by Ali Parker
“And cheese?”
“Goat cheese,” I clarified.
“Looks good,” he said.
“Smells good,” Stewart added.
Christian broke them away from me with a hand on my back. He rubbed in a slow circle, and I hoped Heather was watching. “I told you. This girl is a whiz in the kitchen. You boys better be ready for an evening of delighted taste buds.”
Dwayne rubbed his stomach. “I’ve never been more ready.”
Over the next half hour, more guests arrived. I had an in with Dwayne and Stewart, who were friendlier than I could have hoped and took the time to introduce me to every new person who came in the door if Christian was tied up with other guests. I made sure I took mental notes of names because I didn’t want to be the girlfriend who was just a pretty face and a good cook. I wanted them to know I was genuinely interested in them.
And in their friend.
The only person I ignored was Heather. And she ignored me. We had an unspoken understanding that we didn’t like each other, and in my universe, there was nothing wrong with that. We just had to be civil. I couldn’t control who she liked, just like she couldn’t control my being here.
After clearing some of the empty appetizer plates from the coffee table in the living room, I checked my phone. Ever since my father’s heart attack, I hadn’t had the strength to leave it very far out of my reach. It needed to be close at hand in case something ever happened.
And tonight, something happened.
But it wasn’t related to my father.
When I picked up my phone, I found myself staring at the beginning of a text message from a number I didn’t have in my contacts.
Piper. It’s Levi. I’ve been thinking about…
I stared at the screen before pulling the phone close and hiding the screen against my chest. I looked around. I was alone in the kitchen. Christian was in the dining room, chatting with a few other men, and I knew he wouldn’t mind if I slipped out for a couple of minutes to handle a private matter.
I wanted to give him the heads-up anyway, so I approached and tapped him on the shoulder.
“What’s up?” he asked. He wore a lopsided smile, and I suspected he was already a few glasses of wine into the evening, as I was.
“I have to take a personal call. Can you hold down the fort for ten minutes?”
His smile fell. “Is everything okay?”
I nodded. “Yes. Yes, I promise. Everything is fine. Everyone is healthy. It’s just someone important to me I haven’t talked to in a while.”
He smiled graciously, leaned in, and gave me a kiss. “Of course. Go on. Take your time.”
I hurried away. I knew I was leaving him to the wolves, or should I say wolf, also known as Heather, but my heart was racing in my chest. I had to know what the rest of Levi’s message said. I had to know if he was okay.
If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about him all night. And that wouldn’t be fair to Christian. We had plans in the jacuzzi later.
I rushed up the stairs and went into my guest room for the first time in weeks. I hadn’t spent a night in there since getting back from New York. Every night had been spent tangled up in the sheets with Christian.
I sat down on the edge of the bed and looked down at the screen. I unlocked the phone, took a deep breath, and opened the message thread.
Piper. It’s Levi. I’ve been thinking about you. I know I’m not supposed to reach out like this. But I can’t help myself. You don’t need to reply. I don’t want to put you in a bad spot. But I needed you to know that you’re still on my mind every day.
I was smiling down at the message when another one rolled in. I imagined him sprawled out on his sofa in his living room, his phone in one hand, his other arm draped casually over the armrest.
I’m losing my mind without you. Every song I write ends up being about the pretty brunette who marked up my heart with her high heels and red painted lips. Every fucking one. You know how many agents want to sign a record deal with an artist who can only write about one thing? None. That’s how many. But you’re burned onto my brain. And my heart. And my body.
My heart fluttered, and my stomach rolled as I waited for another message.
Another one didn’t come.
So I started typing. Levi, I think about you, too. And us. I think about all of it.
Hitting send made my skin turn cold.
This was wrong. I shouldn’t be sending messages like this to another man while I was with Christian. This was betraying him, wasn’t it?
Or was this just part of the process? Part of me making my choice?
Did the previous Casanova women before me really last months without talking to the men who’d left the biggest marks on their souls? That seemed impossible. It seemed cruel.
I haven’t forgotten you, I typed. I can’t. And I don’t want to. I wish I could say more but this thing is so complicated. Please don’t hate me.
His response came in seconds after I hit send.
I could never hate the only woman I’ve ever loved.
I fell back onto the bed, clutching my phone to my chest. I closed my eyes and fought the urge to smile and cry all at once.
Janie. The sneaky girl. She must have given him my phone number. Part of me wanted to call her and scold her for doing so. But the warm fuzzy feeling fluttering around in my tummy made it impossible to be upset with her.
Chapter 22
Christian
Piper had been gone for about fifteen minutes before I started to worry that things weren’t as okay as she said they were.
I couldn’t help but worry something might have happened with her father and she was just putting on a brave face while all my colleagues were here.
It was something I wouldn’t put past her. She was selfless and tough. The two made for a wicked combination when it came to things like this, and I had no doubt she would prioritize herself last in a situation like this.
After pulling dinner out of the oven and seeing that everyone was okay to start filling their plates, I made for the stairs.
