Somewhere around the time I managed to get Piper out of her shirt and on her back, we found our way to bed. I kept my promise and only used my mouth. Of course, not just on her lips. There’s no way I could not have more of her, but I also recognized that I’m going to have to take this slow with Piper. I have to show her how good we can be.
The sun has risen and the light is setting off prisms in the room as I lay here watching her sleep. If she wakes up and sees me, she’ll likely accuse me of being some sort of stalker creep. I’ve just never seen something as wonderful as Piper Lawrence lying next to me with her perfect lips pursed and her breathing shallow. She fell asleep with me spooning her and I swore in that moment that I would do everything in my power to find a way to make this how I fall asleep every night.
A few months ago I was starting over and secretly wondering if I’d made the biggest mistake of my adult life moving home. Then this woman came into my life, back into my life, and nothing has ever felt more right. The realization that I should leave before anyone sees my truck parked outside hits me about the same time she releases a sound that instantly hits me below the belt and the jeans I’m wearing suddenly feel like a strait jacket to my groin. Regardless of how much I, or my dick, want to stay here with her, the last thing we need is for the Lexington Rumor Mill to get involved.
I’m deciding on whether to wake Piper up or just leave a note and let her sleep when her eyes begin to flutter open. Doing what has somehow become my response to anything she does, I push the hair that has fallen in her face behind her ear and she smiles at me. Her smile is sincere and pure. Like her.
I remember once when Laurel hosted her book club at our place. The topic of conversation turned to the deal breakers for each of the ladies with the types of books they would read. Personally, I didn’t understand a word any of them were saying – tropes, forbidden romance, second chance romance. The one phrase that stuck out to me that I thought was ridiculous and wondered how anyone could take it seriously was “insta-love.” When I asked Laurel about it she said that was her favorite and made it difficult for her in the group because the other ladies hated an “insta-love” book. I agreed with those women and said any book where the lead characters fell in love after a few days was completely farfetched and ridiculous.
Then I saw a beautiful woman across the room of my local watering hole and my perspective changed. As ridiculous as it sounds, I know that Piper Lawrence is it for me. That’s the first time I’ve admitted it to myself and, truthfully, it feels good. Damn good.
“Hey,” she says with a raspy and fucking sexy voice. Kill me now.
“Morning. I think I’m going to head home.”
Her smile drops and my heart leaps. Placing a gentle kiss to her lips, I pull back before responding. I recognize it is morning and I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.
“I don’t want to go. I’d never leave this apartment if I had a choice. It’s just that I figure someone will see my truck out front and that doesn’t do much for our whole secret friendship plan.”
Relief washes over her face and she smiles again. “Okay.”
“I’ll let myself out, you just go back to sleep. I’ll call you later? Maybe we can do something tonight.”
“Kay. I am really sleepy.”
Before I can respond her eyes close again and I know I’ve lost her to sleep. Carefully lifting myself from her bed, I find my discarded boots. Before I let myself out, I spot the key Piper pulled from below the mat last night. I’ll be damned if I’m going to let her keep sleeping with this door unlocked. As much grief as I gave her for it, I reluctantly place the key under the mat after locking the door.
After a few steps toward the stairs, I stop. I’m not even going to second guess my instinct. I retrieve the key. I might as well make a spare for myself so Piper isn’t leaving keys out for any crazy to find. It’s what a good friend would do.
Yeah, Ben, keep telling yourself that.
Once I’m in my truck I realize how little I slept last night. Honestly, how little I’ve slept the last few weeks. Avoiding Piper became like a second job and now that we’ve come to some sort of solution for our situation I’m exhausted. Instead of driving through the coffee stand I head toward my parents’ house and my bed.
My dad sitting at the kitchen table with the paper shouldn’t surprise me, nor should the smirk on his face that tells me he thinks I’ve been up to no good.
“Have a good time last night, son?”
I know my dad, and as much as I want some quality time with my pillow, I’m going to need to give him at least a few minutes of my time. Instead of grabbing a cup of the coffee that smells like heaven, I pour myself a little juice and take a seat across from him at the table.
“It was fine. I was out at the house for most of it.” That’s not a lie.
“Well, unless you slept in your truck I’m guessing you didn’t spend the entire night at the house.”
“Dad,” I say with a warning but respectful tone.
“You’re a grown man, Ben. I just wanted to let you know that your sister is parked in your spot so I would gather she’s aware you didn’t come home last night.”
