Page 48 of Never and Always
“This is a bad idea, remember?” Her voice was low and husky.
“I disagree.” I kissed her.
She froze for a second, then that sweet mouth opened for me, and she threw her arms around my neck. I took my time exploring her mouth, my hands molding her curves. With a sweet sound, she pushed into me and very enthusiastically kissed me back.
When we broke apart, my cock was throbbing, and she was panting. I loved the slightly dazed look on her face. I figured not much made Piper Ellis look like that.
“We’re a bad idea,” she said.
“Maybe.”
“Not maybe, Everett, definitely.” She didn’t look happy as she said it. “You’re a mountain man, I’m a city girl. You love flannel and I wear high heels. We have nothing in common.”
I kissed her again until this time I got a purring noise.
“I think we have a few things in common, and maybe we can find a few more.” Her gaze locked on my mouth, and I fought back a smile. “Don’t you have a meeting with Munich?”
She startled. “Oh God, I need to go. And it’s with Johannesburg, which you know. You just love aggravating me.” She spun and took off way too fast.
“Don’t you run on this slick ground, Piper,” I growled.
She slowed down a little, then looked back at me, that look on her face again. “Everett, thank you. For everything.”
Then she disappeared into the hotel.
And hell, I missed her already. Whether she was giving me sharp looks, sniping at me, or kissing the hell out of me, I liked it all.
Apparently, I had a thing for high maintenance city women, after all.
I headed inside and met with my team. The hotel was chaos this morning. It was Saturday, so not only did we have the guests who were staying at the hotel, we had the day trippers who came for the day from Denver to ski, and liked to eat at the hotel, or pay to use the amenities.
I worked through my jobs, then found a quiet moment to pull out my phone.
Caden answered on the second ring.
“Sorry, I know you have today off,” I said.
“It’s fine. We’re having a quiet day at home with Ollie. Already been out to make a snowman.”
I tried hard to picture ex-military man Caden making a snowman with a young boy and failed. “Allie all right?”
“Yeah. How’s Piper?”
“She’s okay. She was really shaken last night, but she pulled herself together this morning. She’s in a video call with Johannesburg.”
“Sounds like Piper. She’s tough.”
I frowned. Because she’d had to be. It sounded like Piper’s friends were used to her being self-sufficient, but no one could shoulder everything all the time.
“The guys who tried to grab her last night said her brother owes their boss a hundred grand.”
Caden whistled. “That’s a lot of money.”
“Ellis didn’t do anything to stop them targeting his sister.” Anger vibrated through my voice. “Caden, we need to know who Ellis is in debt to.”
Caden was quiet for a beat. “I’ll put out some feelers.”
“Ellis still in town?”
