Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
TINSLEY
“The tables have turned,” I tell Katherine.
“On what?” she asks, both confusion and curiosity written all over her face.
I take a deep breath in, knowing once I put the words out into the world, I can never take them back. I’ll have to own them.
“I might not be as opposed to this marriage thing as I once was.” Not that I was ever really opposed at all, if I’m being honest. I was just more suspicious. “Maybe I kinda even like it a little.”
That’s the understatement of the century, but I’m trying to play it cool. I’m finding that I’m just as obsessed with Pierce as he is with me. That I enjoy coming home to him every night. I mean the orgasms he gives me daily help.
“You don’t say.” She cracks a smile.
“Why aren’t you surprised?” I furrow my brows.
“Oh my God! I’m shocked!” She mock gasps while pretending to clutch her nonexistent pearls.
“Seriously. Your timing and acting skills need some work.”
“We may get up to things, but you’re forgetting how well I know you, Tins.”
“You can’t know this. I have never been in lo...” I press my lips together to stop myself. If I speak it, then it makes it that much more real.
“Love, you were going to say love.”
“Shh.” I glance around to see if anyone is paying attention. The kids are all engrossed in their crafts.
We’re at the library helping the kids make Valentine boxes. Over the past week, I have been pretty busy. I didn’t know I’d be getting married and had packed my schedule. I might have overdone it in my excitement to be back in New Hope. Now, all I want to do is hang out with Pierce.
"What's the dealio? Isn't this kind of what you wanted?" She asks what I have been thinking myself. "I mean, if you think about it, he's really checking all the boxes," Katherine points out. "I mean, tattoos, built like a bear, mega rich so we can get that yacht we talked about."
"Katherine," I laugh.
"What? I'm not done." She never really is. "He's sweet with his gentle handling."
"What girl doesn't want to be gently manhandled?" I say under my breath.
"He kisses the top of your head and lets you get away with murder. He can also cook, and I quizzed him on dishes, and he nailed them all."
"You did?"
"Of course I did. Now for the whole castle and a couple horses, give the man time. I think that circles back to the mega-rich thing."
"Where do you come up with these things?"
"You came up with them."
"When?"
"Ah, when we were ten and saw the movie Practical Magic. Those were all on your list." Holy crap, I'd forgotten about that, and I was in the middle of a dinosaur obsession.
"Okay, he's checking off boxes." Hell, I forgot about some, but I don't need a yacht. I'm sure you can rent them for a few weeks. That should suffice. "Can a person be too perfect? Too good to be true?”
"I mean…" She smirks, motioning between us.
"True." At every turn, that man is showing me he's in this, except for a few things.
"So what gives?"
"I might be more into him than he is into me. I mean today, for instance, he abandoned me." Katherine rolls her eyes at me.
Okay, he went to the city to handle a few things.
He'd asked me to come, but I was booked up.
I'm sure I could have gotten out of my plans, but I thought it might be a good thing to get some space.
Some time for me to think clearly. Pierce and I have been connected at the hip for the last week.
He was my shadow. It should have annoyed me, but it didn't.
"Try again." Katherine starts sealing the envelopes with stickers for the Valentines. I glance around again to make sure there aren't little ears close enough to hear me.
"We still haven't, you know." I wiggle my brows.
"I thought that was part of the plan, though? In case you want an annulment."
"It is, but he should be trying to get at it still."
Pierce has more than covered the orgasm count demanded, but I need more.
I always think he's about to do it, but each time he only presses the tip of his cock into me. There have been a few times where he has thrusted his cock back and forth through the folds of my sex until we both came. But then he stops. He doesn’t try to take it any further than that.
"I'm not sure what to think of that one."
"Me neither." I might be jaded still from social media and how quickly men are willing to cheat. That sex is all they think about. Well, now it's all I think about.
I grab a couple of glitter pens to doodle on the outside of the envelope when Katherine is done sealing each one.
"It's sweet you're missing him. He'll be back soon, I'm sure."
My head snaps up. "Are you sure?" Why did she say it that way?
"He'll be back, dork." Katherine shakes her head at me like I'm the strange one out of the two of us that's being impractical. I reach over and grab my phone to text Pierce.
