Page 1 of His Princess

Piper

Panic.Surprise. Desire. These emotions keep me rooted to the spot and frozen in place in the middle of the living room. My jaw would be brushing the hardwood floors had it not set stiffly the moment I laid eyes on him.

Matthew Pierce. Sergeant Matthew Pierce, according to the perfectly pressed Army uniform clinging to his broad frame. I don’t know if I should run away, throw myself into his arms or slap him across the face!

It’s been almost four years since we last saw each other. No, that’s an understatement. It’s been almost four years since he held me against the bar at George’s Grill and fucked me like it was his last night on earth. I haven’t forgotten a single detail of that night; the night before he shipped out, the night that haunted me every night since. I still remember the feel of his hands on my bare skin, sliding up beneath my black skirt, guiding my thighs around his waist… I remember the first thrust as he penetrated my aching wetness, his cock filling me, stretching me…

My body starts to tremble, the room suddenly hot and suffocating. It was one thing to get lost in that memory in the darkness of my own bedroom. It was another thing entirely when I was in a room full of people.

Thinking about it with Matthew Pierce in the room was even more inappropriate.

I blush as though he can actually read my thoughts, even though I know that’s silly. Still, why is he just staring at me? Why can’t I make my mouth work? I’m assailed by a mental image of dropping to my knees in front of him and welcoming him home by putting my lips around his thick, hard…

“Did you hear me Piper?” My dad Leo startles me, making me jump and turning the pink flush on my cheeks beet red. “Vanessa and I talked it over and we think it’d be best if Matthew stays here with you.”

I try to push away the inappropriate images of Matthew ravaging my body and focus on what my father is saying to me. None of it makes any sense. Why would Matthew stay here with me and not with his mother? My overloaded brain finally catches up and the answer slaps me right in the face before punching me in the gut and stomping on my foot. Vanessa Pierce is Matthew’s mother. Only she’s not Vanessa Pierce anymore. She’s Vanessa Tate, my Dad’s new wife. Which means Matthew is my stepbrother.

That makes things... complicated.

I’ve known things might get uncomfortable ever since our parents got married. All the same, now that he’s finally standing in this room with me, the full power of this reality hits me like a brick.

“I fixed up Matty’s room of course,” Vanessa picked up where my dad left off. She was standing beside her son, his hand firmly clutched in hers. She was beaming when I walked into the room and in the ten minutes I’ve stood here, her radiant smile hasn’t dimmed in the slightest! “Understandably, he doesn’t want to live with his mother…” the words were a bit strained, she clearly wasn’t very happy with this arrangement. “Rooming with his stepsister is less embarrassing, I suppose…”

“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” Leo chimes in, “There’s plenty of space here and it’s not too far from the cabin. It’s not like he’ll be alone either, Piper will keep an eye on him for you!” Dad doesn’t stop talking, he keeps babbling on, listing off all the reasons why this arrangement will be just fine. His effort to quiet his wife’s fears is admirable, but if he had any idea what happened between Matthew and I four years ago he wouldn’t be so keen on the two of us living together. I wasn’t overly fond of the idea myself, but I keep my mouth shut. I’d kept our dirty little secret this long, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to spill the beans now.

Besides… that was a long time ago. I just want to forget the whole thing happened. I thought I could put that night behind me, but seeing Matthew was making me second guess everything. His eyes roamed over my body and just like that I’m quivering, imagining how wonderful it would be to fall into those big, strong arms again. How many times have I dreamed about this moment? How many times have I wanted to tell him what he means to me?

I can’t. My father would never forgive me if he knew what we’d done. Besides, Matthew had been away for a long time. He’s probably forgotten all about me.

But he looks so damn good in that uniform! The fabric stretching over the hard, sinewy muscle beneath, threatening to rip at any second. His jaw line is wide and clean shaven, his thin lips drawn into a neutral line and his dark hair trimmed into a perfect buzz cut. I risk a glance up to his face, and his haunted brown eyes send shivers up and down my spine! They were always captivating, but now there’s a hint of danger and angst that scares and attracts me all at once.

