Chapter 29 Playing With Fire

"Come on, boy" I said to Cissero as I turned back around to head home.

Archer and Percy were back from their honeymoon and the guys were coming over tonight. It had been planned at the wedding. I knew they wanted to check in and I especially knew they wanted the latest on Pierce.

I was surprised I hadn't heard a peep out of any of them this week, and I had a feeling that was all in thanks to Archer. I doubted they would maintain that continued silence tonight, though.

Nope, tonight I was pretty sure I was fair game.

My mind drifted back to last night. That wasn't a surprise. It was where my mind had pretty much been since being dropped off. Pierce and dinner. Pierce at his home sharing his darkest memory. Pierce kissing me. My mind would often get stuck there and I replayed our first kiss over and over again at least a hundred times. My first kiss period.

It had been... nice. Very, very nice.

I knew that seemed like an underwhelming description but it absolutely wasn't to me. For me, someone who had never imagined kissing anyone at all, it exceeded all of my expectations and then some. Being able to even be that close had been a revelation of how much he was coming to mean to me.

The warmth of his lips, the feel of his hands, the mental realization that Pierce's lips on mine, none of these things had felt threatening to me. They had only felt good.

I had been nervous though and I knew I hadn't participated in the kissing so much as I had let him kiss me, but it hadn't made me like it any less and it hadn't seemed to put Pierce off either.

If anything, it had made me more curious.

Our second kiss even more so.

That kiss had been distinctly different. It had been sweet. At first. Then it had deepened a bit at the end and for a split second I had felt his restraint that I had not sensed in our first kiss. The kiss goodnight had been more than nice. The sweetness had turned to heat but it had ended too soon for me to fully grasp what I was starting to feel. Now I couldn't get it out of my mind.

Neither could I stop wondering when I would have the chance to kiss him again.

I felt the silly smile spread on my face again as I walked up the path to my front door. It had been flitting off and on throughout the morning. I knew it was all because of Pierce. Not just because of the kiss but because of the time we had shared as well.

He had been attentive, humorous, generous, understanding, and even self-mocking. He had freely taken gibes at himself with a humor that I couldn't help but find adorable. For someone who had seemed so uptight, he had completely shown an insight into himself that had set me at ease more than anything else he had done.

He knew his weaknesses as well as he knew his strengths. He laughed about himself when he needed to and asked that I join in. For a person like myself, who felt so flawed in so many ways, it had meant a great deal to me. The fact that he didn't see me as flawed meant even more.

His patience along with the effort that he had shown towards me and my anxiety was amazing to me. He clearly wanted to understand better so that he could help. He hadn't laughed or scoffed or been intolerant. His acceptance of my anxiety as a simple characteristic of me instead of a burdening flaw had been a profoundly poignant moment for me in the midst of our date. I didn't think he had a clue as to how much.

I glanced at my cell to check the time and rushed Cissero into the house when I saw the guys would be here in about an hour. I still needed to shower and straighten up a bit. Cissero had been particularly busy this morning and his toys were strown everywhere. He even had the audacity to look quite pleased at the mess he had made.

Almost exactly an hour later Archer and Percy arrived. They looked so happy. I smiled widely at them. I didn't get a chance to say a word though as Archer crossed the distance between us in a few strides and swept me up in a giant bear-like hug. Percy laughed on as he watched.

"Damn that smile!" Archer laughed. "Still there and even bigger than before!"

I giggled and rolled my eyes as I half-hugged, half-hung on to Archer. Archer laughed, too as he pulled back away from me and plopped my feet back on the floor. Percy saw that as his cue and quickly stepped in to grab me in another warm embrace.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say you've had a good week!" he said with a knowing wink.

I laughed back.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say yours probably wasn't that bad either," I retorted with my own knowing wink back.

Percy's mouth dropped and Archer burst out laughing so hard and for so long that a tear trickled down his cheek.

"Oh my god!" he said, swiping at the wetness. "I have never seen Percy speechless before. Priceless! Just priceless!" he chortled.

Percy swiped at Archer's arm signaling him to hush while at the same time, chuckling at the truth of his words.

"Extenuating circumstances!" Percy whined. "Jackson pulled a new trick out of his hat. He winked! I mean seriously... he winked!"

We were all standing and laughing when Mick, Branson and Noah appeared. Loud exclamations were made and hugs exchanged with the newlyweds. Thankfully the distraction was enough to draw attention elsewhere. Despite the changes I had seen in myself the last few weeks. The desire not to be the center of attention was not one of them.

Everyone stood around laughing and talking while Cissero bounced amongst us all trying to be as much a part of the party as he could. Archer and Percy regaled us with a few stories from their trip and thankfully left out the details I had no desire to hear. Branson of course made some off-color remarks but thankfully neither Archer or Percy took the bait. They just exchanged sly looks that said all I needed to know.

