Page 61 of Forty and Fighting Dirty
Piper shook her head. “I threw myself into my coursework whenever I had a spare minute. And I didn’t have much time, because the boys were really little and Jacob was always at work. I don’t know how I survived it. Eventually, exam time came around, and Jacob promised to watch the boys so I could study and take the exams. It had always been a dream of mine to start my own design business, and the business certificate was a way to start.” She paused, and I waited. Finally, she took a deep breath and sighed it out. “He ended up going away on a last-minute business networking trip the week of my exams. I had to scramble to find childcare, and I wasn’t able to study at all.”
“Did you pass?”
“Yes,” she said. “And I realized that he would never support me. I would always be the one who would have to sacrifice. I knew I couldn’t live my life that way, and I couldn’t teach my boys that it was okay to treat their future wives that way, either. So I asked for a divorce.”
We’d moved closer to each other, and I didn’t realize until I felt her breath against my throat. Her eyes lifted to meet mine, and I couldn’t resist any longer. Piper wasn’t an existential threat to me. She wouldn’t ruin everything I’d built in town.
She was the only person with whom I could let my guard down. She was the only one who didn’t shy away from the real me. She listened to me without judgment and then gave me the same honesty right back. I’d never felt so close to another person in my life as I did in that moment.
I didn’t want her to leave town once the lodge was open. I didn’t want to run her out of town. All of a sudden, I wondered if I’d be able to live without her at all.
“I’m glad you left him,” I said.
Her smile was tiny and wry. “So am I,” she replied.
My hand cupped her jaw, and I waited a moment to see if she’d pull away. But her eyes remained wide and liquid, and her tongue darted out to sweep across her lips. I exhaled, tightness in my chest easing at the invitation in her gaze.
Kissing Piper set my body on fire. She parted her lips and let me in with a sigh, her hands coming up to rest on my chest. I groaned, deepening the kiss, wondering how I’d lived all these weeks without feeling her mouth move against mine. Her fingers curled into my shirt as she pulled me closer, that demanding side of her coming to the fore. When we finally pulled apart, Piper looked as dazed as I felt.
“Oh,” she whispered, still clinging to my shirt.
Unable to resist, I kissed her again, my lips running down to her jaw, her neck, that soft spot of skin just below her ear. I drank in the soft moans she made like they were the only sustenance I needed to live.
Finally, Piper pulled away, shaking her head. “We need to stop. I need to go home. The babysitter…”
It was an excuse, but there was a tremor in her hands, and my own limbs didn’t feel quite as steady as I liked. I nodded. “Yeah. We can, uh, do the bookcases when we have more light. Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” she agreed, climbing to her feet.
I did the same, heart squeezing as she took a step away from me. Her hand was on her forehead, and I heard the breath gust out of her. She was halfway to the foyer when I started thinking I’d made a mistake.
Then Piper whirled, closed the distance between us, and threw her arms around my neck. She kissed me hard and fast, then pulled away again. “Just checking,” she said, smiling shyly.
“Checking what?” My breathing wasn’t quite steady, and my heart raced in its cage.
“That it wasn’t just a fluke the first time.”
My hands skimmed down her sides, and I brushed my lips against hers. “You feel it too?”
“I’m not sure what I’m feeling,” she admitted, meeting my gaze. She looked hesitant and hopeful and so beautiful I couldn’t quite believe it.
“Sleep on it,” I answered softly, hands squeezing her sides.
She nodded. “Yeah. See you tomorrow?”
“Meet me here to work on the bookcases.”
I let her go, heart thumping as she glanced back before walking out the door. Then I slumped against the wall, exhausted and wired and alive.
TWENTY-FOUR
PIPER
I’d learnednothing from my divorce. Not caution, or independence, or mental fortitude. The moment I walked through the front door of the Lovers Lane house the next morning, I knew last night wouldn’t be the last time I kissed Rhett.
He stood up from the bookcase he’d started assembling, and in three steps he was in front of me. I was still wearing my jacket with my scarf half unwound from my neck when Rhett wrapped his arms around me and kissed me like nothing else mattered. My fingers traced his jaw and slid into his hair. I clung to him like his bulk was the only thing keeping my feet on the ground.
It was reckless and stupid and foolish. He was my boss and my business partner. He could fire me and renege on our deal with the house. A wise woman would keep her distance and stop herself from falling for the wrong man all over again.
