Chapter 13
True to his word,Pearce took me gun shopping the following day. He decided on a Glock, which meant nothing to me. Then we went to the range behind the gun shop, and he taught me how to use it. It was surprising to discover I actually enjoyed shooting the darn thing. It was fun! Admittedly, I needed a lot of practice, but I never thought I would like to fire a gun as much as I did. The owner of the gun shop taught a concealed weapons class and Pearce enrolled me in that as well. The class started the week after next. The class was eight hours long and would take three nights.
Because it was the holidays, it took the rest of the week before all the security could be set up at Lisbeth’s. That meant I stayed with Pearce until after New Year’s Day. Since Thursday night was New Year’s Eve, I stayed then too.
Pearce told me to pack an overnight bag, and to bring warm casual clothes. We weren’t going to any big party or fancy restaurants, but we were spending the night alone.
Late on Thursday, I arrived at his house after work with my bag ready to go and we headed out. When we got to the City Marina, I had a good idea of what we were going to do. He looked at me and grinned.
We boarded the TSCSC … well, he piggybacked me on board. Jack was already there, along with a chef, who would be serving our dinner that night.
We were underway in no time and headed out into the harbor. Pearce wanted to make sure we were anchored in a good spot to catch the fireworks show at midnight. We would be spending the night on the boat, but Jack and the chef would take the dinghy back to the marina. Pearce would drive the yacht back in the morning.
The night could not have been more beautiful with a gazillion stars twinkling in the sky. The light of the moon reflected over the water, and we sat in the enclosed upper deck eating our intimate dinner by candlelight. The chef served grilled lobster tails, which melted in your mouth, and a creamy tomato bisque as a starter. The meal was exquisite.
“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, Alexia. 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, especially when he started moving his mouth over mine. Thinking coherently around him wasn’t in my wheelhouse.
“Mmm, you make the sweetest little sounds when we kiss. You’re way too sexy.” 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 this much?”
He snorted. “Babe, 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 have me burning for you.”
His voice turned husky and he said, “You really have no idea, do you? You are so unaware of yourself. Doubtful of everything. From the first moment I met you, I noticed it. You reminded me of a frightened rabbit, waiting to scurry off. I saw something in you then. 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. I love to watch you talk, the way your lips move as your mouth forms words. I almost lose it when your tongue peeks out to moisten your lips. Sometimes, I wake up at night and watch you sleep. And when we’re loving each other and you arch your back in pleasure, God, I want to emboss that picture of you in my mind forever. But it’s your eyes that truly win me over. Their warmth, their softness, and kindness. Sometimes it’s hard for me to pull myself away. And 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 not to show it, 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 touching mine as he murmured against my mouth. Then he kissed me and the warmth that usually spread through my veins had turned into a raging inferno. No one had ever touched me like this, and I couldn”t stop the wave of emotions that rushed over me.
“Don’t cry. I didn’t mean to make you cry,” he said as he felt the moisture of my tears against his face.
“I’m crying because that was the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”
I kissed him again and we sat there together, me on his lap, just making out like two kids. 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, 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 stateroom and did our own kind of ringing in the new year.
* * *
The next morning,we left the boat and went back to Pearce’s to shower and change to go to his parents’ for New Year’s Day dinner. The guys would be watching football, but I had no idea what would be expected of me. I was nervous to the point that my stomach was doing a gymnastics routine. Eating wouldn’t be possible.
“You look perfect,” Pearce said as I came down the stairs, dressed and ready to go. I had on a simple black dress with black tights and 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. There you go again.”
“You don’t understand. I don’t buy clothes that often because my checkbook doesn’t allow it. I usually go to consignment shops. There’s one over on Savannah Highway that has good things to choose from. Terri told me about it.” Why was I always so sensitive about everything?
“Would you like 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.”
He was being honest with me, and it 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 his 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.
Their house was on Murray Boulevard, right on The Battery, overlooking the Charleston Harbor. It was one of the grandest homes on the peninsula. My hands shook and turned clammy.
“I know what you’re thinking, but please don’t.” He got out and walked around to open my door. When he reached for my hand, I moved it away from him to wipe it on my tights 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 super excited to meet you. Especially Grams. Lisbeth has bragged so much about you she’s acting like a kid getting ready for a playdate.”
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. The first one, Betty, had worked for the Middletons 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 as I looked around, trying to absorb what I was seeing.
“I did,” he answered as he watched me closely.
“What was it like?” I lightly ran my fingers across the polished wood of a table that sat beneath a majestic painting. I gently fingered the elaborate frame that held the painting I inspected. I was caught in the dreamlike quality of my surroundings. It was indescribable. Beautiful antiques that were no doubt priceless and I’m sure dated back to the 1700s; paintings of what looked like the original Middletons that settled Charleston and artifacts that 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 … exactly like Pearce’s home.
He lifted a shoulder. “It was my home. I didn’t know any different. That’s all I can say,” he said with a smile.
“I can tell. It’s perfectly gorgeous yet inviting.”
“You really think that?”
“I do.” I smiled back at him. I turned back to a lovely vase that held a gorgeous display of flowers and dipped my head down to breathe in their fragrance.