I was halfway up them when she rounded the bend at the top. When she saw me, she smiled, folded her arms under her breasts, and arched an eyebrow at me. “Were you coming to check in on the damsel in distress?”
“Were you? In distress, I mean?”
Piper shook her head. Her dark hair glistened in the light of the chandelier. “No. I’m all right. I’m sorry. It was rude of me to step out for so long.”
“Don’t apologize, Piper.” I held out a hand to her, and she came down the stairs to meet me in the middle. “You’re back. And dinner is served. Let’s enjoy the rest of the night together, shall we?”
She gazed up at me and nodded. “Sounds good.”
We walked arm in arm back down the stairs to rejoin the party. Everyone was settling in at the table, and the two end spots were left open. Dwayne had taken up the chair on the right of where I usually sat.
I frowned and leaned into Piper as we stood at the stove, filling our own plates. “Do you want to sit beside me?”
“I’ll sit wherever you want me to sit.”
I waggled my eyebrows. “Fantastic. My lap, it is.”
She laughed as she spooned veggies onto her plate. “Later.”
“Beside me then. I don’t want you all the way at the end of the table. I’ll make Dwayne move.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Nah. He can move his sorry ass down to the other end and stare into my baby blues all night.”
Piper looked up at me. “Okay.”
I booted Dwayne out of his spot. He didn’t make a fuss about it, and I was glad for that. He moved to the other end of the table, where he lifted his beer in a toast to me as Piper took her seat on my right-hand side.
When she pulled her chair in, I reached under the table and put my hand on her knee. That was all I wanted. Closeness. To be able to touch her when I wanted.
To be able
to slide a hand under her dress and caress the smooth milky skin of her inner thigh.
Piper sucked in a breath of surprise and swept her napkin off the table to drape it over the leg I was teasing.
I regarded my friends and coworkers around the table. “Let the feast begin.”
There was something unexpectedly delightful about putting in a day of work preparing a meal for people. Their compliments and pleasure in the evening made it all the more worthwhile, and I felt like Piper and I had really achieved something together. She took all the compliments with a humble and appreciative nature, assuring everyone I was the perfect helper in the kitchen.
She excused herself twice to bring new bottles of wine to the table and top off everyone’s glasses. They were grateful. She topped off ours, too, and I was aware of the wine creeping up on me.
All I could think about as dinner wound down was getting her out of that dress.
I couldn’t take my eyes off of her when we worked together to clear the table. The guests milled around the rest of the house, some of them even stepping out into the crisp air in the backyard to smoke some cigarettes or indulge in conversation. With everyone dispersed throughout the house, she and I had a moment alone in the kitchen.
I nudged her hip with mine. “Tonight went really well. Thank you for helping me with all this stuff. I think I’ve been missing out on some pretty good evenings not doing this all these years.”
“Now you know,” she said, shrugging. “Besides, you might not have had as much fun if I wasn’t here.”
Laughing, I turned toward her. “You’re absolutely right. On that note. Do you have any pro tips of how to shut down a dinner party?”
She gave me a skeptical look as she filled a baking pan with hot water and soap. “Um. Not really. Why?”
I leaned in close. “Because I’m done waiting. I want these bastards to clear out so I can have my alone time with my girl. Just me. Her. A bottle of wine. You know the rest.”
“Christian,” she breathed, looking around with wide eyes to make sure nobody had overheard.
“I need you,” I whispered.
“You can’t kick people out right after they finish eating.”
“Why not?”
“It’s rude.”
“I don’t give a damn.”
A smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “We’re not doing that. People are just getting into the swing of it. We have at least an hour and a half left. Maybe two. The night is still young.”
“Fuck that,” I growled. Then I took her hand, steered her out of the kitchen, and pulled her along behind me down the hallway to my study. I closed and locked the door behind us.
Piper blinked at me when I turned back to her.
I moved forward. “Sit on the desk.”
She obeyed, retreating back to hoist herself up onto my desk. She crossed one leg over the other and leaned back on her hands to give me a cocky look from beneath her brows. “What are you planning on doing to me?”
“Whatever I damn well please,” I hissed.
I took her knees and pushed them apart. She let out a breathy sigh when I pushed her dress up to her hips and tugged her panties to the side. There was no patience in the movements. No teasing.
I’d waited as long as I could.
I patted her pussy with my palm. She flinched under each touch and stared up into my eyes, her jaw hard, her breath quickening.
Then I rolled my fingers over her clit. A groan passed between my lips. “You’re so fucking wet, love.”
She spread her legs farther. “You’re not the only one who’s been thinking about this all night.”
“Apparently,” I growled before nudging her face to the side with my own. I kissed the side of her neck and pinched her ear between my teeth as she descended into a fit of breathless sighs beneath my touch. “Good girl. Stay quiet.”
I eased a finger inside her. She whimpered into my shoulder.
I pressed in deep, and her hips flinched. I applied pressure to her clit with my thumb and started fingering her in earnest, and she let her head fall back. The ends of her hair grazed my desk as she moaned at the ceiling with her eyes closed.
