The One Left Behind (The One Series) (24 page)

I finally find my voice, “Are you shitting me? Addison, as in my—uh, I mean our Addison, went skydiving?”

“Yep, the one and only.” Morgan seems so excited about this. You’d think she was the one that just jumped thousands of feet out of a plane.

“Wow, that seems so unlike her,” I say in a somber way. Yet again, I can feel her drifting farther away from me.

“I know, right? It seems like Pierce is getting her to open up. He’s good for her—uh, or—he’s, like, you know—a good friend for her to have around.” She stumbles all through that sentence and I know she realizes her slip. I look at her with a blank stare and Jeremy gives her the angry eye that says, ‘Way to go.’

I stand up, keep my head low as I grab my keys off the counter. “Yeah, maybe he is. I’ve got to get going guys. I’ll talk to you later, Jeremy.”

“Wait, Colin. You don’t have to leave. Why don’t you stay here and hang out a while longer?” Jeremy gets up to try to stop me. I think he’s afraid I’m going to go home to drink. I’m not an alcoholic who’s on the verge of relapsing, but he would be right in his assumption. I want to be numb to everything right now. It hurts too badly otherwise.

“I’m good. I think I’m just going to relax and maybe catch up on some work,” I give him a weak smile that I know isn’t convincing him that I’m okay.

I walk out the door and drive home. The first thing I do when I walk through the door is head to the kitchen and open up a bottle of beer. Maybe I’ll retry this whole no drinking thing again tomorrow.

PIERCE HOLDS MY hand the entire car ride home and keeps running his thumb over the outside of my palm. I’m so anxious to get home so I can show him how much I love him. I would’ve thought there would be more contemplation on my part in regards to my feelings for Pierce. We haven’t known each other that long, and with everything going on in my life recently, am I ready to fall in love with another man? But when he said it, I didn’t even have to think about it. I knew I loved him too. Even if I did wait to say it to battle it out in my brain, there’s no denying what my heart feels and wants, and it wants Pierce.

Once we finally arrive, I don’t bother waiting for Pierce to open my door. He chuckles at my eagerness as I jump out of the car and run to my door to unlock it. He chases after me and catches up as I am about to open the door. Before I can walk in, he scoops me up and carries me inside and sets me down on his lap on the couch. I move so I can straddle his hips and wrap my arms around his neck. As we sit here kissing, Pierce breaks away for a moment and tucks a loose strand of hair that is in my face behind my ear. I love it when he does that.

“I love you,” he says as he looks into my eyes with so much passion that I feel the words down to my soul. I smile at him and pull him closer until we’re touching foreheads and quietly say, “I love you too.” We stay on the couch kissing like we are a couple of love sick teenagers. As much as I can’t wait to move things along, this is really nice and I’m enjoying just exploring and savoring each other’s mouths as our hands roam over our bodies.

Unfortunately, my stomach growls loudly and he smiles against my mouth. “Hungry?” he asks. I’m slightly embarrassed that he could hear that, but get over it quickly as a plan formulates in my head.

“I want to do something for you. You made today so awesome and I want to make tonight special for you,” I say as I get up off of his lap and stand. I’m biting my lip hoping he doesn’t think what I’m about to do is stupid.

“You don’t have to do anything special.” He grabs my wrist and gently pulls me toward him in an effort to get me to sit back down on top of him.

I resist his pull and say, “I know I don’t have to, but I want to. So, can you please go take a nice, extra-long shower so I can do something nice for you?” I tilt my head to the side, pleading with him to comply. He lets out a low, sexy growl before agreeing.

“How long is
extra
long?” he asks.

“Well,” I say as I think, “I have to cook but there’s something else I want to do and that will take about thirty minutes.”

“So you want me to stay in the shower for thirty minutes? You know it only takes me about five minutes normally. What am I supposed to do for another twenty five?” Pierce grins and crosses his arms in amusement as I begin to get annoyed with his inability to do this one thing.

