Page 22 of Wrecked
He felt like an animal, and right then he was fucking ravenous.
She squeaked, wobbled on the chair, and grabbed for the window frame, missed, lost her balance, and tumbled back. He reached out, catching her before she hit the ground. Her breasts smashed against his chest, fingernails digging into his bare shoulders, making him groan.
No bra. Just thin fabric between his bare chest and hers. “Jesus, Piper.”
She stared up at him, eyes wide, stunned, then she snapped out of it and slapped his shoulder. “Don’t sneak up on me like that.”
“That chair’s not stable. You could have broken your damn neck.” She still hadn’t let him go, and he struggled to breathe evenly.
Her eyes dropped to his mouth. “Whose fault is that?”
He tightened his arms, pulling her in closer. His cock, which was already hard, got even harder when he felt her nipples stiffen, grazing his chest. Jesus. He tilted his hips back. The last thing she wanted was some sad asshole getting hard again while she was pressed up against him.
“You’re drawing a crowd. Maybe you should cover yourself up, yeah?” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. She shoved at his chest, but he couldn’t bring himself to let her go.
Her cheeks turned pink, eyes flashing. “Hardly a crowd. It was one car, Cole. And I can’t see how the way I dress would affect you.” She scowled. “Besides, I thought you’d still be asleep.”
“I was asleep, until you started blasting music loud enough to rattle the windows.” What was he doing? Let her go. Walk away. “Shouldn’t you be working in the garage?” Where you’re mostly covered up and your delectable body isn’t on display for any asshole to see.
She shrugged, which smooshed her tits harder against his chest. “We decided to have a weekend off.”
She clung to his shoulders, and it felt good, too damn good. It would be so easy to wrap her legs around his waist and press her against the side of the house. Take that pouty mouth and fucking devour it.
He reluctantly let her go. It was either that or come across as even more of a pervert than he already was where Piper was concerned. Of course that only made things worse. The sudden movement caused her nipples to drag down his chest. The soft heat of her body lingering, as though she’d branded him. He watched her, fighting an internal battle to keep his hands to himself. Her taste, her smell had been etched into his senses, and he wanted more. Jesus, he was hard, and so wound up he was on the verge of splintering apart.
She stumbled back a step and lifted a hand to her blond hair, which she’d piled on her head in a messy bun, and brushed the loose strands back from her face. She stared at his chest for a few beats, no doubt horrified by the scars marking his body.
He waited for her to look up, waited to see the disgust, the pity on her face, stiffening when she lifted her heart-shaped face to his, bracing for what was coming. But there was no pity, no disgust when she looked at him. No, there was something else entirely. Her cheeks were flushed, lips a darker shade of pink than usual. And when she bit down on the lower one, forcing the top one to puff out in a way that was extremely sexy—he wanted desperately to pull her back into his arms and suck on it. But it was her eyes that got to him most, they were bright and…fuck…hungry.
He struggled to breathe, so far gone that raw lust pounded into him, had him close to the edge, close to insanity. “In the future, keep the music down. And put some fucking clothes on when you’re outside.” And as it turned out, jealous as hell. He didn’t want anyone else to see her like this. In his mind Piper was his. He’d claimed her as his when she was seventeen years old—he just hadn’t gotten around to telling her.
He was behaving like a prize prick, could barely believe the shit coming out of his mouth, but he couldn’t deal with what he’d seen in Piper’s gaze, couldn’t process what it might mean. Being an asshole to her was the only way he knew to keep her at a distance.
She blinked several times, and the heat vanished as fast as it came, replaced by a different kind of heat. Fire. “Fine. But in future, if you want me to turn the music down? Send me a text. You have no right coming over here, bossing me around, and you certainly have no right commenting on the way I dress. If I want to parade around in…in…naked…while I paint my windows, I will. There’s a simple solution to prevent your tender sensibilities from being offended by the way I look, and that’s not to look.”
Offended? “Piper…I didn’t mean…”
“I know exactly what you meant. It’s not like you haven’t made your feelings about me perfectly clear.”
What? “Hang on a minute…”
“I don’t have time to talk. I have windows to paint.” She threw a hand out, motioning to the one she’d been working on, and her breasts jiggled again, firing all sorts of dirty images through his head. Piper naked, sitting on top of him, her full breasts swaying as she bounced on his cock. He tore his gaze from her chest.
She stared back, daggers shooting from her eyes. And for the life of him, he couldn’t think of a damn thing to say, could barely remember what they’d been talking about to begin with.
Piper turned away from him, glancing across the road right as an older woman carrying a stack of cleaning supplies and dragging a vacuum cleaner behind her came out of the muffler shop there. God, Cole remembered her from before he went to the police academy. She’d been cleaning offices along Axle Alley for years.
Before he could move to help her, Piper was jogging across the street, grabbing the vacuum, and loading her stuff into her car. She smiled at the woman, touched her arm while she talked to her. His fucking gut twisted into a knot.
That was Piper in a nutshell. She’d always been one to help. So damn sweet.
He watched her wave good-bye then stride back toward him, her beautiful smile morphing to a scowl when her blue eyes locked on his. Shit. The urge to pull her into his arms near overwhelmed him.
“Right,” she said when she reached his side, not missing a beat, not acknowledging the kind thing she’d just done. She never did. To Piper it was no big deal. Going out of her way for others was just part of who she was. “It seems we’re done here. I’ll try to keep my music down from now on. I forgot how much older than me you are. We don’t want you getting cranky from lack of sleep.”
Jesus. “I’m twenty-nine, Piper, only five years older than you.”
She smirked. “Huh, seems like more.” She turned and picked up the paintbrush she’d dropped, plucking off the grass stuck to it. “Are we finished?”
