Seeing is Believing (Cuttersville #3)(41)
Author: Erin McCarthy

If he only knew how generous Piper was feeling.

Then again, maybe he did.

“And I’m more than happy to help you get the bed here, plus anything else you’re moving. Feel free to put me to work.”

More than anything, she would love to put him to work between her thighs. Piper felt flushed in the small room, both aroused and embarrassed that she was so easily turned on, and in front of her mother.

Her mother who had clearly lost patience. “Well, I think we’re done here for the night, Piper, so we’ll let you get to settling your yoga mat, Brady. Though if I were you I’d get a hotel room.”

“Why doesn’t he come out to the farm and use the guest room tonight?” Piper said, surprising herself at how normal and innocent her voice sounded. “We have plenty of room and we can’t just leave him here on the floor, can we?”

It was a question that effectively backed her mother into a social corner. She couldn’t refuse.

“Of course not. Brady, you’re welcome to stay with us.” Amanda’s face was carefully neutral.

Not that Piper necessarily wanted the torment of knowing he was sleeping a room away from her and she couldn’t do a damn thing about it, but it felt phenomenally rude to not at least offer. She wouldn’t want to sleep on the floor.

There was a lengthy pause then he said, “Why, thank you, ladies. I would really appreciate it.”

And Piper felt both excitement and fear explode inside her.

It seemed like it was going to be another sleepless night for her.

           Chapter Nine

WHAT THE FUCK WAS HE THINKING? TALK ABOUT GOING into the lion’s den. Brady pulled up in front of the Tuckers’ Victorian farmhouse and shook his head at himself. So he hadn’t wanted to sleep on the floor. Big deal. He could have sucked it up for one night. So the house was empty and smelled a little like old lady. He would have been fine.

It would have been smarter, and possibly safer, than staying in the Tucker guest bedroom, a door or two away from Piper. And her parents. He hoped they’d had ample time to warn Danny he was showing up, but then again, Danny probably had no idea that he and Piper had, um, expressed an interest in each other. He would after tonight. It had taken Amanda about sixty seconds in the company of the two of them to figure out the score. Much like it had Shelby. Hell, Shelby had read it in his voice on the phone.

He couldn’t help it. He smoldered when Piper was in front of him. Like a slow-burning coal fire, red-hot in the center.

Any man with a lick of sense would run. He should turn his wimpy car around and head back to Chicago, where his life was . . . what? What was his life in Chicago? Boring? Nothing like he had intended? Surrounded by casual friends and nothing more?

No, he was staying in Cuttersville. He wanted to know what had happened to the old Brady Stritmeyer, Rachel’s fiancé.

And he wanted to know what had happened to the new Brady Stritmeyer. He’d lost the spunky kid he’d been somewhere along the way. He wanted to feel alive again, to feel excited about something.

So he got out of the car, leaving the yoga mat behind, and climbed the solid wood steps of their impressive front porch, right up to Piper, who was waiting for him in front of the back door.

“Thank you,” he told her. “You’re very sweet.” Because he couldn’t resist, he stroked his thumb across her bottom lip. “Like sugar.”

Her eyes darkened in the porch light, but she just shrugged. “I wouldn’t want to sleep on a floor in an empty house.”

“I really, really want to kiss you,” he murmured, cupping her cheek and moving closer, the floorboards creaking as he shifted. “But I suppose that’s not a good idea.”

“We’re alone,” she said, tilting her head into his touch. “If you’re quick about it.”

He was starting to think being quick about it with Piper was not going to work. He was starting to think that there weren’t enough days in three weeks to satisfy his need to be with her, both sexually and otherwise.

But he was damn sure going to try, because the other option was to walk away right now, and he just couldn’t do that.

So he leaned forward, closing the distance between them, and brushed her lips with his. It was fascinating to him that the most innocent action, a simple kiss, could have that kind of impact on him. But it did. It was soft and teasing, and it triggered a whole range of feelings in him from lust to impatience to awe.

Her fingers trailed across his chest, and down even lower, as he kissed her, and Brady forgot where they were. The kiss turned hot, frantic, and he buried his hands in her hair, grinding his hips against hers. Her breathing was hot and quick on his mouth and she made a sound, a little gasp of delight that nearly undid him.

He wasn’t sure where he would have gone next, but he was pretty sure it involved his teeth on her nipple through her T-shirt, but he’d never know because the front door opened.

“Hey, uh—oh!” Danny cleared his throat. “Piper?”

She broke the kiss and spun around so fast her hair smacked him in the face. “Dad!”

Awkward. Brady put his hand on the small of her back and stepped in line beside her, reaching his hand out to shake Danny’s. “Hey, Danny, long time, no see. How are you doing?”

Fortunately, Danny had always been a good guy, reasonable, polite. So even though he clearly wanted to snatch his daughter away from Brady and lock her in a convent, he shook the hand offered. “I’m good, Brady. How are you?”

“Aside from being unemployed, I can’t complain. Thanks for letting me stay here tonight. I’m sure it’s a bit unexpected.”

The wheels were turning hard in Danny’s head. “Not a problem,” he said carefully. “Happy to have you. Even if you were just making out with my daughter.”

“Dad!” Piper’s cheeks were the color of a ripe tomato.

“What?” Danny held his hands out. “I don’t see any point in beating around the bush. So here’s the deal—no funny business in my house, you understand? So Brady, that means remove your hand from my daughter’s backside before you go in the house.”

“Oh, my God,” Piper whispered. “His hand is on my back.”

“As far as I can figure, he hasn’t known you long enough for his hand to be anywhere on you, but you’re an adult. I don’t have a say in who you date. But I do have a say in what goes on in my house.”