Vipers Den Box Set: 1-3 (Vipers Den #1-3) Read online

  He dropped his head on my shoulder. “Sorry, Piper, moment of insecurity. I’ve wanted this for so long, and then I thought you were rejecting me. It was a little more than I could take.”

  “It’s alright. I’m over it. Now get off me or I’m going to be late for work.” I kissed the top of his head and shoved his body off mine then strutted to my bathroom to have a shower. When I turned on the shower I noticed something was off in the reflexion of wall behind me in the mirror. Turning around, I saw a massive crack in the wall. “What the hell?”

  “Um sorry, I’ll get it fixed.” Kade’s voice startled me. I spun on my heels to find him in the doorway, looking guilty. I raised a brow and waited for an explanation.

  “I may have punched the wall.”

  That would explain the sound I heard earlier. I shrugged it off and climbed into the shower. The hot water relaxed my tense muscles as it washed over my sweat covered body. I ached in all the right places. I closed my eyes and ran my hands over my breasts remembering the way Kade had squeezed them. That’s when I felt his hard body press up against my back. Tilting my head back to wet my hair, I said, “Get out. I don’t have time.”

  “No,” he groaned.

  His hard-on pressed between my butt cheeks. So hard again, already? Shit, Kade had stamina. I turned around and grinned at him before sinking to my knees and taking his dick in my mouth.

  He stumbled back a step and fell against the wall. “Geez, Piper.”

  I had this down to a fine art. I knew I could make him blow in two minutes flat. I got to work.

  When he’d gotten off, I pulled back, licking my lips. I rose to my feet, kissed his nose, and finished washing myself off and brushed my teeth. When I jumped out of the shower Kade was still slumped against the wall, panting under the hot spray from the shower head.

  I only had an hour to get dressed, do my hair, my makeup, and get to the shop. After the morning’s activities I was buzzed and ready to roll. Wrapping a towel around my body, I set to it starting with drying my hair which was a long and tedious process but it had to be done. It took me twenty minutes to dry my hair and throw it up in a quick, sideways Dutch Braid that started at my left temple and flowed around the back of my head until the loose braid fell over my right shoulder.

  I was so preoccupied with my task I didn’t even notice Kade exit the shower and leave the bathroom. Once my hair was done I quickly applied my basic BB cream/foundation. I hate wearing make-up but it’s all part of the image. When I’m at work I’m not Piper Jones, yoga pants and t-shirt wearing junky. I’m Piper Jones, owner of Vipers Den. They are two completely different people.

  I rimmed my eyes with a thick layer of blue eyeliner and finished my eyes off with my lash extending mascara. Then I grabbed my electric blue lipstick and coated my lips, followed by a clear coat of lip gloss. I popped my lips in the mirror like a goldfish, and heard laughing behind me.

  I turned to find Kade fully dressed in the suit he’d had on last night. Good Lord, the man was sexy. At that moment I was kind of pissed that I had hated him for so long. I could have been waking up to that every morning for who knows how long. I felt like I’d ripped myself off, and not just because he was good in the sack. More like amazing. I’d never admit that to him though. I didn’t want to give him a big head.

  I gave him the finger as I shoved past him going back into my bedroom. I passed my tallboy of draws and pulled out a bra and matching underwear. I stepped into them on my way to my wardrobe then rummaged through my closet for the days out-there outfit. I found the skirt I was looking for right away, a metallic blue mini that matched my lipstick. I slid it up my legs and over my hips then did up chunky silver zipper at the back.

  I was bending over looking through the draws in the bottom of my closet trying to find the right top when I felt Kade’s eyes on me. I panicked and grabbed the first suitable one I saw, a black fitted top with long sleeves that had holes to slip my thumbs through. Pulling it over my head, I spun to face him.

  “Can I help you?” I asked crossing my arms under my breasts.

  The smarmy bastard had a megawatt smile plastered on his face. “Bit distracted are we?”

  “No, why?”

  “Your shirts on inside out.”

  I looked down and noticed it was wrong side out. I felt like a dick, but I tried to play it cool and shrug it off. “It’s how it’s supposed to be.”

