Chapter 4 Sunglasses

I was standing in front of a desk in a large office. Hands were grasping my hips holding me still as lips trailed down my jaw line, playful and light and so very soft. My chest was rising and falling rapidly as the soft teasing warmth drew closer to my mouth.

A warm moist tongue darted out and laved my lower lip gently then circled upward to treat my upper lip just as sweetly. My breathing increased. I wanted that playful tongue to stop toying with me!

As if understanding my distress, the mouth over mine smiled and gentle kisses soothed each corner. Panting softly, I opened my mouth and silently signaled my need.

Still denying me, the lips angled back up along my other jaw. In frustration I groaned and grabbed at the silky black hair drawing the lips towards mine as I raised up on my toes to reach my goal.

Suddenly the room started shaking and I pulled back with a frown. I opened the eyes I had not known I closed and...

"Branson?" I whispered in confusion.

"Who the fuck were you expecting?" he asked looking down at me with a frown.

I blinked several times back at him. I felt disoriented. My mind instantly recalled the dream I had just been woken from and I flushed. My chest was pounding and my body felt hot and swollen. I realized then a lot of me felt swollen. I was painfully hard.

My blushed deepened. I sat up and bent my knees, trying to act casual while at the same time hiding my erection and trying to come to terms with the very vivid dream I had just been woken up from.

"What were you dreaming about?" Branson asked from his position by the bed. He was looking down at me with a knowing smirk. "Seemed like a good one," he teased.

The tips of my ears literally started burning. He knew. I didn't know what I had been doing in my sleep but it had obviously been enough for him to get an idea.

"Did I wake you too soon?" he asked and laughed outright as my eyes shot daggers at his continued digs. "I'll take that as a yes," he said in a loud whisper and I wanted to reach up and punch him.

Branson stepped back and started walking back towards the bedroom door, his chuckle still testing my patience.

He paused in the doorway and looked back at me. "Seriously, I have to leave in ten minutes to meet my dad for some golf. I figured you'd get mad if I left you sleeping. Take your time getting ready. There's no rush for you to leave, just wanted to let you know."

"Thanks, Branson," I said still sitting in the same spot in the same way, afraid to move.

"Oh!" Branson said turning back to me. "Feel free to take a nice long... shower," he suggested knowingly with a wiggle of his eyebrows. "There's plenty of hot water."

I threw a pillow at his departing back. His laughter carried back to me as he walked down the hallway and out of his house.

"Ahh!" I screamed and flopped back onto the bed, my aggravation at the moment overriding any desire to get up and make my escape.

Fifteen minutes later I was in my car and heading home. I had foregone the shower. I would take one when I got home where I also had clean clothes.

As I drove my mind wandered back to the dream. It had been so real. I could almost feel the grip of the hands at my hips and the warmth of the lips caressing along my face and mouth. My fingers wiggled on the wheel as I remembered the feel of the soft strands I had touched.

Stuck at a red light I suddenly blinked and then blinked again. The hair. I saw it clearly now. The length, the color, the style. It had been in awful lot like Pierce Lucciano's hairstyle. Did that mean it had been his mouth?

My hands gripped the wheel tightly and a car horn blared at me from behind. I glanced at the light and saw it had turned green sometime during my daydream.

"Crap!" I muttered, giving the car gas and trying to concentrate as I drove home.

I turned the music on and turned it up loud. I needed the distraction. I needed a lot of things right now and not to be having dreams of a sexual nature about anyone and definitely not Pierce was at the top of my list.

I made it home without incident. I walked over to my next-door neighbor to pick up Cissero, my flashy fawn boxer. In typical Cissero fashion he met me with wiggly hips and the wettest grossest tongue that ever was. Laughing, I allowed him his greeting before finally commanding him to sit.

As I had been gone over night, something that seldom happened, Cissero was a bit more hyper than his usual. Snapping his leash onto his collar I decided to take him for a walk before going home.

Cissero seemed to approve of my idea and dragged me the first few blocks until his excitement waned enough and he walked at a more sedate clip by my side. I chatted with him and he smelt various things. It was our typical excursion out.

