Pierced: Pierced Trilogy Boxed Set (91 page)

She blinks at me and shrugs. “Is that okay?”

I smile incredulously at her. “Yes, baby. That’s okay.” She smiles at me and steps into my arms, snuggling close, and I still feel completely confused. How is she not pissed at me right now? And as I stand with my arms around her, I take a deep steadying breath. When I do, the aroma that greeted me at the door washes over me again, delicious and familiar and comforting, and it’s not the pulled chicken.

“What is that?” I ask again, letting Sam go as I glance around the kitchen. “Something smells so good!”

“Oh! I almost forgot. I made some cookies for dessert,” she smiles, turning to grab a covered plate on the counter by the stove. She removes the cover to reveal the most scrumptious looking cookies, and I am stunned.

“You made peanut butter cookies.” It’s a shocked statement of fact, and my voice is barely audible as a memory comes rushing back to me. A six-year-old me, sitting on my grandma Mona’s lap eating cookies.

“Yeah, I just had a taste for them,” Sam shrugs, and her voice sounds puzzled. “I found the peanut butter in your cabinet so, I assumed you weren’t allergic.”

“No. I’m not allergic,” I say softly, still in shock.

“Do you want to try one? They’re probably still warm.” I look up at her suddenly, my eyes finally leaving the plate of cookies and locking onto hers. Then I nod and take a cookie from the plate. And when I bite into it, I am instantly transported back to my grandma’s living room…

~~~~~~~~

“I’m going to give you that pretty ring someday, Joshie. And you can give it to the girl you marry.”

“Can I marwy you, gwanma?”

Grandma laughs at me. “You’ll find your own girl to marry one day. And she’ll be beautiful and she will love you so much!” She squeezes me and kisses my head.

“Will she make peena budder cookies like you?”

“Oh, I’m sure she will, Joshie,” grandma giggles at me and I take another bite of cookie.

~~~~~~~~

“Is it okay?” Sam’s voice is small and timid, and it brings me back to the present.

“It’s delicious,” I tell her honestly as I finish off my cookie. Looking her in the eye, I say softly, “Did I ever tell you that peanut butter cookies are my favorite?”

She smiles slowly at me, grinning from ear to ear. “No, you didn’t.”

“My grandma used to make these for me all the time. I haven’t had a homemade peanut butter cookie since before she died, back when I was eighteen.”

“Oh. I’m sorry, Josh, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“No, baby, you don’t understand. You didn’t upset me,” I say quietly, holding her worried gaze. “Just the opposite actually.”

“Oh.”

I reach out and caress her face, leaning down to gently kiss her lips. “Thank you.

“You’re welcome,” she says softly, her eyes locked onto mine. I kiss her again then, sweetly and tenderly, my tongue exploring eagerly. “You taste like peanut butter cookies,” she whispers to me.

“You taste like heaven,” I whisper back, and she blushes softly.

“You say the sweetest things,” she says, still whispering as she looks into my eyes.

“You do the sweetest things,” I whisper, my lips brushing against her ear as my arms close around her waist, pulling her close. Taking her earlobe between my lips, I suck lightly and she moans softly. Then I trail soft kisses from there down her neck and back up again.

“Josh,” she breathes.

Kissing her again, I run my hands beneath the fabric of her t-shirt, feeling the warm, soft skin underneath. I start to lift her shirt up just as the doorbell rings.

“It’s not seven yet,” she pouts, and I smile at her.

“No. But that will be Lee.”

“Lee?”

“Yeah,” I sigh. “Whenever we play here, he always shows early. I think it’s his way of checking up on me. Spending some quality time with me I guess. You know he fancies himself my surrogate father or something.”

“I think that’s sweet,” Sam says, adjusting her clothes to make sure she’s presentable as I move toward the front door.

When I open it, Lee stands holding a six-pack of Budweiser and a bright smile. “Hey, kid!”

“You’re early,” I tell him with a smirk.

“Am I now?” he asks innocently, knowing exactly what he’s doing. “Is this a bad time?”

I smile, rolling my eyes at him. “Get in here.” He walks inside and his eyes dart around the place. No doubt taking in all of Samantha’s upgrades. He smiles when he sees her standing at the kitchen table, removing the new place mats and the basket of napkins, clearing the way for our game.

“Good evening, Samantha,” he says kindly.

