THATCHER
My apartment doorsticks slightly as I push it open, ready to grab a shower and have an early night. Who knew sleeping with a sex god would make you so tired? I didn’t.
I sigh as I remember Pierce’s lips on my body this morning and consider my post-shower options.
“Fuck,” I shout. “Alli, what in the ever-loving fuck are you doing sitting there in silen— Is that a kitten?”
My tired brain struggles to catch up, which is understandable. After all, I went from sexy, good thoughts about Pierce to jumping out of my skin because my best friend decided to use her key for the second time today to ambush me.
I look at the coffee table. Yes, this very much looks like an ambush.
“Don’t even think about running,” she says, rising gracefully to transfer the kitten to my arms. “Now sit. I brought wine and your entire comfort food inventory.”
She’s not exaggerating. The coffee table holds more snacks than our local corner store, and there’s an alreadyopen wine bottle, breathing in anticipation of confessions I’m not sure I’m ready to make.
Definitely an ambush.
“I appreciate the snacks, but I’m a little tired from work, so I’ll just…” I try to give her the kitten back, but the tiny devil sticks his…her…claws into my shirt. “Who’s this?”
“That’s Berry. Her full name is Strawberry Shortcake. Someone found her and brought her into the store because the— Don’t deflect. I want to know what happened last night.”
I sit at the other end of the couch and stroke the kitten. “Oh, gotcha. You’re ready to kiss and tell on your date last night?”
She raises a brow and reaches for a bowl of peanuts. “I’ll kiss and tell when you kiss and tell.”
“Who says I kissed?”
“Your state of undress this morning. Unless underwear is the new business wear, and Pierce is now conducting board meetings in your bedroom.”
Dammit, she makes a good point. I hate it when she corners me like this. My brain can’t function under this much scrutiny.
The wine tastes expensive when I take a slow sip. The slowest of sips. Alli knows my weaknesses: good wine, comfort food, and tiny animals in need of affection. She’s perfectly arranged everything to break down my defenses.
“As he said this morning, it’s complicated,” I say finally, earning an unimpressed look that makes me sink farther into the couch. The kitten climbs higher on my chest, her tiny paws kneading my shirt.
“It always is, honey. That’s why I got the good stuff.”
“Fine,” I say finally, cradling the kitten closer like a shield.
Alli’s smile widens as she reaches for her glass, victory clear in her expression. “Now start at the beginning. And don’t skip the good parts.”
I start with the kissing in the office on the night of the party, which was only two days ago, but feels like a lifetime. Alli puts the peanuts away and reaches for the cheese plate, munching like she’s watching a good movie.
“Then he practically dragged me out to the roof garden yesterday morning,” I continue, heat flooding my face as memories surface. Pierce’s mouth on my neck, his hands sliding under my untucked shirt… “It wasn’t planned,” I protest weakly, earning an unimpressed look from Miss Judgy.
“Nothing with you ever is,” Alli points out, but her tone carries fondness rather than judgment now. “That’s what makes it interesting.”
“We didn’t actually…you know…”
She shakes her head before her lips curl into anO. “Finish.”
I nod.
The kitten purrs against my chest as I try to find words for something that felt beyond language. “It was so intense,” I manage finally. “Like he’d been keeping all this energy inside and in that moment, he snapped, and it all came spilling out. It was like I was the single focus of his attention, and it was…mind-blowing, devastating.”
“Devastating?”
I grab Berry and turn her over to rub her belly. She purrs in my hands, and it’s the cutest sound in the world.
