The It's Kind Of Personal (Complete 6 Book Series)ies

by Anna Brooks

  The engine purrs as he twists the key in the ignition, but he doesn’t go anywhere. “Why did you leave?”

  “Pierce, I—”

  “Ya know, I get that what happened between us was intense. I’ve certainly never felt that strongly for someone in such a short period of time. Even now, it’s crazy.”

  “I haven’t either.” Little does he know I’ve never felt that for anyone else. Ever. Nothing even close to the immediate safety, security, and love I felt within minutes of being with him. And then when he held me on that lounge chair … It was like he added the pieces of a puzzle I didn’t even know were missing, to make the picture complete.

  “And I understand that you were dealing with some stuff.”

  “What are you talking about?” I ask defensively.

  He turns in his seat and takes my hand in his, rubbing his thumb in a circle. “I could tell. You avoided answering almost all of my questions about you. Anytime you got uncomfortable, you said some witty remark or sassy comment to change the subject.”

  “I’ve no recollection of the accusations you’re speaking of.”

  “See.” He laughs.

  The car begins to move a bit when he puts it into drive, but suddenly stops as he slams the gear shift into park. “I’m sorry, but I can’t just pretend that I haven’t seen you for three years. And as much as I want to just go with it, I can’t.”

  “Oh, yeah. Sorry.” The tow truck driver just hooked my car up, so I still have time to get a ride from him. Stupid. God, I’m so mad at myself for being so fucking stupid. “I won’t bother you again.” I hop out of the car and start to run toward the other side of the parking lot when Pierce hooks an arm around my waist.

  “Stop running from me.”

  “Let me go, Pierce. It’s fine. I understand.” I struggle against his vise grip.

  “You don’t understand. I didn’t mean I wanted you to go. I meant that I just want some fucking answers. You’re not going anywhere.”

  “Is there a problem here?” The driver clears his throat and steps really close to me.

  “No,” Pierce and I both say at the same time.

  “You sure, sweetie?”

  “I’m fine. Really,” I insist, relaxing into Pierce’s arms instead of fighting to get out of them.

  “You don’t have to be afraid to say something. I saw him grab you. I can help you.”

  Pierce releases me from his grip and steps in front of me. “She’s fine.”

  “I’d like to hear it from the lady.”

  I open my mouth to tell him again that I’m fine, but Pierce talks over me. “You heard her the first time. She’s fine, and I guarantee you don’t have to worry about me hurting her. Now, I suggest you stop whatever kind of show you’re trying to put on before you piss me off.”

  Driver man takes his hands off his hips and steps closer to Pierce.

  “Oh, my God,” I whisper, scared shitless that this guy is going to hurt Pierce since he’s so much bigger with his big ole fat gut and tree trunk legs. He’s also got like half a foot on Pierce and arms the size of a normal person’s calves. Granted, everything is flabby, but still.

  “Don’t even try, man.” Pierce gives me a small shove so I’m even farther away from him, and I quickly scramble right back behind him, fear making my entire body shake. “Get back, Ruby.”

  Words die on my tongue, and I can only shake my head. Pierce’s body stiffens, his spine straightens, and his hands open and close, fingers bending and twitching while he widens his stance. All of these things are done so subtly, the only reason I notice is because I’m practically melded with his body.

  The driver bends forward at his waist. “You think I’m scared of you?”

  “You should be.” Pierce’s confidence astounds me.

  “Really?”

  “I appreciate you think you’re doing the right thing by protecting her, but we both know you need to walk away. Now.”

  “You threatening me, fucker?” He sways his head back and forth, eyes darting all over the place, itching for a fight, while Pierce stays rooted, calm.

  “No. It’s not a threat. It’s the truth. Now.” Pierce takes a step back and I go with him. “We’re leaving.” He turns around, surprising me by leaving his back to this guy and I scurry alongside him the dozen or so feet to his car. He opens my door and I sit, embarrassed my behavior caused this.

