring filled the speaker, my mouth went dry, and my stomach rolled over.
My father answered on the third ring. “Piper?”
I was suddenly very hot, and my throat felt like it was closing. “Hi, Daddy.”
I hadn’t called my father “Daddy” since I was a young girl.
“Is everything all right?” he asked, his voice thin with concern.
“Yes. Yes, I’m fine. I just… I needed to talk to you.”
He was quiet, and then he said, “I’ve been meaning to call you, Pipes.”
The tears that had come so quickly sitting across from Wyatt came back with a vengeance, and as they started to flow freely, so did my words. “I’m sorry, Dad. I never should have said those things to you when we had dinner last week. I was tired. And scared. And all I want is for you to be happy and healthy, and I projected what I wanted onto you rather than thinking about what you wanted. And I—I—”
“Piper,” my father said in his deep, soothing voice. “It’s all right. I understand.”
“You do?” I asked weakly.
“I do. You were trying to protect me from myself.” He chuckled. “Your mother has been trying to talk some sense into me all week. You and I are two peas in a pod, you know? Stubborn as hell.”
I wiped my tears away and laughed with relief. “Stubborn and hot headed.”
“You are my daughter.”
I sniffled and nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “How have you been, Dad? How are you feeling?”
I wished I could see him. It would be easier to know the truth if I could look in his eyes when he spoke. “I’m feeling all right, Pipes. I’m taking care of myself. Your mother hasn’t really given me any options. She also made me close down the restaurants on Sundays, and she forces me to stay home in the mornings and not come in until lunch hour.”
My heart swelled. “Really?”
I could hear the smile in his voice. “Yes. Like you, she suspects this business is not good for this old heart of mine.”
“But the business is your heart, so how could you sell it?”
My father was quiet for a minute. “Yes. Yes, exactly.”
I smiled at the wisdom Wyatt had shared with me and internally thanked him for it. “I love you, Dad. And I’m sorry. Again. I just want you to—”
“Take it easy.”
“Take care of you,” I corrected. “Because I want you around for the long haul. There’s a lot in life I still have left to do, and you’re going to be there to celebrate with me.”
For a moment, my father’s voice wavered. “That’s what I want too, Piper. And I will take care of myself. For all of us.”
I looked down at my feet and traced a crack in the sidewalk with the toe of my cowboy boot. “I’m sorry, Dad, but I have to go now. We’ll talk soon, okay?”
“Okay. Hey, Piper?”
“Yes?”
A moment of hesitation. “Thanks for calling,” he said.
My smile was so wide it hurt my cheeks. “Always.”
When I ended the call, I felt like I’d just lost fifty pounds off my chest. Somehow, the night air smelled fresher, and the energy on the street was more upbeat. I knew it was because my mindset had changed.
Because of Wyatt.
Slipping my phone back into my purse, I ducked through the front door of the restaurant and shimmied between tables to rejoin Wyatt at our spot by the window. He was leaned back in his chair with his arm draped over the back of the empty chair beside him. His gaze was hooded as he stared down at the table, fiddling with a candy that the waiter had dropped off along with the bill, which appeared to have already been paid. There were two more glasses of wine sitting alongside our nearly finished first glasses.
I took my seat, and he looked up. He sat up a little straighter. “How’d it go?”
“Really good. Really, really good. I told him I was sorry and that I loved him. And he thanked me for calling. I think he wanted to reach out but was afraid… just like I was.” I swallowed and looked him in the eye. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For reminding me that life is too short for petty arguments to stop you from talking to people you love. My family is the most important thing in my life, and if I’m being honest, I feel quite foolish for letting this fester for so long when all it took was a phone call and an apology.”
Wyatt polished off the rest of his first glass of wine. “You are a very wise young woman, Piper. And your father no doubt knows how lucky he is to have you for a daughter.”
“I know your father felt the same about you,” I said softly.
His eyes searched mine. At first, I thought I’d said the wrong thing. I thought I’d crossed a line. But the creases in his brow disappeared, and a soft smile touched his lips. “Yes. I imagine he did.”
“I wish I could have met him,” I said, leaning forward to rest my chin in my hand. “The stories he must have had to tell. I bet they were amazing.”
“Otherworldly.” Wyatt chuckled.
I smiled. “And your mother? What was she like?”
“Heaven sent. Sweet as pie unless you hurt her kin. She could turn into a rabid dog at the slightest hint of trouble. She was the only person on this earth my father ever feared.”
