Chapter Twelve
On the morning of the big move, Piper was up and ready before dawn.
She barely slept the entire night before.
Jack picked Maddie up around midnight, and Sunny and Lorna crashed just after she left.
She packed a few last items and then tried to sleep, but was too excited about the move to get her brain to shut up.
It was a welcome change from the nightmares that she had about her parents or the sexy as hell dream that she was currently having about Tag.
Although she didn’t mind those. It felt like an eternity since she was so excited about something that she couldn’t sleep.
There was no sense in her wallowing in bed trying to force sleep to find her, so she got up and showered.
Tag sent her a text after she got out of the shower—he couldn’t sleep either.
The two of them made a pretty ridiculous pair.
They were acting like horny teenagers about this whole moving-in-together thing.
She smiled like a crazy person as she typed back her reply. Within minutes, Tag called her.
“Hey,” she answered the phone. “So, you couldn’t sleep either?”
“Nope, I guess I’m pretty excited about someone agreeing to shack up with me,” Tag said. Piper giggled and hurried to shut her bedroom door. She didn’t want to wake Sunny or Lorna.
“I’m pretty excited that you asked me to shack up with you, Tag.” Piper sounded like a sixteen-year-old girl who had just been asked to the prom.
“So, when are you going to come and pick me up?” She wedged her cell phone between her chin and shoulder so she could pull her shorts up her legs.
“Look out your bedroom window, Honey.” Piper ran over to her front window and pulled back the curtain just enough to peek out the corner.
She found Tag leaning against his pickup truck in all his sexy glory.
He had on an old pair of jeans and a white t-shirt that stretched across his muscles just right.
He touched the tip of his baseball cap when he caught her looking at him, drawing her attention back up his body.
“You look good this morning, Tag.” He laughed at her breathy comment.
“Well, I can’t quite see you, Honey, but thanks.”
“I can’t open my curtains just yet. I’m not fully dressed,” Piper teased. She heard a rustling on Tag’s end of the phone, followed by Lorna’s voice. “Tag, tell me you didn’t just wake up my aunt,” Piper warned.
“Okay.” Tag pushed her bedroom door open and shut it behind him after he breathlessly made his way into her room.
“I won’t tell you that I woke her. She was already up and let me in the door.
Must have seen me coming.” Tag disconnected the phone and tossed it on Piper’s unmade bed.
He took her in from head to toe as she stood there in just her shorts and a lacy white bra.
“You look good today, too, Piper,” he almost whispered.
He crossed the room to stand in front of her and pulled her into his arms. She felt like it had been forever since he kissed her, not just a day.
He must have felt the same. He crushed their mouths together with a passion that made her want and need him with every flick of his tongue.
“Tag,” she moaned into his mouth, “we can’t do this here. Lorna is right downstairs.” She wrapped her arms around Tag’s neck and pulled him closer into her body. Tag laughed, his lips vibrating on her skin.
“Honey, you’re sending me mixed signals here.” He dipped his head to lick and then gently bite her nipple through her lace bra, igniting a fire deep in her belly. She moaned, thrusting her breasts into his hands as he fumbled with the front clasp of her bra.
“We have to be quiet. I don’t want to wake Sunny.” Piper knew that she was fighting a losing battle. Her body betrayed her with every touch from Tag.
“Quiet is my middle name, Honey.” He unsnapped her bra and moaned as he filled his hands with her breasts.
She pulled him down with her on top of her bed, fumbling with the zipper to his jeans.
She was still somewhat shy about the whole sex thing.
Tag didn’t let her hide behind her walls, though.
He told her just what to do in every dirty detail enough to make her blush.
Truthfully, she liked the way he talked to her during sex; it turned her on.
“Honey, I need you naked.” He stood back up, looking down at her body like he wanted to lick every last inch of her.
She shivered with the promise that his wicked smile delivered.
He pulled off her shorts and sucked in air with the realization that she wasn’t wearing any panties.
She decided to surprise him later at the cabin, but now was as good a time as any.
“Fuck Piper, that’s hot. Did you do this for me?” She shyly nodded her head, reaching up for him. She wanted the weight of his body on top of hers. She needed him naked and thrusting deep into her core. Tag shucked his jeans and boxers and lowered his body on top of Piper’s.
“I don’t have protection, Piper. Tell me if you want me to stop.” Piper smiled up at him, pulling Tag down for a passionate kiss.
“We don’t need any,” Piper said. Tag froze against her, and she knew that he was getting the wrong idea.
“Don’t worry, Tag, I’m nowhere near ready to have kids.
I’m covered. I’ve been on the pill for a few years now.
The doctor told me that a woman my age should always be prepared.
” She laughed, burying her face against Tag’s chest. “I guess she read me all wrong. I didn’t need to be prepared for anything.
Well, except now—with you.” Tag gently brushed Piper’s face with his big hand.
