Chapter 37 In No Rush

***Puppy love.***

When I stiffened slightly, Pierce gave me a mock frown before turning his body to settle once again back into the sofa. He pulled me along with him, placing me back into the vee of his shoulder, his arm around me, holding me snuggly against him.

"Say anything you need, Jackson. Talk when you're ready. I'm here, holding you. I can assure you I am in no rush."

I could hear the laughter in his tone. I knew he was teasing me but the secure way he held me also told me he was speaking nothing but the truth. He'd hunkered down and settled in. He was atypically patience personified. I would have never guessed him capable.

"I kind of feel l... like I've made it a bigger deal than I in...intended," I said, feeling exactly that.

"If that's the case then... that would be my fault wouldn't it?" Pierce chimed in unexpectedly to question. "I panicked when you stuttered and that derailed you and took us on a detour. So, no worries. We're back on track so to speak. Big or small, it doesn't matter."

So, Pierce. Ready to take anything on. Not afraid. Brave and ever-poised. I liked every bit of that about him.

I wanted to be a little like that, too. Less timid, more self-possessed. More daring, less fragile. And to be so, I had to start somewhere, didn't I?

Taking a small shaky breath, I finally managed to rush out, "It's about the night we m... met."

As we sat side by side, I couldn't see Pierce's face to gage his reaction but his body remained relaxed, his hand still casually dangling over my shoulder. I didn't glance over at him either to see the expression of his face. I kept my eyes focused on Ziggy and worked at controlling the slight anxiety that was tightening my stomach.

"Ahh," Pierce drawled out from my right. "So many things we could talk about with regards to that night."

He chuckled out loud and I smiled despite myself. I loved the sound of his laughter.

"That actually might be an understatement," he continued, making me smile. "What specifically about that memorable night would you like to discuss?"

His sarcastically mocking tone was all self-directed and it kind of took the edge off of my anxiety. For some reason, from the tone of his voice and the words he spoke I could tell he was totally prepared and ready to have this conversation with me. The pressure I had put on myself had been unnecessary I now realized and I relaxed back completely against him, not recognizing until just then how tightly I had been holding myself.

"There are t... two things in particular I'm curious about," I said.

The main question of course was why had Pierce acted the way he had that night. But there was something else I wanted to know. I had been curious for a while now as to why he had been there to begin with. That night he had not seemed to be partying or there with any friends. I hadn't asked because I had wanted to avoid the topic of that night in any way I could but now was different. Now was the perfect time and it would break the ice leading to my second more sensitive question.

"Who were you at the club with that night?"

A surprised sounding choke exploded from Pierce's chest and I swiveled my head quickly around to look up at him in surprise.

"What was that reaction?" I gasped.

"Holy hell, Jackson! I just hadn't been expecting that question. "Jealous?" he asked, side-eyeing me with his wicked grin.

I flushed.

"Just curious," I retorted, only really understanding now that I was.

More than curious, I had to admit as the knowledge of it began to sink in. It had to be why I had been thinking about it so much. Though I had not been cognizant of my feelings. The truth was quite simple. My subconscious had been wondering all this time about Pierce's personal life. I hadn't considered my curiosity to be anything other than that. I had simply been fooling myself all this time. It was only now that I was understanding that there was nothing idle about my interest.

"Mm hmm," Pierce hummed out, obviously not believing me.

I flushed an even deeper hue of pink. I was regretting my decision in taking this opportunity to ask. Though I had not known it, I had been fishing for details. Pierce just wasn't the type to let me dangle my bait quietly.

Nope.

Not at all.

I groaned. "Well?" I responded grumpily, refusing to backdown nor rise to his own bait that he was not so subtly dangling in my face. I refused to make any admission of possible jealous-like feelings.

Pierce chuckled. I kind of felt he was enjoying himself a bit too much, as it was at my expense. Again.

"Okay. Okay," he answered, trying to stifle his laughter as I continued to look testy.

Or at least I assumed I did. I sure knew I felt testy.

"My friend owns the club. He is thinking about expanding. He asked me to come take a look as well as talk about the ins and outs of franchising as well as me possibly investing."

"Oh!" I answered simply. For some reason that simple explanation had been the last thing I had been expecting. "So, will you invest?" I asked for lack of anything else to say to his revelation.

"Still thinking about it. As a matter of fact, I planned to have you look into a few things and run the numbers after we finish the current project. That is if we can ever get it finished what with Fern's ridiculous monkey business."

I giggled.

"Monkey business? Pierce Lucciano, suave, cool, chic, elegant Pierce Lucciano says things like monkey business?" I teased as I continued to chuckle around my words.

"Shut up!" he responded in mock anger, putting the palm of his hand on my head and pushing down playfully.

After that we ended up tussling a bit like that together on the couch. The moment carefree and fun. Oddly intimate as well.

I had played around a bit with my friends but they were always careful of me. And I had hardly participated. I was just usually the small guy they could gently toss around at their whim when they were in the mood to tease me. With Pierce I gave as good as I got.

