Chapter 26 Vulnerable

"As in a reward?"

Pierce chuckled and gave me an incredulous look.

"No! As in I have been dying to do so since the moment, I laid eyes on you!" he answered with an astounded laugh and a more than incredulous look.

"Oh!" I answered, feeling foolish.

I looked down at my feet, hiding my fiery cheeks. I didn't think I had ever blushed so much in my life. I felt ridiculous for my gaffe.

I felt Pierce lean down closer to me and the fine hairs on my neck stirred as he whispered next to my ear.

"Is that a no?"

I felt the gentle puff of his warm breath on the sensitive skin at the shell of my ear. A small shiver worked along my spine. Nervously I glanced up and as I did so, my cheek brushed alongside his nose, his mouth. I felt the faintest of pressure from his lips, lingering before he turned just a bit.

Timidly, on instinct, I turned my face a small space towards him so that we faced each other. As he was already leaning down towards me, I didn't have far to stretch up. I tilted my head the tiniest bit as my lips softly made contact with his before I pulled back.

Pierce didn't move. I watched his eyes move down to my lips and stare before coming back up to meet mine. Color still tinged my cheeks but I didn't move away. I waited a heartbeat or two to see what Pierce would do in return.

I had taken a huge leap outside my comfort zone. My tongue snaked out to lick my lips as I thought of how it had felt to touch Pierce's. It was nothing like I had expected. It was so much better.

The velvety softness, the warmth, his taste, it all called to me. I wanted to lean back in and repeat my actions. I wanted to linger at his lips a little longer. I wanted to taste a little deeper. But I wasn't brave enough to initiate the kind of kiss I thought I wanted.

Shyness kept me still. But so, did curiosity. My pulse was racing with a mixture of both. My eyes searched Pierce's with a vulnerability I didn't try to conceal.

Kissing for many people in this world seemed to be no big deal. For me it was huge. It meant an intimate contact beyond anything I had ever exchanged. It was something I had never been interested in before. Until now.

Pierce made me very interested in kissing.

I wanted him to know that. At the same time, I didn't want him to have any expectations of me. I wanted to dive in but hoped he understood why I couldn't. I wanted to kiss Pierce with a want that surpassed anything I felt before but my clumsy inexperience held me back. I hoped he understood that, too.

"Pierce," I suddenly found my voice to whisper.

I had no idea what I would have said after that. Thankfully I didn't have to. Pierce seemed to understand completely; the longing and the fear and the request and the consent I was communicating in just saying his name.

His hands came up slowly and gently cupped my face. His palms felt soft and warm and dry as he touched my skin. His eyes searched mine for a fraught second and I searched back, seeing the need he spoke of. It was somewhat intoxicating to think that someone as average as me could elicit such a strong want in someone like him and that want enflamed my own.

As shy as I had been a few moments before, his unhidden desire for me embolden me and I was ready as I watched his face blur as it drew in closer to mine and my eyelids drifted downwards as the petal light softness of his lips claimed mine this time.

The kiss was soft and not very demanding. It was subtle as it coaxed a response from my own. I felt his mouth open slightly over mine and then close down gently on my lips, pushing forward smoothly before releasing my mouth to do it all over again. He repeated the movements of his lips on mine, once and then again, each time a little firmer, each time evoking a small reciprocated response of my own.

Pierce continued to hold my face in place as he angled his head differently and approached my mouth in more teasing kisses that tasted and teased just a little. I felt his tongue only slightly as he laved at my lower lip before he slowly pulled up and away from me.

My mouth was still slightly parted as I opened my eyes and stared up at Pierce who still held my face in his hands. His eyes traced the redness of my lips, the rose color moist from his.

"I thought I would be able to breathe easier if I could just at least kiss you once, but I didn't expect it to be like that, Jackson," he said, his voice gruff.

My eyes searched his seeing sincerity along with a heated craving that I not only felt but returned.

Pierce slowly lowered his hands from my face.

"I think we need to go. Now!" he said with a fierceness I found flattering as much as I found it embarrassing.

A small smiled teased the corner of my mouth as Pierce grabbed my hand and literally pulled me out of the room. A small giggle actually escaped before I could suppress the lyrical chortle from passing my lips.

The unexpected sound made Pierce halt mid stride and he turned back around to face me, his half-smile lighting his ice eyes with a blue flame that stopped the laughing melody in my throat.

"If you prefer to stay..." he murmured, his words petering out with an innuendo as obvious as Cyrano's nose.

I blushed a crimson red and shook my head no with a vigor that had Pierce chuckling. The hand not holding mine rose up and flicked playfully at the tip of my nose.

