Piper had been pacing her office when she got the buzz from their receptionist that Anson was on his way to her. She’d told her earlier to at least give her a heads up when the Kindred showed. She didn’t want him surprising her in her office. She didn’t think her nerves could take it. She had hoped to be distracted by her work, and she’d put her earbuds in and tried to tune everything else out. That was until a song came on in her random shuffle that brought her hurtling back to reality. It was the song she and Darius had picked out to dance to at their wedding. It was cheesy and made her almost smile. Darius had convinced her to watch Casablanca for the first time and he’d declared As Time Goes By sung by Dooley Wilson their song.

Piper had smiled and thought it was sweet. Of course, now that she thought about it, shouldn’t the song mean something to both of them? The rules weren’t clear, but just sitting on the couch watching an old movie certainly didn’t seem overly romantic. You didn’t hear that song unless you went searching for it.

But that was Darius. He had a list of things he liked to check off. It was like he’d cut out a ‘perfect relationship’ checklist from a magazine. It wasn’t bad, just a little clinical. Flowers and a heart-shaped box of chocolates on Valentine’s Day. Birthday dinner at her favorite restaurant. It was easy and there were no surprises.

Tristan had been the one that was more flighty. He’d forget things like holidays and birthdays, but then run around trying to make it up. She’d thought it was charming before, now it seemed like he didn’t have her at the front of his thoughts. She was there, just not at the top.

Knowing she was going to see both of them, she gave herself permission to think of all the things that she didn’t let herself think before. The little things you told yourself weren’t that important. That it was just the quirks of that person. But she’d realized that they were important to her. They mattered. Knowing someone put more thought into her than a quick stop at a drugstore meant something to her.

She deserved to be first. It probably wouldn’t be something she’d say out loud for fear of sounding conceited, but it was still true. She deserved what she wanted and she wanted to be first. She’d always gone out of her way to make holidays and events big, special, and unique. That was never reciprocated, and she realized that had hurt.

By the time the front desk called saying Anson was there she was downright angry. She wanted to look both of those men in the eye and let them know that she wasn’t worse off without them. Technically yes, having a stalker and paying a fortune to a security agency probably wasn’t something to brag about, but she was still there, doing her job, paying her bills, and living her life. She’d survived.

When Anson came around the corner, she already had her purse in hand, her jacket on, and was shutting and locking her office door.

As he stopped in front of her and raised an eyebrow? “You going somewhere?”

“Yes, we’ve got shit to do,” she declared.

“Yes, ma’am, we do. Glad to see you got your game face on.”

“You better not wimp out on me. I want answers.”

“About your stalker or about why they left?” he inquired quietly.

“Both. I deserve both,” she said back to him quietly but fiercely.

“Yes, you do. Let’s go.”

He took her hand and she almost pulled it out knowing that would set the tongues wagging in the office. Fuck them too, she decided. Today was a game-changer. Let them think what they wanted. They certainly weren’t going to be looking at her with pity walking hand in hand with Anson.

When they reached the SUV downstairs, she didn’t even give him any lip about sitting in the back. She jumped in and buckled up. As they pulled away from the curb Piper asked, “Anson, did your parents have a wedding song? You know, that they danced to?”

“Yeah. My dad picked out Billie Holiday. My papa wouldn’t dance to it because they both want to lead.”

Piper grunted. “Sounds like me. I can’t let anyone else lead either.”

“Papa convinced him to use Queen so they could just have a good time dancing to You’re My Best Friend. They said it kept them laughing instead of fighting.”

“That’s a good compromise. You should do that. Compromise in a relationship. Not just go along with things because you think they couldn’t be better. Or that it was better than having nothing.”

“Piper, this isn’t going to be easy. It’s fucking complicated. I want you to remember you’re not alone. We can keep everything to what they know about your stalker. I think it will keep emotions down.”

“Hah, you have no idea how not down my emotions are. I’ve been alternating between crying and raging all morning. I really don’t know which Piper is going to show up in this meeting.”

“Well, I’ve met both and I think you’ll do fine.”

Piper looked up to the rearview mirror to see his eyes flash silver at her. He had seen both sides of her. In fact, he’d see way too many sides of her. Ones she usually tried to keep better hidden. Her parents hadn’t even seen her art room. It was the sanctuary that she used to keep her sanity. Anson had been invited and hadn’t even commented on it. He accepted it. It felt that way to her. He seemed to take everything about her as it came and without any negativity.