He must have gone through so much these last few years. He was only supposed to be deployed for a year, but six months into his tour his squad was ambushed and Matthew went missing. A year later the Army officially declared him dead. I watched them bury an empty box that was draped in an American flag.

It hurt more than I can describe. I was closer to Matthew than anyone on this Earth.

He’d worked all through high school at my Dad’s shop and we’d become something more than friends. After the funeral, my father and I gave our condolences to Vanessa and did everything we could for her. She became part of our family and our pain faded with time. It never disappeared completely, of course, but I’m not sure it ever does. It wasn’t long before my father asked Vanessa to marry him. It just seemed right.

And everything was… until a week ago.

The national news had exploded with stories about a group of prisoners of war that had been found in an Army raid. I don’t follow the news much, but I work in the same bar I was working at four years ago. People talk, and in a small town, that talk spreads like wildfire. Nobody dared hope that one of those POWs was Matthew Pierce, but maybe they should have. Here he was, a ghost from the past standing quietly in my living room. I should have been happy, but my emotions were so mixed up I didn’t know how to feel.

Three days ago, when Vanessa first got the news that he was coming home, I decided right away that I would be cordial, polite, and friendly. There’s no denying how ecstatic Vanessa is to have her son home and I’ll be damned if I’ll let anything dampen her high spirits. If that means smiling and pretending everything is as it should be, then that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

Of course, seeing Matthew come back from the dead made me realize just how difficult it would be to hide how I really feel.

He looks so different than the carefree young man who left town so long ago, but I’m as drawn to him now as I was the very first time we met. Gazing at him from across the room takes me back to that summer. It takes me back to his frequent visits to the bar, and the conversations we had while I was closing up after hours. It was against the rules for him to be there, but I always made an exception.

That’s when we really became friends, not during high school when he worked for my Dad, but on those quiet nights in the empty bar. We weren’t just friends though, something more was budding between us, something that we had barely gotten a taste of before being ripped from us by a cruel and uncaring twist of fate.

“Piper.” He speaks my name, his voice smooth and deep like a cello. I shiver again, remembering the way he groaned it as we came together. “Still working at George’s?”

I jerk my head in a motion similar to a nod, the gesture purely reflexive. Heat swells between my thighs as I recall every moan and shudder of our earth shattering release, the memory as fresh today as it was so long ago. Most of all, I remember how he leaned against me, panting in my ear, each puff of his hot breath tickling my neck as he whispered words that I held in my heart as a solemn promise…

‘Wait for me. I’m coming back for you.’

Except it’s too late. He came home too late. Too much has changed, I’ve changed and I can see bright as day that he’s changed, too. We missed our chance and every chance after that. It doesn’t matter how badly I wish that weren’t the case, because there’s just no way of getting around it…

I glance away from his face, dropping my gaze down to my shoes. The intensity in his stare is too much for me to handle, all of this is just too much.

“Yeah, it’s a good job,” I mumble, my voice cracking. “I’ll go fix up the spare room,”

I’m not sure what else to say, I just feel the need to get out of here. Finally, my legs are under my control again and I take a step back, already feeling the pressure of this awkward moment lifting the more space I put between us.

“Good, then it’s settled!” My dad chirps. “Matty, I’ll see you tomorrow morning bright and early. Get some rest, son, and don’t worry, you’re in the best of hands here!”

I smile weakly, still not looking at Matthew and take a few more steps away. When nobody stops me, I turn and swiftly head upstairs. Behind me I can hear dad urging Vanessa to say goodnight and Matthew assuring his mother that they’ll see each other soon. I pause on the staircase to listen, not at all surprised at the amount of prodding it takes for Vanessa to finally let my dad take her home. She’s already spent the entire day with him, but I suppose she’s afraid to let him out of her sight again.

I almost breathe a sigh of relief when I hear the front door finally close. But then I realize the trouble I’m in…

I’m alone in my father’s house with Matthew freaking Pierce!

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