68

Piper

I Want To Fuck

In my drunken stupor, it was the sexiest thing I ever witnessed in my entire life. Better than a hot firefighter calendar. Better than a hundred hot firefighter calendars. Because the thing was, Adam didn't need to do it. He could've just turned my phone off like I did and called it a problem for another day.

Heat pooled between my legs that had nothing to do with whatever was in that lemonade.

And there he was. Adam Russell. Number forty-five. The Marrs Manwhore. His dark eyes were unusually soft as he watched me, and even if he was so much bigger than me, there was something…different when I touched him like this. I pulled back away from him but kept my hand on his face and gently ran my thumb along his jaw.

I never really realized how many walls Adam put up until I was gentle with him. Then all those barriers—poof—went away.

"Adam…" I murmured, tracing his bottom lip.

He swallowed and his eyes didn't leave mine. "We need to go downstairs."

"Mm-hmm." I nodded in agreement but I shifted over and pushed myself up on his lap. This was where we hadn't gone when we kissed back in the blue room.

Ooo, the blue room.

A smile tugged up on my lips at the thought, a loopy smile, one I couldn't control. All my inhibitions were completely gone. This was a gorgeous man across the hall from me that I desperately wanted to sleep with.

Why deny it?

Living by all of these little rules…where did it get me? I wanted some toe-curling sex, the kind they name drinks after. And I knew Adam of all people could dish that up in a heartbeat, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and a cherry on top.

Adam's voice was a rasp that sent a shiver through my body. "Piper, what are you doing?"

"You convinced me," I whispered, putting both of my hands on the couch next to the sides of his face.

"I—what?"

"I want to fuck."

The stunned expression on his face melted away and beneath that—oh my god . His eyes darkened. They trailed down my body, down the shirt I'd buttoned up only a couple of hours ago. It wasn't sheer or see-through but it showed the perfect hint to my breasts. There was something primal about the way his lips parted, the way he drew in a harsh breath.

I eased back down on him and my heart hammered in my chest.

"You're hard. " I swallowed.

"Of course I'm fucking hard," Adam grunted. "Do you know what your voice does to me?"

"Does to you?" I asked, rubbing against him.

"Don't hurt me like that, ice princess," he muttered. "You could read off a recipe and I'd be throbbing in my pants—what the fuck am I saying?" He shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut. "Jesus Christ. Piper, you're drunk."

I smiled wider and nodded.

"No—no." He put his hand on my waist. "Get off of me."

My smile vanished. "You don't want to have sex?"

"That's not what I said."

"But—?"

"Piper—I can't believe what I'm saying—" He rubbed his temple. "We're not having sex."

It was hard to think through the line of reasoning for no sex. Why weren't we having sex? Adam looked so good in his fresh t-shirt and I knew he'd just showered. The scent was mouthwatering. I just wanted to run my fingers through his hair and kiss his neck and take his cock in my mouth and do all of those things while I still had the taste of mouthwash on my tongue.

My response sounded pathetic, even to me. "But I want you."

"You don't." His answer was firm. Without compromise. "Piper, you drank two cans of something that'd kill a horse. We need to focus on getting through the shift."

"But I—"

"Nobody's going to know anything, " he said gently. "I'll keep you awake for the next couple of hours to do lockouts with me and once it's too late for your coworkers to be milling around, I'll take over alone. I'm not going to let you down. I promise."

Adam was trying to be helpful but he kept piling on everything that sent my nerves buzzing. The protectiveness, the consideration, the concern…god, I'd never wanted to sleep with him more. He was driving me crazy.

I rolled my hips along his lap and Adam caught my hands together and held me there. My breathing slowed. "Do you want a blowjob?"

" Piper ."

"What about when I sober up?" I suggested, fighting the wave of disappointment at imagining how long that would take.

Adam's reply was simple. "You won't want me when you're sober."

"That's not true," I blurted out.

