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5
CANNON
Enthralled, I watched as the tip of Piper’s tongue skimmed over her bottom lip. I doubted she realized how sexy that innocent action was, and that only made me harder.
It was proving to be difficult to keep my hands to myself, but I’d already fucked up in the worst way like that once. There was no way I would do it again, even if I felt like I was going to explode into a billion pieces if I didn’t taste Piper’s lips.
Clearing her throat, she scooted away until her back hit the limo door. “I don’t like surprises.”
“Liar.”
A soft huff left her lips. “I don’t like surprises when they come from you.”
“Okay, I deserve that. But I’m still not going to tell you.” Another annoyed puff of air left her, and I grinned. “I promise it won’t be painful for either of us.”
“Whatever,” she grumbled. Crossing her arms over her chest, she stretched out her legs on the bench seat. Her feet hit my thigh, and she tried to push me closer to my own door. Unable to budge me even an inch only pissed her off. “Ugh. Why are you so heavy?”
Laughing, I flexed my arm, showing her my muscles, which only made her roll her pretty brown eyes at me. The fact that she wasn’t impressed, when every other chick in the world had begged me to let them lick my biceps, only made me want her more. But that didn’t stop me from trying to get a reaction from her.
Pulling up my shirt, I slapped my hand against my abs. “Muscle is heavier than fat, sugar.”
Her nostrils flared as she watched me rub my hand over my belly. I hadn’t missed the way her eyes had dilated when I called her “sugar.” She’d always smelled like a sugar cookie to me. Like warm vanilla and sweetness. I blamed her for why they had become my favorite over the past few years, making my mouth water as soon as I got close enough to smell her decadence.
Those damn huffs of her were sexy as fuck. I counted a dozen of them before the limo pulled to a stop. As soon as the driver began to slow, Piper started looking out the window to see where we were. It was adorable the way her eyes went huge when she put it all together.
The driver opened my door, and I stepped out before reaching back in to help her out. In her stupor, she didn’t put up an argument when I kept my hand at the small of her back and guided her forward.
A small cluster of trees was to my right, with white fairy lights threaded through the branches. Beneath the largest tree, a blanket had been spread out with a picnic dinner already set up. The caterers stepped forward to shake my hand as we approached, and I handed over a generous tip for making them wait so long.
It wasn’t until they drove off in their van that Piper noticed the limo was gone as well. “The driver’s coming back, right?”
“Scared to be alone with me, Pipes?” I teased, even though my gut clenched at the thought of her fearing me.
“No,” she snapped, lifting her chin defiantly. “I just don’t want to have to walk back to the bus.”
Laughing, I urged her to sit down. “They didn’t go far, sugar. Just about a mile down the hill to give us some privacy. The driver knows what time to be back.”
As I’d expected, she reached for a cracker that had brie and raspberry jam on it from the charcuterie board in the middle of the blanket. “Oh, dear heavens,” she moaned as she took a bite. “Please tell me there are more of these.”
Sitting beside her, I lifted the lid on a container that held extras in the huge picnic basket. “I figured you would want to take leftovers back to the bus to snack on later.”
She stuffed the rest of the cracker into her mouth as she examined the other selections. The board was overfilled with sliced apples, grapes, olives, pepperoni, and salami. Cheese and bread with a few selections of mustards and extra raspberry jam. I’d kept the menu simple with her favorite sandwiches and lemon bars for dessert.
“This is kind of romantic,” Piper murmured, accepting the glass of fresh fruit juice I offered her. “If this were a real date, I would be impressed.”
“This is a real date,” I told her, taking a sip of my own juice. It was the perfect combination of sweet and tart, the coolness soothing my throat as it slid down. “Did you think I would pay that much money for this to be some prank?”
She shrugged. “Knowing you the way I do, it wouldn’t surprise me.”
A wave of shame hit me, and I flinched. “I know it’s hard to believe, but I’ve changed, Pipes.”
Taking another cracker, she chewed it for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, I know,” she said in a small voice. “It’s just hard for me to accept that the changes will stick. You made my childhood a very dark place, Cannon.”
A lump filled my throat, choking me. “I’m sorry,” I rasped as I glanced off into the darkness that surrounded the trees. “I can come up with excuses, but they would be bullshit. The truth is, I was just an entitled asshole. And if I’m being completely honest, I might still be that same guy if—” I broke off, memories from the past weighing down on me.
“If…what?” she asked, curiosity clear in her voice.
The people who knew the truth about what I’d done to ruin my entire life were few, but the entire world could have found out if it meant Piper never learned how much of a monster I’d turned into back then. Shaking the memories away, I gave her a grim smile. “If I hadn’t been sent to military school.”
It wasn’t a lie. Military school had been a consequence of my actions, but I would have been lying if I said that was what had finally cured me.
“Yeah, you did come back different,” she agreed before stuffing another cracker into her mouth, leaving a smear of jam on the corner of her lips.
Unable to stop myself, I used my thumb to wipe it away. Her lip was so damn soft, I nearly groaned at the feel of it, but I pulled back before I was tempted to explore further. Her eyes dilated when I sucked my thumb into my mouth to taste the jam I’d wiped away.
“Let’s make a deal,” I suggested after downing the rest of the juice in my glass.
“What?” she asked hesitantly.
“From now until the limo comes back, we forget about the past. We’re two people who just met and are getting to know each other.” I filled up her glass and then mine, before lifting my gaze to hers, letting her see the hope I was feeling shining in my eyes. “A true first date.”
She considered it for a long moment before finally giving me a nod. “Okay. But only until the driver comes back.”
