Small Town Girl (20 page)

Piper let out a huge yawn. “I should
probably go to bed for the night. I’m still on Iowa time and it’s getting late
back home.”

“Oh,” I said. “I still need to show you
your room!”

I let her inside and down the hall from
our bedroom to a guest suite. A pillow top queen mattress covered in layers of
pillows and downy blankets set the scene for the most comfy guest room I’d ever
seen. It was almost better than Hudson’s room. Wispy curtains flanked the tall
windows and beachy oil paintings in golden frames adorned the gray walls. The
furniture was a gorgeous walnut, and the room was nothing if not peaceful.

“Will this do?” I asked as I watched for
her reaction.

“Yep,” she said flatly. She had to be
jealous.
Or tired.
Or both.

“Okay, goodnight,” I said to her as I
turned. Before I walked out, I saw her reach down and pull her phone from her
pocket. She
smiled
as she must have checked a text
message, which was weird. I didn’t know anyone who could make Piper smile like
that, and she was never big into texting.

I shook it off as I headed down to my
room to retire for the evening and send Hudson a goodnight text.

Hudson’s homecoming was a sweet reunion.
I’d missed him more than I cared to admit, and two weeks was two weeks too
long.

“I never want to be apart that long
again,” I said as I threw my arms around him the second he walked in the door.

He laughed as I nearly knocked him over,
and he covered my mouth with soft, cinnamon kisses. It was late in the evening
on a Friday night. I’d been on pins and needles all day waiting for him to come
home. His flight was delayed a few hours, which only made the anticipation
worse.

“Here,” I said to him as I handed him a
whiskey sour I’d prepared. I clutched my amaretto and Diet Coke in my other
hand. “Let’s go sit outside by the pool. I want to hear all about your trip.”

Hudson smirked. “It wasn’t a trip. It was
work, remember?”

“Whatever,” I teased. “Come on.”

He was exhausted from his day of
traveling, but I didn’t care. I had other plans for him.

I let him set down and take a few sips of
his drink before I slowly unbuttoned my white shorts and slid them down. I
kicked them across the patio and bit my finger as I stared down at him.

“What’s this?” he asked as he began to
grin. He sat back in his chair as if he were ready to enjoy a show.

I pulled my tank top off over my head and
shook my long hair. I tiptoed backwards, towards the water, as I slid off my
pink, lacy panties and unhooked my bra. His backyard was a private oasis, and I
fully intended to take advantage of that.

I waved my finger at him to follow me as
I dipped one toe into the warm pool water and stepped in. He slowly got up from
his chair, taking another swig of his drink, and began undressing.

I was waist deep in the water by the time
he climbed in, and I swam over to the grotto, taking cover and waiting for him.
I waited patiently and it felt like he was taking forever, until suddenly I
felt his strong hands slip around my waist. He had snuck up behind me.

“You scared me,” I said as I patted his
chest.

“Sorry,” he said as he nibbled at my
neck.

The soft water of his saltwater pool trickled
around us and beaded down our
skin
as we couldn’t keep
our hands off one another.
My mouth waited, wanting and open,
for his kiss.
My body anticipated his hands and where they would go
next.

He scooped me up and held me against his
hips as he hoisted me against the wall of the grotto. I could feel his member,
hard and throbbing, and longed for him to be inside me once again.

“I missed you so much, Brynn,” he
whispered before reaching down and positioning himself.

With one fell thrust, he was deep inside
me. His hips moved slowly, deliberately as he took his sweet time with me. We
had to make up for lost time, and that was just fine with me.

The water lapped around us with every
move as the waterfall splashed in the background and the dim lights of the pool
set the ambiance.

I rested my arms on his shoulders as he
continued thrusting and plunging himself into me.

“I love being this close to you,” he
whispered. “You’re so addictive.”

I said nothing as I smiled with sweet
satisfaction at his words and enjoyed the sensation of riding him in the pool.

I could tell he was getting close.

“Just let go,” I whispered.