"Yeah, it is." The closeness between us was gone. Those walls were back up and Adam's face was shrouded. But his hand crept up my thigh and his fingers trailed across the little sliver of skin exposed between my shirt and my jeans. "You know what hurts worse, Piper?" he muttered, drawing little circles and making my heart pound. "I don't think you're going to remember any of this. I'm just going to have to walk around and pretend like we didn't have this conversation."

I shook my head. "You don't know anything ."

"I know that." His thumb slipped between the loop of my jeans and he twisted it against his skin. "I know how bad this is going to hurt when I can't say anything about this." He glanced down at his hand. "And I just have to keep pretending."

"The kiss in the blue room," I said, because I couldn't formulate the rest of the sentence.

His eyebrows furrowed and his eyes met mine again. "What?"

"The kiss in the blue room was—was—I—" Why wouldn't my brain work properly? I struggled with my words, trying to figure out the best way to tell him. "The kiss in the blue room was…I…" Frustrated, I had to try a different approach. I needed him to see how much I wanted him to feel good too. "Adam, I want to thank you."

"Thank me? You're not making any sense, ice princess."

"For calling Thomas," I breathed out.

Adam's eyes flickered to mine. "This isn't a quid pro quo situation. Are you serious? Is that why you think I did it?'

My brain wasn't working at half-speed, much less enough to jump to conclusions like he was. "Um…"

All hesitation was gone out of him. He grabbed my waist and shifted me off his lap. I couldn't believe it. And I knew a couple of hours ago I knew what a quid quid quid situation was but at that point, I was stumped.

"Piper, I didn't call Thomas so you would blow me," Adam told me, helping me up to a standing position. I tried to touch his arm but he moved out of my way, tossing empty paper plates into the garbage, refusing to look at me. "I called him because he's a sack of shit that's been bothering you. And I should've called him earlier. You wouldn't let me."

Too many things had gone wrong in our conversation but I couldn't put them together to figure it out. "I'm sorry, Adam."

"You don't have to apologize for anything."

"I do though?" I said slowly. "Adam—wait—"

My phone rang on the couch cushions and I glanced back to stare at it, annoyed. Couldn't the phone understand that we were in a more pressing conversation at the moment? And couldn't it understand that I didn't want to talk to anyone else?

Adam scooped it up and answered the call. "Yeah, what's up?"

I frowned and stumbled on my walk towards him.

Without missing a beat, Adam reached over and wrapped an arm around my side, holding me up. "Yeah, no worries, be down there in a second."

"Wait…Adam…"

"We have a lockout," Adam told me and moved me toward another chair. I could only sit for a moment before he reappeared with a hoodie from his gym bag. "Arms up. Come on, ice princess. Arms up."

"But—?"

The hoodie was tugged over my head and Adam was gentle with me through every step, careful to bring my arms out and leaned down to pull my hair through. I tried to touch his face again but Adam stepped back, reaching around to bring me to the door.

"We have a quick lockout to do," he told me. "I need to switch out our fingerprints on the key thing—whatever it's called—and you can hang out back up here. We'll just watch movies."

"But…but…?" I frowned. "We're not…having sex…?"

"No, Piper. You don't owe me anything."

Pure frustration bit at me. That wasn't where the conversation was supposed to go but he just had to park us there.

"But I don't want to go downstairs," I whined.

"It'll be quick, I promise."

Thinking it over, I sighed. "Can I have a piggyback ride?"

"A what? "

"A piggyback ride? Please?" I gestured towards my tired, exhausted legs that couldn't possibly hope to carry me. "I'm so sleepy."

Adam gave me the most incredulous look in the world. "Piper, I'm not giving you a piggyback ride. We're trying to save your job . What if someone took a photo? What if you fell asleep on my back? There's no way in hell. You're drunk. I'm not listening to this."

" Please ."

"No."

"Please, please, please—"

"There is no way in goddamn hell I'm giving you a piggyback ride tonight," he muttered under his breath. "No way in hell."