Page 104 of The Wrong Date Deal

“Mm.” She stepped closer to August. “Seems like it, doesn’t it?”

August smiled, matching Piper by stepping closer to her, too, and wrapping her arms around Piper’s waist. “Am I supposed to be upset about that?”

“Oh, is it not a very good threat?”

“Depends on what type of threat you were going for. The type that scares me? Not so much.”

Piper looked up at her through her lashes. “No? Was it a threat that does something else, maybe?”

“Who can say?” August asked, lifting Piper slightly and spinning to press her into the door.

“Make sure you clean my bathroom after you fuck in it,” Hermes called from the hallway, banging on the door as he passed by.

August closed her eyes and shook her head as she called, “I wouldn’t have sex in my brother’s apartment, thank you.”

She looked down at Piper, their gazes holding as Hermes called back from the direction of the kitchen. “Why not? Piper clearly doesn’t have that concern.”

Piper stifled a laugh, pressing her face into the soft fabric of August’s shirt. “I guess he’s not wrong…”

August nuzzled Piper’s hair and whispered, “I mean, it’s not like you couldn’t make me forget where we are. If we’d already slept together, maybe it wouldn’t have even been on my mind, but, for our first time, I don’t think someone else’s bathroom will suffice.”

“Second time,” Piper corrected, moving to press a kiss to August’s neck.

“Fair. Second time. First time in person.” She pulled back to look at Piper, one hand moving to run through her hair.

Piper was certain nobody had ever looked at her like they adored her before. She’d been looked at a lot of ways, and she’d had plenty of people interested in her, but nobody who looked at her quite the way August did. Of course, she’d never brought anyone else she was dating into her family this way. Some of her exes had met her family, but this was different. Piper knew it, her parents knew it, and she wanted August to know it too.

Hermes passed by the bathroom door again, not saying anything this time, just banging on the door once. Typical brother behavior, but Piper was too wrapped up in August to really register it. Their gazes held and she could already feel the where and the when slipping away, leaving just her and August.

She slid one hand up along August’s shoulder to the nape of her neck, stroking softly over short hair and silky skin.

August’s gaze flickered to Piper’s lips and back to her eyes, and Piper was certain she, too, was forgetting where they were. There was nothing suggestive about the glance though. It was full of meaning and intention, but Piper was certain the meaning wasn’t sex. She’d been wanted more than enough times that way—and she wanted August to want her like that, but she wanted this too. She adored August looking at her exactly like the two of them kissing would provide all of the answers to why the universe existed.

Every single date she’d been on, she’d been looking for something special, but she’d been so ignorant to just how special it could be, how amazing the person she might find would be. And months of knowing August, pretending this thing between them couldn’t be more, still hadn’t been enough to crash through her consciousness and tell her just how much she needed to grab onto August and never let go. But here, in their brothers’ bathroom, one look was enough to finally do it.

Maybe one day she’d hope it hadn’t taken place in a bathroom, but all she could think was that she needed to kiss August and pour every little thing that was passing between them into that kiss.

Either feeling the same or able to tell what Piper was thinking, August sighed quietly and moved her hand to caress Piper’s cheek. Her touch was electric as she moved in slowly, her eyes dancing between Piper’s eyes and lips, until she was close enough to brush their noses together.

Piper’s eyes closed as she sought more contact, luxuriated in the touch, and, finally, when she felt like she couldn’t take not kissing August for another moment, August pressed their lips together, and Piper felt like the universe finally made sense.

Chapter Twenty-Four

August felt a million emotions crashing over her as she climbed into her car at the end of the night. The day had been full of moving, decorating, assembling, and unpacking items. They could have been done faster, but they’d all been having such a great time. There were so many breaks for food and drinks, so many conversations, and so much laughter. It was everything August could have hoped for and more. It was a million things she hadn’t thought to dream up.

The last time her parents had helped her move was when she’d moved into her college dorm. When Ford moved into his last apartment, they’d been on vacation in The Bahamas. He hadn’t even considered asking if they’d help him move into Hermes’ place.

August hadn’t thought that Piper’s parents might show up instead and welcome them into this loving, hectic family. Notonce had she imagined a world in which they’d finish unpacking, collapse on the sofa, turn on a movie, and just hang out together, nobody desperate to escape. And not once had she dreamed of a world in which April would pull out a camera, insist the entire group—including August—squeeze into the shot, and take a new family photo together. She was planning on putting it up in her house, and, if Piper’s comments were correct, sending a framed copy to each of them.

Sure, there were pictures of August’s family together, but they hadn’t felt like April’s photo since she was a child. Even then, she wasn’t certain they were the same.

In one day, Piper, her friends, and family had somehow shown August that she and Ford weren’t alone anymore. She still wasn’t sure how to wrap her head around that.

She also couldn’t quite wrap her head around the fact that Piper was climbing into her passenger seat, heading home with August, while her parents drove Massima and Shea home without her.

She watched August, smiling softly and saying nothing, as August started the car and they were locked into the quiet, dark space together.

Part of August had been expecting things to be hot and heavy and rushed when they finally got a second alone, but then they’d had that moment in the bathroom where something seemed to slot into place and things became… bigger, more, emotionally intense. Of course, she’d already known that what was going on with Piper wasn’t simply a physical thing, or a quick fling she’d move on from, but the way they’d kissed in the bathroom, the promise that, no matter what happened, August and Ford were part of the family now… Well, that had changed things and she could feel the way it had settled into both of them.

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