14. Piper
CHAPTER 14
Piper
I open the door a little bit at a time and meet his smiling, dark eyes.
He sticks out his big hand to me, and I tentatively reach out to take it.
“Hello, neighbor. I’m Gage Bannon,” he says, shaking my hand.
“Hi, I’m Piper Myers.”
He smiles big. “Well, nice to meet you, Piper.”
I shake my head, laughing. “Likewise, Gage… you do realize that we’re doing the whole introduction bit after the sticking-tongues-down-each-other’s-throat bit, right?”
He shrugs. “Now, now, Piper! That’s not very gentlewomanly of you, is it?”
I huff out a breath. “I was right! You do always have to have the last word!”
Gage strides ahead of me into the apartment. “Right back at ya, lady. But I guess it’s normal for a writer to want to have the last word about everything.”
“Very funny…”
He smiles down at me. “I thought so, but you might want to keep in mind that a CEO is used to having all of the executive powers, as well.”
“Noted, but this is not a company merger that we’re about to discuss, Gage.”
I guide him through the living room, not sure what to do with the giant, sexy bastard now that he’s in my space.
He plops down on the sofa without prompting and does so in a sinfully hot manspread, eyes on mine. He looks like he took possession of the place as soon as he got in here even if it’s only been seconds.
“You sure about that? That we’re not about to discuss a merger, I mean?” he asks, giving me a slow once-over that makes me blush to the roots of my hair. The man has, like, quintessential bedroom eyes, and with a single look, he’s able to put all kinds of dirty thoughts into my head.
I’m pretty sure my skin is never going to go back to my usual fair complexion after this. I’ve been blushing so much since Sunday because of this man that, at this point, it feels like a permanent sunburn that flares up at his every look and word.
I stand before him, hands on my hips. “You are entirely too sure of yourself…”
He nods. “Yes, I am…”
“And arrogant…”
“That, too.”
“And a bit of an asshole…”
He smirks up at me. “Sometimes…”
I sigh, looking at the ceiling. “You know, by agreeing with me every time I insult you, you take all the fun out of the argument.”
He tilts his head to the side, studying me, the intensity in his penetrating gaze making me squirm a bit. “And does that piss you off or turn you on?”
I take a step back, even if he’s still sitting down. “You are breaking the rules already, Gage.”
He gives me a little apologetic smile that's so cute on his smoking-hot face that it's almost incongruous, and it makes me feel all kinds of hot and bothered and also like I want to spend an hour hugging him close. Weird feeling.
“Sorry, baby doll. How about we have a glass of that tea you mentioned and just give a rest to the flirting for a few, uh?”
"Sure," I mumble and turn on my heel toward the kitchen, hoping that a couple of minutes alone will help me to compose myself, but he stands up and walks beside me, thwarting my plans.
I open the fridge and take out the cold pitcher of lemon and mint iced tea I made last night. When I turn around again after having stuck my head in the cooling box for a few seconds trying to get a grip on my emotions, I see that he's busying himself, looking through the higher kitchen cabinets for glasses.
He puts two tall glasses over the breakfast bar and takes a seat on one of the stools. I lower the pitcher to the island and clutch the cold marble counter in both hands as we stare at each other. I'm standing on the other side of the bar, and he's sitting and like this, we’re almost the same height.
How freaking huge is this guy, anyway?
And why does the thought of our size difference make me feel all melty inside?
I try to gain the upper hand again in the only way I know how. By teasing him. “So, –I tell him when he picks up the pitcher and starts to fill the glasses with tea— you really are one of those take-charge types, then…”
He grins. “I am, but for some reason, I don’t think that’s going to be much of a problem since you seem to like it a lot.”
Upper hand lost.
I turn toward the freezer for some ice cubes, trying to compose myself again as my brain tries to go over the catalog of ready-made one-liners I always use to shock guys to keep them away. My mom says that, under all my shyness, I have a veritable well of sass in which I can dip at a moment’s notice.
Right now, it seems the well is nothing but a shallow puddle, though, and I’m all out of witty comebacks.
I slide the ice tray over the counter and then busy myself looking for tongs, all the while feeling his eyes burning in my back and… lower.
“What are you searching for, babe?”
His voice is coming from much closer than expected, and when I move around again, I see that Gage is standing right behind me.
I let go of the fork I was holding and it clinks down onto the floor.
“Ice tongs,” I mumble.
He moves even more into my space until there’s practically only air separating us, and my breathing starts to hitch. Then he bends down to pick up the fork and gives it back to me.
I quickly throw it in the sink, sending it crashing there, and wince at the noise.
I’m so nervous that I’m making a mess of things!
“We don’t need does… just use your hands.”
“Aren’t you afraid of germs?”