His rustling of the paper signals that he’s done with this conversation. I contemplate unloading on him but think better of it. Piper would likely die of embarrassment if she knew I talked to my dad about us, and honestly I’m a little worried about what he’d say anyway. With that thought I place my glass in the sink and walk toward the hallway, but before I make it too far I hear my dad clear his throat.
“Oh, and Ben?”
“Yeah, Dad?”
“Just tell your mother you slept in your truck. She’s like a dog with a bone.”
I can’t help but chuckle at that comment.
“Don’t I know it. I’m going to catch a few hours of sleep before I head out to the house.”
“Sounds good,” he says without ever taking his eyes from the paper.
“By the way, I’d like to have you all out to the place before the weather turns. Maybe next weekend?”
That seems to get his attention because he turns to me. “We’d really like that. Next weekend sounds good. But, let’s hold off telling the ladies. They may have you regretting the invitation by the end of the week.”
I laugh and shake my head. Again, my dad is a wise man.
It takes less than a minute for me to strip out of my clothes and land on my bed. Pulling my comforter up to my waist, I throw my arm over my head and suddenly this bed seems very empty. How did one night with Piper make falling asleep a different experience?
I’m jarred from a string of Piper-themed dreams by the sound of incessant knocking at my door. Okay, Piper’s boobs-themed dreams. I might be the nice guy, the perfect gentleman, but I’m a man, too.
Groaning, I hope if I ignore them they’ll go away. They do not. I know it’s Ashton by the whiney sound of my name being bellowed.
“What?!”
“Are you decent? Can I come in?”
I pull the covers up a little more and reluctantly admit her entrance.
“Hey, brother of mine. Eww why does it smell like boy feet in here?”
“Well, perhaps because I’m a guy and have feet? It doesn’t smell bad.”
“Whatever.” The typical eye roll follows her response. “Anyway, I have the night off since I was stuck at The Road last night until what was closer to today than yesterday and want to do something so take me to your new man palace so I can see it.”
“Whoa there, that was one heck of a sentence.”
“Shut it. Get up!”
“How much coffee have you had?”
“What is with everyone’s concern about my caffeine intake? I actually haven’t had any! I just slept like eight hours is all. I’m recharged and ready to do something. Piper is claiming a migraine but I don’t buy it, I think she’s hungover. Besides I need to know who you met last night that kept you out later than me.”
Her last statement catches my attention and, unfortunately for me, my reaction doesn’t go unnoticed.
“Ah, so there was someone. You can tell me in the truck! Get up, lazy ass!”
Before I can offer a retort, she’s gone and yelling to our mother that we won’t be home for dinner. I reach to my nightstand and grab my phone. Hoping for a text from Piper, I am disappointed when there is only one from Jameson. I guess his friend from last night is turning into a two-day friend.
Jameson: So this Sasha is pretty cool. We’re going to hang out again tonight. Want to grab a run and breakfast tomorrow?
Me: Oh a 2 nighter. Serious business. A run is good but not before 9.
Jameson: Fuck you. I don’t do serious. 9 at the trails.
I respond with a thumbs up and contemplate what to say to Piper. I want to see her and spend time with her but I am also a little worried about scaring her off. She’s like a timid cat at this point and the wrong move could send me right back to the real friend zone. I actually want to hear her voice but again there’s that skittish cat thing.
Me: Are you around?
If feels like an eternity, but is really only seconds, before my phone signals a response.
Piper: Yepper.
Yepper? Instead of responding I hit the phone icon. I’m almost worried she’s sending me to voicemail before she picks up.
“Hello?”
“Hey, baby.”
“Hey?”
“Are you not sure if you’re saying hi?”
“What?”
“You said hey like it was a question so I’m curious if you are uncertain if you’re saying hey.”
“Oh. I didn’t mean to. I think you just caught me off-guard calling.”
“I wanted to hear you voice. It’s one of my favorite sounds.”
She laughs and I can hear the disbelief in her voice.
“Oh hush, it is not.”
“It absolutely is. To prove it, I’m going to bring a phone book over and have you just read it to me. That’ll show you how much I love it.”
“You want me to read the phone book? That’s just weird.”
We both laugh and whatever tension she had in her voice when she answered seems to be gone.
“What can I say? I’m a weird guy. Regardless, your voice is one of my favorite sounds in this world. It’s sweet, smooth, and gentle. The first time I heard you speak I thought it reminded me of honey.”
I can hear her moving around and it sounds like she’s settling in before speaking again.
“Honey, huh? That’s a new one. And I’m pretty sure the first time you heard my voice I was five years old and sounded like a cartoon character.”
