Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

D eclan got a text from Dylan as he got out of his truck at his house. We're clear. Thx.

Triumph pulsed through Declan as he slammed his door shut. Hell, yeah. They'd gotten away from the club safely. Anytime. Just let me know.

Will do.

Declan put his phone in his pocket as he strode down the stone walkway to Piper's cottage, whistling cheerfully. It felt so good to make a difference like that. It took so little effort to help someone. Granted, when he'd seen Dick walk out of the room Piper had just been in, he'd had a moment of absolute panic that Dick had hurt her.

But Piper had flashed him that smile, and he'd relaxed.

She was fine.

It had been easy enough to stall Dick long enough for Piper to get to her car, and then he'd followed her home. What a damned night. His mind was still reeling. Starting off from hell, walking into the world he didn't fit. Ending on a high note.

He saw Piper's taillights were still on, so he jogged up to her car and knocked on the window. "Hey!"

She looked over at him, and he saw tears on her cheeks .

Alarm shot through him, and he yanked the door open. "What's wrong?"

She pulled her emotions in and smiled. "It's all good. Did they get away?"

"Yep. They're on their way to the airport." He frowned as he stepped back to let her get out of the car.

Her head was down, her shoulders hunched. "Great. That was fun tonight. I liked helping." She gave him a smile that was a little more real, then turned away. "I'm tired. I'm going to bed."

"No." Declan fell in beside her as she walked toward her house. "What's going on?"

"Nothing! Can't a woman just cry and have it not mean anything at all? I'm happy! I got some good headway on clients. I helped a woman and her kids escape a sociopath." She held up her hand. "I have an amazing ring. Why would anything be wrong? Nothing's wrong!" She flung the front door open and stalked inside, leaving the door open.

There had been a time in his life when Declan would have taken her response as an excuse to walk away and not engage. Many times, actually.

But with Piper, he didn't want to. He wanted to be better.

So, he followed her inside and closed the door behind him, pausing to assess as she paced into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water. Her hands were shaking, and her cheeks were streaked with tears.

She sat down on the bar stool and hit her fist on the counter in visible frustration.

He said nothing as he helped himself to water, and then sat down on the bar stool beside her. He faced forward, not looking at her, and drank his water.

She didn't tell him to leave or go away, so he kept sitting there.

Silence sat between them for a while, and it took all his willpower not to start talking at her, demanding she tell him what was wrong, and offering solutions.

But he did it .

She started peeling the label off the bottle.

"I'm installing the new filtering system on Friday," he said casually. "You'll be able to drink the tap water after that. It'll taste good."

She looked over at him. "Why don't you build houses for your job instead of being a police officer?"

He blinked and managed not to react at the edge in her voice. "What?"

"April asked you to build her house. You're amazing at it, and you love it. Why don't you do that?"

Um… He knew that wasn't what was on Piper's mind, but she was talking now, so he went with it. "I never thought about it. I'm not licensed or anything like that. I just do it because I enjoy it."

"Why wouldn't you want to do for a job the thing that you do for fun? Then you have fun all day and get paid?"

Interesting philosophical question. "I'm not a builder."

"You are a builder! Look around you! You're incredibly talented."

She sounded like she was about to cry, and he had a pretty good idea it wasn't because she was heartbroken that the world wasn't going to get a chance to have homes designed by Declan Jones. "Thank you. I like what I built here," he said easily. "Never considered doing it for a living, but I'll think about it."

"Oh, my God! You're patronizing me! Why are you patronizing me? It's a valid question. I've spent my life trying to build a career I love, one that gives me joy. Why would you go back to being a cop when you love building?"

He ground his jaw, reminding himself that whatever was bugging her wasn't his choice of work. He used to let Diana get a rise out of him, but with Piper, it was different.

He wanted to be that guy she could vent to. "I do like being a cop. It's not what I do. It's who I am."

"Then who have you been for the last few years when you weren't a cop?"

He tapped his fingers on the table, trying to figure out how to refocus the conversation into something productive, not something that set his teeth on edge. "Healing."

She blinked and looked over at him. "What?"

"Healing in body and soul. I got shot in the leg. I was in no shape to carry a gun and run after bad guys. So, I built things, and I healed."

She stared at him, and then new tears filled her eyes. "I'm such a bitch. I'm sorry."

"Shit, no. I didn't mean it like that." He put his hand on the back of her bar stool and leaned in. "What's going on, Piper? It's not about me being a cop."

