9. Hugo

Hugo

I woke up just as the sun started to rise over the horizon. The view was nice. And it had nothing to do with the cityscape through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Not even close. The beauty I woke up to was Piper sleeping soundly in my arms. The warehouse was chilly, but thankfully, it seemed that a heater kicked in sometime through the night. A loud engine sounded, and I frowned. Fuck, was someone coming? Sure enough, music accompanied it, and the loud engine, from the sound of it probably a diesel truck, parked.

“Piper,” I whispered and watched her open her eyes slowly.

“Hey. It’s morning,” she croaked, pressing her lips together before she lifted her head. Piper’s hair bounced as she looked around, and just like that, warmth filled me from the inside out. She was mine.

“It is.” I smiled at her. “I think someone is here,” I muttered. Her eyes widened with horror.

“What?” She sat up fast and pulled the beautiful blanket up over her chest, blocking the view of her breasts. “What makes you think that?”

“I heard noises. A loud truck driving around. We might be able to get out of this place sooner than we expected. Get dressed, beautiful.” I leaned in and kissed her forehead before she could ask anything else. I had a plan in mind, and getting sprung out of this place this morning worked just fine for me.

I stood and helped her adjust her clothes. In the daylight of anew day, I still felt the same way. Hell, I was pretty sure I was deeper in love. I just worried Piper had some to her senses and decided I wasn’t the man for her.

If she did, I was prepared for that. There was no way in hell I was going to let her go.

Not after last night.

Not after I knew what making love to someone was actually supposed to be. Anything I had ever experienced before paled to being with Piper.

The moment we were decent and had slipped our shoes back on, we heard the big doors in the back open.

“Hello! Anyone here?” a deep familiar voice called, and instead of seeing relief hit my princess’ blue eyes, I could tell she was torn. “Matty,” she whispered.

“Over here!” I called out. I glanced down at her. “Come on.” I took her hand in mine as we walked toward the footsteps that were approaching.

“Holy crap! Thank god. You guys okay?” Matty asked, Brady behind him.

“We are so sorry, you guys! We thought everyone was gone,” Brady added. Both looked concerned.

“How did you know we were here?” Piper asked. Matty and Brady looked at us, then their gazes dropped to our connected hands. She tried to let go, but I didn’t let her.

“We were driving to the pancake house,” Matty shared and pointed behind him. “Brady noticed your truck and your car. Were you guys stuck in here all night?” We nodded. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I grinned, lifting her hand up to my lips. Those pretty, blue eyes were round with surprise. I had no idea why. I was a possessive bastard, and she would soon find out just how much. If she thought I was going to play this cool, she had another thing coming. I’d taken her bare last night, and primal thoughts were bouncing in my head. What if I bred her? The thought of knocking up a woman would have normally freaked me the hell out, but Piper wasn’t just any woman. She was mine.

“Hugo!” she hissed, but I simply smiled at my girl.

“It turned out to be the best thing that’s happened to me in… well, my entire life.” She gasped, and Matty whistled.

“Well…” Brady coughed. “How about we get you guys out of here, then?” I nodded. We returned the stuff I had taken from Santa’s house where it belonged, then, without letting her hand go, I led her to our vehicles. We stood by our cars and waved goodbye to Matty and Brady.

“Well, umm…” Piper looked everywhere but at me. If it weren’t for the pink blush on her cheeks, I might have been offended.

“Look at me, princess.” The pads of my fingers tipped her chin up to make her look at me. “You’re coming home with me right now.”

“Hugo—“ I didn’t like the defeated tone in her voice. I pulled her into me, and she gasped.

“I want you home with me. If it rained here, it might have snowed up at my cabin.”

“I just… I don’t want you to feel obligated,” she shared softly.

“Obligated?” I repeated, my brows bunched. “Obligated to what, princess?”

“To me.” She chewed on her lower lip. “People, well, umm… Other than my best friend, they don’t really stick around.”

“What about your family?” I asked, not that I liked them. Not after that story about how they kept her in a basement during a blackout.

“I’m kinda… well, they pretty much disowned me.”

“Why?”

“Well, umm…”

“Baby, talk to me. What is it?”

“I went to law school, passed the bar, and decided not to practice.” My pretty princess was a lawyer?

“What?” I asked, trying to make sense of what she was telling me. From what I had seen, Piper was very successful with her crocheting business. Why would they disown her?

“I didn’t fit into what they wanted their family to look like,” she explained.

“That makes no sense,” I mumbled. Piper was perfect. She shrugged.

“They’re all attorneys and judges.” She gave me a sad smile. “And I’m just a crafter.”

“There is no just with who you are, beautiful.” I stroked the side of her face.

“To be fair, you kinda just met me.”

“To be fair, I know you. You’re a business owner, Piper. A successful one. I have seen how you sell out of your things and have repeat customers. And that’s just a week of watching you.” She stood a little straighter, and her eyes brightened as they looked up at me.

“Thank you, that’s really sweet. You’re amazing. I just…” She opened and shut her mouth. “I just… I’m scared.”

“Of what?”

“You. How I feel about you and how much I want you,” she blurted out.

“That makes two of us.”

“You’re scared?” Her body relaxed against mine.

“I’m a lot of things right now,” I murmured, leaning down, letting my lips touch hers softly, just a featherlight graze. “Horny.” That made her giggle. “Hungry,” I growled, kissing the side of her jaw. “But mostly, princess, I’m in love with the most amazing woman I just met,” I confessed, pulling back a little to look at her. “And I hope to god that by telling her, wearing my heart on my sleeve for the first time in my life, I didn’t freak her out.”

“You love me?” she whispered back, and I nodded. My heart felt like it was holding still and pounding against my chest all at the same time.

“I didn’t believe in love. Not beyond how I feel about my family and friends. I thought the concept of soulmates was a made-up thing and love at first sight was a trope people used in movies. But it was all true. You walked in here, and I looked at you and knew.”

“But I thought you hated me.” I pressed my lips to hers because I couldn’t stand being that close to her without tasting her.

“Not even close,” I gruffly admitted. “I just didn’t know what to do with how I felt.”

“And now?” she whispered, pulling back. I smiled at her.

“Now, I want to take my princess home, make her breakfast, and spoil the hell out of her for the next twenty to thirty years.”

“Twenty—“ She giggled and pressed her lips together. “That’s a long time,” she noted.

“And yet not enough.” I tangled our fingers together and brought them up to my lips. “Please come home with me.”

“Okay,” she agreed. Her eyes sparkled up at me. “I like that.”

“Thank fuck,” I gruffly mumbled and didn’t waste a moment. I picked up my princess, loving the soft gasp that escaped her.

“Hugo, I’m too heavy.”

“Bullshit.” I lightly spanked her ass before I walked her over to the passenger side of my truck. “You’re perfect just the way you are.” I sat her down in the seat and turned to give her my attention. “You’re perfect for me, little one.” And fuck me, the smile she gave me settled deep in my chest.