Page 82 of Pretend for Me

I know her eyes are open, watching me in the darkness, but I can’t make out their green color.

“And I’m the lucky bastard who gets reserved space in that beautiful head of yours?” I ask, keeping my voice barely above a whisper, as if speaking any louder would shatter this serene moment between us.

She nods, keeping our eyes locked. The air thickens between us, and I so badly want to reach across and tug her to me, to breathe in her citrus scent and feel her warm body pressed against mine.

But I won’t. Not until I get a better indication of how it might be received.

After putting her rabbits back in her room, Piper and I came back here. Frankly, I’m still surprised she actually upheld her side of the bargain and agreed to stay the night. I mean, I did hold an orgasm over her head, but I was sure she was going to back out.

Before we got into bed, we took a shower together, where Piper dropped to her knees for me and I experienced the second most amazing orgasm of the night inside her mouth. I repaid her in kind once we got out of the shower, by setting her on the bathroom counter and eating her out until she was screaming my name once again.

“Do you think we traumatized them?” she asks, taking me away from the images spinning inside my head of her flushed cheeks, her hand fisted inside my hair, and the perfect “O” her lips formed when she came over my tongue.

Fuck, my dick is hard again.

“Who?” I ask, struggling to shift my thoughts.

“Natalie Nutbottom and Kevin. I feel like they might be traumatized by what they saw.”

“Or they learned a thing or two. Still, probably a good idea to find them a therapist.”

“Maybe the vet will tell me why they refuse to be intimate. At this point, I’ve tried everything.”

My lips twitch. “Have you really, though? I mean, I don’t think you went far enough with the sex playlist, the club lighting, or forcing them to watch our live performance.”

“You’re right.” She nods thoughtfully, her deadpan voice matching my sarcasm. “I should have gotten some bunny lingerie for Natalie.”

“God, you’re weird. The weirdest, most intriguing girl I’ve ever met.”

“You sure about that?” Piper lifts on an elbow, resting her head in her palm. “Because from what I heard, your ex was pretty intriguing, too. I don’t want to believe the gossip rags, but did she actually become a nun?”

I puff out a short breath, caught off-guard by the change in topic. “What can I say? I have a type.”

She smiles, waiting for me to continue. It’s a topic that needs to be discussed; though, if I’m being honest, I’m surprised it took her this long to bring up. For months after Camila and I broke up, my life was plastered all over every gossip magazine in the country. I’m sure she read some version of our breakup in some magazine or online column.

“Camila and I grew apart after several years. It didn’t help that I was traveling so much for work and couldn’t devote the time to our relationship. In fact, we hadn’t been intimate for months toward the end. Even still, I thought we were going to get married. But when I came back from one of my trips, Camila was waiting for me in my living room. Her stuff was packed and she told me she’d found a higher calling.”

Piper reaches for my hand, tangling it with her own, before scooting closer to me. She places her head on my chest and drapes her leg over my thighs.

She’s wearing those tiny sleep shorts I’m so fucking crazyabout, but in this position, I can finally fulfill my fantasy of palming her ass through them.

“I’m sorry. That couldn’t have been easy for you.”

“It’s not every day your girlfriend cheats on you with Jesus.”

Piper’s silent for a second before her body shakes against mine with laughter. “Well, I guess this answers the age-old question of ‘What would Jesus do?’ Looks like he’d steal your girlfriend.”

She crosses herself, looking at the ceiling and asking for forgiveness, but I can’t help but laugh, pulling her closer into my arms the way I’ve been wanting to for so long.

We’re quiet for a few moments when I decide to turn the tables on her. “What about you?”

She draws circles over my bare chest with the tip of her finger. “What about me?”

“Have you ever had a serious relationship?”

The thought of someone else holding her, touching her, kissing her the way I do bothers the fuck out of me, but I’ve always wanted to understand more about the way she ticks, what and who formed this version of Piper Parker in my arms.

“I had a steady boyfriend in high school. Andrés. But we broke up when I told him I wanted to go to beauty school instead of college.” She’s quiet for a moment, but I suspect she has more to say. “He said he couldn’t see himself with an uneducated airhead long-term.”

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