"Your mom freaked out on me tonight when she realized we were helping that woman. She said I shouldn't let myself get sucked into your cop world, and she was so mad that you were being a cop again. She said that your dad being a cop killed their marriage and that I would die a lonely death if I married you and you were a cop."

He closed his eyes. Shit. He did not want to unpack that right now. "You're crying because my mom got upset at you?"

"No." She put her water down. "I'm crying because you losing your dad and your wife made me miss my family, so I called my older brother tonight and it was…it just…" She stared at him. "I walked out on my family. I can't be with them. They're not good for me. But how can I walk away from them when you don't even have your family anymore? And he was mad. God, Declan, hearing Roman's voice…he'd thought I was dead. And he asked me if I was ever coming home, and I didn't know."

She was letting him in. Declan had to fight to keep his face calm. After hiding everything about her past, Piper was finally lowering her walls that had kept him, and everyone else, out. He wanted to give her what she needed, to build a connection of trust between them, so he weighed his response very carefully.

"How long has it been since you left?" he asked, trying for the bridge between support and neutrality, not wanting to push her back into her cave, doing his best not to ask a question that would feel threatening, that she wouldn't want to answer.

"Seven years."

He wanted to ask why she left, why they were bad for her, but he knew he was standing in the middle of her darkest secrets, and he had to tread gently. "Family isn't always good for us," he said softly. "And if we need distance from them, that's okay."

She looked over at him. "You didn't walk out on your family."

"No, but my mom walked out on my dad. She couldn't handle who he was, and she still can't."

Piper sat back to look at him. "Did you forgive her? Did he?"

"He stayed married to her, so yes."

"Did you?"

Declan shook his head. "No, I didn't marry her. I felt like that would be weird."

Piper stared at him, and then she snickered. "You're such a dork."

Relief rushed through him. His attempt to release a little of her tension had worked. "Yeah, but if I'd married her, then it would be worse than being a dork."

She rolled her eyes and pushed at his shoulder. "Did you forgive your mom, you toad?"

"I am still working through my issues with her, as you know," he said. "It's not about forgiveness. It's about that she sees my dad in me, and she doesn't like it."

"And you see your dad in you, and you embrace it."

He shrugged. "My dad was a good man and a great cop. I'm proud to be like him."

She cocked her head. "But…"

He smiled. "You weren't supposed to notice the 'but.'"

"I'm a wedding planner. I have supersonic empathy skills. What's your but?"

He took a breath. "I don't want to go back to work," he admitted. "I don't know what's holding me back, but it's like this vise that's been around my chest for years. It's my world. My life. What I love. But I don't want to put on the badge again, and I don't know why." He was absolutely fucking lost, and this was the first time he'd admitted it aloud. "I thought I would be ready when it was time, but I'm going in on Friday, and I don't fucking want to."

He felt raw and restless, but he didn't want to go for a run or sweat it out. He wanted to sit there with Piper, not hide in sweat and physical stress anymore.

"Oh…" She sat back. "That's not good to carry a gun and a badge if your heart's not in it."

"Nope. People die."

She cleared her throat. "So, maybe build stuff, then."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Then my mom would win. I can't let her win. It's a pride thing. I do my best to make all my major life decisions based on ego."

Piper looked at him sharply, and then started laughing. "You know, I did have you pegged for an ego guy."

"No other way to live."

"Exactly." She put her water bottle on its side and rolled it toward him. "I don't talk about my family," she said. "Ever."

He caught the bottle and rolled it back to her. "I don't talk about my feelings, so I get it."

She put her hand on the bottle, and then pushed it back toward him. "It felt good to have you here when I was upset," she said. "Thanks."

He caught the bottle and flung it a little harder toward her, a little game that was a good distraction for both of them. "You're welcome. I'm still undecided how I feel about the fact I told you I don't want to go back to work. If I decide I'm good with it, then I'll circle back and thank you for drawing that out of my reluctant man-cave of emotional isolation. If not, then I'll probably pretend it never happened."

She burst out laughing and caught the water bottle. "Either way is fine." She shoved the water bottle at him, and it skidded off the counter.

They both lunged for it, and their heads cracked against each other.

"Ow!" Piper tumbled off the stool, and Declan grabbed her.

He caught her arm, slowing her before she hit the floor, but lost his balance in the process. He landed on the tile beside her, grunting at the impact of his knee on the tile.