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 glanced over to the source and saw 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 laughed and we were surrounded by his family … his 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 while everyone conversed about this and that.
Pearce had 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.
“Justin, if you had a girl who looked like Alexia, would you let go of her for a second?”
“Not a chance,” was Justin’s reply.
My face grew superhot 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, ours is 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 me 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 and asked 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 followed 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 staircase. When we reached the top, Susan stopped and grabbed both of my hands. “I know this 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 very humble roots myself. My folks are from North Charleston and my daddy worked for the paper mill all his life. I hope you can feel at home here.” Then she smiled at me, and the weight lifted off my shoulders.
I smiled back and squeezed her hands. “Thank you, Susan. You’ve made me feel so welcome. Pearce told me about how you and Henry met, but I’ll admit I was still 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, but he did say you don’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. 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 birthdays. But there isn’t anything I can do about it. I’ve learned to move 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. The sky was a flawless blue and the water sparkled like diamonds. 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 ...”
“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 different appetizers and another round of drinks appeared. This time they were Bellinis. They were delicious. We toasted and then Justin, Andrew, Pearce’s youngest brother, and I started talking about my job.
“How do you like working at MedSoft?”
“I love it. I’m working on a proposal right now for the hospital system up in Greenville. They’re looking into switching the entire software package for their physicians offices and the 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 heated to a thousand degrees 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.
Everyone glanced at each other when the doorbell rang. Then I heard a high-pitched voice. It reminded me of nails on a chalkboard. The room filled with dead silence as everyone’s eyes bounced around, before landing on Pearce. What was going on? It didn’t take long to figure it out. A tall, stick-thin, gorgeous redhead waltzed into the room. Dressed in high fashion from her Christian Louboutin stilettos, her Louis Vuitton handbag, and her Chanel jacket, she looked fabulous. I felt like the impoverished 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 in that godforsaken banshee voice, “Why, Pearce, darling, it’s been far too long! I just got in from Milan. It’s just so fabulous to see you,” she cooed, or tried to anyway. Her screeching voice made cooing impossible. “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. It’s time to 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 this she-devil was. If he didn’t, I was going to rip that red hair right out of her scalp.
Suddenly, an arm wrapped around me, and Justin stood there, grinning. I wished someone would tell me what was going on here.
“Why, hello, Carmody. Nice of you to bust right in here, uninvited,” Justin said, his tone sarcastic.
Banshee Carmody looked over at Justin and grinned. It was more like a grimace, and I was shocked her teeth weren’t sharp and pointy. Now that I had the chance to examine her closely, I was thinking she was looking more like a Gremlin … and I meant Stripe, not Gizmo.
“Well, hello, Justin. Is that your girlfriend?” she sneered.
“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-slash-Stripe was leering at my guy. She looked like she wanted to eat him for dinner, and by 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’s a fucking bitch and I hate that she’s here. I’m sorry you had to witness that display of pure nasty. As soon as I can, I’m going to brush my teeth.”
A burst of laughter exploded out of me. Everyone glanced at us, and it was obvious by the way their lips pressed together they wanted to laugh too. Banshee woman’s cheeks reddened with anger.
“Pearce? Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
He shrugged. “Whatever.”
Then he turned to me and said, “Come on, babe,” and he tugged me away from that awful scene.
We hurried up the stairs and he pulled me into his old bedroom. True to his word, he went straight to the bathroom and scrubbed his teeth.
“Pearce, if you’re not careful, you’re going to brush the enamel off.”
“Ugh, I almost gagged when she put her mouth on mine.”
A thought popped into my head and my unfiltered mouth asked, “Did you ever sleep with her?”
He stopped dead in his tracks and his face paled.
“Yes, I did,” he admitted. “It happened a long time ago when I didn’t think she was so disgusting then. I’m sorry. It was terrible judgment on my part.”
“Don’t be sorry. It happened before us. I just wanted to know because she’ll probably 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.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. I could tell your family was not happy about her arrival.”
He told me how they all disliked her. We sat in his room while he explained how she and Justin despised each other. He figured if Justin insulted her enough, she’d leave. Sure enough, by the time we went back downstairs, she was gone.
We were all standing around talking when a voice from the doorway said, “Thank God that annoying screech owl decided to take her leave. What in the world possessed that nettlesome creature to decide to torture us on this lovely day?”
Everyone howled with laughter.
Pearce leaned into me and quietly said, “Leave it to Grams.”
“And, Pearce, I am very thankful to our good Lord above that He has finally bestowed better judgement upon you where women are concerned.”
A chortle had Pearce glance at me. He actually had the good graces to blush.
“I would have to agree with you, Grams,” he said as he walked over to escort her into the room. He brought her directly to me and said, “Grams, I would love to introduce you to someone very special.”
“I already know who she is, dear.” Turning to me, she said, “Alexia, I am mighty pleased to make your acquaintance. I have heard way too much about you from Lisbeth. She talks incessantly about you. Now do me a favor, honey. Please let us make our own gossip so I have something to brag to Lisbeth about!”
Pearce was quick on his feet with this one, but I wasn’t quite ready for him to say this out loud. “Well, Grams, you can tell Lisbeth you heard this here first. Tell her that Alexia and I are in love.”