  He didn’t look convinced, but he dropped it. Thank God. He took three smooth strides toward me and placed his hands on my hips, pulling my body into his. His eyes filled with lust and my skin tingled. He was insatiable. And from the way my body had come alive just from his simple touch it appeared that when it came to Kade, I was too.

  “We having lunch today?” He asked, his lips just an inch away from mine.

  I didn’t even have to think about my answer. “Yes,” I breathed.

  He smiled and kissed me softly before stepping away from me. “Good, I’ll see you at one.”

  “Okay,” I replied.

  Winking at me, he turned and walked out of my room, then left my apartment. I snapped myself out of the fog I’d been lost in and glanced at the clock. I saw I only had fifteen minutes to get to the salon. I quickly fixed my inside out top as I grabbed my knee high leather boots and trench from the closet by the front door. I slipped them on as quickly as possible before locking up and running down to my car.

  I was still sitting in the loaner car Rhett lent me outside Piper’s apartment when she came rushing out, slid into her car, and hot tailed it out of the parking lot. I looked around at the surrounding apartments. She lived in a gated up market complex of free standing apartments. You have to enter a code to get in the gates and night guards patrol the area. Knowing she’s safe here eases my nerves a little.

  The thought of Jamie coming to look for Piper had been eating at me. I know I told Piper I chose her to be my fake girlfriend because she’s tough, and she is, but if Jamie could get into my garage and key my car without being noticed, she obviously knew what she was doing with this whole stalker gig.

  I ran my hands through my hair for the hundredth time since leaving Piper’s apartment. Maybe I should distance myself from her for now and deal with Jamie on my own first. No, I couldn’t. Not now that I’d actually had a little bit of her. I could never hold myself in check around her again. Years of pent up sexual frustration had finally been released and I wasn’t going back.

  I picked up my mobile to call my cousin Colby and have him run a background check on Jamie –if that was even her real name. Psycho stalkers make up names right? I should have called him weeks ago when all this started going down, but I hadn’t even thought about it until then because now I’d put Piper in Jamie’s sights.

  Colby answered after the third ring and I spilled my guts about the whole situation. In order to get all the information he said he needed, he gave me the third degree. I knew detail was necessary, but I didn’t see why he needed to know how long I’d lasted when I had banged the psycho.

  “What’s that have to do with anything?” I grumbled.

  “Everything.” He chuckled. “You were probably shit in the sack, and that’s why she’s got it in for you.”

  “Piss off, wanker.”

  “Okay, okay. Sorry. But in all seriousness… you and Piper finally together huh? Like for real?”

  I know I had the biggest dicky grin on my face, but I couldn’t help it. “Yeah, man, for real.”

  “It’s about GOD DAMN TIME!” he hooted in the phone so loudly I instinctually jerked it away to prevent my ear drum from exploding.

  I finished up the call with all the usual pleasantries, and he promised to call me if he dug up anything— the perks of having family in the force.

  After hanging up with Colby, I started the loaner up and headed over to Rhett’s shop to check on the progress he was making with Cherry. He’d called me after he’d gotten a good look at her and let me know that the scratches were pretty deep. He
explained he had a pretty heavy work load and would have to keep her a little while longer then he’d first thought. But he’d had her for over a week now, and it was beginning to make me anxious.

  When I pulled up in front of Rhett’s Restorations, I realized Piper and I had yet to get with him and inform him about our fake relationship. Now that things with us were actually real, we definitely had to tell him, and soon.

  Hopping out of the car, I walked in like I owned the place. I was on a first name basis with all the workers due to the long hours I’d spent fixing up Cherry when I first got her. I felt at home in Rhett’s shop. When you’re into old cars, having a best mate who owns a restoration shop comes in handy.

  On my way to the workshop out back I noticed that Rhett had a new office girl. I paid her no attention until her sugary sweet voice halted me in my tracks before I’d made it all the way though the adjoining door. “Excuse me, that’s a restricted area.”