“I’m sure you can think of something. And if you can’t, watch TV until I come get you.” I give him a quick peck on the cheek before backing up and doing a shooing motion with my hands to make him go.

“Fine, fine. I’m going,” he says, holding up his hands in mock surrender before pivoting around and sauntering off toward the bathroom.

I go to the kitchen to start dinner. I cut up some vegetable, season some chicken, throw it in the oven and let the vegetable sauté. Once that is done, I hurry to the pantry in the kitchen and pull out everything I need and head to the back patio table. I grab a table cloth, china, silver wear and candle sticks. It is a beautiful night with not a cloud in sight, allowing you to see the bright moon perfectly. I set up the table with the supplies I gathered from the closet, placing the candle sticks in the center and scattering tea light candles around the patio so we’re surrounded by a nice, romantic glow. As I’m looking around to see if I have forgotten anything, I start to second guess myself. What if he doesn’t like it? What if he thinks this is dumb? Is it too girly of a gesture? I wanted to do something nice for him, not scare him away. What if he feels like this is too intimate? Before I can freak myself out any further, I take a picture of everything with my phone and send it to Morgan.

Me: A little freaked out. Pierce told me he loved me and I wanted to do something special for him. Too much?

As I wait for her response, I go back to the kitchen to check on dinner and pace back and forth after I’ve stirred everything. I’m starting to bite on my thumb nail when my phone finally buzzes with an incoming text.

Morgan: Not at all. Ya know if you really want to do something special for him you can just take him into the bedroom and have your way with him. ;-)

Me: Shut up. Besides, I don’t kiss and tell.

Morgan: Well I expect you to tell me how the ‘I love you’ came about. I want details!! Does Colby know yet?

Me: Not yet. We will get together and I will tell you guys all about it. It was so sweet. Gotta go. Dinner’s almost ready. Wish me luck.

Morgan: Don’t forget to wrap it up. Love you.

I shake my head and roll my eyes at Morgan’s response and shoot Colby a quick text. I want Colby to hear it from me not Morgan.

Me: Hey Cole! So Pierce told me he loved me today! Girl’s day so I can share the details. Can’t wait to see you. Love you.

I hit send then shut my phone off. I want to make sure we have no interruptions tonight. And knowing Colby, she will be calling me right away to get the details. Tonight I want it to be about Pierce and me. No Distractions.

I am pulling the chicken out of the oven as I call out to Pierce to let him know dinner is ready. I grab two wine glasses in one hand and a bottle in the other. As I turn around to go out back, Pierce emerges from the bedroom. His hair is still damp from the shower and he is not wearing a shirt. Since he didn’t have a change of clothes, he is wearing the same jeans he had on earlier. And dear god, I can tell he doesn’t have any boxers on underneath. His pants are riding low on his hips exposing his V-cut perfectly. I lick my lips and feel my cheeks turn red as all kinds of dirty thoughts run through my mind.

“Like what you see, boss?” Pierce raises his eyebrow at me and has a crooked grin on his face. All I can do is swallow since I’m momentarily speechless by the sight standing in front of me. His body is insanely perfect and gives me hot flashes just thinking of touching it. I giggle softly and look down as I recall that that was the same question I asked him when I caught him checking me out in my bathing suit.

I put on the most serious face I can and say, “Eh, it’s okay,” and shrug my shoulders to emphasize my indifference. He slowly walks toward me, almost like a cat stalking its prey, with a cocky grin on his face and wraps his arms around me pulling me in for a kiss. He tries to deepen the kiss, no doubt to change my assessment on my appreciation for his body, but I pull back and give him a quick peck before saying, “There’s plenty of time for that later. Come on.” I nod my head in the direction of the patio and walk him to the back deck as I wait nervously for his reaction. He’s looking around taking it all in and finally looks at me when he’s done checking everything out. I’m biting the corner of my lower lip, waiting for the verdict.

“It’s beautiful. Just like you,” he says as he smiles lovingly at me.