He sighed deeply, his eyes dancing as they had the first night we met. They still made me nervous. Only this time for different reasons.

"Who's laughing at whom now?" he teased, turning to start walking again, pulling me silently along behind him.

I didn't laugh again, but the small smile on my face remained as if I had no say so in the matter. I tried straightening out my lips but they continuously pulled up as I thought of the tall man walking so assuredly in front of me, my smaller hand clasped tightly in his as if he had no intention of letting go anytime soon.

Something I didn't think I would mind.

As we stepped out the two bodyguards were once again standing at Pierce's car. The sight of them had me pulling up short slightly, unintentionally tugging at Pierce's, hand before I began moving forward again. Pierce hesitated and looked down at me questioningly.

"S... sorry. Instinctive," I told him, feeling bad that I had just contradicted my earlier assurances that I was fine with his bodyguards. "I understand why you have them. I really d... do. I think I just need a little time getting used t... to them."

Pierce cocked his head at me.

"It bothers me more that you're stammering again, Jackson," Pierce said, looking worried.

I shook my head at him.

"Don't be. It's j... just something that happens sometimes. Even with Archer o... or my parents."

He searched my eyes to see if I was telling the truth. I looked back hiding nothing, because it was the truth. After a few seconds he nodded his head and seemed to accept what I said. I felt pleased by his reaction. I had a hunch a lot of people would be put off by my tendency to stutter.

He kept my hand tightly tucked in his as he started back walking. Instead of releasing it to allow me to follow the man around to the other side of the car, he continued to hold it tightly and held his hand up at the other two halting their movements to indicate he had something to say.

He turned down to look at me.

"Jackson, I would like to introduce you to Bruce and Khai. They are often with me when I am out at night so you all will be seeing a lot more of each other," Pierce said as an introduction.

Bruce and Khai both seemed a little taken aback but after the initial reaction of surprise they adjusted well. They both shook my hand as Pierce told them my name and asked them to make sure to take care of me as they would him.

My heart thumped a bit harder at his last request to them. There was something incredibly sweet about his words. It made me feel special and cherished and my mind flashed to Archer's wedding and my thoughts as I had watched him and Percy dance. I was starting to get an understanding of what I had only been glimpsing at the time.

Pierce indicated to Bruce and Khai to go ahead and get into the car, while he held the door open for me to slide in. I did so, sliding over and making room for him. He closed the door and glanced over at me as he did up his seatbelt.

"They still have to be here and I know it's not a perfect situation for you but I'm hoping if we take as much formality out of their being here as we can, it might help."

I smiled at Pierce in appreciation. He was really good at doing little things to put me at ease and I was only just now realizing it. He'd talked me through my panic attack with a patience that would probably surprise most. He'd done so by changing lunch out to lunch in his office when my anxiety had manifested at the sight of his bodyguards on the day of our first meeting. And he had done this for me now. There had been other times, too. Why was I only now noticing?

"Your kind of a complex guy," I said, looking at him in a new light.

He chuckled at my words and shook his head.

"I'm really not," he replied. "I'm not much different than you really."

I scoffed out right at that and his grin broadened.

"Seriously," he assured me. "The bodyguards have given you a misleading image of me, Jackson. I am not much different than you. You saw my study. It's lived in and cluttered. I even have my own mutt to dote on... and do, ridiculously. Yes, I have money and a lot of it, but you're far from poor, Jackson. I am just me."

I watched Pierce as he spoke. I could tell he thought what he said was true. I was even beginning to learn that some of it was. As he said, I had seen his home. From the outside I couldn't be blamed for thinking he was lying through his teeth about his self-image. But from the inside, it gave me a different glimpse. The story he shared with me tonight, also had given me a different perspective in which to view him.

Simple.

Just.

Same as me.

I definitely couldn't agree with any of those ways to describe him, but he was more down to earth than I had ever imagined. There was a softness inside of him, a patience that was utterly charming especially as he had seemed so cold.

There was definitely far more to Pierce than the first impression he had given. That man was only a tiny piece of the whole. His treatment of me since was proof of that. Tonight's treatment even more so.

He had been solely focused on me and my happiness, my wellbeing. Seeing that I was uncomfortable, instead of pushing me, he had shared. He'd opened himself up personally to give me peace of mind.

My mind pictured his shaken face as he had tried to find the right words to tell me his story. He had made himself vulnerable... for me.

I glanced over at him from up under my eyelashes. He seemed more beautiful now than before, and that was saying something because I had been attracted to him from the beginning.

His eyes suddenly met mine, catching me secretly looking at him, and he smiled.

My stomach flipped and my heart fluttered. I could literally feel a piece of him tangle itself around inside my chest. The first string that was slowly binding me to him.