“And he married her?” I giggled.
Wyatt nodded with a smile lingering on his lips. “Yep. He fell hard and fast. And she played hard to get for a long time until she fell victim to his charms. And then the rest was history.”
“A beautiful love story.”
“One for the books.”
I wanted that. Good lord, did I want that. But this modern life and the constraints of my father
’s illness kept that pipe dream far out of reach. I had other priorities. Other, more important things to see to than minding my own fairy tale.
If Wyatt knew the truth, he would understand. I was sure he would. It would all become clear in the end when I took the money.
Thinking about the end would not serve me now, so I reached for my new glass of wine and took a sip. It was earthy and sweet and a little dry, and it slid smoothly over my tongue and down my throat. As I took another sip, I watched the man in front of me.
He was all hard lines and muscle, but there was a softness to him that I could not capture in words to save my life. An effortless ease and grace—two things I suspected he inherited from his father after hearing more about the man over dinner.
Wyatt gazed back at me, unblinking, and then his eyes roamed all over me as he lifted his own wine to his lips. He set the glass down. “Where would you like to go after this? We can go anywhere you like. Dancing. Or to a lounge. Or—”
“Anywhere I like?”
He nodded. “Name the place.”
I licked my lips. “Well, I was thinking it might be nice to head back home.”
One of his eyebrows arched ever so slightly. “Were you?”
I peered out the window and down the street at the limo parked at the curb waiting for us. “Yes. We could have another glass of champagne. You could share more of your southern wisdom with me. And we could sit really close together. Close enough to kiss if we wanted to.”
For the very first time since I’d met him, Wyatt seemed genuinely nervous, and it was endearing as hell.
He shifted in his seat. “I can’t say I don’t want to do that.”
I traced my finger along the rim of my glass. “Then that’s what we should do. Yes?”
He nodded and raised his glass back to his lips. “Drink up, woman.”
Chapter 15
Wyatt
We finished our wine, and as we left the table, I cast one last glance at the red lip imprint on the side of Piper’s glass before putting my hand in the small of her back to fall into step beside her and emerge outside into the cool, fresh spring evening.
Piper’s boots clicked all the way down the sidewalk to the limo where our driver was waiting for us. He greeted us with the same polite smile he’d worn when he picked us up at the ranch, and he gave us that same courteous bow as he opened the back door and gestured for us to climb inside.
Piper went in ahead of me, and she moved carefully in her dress and nylons. I slid into the seat beside her, thanked the driver, and scooted out of the way as he closed the door.
I reached for the half-empty bottle of champagne. “Are we keeping this thing going?”
“Absolutely.” Piper grinned, plucking her empty glass from the cupholder she’d left it in when we arrived at the restaurant. “Fill her up.”
Bubbles rose from the bottom of her glass as I filled it, and then I poured my own and set the champagne back in the ice bucket. All of the ice had nearly melted, but the cold water had kept the champagne chilled.
“I’ve had a great night so far,” Piper said before taking a sip.
“Even though I made you cry?”
She giggled softly. “It was a good sort of cry. A cry I didn’t know I needed until it happened.”
“Happy to be of service.”
She cocked her head to the side and regarded me with a lopsided smile.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“Uh huh. Forgive me for saying this, but you’re a liar.”
She giggled again, louder this time. Then she averted her gaze and shook her head. “Really. It’s nothing.”
“Then you can tell me. No?”
She pursed her lips and looked back up at me. “Well, I was just… I was wondering if you had any idea how rare a man like you is.”
“Devilishly handsome, smart as a whip, and humble as pie?”
Her laughter was as bubbly as the champagne as she threw her head back with mirth. I cracked a sly grin to keep up appearances as I reveled in the sound bouncing around the limo. I never wanted that joyful laughter to end.
She wiped the corners of her eyes with her thumb. “Yes. So very humble.”
I chuckled. “I’m glad we’re on the same page.”
“In all seriousness though, you really are something special. I’ve never felt so, I don’t know, in alignment with someone before, you know? Especially after such a short amount of time. It’s like I’ve known you for years, and we’ve been reunited after a long time apart.” She smiled as if remembering a fond memory. “I know. It sounds silly.”
“It doesn’t sound silly at all, Piper.”
She bit her bottom lip. The sight of it drove me mad. All of a sudden, I was overwhelmed with the urge to kiss her.
No. To do more than kiss her. I wanted to push her against the seat and show her how rare I really was. How I could make her feel. How I could take care of her.
