I Flipping Love You (Shacking Up #3)(72)

Afterward we get bar ready. I let Marley pick my outfit—which is skimpy and revealing. For the first time in what seems like forever, Marley and I have a night out with just us. We avoid the beach bars in lieu of something closer to home; that way we don’t have to drive, and there’s less chance of running into Pierce and allowing him to sway me with the peen and apologies.

The cab drops us off at home at three in the morning. I’m hammered. Marley always thinks shots are a good idea. After the first one they’re generally not.

I stop halfway up the front walk when I see Pierce sitting on the front stoop, elbows propped on his knees.

“What’re you doing here?” I’m slurry.

“Waiting for you.”

“I’mma go drink water and pass out. You two lovebirds sort your stuff out, but no domestics on the front lawn.” Marley weaves around Pierce, punches in the code, and clomps up the stairs to our apartment.

“I’m going up too.” I make a move to get around him—I really need the bathroom, but Pierce jumps up to stop me.

“I’ve been trying to get in touch with you since yesterday afternoon. You can’t seriously be this mad about the gnomes.”

I give him the eyebrow. “That was a jerk move.”

“It was funny.”

“It was a pain in my butt. Are you coming up or what? I need to lie down. The world feels like a Tilt-A-Whirl.” I have to use the railing for balance. Yeah. I’m definitely drunk. Stupid shots.

Pierce closes and locks the door, following me to my bedroom.

“I have to pee,” I announce, then disappear into the bathroom. I unleash a tsunami, brush my teeth, but don’t bother to wash off my makeup. Pierce is still sitting on the edge of my bed when I return. I strip down to my panties while he watches, then cover back up with a long, grubby shirt. It’s not dirty, it’s just old and covered in stains. I climb into bed and pull the pillow over my head. I’m not sure what Pierce is doing, and I don’t really care. All that much.

The bed dips and suddenly I feel his body mold itself around mine.

“I was serious about your hand being the only action you’re getting this weekend,” I mutter from under the six-inch fabric-and-foam barricade.

Pierce lifts the pillow. “What was that?”

“Yesterday. I was serious. You don’t get to pull the gnomery and still get the perks of my lady garden.” I fight a laugh, because I think I’m actually kind of funny right now.

I elbow him in the ribs, causing him to loosen his grip. I lean over the side of the bed and nab one of the decorative pillows from the floor, shoving it between us. “Rub yourself on that.”

“Are you really that mad at me? You got what you wanted, didn’t you? Sold the house for over asking. Is the blockade really necessary?” He doesn’t try to move it out of the way, despite it probably being uncomfortable.

“I’m not mad. I’m tired and drunk, and I want to sleep and you rubbing your penis against my rear makes that difficult.”

“I won’t rub myself on you. And I’m tired as fuck too. I’ve been waiting since midnight. My girlfriend wouldn’t tell me where she was.”

My heart clenches a little at being called his girlfriend. “I told you I was with Marley.”

“But not where. I went to every single bar on the beach, looking for you.”

“We didn’t go to the beach.”

“Yeah. I figured that out eventually, after I gave up messaging you and tried Marley instead. I was worried.”

“About what?”

“About some guy that isn’t me making a move on you. About me not being clear enough with you about what this is. I’m not seeing anyone else. I don’t want to see anyone else.”

“We went out dancing. That was it.” Now I’m all swoony and sappy, but he doesn’t need to know that.

“Last time you went dancing there was a lineup of dicks waiting to rub on your ass.”

“I don’t want to see anyone else either.” I say nothing about being rubbed on, because that happens no matter what. “Now can you stop talking and let me go to sleep?”

“’Kay.” He burrows through my hair until his nose tickles my neck. Then his lips find my shoulder. He snuggles in, a few minutes later he shoves the throw pillow out of the way and wraps himself around me.

I feel warm and safe as I drift back to sleep. Maybe too safe, and that scares me, because it feels like I’m giving this man my heart, even though I shouldn’t. Summer ends soon. And then what? Does he take my heart back to Manhattan with him while I have to go on here, alone? I have all these secrets I’m keeping, and who knows what will happen when my skeletons eventually claw their way out of the closet.

*

I sleep until noon. It’s blissful. I freeze mid-stretch and realize I’m not alone in my bed. Memories of the bar from last night filter through. Shots. Dancing. Telling some jerk that my butt was not a place for him to grind. Panic sets in for half a second, until the familiar scent of Pierce’s cologne and the perfect fit of his body against mine registers, and I can relax.

“You forget I was here?” Pierce’s voice is sleep raspy.

“I thought I brought home a random, actually.” Only for about half a confused second.