Piper rolled onto her back, laughing as she held her forehead. "Your skull is a deadly weapon," she groaned. "Holy crap. That hurt so much."

His head was throbbing too, but he ignored it. "Sorry." He grimaced as he propped himself up on his elbow. "Let me check. I'm a certified EMT. I can stitch it up for you."

"Yes, please. Without numbing it." She moved her hand out of the way. "Am I going to die?"

He leaned over, peering at the red mark on her forehead. "Not from that."

"Stitches?"

He ran his finger over the mark. "There's no cut, but I could put stitches in anyway. Just for fun."

"Oh, yes, please, do. That would be great."

"You bet." He paused. "The proper treatment might be a kiss. It's a proven effective treatment for booboos."

And with that, the heat between them suddenly came on like a furnace. She glanced at him. "Yes, please. Fix it."

"You bet." He leaned over and pressed a kiss to the mark on her forehead.

"Oh." She winced and started laughing. "That actually hurt."

"Shit. And to think I was trying to seduce you with that kiss. I'm not into seduction with pain. Not my thing."

She raised her brows. "What are you into, then?"

He paused, then brushed his lips very gently over her brow. "Today? Now? "

"Yep. Right now." She closed her eyes, going still as he trailed kisses across her forehead, carefully skipping the red mark.

"Right now," he said, his voice low and intimate, "I'm thinking about long, tantalizing kisses."

"Can you give an example? Just for clarity."

"Yeah. Sure." He leaned over and kissed her. Slow, leisurely, and tempting. He added in some kisses on her throat, along the corners of her mouth, and finished with a precisely orchestrated kiss of pure ingenuity and well-planned tongue seduction.

A damned good kiss. He may have intended to seduce her, but it had worked its magic on him as well. Desire was coiled tight in his belly, and he pulled back, anticipation coursing through him.

Piper didn't move. Her eyes were closed, and her lips were parted, as if she were waiting for more.

"How was that?" he asked.

"What?" She opened her eyes. "Did you kiss me? Sorry. I was thinking about your house-building skills. Do it again. I'll pay attention this time."

He burst out laughing. "It's a good thing I have a strong ego."

"You literally just said you live by the ego, so I was helping you strengthen it."

"So, you did notice I kissed you."

"Did you really kiss me?" She propped herself up on her elbows, giving him a wide-eyed, innocent look. "I thought you were kidding. How did I not notice?"

He growled playfully and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her again. This time, it was a kiss of pure heat. No more seduction. Straight into the fire. He threw his leg over her hip, locking her against him as he deepened the kiss. He kept it up, not giving her a moment to breathe, until she finally surrendered to the kiss.

He knew the moment she gave up the pretense. Her arms slid around his neck, her body melted into his, and she began kissing him back just as fiercely as he was kissing her. The heat that had been building between them since their first faked kiss in her bed came to life with a roar .

Memories and emotions from his past tried to grab him and drag him under, but he shut them out. Instead, he focused completely on every sensation of having Piper in his arms. The feel of her body against his. The taste of her lips. The adorable way she held onto him, as if she were afraid he was going to pull away. The way she smelled, that flowery scent that he'd always noticed about her, which was now wrapped around him, delving into his skin and his clothes.

He wanted more.

He wanted it all, with Piper, right now.

The thought was stunning. He'd been dead to romance for so long. His need for Piper, his response to Piper was so unexpected…and it felt so right.

But did he dare cross that line with her? They'd made a deal, and getting naked wasn't part of it. He swore and broke contact, rolling onto his back. He draped his arm over his forehead and took a breath, trying to ease the raw need for her.

Piper didn't move. She just stayed on her back on the tile floor, also breathing hard. "What was that?" she asked.

"Sorry. That got away from me."

"What are you sorry about?"

He closed his eyes. "Breaking our deal."

"Okay."

He kept his eyes closed. "Okay, what?" The woman was so damned elusive sometimes. She kept him guessing and he loved that.

"Okay, that's what you were sorry about."

"What else would I be sorry about?"

"Kissing me like you wanted to throw me over your shoulder, cart me upstairs, and have your shirtless, sweaty carpenter way with me."

This conversation was not helping him get his libido under control. "Is that how I kissed you?"

"It is. That's not what you meant to do?"

"I didn't have a clear plan. "

"If you had one now, how would you kiss me?"

He caught his breath. "Same way."