I have been texting him all day. I ask him random things so he'll have to answer me. I smile when I see his response to me asking him if he'd kiss a man to save me.
Pierce: Yes
My smile drops thinking about him kissing anyone. That backfired on me. I think of another question.
Me: Where does the wind go when it's not windy?
The bubbles letting me know he's responding pop up instantly.
Pierce: It just slows down or stops. It is air movement.
Smart too. I might have forgotten that one on my list, but as always, the man checks boxes I didn't know about.
Me: Do you think blind people see in their dreams?
Pierce: Nope. They can’t comprehend what it is to see.
I doodle a gold sparkly heart. I could start a fight? But we can't have make-up sex. Bullshit. Instead, I test his love for me.
Me: If I were bitten by a radioactive sloth, would you stay with me even if I moved in slow motion forever?
Pierce: Yes
"Maybe you're right," I tell Katherine, showing her my phone.
"I don't even think a radioactive sloth could slow you down." She takes my phone from me.
"What are you doing?" I ask when she starts clicking away at it.
"I'm going to ask stuff. There are a few things I'd like to know. He did marry my best friend." I kick her under the table. Only a handful of people know we're married. How we've kept it locked down, I'm not sure.
"Ouch." I take my phone back from her, but she has already texted him.
Me: What's your favorite color of the alphabet? True or false?
Pierce: False, for sure.
He's going to think I'm crazy. I suppose it's best he knows now before we're a few months in. I can hold it in so long, and it's exhausting.
Me: Would you rather be a human with fish thoughts or a fish with human thoughts?
Pierce: Fish with human
I snort a laugh. He's really playing along here.
Me: Where do hamsters live?
I have been wondering that for the last hour since Milly told me she'd gotten a hamster from the pet store in the city.
Pierce: Hamsterdam
I burst into laughter, quickly covering my mouth with my hand.
"Why did he go to the city?"
"Work, I think." He does a lot from his laptop, and he'll have calls every now and then. I even got to meet his assistant, Rory, when they had a conference call. She was super sweet. "What if this wears off? He's not from here."
We might not have been able to find Pierce on social media, but there were a ton of articles on him.
His name was mentioned in all kinds of direct projects.
He is accomplished, and not because it was handed to him.
From what I’ve read, he made his own way.
He’s told me bits and pieces about growing up in foster homes.
He doesn’t overshare, but if I ask him something, he tells me.
"You had to find someone who isn't from here. That was part of the reason for you going to the city."
"I know, he's just different."
"Correct," Katherine agrees. "Only different could handle you."
"True, it's why you're my one friend," I deadpan.
It takes another hour for all the kids to be done.
"I'd ask if you want to hit the diner, but I'm sure you're heading out."
"Shit, I forgot I needed to text my dad when I was done." I pull my phone out of my back pocket. Pierce brought me to town this morning. It takes a few hours to get to the city and again for the drive back. I was going to go hang out at my parents house until Pierce got back.
Disappointment hits me when I see the text from Pierce.
Pierce: Running behind. I might need to end up staying here. I don't want you waiting up.
I show Katherine. "See, back in the city and he already wants to stay."
"Hey, he's been gone for over a week. He probably needs to catch up on work."
I'm sure she's right, but I still don't like it. Not one bit.
"You know…" Katherine trails off.
"Let's do it," I agree, already knowing our new plan.
It's not till we're on the road that it dawns on me that I don't have a clue where I'm going. I mean, I know we need to get to the city, but then what?
"What are we going to do when we get there?"
"We'll go to his place and then his office?" Katherine says as she drives. I'm not sure how she manages to drive better than me, but she does.
"I don't know where those places are." God, that sounds terrible. I'm married to this man. I know he lives in a building, a fancy one. It’s a stark reminder of how little I know the man I’m married to.
"I do." Katherine glances over at me momentarily. "I found it when I was doing my research. Public records."
"Still, when we get to this building, how do we get in?" I normally plot these things further out so I can have a plan, but I'm free-balling it here.
"Oh, not a clue, but it's us. We got this."
"You know they can take us to jail here," I remind her.
"Gotta catch us first."