25. Piper
TWENTY-FIVE
PIPER
Thirty minutes later, I had showered, moisturized my skin with my favorite cherry-scented lotion, and dressed. I’d tugged on a fluffy cream-colored sweater and a pair of velvet baby blue pants and the same over-the-knee boots I wore yesterday.
My love of fashion had never dissipated, though I had far fewer clothes than I likely would have if my life had turned out differently. If I hadn’t been so reckless and sent myself spiraling down a path that would destroy everything.
My hopes and my dreams and the true beauty of this life.
I swallowed around the barbwire of grief that threatened to close off my throat, and instead, focused on getting ready.
Cataloging the clothing that I did have up against the things I would need to buy since I was working at Ivy Threads. I was pretty sure everything would come out of that store.
Every item was adorable. Emery’s taste impeccable.
Sparking that itch to create in a way that I hadn’t experienced in a long, long time.
Tiny glimmers of excitement flickered in my belly, and I attempted to suppress it as I put on a small amount of makeup.
Mascara and blush and a shiny, pink lip gloss.
Then I inhaled a steadying breath, grabbed my purse, and opened my door.
My stomach toppled all over again when I could still hear the deep tenor of Theo’s voice rumbling through the air.
What was he still doing here?
Didn’t the man have a job to do?
It seemed like there was plenty of work at this place to keep him busy, but honestly, I wasn’t surprised considering the man was about as overbearing as they came.
So, I bounded downstairs, refusing the nerves that zapped beneath my flesh.
Too bad they went haywire when I hit the bottom landing and saw Nelly and Theo at the table. Finn sat on Theo’s lap as he scribbled something in a coloring book.
My mind fried into a complete short circuit.
“ Wook it, Feo . I got a bwue puppy!” Finn pointed at what he was coloring on the page.
Theo ran a tender hand over his head, and his mouth dropped to his temple, his words a gentle rumble. “Coolest dog I’ve ever seen.”
“You wike puppies?” Finn peeped.
“Oh yeah. A couple of my brothers have dogs, and they’re the best.”
“I go see?” Finn tilted his head back so he could look up at Theo.
He dropped a kiss to the middle of my son’s forehead. “Sounds like a good plan to me.”
Crap, crap, crap.
How was I supposed to handle this?
Nelly whistled low when she saw me loitering off to the side. “My, my, prettiest girl in the whole town.”
Theo’s attention jerked toward me, and those eyes slowly dragged over my body.
Black coals leapt into a blazing fire.
“That’s right. Prettiest girl in the whole damn town,” he rumbled.
I forced a roll of my eyes. “Charm will get you nowhere.”
Okay, it would get him everywhere because that’s where I wanted him.
On me and in me and consuming me in every way.
Then I was rolling my eyes at myself because I clearly needed to get a grip.
Inhaling, I took a step deeper into the living room. “Come and give Mommy a kiss, Finn. I need to call a ride and get in to work.”
Emery had to be dragging after all her celebrating last night.
Ivy Threads opened in a little over an hour, and I wanted to make sure I could be the best help to her that I could be.
Finn scrambled off Theo’s lap and came scampering my way. “Mommy go work, and I stay wif Newwy Bewwy ?”
I knelt down and gripped his precious face, peppering a bunch of kisses to his cheeks. “Yep. Mommy is going to work for a little bit, and then when I get home, maybe we can decorate that Christmas tree?”
Hope glowed inside me.
I could give my son this.
This holiday.
His face lit up like lights on a tree, his smile stretching wide as he showed me his tiny, gapped teeth. “Mommy come home soon!”
My chest clutched when I realized what I’d said.
What I’d claimed.
Home.
I swallowed around the barbs in my throat and stood, going for my phone in my purse at the same second Theo pushed from the chair, the legs screeching on the wood floor. “I’ll take you.”
Exasperation blustered out of me. “I can get my own ride. I’m sure you have plenty of work to do around here.”
He strode forward, and the floor trembled under my feet.
He grabbed his leather jacket where it was draped on the back of the couch and swung into it. So lithe and sexy my knees went weak.
“Have to run an errand in town, anyway. No reason I can’t give you a lift.”
I could think of so many of them it wasn’t even funny. Because I could feel this man dismantling every resolution I’d ever made.
Brick by brick.
If I let him have his way, I’d be left nothing but the wreckage of toppled stones.
Because despite what we agreed on last night—a luxurious, package deal of endless orgasms until I figured out what I was going to do—nothing about this felt fleeting.
It felt like I was falling, and I was going to be a broken mess when I hit the bottom.
“Theo…”
He didn’t even give me a response. He just turned to Nelly, grinning as he said, “Thank you for the delicious breakfast, Miss Nelly. It was a real treat.”
“Oh, we know what the real treat is.”
I wanted to hiss at her to stop making this worse than it already was.
But no.
Theo was already taking that upon himself.
He picked Finn up from under the arms and tossed him into the air.
Not high enough that it was dangerous.
Just high enough to make my son squeal and laugh as he flew before Theo caught him in the safety of his arms. “See you later, Finn-Finn.”
Finn latched his little hands into each side of Theo’s trim beard. “You come back to Finn’s house?”
That hazardous gaze swept to me. “Yeah, Finn, I’ll be back later.”
Shivering with his promise, I shoved my arms into my jacket and zipped it up, and Theo returned Finn to his feet. “You be a good boy.”