“Ah you’ve got me there, Princess. I suppose that’s true. I meant the first time I heard your current, adult, sexy-as-hell voice.”
She makes a noise that’s part sigh and moan and I can feel the blood rushing from my head to other parts.
“That’s the sound I’m talking about. Honey. Don’t even get me started on your eyes.”
“My eyes? They’re brown, nothing special.”
“Oh but that’s where you’re wrong. They are special. Everything about you is special, Piper. I thought we covered this need you have to put yourself down. Your eyes are beautiful. They are bright, hopeful, and the perfect shade of brown that is the same as my favorite whiskey. When you get excited or have an idea they dance. And, Piper, when you come?”
“Yeah?”
“When you come, baby, they sparkle.”
I can hear her breath catch at my final words. I smile to myself. My girl is good in all ways that matter, but she seems to like it when I talk about things some would consider a little dirty. Truthfully, I’ve never uttered anything remotely dirty in my prior relationships, but something about being with Piper makes me want to be different. Everything about her and me is different. I am still afraid she’s going to run so instead of digging deep for the dirty version of myself, I clear my throat.
“So, about that phone book.”
She responds with a laugh. The laugh that makes me smile and I’m pretty sure is the sound of angels singing.
“You think I’m joking but I’m not. That isn’t why I called though.”
“I thought you just wanted to hear my voice,” she flirtatiously replies. Vixen.
“I did but I also promised I’d call you later and we’d do something. Of course Ashton was in here a bit ago waking me up demanding I take her out to my house. I guess I’ll do that. She also said you had a migraine.”
“Oh. Well, yeah I did tell her that. I maybe, sort of, kind of lied to her. I’m a horrible person, I know. If this secret friend thing we have isn’t already bad enough, I also blatantly lied to her. I’m going to Hell.”
I chuckle and throw back my covers as I get up and start finding clothes.
“I’m pretty sure lying is not a means for a visit with Lucifer. But out of curiosity, why did you lie?”
“Because it’s Ashton. You know she’ll want to know if I met anyone, who I was with last night, what I did, and so on. I can lie over text but not to her face. I thought I’d cave and tell her everything so I just said I had a headache. I never said migraine. Regardless, I just can’t see her right now. I need to practice my liar face.”
“Well, we can always tell her. I vote for that option over the liar face. I don’t want you to change your face. I’m a little partial to it.”
“No, we agreed. Friends and get to know each other and see what happens. You gave me until Christmas Break and I’m taking it.”
“Okay, well, if you change your mind let me know. Do you want to do something tonight? We’ll have to figure out what to do with my truck if we hang out in town.”
“I would like to do something. What if I meet you at your house and we leave your truck there? We could just come back here and maybe watch a movie or something.”
“I like the plan of or something.”
“Ben,” she warns.
“What? I kept my promise last night. Mouth only.”
“Good Lord. Okay, on that note I’m going to go and get some stuff done. You go spend time with your sister. I’ll meet you at your house at like eight? How’s that?”
“Sounds good. Have a good afternoon, Piper.”
“Bye, Ben.”
I set my phone down on the side table and grab my clothes before heading to shower. A very cold shower. Thoughts of Piper force me to stay under the freezing-cold water longer than normal and I’m immediately greeted with a less-than-kind Ashton when I emerge from the bathroom. I’m still ignoring her nagging when we both walk into the kitchen and I grab my truck keys.
“Where are you two off to?”
I don’t have a chance to answer my mom before Ashton goes on another tangent about my finally agreeing to take her to my house. I don’t bother interjecting that I didn’t actually agree to take her anywhere, she invited herself. My dad is sitting at the table again, but instead of reading the paper he’s working the crossword.
“Seven-letter word for bowl-shaped percussion instrument,” Dad absently shouts at us, causing a slight pause in Ashton’s rant.
“Timpani,” Ashton responds without missing a beat in her one-sided conversation with Mom.
“Excellent, honey!” Dad declares before dramatically setting his completed crossword down on the table. I, on the other hand, am staring at Ash.
“What? I know things, Ben.”
“I know you know things, Ash, but really, who even knows what timpani is?”
“Your sister, Ben. Be kind. Now since you kids won’t be home for dinner would like for me to make a few sandwiches to go?”
As I’m about to agree Ashton tells my mom that she’s ordered a pizza for us and we’ll be taking it out to my house. Apparently I’m only along for the ride in this plan of hers. I don’t even bother arguing with her at this point and grab my keys as we head out the door. This is going to be a long few hours before I meet Piper.