The One Left Behind (The One Series) (35 page)

UGH, CLEANING SUCKS! I hated it when I was younger and I hate it now. Only now I have a much bigger place to clean. I can’t complain too much because Piece is a very clean person. He always picks up after himself so there’s not too much to move out of the way. I never have to ask him to put his shoes away or put his dirty clothes in the hamper. He even cooks and cleans. He is like a guy you only read about in a book. He’s perfect.

I’m finishing up mopping when I look at the clock and notice that it’s ten forty five. Perfect timing. I make myself a bowl of fruit and sit on the couch and pat it for Ali to sit next to me. I flip on the TV and turn it to The Price Is Right which is my favorite show to watch during the day. Pierce always watches it with me when he’s home since it reminds him of being a kid watching it with his grandma. Pierce is surprised by my excellent bidding skills and got me tickets for the show. They aren’t until seven months from now because Pierce wants to make sure he can take time off to go with me.

As I am watching TV, my phone rings. I look at the caller ID and see
Charming
flashing across the screen.

“Hey, babe!” I answer.

“Hey, sexy! What are you doing? Never mind, let me guess.” He pauses as if he’s thinking about it. “Price is Right?”

“Sometimes I think you know me better than I know myself.”

Pierce laughs in that sexy way that I love. “That’s not such a bad thing. And if I recall you don’t mind that knowledge in the bedroom. I know you like it when I—”

“Pierce Whitmore!” I say cutting him off. “Don’t you dare talk dirty to me unless you plan on coming home to take care of the problem you’re going to leave me with,” I say in my stern voice.

As soon as I finish saying that Ali’s head pops up and she runs to the door. The door opens and Pierce walks through with the phone to his ear and is smiling big at me.

“Oh, I plan to follow through.” He hits the end button on his phone and strides towards me.

He grabs the back of my neck and pulls my face into his giving me a steamy kiss that lights up my body with need. I can feel his tongue against my lips awaiting permission to enter. I part them and his tongue plunges its way into my mouth with hunger. I start to undress him in a frenzy and he leans me down on the couch. He eagerly lifts my t-shirt over my head. Little does he know I’m not wearing a bra or panties since I was just lounging around the house alone. He pulls my shorts down next and groans when he realizes I am pantiless.

“You’re killing me,” he says in a low growl.

“Had I known you were coming home, I would have been naked waiting for you,” I tease.

That’s all it takes for his self-control to diminish. He pushes his pants down and wastes no time sliding into me. Pierce is leaving a trail of kisses along my neck as he thrusts into me and I am barely able to get out, “You should come home early every day.”

“Believe me this wasn’t my intention when I left early,” Pierce says on a deep thrust and I am at a loss for words as I’m wrapped up in the sensations of what he’s doing to my body. He strokes my insides with such expertise that I’m falling apart within minutes. When I’m finally coming down from the high of my orgasm, Pierce gently bites into my shoulder as he finds his release as well.

We’re holding each other on the couch when what he said crosses my mind, “So, what were your intentions when you came home early today? Not that I’m complaining.” I look up into his eyes waiting for his response.

“Well, I was all caught up on work and had no meetings so I took the rest of the day off and wanted to take my girl miniature golfing.”

Sitting up I raise an eyebrow. “Miniature golfing?”

“Yep, it’s good to embrace your inner child every now and then. Besides who doesn’t like miniature golfing?”

“You do have a point.”

I get up to shower and get ready. I don’t bother drying my hair and just throw it up into a pony tail. Pierce and I both throw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and are out the door in twenty minutes. I haven’t been miniature golfing in so long I didn’t even know there was one only twenty minutes away. As we pull up, I get more excited. Pierce was not joking about embracing our inner child. Not only do they have putt putt, but they also have go karts, bumper cars, and carnival games.

After parking the car, Pierce walks around and opens the door for me. I’m checking myself in the mirror making sure I look alright when he says, “Stop looking. Your face is flawless.” He kisses my hand and closes the car door.

“I have to say, I was happy to play miniature golf before, but I’m even more excited now. I mean all that’s missing are the carnival rides. This place is awesome!” I say, thrilled to be here with him.

Pierce grins and grabs my hand. “Where do you want to go first?”

I look around and have my finger on my lips trying to decide. I eye the go karts and see there isn’t a long line. “There,” I say as I point to them.

Pierce purchases us bracelets that allow us to ride any ride as many times as we want. When we reach the front of the line we are asked if we want to ride together or separate. Before Pierce can speak, I blurt out, “Separate.”

Pierce gives me an amused smile with a raised eyebrow and I return it. “What? I’m very competitive. I can’t have you in control of whether I win or lose. So I know if I’m driving I will definitely win,” I say in mock confidence.

“Who says I wouldn’t let you drive? You drive us places all the time.”

“Okay, well would you have let me drive the go kart?” I smile at Pierce knowing his answer. He is just as competitive as I am.

“Probably not. I have to say, even though we’re about to race a bunch of kids I still feel the need to beat them in go kart racing,” he says with mock guilt.

We both laugh and get into our separate karts while being surrounded by kids of all ages and some parents as well. The light in front of us turns from red to yellow, and finally green. I step on the gas pedal and take off. I haven’t done this in a long time, but I don’t remember kids being so ruthless on these things. I have been cut off and even break checked. These kids are crazy! Pierce keeps laughing since I seem to be the target of the boy’s birthday party. I know it is all in good fun, but I can’t control myself. As soon as I get behind Pierce I ram my kart into his. I give him a mischievous smile and Pierce shouts, “Don’t you do it.” I bump his kart into the wall and go around him. I know that was a dirty move, but when we finish the lap, I end up beating Pierce. He pulls up next to me laughing and shaking his head.

