Romancing My Love(26)

He arched a brow. “I might disagree with that.”

“Let me rephrase that. You are a man, after all. You’re competitive and aggressive. A woman who is too easy might be fine as a…distraction, but she’d bore you in the long run. She wouldn’t be your equal, and while you’re every bit an alpha male, like your brothers, you’re too smart to settle for someone who’s not equally as bright or equally as aggressive as you are. A life partner has to understand where you’re coming from on all levels. It sounds like maybe you’ve met your match.”

She paused, and Pierce realized that she knew him better than he knew himself.

“Pierce.” Her voice softened. “I know that you remember what things were like when your father lived with us.”

His chest constricted. “Mom. Please.”

“Hear me out. I know you remember what it was like when he left, even if you don’t like to talk about it.”

“Mom.” He clenched his teeth against the painful memories that came with her words.

“No, no more running, Pierce. Just hear me out, honey, please. I don’t thrust my opinions on you often, so give me a few minutes. You can forget what I say the minute I hang up if you want, but please hear me while I say it.”

He sighed, wishing like hell he could hang up the phone and walk away. His mother didn’t force her opinions on him often, so he sucked up his discomfort and paid her the respect she deserved. “Go on.”

“Honey, not everyone is like your father. It’s okay to trust, and I know you like to control things, but, Pierce, you’ll drive a woman away if you try to make her something she’s not. Especially a strong woman.”

“I’m not trying to make her anything, Mom.” The words felt hollow. Wasn’t he wishing she’d let him fix things for her? Didn’t some small part of him think she’d eventually allow him to wave his money and make her problems go away?

“I’m not saying you are. I’m just saying that if she’s really used to handling things herself, well, a guy who likes to make things better for everyone might want to help her with the things she struggles with. I mean that with love, Pierce. When your father left, you took on his role with your brothers and sister as best you could, and there was no dissuading you. I swear you took the entire burden of your father’s leaving off their shoulders and carried it on your own. When Ross and Wes had nightmares, you took them into your room. When they acted out, you set them straight, and when they cried, you put on a stiff upper lip and helped them feel better. You were a little father at age six.”

Pierce heard regret in her sigh.

“I tried to dissuade you from trying to take on so much responsibility, but you were a stubborn little thing, and I wasn’t exactly at my strongest.”

Pierce closed his eyes. He remembered arguing with Ross when he’d taken out his anger on their mother, and later, holding him while he cried about their father leaving. Those months that followed were hard, but Pierce hadn’t realized that they could have defined so much of who he was.

“Honey, you’re a good, strong, successful man. I’m sure Rebecca knows those things. If she’s the way you say, then let her flourish and enjoy the same self-respect you’ve earned. She’ll need it.”

He swallowed against the emotions that clogged his throat. “Her mother died a few weeks ago. Should I still let her handle things? Or is it okay to want to help her through? Because everything inside me says she’s taken care of others long enough, that now it’s her turn.”

“Oh, honey. That poor girl.” His mother was silent for a minute. “Pierce, this will be hard for you to understand, because you are very much of a fixer, but it’s the best advice I can give you. By allowing her to take care of the things she feels she has to, you are helping her.”





Chapter Thirteen


PIERCE SPENT THE evening stewing over the issues that his due diligence team had uncovered with the Grand. He was meeting with Jeff and the team tomorrow to go over the details, and there was nothing he could do before then. That didn’t stop him from wearing a path in front of the windows of his home library while he waited for Rebecca to arrive and tried to convince himself not to dwell on the Grand until he had a handle on how deep the issues ran.

He spotted the headlights of Rebecca’s car coming up the driveway, and on his way outside, his mind traveled back to the things his mother had said. As much as he trusted his mother’s advice, he wasn’t convinced that letting Rebecca handle everything on her own was the right thing to do—or that he was even capable of stepping back and letting it happen.

He took Rebecca in his arms and kissed her. “Mm. That was way too long to go without seeing you.” He kissed her again and slid his hand to the curve of her butt.

