Page 45 of Tarnished Hands

“No.” She hands it to me, and I take it, my stomach grumbling. “But I want dessert, just so you know.”

“I’m awfully tired.” She brushes her hair behind her ear and smiles. “But we’ll see what we can do.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

PIPER

I’d missed him. The sight of him hit harder than I expected. Like a pressure I didn’t know I’d been carrying, finally eased.

I have never really been in a situation where I’ve missed being with someone. Especially a man I’m sleeping with. I’m not really sure what it is about Ezra that makes me see him so differently from everyone else, but it’s there. Hardcore.

Sometimes, I think it’s the way he lets me be me and doesn’t try to dim me, or that I’m not too much for him. I never feel like I’m too much for him or that I’m overpowering.

Ezra reaches for me and pulls me onto his lap. He dips his face to my neck and just lays his head there and breathes me in. “I’m making you dirty,” he mumbles against my skin.

“Well, let’s go and shower,” I suggest, running my fingers through his soft curls. To which, he almost purrs at the touch.

“I have to go home to check on Tony. I can’t just leave him.”

“We can go back to your place. I like Tony.”

Ezra pulls back and smiles at me. “He likes you too.” He gently pushes me to my feet, then stands and leads me outside, locking the shop behind us.

I follow him back to his house. When we arrive, his employee’s car is parked in the driveway.

“Be nice,” Ezra warns, pulling me into the house. I hear laughing as soon as we enter. Tony is sitting in his wheelchair at the table, and Aqua sits opposite him, with a board game between them.

“Piper. Finally.” He waves us over. “Come play with us. Aqua is kicking my ass.” She laughs and ducks her head, not making eye contact with me. “Have you two met?”

“We have,” I reply.

“We need to shower first, but maybe after,” Ezra says.

Tony wiggles his brows at Ezra. “Shower. Is that code for sex?”

“Tony,” Ezra warns.

I simply laugh as I’m pulled away in the opposite direction.

When we reach his bedroom, and he shuts the door, he immediately starts tearing off his clothes on the way to the shower. “You better be naked and in this shower with me in five seconds, or I’ll tie you to the bed and fuck every hole you have.”

“That sounds like a delicious threat,” I whisper, making him look back. His jeans fall down his legs, he steps out of them, and I stand there ogling him.

“Get over here.”

I cross my arms over my chest and pop my hip to the side. “Why would I do that?”

“Piper.”

“Ezra.” I smile at him. He shakes his head, his cock already hard, and stalks toward me. When he reaches me, he starts to undress me himself, not even bothering to ask for permission. When I’m down to my underwear, he tears it off my body, picks me up so my legs wrap around his waist, and carries me to the shower. He turns on the faucet and steps in, still holding me.

“I don’t need a shower.”

“You will after I dirty you up.” I slide down him until his cock is at my entrance. When he lets me down fully, I step back. He tips his head back and runs his hand down his face, washing away some of the dirt from his work day.

“Piper,” he says my name as he stares at me.

“Yes?”

---