  As soon as his door slams, I apologize. “I’m sorry, I’m such an—”

  “Stop, Ruby. Just … stop for a second.”

  He puts the car in drive, not having to restart it, and calmly drives away. When he rounds the corner, he pulls into an empty parking lot and backs the car into a secluded spot by some trees.

  “One sec.” He gets out and walks around to the back. With his back to me, he puts his hands on his hips and his entire back flexes with the deep breaths he takes. He rolls his shoulders and lets out one final puff of air as he turns and gets back in the car.

  “If I wouldn’t have been there, do you have any idea? Did you even see the way he was looking at you? Then you fucking run away from me to go to him? Fuck!” He lowers his head, and after a second, raises it again. “Sorry, I just needed a second.” I swallow through the lump in my throat, the thought never occurring to me, and his bitter laugh echoes in the cabin. “Are you going to give me another couple of nights then vanish and leave me fucking miserable?”

  “No. No. I never meant to hurt you.”

  “What the hell, Ruby?” He finally turns to look at me, betrayal dripping from his pores. “You fucking left like it was nothing. I was beginning to think I was literally going insane or something from imagining what I felt. Now, you just show up and act like … I don’t even know, like I’m just supposed to accept it?”

  Guilt tugs at my gut. “I’m sorry, Pierce. I really am. Just know that I was equally as miserable as you.”

  “But you knew my name, knew where I lived. You could have contacted me. I had nothing.”

  He’s right. I could have. But I didn’t know how to get out of the situation I was in. Eddie and I developed a weird sort of relationship, and I thought the life I was living was, at least, better than what I had before. I thought I was trapped, that I didn’t have a choice.

  Then everything changed. And I realized I was much stronger than I previously thought.

  “I wish I could change what I did.” I grab one of his hands with both of mine. “But I can’t. I’m here now, trying to fix things, trying to make this work because I want it to so damn bad.”

  “I do, too.”

  “If I could erase the last three years and have us start from where we left off, I would do that, too. I guess it was naïve of me to think we could pick up from that point.”

  He raises my hand to his mouth and kisses my knuckles, his eyes closing for a long blink. “We can. I don’t want you to leave me again.”

  “I won’t.”

  “You better not.”

  A relieved smile from his lips makes me smile too. He leans over to me and kisses my forehead. Kiss my lips, I scream in my head. God, I want him to kiss me so bad, to touch me, to make me feel.

  We both lean back in our seats, and he startles me when he asks, “Why’d you come here?”

  “For you.”

  “The real reason, angel. There’s more to it.”

  He has a right to know, I realize that, and I plan to tell him everything. But I’m still coming to terms with some things, so I’m not ready to talk about them yet. Like the things I did in order to make myself feel any semblance of a normal life or to allow me to feel like I had any control over the things happening to me.

  Because he deserves something from me, I’ll tell him the truth about the casino. “I lived at the casino.”

  “What?” His eyes widen and his jaw drops. “You lived there?”

  “My father, the guy who you gave your number to, he owns it.”

  “Your dad?”

  “Yeah. I watched you t
hrough the security cameras the morning you left.”

  His body jerks back a little bit and hurt reflects off his handsome face. “What?”

  “I’m so sorry, Pierce. It wasn’t the right time. There were other things in play and I just couldn’t. There was no way I was going to drag you into it, and it was best if you just left and forgot about me.”

  “I’d never forget about you.”

  “Same here. I didn’t.”

  “So what changed?”

  I look out the window and contemplate my answer. Things are still fresh; they’re not without complication, and since I know he’d jump in to do everything he could, I decide on a vague answer because I want to protect him as much as I can. “A lot.”

  “What changed, Ruby?” I whip my head in his direction at his angry tone. “Stop being so evasive. You came back to me, for me. Now, let me in.”

  “I am.”