“It felt like forever, but I’m glad I got a little time with Henry. Thanks for understanding.” She reached for the back door of the car to grab her overnight bag, and Pierce retrieved it for her.

Henry. She’d said his name with compassion, and Pierce had to remind himself that she was a compassionate woman in general and to tuck away the jealous feelings that tried to sneak in. “I wouldn’t have minded staying at your place. You didn’t have to drive all the way out here.” They walked inside hand in hand, and Pierce swore the house grew warmer, felt more like home, once Rebecca stepped inside.

“I didn’t mind. Besides, I have roommates, so…”

He put her bag in the hallway. “Roommates? Like sexy hot guy roommates?” He was only half teasing.

“Superhot. One’s an MMA fighter. You might know him, Big Johnson?”

He swooped her into his arms as she threw her head back and laughed. “Big Johnson, huh?” He kissed her neck, which only made her laugh harder. “I’ll give you Big Johnson.”

“Yeah, I bet you will.” She wrapped her legs around his waist, then settled her lips over his.

He pressed her back against the wall. “Better be careful. You might find yourself in a compromising position.” He didn’t give her time to respond as he took her in another greedy kiss, getting his fill for all the hours he’d missed her.

“Good Lord, Pierce.” She pressed her hands to his cheeks and kissed him softly. “When you kiss me.” She drew in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “I can barely think.”

He took a step back, giving her room to shift her legs to the floor. She kept them wrapped around his middle.

“Carry me to the couch,” she said with a mischievous grin.

He cupped her ass and kissed her as he crossed the floor and then lowered himself down, with Rebecca straddling him. She ran her hands through the sides of his hair, and he touched his lips to hers again.

“It wasn’t my intent to greet you with my carnal desires on display, but you’re too incredible for words.” He kissed her chin, her lips, the soft pillow of her cheeks. The points of her nipples pressed against her cotton V-neck tee, and she was looking at him like he was the most delicious thing she’d ever seen—or tasted—as she ground her butt into eight inches of rock-hard desire. Her eyes held the hazy mist of lust, and her hair was sexily mussed.

“You push every sexual button I have, Bec. I didn’t mean to come on so strong.”

“No?” She tilted her head and licked her lips. “Oh, darn.”

With a soft laugh he shifted her onto her back, positioning himself above her on the couch. He tangled his hands in her hair and kissed her again, meeting her arching hips with his hard desire. He pulled back with a need for air, and she reached for his neck and drew him into another unyielding kiss. He was straining to keep control. He’d thought about what Emily had said about him and his brothers whoring their way through life, and he wanted Rebecca to know his feelings for her went far deeper than sex, but damn if their kisses weren’t pulling him under, into a slow blurring of right and wrong and all things rational. His hand slid to the bend of her hip, and lust coiled deep in his belly as a moan of pleasure slipped from her lips into his lungs. Again, he tried to pull away, make an effort to talk, but when their eyes met, the connection rooted deep within his soul, demanding more of her.

“Becca,” he said between heated breaths. “We should…talk.”

“I know.” She kissed him again. “Later.”

She reached for him again, and he sank into the most seductive kiss, slow and impassioned. She met every lap of his tongue with a sweet laving of her own, slaying his good intentions. She reached for his pants, and he gripped her wrist and held it above her head, earning him a gloriously naughty moan that darkened her eyes and made his heart race.

“You like that, huh?” He tugged her shirt down her arm and dragged his teeth along the smooth column of her neck.

“Jesus, Pierce. I’m already wet.”

Holy hell. He couldn’t stifle a groan. Forget behaving. Forget talking. He captured her next breath in his mouth, kissing her hard and deep, a preview of what was yet to come. He pushed from the couch and carried her in his arms. She shifted as he carried her to the bedroom, opening her mouth wider, taking more of his kiss, his tongue, his lips as he lowered her feet to the floor. Rebecca clutched his shirt—and a fistful of chest hairs—driving him crazier by the second.