“I’m happy that you took your doctor’s advice. Hell, I’m fucking thrilled. Are you sure?” Tag looked like a kid about to run downstairs on Christmas morning. Piper couldn’t help her giggle.
“I’m sure, Tag. I want you to be my first—um, well, my first experience without a condom. I want all of you.” Tag groaned. Not needing any more invitation. He thrust balls deep inside of her. She gasped at the intense pleasure of being filled by him.
“You good Pipe?” Tag’s voice sounded hoarse. She knew that he was on edge. “This is a first for me, too. I won’t last long.” She wrapped her legs around his waist, loving the way his body felt against hers.
“Take me, Tag, I’m yours.” He crushed his mouth to hers and ground into her body over and over.
“Touch yourself, Honey. I need you with me.” He grunted out his demands, and she didn’t hesitate.
She knew that Tag liked to watch her. She found her release by biting into Tag’s shoulder to keep from screaming.
He spilled his seed into her and collapsed onto his side, pulling her with him.
They were both breathless and tangled up when Sunny knocked on Piper’s bedroom door.
“Pipe, you about ready? We need to get a move on. You’ve been getting dressed for a long time.
” Piper could hear Lorna and Sunny’s giggles through her door.
Tag groaned and untangled himself from Piper.
He strode into her bathroom and came back moments later with a wet washcloth, using it to gently clean her.
She thought that was possibly the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her.
“I should take another shower.” Piper sat up, allowing Tag to pull her into his arms.
“No, you should wear me all day and think about where I’ve been deep inside of you.
You’re mine, Piper.” He pulled her in for another quick kiss and handed her the clothes that he had taken off her earlier.
She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about Tag calling her “his”.
On the one hand, she loved that he felt that way, but on the other, the thought scared the daylights out of her.
She had all day to think about it before they were going to be alone again.
She just needed to get her libido and her heart under control by the evening.
Taking things slowly with Tag was proving to be a challenge.
Tag couldn’t stop thinking about taking Piper without a condom.
Something deep inside of him, maybe his inner caveman, roared to life afterward.
He never felt that way about another woman.
He knew that he was checking off boxes for Piper’s firsts, but taking her bareback was a first for him, too.
He felt the primal desire to mark her as his, linking her to him for the rest of his life.
He knew that it was too soon to be thinking that way about Piper; they had been together a handful of times.
She consumed him to the point of not being able to sleep without her in his bed.
He thought about her morning, noon, and night.
She became his entire existence in such a short amount of time, and that scared the shit out of him.
There was no telling how Piper would take the news that Tag was falling for her, but he needed to be honest. He would just wait for the right time to spring that piece of news on her.
Right now, he needed to get his head on straight.
They were unloading the last pickup truck full of Piper’s things into the cabin.
After that, he planned on kicking their friends out and taking Piper to their bedroom.
He wanted a little more one-on-one time with his woman.
“Hey, man, watch where you’re going,” Torren said. Tag almost knocked into Torren with an armload of boxes. “You need to get your head in the game, Tag.”
“Yeah, sorry.” Tag found Piper in the corner of the kitchen, unloading one of her boxes. He smiled at her, and Torren groaned.
“Crap, you’ve fallen for her.” Torren’s voice was so loud that Tag worried about Piper hearing him.
He wanted her to hear how he felt about her from him.
Also, he was afraid that she would freak out and want to load everything back into the trucks to move back home.
He shushed Torren, grabbing his arm to hustle him back out to the front porch.
“Lower your voice, Tor.” Torren laughed as his brother pulled him through the open screen door.
“Wait, you’ve fallen for her and you haven’t told her?” Torren doubled over laughing, slapping his thighs. Yeah, Tag didn’t find the whole situation as funny as his twin brother did.
“It’s complicated. I don’t want to scare Piper off; she’s been through more than most people.” Torren straightened up at Tag’s somber tone, placing his hand on his shoulder.
“Listen, man, I get it. She’s had it rough, but so have we.
You and I only had each other and Dane, but we turned out all right.
” Tag nodded. He knew that Torren was overcompensating with the opposite sex to forget some of his crappy childhood memories.
Tag tried to be there for Torren their whole lives, but his brother proved to be a handful.
Dane stepped in to point both the boys in the right direction, but as kids, they didn’t want to listen to any authority figure.
Now, Tag would do just about anything to have Dane around to dole out some advice.
“Right, but we also didn’t have to watch both of our parents being murdered.
It’s just complicated. I’m trying to navigate a minefield here, so don’t screw this up for me, Tor.
” Tag stared down his brother, knowing that Torren would get why he needed to proceed with caution.
They both knew what it felt like to be left by someone they loved.
“I get it, Tag; I do. But Piper isn’t Dad.
She’s a good person with a shitty past. I bet you’ll find that she is just as into you as you are into her.
Just give her a chance.” Tag nodded and slapped his brother on the back, deciding that they had spent enough time sharing their feelings.
He hoped like hell his brother was right.
The last thing he wanted to do was watch Piper walk out of his life as his father had all those years ago.