“I a good boy,” Finn told him before he went scurrying back to his toys.
Theo turned on his heel and came stalking my way.
One of those powerful hands went to the small of my back, and he reached out with the other and opened the door.
It didn’t matter that my thick coat separated us, it still felt as if he were burning me through.
“Bye-bye!” Finn called, and I whispered, “Bye, my sweet boy.”
I sent a parting glance to Nelly who was watching us with far too much delight before I let Theo guide me out into the chilled morning air.
It was cloudier than it’d been the last few days. Thick, gray clouds gathered in the north, though the horizon over the lake that stretched on to the south was blue.
My spirit leaned in its direction.
Right then, it felt like maybe if I could just reach it—if I could remain within the rays of the sun—I could outrun the demons that hunted me.
“You’re fuckin’ gorgeous when you sleep.”
The words that were suddenly murmured at my ear knocked me from the trance, and Theo looped his arm tighter around my waist and tugged me even closer as he poured the persuasive words into my ear.
“Thought you on your knees with my cock in your mouth would eclipse everything else, but no…have never seen anything more beautiful than you lying in my arms. Lost to everything but the fact that I’m holding you.”
My pulse careened out of control as Theo guided me off the porch and down the path toward his truck that had been left at an odd angle in the snow off to the side of the little round drive.
As if he’d tried to drive away last night but had ended up stuck, captured by the insanity that had driven us into greed last night.
He pushed the button on his fob. Red lights flashed, and he wound me around to the passenger side and opened the door.
Again, his hands went to my waist to hoist me up, and I could only release a shaky breath at his grunt of need as he settled me onto the seat.
He turned his gaze up at me, fingers light as he tapped them along the edge of my jaw before he tucked a wayward lock of hair behind my ear. “Think that’s just you, though, isn’t it? Beauty of every fucking kind.”
“Theo…” His name rushed out of me. A plea and a warning. “You can’t say things like that to me.”
He hooked the knuckle of his index finger under my chin. “Sure, I can. Told you I was going to spend this time showing you exactly who you are and exactly what you deserve.”
Then he stepped back like he didn’t have my heart completely fisted in his hand, a smirk taking to his mouth as he said, “Affirmations now. Orgasms later.”
A surprised laugh ripped out of me, and I shook my head as he slammed my door shut and hurried around the back side of the truck.
One second later, he climbed in on his side. He pushed the button for the ignition, and the truck growled as it roared to life.
He messed with the dials, making sure the heat was turned up high and the seat heaters were on. “Cold as fuck this morning.”
I cast him a searching glance as I buckled my seatbelt, and I figured if we were doing this for a little while, there was no point in tiptoeing around it.
“What time did you leave?”
His expression twisted into something that appeared so much deeper than the simple question I asked.
Something profound.
“Slept until five.”
In question, my head barely shook.
“Don’t really sleep.”
Oh.
Sadness pulled at my spirit. Awareness rippling through my being as it twined with his.
His sorrow distinct.
I had the urge to reach out and trace my fingers over his jaw.
To whisper that I was glad that he found some respite in me like I did with him.
So, I did.
“I liked it. I liked being held by you all last night.”
I was probably giving him whiplash. My freak-out this morning up against this. But I found I had a difficult time keeping myself from opening up to him when we were alone.
The energy that pounded between us too strong.
Like there was some strange tether that bound me to him.
He took my hand that was on his face and ran his lips over my fingertips. “Guess I liked holding you, too.”
Then his mouth hooked high on the right side as he released me and the intensity drained away. “Hurt like hell leaving you, too.”
Redness flushed, and he put his truck into reverse, accelerating backward. The powerful truck engine chugged and rumbled as the tires spun out of the snow and back onto the circle drive. He put it into gear and slowly started to ease back onto the path.
His attention snagged on Alicia and Lucy’s cabin.
In that split second, I could feel the furor clap through his being.
Severity sliced through the atmosphere as he peered closely at the cute cabin before his eyes flicked through the forest that surrounded it.
I attempted to quell the riot that scourged my insides.
There was something there that I couldn’t make out. Something I was a fool to want to tap into.
When Theo seemed to be satisfied with whatever he was searching for, he accelerated, shaking off the ferocity and letting that cocky ease seep back into his demeanor.
“How do you feel?” he asked, his tattooed hands holding onto the steering wheel and his tongue stroking over that full bottom lip as he peeked over at me.
“Cold.” I tossed it out like a tease, acting as if I didn’t know full well what he was referring to.
He reached over and clamped my thigh with a big hand.
Need rocketed out from the connection.
It was terrifying that one single man could evoke this reaction in me.
“Not talkin’ about the cold.”
“Then what exactly are we talking about?” I feigned ignorance.
Amusement pranced all over his sinful face. “The orgasms.”
“One-star, remember?” I punted it at him with as much sass as I could muster.
The hand on the top of my thigh slid up until he was brushing his fingers over the center of my thighs.
I spluttered.
Holy crap.
This freaking brazen man.
One of my hands darted to the handle on the door and the other to the edge of the seat to brace myself against the jolt of desire that tore through me.
He removed his hand, and arrogance twitched through his expression. “That’s what I thought.”
“You’re cruel, Theo Mallin.”
“Nah, Little Liar, I’m just here to remind you of exactly what you need.”
And I was afraid what I needed was him.