“Okay, but you’ll never be sure one hundred percent until you actually get back in the sack, so to speak. Let me tell you what I remember about their first night here, that’ll really get your panties soaked.”
Chapter Eleven
Brody made a visible effort to keep his conflicting emotions under wraps as he stepped into Rowdy’s. As if it wasn’t bad enough to still have nothing concrete to go on in regards to the harassment aimed at Piper, both he and Ian were being pressured by their boss to head to Atlantic City as back up for Carlos. The undercover agent in with Pasquino reported that Pasquino is planning a party at the Empire this weekend on the same floor Charles used to hold his private parties, another slap in the face for Charles if he was still alive and keeping tabs on his business. As frustrating as those two things were, they didn’t compare to what he felt when Ian told him what happened between him and Piper earlier today. Any other time, any other woman, and all he would have said was, ‘Why didn’t you wait for me?’ He had always known Piper had the potential to be someone special to him, but it wasn’t unti
l he had popped back into her life again so unexpectedly and gotten to know the woman she had become that he knew it for certain. If his own lust for her wasn’t enough of a clue, the possessiveness he found he had was all the proof he needed. But since it was his fault Piper acted out today and Ian, being only human, reacted, he had no one to blame but himself. It had been difficult sending her upstairs alone last night, especially when she gave him that devastating look of rejection followed so swiftly by stoic acceptance, but not as difficult as it was picturing her with Ian on that dock. Funny, he mused, how he didn’t feel any jealousy as he thought of the three of them together, it was only when he thought of those two alone.
“Fuck it,” he griped as he removed his sunglasses and looked around for Piper.
“Don’t tell me her muttering’s rubbing off on you,” Ian said, secretly grinning over Brody’s irritation. It was past time he came to terms with what he wanted from Piper, and if their actions pushed him to do that, it was worth having his friend irked with him.
They both saw and heard Piper at the same time, their gazes swiveling to the small stage set up for Karaoke where she was belting out the lines to ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’, her voice woefully off key. Brody spotted Crack lounging in a booth with Haley that faced both the stage and the room in general. “A lot about that woman is rubbing off on me. Let’s go see what’s going on.”
He couldn’t help but smile at her pathetic attempt at both dancing and singing, but that smile slipped when he saw the four empty beer bottles on the table. “Those better be yours,” he said as he slid into the booth next to the bartender, Ian joining them on the other side.
“Nope,” Crack answered without a qualm. “They’re Pipers, every one of them. I told you that girl could drink you under the table.”
“Why the hell did you let her have so many?” he demanded as his eyes moved back to her gyrating on the stage, her coordination poor but nonetheless arousing.
Crack threw his head back in a loud, guffawing laugh. “You think her piss poor voice and dancing are due to alcohol? Trust me, they’re not.” Crack didn’t try to disguise his fondness for Piper as he watched her. “But neither she nor anyone else cares. Every once in a while she comes in just to let her hair down and I’ll boot anyone out who bad mouths her, including you.”
Brody believed him. The older man watched over both women like an over protective parent, something he was grateful for. Watching out for Piper was a full time job, at least on this trip. He was beginning to hope there’ll be future trips to Hope that aren’t filled with the stress of an unknown stalker.
Piper stepped off the stage and headed to her booth with every intention of getting another beer when she saw Brody and Ian sitting with Crack and Haley, grins splitting their faces. She barely had a buzz from her four beers, but it was enough to keep her from crawling away from them in mortification. She was well aware of what she sounded and looked like when she was on that stage, but she simply didn’t care. It was mindless fun that helped clear the cobwebs from her head. It was even more fun when Haley joined her.
“You were supposed to have a fresh one waiting for me,” she told Crack, ignoring the other two. “I worked up a thirst, so gimme.”
“No, darlin’,” Brody said as he stood and took her arm. “Time to take your cute little self home. You promised us spinach lasagna for dinner and I want you sober when you’re making it. There’s no telling what’ll end up in it if you’re not.”
“Why do you always have a good point when you’re trying to tell me what to do?” she grumbled as she told Haley good-bye and let him lead her out.
“Because I’m a guy and we’re always right.”
Her indelicate snort had both of them grinning as they poured her into the back seat, but if they expected her to nod off, they were sorely mistaken. She gabbed all the way back to the cabin, flirted and teased them while she made the lasagna they both had to admit looked really good, and then announced she was going to work for an hour while it baked. Crack had been right, she held her beer better than most men.
Piper came downstairs the next morning feeling better than she had all week. By the time she had fallen into bed exhausted, she had resolved to quit pining for Brody and what he wasn’t willing to give her. Before he had showed up unexpectedly last week, she had gotten along fine without him, had made it through weeks at a time without giving him or their one night together a thought. If she had still been plagued by erotic dreams that featured him on occasion, she had simply put it down to the fond memory of the best sex she had ever had and set it aside the next day. Now she knew she would always have a thing for him, the one man who had always been beyond her reach for one reason or another, but that didn’t mean she was going to let him bring her down again.
Today was the Fourth and, as small towns were wont to do, there were going to be celebrations all day, starting with a parade down Main Street at noon, and she intended to enjoy every minute of it, up to and including hooking up with Cole again. She was determined to take back control of her life, at least as much as she could until Brody and Ian either found who was after her or until they left. She would always be grateful to both of them for coming to her rescue and for being here for her this past week, but it was time she accepted the fact that Brody would never be more to her than a friend. And, if it turned out Charles was still alive and he and Ian managed to send him to prison, she knew he would no longer have even that tenuous hold on her. Despite his possible involvement with a drug lord, Charles was still the only person she could call family, the only one who was there for her after her mother died and the only father figure she had ever had. As devastating as it would be to discover he had survived his assassination attempt and then had simply dropped out of her life, that would be preferable than seeing him go to prison.
“Good morning, darlin’,” Brody greeted her when she entered the kitchen, his smile easy and unaffected.
Crap, it happened again. Every time he called her darlin’ in that slow drawl, her nipples peaked, her pussy wept and her toes curled, a reaction she hadn’t outgrown despite their time apart. Refusing to let her body threaten her new resolution to distance herself, at least emotionally from him, she returned his smile with ease. “Good morning. Want some eggs before we go into town?”
Sitting at the counter, Brody watched her go to the fridge, his eyes automatically lowering to her ass and the enticing way those damn shorts clung to her round globes. Shifting on his seat to adjust his stiffening cock, he replied, “Sure. Why are we going into town?”
“For the Fourth of July celebrations. The parade is followed by activities and games all afternoon in the city park and then, of course, there’ll be fireworks over the lake when it gets dark.” Setting a pan on the stove, she sautéed chopped onion while breaking some eggs in a bowl and mixing them with milk. “You and Ian would be sure winners in the three legged race. You ought to enter.”
“Did she just say we ought to enter a three legged race?” Ian asked as he joined them, his dark brown hair still damp, his equally dark brown eyes suspiciously wary.
“I think it sounds like fun,” Brody goaded him.
“You would. I now know why you keep so much beer on hand, Piper. It’s to keep you from going bat shit around here.”
Piper simply smiled at him, added some cheese to the scrambled eggs then put a plate in front of him. “I’d go bat shit in a big city with all the noise, rude people and no open space to simply breathe. Eat. We don’t want to be late for the parade.”
“Yes we do,” Ian grumbled, but dug into his eggs anyway.
A few minutes later, Brody picked up his empty plate and started to take it to the sink when his phone rang. His good mood switched to anger and worry as he listened to Sheriff Norton and by the time he hung up, both Piper and Ian were waiting to hear what he had to say.