I nearly fell through the floor. I had just taken a sip of my Bellini and instantly started to sputter.
“Good lawd, Pearce, are you trying to declare your love and intentions or are you trying to kill the poor child?” Avery asked.
Pearce had already grabbed my glass out of my hand and patted my back asking me if I was okay. I was still sputtering, trying to recover from a combination of choking and embarrassment.
“Pearce, where are your manners? Will you escort the girl away from here so she can collect herself? I declare!”
Avery glared at Pearce as he practically dragged me out of the room and into a smaller sitting room across the hall. He closed the door behind us, sat down, and pulled me onto his lap.
“Christ, I’m sorry, Alexia. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
I finally recovered from the choking spell and looked at him. He was really concerned about the whole incident, which, when I put it all into perspective, was purely funny.
I grabbed his shirt and laid the biggest kiss on him the man had ever seen. His arms went around me as he leaned me over and began kissing me in return. My hands were in his hair, on his back, all over him. He was damn sexy and the way he just blurted out to his family that he loved me. How could I not just go all in crazy for him?
I finally pulled back and said, “Thank you, Pearce. For loving me and for not being afraid to say it out loud.” I looked down at my hands, which were clenching his shirt, and then I cleared my throat. “I’ve never felt loved the way I do with you, so thank you for that, but what I really want you to know is that I love you more than I can say. I don’t know how or why this all happened, and I still can hardly believe it has, but I’m ecstatic you came into my life.”
“Honey, you just made me the happiest man alive.”
“I think we need to go back to the party.”
“Yeah, because if we don’t, I can’t promise I’ll behave in here.” He kissed the top of my head, and we were off to rejoin the rest of the family.
We were kidded mercilessly by everyone, including Avery, but we just laughed. Dinner was excellent. Betty cooked a traditional southern New Year’s Day meal of roast pork, hoppin’ john, collards, cornbread, and everything else you could possibly imagine. Right when dessert was being served, a cell phone started ringing and a text alarm went off. I looked at Pearce because I didn’t think he was on call.
“It’s not mine, sweetheart. But you’re surrounded by a bunch of docs. Whose is it?”
“It’s mine,” said Justin. “I gotta go. Looks like a femur.”
Pearce looked at me and said, “He’s an orthopedic surgeon.”
“Oh.”
Then he added, “Andrew’s in his third year of his ENT residency.”
“I see,” I said again, nodding and smiling. Nothing like being in the midst of a bunch of brainiacs.
Pearce’s hand reached for mine under the table and I latched on to his. This small gesture gave me strength when I was insecure about myself. He laced his fingers with mine and settled our hands on my lap.
Justin said his good-byes and quickly left. After dinner was finished, we hung out a little longer with the family and then headed home. I was getting sleepy from the combination of alcohol and too much food. I dragged my rear end up the stairs and we both got ready for bed. I dreaded having to get up in the morning, but I was also excited about the prospect of the potential business ahead of me.
We crawled into bed and Pearce turned on the TV. He found a sappy movie for us to watch, even though I figured it was the last thing he wanted to do. He pulled out his iPad and started reading.
“We don’t have to watch this, you know.”
“No, it’s not that at all. I need to catch up on some journal reading.” He showed me his iPad and it was opened to some article in The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. There was a picture of a man with a giant pole jammed through his midsection.
“Urrgh, don’t show me that! Is this the kind of stuff you do?” I wanted to hurl just looking at the picture.
“Yeah,” he said, very nonchalantly, still reading.
I shut the TV off and turned to look at him. “Are you serious. I mean, do you really see that kind of stuff?”
“I do. Usually accident victims. This was unusual. That pole flew off the back of a truck and came through this guy’s windshield. He was in the passenger seat of a van and the seat was pulled back as far as possible. If he’d been in a car, he’d be dead. That pole would’ve hit him in the head.”
“That’s awful. What do you do when something like this comes in?”
“The team puts the patient back together. It’s our job.”
I picked up his hands and started to examine them. I ran my fingers up and down each of his and turned them this way and that. He sat there, and just watched me with a puzzled look on his face. When I was done, I brought his hands to my lips and kissed them. He was still looking at me with an odd expression.
I finally spoke, “You heal people, Pearce. Your hands are a gift from God. Not everyone can do something like this. You’re special, and I’m not just saying this because I love you. You are truly gifted.”
“I don’t think of it ...”
“I do and so do those people you save. I am awed by what you do. I had no idea. I thought you just sewed people up or something. Really. And to think you’re able to save someone like this.”
“Alexia, I can’t save everyone. All the stars have to be aligned for someone like this to survive.”
“Maybe. But if this person didn’t have a trauma surgeon like yourself, he never would’ve survived. End of story.”
I didn’t want to let go of his hands. I just sat there holding them, wanting to feel the life in them forever.
He leaned over and kissed me, but I still wouldn’t release his hands. I felt his chest jiggling and heard the deep rumble of his laughter. “You ever gonna let ’em go, sweetheart, ’cause if you don’t, it’s gonna be awfully hard to work?”
I totally cracked up then.