It was exhilarating.

Breathless, we both finally calmed down and called a truce. We plopped back against the couch, panting from our exertion, silly smiles on both of our faces.

I brushed my hair back from my forehead, knowing the strands were everywhere but where they should be. A lock of Pierce's hair had actually managed to be misplaced from its usual perfect style. That more than anything made me feel the victor of our mini-struggle!

Feeling a tad worn out and more content than I had ever felt before, I felt less agitated about my next question than I thought possible when compared to thirty minutes ago. It was amazing how just being with him made me feel.

"My second question might be a little tougher," I started, wanting to ease into it versus just blurting it out.

"You want to know why I acted like I did and insinuated what I did?" Pierce immediately responded with zero inflection in his tone.

I knew Pierce was not stupid. He had to have seen where I was leading to tonight. In typical Pierce fashion, he'd taken the bull by the horns. I was glad. It made this easier and it meant he really was ready to share. His lack of reticence made the tension I had been feeling lessen even more. His willingness calmed me.

"Yes," I admitted nodding my head at him. "I need to know. I want to understand."

"It still bothers you?" he asked, his tone taking a more serious timbre.

"Yeah. Yes, it does. The best way t... to explain it to you is that it is like a huge question mark that dangles over your head. Everything goes along fine. I feel good. You're amazing. Then I get a flashback t...to that moment. I feel like if that question got answered I could finally lay it to rest."

Pierce reached out and grabbed one of my hands in his. "No need to stammer, Jackson. I get it. You don't have to feel bad for asking. You wouldn't have to feel bad if you were demanding. You deserve an answer and I appreciate that you gave me the time you did before asking for one."

"It's not that the answer is a huge big deal but it revolves around a past relationship. I was just getting to know you. It was way too early for an ex conversation, especially this particular story. I wanted to spend time with just you before we went there."

My mind was almost immediately soothed as he explained. What he said made a great deal of sense to me. I would have found a conversation like that so early on with him more than uncomfortable. I didn't fault his reasoning in the least and glad his hesitancy was more about content due to the newness of our relationship than any desire to hide something from me. That had been one of my bigger fears.

"So, past relationships," Pierce said, looking oddly tense. He coughed into his hand, seeming to flounder over a starting point.

"I can go first," I offered and his head whipped around to me. His face looked shocked. "First? I thought... You said..." he stammered, trying I knew, to find a non-offensive way to say 'I thought you were a virgin.'

My cheeks red, as was my new normal, I blurted out, "I've d...dated you."

There. That was so much a better way to say that. He was no dummy. He knew we had not slept together. I'd only dated him. He could do the sex math.

I looked away to regroup and when I felt brave enough, I looked back at him and murmured, "And you?"

Pierce was looking down at me with such an affectionate expression.

"So damn cute!" he murmured, sighing in what seemed like deep appreciation.

"E...enough already," I groused, trying to hide my embarrassment and look as causal as possible, like talking about sex was normal for me. "Your turn."

"I've... dated," he said cautiously. "I'm not promiscuous but I've not been celibate either," he admitted, looking at me in what looked like fear.

I couldn't fain shock. Seeing Pierce, knowing Pierce, I never once expected him to have lived like a monk. If hearing him voice my supposition stung just a bit, I tried valiantly to shake it off.

"Okay," I finally said when it appeared as if he would not continue until I made some sort of response. Okay seemed the safest.

"Okay?" he repeated and I nodded again to assure him.

It appeared Pierce was concerned about how I would take this conversation. I found his disquiet over my possible negative reaction comforting. He didn't want to upset me. He cared about what I thought of him. He didn't want what he said to change things between us. All of these things made me very happy.

"Though I've... dated," Pierce continued, once again hesitating over the word dated, making me smile inwardly, "I've had only two serious relationships. Really one serious and one almost serious to be completely honest."

"Okay," I said again when he paused, seeming to need my response.

"The first one was in my second year of college with a girl I met. We dated for over two years when she transferred across the country to a different school. Though I cared about her a great deal, I knew I didn't have it in me to do long distance. Not while we were in school. We talked about it and both agreed that we would be better ending things then. It was painful and I was sad for a while. But I knew that if I loved her enough, I would have gladly stayed with her distance be damned. The fact I didn't said it all to me."

"Girl?" I asked curiously. I didn't think I cared really. But I was curious. Assumptions just got made sometimes. The subject had come up. I wanted to know.

"I'm bi," Pierce answered, understanding what I was really asking.

"I thought I was ace," I responded, in just the same tone Pierce used and he grinned.

"You're not," he replied back, just as matter of fact.

"I'm not," I agreed back almost proudly, making us both grin at each other with huge silly smiles.

After a few seconds of staring at each other like two idiots, Pierce became a little more serious and I knew we had arrived at the answer to my question. His hesitancy told me the rest wasn't easy for him to confess.

I mentally braced myself as Pierce began to speak.