Page 20 of Breakaway to You

Zeke

I’m pretty sure you could get me to do anything.

Now that the text was sent, I closed my eyes in regret. That was definitely flirty. Possibly too flirty. Probably too truthful as well. Piper was turning out to be the kind of woman that I had a hard time saying no to. In more ways than just her physical therapy orders.

A full minute passed with no response.

Shoot. I’d taken things too far. And now she was coming over here. That wasn’t going to be awkward at all. I ran my hand through my hair, tugging on the ends as I thought of my own recklessness.

When my phone buzzed, I jumped. Shaking my head, I tapped on my screen.

Piper

That’s good to know. Although that kind of power could go to a woman’s head.

Okay, so maybe my text had gone over better than I’d thought.

Zeke

Be gentle with me.

Piper

I can’t make any promises.

It didn’t seem like we were talking about physical therapy anymore, but maybe she thought we were. Either way, I figured it was better to let this conversation die before I did something I regretted.

I sent her the code to get into my apartment so I could remain in my spot on the couch.

While I waited for Piper to arrive I spent my time scrolling on social media, watching a few hockey reels, some humorous, some instructional. Once I was bored with that, I typed in Piper Fallon in the search bar, wondering if she had an account I could stalk…I mean, look up.

Her picture came up easily, and I clicked on it, grateful her account wasn’t private. It was mostly pictures of her and her sister—eating pizza, biking along the Mississippi River, posing in several photos at the Minnesota State Fair, on the beach at Lake Phalen…wow. I was not expecting to see Piper in a bikini, but I definitely wasn’t upset about it. She looked amazing in the bright pink swimsuit. She wore a big smile as her hair was blown back by the wind, her skin looking sunkissed, accentuating her curves?—

“Zeke?” Piper called out.

Her voice had me jumping so much that I fumbled with the phone in my hands, and it landed with a thud on the floor. What was with me today? I wasn’t normally a jumpy person, but I shouldn’t have been too surprised since when it came to Piper, I couldn’t be sure of how I was going to act.

“In here,” I called out, trying not to sound guilty for having been looking at her profile for the last several minutes, especially that last photo.

I tried grabbing for my phone but couldn’t reach it. If I got up now, she’d see menotsitting on the couch resting my knee, and I wasn’t willing to risk her wrath, so I reached a little farther but couldn’t quite get it.

A pair of white sneakers came into view, and I glanced up to see Piper reaching down to grab my phone.

Oh, no.

My phone’s screen was still lit, still displaying a picture of her in a bikini.

I had been caught red-handed. Not only stalking her online but ogling her in a swimsuit. Great. Just great. That didn’t have creeper written all over it at all. My head fell down in defeat as I moved to sit back, not wanting to make eye contact with Piper.

The silence was killing me. I snuck a glance up at her with a guilty expression.

It was a skill of hers to have two contradictory looks on her face at once. She looked both disappointed and amused. Hopefully the amused part would help me get out of this without her thinking I was a pervert.

She held my phone in her hands and looked at me like she was waiting for me to speak first.

I raised my hands up in surrender. “It’s not what it looks like.”

She remained silent, but her brow rose.

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