I let out a sigh of relief and begin to sit down in one of the chairs Pierce pulled out for me. He opens the wine and fills up both of our glasses.

“A toast,” he says as he raises his glass. I follow his lead and raise mine as well before he continues, “To us and being in love.” The candlelight reflects in his eyes giving them a warm glow and I don’t doubt a word he’s saying. The tender expression on his face, the way he stares deep into my eyes as he states his love for me is all the confirmation I need to how he feels about me.

“And to jumping out of perfectly safe airplanes.” I figure I would add that in for good measure to make sure Pierce knows I had an amazing time today. He laughs and we clink glasses before taking a sip of our wine.

I put my glass down and ask, “So, did you know you were going to do that today?”

Pierce swallows the piece of food in his mouth. “Honestly, yeah, I knew I was going to tell you I love you today. I didn’t want to let another day pass without telling you, but I was a little nervous I wasn’t going to be able to get you in that plane.”

I smile at him. “I’m glad you did. It made it that much more special and something I’m sure to never forget.” As those last words come out of my mouth I almost want to take them back. I’d never intentionally forget this amazing day, but what if life gets in the way and changes that? It already did once for me.

“You’re special and I’m glad I could make today memorable for you.” There’s a look I can’t quite place that quickly passes his face and I’m wondering if the same thoughts are going through his head. I lean over and give Pierce a quick kiss hoping to banish those thoughts from both of our minds.

As we finish up dinner, Pierce pulls out his phone. My feelings are a little hurt since I shut my phone off so that there were no interruptions and my face falls a little thinking he’s checking his messages. Before I can dwell on it too long, I hear music playing. Plain White T’s
1,2,3,4
comes on and Pierce reaches his hand out to me. I take it and he stands, gently pulling me to stand with him. He guides me to an open area of the patio, places his hand on the small of my back, and draws me in to him. Our bodies are almost flush against each other as he gently sways us to the sweet melody that sings of saying those three important words. I gaze into his eyes and am completely lost. This song couldn’t have been more fitting and accentuates the perfect night as we continue to dance under the moonlight.

After we finish dancing to a couple more songs, Pierce sits on the lounge chair and pulls me onto his lap. We snuggle into each other in silence just listening to the sounds of the ocean and enjoying each other’s company. Pierce pushes my hair over my shoulder and grabs my chin with his hand. He stares into my eyes and I see the passion filling them. In this moment his eyes say more than words could. I know what he’s asking me and I couldn’t be more ready. My insides liquefy and my stomach flutters in anticipation.

He leans in and starts placing a trail of kisses up my neck that leaves a burn in its wake. When he reaches my lips, I slip my tongue into his mouth and take control of the kiss. I straddle his lap and his hands make their way up the back of my shirt unclasping my bra giving him better access to my breasts. I run my hands down his chiseled chest and I can feel him hardening beneath me. My heart is slamming into my chest so hard I wonder if it’s possible to burst through. Just as I am about to unzip his jeans, his arms wrap around my waist and he picks me up, never breaking contact with my lips. I wrap my legs around his waist locking them at the ankles while he carries me to my bedroom. He lays me down gently onto the bed and lifts my shirt over my head throwing it and my bra to the floor. He places a gentle kiss on each of my breasts and it is pure torture, but a good kind of torture. My toes are curling and I’m almost to the point of begging. I need him so badly to ease the ache building in my center and his slow foreplay is agonizing.

He begins to suck and nibble around my chest making my back arch off the bed. I unzip his jeans not able to wait any longer. His pants hit the floor before he slowly slides mine down. He finally touches me in the place I’ve been needing him to, working me in a way that would suggest he’d done this to me before. Every touch, caress, and kiss makes me believe he was designed for me. Each one is done with the sole purpose to elicit pleasure, and he succeeds. Every single time. After he’s brought me to the edge several times, he finally gives me what I’ve been craving since we got home. As he enters me, I let out a small gasp that is drowned out by a low, almost primal groan coming from Pierce.