“Hi, Lee. It’s nice to see you again,” she smiles at him as she puts the things away in the cupboard.

“It’s lovely to see you,” he replies.

“Can I put that in the fridge for you?” she asks, reaching for his beer.

“Oh, yes. Thank you, dear.” She takes his six-pack and puts it away in the refrigerator. “So, Guy, place looks nice with a woman’s touch,” Lee says, looking around appraisingly, and I narrow my eyes at him as he beams at me. He’s having fun right now, trying to make me uncomfortable.

“Yes, it does,” I agree with him.

“Smells better too. What is that?”

“Sam made us dinner for our game tonight. Pulled chicken.”

“Dinner!”

“Oh, it’s nothing fancy,” she shrugs. “Just sandwiches and chips.”

Lee smiles at her and I think it makes her self-conscious because she blushes slightly. “Do you play poker, Sam? ’Cause you’re welcome to join our game if you’d like.”

“No, I don’t play,” she answers shyly. “In fact, I was just about to make myself a sandwich and get out of your hair.”

“Well you don’t have to run off on my account,” he says, still smiling at her. “I think I’ll join you in a sandwich, if you don’t mind.”

“No, I don’t mind,” she says brightly, turning to make the sandwiches. “Would you like one, Joshua?”

I shake my head at Lee with a smirk, and he chuckles softly, silently mouthing
‘Joshua’
as he makes a face at me. He knows that I’m aware of what he’s up to. This is his way of nosing around, getting to spend some uninvited time with me and Sam, to see how things are between us.
He just cares about you, Pierce.
“Yes, baby. I’ll have one,” I tell her, still smirking at Lee.

For the next twenty five minutes, the three of us sit at the kitchen table and talk over sandwiches and chips, and I watch as Samantha charms his socks off. By the time the doorbell rings and the next guys show up, Lee is completely taken with her and the two of them are laughing and talking like they’re old friends.

I open the door and see Dave and my cousin Paul standing there, beer in hand. “You invited the fireman? Jeez,” Dave says with a playful roll of his eyes as he steps inside.

“Oh you’re just sore ’cause I took your money last time,” Paul shoots back. When he walks inside, his eyes register surprise. “Hey Sam! You playing poker with us tonight, doll?”

“Hi Paul! No, I’m not playing,” she replies, clearing the table once more. “But speaking of dolls, how’s that precious baby boy doing?”

“Ohh, we actually got a full night’s sleep last night,” Paul answers. “First time that’s happened since he was born. It’s a beautiful thing!”

I stand and watch as Sam chats easily with Paul and Dave as she wipes off the table, and Lee walks over to me and places his hand on my shoulder. “She is a wonderful girl, son,” he says softly, and I nod, smiling shyly. “And you two are great together.”

“Are we?” I ask quietly.

He frowns at me. “You have doubts?”

“No.” My voice is definitive as I look him in the eye. “I don’t. I am crazy about her, Lee. I love her,” I quietly admit to him.

“That’s good, because she’s clearly in love with you. I’m glad you told her everything. Now you don’t have that son of a bitch hanging over your head anymore and you can just concentrate on the future.”

“The future?”

Lee looks at me for a long minute, studying my face. “The future,” he says quietly, looking me in the eye. “You do think about the future, don’t you, Guy? I assume you want a future with Sam?”

His words make me uncomfortable and I frown at him and then take a deep uneasy breath. Do I want a future with Sam? I’d be lying to Lee, and to myself, if I said I didn’t think about it. Samantha makes me think and dream and wonder about the possibilities in ways I never have before. But I don’t want to have this conversation with Lee right now. Not when I’ve got a house full of nosy guys all within earshot.

“Lee, I can’t talk about this right now,” I say looking over at Dave and Paul Jr. talking to Sam.

He glances over at the others and nods at me. “I understand. But, I’m going to say this one thing before I drop it.” He fixes me with a serious gaze, his eyes never wavering from mine as he says, “You would be an absolute fool if you let her get away from you.”

“Lee, I…”

“I have known you since you were a very little boy, Guy. In fact, the first time I ever remember seeing you was probably about the third or fourth time I had ever been dispatched to your folks place, and I was shocked when I saw this tiny little boy sitting in a playpen, wearing nothing but a diaper and screaming at the top of his lungs. You couldn’t have been more than two at the time. And I was so sorry to learn that they had a child in that house with all the violence going on in there.”

