“Are you now?” I leaned forward and placed a kiss on the inside of her knee and then just above it, causing Piper’s breath to catch. “What can I possibly do to help ease your ire? Hmm?”
As I worked my mouth up the inside of Piper’s thigh, her arousal flaring each inch upward, I noticed a difference in the woman before me. I hadn’t noticed it before, not from the way Darren had her bent over the couch or against the wall, but the softness in Piper’s body I had come to adore was practically gone. In its place, but no less sexy, were lean and defined muscles. So much strength behind these legs that I wanted to devour every inch of her.
“Why’d you stop?” Piper pouted, her coffee-colored eyes staring down at me.
“I thought you wanted me to leave?” I hummed, my lips curling up in a coy grin.
Piper seemed to catch herself, pulling her leg away from me and crossing her arms with a forced frown on her lips. “I did. I do. I mean, fuck, Wynn.” She dragged a hand through her blonde hair and sat down on the coffee table behind her. “I don’t know. I’m so mad at you all right now. All year you’ve been gone, only popping in once a month and then popping back out of my life.” She gestured her arms out wildly. “I don’t even get to see all of you, only one of you at a time. I feel like my life has been shoved into a standstill while you are all doing whatever the fuck you are doing to avoid or find the hunters.” She wiggled her hands with so much frustration I wanted to kiss the furrow out of her brows. “And then something happened between me and Darren…and I mean, it’s not like we are hearing wedding bells or anything but…”
“You want to be with him,” I supplied for her, my heart feeling heavy in my chest.
I wasn’t angry. I thought I might be. Jealous even. But if anything, I was sad in a bittersweet kind of way.
If I had to lose Piper to someone, I suppose it could be worse than Darren. He was one of our closest and most loyal employees and friends. He was a part of the family. He was also a human servant and knew exactly how Piper was feeling. He could give her children, if that was what she wanted. He could marry her and go out in the sun with her. I supposed we’d have to let them go sometime. I couldn’t imagine that having my brothers and I around would help them. It would only make it awkward for all of us. Not to mention the hunters were still on our asses, so we couldn’t exactly stay in one place to be with them anyway.
“…and like I said, I don’t know how Antoine is going to feel about it, but I’m already seeing, dating, whatever,” Piper waved her hands in front of her, “the five of you. I don’t think adding one more is really going to be a big deal. I just don’t want—”
“Wait.” I held my hand up, confusion making my face pinch. “You aren’t running away with Darren?”
Piper’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped. Then she laughed. Loud and long. So much so that I was worried she wasn’t breathing. She slapped her leg and let out a long sigh. “Oh, God. I haven’t laughed like that in a long time. I mean, I absolutely love Darren. I do.” She turned her head toward the back of the house. “You hear that, stick in the mud? I love your sexy ass.”
Darren chuckled from what sounded like the kitchen before the sound of his footsteps came toward us. He stopped in the doorway of the living room wearing a new shirt buttoned up and looking pristine. “I love you too. Don’t shout across the house. We aren’t barbarians.”
Wagging her brows in his direction, Piper pulled her lower lip between her teeth before saying, “Your actions when we walked in said differently.”
Darren smiled a genuine smile before his eyes dipped to me. He bowed slightly before walking back to the kitchen.
“He’s happy, you know,” I pointed out, unable to keep the amusement out of my voice.
“I know.” Piper tucked her hair behind her ear and beamed.
“After all these years, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Darren smile quite like that before.” I leaned back in my chair and crossed my legs once more. “You’re good for him.” Piper snorted. “You’re good for all of us.”
“Well,” Piper stood and sashayed across the distance between us, her fingers playing with the buttons of her shirt. “What can I say? I take pride in my work.” She slid into my lap, one leg on either side of my hips.
My fingers trailed over her thighs, slipping beneath the shirt to stroke her bare hips as I resisted the urge to simply sink into her right this second. “You deserve a raise.”
Her fingers threaded through my hair, tipping my head back as she leaned forward, her nose brushing against mine. “I’ll take it in fringe benefits.” Somehow, without me noticing it, her hand had found its way into the front of my pants and grasped me in her soft grip.
Arching into her touch, I cupped the side of her face, bringing her lips to mine. “Believe me, the pleasure is all mine.”
Piper’s laughter was the best sound I’d heard all year. God, we needed to get rid of the hunters. I didn’t know how much more of the running I could take. Or Piper either, for that matter.