Pierce arrived in front of his house with Tory in the passenger seat and a bag of groceries in the back. After parking his truck, he hopped out first, opening the door for Tory before grabbing the grocery bag.

She had been a little preoccupied when he had first picked her up, but as they drove over to his place, she seemed to perk back up. He had tried to ask if anything was wrong, but she had said it was nothing, so he had dropped it.

“You know I can already smell the ingredients, right?” he asked.

“Hey, put your nose away,” Tory chided.

“And how exactly am I supposed to do that?” Pierce laughed.

She narrowed her eyes at him, a smile on her lips.

“I don’t know, keep the grocery bag downwind or something?” she offered.

“Yeah, that’s not going to work,” he chuckled, unlocking the front door.

As they stepped inside, the draft running through the house immediately caught Pierce’s attention. Brow furrowing, he walked over to the window in the living room. The screen was still closed, but the window hung open, the curtains fluttering in the breeze.

Tory appeared at his side, touching his arm.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

“I didn’t leave this window open,” he replied.

He closed it, before setting the groceries down on the kitchen counter. Tory leaned against the counter, grabbing a hair-tie from around her wrist and pulling her locks into a loose bun on the top of her head.

“Maybe the wind blew it open,” she shrugged.

“That could be,” Pierce replied, but something still made him uneasy.

The window was opened inward, the screen still firmly in place, so he had no reason to think someone had broken in. Everything of value was still in its place, and nothing seemed out of order. Pierce sniffed the air, but all he could smell was the scent of pine and dirt that had filled the house through the open window.

“You sit back or something while I take over your kitchen,” Tory said, pulling items out of the grocery bag.

Her voice pulled him out of his thoughts, the warm smile she gave him making him forget all about his paranoia regarding the window that he probably just hadn’t shut properly.

“All right, I know when I’m not needed,” he raised his hands. “Can I still talk to you or is that against the rules, too?” he asked, making his way to his couch.

Thanks to the open plan of his place, he could still see Tory moving around in the kitchen, unless she dipped behind the half-wall separating the kitchen from the living room.

“Please, entertain me,” she replied. “I’ve always found cooking in silence awfully boring. I even have a special cooking soundtrack mix CD.”

“What would you like to hear about? I could bore you with details of how breaking ground on our new project is going. How do you feel about learning more about the intricacies of pouring foundation?” he asked.

“Probably the same way you feel about me telling you about the differences between a plié and a chassé,” Tory replied, laughter in her voice.

He loved to hear her laugh, loved making her laugh even more. It felt so easy, so natural to have her there, cooking in his kitchen, filling his house with her scent. He told her about growing up in Black Oak while she prepped what smelled like salmon, and she regaled him with stories of the city that never sleeps.

Before he even knew it, dinner was ready to be served. Tory stood in his kitchen with oven mitts on, looking pleased with herself as she blew a strand of hair away from her forehead.

“Now you can help,” she said, grinning at him. “Where do you keep the plates?”

“On it,” he replied, getting to his feet. “It smells delicious, by the way. Maple-glazed salmon?”

“I was never going to surprise you, was I?” Tory shook her head, a hand on her hip.

He shrugged, walking over to pull her close.

“You surprise me all the time.”

* * *

“I have to admit, that was the best salmon I think I’ve ever had,” Pierce said, as he and Tory cleared away the dishes.

“You better not be just saying that,” she replied.

“Oh, I would have relished the opportunity to crown myself the better cook,” Pierce assured her. “Unfortunately, it seems we’re at a tie.”

“I guess this cook-off is ongoing, then,” Tory grinned, leaning against the counter as Pierce put the last of the dishes in the dishwasher.

“Can’t wait for round two,” he replied.

Edging closer to Tory, he wrapped a hand around her waist, pulling her to his chest. He knew he was going to have to tell her she was his mate sooner or later, but at that moment, all he wanted to do was kiss her.

There would be time to talk later.

Brushing his thumb over her cheek, he listened to her pulse start to race as he dipped his head, touching his lips to hers. Tory’s fingers buried in his hair as their kiss grew deeper and more urgent. Feet tangling together, they started moving toward the bedroom, stumbling around pieces of furniture.

When they finally made it, Tory pushed him down on the bed, her lips red and swollen as she flashed him a wicked smile. Scooting up on the bed, Pierce watched her strut closer, the sway of her hips sexy as hell, but suddenly, she stopped in her tracks, her expression going blank.

“What’s that?” she asked, her voice oddly flat.

He followed her gaze to the edge of the bed, where something red and lacy peeked out from under the mattress. Before he could even formulate a thought, she darted forward and snatched it up, dangling the piece of fabric in her hand.

It was a pair of panties, and Pierce couldn’t help but stare at them, stunned. The underwear Tory had worn when she slept over last night had been black. He remembered that very clearly, as he had used his teeth to tug them off.

“I don’t know how those got there,” Pierce said, sitting up on the bed.

“They weren’t here last night,” Tory replied, her face tightening in a mask of anger. “So unless you’re going to convince me you’re a cross-dresser…”

Getting up from the bed, a thousand thoughts were racing through Pierce’s mind. Was this some bad fever-dream? And Tory was right, those definitely hadn’t been there. He had changed the bedding in the morning, before he and Tory went to get coffee. She had even helped him with the pillowcases.

“Tory, I swear, I have no idea…” Pierce started, silenced when Tory threw the underwear at him.

“Don’t you fucking dare treat me like an idiot,” she snarled, a fire burning in her eyes. “Is this what all the secret phone calls and texts have been about? You fucking another girl behind my back after you gave me the whole ‘you’re the only one for me’ crap?” she demanded as Pierce got to his feet.

So she had figured out something had been going on with him. But she was way off. All he had tried to do was make it clear to Bonnie that she needed to leave him alone. In the process, though, he had only made Tory feel as if he was hiding things from her.

He tried to approach her, but she shook her head, jabbing a finger at him.

“It was all true,” Pierce argued. “There’s no one else. Those phone calls… It was Bonnie. But I told her to stop calling, that I had someone else in my life now.”

“Spare me,” Tory hissed, turning on her heel and marching away from the bedroom.

“There has to be an explanation for this,” Pierce called out as he rushed to follow her.

“I knew this was a mistake,” she muttered under her breath as she looked around for her purse, finding it on a stool in the kitchen. “Trust your gut, what a load of bull.”

“Can you please just wait and listen for a second? We can figure this out,” Pierce pleaded.

His confusion had turned to desperation. He couldn’t let Tory walk out like this, thinking there was another woman. Tory avoided his gaze as she tried to brush past him, but he caught her elbow.

“Please, Tory…” he tried again, but she yanked her arm out of his grasp.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” she said. “Stand in my way again and I’ll scream,” she added, almost running to the hallway to put on her shoes.

She never looked at him again before rushing out and slamming the door after her. Pierce knew better than to follow. So he just stood there, shocked, unable to even process how everything had flipped on a dime in a matter of minutes.

What the hell just happened?