A few hard thrusts and his body tensed
and then relaxed as he released himself inside of me. He leaned against me,
pinning me to the wall of the grotto, as we became undone, and I slid myself
back to a standing position.

“How was that for a welcome home
surprise?” I asked.

“Amazing,” he sighed, his hands still
traveling the length of my body. We were done, for now, and he still couldn’t
keep his hands off me.

We swam back to the patio and wrapped
ourselves in fluffy towels as we sat down to finish our drinks.

He ran his fingers through his damp, dark
hair as he stared at me in amazement.

“I was thinking,” I said. “I should
probably go back home at least once a month.
 
You know, just to visit my mom and Piper
and stuff. I haven’t been back in a few weeks. Would you care if I went next
weekend?”

“Of course not,” he said as he scrunched
his face. “You can go home anytime you want. In fact, I’ll join you.”

“Oh, you don’t have to come with,” I
said. “Rock River is so boring.”

“Brynn,” he said as he cocked his head.
“I can’t be away from you again. Not this soon. And last time you went home, I
almost lost you. I won’t let that happen again.”

I laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m coming with you,” he insisted.

“That’s fine,” I said. “I just don’t want
you to be bored.”

“With you? Never.”

“You know you have nothing to worry about
with me and Luke. Ever,” I said. “If that’s what this is about.”

He instantly looked offended. “Who said
anything about him?”

“I thought that was what you meant,” I
said. “Anyway he’s not a threat to you. To us.”

“How do you know this? Have you been
talking to him?” Hudson asked, his eyes almost flashing with jealousy and a
hint of contained temper.

“No,” I said. I wasn’t going to tell him
that I sought Luke out at the bar last time I went home. Not in a million
years. He would never understand. “Piper had just mentioned when she was here
that Luke basically hates me.”

“Why would you care about that?” Hudson
asked. “Haven’t you moved on?”

“Of course,” I said as I reached across
the table and placed my hand on his. “You need to calm down.”

Hudson was annoyed.

“Clearly you’re taking this conversation
in the wrong direction,” I said. “I was just trying to tell you that you have
nothing to worry about whenever I go home.”

“So Luke hates you,” he said, going back
to the topic of Luke. “But do you hate Luke? Are there still feelings there?”

I rolled my eyes and buried my face in my
hands. “No.”

Hudson was quiet, and I wasn’t sure that
he entirely believed me. I wanted to ask him what was up with this sudden
insecurity, and then I remembered what Alec had told me about celebrities
needing constant love and attention and security. Hudson was no exception to
that rule.

“I have no feelings for Luke,” I told
him. “I swear.”

I wasn’t going to mention that Luke was
my first love, my best friend, and a part of me would always love him. He
wouldn’t understand. It would just take things to a whole new level.

He glanced over at me, making eye contact
once again but saying nothing. I stood up from my chair and climbed over into
his lap, wrapping my arm around the back of his shoulders.

“I’m with you,” I said. “I want to be
with you.”

I held up my right ring finger and showed
him the canary yellow diamond ring he’d given me two weeks prior.

“Remember?” I said with a smile. “We’re
in this together.
You and me.
You’re mine and I’m
yours.”

His face lightened up a bit as he slipped
his arms around my waist.

“I’m still coming home with you,” he
said.

“That’s fine,” I said. “You can meet my
mom.”

He laughed a bit. “Okay.”

“I don’t know about you, but I’m
exhausted,” I said as I stood up and led him by the hand back inside the house.
Two weeks with him gone and I never got used to sleeping without him by my
side. All I wanted to do was curl up in his arms, close my eyes, and drift off.
Saturday was going to be a new day with a fresh start and something we both
clearly needed.

***

We arrived in Des Moines on a Friday
afternoon and rented a car. I opted to drive, having missed my familiar Iowa
roads once again. Mile after mile, hour after hour, we finally arrived in Rock
River.

My homecoming was bittersweet, not
knowing what to expect. I’d left in such a hurry last time that I was almost
afraid to show my face around some parts.

“Do you care if we pop into the coffee
shop first?” I asked Hudson. “I want to say hi to Piper and let her know I’m in
town.”