Tristan thought she spent too much time painting. Darius had suggested she paint something more profitable. Then again, maybe Anson wasn’t into art and really had no opinion. She appreciated his lack of negativity if that was the case.

“You really do like me, don’t you?” she asked, her words hanging softly in the air.

His eyes shifted from hers back to the road before returning to the mirror. “I do.”

Piper could have said something smart in reply. Or even something mean. Instead, she took those words and wrapped them up, tucking them against her heart like a shield against what was to come. No matter what was said today, it would give her some kind of buffer against further pain.

Her biggest fear was that there was no big connection like Anson thought. That it really was about her and that they didn’t love her or had decided that they couldn’t live with her. That possibility really didn’t leave her with many options. Piper didn’t think she could relive it all again. It scared her to think that she’d have to tuck everything away deep down somewhere she wouldn’t feel it. Hurt like that would fester. It always did. There would be a time in the future when it would eventually rear up and overwhelm her, and she knew that if she let it take over, she would never get her life back.

Piper opted to let her mind go blank for the rest of the ride. The trees and businesses blurred as they passed. She closed her eyes and tried to let her mind float away. The minutes ticked by until the vehicle stopped.

“We’re here,” he said quietly.

“I know.”

She opened her eyes to see Anson turned in his seat towards her.

“You’re not alone,” he reminded her.

“Thanks,” she said with a weak smile.

She waited for him to get out and open her door. He took her hand and she let him, needing the grounding it gave her.

When they entered the lobby, a tall woman that Piper had never seen before was leaning against the reception desk with a smile on her lips.

“Eden, why do you look like you just swallowed a canary?” Anson asked.

“Don’t I always look this way?” she said with a smirk.

Anson made a grunting noise and Piper hung back, observing. Nadia, the receptionist, was pointedly ignoring all of them. For such a small woman, she gave Piper the wiggins.

“King thought you might want to have some one-on-one time with our guests. They’ll be arriving shortly. Hudson is picking them up. I’m going to hang with Piper here, we can chat and talk about you behind your back. You know, girl stuff.”

“Perfect,” Anson said through clenched teeth.

His annoyed tone didn’t change the expression on Eden’s face. “Piper, I’m Eden. Whenever they have a really tough job around here, they call me.”

“Nice to meet you,” she returned.

“Eden, can you and Piper find somewhere to talk away from the conference room for now? I’ll text you when you can bring her in.”

“Can do,” Eden said. “Shall we?” she gestured towards the hallway.

Piper looked up at Anson and he nodded, his eyes locked on hers, his gaze wasn’t disinterested, but it was one that belonged to someone that was seeing something she couldn’t comprehend. Following Eden, she focused on the woman’s long hair swinging in a braid down her back. Her fragile mind couldn’t help but ponder briefly if Anson liked long hair. Of course he did. He probably thought she looked like a deranged Chia Pet with her hair that had a mind of its own.

“Nadia’s got us set up with coffee and soothing music in the recovery room. No Bliss Hartley.”

“Thanks, you don’t really need to hang out with me,” Piper said, entering a room that looked like a mini studio apartment. She plopped down on one of the couches with a sigh.

“Yes, I do,” Eden said sitting next to her. “King filled me in on you and I have got to say, if you can handle all the shit that has rained down on you and still be walking and talking? You are one fierce bitch.”

Piper snorted. “Hardly.”

“No hardly about it. You’ve got balls, babe, big ones.”

“I never understood that phrase,” Piper mused.

“I know, so stupid, but men think they’re pretty special.”

Piper leaned her head back against the couch cushions and let out a noisy breath. “I’m dreading this and at the same time want some fucking closure. I never got it. They cut me off and I never got any answers.”

“You ready for what those answers might be?”

Piper shook her head and laughed at the same time. “No—yes—I have no idea. I’ve been playing out every possible scenario trying to prepare myself.”

“And?”

Letting out a long sigh, Piper asked, “Can I tell you something that won’t leave this room?”

“Sure, I love keeping secrets.”

