Sound of Silence(37)

Piper laughs. "You have a neck tie wrapped around my eyes three times. I can barely hear, and I definitely can't see." She stumbles over a rock as if to prove her point.

It just causes me to stare at her legs. Encased in skin-tight jeans, she rocks ripped knees and an oversized V-neck tee that shows way too much of the lace tank she has on beneath it. Not to mention cleavage. Her definition of casual is the answer to my recent fantasies.

"Where are we going, anyway?"

I squeeze her hand, tugging gently to move her into the clearing in the backyard of my house and that overlooks the ocean.

"You've asked that before. My answer is the same. Patience, sunshine. We're almost there."

She smiles, and my breath catches. God. That face. I see it in my dreams. It washes away images of Asil Marik, the ridge, the convoy, the ambush and Justin.

Justin. I suppress thoughts of him as my next step draws his girl and me well beyond the friend-zone. As if mauling Piper three days ago didn't cross that line. I couldn't help myself. Panic snared a wild trap in my chest when she baulked about moving in. I lost my mind, and honesty flooded out of me to drown the growing anxiety.

Then I kissed her. I stuck my tongue in her mouth so she could taste the future I had planned. I'm an asshole. I shouldn't have pushed her so hard. Hell, I shouldn't want her, not like this, but weeks of watching her dance and listening to her sing wears a man's resistance down. I like Piper, and I'm tired of denying it to myself and my cock.

It perks up just thinking about being alone with her for the next few hours. Three days of planning, a babysitter for JT and Gus by the name of Tess Lawless, my truck, too many string lights to count, and a clear night brought us to this moment.

"Ready?" I ask, stopping to start the campfire I had prepped before retreating to get her from the cottage. The kindling snaps to life with a crackle, eager flames jumping from log to log.

"Ready."

I don't do nerves with women, but getting it right with Piper is important, so my pulse kicks up a notch as I loosen the knot holding her blindfold in place.

"Caden," she whispers looking at my truck bed, covered by a makeshift tent and lights. Quick to scan the simmering flames, the blankets and pillows on one side of the pit, she spins to the ocean view and dusk closing in on us. And then she turns to me with a smile, the one that digs out a dimple by the side of her mouth. Jesus. 

"It's so beautiful. You did all of this for me?"

My brow tugs down as if to say, of course and you deserve so much more. Instead of speaking, I take her hand and kiss her wrist while watching her eyes. The dark depths speak to me and it's a simple word . . . her. Breathing in the scent of her skin, fresh air and vanilla, calms me as much as her pulse reassures me we're alive. And since I was missing the weight of her fingers woven through my own, I don't let go and pull her forward to sit. She slips down onto the fire-resistant wool blanket like a fair-haired princess.

"Wine?" I ask lifting a bottle from the cooler I set up earlier. "A drink or two won't affect breastfeeding."

She nods. "So you're an expert on all things boobs?"

I smile and pour two glasses, sitting next to her as I hand one over. "Yes, that amongst other things."

Piper sips and looks around. "Including planning the most romantic first date in the history of dates?"

"You think so?"

"It's pretty stellar. How did you hang a thousand lights and make them glow without electricity?"

I shift closer, leaning on my elbow and unfolding my knees to the side so I can look up. The view is spectacular. "I'm like MacGyver, sweetheart. Give me an idea, a battery, and a pair of pliers, and I can make anything happen."

A grin breaks across her face and she hides it behind her glass, a burst of pink painting her cheeks in a rosy glow.

"What are you thinking?" I ask while tracing the outline of the hole in her jeans, the skin on her thigh soft beneath it.

She licks her bottom lip as her gaze skids down my torso, stopping on the outline of my dick that must be hard to miss because it's throbbing like a beast waiting to escape a cage. I bite back my smile and let her have her fill without prompting an answer. A long moment passes. Piper sighs before looking me in the eye. "I had the biggest crush on MacGyver. I'd sneak in my nanny's room and we'd watch reruns, back to back." She laughs. "To my twelve-year-old self, he was the hottest man ever."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I wanted to kiss him so bad."

My heart takes a leap, right alongside my cock, but I tell them both to quiet down. "And now?"

Her lashes flutter. "Now I'm wondering if a girl has to wait until she's on the front porch at the end of a da-"