  I turned around to find a bleach blonde with massive fake jugs and too much collagen in her lips glaring at me. A smartarse smirk formed my lips. “Excuse me, but I don’t give a shit.”

  The fact that she was the most plastic thing I’d seen lately and obviously had a personality to match made my response more brutal than I had intended. I had no time for women like her. Her eyes flamed as she stood on heels that she wasn’t qualified to walk in. Her eyes flamed and she screeched, “How dare you speak to me like that!”

  A smug smile painted her face letting me know she thought she was going to win this battle of the wills. She had another thing coming. I heard Rhett’s boots clomping down the hallway before I saw him. He strutted out of the guest bathroom behind the reception desk with a satisfied smirk on his face. “Sit your fine arse down, Cindy. You don’t have any authority in here, so stop acting like you do.”

  She spun on her heels and nearly toppled over. She snapped her head around and gave me one final red faced glare. I lifted my hand to my mouth in an attempt to supress my laughter. Shaking my head, I carried on out to the workshop to leave Rhett to his new toy with boobs.

  I found Cherry in the fourth bay down. The paint was stripped back along the whole right side. That psychotic bitch had keyed the whole damn side. Seeing Cherry like this made me want to cry like a big freaking girl. Messing with a man’s car is like messing with his lady; you just don’t do it. I pinched the bridge of my nose to stop my emotions from becoming visible.

  Rhett came and stood beside me placing a hand on my shoulder for comfort. “She did a real number on her man.”

  We both stood staring silently at my defaced car.

  “What’d you do to her?” he asked.

  “Not enough apparently.”

  He furrowed his eyebrows. “What’d you mean?”

  I told him the whole story, minus the bits about Piper. When I’d finished he shoved his hands in his pocket and nodded.

  He laughed under his breath. “You got a crazy one, huh?”

  “Seems so. So how long till I get my girl back?”

  He rubbed his chin for a moment. I could tell he was trying to calculate everything in his head. “I’ll spend some time with her this weekend, should have her back to you by Monday. I got some time right now, want a coffee?”

  I’d already decided to blow off work for the day, and I hadn’t had my caffeine fix this morning, so I figured there was no harm. “Sure.” I shrugged.

  We went into the empty break room and Rhett closed the door behind him.

  Odd.

  I made the coffees while Rhett rummaged around in the cupboards for some biscuits. When we’ both finished our tasks we sat on opposite sides of the table facing each other. Rhett’s face was stern, like he was concentrating on how to say something to me. Maybe he was going to tell me what the go was with wanna-be Barbie out front.

  Rhett tapped his fingers over the table. “Did you know that Piper’s shop is on the same block as that deli that makes those killer subs?”

  I wasn’t expecting that, and I knew I had to tread carefully here. “Yeah, what about it?”

  “Last week I had some free time so I went to get my lunch myself instead of sending the office bitch.”

  I waited for him to continue, but he didn’t. I shifted nervously in my seat. He knew. I either had to bluff my way out of this until Piper was here to protect me, or come clean now.

  “Anyway, I couldn’t get a park out front of the deli so I parked up the block and had to walk past The Den.” He paused again, waiting for me to interject. Again, I kept my mouth shut.

  “Do you know what I noticed as I was going past?” He asked.

  Instead of answering, I shoved a biscuit in my mouth and shook my head.

  Drawing in a deep breath, he continued, “First, I saw the loaner car a few parks down from mine. Figured you were getting a sub too. Oh how wrong was I.”

  I shoved another biscuit down my throat. That was a rhetorical question anyway. He wasn’t expecting me to answer. Then he placed his hands on the table, the weight of his large frame leaning over it caused it to creak. He locked his eyes on me, and for the first time ever I looked away from my best friend’s questioning stare.

  “You were kissing Piper in the middle of the salon. Want to explain that to me? I’ve been waiting for you to come see me; call me, drop me a line. You know, to let me know you’re screwing my baby sister.” His voice boomed around the room. . Glancing down, I found his fists clenched. Well there goes bluffing my way out of it, coming clean it is. I cleared my throat, I could feel my nerves building to the point of exploding.