I devoured her throat with merciless kisses. She purred for me, and soon, her hips started rolling of their own volition. I gave her what she wanted and stretched her pussy with another finger.
She clung to my shirt. “Shit.”
“Hold it,” I breathed, pressing my forehead to hers.
Piper bit down on her bottom lip and squeezed her eyes closed. “I can’t.”
“You’ll do as I say. You’ll hold it. Like the good girl you are. And you won’t come until I tell you to.” I fucked her harder with my fingers. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and her fingers tightened in my shirt.
“Yes,” she breathed. Her pussy tightened.
“Hold it,” I warned.
She did. Well, she did until she couldn’t.
I saw the signs that she was coming untethered. Her chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. She couldn’t keep her eyes open. Her legs were tense and quivering, and I could tell it was taking everything she had to stay in control.
I grabbed her jaw with my free hand. “Let it go.”
Piper descended into euphoria in my hands. She melted as she came, slicking my fingers with her come, and I silenced her cries by pushing two fingers between her teeth and pressing down on her tongue. She sucked on them, hard, desperate for anything that would help keep her quiet.
When she was done, I stepped away, and she gasped for breath. Then she slid off the desk and went to her knees in front of me. She reached for my belt buckle.
I chuckled and shook my head. “I don’t think so, Piper. You’ll have to wait for that.”
“Please,” she breathed, gazing up at me. “It felt so good.”
I crouched down and plunged my fingers into her hair, pulling her head back. “That was nothing compared to what I’m going to do to you when these people leave.”
She swallowed.
“You still sure you want this thing to last another couple of hours?” I asked.
Piper licked her lips. She tried to shake her head, but the hold I had on her hair prevented her from doing so. So she muttered out a shaky, “No.”
I grinned. “Good. Me neither. Let’s figure out how to chase them out of here so I can fuck you properly.”
I released her hair and offered her my hand. Piper took it, and I pulled her to her feet. She was unsteady and gripped my forearm to balance herself.
“Sorry.” She laughed nervously. “That was… unexpected.”
I licked her juices from my fingers. She watched me with wide, wild eyes, and I grinned.
She’d be looking at me like that all fucking night.
Chapter 23
Piper
Heather wouldn’t fucking leave.
Damn her and her tight dress and her perfect hair.
My body was thrumming with all kinds of electricity, and there was no way I was going to get relief until I was alone with Christian and he was inside me.
No. Fucking. Way.
I blew out a long-winded sigh as I leaned forward over the kitchen island with my chin in my hand and my elbow on the counter. My near empty glass of wine was just within reach, and Dwayne was beside me, looking at the same thing I was looking at: Heather flirting with Christian.
They were sitting on the couch. They’d started on separate ends, but she’d slowly made her way over so they were sitting hip to hip. Either he was oblivious, or he kind of liked it. Which meant maybe he kind of liked her.
I took a sip of wine.
“She’s got nothing on you, you know?” Dwayne said suddenly.
I peered over my shoulder at him. “Sorry?”
“Heather,” he clarified. “She’s a pretty girl and all, but she’s too much of a trickster for Christian to throw his lot in with.”
“A trickster?”
“Yep. She’s kind of got a reputa
tion for manipulating men into getting what she wants. Which is into their pants and wallets.”
“I’d say I’m surprised, but let’s be honest. I’m not.”
Dwayne chuckled. “She’s not my biggest fan. Want me to go in there and break things up so you can have the rest of your night with Christian? I know you two don’t have much time left together before the month ends. I know it’s none of my business, but this shit is rubbing me the wrong way.” He shook his head. “She preaches class, but she parades around like a tactless parrot.”
“A tactless parrot?” I laughed.
“First thing that came to mind. Loud. Annoying. Screechy.”
“Fair enough. And thank you, Dwayne. But I think I can handle it myself.”
“Oh, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying you can’t. I’m asking permission.”
“Permission?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah. Like I said. She and I don’t really get along well. And I’d love to be the guy to put a pin in her charade.”
I looked from Dwayne to Heather and then back to Dwayne. “Knock yourself out.”
Dwayne grinned. “My pleasure. Sit tight, doll. You’ll have your man back in your arms before you can spell ‘tactless parrot.’”
I chuckled under my breath as he strode purposefully into the living room. I couldn’t hear what he said, but Christian was on his feet within thirty seconds, and Heather was glaring daggers into Dwayne’s back as they made their way back to the kitchen.
Heather followed shortly behind them and went straight for her purse sitting at the edge of the counter. “Well, I think I should call it a night.”
About time, I thought, affording a glance at the clock on the stove.
Midnight.
“Thanks for coming,” Christian said, clasping his hand around hers.
She smiled at him.
I stepped forward. “It was nice to see you again, Heather. We probably won’t have a chance to see each other again before I leave, so I hope you have a good rest of the semester. Christian tells me you’ve been working hard since coming back after a semester abroad.”