“Lee,” I whisper looking at him anxiously. “I don’t want to get into this shit right now!”

“I know; I’m sorry,” he says, holding up a hand. “Look, Guy … all I’m trying to say is this. I’ve known you most of your life. And I have watched you come through hell to make something of yourself, and I’m damn proud of you. But through it all, I have never seen you this happy before. Ever. And I really want that for you, son.”

His eyes look glassy and his words are so impassioned. And I know that he’s just trying to tell me that he cares about me. I nod at him as Samantha touches my arm, interrupting our hushed conversation. “I’m going to go now, let you boys have your fun.”

“Go?” I frown at her, and my voice is a worried growl. I hadn’t realized she’d be leaving the house while we played poker. “Go where?”

She smiles at me and tilts her head to the side. “To the bedroom,” she says quietly.

“Oh.”

“You’re cute when you’re being overprotective,” she whispers. Then she stands on her tiptoes and kisses me lightly on the cheek. She takes a bottle of water out of the fridge and she smiles at me again as she leaves the room. And as I watch her go, desperately wishing I could join her, I feel Lee pat my shoulder once more before he walks off to the table to join the others.

“Yo, Guy we gonna play or what?” Dave’s voice pulls my attention back to the game.

“Yeah,” I say as I turn around. The bell rings again and it’s Butler. As I let him in I see Turner, one of the old timers and Lee’s current partner, pulling up. The gang’s all here. I bring in a few folding chairs from the garage and our game gets underway.

As we play, the guys get kinda loud and rowdy at times, and while I don’t ssh them or ask them to hold it down, I do keep finding myself wondering if Sam’s getting aggravated with the noise level. And I wonder what she’s doing back there in the bedroom by herself. There’s no TV in my bedroom. I hope she’s not bored out of her mind.

Finally, about an hour into our game, I can’t stand it anymore. The curiosity gets the best of me and I have to find out if she’s all right back there. I get up under the pretense of going to the bathroom but, I don’t really think any of the guys believe me. I don’t give a shit though. I get up from the table and head back to the bedroom. When I open the door a crack and peek inside, she looks up at me from her sketchbook and smiles.

“Hi,” she says softly.

“Hi.” I step inside and push the door to, and I notice that she has her laptop, her iPad and her iPod all sitting next to her on the bed.

“Are you checking up on me, Detective?”

I shrug my shoulders and smirk at her. “Maybe. What are you doing back here?” I ask her as I sit on the edge of the bed facing her.

“Well … earlier I transferred the Detective Josh Playlist from my iPod to my iPad. And then I did some research on the Internet into local realtors and I emailed one, told her what I’m looking for.”

“Hmm. Anxious to be rid of me after tonight, huh?”

She giggles at me. “Yeah, I just couldn’t take the whole poker thing,” she says sarcastically. “I gotta get out of here!”

I smile shyly at her. “What are you sketching?”

“I’m just doodling,” she shrugs modestly.

“Can I see?”

She nods and hands me her sketchbook and when I turn it around and look at the image, I am bowled over once again by her talent. She has drawn a sketch of two lovers, locked in an intimate embrace. The image is drawn in such a way that you see the female’s backside and just the hint of her left breast as she stands in front of him. His face isn’t visible as his head is lowered, kissing her shoulder, and his hands are on her back as he holds her. It’s a very sensual image and I am astonished.

“Wow. Sam … this is beautiful. How did you do this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I thought you needed a model to draw but…”

“Well, I do. I mean, that sketch would be much better if there had actually been a couple standing here in front of me.”

I look at her incredulously, shaking my head. “I don’t know how this could get much better, baby. I love this picture.”

“You do?”

“Yes. Do you think you’ll put it in your show?”

“Oh, no. I’m sure Lola wouldn’t be interested in it,” she says dismissively.

“I bet she would. Either way, I’d like to have it. This is my favorite out of everything I’ve seen you draw.” She stares at me for a long, silent minute and then she smiles bashfully, biting her lower lip.

“Go back to your poker game, Detective,” she says softly, taking her sketchbook back. “And stop worrying about me. Just go have fun; I’m fine.”

I lean forward and kiss her for a moment before I stand. Then I turn without a word and head for the door. I glance back at her with a small smile and then leave, closing the door behind me, and go back to the kitchen to the game.