“Oh, you’re going to pay for that last move, cheater,” he shoots me a wicked look and I know he has every intention of retaliating.

“I told you I was competitive,” I say with a shrug. “And, in all fairness, my kart took a good beating. Who knew kids could be so ruthless?” We both agree as my attackers run past us to race again.

“Where to next? Bumper cars?” Pierce asks as he throws his arm over my shoulder.

“Sure, but I think I’ll ride this one with you. I have never been good at those.”

We stroll over to the bumper cars and stand in line. The whole time we’re waiting, Pierce is singing along to the music playing from the speakers and at one point serenades me until it’s our turn to get in the cars. Pierce leans into me and whispers, “Do you think we should take it easy on them? They are smaller after all.” I look around and notice we’re the only adults about to ride.

“Yeah, I mean it wouldn’t be fair. I feel like we would be the big bad wolf in the bumper car.” Pierce laughs in agreement. A loud bell rings out signaling that it is time to start and we are immediately hit from behind and my head goes forward a little bit. I turn to see who hit us and it is a little girl with a scowl on her face. “Move out of my way, Grandpa,” she yells at Pierce. My mouth falls open, and before I can say anything, BAM, another hit to the side. Pierce looks at me in disbelief and says, “Okay, we’re not playing nice. I don’t care if we look like the big bad wolf.”

“Agreed, I am starting to get whiplash from all these kids.” We seem to be the target of the little girl who called Pierce grandpa who is a nasty little girl. She reminds me of that spoiled brat from Willy Wonka, the one who gets whatever she wants. We are behind her and I look over at Pierce to see if he’s thinking what I’m thinking. “Does it make me a bad person since I really want you to hit her car right now?”

Pierce chuckles, “Nope. She called me a grandpa for crying out loud. Who says that?” With that said Pierce bumps her car from behind and does it again once more for good measure. Needless to say, she stayed away from us for the remainder of the ride.

Once we are off the bumper cars, we stop for a little food before heading over to the carnival games. He insists on winning me the big teddy bear hanging from the top. He’s playing one of those water games where you have to shoot the water in the hole and be the first one to pop the balloon. Pierce takes the last remaining seat and looks around sizing up his competition. It’s quite amusing seeing how serious he is taking this. When the buzzer goes off, Pierce pulls the trigger on the gun and water starts shooting out hitting the target and filling up the balloon. It is a very close call between Pierce and the guy sitting to his right. A girl standing next to me, who I’m assuming is the guy’s girlfriend, says, “I kinda hope your boyfriend wins because that teddy bear scares me.” I laugh as the balloon pops. I look back at Pierce to see the game operator handing him the huge teddy bear. I give him a big smooch on the lips for a job well done and a swat on the ass before saying, “Good game,” like athletes do.

“What are you going to name him?” Pierce asks.

“Who says it’s a him?” Pierce shrugs his shoulders. “Since there is no way to be sure, I will name it Dani.”

We walk to the miniature golf area and Pierce is holding my bear in one arm and my hand in the other. The bear is huge so I would have had to hold it with two hands. Pierce asks a woman to take our picture and just as she’s about to snap it, he pulls me into his arms and lays a kiss on me. Catching me by surprise, my leg lifts off the ground. This is now my new favorite picture.

While playing golf, Pierce takes the golf club, placing it in Dani’s arms and takes a picture of the bear golfing. It is hysterical. Pierce looks at me with a devilish look on his face and I know he’s up to something. “So, how about a little bet?” He says with an eyebrow raised at me.

“Okay, but this time no cheating!” I demand, squinting my eyes at him.

“I didn’t cheat last time. Your parents just happened to love me,” he says innocently holding his hands up. Yeah, right.

“If you say so, Charming.” I roll my eyes at him letting him know I’m not buying the whole innocent act. “What are we playing for?”

“Well, if I win,” Pierce taps his finger against his lip like he is deep in thought. His finger then stops and he points to me as he says,” you have to do a strip tease for me when we get home.”

I feel my face flush and I shift my weight. I have never done anything like that before. Ever. “And if I win?”

“I will do a strip tease for you.”

I think about it for a minute. We have been joking around so I haven’t noticed if Pierce is any good at this whole golfing thing or not. But I seem to be doing pretty well, so I take him up on it.

“Deal,” I say with a confident smile on my face.

When we go back to the game, Pierce goes into serious mode. He stops joking around and begins to play better. Looking at the score sheet I see that I lost
epically.
Seeing the smug look on Pierce’s face, I realize I got played once again.

I put my hands on my hips and say, “You never mentioned you were a professional miniature golf player. I can’t believe I let you hustle me again.”

“I must have forgot to tell you that Lexi and I used to come here every weekend.” He’s looking down at me with a harmless look in his eyes, but I see right through it. He did this intentionally and he knows it.

I drive us back home and pull into the drive way throwing the car in park. I’m chewing on the corner of my lip and rattled with nerves at the strip tease I’m gonna have to perform. I’m hoping Pierce will let me back out of it since he cheated again, but I doubt that will happen.

I walk in the house and Pierce is sitting on the couch with his hands behind his head and his legs kicked up. He looks at me expectantly and says, “I believe you owe me a dance.”

“You’re not really going to make me do that are you?”
Please say no. Please say no.

“Well, if you had won would you make me do it?” he says with a knowing look.

Shit.
“Yes.”

“Well then.” Pierce pulls his phone out and starts to play Ginuwine’s
Pony
.

“So you just happened to have that song on your phone, huh?” I eye him suspiciously because now it feels like this whole thing was a set up from the very beginning.

“Of course not. I downloaded it while you were driving home. What’s a strip tease without music? Now come on, beautiful, and strip for me.” Pierce gives me a sexy smile and waits patiently.