being left alone. I come from a place where expressing yourself isn’t common. Telling you that I want to be with you, only you, is something I can’t just say out loud. So, I had to let you walk away. I said horrible shit to you that I can’t take back. All I can ask is that you give me a chance.”
It’s hard to swallow as we lock eyes. His are dark and pleading and defeated, like he’s already determined what my answer is. “Get to know me before you decide I’m too damaged. I know I’m not as polished as him, but I can support you in any way you need. Be there for you and Ainsley.” In a grumbled tone, he admits, “Dudette has grown on me. Used to being around kids, but none quite like her.”
Running my palms down the leggings I slid on this morning, I take a deep breath. “Carter isn’t as polished as you think.”
His eye twitches.
“And I’m not with him anymore.” That gets his attention. I wet my lips and lean my arms on the edge of the counter. “I’m not saying you had a right to butt into my business with him, but you weren’t wrong. I think I wanted to feel close to my past like maybe it would be enough to keep Danny close. I was afraid of losing that.”
My throat closes up as I battle off tears. I knew what I was starting with Easton the second time I invited him into my bed. I used his body to forget the pain until the line we drew was buried under muddied water. But I don’t want to forget. I want to remember—Danny, our past, all the memories even if they’re bad. In the depths of my mind, Carter would get me that. But it would take something else from me.
Something Easton already has.
“You’re kind of an asshole,” I tell him. His lips purse. “But I want to know why that is. I want to get to know you. Learn about your past. Your homes. How you met Jay. What got you interested in going into business together. I was never going to be happy like I want to be with Carter. I just thought I could. He’s not you though, and I’m sorry if I hurt you by not realizing that sooner.”
For a moment, he just stares. He doesn’t even blink, just sits with his eggs no longer steaming and his face no longer red from anger. Then, he moves.
He’s in front of me, cupping my face in his palms and looking at me in disbelief. “Yeah?”
I smile. “Yeah.”
“Thank fuck.” His lips come crashing down on mine, the sensation taking over my body as he sweeps his tongue in my mouth the first chance he gets. I sigh into the kiss as he pulls me up from the stool and grabs my thighs to wind my legs around his waist. He sets me down on the edge of the counter, barely missing the food behind me.
Our lips never pull away. They slide over each other seamlessly, gently, but with a raw hunger that feeds the feeling I’ve been searching for—the one that fills my chest and limbs and mind. One of my hands wraps around the back of his head, the other palming the rapid beat of his heart. I breathe him in because I can, no longer feeling like I’m drowning.
He grabs me again and sets me on my feet, his hands trailing down my sides until he flips me around and bends me over the counter so my stomach rests against the edge. “I need to be inside you.” His palms trace my body, kneading my skin as he rolls his hard cock against my ass. I close my eyes when I feel his lips graze my neck, trailing upward to my ear. “I need you to be honest with me.”
I swallow, nodding as his breath radiates off my cheek.
“Did you sleep with him?”
Closing my eyes, I count to three. “Yes.”
His lips press against my cheek. “Okay.”
To my surprise, he spins me around again until we’re face to face. “Okay?”
“We weren’t together, Piper,” he points out, his thumb touching every inch of my face that it can. “I’m not going to fault you for being with him. But just know that I’m not going to fuck you against this counter because you mean more than that. You may have been with him, but I’m about to show