I swallowed as my cock strained against my pants. Her teeth still lightly pinched her full, red bottom lip.
I reached out and put a hand on her knee. “Nothing you say has ever sounded silly.”
She released her lip. “There is still plenty of time for me to make an ass of myself on your ranch.”
“It won’t happen. And if it does, it will likely become a very, very fond memory for me.”
Her cheeks burned, and the rosy hue only enhanced her beauty. She inched closer to me. “Are you going to kiss me, Wyatt Brewer? Or are you going to make me wait?”
I felt the pang of her words in my gut. White-hot need rippled through me, and all I could look at were her lips. Her perfect, soft, voluptuous, kissable lips. My mind raced with all the things I could do with lips like those.
My breath quickened. “Has anyone ever told you how much of a handful you are?”
“You have big hands.” She winked.
Give me fucking strength.
Her soft, sexy giggle filled the limo once more, and when she looked away, I grabbed her around the waist and drew her to me, surprising her enough to elicit a gasp that I quickly silenced with a kiss.
All I could hear was the sound of her breath, soft, feathery, and uneven, along with my own blood rushing in my ears from my quickening pulse.
I fumbled to put my champagne down without breaking our kiss and blindly fished the glass out of her hand to do the same. Once the glasses were tucked safely in their cupholders, I pressed into her, forcing her tight up against the back of the seat as I slid off the leather, turned to face her, and knelt between her legs.
Piper moaned softly into my mouth and cupped my cheeks in her hands. Her palms were soft and warm. By the end of the month, I suspected she may earn a couple calluses to bring home with her. But for now, they were soft, and she inched them down my neck to the top buttons of my shirt, which she flicked open with little flourishes of her wrist, one at a time.
One.
Two.
Three.
She slid those soft hands of hers inside my shirt and ran them across my chest as I pressed my tongue between her teeth. She tasted like champagne and smelled like lavender.
The cooing sounds she made when I broke our kiss and ran my hands up the outside of her thighs were enough to make a man wild with lust. I thought I might have to pull her nylons all the way down, but I discovered that they ended at the top of her thigh, about five inches from her hips, and were held there by a strip of lace lined with a plastic strip that fixed them to her skin.
I traced my thumbs over the lace sections, and she gazed down at me.
For the first time since we’d met, I noticed the very light dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose. Maybe they had only started to appear with all the sun we’d been getting over the last week.
Either way, I loved each one of them.
I ran both hands farther up her legs until they rested on her bare hips. There was nothing between my palms and her flesh besi
des the thin strip of her panties on each hip. I snapped one playfully, and that wonderful giggle of hers revealed itself once more as she leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. Her cheeks burned, and her lips were curled up in a flirty smile.
I pushed her dress up. She didn’t stop me. Instead, she lifted her head, and her giggle faded, and I was left in silence to lift her dress up, exposing a pair of black lace panties with a gold heart hanging from the middle. I flicked it softly and looked up at her. “Cute.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Did you wear these for me?”
“Maybe.”
I leaned in and kissed her over the lace.
Piper sighed with delight, so I pushed her legs farther apart and then pulled her panties to the side. Her glistening pink pussy whispered sweet hellos, and I was more than aware of her eyes on me as I pressed my lips to her clit, kissed, and then drew it gently between my lips and rolled my tongue over the swollen bud.
Piper flinched and then melted into the seat.
I slid my arms under her legs and held her in place as I ate her up. She moaned and writhed and whispered my name, and I rewarded her with a finger, pressing between her sweet folds. She tightened around my digit and then relaxed, and I worked her over, still suckling and kissing and licking all the while.
Her fingers plunged into my hair and held me in place as her hips bucked. Her little moans became shuddering gasps of pleasure, and as the seconds passed, Piper cried out and curled her fingers into fists in my hair as she came.
When I looked up at her, she had her eyes closed and her forearm covering her face. Her chest rose and fell with labored breaths, pushing her cleavage up tight against the neckline of her dress, and her cheeks were rosier than ever.
I straightened up and pulled her arm away from her face. “Don’t hide from me.”
Piper smiled, gathered my shirt in her hands, and pulled me back up to her to kiss me as the limo hooked a right onto Cherry Road. Then she turned me around and straddled me before sliding off my lap and trading places with me. Somehow, she’d smoothly landed me on the seat while she went to her knees on the limo floor. She worked to undo my jeans, and I helped her shimmy them down my hips where we left them around my knees.
