Page 26 of The Keeper

“And?” A muscle ticked in my jaw as I struggled to tamp down my frustration. I didn’t give a fuck if it had only been one night. I’d known she was it before ever showing up outside her hotel room, and I would burn the world to ash and destroy anyone who got in the way.

“And you can’t build a relationship off one night. Everything you think you know about me relates back to sex. It’s superficial.”

“That’s not true. I know you have a soft spot for power ballads, andyour first crush was a douchebag named Rowdy. You’re a pastry chef who loves to make cinnamon rolls and...”

Fuck, I was drawing a blank.

“Wait. Weren’t you opening your own bakery?”

“My own what?” Piper blinked up at me with those gorgeous green eyes, looking confused and a little lost.

“Your own bakery,” I repeated slowly, studying her face for any flicker of recognition. “The one you were close to opening the last time we were together.”

Her expression shuttered, and she lowered her gaze, the walls coming back up in an instant. “It, uh, it didn’t work out.”

“What happened?”

“It’s a long story. And not one I want to get into right now,” she muttered, knocking back the rest of her whiskey.

The utter defeat in her voice made my chest tighten.

Who the fuck had made her look like that?

I wanted to push—to demand she tell me everything so I could hunt down and destroy the person responsible.

But I needed to tread carefully. If she knew how badly I wanted her and the lengths I would go to keep her, she’d bolt.

“Look at me.”

“Why?” she asked, picking at a loose thread on her dress.

I cupped her jaw and tilted her face up to mine until she reluctantly met my gaze. “Because I don’t want you to shut me out.”

“Who says I’m shutting you out?” Piper jutted her chin up defiantly but didn’t pull away. It was a start.

“You don’t have to say it. It’s right there in your eyes. They give you away.” I reached out to brush a loose curl behind her ear, letting my knuckles brush over her cheekbone.

A flicker of something passed over her face.

Guilt? Or was it fear?

In either case, it wasn’t the reaction I was aiming for.

“Look, I may not know what makes you laugh or how you take your coffee, but I know that night meant something for both of us,” I said, struggling to keep the desperation from bleeding into my voice.

“Tell me you haven’t thought about it like I have.” I searched hereyes for any hint of the desire I knew she still felt for me. “Tell me you don’t get wet remembering how I felt inside you.”

She hesitated before bobbing her head in a shaky nod. “I do, but things are complicated.”

There was that word again.

Complicated.

As if anything worth having ever came easy. I was a man who knew how to work for what I wanted. And god, I wanted her.

“Then let me un-complicate it for you,” I said, tracing the curve of her bottom lip with my thumb.

“But...but there’s something you should know first,” Piper stammered, her hands fluttering to my chest like she wasn’t sure whether to push me away or pull me closer.

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