  Words flew out of my mouth. “I’ve been in love with Piper since we were seventeen. I’m sorry. I meant to tell you. But it’s not what you think. Well it kinda is, but it wasn’t. Not when you saw us. Geez man, I really am sorry. This is not how I wanted to tell you. But it’s not just sex… I swear dude.”

  I watched the tension in Rhett’s body slowly fade. He leaned back in his seat and took a swig of coffee like he wasn’t just about to hulk out on me for screwing his sister. I was beyond confused.

  “It’s about damn time. I’ve been waiting for the last ten years for you to come clean, you prick. All that time you were banging anything with legs and tits, and you could have been with Piper.”

  Those words took me by surprise.

  Wipe that stunned mullet look off your face, dude. You’re my best friend, of course I knew. You were more protective of her than I was sometimes. You held her hair when she puked at parties while I was quite happy to let her deal with it on her own. You beat me to pounding that dickhead boyfriend she had when we were nineteen. You know, the one who told everyone she was a frigid bitch? You let her practice on you when she was going through her hairdressing apprenticeship even though you never let anyone touch your hair. Do I need to keep going?”

  I didn’t know what to say. I was speechless.

  Apparently the way I felt about Piper had been common knowledge to everyone except her.

  The chick who had walked in for a last minute appointment the night before was waiting out front when I arrived at the salon. I asked her what I could do for her and she said she loved what I’d done so much that she wanted me to do a complete makeover of her hair for her. I agreed and booked her in for my first available, which was at the end of next week. She hugged me like we’d known each other forever.

  I am not a hugger, especially of random strangers. Needless to say, I did not reciprocate her hug.

  The rest of the day progressed as normal, we were all run off our feet. When one o’clock rolled by I was relieved to see Kade walk in with a bag of food. I caught Tay eyeing him. Not cool. I smacked her upside the head gently to get her attention.

  “The hell, Piper, I was just lookin’,” she mumbled.

  “You’re in charge. I’ll be out back.” I told her, leaving to join Kade by the reception desk.

  The wicked smirk she shot me made it apparent she knew I didn’t want to be disturbed. I never handed over t
he reins of The Den. Never. Ignoring her, I strode out to the back room with Kade right behind me.

  He followed me through the door, and when he closed it he flicked the lock. I liked where his head was at, and if I hadn’t been so hungry I would have launched myself at him the second he turned to face me.

  “Food first. I’m starved.” I blurted out.

  He kissed me on the cheek and handed me a fresh focaccia with the works from the deli down the street. “You always are.”

  He sat on the couch, kicked off his shoes, and looked at me when he put his feet up on the coffee table. “See what I did there?” He smiled.

  I nodded. “I’m impressed.”

  “Geez, Pip, if I’d known all I had to do to impress you was take off my shoes before putting my feet on the table I would have done it years ago.” He winked at me and took a massive bite from his own focaccia roll.

  I was falling fast for the smarmy bastard and I couldn’t stop it. I felt like I was free falling and if the Prick didn’t catch me, I’d kick his gorgeous arse with my pointiest pair of overpriced heels.

  I plonked down beside him on the couch a little closer than normal, kicked off my boots, and tucked my feet under my butt. Throwing his spare arm around my shoulder, he pulled me in close to his side. I snuggled in to him and began to devour my lunch.

  We ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes. “I could get used to this,” He broke the silence.

  “Me too,” I replied softly.

  He pulled away from me a little and turned to face me. “Really?”

  “Um, yeah, I think so.” I could see he doubted my somewhat uncommitted response. I wanted to wipe any doubts he had about me away, so I did something I had never done before. I folded the paper around my remaining lunch and put it on the coffee table in front of us. His doubt was now replaced by confusion. I’m not one to give up food for anyone or thing.

  I pushed him back into the couch by his shoulders and slid my hands under his jacket coaxing it off. He sat forward and rolled his shoulders to help it fall. He didn’t even get anal about his jacket getting scrunched up behind his back. He is so particular about his clothes— he’s worse than any woman I know.