  “You’re not, though. If you don’t want to talk about something, fine. But tell me that. Don’t lie to me.”

  “I’m not lying. I’m doing it to protect you.”

  His laughter fills up the car and he actually grabs a bottle of water and takes a drink to soothe his parched throat. “Angel, I can take care of myself. And I can take care of you, too.”

  Little does he know it’s not just me he’d have to take care of. “I know.”

  “You knew I’d take care of you?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  “I will. And I’ll make you so happy, baby.”

  “I know.”

  I stare at his lips, imagining what they’d feel like on my own … on my breasts, between my legs, over every inch of my skin, my breath coming in short bursts. He leans over and kisses my cheek then runs his nose down mine. I tilt my head up, silently asking him to kiss me. “You want my lips on yours?”

  I nod my head, and he gives me what I ask for. His warm lips crash into mine, and I reach up and grab hold of his head, then swing my body over the console to straddle him. His hard length hits me between my legs, and I pull back to suck in a breath.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah, just surprised it feels so good.”

  “I’m not. I knew it would. I knew everything about you would be amazing. Even this.” He raises his butt off the seat a little and presses me down on him until my lips part and I moan. “God… Kiss me, angel.”

  I lean forward and press my lips to his but am unable to do anything else because the throbbing in my core begins to vibrate through my entire body. This is insane. I’ve never felt anything so intense before; I didn’t even know it could be this good, and we still have our clothes on. God, what have I been missing? I wasn’t expecting this, not this fast. But I suppose everything with us so far has been, and I need this so bad. This is what makes me feel normal; this is what makes me feel like I have control over my life.

  “You gonna come, Ruby?”

  “Yes … God …”

  “Rub your hot little pussy all over me, baby. I wanna see your face when you do.” He grabs me by the back of the head and by one shoulder and leans me so my back arches and my chest sticks out. His hot breath beats against me, and I can’t help but pant while my body heats up even more.

  I cry out again, and he covers my mouth with his then runs his tongue from my lips to my neck and gently sucks. The combination of the sting from my hair and the softness of his lips and the rhythm of his hips moving in time with mine takes me over the edge. A shockwave runs through my body from head to toe, and I collapse into his arms, completely unaware of anything but him and the knowledge that he makes me feel things I didn’t think were possible.

  After a minute of him rubbing my back and gently kissing my neck, I slowly sit up and then kiss him, frantically searching for more. His tongue finds mine and fights for control. He kisses me back a final time and begins to lift me, but I reach down and grab his hard cock through his jeans.

  He sucks in a breath and grabs my wrist with a frustrated growl. “Stop, Ruby.”

  “I want to make you feel good, too.”

  “Ruby, I’ve dreamed of making love to you for three years. And now that you’re finally here, that you’re finally mine, I’m not having the first time we come together be in my car. No.” He grabs my face and leans his forehead on mine. “The first time I come with you is going to be deep inside your beautiful body. It’s gonna be when you can trust me enough to tell me everything. It’ll be when you’re so fucking in love with me that you’ll let me slide inside you … skin against skin. Nothing between us.”

  My mind immediately jumps to the risk of getting pregnant, and my head spins for a completely different reason than just a few minutes ago. I’m not ready to have a baby. “A baby?”

  His lips turn up in a smile. “Someday, not yet. I just want you to be okay with me not using a condom. I’m assuming you’re on the pill or can get on it. I want to be able to feel all of you. Every single inch. Every time I slide out, I want to feel you squeezing me to get back in because, without my cock inside you, you feel empty.”

  “Jesus,” I mutter. I didn’t realize I was capable of getting turned on so fast after having an orgasm. “Yeah, I’m on the pill, so …”

  “I’m clean, too. I’ll show you papers if you want. I haven’t been with anyone since I met you anyway, so.”

  I look away, ashamed that I can’t say the same. He puts a finger under my chin and tilts it up so I’m looking at him. “It’s okay. The past doesn’t matter. What counts is now.”