"Okay."

He smiled to himself. "Okay, what?" He loved that she was such an enigma.

"Okay, you can kiss me like that again, but only on one condition."

He still had his arm over his face, but anticipation rippled through him. "What's that?"

"You don't break your promise."

"To not get naked with you?"

"No. The implied promise that you're going to cart me off to the bedroom and have your shirtless, sweaty carpenter way with me."

He swore under his breath, then sat up and leaned over her. She opened her eyes to look at him, her blue eyes wide and clear. "What?" she asked.

"I would love to take you upstairs and get naked with you."

She smiled. "That's such a nice thing to say to a woman. You're definitely a dangerous charmer."

"What about our deal?"

"We're still fake engaged."

He hesitated. "Piper?—"

"Shut up and kiss me, you silly man."

He grinned. "Well, when you put it that way—" He got up, held out his hand to her, then pulled her to her feet and into his arms.

He took a moment to kiss her thoroughly, then he picked her up, not over his shoulder, but against his chest, so her legs were around his hips, and he was holding her ass. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him as he set off toward the stairs.

She was a hell of a lot lighter than most of the construction crap he hauled around, and so much more fun, and they were both laughing as he headed up the stairs, carefully balancing so as to protect his knee .

They hit the second floor, and then they made it to her bedroom, still kissing. By the time they collapsed on the bed, their clothes had already come off in a desperate frenzy. They were both naked before the mattress had finished sinking beneath them, but the moment he felt her body against his, he had to pause to experience it. "God, this is amazing," he whispered, bending his head to trail a row of kisses along her collarbone. "Your skin is incredible."

She smiled, her lids at half-mast. "My skin likes your lips."

He laughed as he ran his hand down her hip, and along her thigh. "You're so weird."

"Right? You're welcome. It's a gift to be with someone like me."

"Nope. Not someone like you. It's a gift to be with you, specifically." He kissed her before she could respond, saving himself the awkwardness of having to backtrack on it.

She locked her arms around his neck and kissed him back. The kisses were electric and intense, and he knew she wasn't holding back any more than he was. They'd crossed that line, and neither of them wanted to go back.

With heat and need driving him, he explored her body with his hands and mouth, tracking her responses to figure out what she liked the most, what took her to the edge, and then brought her back every time before she went over. It was heady and electric to have her respond to him so completely, with full trust and surrender. She let herself fully embrace the moment, which was such a massive turn on that it was all he could do to keep himself from going all the way.

But he wanted it to last. He wanted to bring her to the precipice so she had no control, nothing left but complete surrender to what was happening between them. He hadn't wasted time with women who didn't matter, so his list of past relationships was short, but he knew damn well that what was happening between the two of them didn't come along very often.

They were connected, aligned, and wholly into each other. Everywhere she touched him ignited a fire in him, and the same happened everywhere he touched her or kissed her.

Their whispers, their muted laughter, their jokes, everything created an intimacy that amplified all they were experiencing and creating. He'd never been so turned on, and he'd never felt so much lightness in his heart.

Piper pressed a kiss to the top of his head. "Make love to me, Declan. Let's do this now."

He smiled at her command, and obligingly moved over her. "I've been waiting for you to ask," he teased, even as he slid inside her.

"Oh, wow, yes. Perfect. Great." She gripped his shoulders, closing her eyes as he moved inside her.

He loved watching her face. It was so expressive, not hiding what she was feeling, how he made her feel. She was so free and unreserved right now, and he loved it. He loved that she trusted him enough to let down her guard. First, the glimpse into her past, into the life she hid from the world, and now, this moment, complete surrender physically and emotionally.

"I won't let you down, Piper," he whispered, as he began to move faster. "I swear to you, I'll never let you down." He'd let a lot of people down in his life, but not anymore. Not today. Not her.

Her eyes snapped open, and they were full of emotion. She said nothing, but she pulled him in for a kiss. There was a new layer to her kiss. More need, more honesty, more desperation.

He kissed her back even as he reached down and invited her to reach the levels he hadn't let her get to before. When she dropped her head back and gripped the sheets, intense satisfaction coursed through him. She was completely his, in this moment. Completely, and totally his, and he loved it.

One final burst, and her body surrendered completely to his siren call. The moment she orgasmed, he had no chance to stop himself from following her. He held her tight as they rode the wave together, an extended, endless wave so intense that he thought it might kill him.

But what a way to go.