Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Tipping my head to the side, I turned, taking in the soothing noise. It was too crisp and clear to be happening outside. Pierce had turned on a recording of a soft rainstorm with a low, distant rumble of thunder, and it was now burbling out through hidden speakers around the room. How had he known that as much as I loved music, it would be too much right now? No matter how tired my brain was, it would inevitably attempt to analyze and criticize anything he would have selected to play. But rain? It was soothing white noise. Nothing to analyze or think about. It just was, and that made it perfect.
Pierce stepped out of the closet wearing a pair of dark-green lounge pants and a pale-gray long-sleeved cotton shirt. It was the most relaxed I’d seen him since he was in college. It was as if I were finally seeing beneath the suit he wore as protective armor every day. My brain had him sorted into two categories—wealthy, high-powered lawyer and sexy temptation. But like this, with his defenses lowered, he became more vulnerable and friend-shaped.
“Better?” he inquired, not yet taking a step toward me.
I nodded, and with my free hand I motioned at the table. “You got me cheese.” My voice wobbled, and I swallowed hard to keep from embarrassing myself further.
“Yeah, well, I was told by a very knowledgeable person that cheese is essential to life. You want to come have some?”
I didn’t bother to nod this time. I shuffled to the couch with him. With no prompting from me, Pierce sat with his back pressed against the corner and stretched out one leg along the cushions before extending his arms. No need to ask me twice. I put my violin case on the table and practically threw my body at the poor man. In the blink of an eye, I was lying on his chest, my ear resting over his heart, as he draped the soft moss-green blanket over us and pulled the table closer. All I had to do was sneak a hand out from under the blanket and snag a piece of cheese.
This was heaven. It was better than anything I could have come up with to help me heal from the past few days. The hollowness inside me disappeared as warmth and peace filled me up, rain in one ear and Pierce’s steady heartbeat in the other. He didn’t talk or ask questions. He would hand me a piece of cheese or fruit, then get a piece for himself, as if these were his original plans for the rest of the night. No one had ever made me feel so content.
When the cheese and fruit were half-gone, I felt clear-headed enough to speak.
“How did you know this was what I needed?”
Pierce was silent for almost a full minute. I would have thought he’d fallen asleep if he hadn’t reached out and handed me a grape. “Did I ever tell you I almost didn’t pass the bar the first time?”
“What?” I gasped, my head popping up to stare wide-eyed at him.
He smirked and put his hand on my head, guiding it back to his chest. “I know. I come from a long line of lawyers. You’d think it would be part of my DNA. I studied and prepared, but as the day came closer, I panicked. It felt as if the entirety of my family—past and present—was glaring at me. My brain went blank. I pulled myself together before it was too late, but my score was nowhere near as high as it should have been. Afterward, I was so stressed out and disappointed with my performance. Sebastian and Rome wanted to celebrate, but I had to put them off. This was all I wanted. A couple of days to decompress and feel normal.”
There was a long silence, and I knew Pierce was waiting for me to talk about my struggles, but he wasn’t pressuring me. Not a single question. He reached out and picked up a strawberry. He held it in front of my lips until I ate it. That was it. He was there for me, willing to hold me, feed me, and keep me safe.
“I’m not like this after every performance,” I stated, my tone somewhat defensive. Those words were rewarded with a piece of Gouda. Fuck, I was so screwed. If he was going to continue feeding me cheese, I was going to confess all my secrets. At least this was a minor one.
“I was much worse when I was younger. I got overwhelmed by the slightest things. My parents had to hire tutors to help me so I could get through school. I didn’t want to slow down with the competitions and performances, but I needed longer and longer breaks from school to get on my feet again. By the time I was nearing the end of high school, I got better at compartmentalizing and dealing with the stress. Now, this happens each time I overextend. I just need a couple of quiet days and lots of sleep to bounce back.”