Unfortunately, it also interfered with my discipline and ability to follow orders. Superior officers tended to frown on that.
But I had to stay on topic. Otherwise we’d be here all night with the saga I could tell.
“After I got to Leavenworth, after all the shit that put methere, I didn’t see any point in trying to keep that anger at bay. My fellow assholes among the inmates got the brunt of it, and I ended up in the hole a few times. But then there was the time I punched an Army Corrections Specialist. A guard.”
“Oh, Grayden.” She winced. “Really?”
I had to laugh at her reaction.
“I promise he was the king of the assholes, and he kept getting away with it. Made a younger inmate his personal punching bag. Eventually, I couldn’t stand for it anymore. I’m lucky I didn’t get my sentence extended, but there was enough evidence the guard had been abusing his position.”
But that was me. Reacting impulsively to try to protect someone, try to make this screwed-up world a little bit right. Often it didn’t go well.
Maybe that was a lesson I didn’t want to learn.
Piper’s hand rested on my thigh, filling my blood with endorphins and helping push away the bad memories.
“I’m sorry that happened,” she said.
“It was a wake-up call, actually. After I realized I wouldn’t get out of there until my ten years were up, I got more serious about making something of myself. That’s when I signed up for the correspondence courses and started getting college credits. Read a ton of books and really focused on my art. Did what I was supposed to. Just took it one day at a time.”
“But ten years. I’m still trying to make sense of it. How you got through that.”
“I didn’t care for the alternatives, so I didn’t have much choice.”
When I glanced over at her, Piper’s eyes were shining again, and then a tear slipped free.
Fuck me, I was making her sad.
Bringing the pad of my thumb to her cheek, I smudged the tear away. “I told you before, when you hear my whole history, I don’t come out of it sounding like a hero. Just a guy who messedup every good thing in his life and took years to figure out how to start over again. Still working on that.”
I sat back, pushing out a laugh that sounded more like a sigh.
“And now I’m a guy who hijacked the entire conversation. We were talking about you and Grace in college.”
“Grayden.” Piper’s frown was still there, and still deathly serious. “The more I get to know the man you are, the more you’re a hero tome.”
Then she leaned over, put her palm on my chest, and kissed me.
I tilted my head, and my hands found the sides of her waist. Piper’s lips were hesitant against mine at first. I let her control the kiss.
Then she shifted so our bodies were more aligned, her thigh draping over mine. My hands reached the edge of her sweater and dipped beneath. My fingers spread wide over the warm, smooth skin of her back above the waistband of her jeans.
Really, if I was the hero Piper thought, I would stop this right now, no matter how much I craved her. I was becoming a liability for her. This town had been looking down on me since the moment I returned, thinking I wasn’t good enough for their golden girl.
But I didn’t stop her.
Piper sighed against my mouth, her tongue licking against my lips. Which was all the invitation I needed.
My lips parted and drew her tongue inside, sucking gently on it. I fed her mine.
And I was just gone. Lost in her.
We tasted each other, and between the heat of the fire and the heat of want igniting my veins, I already felt like I might combust.
Another tug of my hands against her hips brought her closer. Piper straddled my thigh, and her crotch rocked against me with the movement.
Her eyes went wide as her head tipped back and a moan snuck from her lips.