He shrugs. “Not yours… I already got a healthy dose of them just as you got one of mine, and we’re both more than okay, so I don’t see what bad exchanging a few more could do…”
The things that can come out of this man’s mouth!
I blink up at him and walk back to the breakfast bar, sidestepping him, all the while totally unable to formulate a single thought.
Gage flexes the plastic ice tray like it’s made of paper.
“Hold your hand up,” he orders, and I do as he says.
He lets a couple of ice cubes fall on my palm, and I shiver at their coldness.
He smiles, picks one of the cubes up from my hand, and slides it slowly over my lower lip, making me tremble all over.
I look into his eyes, too stunned to move, let alone say anything, as I bite into my lip to stop myself from moaning at the look in his eyes.
I didn’t know people actually did that whole eye-fucking thing we write so much about!
I see him gulp down and take a step back from me, and I take heart in the fact that the little tease he enacted to fluster me ended up backfiring on him.
He throws the cube into his glass and then drops a few more in it.
I snap out of my trance and let the other two cubes on my palm drop into my own glass. I take a deep breath. “I… I said no funny business, Gage…”
“Was that… funny ?” he asks.
I narrow my eyes at him. “You know it was…”
He holds both hands up, palms out. “Sorry, baby… let’s enjoy this beverage and have a nice normal chat, okay?”
I nod, sliding my glasses back up over the bridge of my nose. “Yes, I would like that very much.”
He picks up both iced teas from the breakfast table and walks back into the living room. “How about you show me this telescope of yours!”
I shake my head as I follow behind him. “You never quit, do you?”
Gage stops walking and throws a look over his shoulder at me. It’s so scorching that it nearly stops my heart. “Not when it comes to you…”
The buzz of the intercom system breaks into our conversation, and I stand up to see who it is.
“Were you expecting a visitor?” Gage asks and stands up from his seat behind my telescope.
I shake my head. “No… I mean, there’s a package that’s being delivered today, but not now. It should come in the afternoon. Maybe they’re delivering it early?”
Gage looks at his smartwatch and smiles. “Maybe not, babe.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, going to the speaker, through which the concierge informs me that there’s indeed a courier with a package for me at the front desk and that they’ll be taking care of signing for it and sending it up here in a few minutes.
“Look at your phone, Piper.”
I grab the phone off the coffee table, and my eyes widen when I read the time. “It can’t be… it’s four? How is it possible?”
Gage shrugs.
I really can’t believe this.
We’ve been talking since this morning, and it was pretty early.
“I hadn’t realized this much time had passed,” I murmur, astounded.
“Me neither. Time flies when you have fun, right? I always thought it was one of those stupid things you just say, but I guess it can actually happen when you are with someone special…”
I nod, unable to speak.
It’s really four o’clock!
We’ve been chatting about everything and anything under the sun. Our backgrounds, families, work, but mostly, we’ve been talking about what seems to be going on between us, these feelings we seem to have developed for each other at the speed of light, and we forgot about everything else as we focused exclusively on this whole insane serendipity thing that’s happening to us.
About how we’re both from Seattle but never met each other, never could have, to be honest, since we live nowhere near each other, and we don’t seem to frequent any of the same places, and yet here we are, both in Phoenix at the same time, staying in the same building, and on the same freaking floor of all things!
There is definitely something uncanny, big, and different going on here. We’ve reached the conclusion that there’s something that we aren’t meant to ignore, something that wants to push us closer, something we are meant to explore. We’ve been talking circles around the phenomenon, whatever it is – even being a romance writer, I can’t make heads or tails of this stuff, which, for some reason, had Gage in stitches when I told him—, and we both agreed that even though we don’t fully understand it, we are going to let it play out.
I'm such an introvert that, typically, speaking so long with someone I don't know well enough would require me to go lie down in the dark somewhere to recoup my mental energies afterward, but it's not happening now.
I feel anything but tired, mentally or physically.
I actually feel pretty galvanized, which is really strange.
“What are you thinking about?” he asks, putting his arms around me. I just lean into him, my head on his chest as if we’ve been doing stuff like this, being this close to one another, for years, rather than being people who just met.
Another first for me: usually, I’d be more uncomfortable with some stranger invading my space like this, being touched by someone unfamiliar can be awkward, right?
And yet, I’m not feeling that. I’m perfectly comfortable.
“I was thinking that we should have eaten something. We totally forgot about lunch,” I fib.
He gives me a little squeeze. “We did, babe. But you weren’t thinking about that… not really.”
I sigh, nuzzling the side of my face into his hard pecs. “Fine. I wasn’t. I was thinking about how confusing this whole thing is… how this hasn’t been the most normal of days, and about how I should be feeling right now versus how I actually feel.”
He bends his head a little, holding me closer, and kisses the top of my hair. “And how do you feel?”