“I feel better knowing Anson will be there. He keeps telling me I’m not alone. It helps when he says it and it helps more than he means it. I know he’s helping me because it’s his job. But it doesn’t always feel like that. He says things…”

Eden leaned forward. “Like what?”

Piper rolled her eyes at Eden’s interest. “He says he likes me, like really likes me.”

“And this is bad because?”

“Because he’s Kindred. You should know, he needs his mate.”

Eden let out a sigh, her expression becoming serious for the first time since Piper had met her. “Imagine spending your life with the hope of a mate, but without the promise? Do you cut off all possible loves and attraction in case something better might come along? It’s a hard choice every Kindred faces. It’s all about trust and whether you can be alone long enough to find that person. Not everyone can.”

“And what if... What if he does, ten, twenty years down the road?”

“You have to ask yourself if you’re the type of person that can appreciate the time you’ve had and still hold that love in your heart for the other person.”

“I don’t know that I have that in me,” Piper admitted.

“Then you have your answer. I know these guys. They can be… too much sometimes. They mean well, they’ve just been badasses all their lives and it’s hard for them to downshift out of that. We’ve all done things that put us on the edge of really experiencing what it’s like to be alive. When you see something that you want, you tend to go full throttle towards it. It sounds like Anson wants you. You have to decide whether to let him have what he wants while knowing that it might not work out well for you. And, just my two cents, but you’ve had enough heartache from the sounds of it. Better to hurt his feelings now than to lose all of yours later. Be selfish, protect yourself.”

Piper really hadn’t expected that much honesty from Eden, but she appreciated it. It meant that she wasn’t crazy thinking that Anson was the one not seeing reality. He was doomed to fail with her and she was doing them both a favor by resisting. That helped a little, but it also made her sad.

Anson was destined for a true love. Piper was about to walk into a room with two men that she had thought would be the loves of her life and one that thought he could be that man to her again. All of them weren’t meant for her. Anson believed in fate and the course of the universe so much that he had to see that the universe was giving her the middle finger... and had been for some time.

Be selfish. The words had a reaction deep down in her that felt toxic. Her parents always taught her to be unselfish, to think of others first. They had done a good job because she was really good at putting herself second.

Maybe it was time for her to think of herself. What the hell did she really want? More importantly, what was plausible? Love, marriage, and babies didn’t seem to be in her future. What about a great job, a home of her own, and maybe babies down the road? Would she be happy like that? Would she be fulfilled? The unknown answers to those questions were a lot less worrisome than the dream of happily ever after that was so far out of reach.

“Eden, you don’t know how much this has helped me.”

Eden gave her a sad look that Piper had seen so many times before. “I’m sorry you have to be in this situation at all. If Anson was your mate I’d be thrilled for you. He’s an amazing guy. He’s loyal, brave and he would love you so fiercely. He may even be able to be all those things without being your mate. I’m someone that always jumps in head first. But personally, I don’t think this is one of those times I’d do that.”

“No, you’re right. I need to protect myself. I’ve been so worried about everyone else’s feelings. I need to be the first person I think of.”

“I’ve got your back, girl. You know, we can still talk. I have a book club if you’re interested. We should hang out.”

“Really? I don’t have any girlfriends. My sister is my best friend and we live far apart.”

“You bet, now just to warn you, we don’t read beach readers.”

“Beach readers?”

“You know the kind people pick up because it’s recommended and they can read poolside.”

“What do you read? Classics?”

“Hmm, sort of. It’s mostly romance, sometimes erotica if we’re in the mood. They’re actually books you want to read.”

“You read romance?” Piper said, surprised.

“Oh, I so do. I don’t tell the guys because they’d give me shit about it. I love the Kindred author Delilah Grant. She writes some seriously spicy stuff.”

“I’ll have to check her out. Sounds good.”

“We’re reading Mated for Life right now. It’s romantic suspense, but still awesome and hot. You should read it. We mostly sit around and talk about the juicy bits.”

Piper let out a laugh. “That sounds like a really fun time. I’d love to join.”

“Perfect, I’ll text you the info.”

Piper sat back on the couch and thought about Eden and her offer. It might be nice to have something to look forward to.

Eden’s phone chimed and she checked it. “They’re here. We might as well relax, who knows how long Anson is going to grill them.”