Fortunately, conversation following that flowed in a less obvious direction and we chatted for a while catching up. Half an hour later I made my way into the kitchen, to start putting out the food I had made for our get together. Percy joined me a minute later and in a short time the table was ladened buffet style with various foods and sides and drinks.

Plates loaded full, we were all just sitting down and getting comfortable when the doorbell suddenly rang. Cissero, to no one's surprise of course, went nuts.

My eyes had unconsciously widened at the unexpectedness of the sound and my heart thumped harder in expectation of who I thought might be on the other side of the door. I swallowed nervously then glanced furtively around the room.

My friends were eying me with varying looks of curiosity. It didn't take me a moment to figure out what they were thinking. They knew that other than my parents, they were the only ones to ever visit me, barring Mr. Jones. As it was Saturday, they knew the chances of it being him were slim. Which meant their assumption about who they thought was here and my expectation of who I automatically hoped it was were one in the same. I swallowed again. My heart thumped a little harder.

Without saying a word or making direct eye contact with any of them I quietly excused myself, only taking the necessary moment to grab Cissero's exuberantly shaking body and hand him off to Branson to hold so I could get to the door peacefully. If it was Pierce, and I just knew it was going to be, I needed all my wits about me and Cissero's manners when greeting guests left a lot to be desired.

The silence behind me as I walked towards the door felt deafening and prickles of disquiet wormed their way into my mind. Before I could stop myself, I darted a quick look back over my shoulder to find everyone just staring back at me, their food forgotten, the laughter gone. The party atmosphere had completely disappeared.

My eyes landed on Percy. They must have spoken volumes to him because without me saying a word that loveable spouse of my best friend gave me one of his jaunty winks and immediately clapped his hands to draw attention to himself and he launched into another story from his and Archer's honeymoon. Branson, Noah, Mick, and Archer would be a captive audience at least until the story was told, giving me some time to answer the door without their hawk-like stares drilling into my back.

Excited and fearful at the same time that it was in fact Pierce, I ran my sweaty palm down my thigh before grasping the door handle and turning the knob. I pulled the door open and my eyes encountered a very familiar looking chest. Taking a deep breath, I slowly raised them until they met Pierce's.

He had a slight smile on his face as he looked down at me but I could also see he was a bit tense. It was a very un-Pierce-like stance. He glanced back over his shoulder and I raised up on my toes to look over him to see what he was looking at. It didn't take but a second for it to click.

There was more than just my car parked in the drive which meant I obviously had company and most likely who they were. Though Pierce and I had talked about the guys and mostly cleared things up between us about them, he and I were both very aware that things weren't too clear to the guys. Anything but, considering the things Pierce had said and insinuated since meeting them.

My eyes connected with Pierce's again and I could see by the small grimace marring his flawless face, his thoughts were not far from my own. Served him right, I thought with a lack of sympathy that surprised me.

I tried to hide the smile I was feeling pull at my face and only nodded at him, signaling to him that his thoughts were correct about who awaited him on the other side of my threshold.

"Enjoying this?" he murmured, evidently picking up on my humor at his expense.

A small blush tinted my skin but I held his look with my own. "A little," I admitted.

Though his shoulders remained erect with tension, his eyes danced and a puff of laughter passed his lips as he looked down at me.

"Cheekier and cheekier," he commented softly.

I shrugged my shoulders and broke eye contact to glance down before gathering myself enough to look at him once again. Going against my natural inclinations was hard but it was also fun. Teasing Pierce, poking the proverbial bear, was becoming addictive.

"Want to come in?" was all I said but I tried to make my tone sound taunting and challenging as well as questioning.

The rumble of his chuckle reverberated throughout my body and my breath quickened as my heart raced. My eyes focused on his lips and suddenly I was back at last night in the car and that kiss. Heat crawled up my neck as the light tinge of pink in my face darkened even further as I recalled how he had felt and tasted.

"Playing with fire in more ways than one today, aren't you?" came a gruff whisper closer to my face than what it had been a few moments before.

I blinked and suddenly realized Pierce had stepped in a few inches closer and he was watching me with an intense look of fire and want. The breath caught in my throat and I blinked rapidly feeling my heart pound harder, my body tensing.

Pierce quickly stepped back away from me. The flame that had burned so brightly moments before was extinguished by concern and caring.

"You okay?" Pierce questioned.

It was only then I realized he thought I had been having an anxiety attack. I wasn't brave enough nor was it the right time to admit what I had really been feeling. I shifted my body and stance as subtly as I could and looked up at him as innocently as I could manage. I couldn't prevent the flare of heat that continued to mark my cheeks and I hoped he just put it down to my usual blushing.

The last thing I wanted right now was for him to realize what had really just happened to me. Not on my front door step. Not with all my friends a few feet away. Not before I had time to come to terms with this new side of myself and had a clue as to what to do about it.