“Why don’t we keep that one between us? If the guys on the team catch wind of it, I’d never live it down.”
Hell, Coop would probably have t-shirts made.
“My lips are sealed.” She grins. “It’s the least I can do since I’ve never had anyone to take care of me before.”
“Not even your mom?”
The words are out before I can think better of them, but come on, what kind of mother is too busy to care for a sick child?
It’s a fucking travesty.
Piper told me on our first date that her upbringing wasn’t the greatest, but she didn’t elaborate. Still, I know better than to ask intrusive questions.
Blame it on the nerves.
And that I want to know everything about her when she’s ready to share.
“The idea of my mother playing nursemaid is laughable.” She scoops up a bit of rice and pops it in her mouth. “Nora was never the mothering type, even when I was little. She’s a bartender at the local watering hole so she works late, sleeps late, and brings home sleazy guys, who, as I got older, either hit on me or followed her lead and made cheap jokes about my body.”
Disgust curls low in my gut and I grip my fork so hard it’s a wonder the damn thing doesn’t snap in half.
The scene she just described is disgusting, and the fact that her mother participated instead of protecting, leaves a dark cloud of rage hovering at the edges of my vision. I’m not a violent man, but if I could go back in time and break the fingers of every sick pervert who made her uncomfortable in her own home, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
Fucked up? Maybe.
But so was her childhood. It was clearly nothing like my own. My mom was always there for me when I needed her, sick or not.
Piper plucks a piece of chicken from her plate, not meeting my eyes. “It’s in the past.”
The hell it is. She wouldn’t have brought it up if the memories didn’t weigh on her and I hate that there’s nothing I can do to make it right.
“I’m sorry your mother wasn’t there for you when you needed her.” I set my plate on the coffee table and shift so I’m facing her full on. Her gaze remains downcast, as if she’s the one who should be ashamed.Unacceptable. I cup her chin and tilt her face up, forcing her to look at me. Her eyes shimmer with unshed tears and my throat tightens at the sight of them. “You deserved better, Piper. You still do. But for now, I’ll have to do, because I’m not going anywhere.”
“I still can’t believe you’re real.”
The words are a whisper and I don’t have time to respond because she leans forward, gently brushing her soft lips against mine. The kiss is sweet and tentative, just as I imagined it would be, but after weeks of yearning for this woman, of fantasizing about her, it’s not nearly enough.
I need so much more.
More Piper. More heat.More everything.
I discard her plate on the coffee table and slip my arms around her waist, cupping the sweet, round globes of her ass as she climbs onto my lap, wrapping her legs around me. She deepens the kiss, her tongue skating past the seam of my lips as she tangles her fingers in my hair and pulls me closer, her breasts pressed firmly to my chest.
Christ Jesus.
The woman is hotter than a lit fuse.
I knead the tender flesh of her backside and she moans in approval. “That feels so good.”
“Youfeel good.” I trail kisses across her chin and down the long column of her neck. She smells like a dream, like roses in full bloom, and I can’t get enough of it. I bury my face in her hair, inhaling deeply. “You smell good too.”
Fuck. She even tastes good.
I nip at her ear, taking the lobe between my teeth. Her breath hitches and I bite down gently, coaxing another quiet moan from her lips before I kiss my way back to her mouth, licking and sucking as I worship every uncovered inch of her skin.
This is what Piper deserves, a man who will bathe her in adoration and shower her in affection.
I want so badly to be that man for her.
