Seeing is Believing (Cuttersville #3)(27)
Author: Erin McCarthy

When she paused to reflect on it again, it was interesting that Brady had chosen to come home after being laid off, given that he hadn’t done so in a decade.

It wasn’t Shelby’s cooking that had drawn him back, that was for certain. Piper had tried her pot roast on more than one occasion and it never improved.

But it must have been something other than a deep desire to see cornfields and old women with perms.

“Oh. So why’d you scream?” Emily asked.

“I saw a spider.” Which was mostly true. She had seen one the night before. A shiver crawled up her spine when she remembered standing there in front of Brady, knowing he was going to kiss her, desiring his lips on hers with a fervency that was palpable, alive, when suddenly her head had snapped back, her hair tugged so hard she’d felt the sting of all her nerve endings in her scalp.

“I hate spiders.”

“Me, too. Now let’s say hi to your cousin, then it’s back to bed, little lady.”

“We’re coming up,” Brady said, Lilly hoisted on his back. They bounded up the stairs, he making sure to give her as much bounce as possible, she squealing with delight as she sailed up, then smacked down onto him with each step. “Hey, Emily, how goes it?”

“What do you mean?” Emily gave him a suspicious look.

Brady laughed. “We have Piper Junior here. Emily, I just meant how are you?”

Piper turned away from Brady and Lilly, his words confusing her. She wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but it sure didn’t sound like any sort of compliment.

“I’m tired,” Emily told him.

“Into bed.” Piper ushered her back to her twin bed, her bedding a soft pale pink in contrast to Lilly’s in-your-face electric purple with a zebra accent. Maybe Emily was like her. Piper worked hard to keep her life and her surroundings calm, peaceful. And maybe that was boring. In fact, she knew it was boring, but it was what it was and she couldn’t change, not for anyone and certainly not for a man who wouldn’t be content to stay put. He was restless. If you nailed Brady’s foot to the floor, he would just run in circles.

His nature and her nature were two different things and there wasn’t any point in listening to her body. It was like a dog who’d just sat up and started panting, but there wasn’t any treat being offered. Not really. He might have caved the night before, and he might cave again, but it was pointless. Most likely he didn’t really see her as much more than the weird little kid she’d been.

Maybe it wouldn’t be as hard to resist sleeping with him again as she’d thought.

Brady dumped Lilly onto her bed and both girls crawled under the sheets, yawning.

“What do you think Mom and Dad are doing right now?” Emily asked innocently, obviously missing them just a little.

Brady snorted. “I can think of a thing or two.”

Piper shot him a warning look. It figured his thoughts would go there. She didn’t disagree with him. She was pretty darn sure that Shelby and Boston weren’t in Cincinnati for the culture and food but for the hotel room with no small children interrupting them. But the kids didn’t need to know about their parents knocking boots. “They’re probably eating room service and watching TV in bed. And missing you.”

Giving each of them a kiss on the forehead, she moved to the door, shooing Brady out into the hallway. Making sure the night-light was still on, she clicked off the overhead light and closed the door softly. Feeling the need to remind him what was appropriate in front of little girls who soaked up everything he said, she faced Brady in the dark hallway.

“I didn’t say anything,” he said, grinning, before she could even speak. “Don’t give me that look.”

“What look?” She knew exactly what he meant and it bothered her that she was so easy to read.

“That look of total disapproval.” He rested his hands on her waist. “It’s not going to prevent me from kissing you.”

Be strong. “Why would you kiss me?” she asked, intending it to sound disapproving like he clearly expected. Instead, it sounded breathy and flirty.

“Because you taste delicious.”

She tried to stand her ground, even as her body swayed towards his. “I shouldn’t have done what I did last night. With the girls here . . . It was wrong. Way too risky.”

“But we didn’t get caught.” He kissed her ear, his hot breath making her shiver. “Let’s go make out on the sofa and not get caught tonight either.”

Piper wanted to. She wanted to melt against him and have his lips make her forget everything around her, all her responsibilities, all her worries, all her fears. “Just kissing,” she said, which was a lame attempt at standing her ground. Way to not be a slut.

His eyes danced with amusement. “Sure thing.” He sounded like he thought that was about as likely as recreational space travel. “But if you start taking your clothes off, I won’t be held accountable for my actions.”

She would not blush. She just wouldn’t. She did. Damn it. What was she supposed to say to that? So she just went with honesty. “I would love to take my clothes off for you again.”

He made a sound in the back of his throat and he nipped her ear.

“But not here, not tonight.” She wanted to ask, suggest, imply that the blue house on Swallow might be a better venue for their activities, but she couldn’t force the words out. Not even in a dark hallway after she’d already had sex with him.

Moving away from him, she started down the stairs, annoyed with herself. Why couldn’t she just say what she wanted? She’d already thrown it all out there. It wasn’t like the man hadn’t figured out she had the hots for him. Why was suggesting they do it again so shocking? He’d already suggested it himself.

It was because she had been trained from an early age not to ask for anything. She knew that. She’d worked to erase that particular remnant of her childhood but those fears and habits were like cobwebs that clung to your skin. You could shake and they didn’t go anywhere. You could use your other hand to scrape them off and they would just transfer to the clean hand, an annoying sticky mess that might break into smaller pieces but was still there until you blasted it off under the faucet. Piper hadn’t figured out how to turn the faucet on yet to wash off her childhood. Sometimes she wasn’t even sure she should.

But then she found herself mute, unable to ask for what she wanted, needed, and it frustrated the hell out of her.