Abandon Ship (Anchored 4)

Instead, Piper keeps everything bottled up neatly, tightly wrapping everything up.

The problem with suppressing your emotions, though?

Eventually those bottled-up feelings have to go somewhere.

Eventually, they’re going to burst.

With Piper?

It’s only a matter of time.

Chapter 3

Piper

Maddox Blake is sitting next to me, and his hand is on my leg.

Holy dragons.

I’m in for it now.

I don’t do serious and I don’t do relationships. Not after Tad. Not ever again.

Still, there’s something about Maddox Blake that draws me to him and I’m just not sure what to do next. His hand is on my leg, and if he slides it up just a little bit more, he’ll find that I’m not wearing panties.

He’ll find more than that.

He’ll find that I’m wet, that my thighs are slick with my arousal, that I’m so close to coming just from his hand being on me.

Maddox Blake is the man of my fantasies, but I can’t let him in. I can’t let anyone in, not again. I can’t risk getting hurt. I can’t risk Tad finding out and hurting them.

“Piper,” he says my name again, and I look up at Maddox. I know he’s been watching me. I know he sees more than he lets on. Oh, he acts like he’s some silly playboy, some dumb jerk who doesn’t know HTML from Java, but that’s not Maddox.

He’s smart, and he’s calculating.

I’d bet anything that he’s a cop, or that he used to be.

Now, as he looks at me, he waits patiently. I know exactly what he’s asking me for. He’s asking me to trust him. He’s asking me to believe in him. He’s asking me to please, just please, take a chance on him.

“Maddox,” I repeat his name, and his hand slides just a little bit higher. He’s so close. Just one little move of his fingers and he’ll be stroking my clit, bringing me promises of pleasure. Just a little bit more.

“Hey Charmer, you’re in my seat,” I hear Odessa’s voice, and I break free from my lust-filled haze. Suddenly, I seem to remember where I am, who I am, what I am. I know one thing for certain: I’m not free. I’m not available. I’m not in any position to get to know Maddox Blake in any way that’s not professional, and I carefully push his hand away.

Maddox Blake, ever the gentleman, lets me go.

“Goodnight, Maddox,” I say to him.

“Goodnight, Piper,” his voice sounds sad. He moves and Odessa takes her seat.

“Call me later,” she says, catching my gaze, and I nod. She knows I’ll check in with her. We talk to each other regularly.

And then I leave.

I walk out of Anchored and call a ride using an app on my phone. I’ve been drinking, so I won’t drive. My car will be here tomorrow when I come back, and a ride to my place will be pretty inexpensive. If it wasn’t drizzling out, I would just walk, but it’s too wet for that.

I can’t believe what happened tonight with Maddox. Was he really coming onto me? Was he really making his move? And did I really shoot him down?

I’m an idiot.