I look up at him. “I don’t know how to put it into words, which is a first for me, you’d better believe it... I feel… the opposite of what someone in my position should feel.”
He strokes my back slowly, sending little zings of pleasure through me.
“It’s the same for me…”
I take a step back to look into his eyes better but don’t leave the circle of his arms. “Really?”
Gage nods. “Yeah. This should feel strange, no? Off somehow… we should be circling each other, being a bit weary maybe… we should definitely feel somewhat uncomfortable with each other since we’re perfect strangers…”
“Exactly. Although, we’re not perfect strangers anymore. I feel like I’ve told you my whole life story… and you’ve shared a lot, too.”
He pulls me into his chest again and kisses my temple. “That’s true… also, believe it or not, I’m not this physical on a first date, and this isn’t even a first date, right?”
I blink up at him. “You are not?”
He shakes his head. “Not much of a cuddly type either…”
I smile. “Then why are you acting like this?”
He chuckles. “I have no idea! I can tell you that I like it… I like it a lot . Never been a fan in the past, but with you… yeah, I like it. I feel like I… I don’t know, like I need to have my hands on you at all times in some way or another. Again, I realize this is insane, but…”
I sigh. “But you can’t seem to stop…”
He kisses the other shell of my ear, and I melt into his arms. “Yeah, and I don’t want to either…”
There's a knock on the door, and I jump away from him. My brain is so scattered that I forgot someone was coming up with my parcel for a moment.
“My delivery,” I mumble, walking backward instead of turning around as if there’s a part of me that can’t bear looking away from Gage.
Hello, codependency, table for one, please?!
He follows me the short distance to the door, and I grin to myself.
Okay, then maybe, table for two?
I open the door and thank the concierge for bringing the package to my door. The people who work in this building genuinely go above and beyond and are always tremendously kind and helpful.
I'll be sure to tip them all generously when I leave. I take the parcel from her and say goodbye before turning back to Gage.
“Your headphones?” he guesses.
I nod and walk back inside, pulling off the little narrow tab that keeps the side of the cardboard parcel closed.
Once I’m done unwrapping and opening the slick white box they came in, I set the headphones on the coffee table in the living room, and I smile, pleased. They are just as cute as the picture showed! Maybe cuter.
Gage sits near me on the sofa and chuckles, looking at them.
I mock-punch his shoulder. "What you laughing at?"
He shrugs, giving me a lopsided grin as he massages where I hit him as If I could ever really hurt him! If anything, my knuckles are kinda smarting a bit because of his impressive biceps. Not that I'm going to let on. I don't need to give him more reasons to laugh his ass off.
“Nothing, babe. I was just thinking that these headphones are very… you .”
“Dorky?” I ask, giving him my best bitch brow.
He smiles, reaching out with one hand to caress the side of my face. “No, adorable… and well, a bit catty…”
I roll my eyes at him, my lips twitching. “That was the lamest joke ever made.”
“Absolutely. But what do you expect?! It’s not like being around you leaves me with much brainpower!” he says and then chuckles at my miffed expression, pulling me up into his arms once more.
I go oh-so willingly.
I get comfortable in his lap. “You mean I make you stupid?”
He kisses my forehead. “Yep…”
I shake my head. “Is that supposed to be a compliment?”
He grins, looking up at me as he lies back against the headrest a bit more, his hands stroking up and down my legs. "Absolutely. Don't I have the same effect on you? Maybe just a little bit?"
I laugh. “Oh, you do! Believe me, you totally do! I’ve never acted more stupidly or more recklessly in my life, but I fail to see how that’s a good thing,” I say, not entirely joking.
He considers my words, his expression turning solemn for a moment.
“But it is, Piper… it really is because it goes both ways. I mean, if I was the only one feeling this way, acting this way while you were totally indifferent to me, it would be impossible to bear, but it’s not because we’re on the same wavelength…”
I nod, my head resting on his chest as he begins to stroke the purple ends of my ponytail, fingers sifting through the strands. “That’s true… I don’t know why or how, but it is…”
He gives me a disbelieving look. “You don’t? But you’re a romance writer?!”
Oh, boy. I can see him asking me this same thing in this very same disbelieving tone quite a few more times on, shall we say, relating subjects if this thing between us doesn’t end up being a one-day-only fluke.
“I am… but that’s all make-believe… the stories I write, I mean. They’re supposed to be an escape, both for me and my readers, you know… they describe a different world that isn’t real, while this… whatever it is that’s going on between us… it’s real. Besides, I don’t write insta-love romance. I don’t particularly enjoy that kind of trope… I’ve always thought it was too unrealistic, and I’ve never been able to suspend my disbelief long enough to enjoy reading or writing stories like that.”
He frowns a bit, tilting his head to the side. “Insta-what?”