Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
And why I had taken advantage of her.
That would have to be my biggest problem. Explaining why I had been an asshole and unable to keep my dick in my pants. Excuses like “you were too hot to resist” wouldn’t work. Piper wasn’t one of the bimbos I’d been picking up in bars. She had brains in that pretty head of hers. If I told her anything about her looks, I’d get a slap in the face.
So, I raised her arm up to my shoulder and looked away. To me, this was the only way to keep the guy downstairs from complaining about the prison of my pants.
“Put your weight on me,” I told her in a stiff tone.
“Fine,” she chuckled. “Will you undress me when we get to my bedroom?”
“It ain’t happening, Piper,” I said, keeping the same tone. “You might as well face it.”
“Mean, mean, mean,” she chided, stomping her foot into the floor once.
I kept my mouth shut, knowing that this wasn’t leading us anywhere. She would just go on and complain some more. Hell, I didn’t want to hear any more of that. Also, she could have called me any name she liked. It still wouldn’t change my mind about how the rest of the night would play out. She would get some sleep and I would stay near her, just in case. She’d had too much to drink, and I didn’t want to take any chances.
26
PIPER
A funny feeling in my stomach put an end to my nice little slumber.
I twisted around in my bed, my body not liking the idea of leaving its comfort. Sadly, a throbbing sensation in my head made it impossible for me to snuggle just for a few more minutes.
I had to get up and take care of that headache.
My nostrils picking up a lovely scent, my eyes were pried open.
The view of a spoonful of soup took me by complete surprise. The identity of the person holding that spoonful up in the air was… unexpected.
No. Scratch that.
He had to be the last person in the world I thought capable of doing that. A knock-around guy, decked out in leather, swearing a little too much? Someone had to have been playing a practical joke on me.
“Hey. Look who’s up,” he said, his voice low. “How’re you feeling?”
“Leo?” I stammered. “What are you still doing here? I thought you’d have left by now.”
“So, you remember I was here last night,” he said with a small smile gracing his face. “That’s good. It means you didn’t get so shitfaced. Anyway, I stayed put because there was a chance you’d need help during the night.”
“I got what?” I asked, somewhat annoyed by the language he’d used.
He scoffed and shrugged his shoulders. “Call it whatever the fuck you like. Where I come from, gulping down a bottle of vodka all by yourself means getting shitfaced. It just didn’t affect you so much, and that’s a good thing. Now, eat up.”
“Thanks, but I’m not hungry,” I claimed, smiling in embarrassment.
“So what?” he argued, bringing the spoon even closer to my mouth. “The soup’s going to calm down your stomach. It works for most people I know, so, eat up.”
What a pushy bastard.
He wasn’t going to let me off the hook.
Still, despite his persistence, I had to admit there was more to him.
Leo had been sweet to me.
Not just once, but twice in a matter of hours.
He had had the courtesy to spend the night in my apartment, although there was nothing in it for him. Better still, he had made me soup and brought it to me in bed, in order to fill my stomach with something other than alcohol. I didn’t tell him, but I had loved both of those gestures.
I stayed right where I was and watched him feed me, like I was some helpless little girl. I could have stopped him at any point, but I didn’t. Why? Because I liked the attention. I enjoyed being pampered. I liked the way he was treating me. If anything, it showed care on his part. Thoughtfulness. Kindness. Leo might have been a member of the underworld for a while, but that hadn’t prevented him from being sweet to me. His behavior was a rather ironic reminder of another truth about my personal life. Of all the men that had come and gone, none had had the will to take care of me after I’d had too much to drink. It had only happened twice, and I was with someone both times. Their reaction? Complaining, bitching at me and a “holier than thou” attitude that got on my nerves. Those idiots couldn’t resist the idea of preaching the wrongness of getting drunk.
Barf.
Leo wouldn’t say a thing about this. He just accepted it and tried to cope with it.