“We’re here for you,” he said as he
kissed my hand. “We’ll do whatever you want. You just lead the way.”

We pulled up to the shop and climbed out.
Piper’s weekend in L.A. started out rough, but eventually we were able to get
on the same page. We both missed each other, and we both wanted to have fun.
When I took her back to the airport that Sunday, I felt like we were finally
getting back on track. We were in a good place.

As Hudson and I walked hand in hand into
the coffee shop, the last thing I expected was to see Luke standing up at the
counter talking to Piper. Even from across the room I could see the way her
face lit up in his presence. His back was towards us, but he was leaning into
her, resting on his elbows, like he didn’t have a care in the world, smiling
big. He was clearly smitten. I’d never seen him act like that with anyone else
before.

I wanted to vomit, but I tried to compose
myself.

“Let’s go,” Hudson whispered in my ear.
“Let’s just get out of here.”

“No,” I said as I jerked my hand away
from him and approached Luke and Piper. “Ahem.”

Piper’s face fell as she turned towards
me and backed away from Luke. Luke turned around,
then
spun right back around as soon as he saw me.

“
Piper,
how
could you?” I asked, my eyes pleading with her for an answer. I’d loved Luke
for years. She knew that.

“We’re just talking,” she said, as she
tried to play dumb.

I shook my head. I didn’t buy it for one
minute. The thought of Piper and Luke flirting and hanging out and becoming
close had floated through my mind a time or two before, but I refused to
believe she’d ever do that to me. It was sort of an unspoken rule that Luke was
off limits to her. I’d cried on her shoulder countless times over the years
when Luke had new girlfriends or asked other girls to dances or rebuffed my
attempts to take our friendship to the next level.

She untied her apron and flung it on the
counter as she asked her coworker to cover for her.

She came around the bar and walked up to
me, her arms crossed.

“Let’s go outside,” I said to her. I was
going to demand answers.

Hudson watched us carefully as we slipped
out the back. I felt bad leaving him around Luke, but I knew he’d be civil.

“What the hell, Piper?” I yelled at her
the second we were outside. I searched for a hint of guilt or remorse on her
face but found none.

“It just sort of...evolved,” she said.

“What evolved?” I asked. My eyes were
burning hot and it took all the strength I had not to break down and cry.

Piper sighed. “Luke and I have sort of
had a thing for a while now.”

My heart sank. “What are you talking
about?”

“It just sort of happened. I don’t know.
I don’t know how it happened.” She studied my face.

“You’re not making any sense,” I
whimpered. “I’ve only been with Hudson not even a couple months. How long have
you and Luke…?”

I didn’t want to know, but I did.

“A few months, at least,” she said as she
bit her lip, stifling a smile. She couldn’t hide the victorious look that
crossed her face. It was like Luke was a trophy she’d lusted after and finally
wrangled out of my hands. “It was mostly physical at first.”

The thought of Luke and Piper having sex
flashed into my mind, and once again I felt sick to my stomach. It made no
sense. They hated each other. They weren’t ever each other’s types.

“We got close,” she said. “Especially
after you rejected him.”

I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t reject him
and you know that.”

She laughed. “Oh, so that’s why you ran
off with Mr. Hollywood and left Luke in the dust.”

“No. He had his chance and he waited
until it was too late,” I said. “You of all people should know that.”

I suddenly remembered that the guys were
inside. I didn’t want to leave Hudson around Luke any longer than I had to, but
I still needed to talk to Piper. There were still too many unanswered
questions.

The sting of betrayal left a bittersweet
taste in my mouth.

“I guess it is what it is, Brynn,” she
said, arms crossed.

I couldn’t believe my best friend since
kindergarten had committed the ultimate betrayal and was standing before me
with a smile on her face. She was happy. In fact, I’d never seen her so happy
before.

“Why did he cry at my apartment and why
did he text me and tell me he loved me the day I left?” I asked. My hands were
on my hips, and I refused to give her the satisfaction of seeing me cry.