  Is he real? Like real real? “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay, Ruby. With me, it’s always okay.”

  Chapter 8

  Pierce

  I GRIP THE STEERING wheel for several reasons. One, I want to kill whoever’s touched her. Two, I’m so hard right now my entire body hurts. Three, I feel as if I’m in a dream and I need something to ground me ’cause if I let go, she’ll be gone again.

  Seeing her again was something I never thought would actually happen. Yes, I fantasized, and yes, I prayed, but I didn’t think it would actually come true, that she’d be here with me and that it would seem like we’ve known each other forever. I always felt like I was acting a little irrationally about the time we spent together, but being in the same space with her has confirmed that I was right all along.

  Then that stupid jackass with the tow truck. My patience is being tested in every way possible tonight. If I had left earlier and he had showed up without me being there, her in his truck alone, the way he was leering at her. I could practically see the disgusting thoughts in his head.

  Ruby messes with the radio, and I’m surprised when she stops on my favorite rock station. She hums along with the music and taps her foot to match the beat.

  “You like this song?” I ask.

  “This band. They’re my favorite.” Her voice raises an octave, and she looks at me like she assumes they’re my favorite band, too. Which they are.

  “Really?”

  “Yes. I love Reason to Ruin. Their lyrics are amazing. Have you ever just listened to them? It’s like reading an entire book or watching a movie in three minutes. So good.”

  “Ehh.” I wave my hand in the air. “I suppose they’re all right. I’ve heard better.”

  “All right? I’m not sure we can be friends anymore, Pierce.”

  I laugh and turn the volume up so she can enjoy listening to the rest of the song. I can’t wait until she finds out my sister is dating the drummer from the band and that I know all of the guys personally. When they’re in town, they come to the gym and hang out at our family’s pub. Hell, I went to high school with all of them.

  By the time I pull up to the restaurant, the song is long over and we walk in hand and hand. It just feels natural to be with her, like three years haven’t passed with unanswered questions. I’m so lucky to have found this. A lot of people go their entire lives searching for someone to make them feel so thoroughly full and complete.

  The hostess seats us by a
window and sets down our menus and a set of silverware.

  “What do you feel like?” I ask, as I look through the choices.

  “French toast. And bacon.” She puts her menu down and smiles. “I didn’t eat anything for dinner tonight.”

  “Me either.”

  The waitress comes back and places waters on the table in front of us. “Are you guys ready to order, or do you need a minute?”

  I look at Ruby, nodding for her to order first. “Can I have the French toast and bacon, please?”

  “Sure. Anything to drink?”

  “Orange juice.”

  The hostess grabs the menu back from Ruby and turns to me. “And for you?”

  “Egg white omelet and a side of fruit. I’m good with water. Thanks.”

  I hand her my menu and raise my eyebrows in confusion at the frown on Ruby’s face.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Egg white omelet?”

  “Umm, yeah.”

  “Pierce, I ordered like ten thousand calories,” she says accusingly.

  “So?”

  “So? Now I feel like I should change my order to something healthier.”

  “Stop. Eat whatever you want.”

  “Isn’t the girl the one who’s supposed to be all picky and stuff?”

  “I just follow a diet, is all.”

  “Next time, you’re ordering first—”

  “So there’s going to be a next time?”

  That stops her in her tracks and she giggles, right as the waitress brings over Ruby’s juice. She asks about how I got the gym, and I tell her the story of how I started out taking classes when the building was originally Joe’s Martial Arts when I was four. I don’t remember, but my mom says that I became obsessed with the art from the moment I stepped foot inside Joe’s.

  Master Joe was an older man who had been a boxer in his heyday and turned his passion for the sport into teaching. I guess I followed in his footsteps when he got a little too old to run things. Although, I have no desire to make MMA a profession. I feel as though it would take the fun out of it. Plus, I’m a damn good instructor.