My heart grew so large in my chest I thought it might split my ribs open. Piper knew my deepest, darkest secret, and she didn’t tell a single soul, not even when I’d made her stumble over her words or caused her to sway on her feet from flirting. If there was one thing I loved most about her, it was her gentle heart. Her loyalty. Her need to help others. She protected me and my secret well before she even truly knew me.
“Your secrets aren’t mine to tell, Ollie. And even though, in the beginning of all of this, when I said I’d tell Christian, I knew deep down I never would. I couldn’t do that to you.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose before pushing down a rising lump in my throat. “You’re a good person, Piper. You have a heart of pure fucking gold.” I paused before meeting her face. “I really hate that it’s broken.”
She quickly looked back to the ceiling, keeping her features calm. “It’s not broken.”
“It is. The broken ones are always the ones who help others. That’s you.”
Silence fell between us like a brick wall as she gathered her thoughts. I felt unsettled. My words were true, but part of me wished I’d never said them.
Piper slowly rose from the bed, and I waited for her to leave the room. I was certain I’d upset her, but instead of her swinging her legs over the side of the bed and walking back down to the party, she turned toward me leaning against the headboard. “Then mend me.”
I stilled. “What?”
She was staring at my mouth, and I grew hot. Don’t tempt me, Piper.
“You were the one who said I was broken.” She scooted closer, and the bed dipped. Her hand wrapped around my bicep, her warm palm on my searing skin. There was a single lock of her copper hair that fell onto her face. “So mend me.”
Fuck.
I wanted to be a gentleman. I wanted to tell her no, because I knew, deep down, fucking her wasn’t going to fix things, but at the same time, I knew it would put a Band-Aid on her heart, and if that was all I could give her right now, then so be it.
Whatever she wanted, I’d give to her. Even if it tore my own heart out in the process.
It happened fast. My hands were on her body, her hair spilling out all around her as I pushed her flat to her back.
Piper gasped as I towered over her. One of my knees wedged in between hers. “You really want to do this?”
I bounced my eyes back and forth between hers as my chest constricted. Please say yes. Piper kept a hold of my stare, and her pretty lips parted. “Yes. Let’s be us again…the us that no one else knows.”
And just like that, every single coherent thought left my head. Even if this was only a trip down memory lane, I didn’t care.
Piper and I were like putting gasoline on a flame.
There was no putting us out.
/>
Not tonight.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Piper
My legs trembled as Ollie shot up from the bed. The beating of my heart drummed so wildly it drowned out the low music from the party. His long legs carried him over to his bedroom door, and for a moment, I thought I’d made a fool out of myself. I thought I’d read the situation all wrong, but when I heard the click of the lock, I clenched my thighs together.
Ollie’s sharp jaw was pointing toward me, his pretty blue eyes burning all the places he touched. My chest was heaving as shivers skittered down my back.
This was it. Ollie and me, again.
And there was absolutely no way I was denying this feeling. Something was different between us. Like we were tethered by a fraying thread of twine. I wasn’t sure if it would hold, but for tonight, we weren’t pulling in opposite directions. It wasn’t pulled taut with tension. Tonight, we were on the same side. There was no question about it.
I lay still on the bed as Ollie appeared at my feet. I felt small on his king-sized bed, his dark comforter soft underneath my body. The small lamp on his desk made the room glow in warmth. There were shadows underneath his firm jaw, on his high cheekbones and straight nose. He ripped his shirt off, and I felt my jaw fall slightly. Peaks and valleys of muscles lined his torso, and I couldn’t stop staring.
Last time we did this, we were fumbling in the dark. I’d felt his hard muscles and traced over the lines with trembling fingers, but now that he was standing right in front of me, I was certain I'd never seen anything so beautiful.
“Take your clothes off.”