Or it was until we got back home when I saw a familiar expensive slate colored sedan parked behind my car in the driveway. My mind instantly flashed to the dream and on cue the man I may have been kissing in said dream stepped out from the back of the vehicle.

How it was possible for my heart to both plummet and quicken at the same time I had no idea but it did. My face flushed at the memory of running my fingers through short-cropped hair so similar to his, and how the spiky tips had tickled my palms.

I rubbed my free hand up and down the side of my thigh as if to wipe away the feather light caress of the midnight black strands.

Pierce stood in front of his car facing me as I walked towards him. He was dressed more casually today in a pair of grey chinos and white polo long sleeve shirt. Considering I was still wearing last nights sweaty clothes, he had me at a disadvantage in more ways than one.

My teeth chewed at my lower lip as I drew nearer. After the ugly things he had insinuated last night, I could only imagine what he was thinking now. His pale blue eyes where hidden behind sunglasses though, so what he was thinking I could only guess.

Cissero, noticing the strange man, started to wriggle once again and pulled on the leash wanting to meet his new friend. Such a traitor.

"Afraid of dogs?" I asked the man standing there rigidly.

Pierce stuck his hand out, palm up toward Cissero and I allowed him a few steps closer to sniff at the new comer. Never having met a palm he didn't like, Cissero took a few swipes at the hand before pulling me forward to nuzzle his big head into Pierce's lower thigh.

I watched dumbfounded as the stiff man of last night who had acted like the biggest jerk to both my friends and me loved on the ninety-pound boxer without any concern for the slobber being left behind.

Annoyed, I pulled Cissero back towards me and commanded him to sit. With reluctance, he did so but he eyed me with hurt.

"What's his name?" Pierce asked.

He seemed to be looking at me again but with the glasses I couldn't tell. I wished he would take them off. He seemed to be friendlier today than he had been last night but with his eyes hidden from me I didn't trust him.

"Cissero," I responded.

"The Roman philosopher?" he asked, surprising me.

No one ever knew that.

I nodded. "Yes, but I spell it differently," I replied.

"Interesting," he commented, still looking at me with those damn shades concealing his thoughts from me, his real intentions.

Like why was he here?

"Why?" I asked.

My question took him aback. "Why is it interesting?" he asked me.

I realized then I had spoken my thoughts aloud. Whereas I had been wondering why was he here, he thought I was asking why to the last thing he had said. I let him continue to think that.

As uncomfortable as he made me and as much as I didn't trust him, I still didn't have it in me to be that rude. The guys would be pissed with me I was sure, but he hadn't done anything today that would justify such a blunt question from me. As for last night, he had apologized. It would be crass of me to hold it against him in the circumstances.

"It's interesting because not many people today know about the man considered to be one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists. You have unusual tastes," he quipped back with a smile.

I flushed. I couldn't tell if he was mocking me or being serious. I couldn't see if the smile was reaching his eyes or if they held the cruelty, they had last night when he had asked me if I bottomed for the guys. All of the guys.

I clenched my teeth together at the memory.

My heart was still racing and I was frustrated and nervous. This man mixed me up inside and the damn sunglasses weren't helping me one bit.

"I just like how the name sounds," I answered, deciding the truth worked best.

I was confused enough with just him standing in front of me. I didn't need to add to my plate by starting a pack of lies I wouldn't end up remembering. Plus, if he found out how boring I actually was then maybe he would go away and leave me alone.

He chuckled, the sound warm and inviting me to laugh along. I didn't. I was too tense and flustered.

Seeing as how I didn't laugh back, Pierce cocked his head and looked at me. I had the feeling he was really looking at me, too. His question confirmed it.

"Did you just get home from last night?"

His implication was clear. I felt my face flush all over again.

I cleared my throat. My esophagus felt dry and rusty. My saliva glands had apparently stopped functioning about the time he arrived. I felt stressed and twitchy and completely out of my element. I didn't know why he was here. I didn't know what he wanted. His demeanor and his words didn't help.

"I'm not sure what your trying to imply," I started to say when he interrupted in a smooth cool voice.

"I didn't imply anything; I stated a fact."

I blinked. I felt like I had done something wrong but for the life of me I didn't know what. Pierce seemed angry at me again. His tone was cool but the flatness of his lips showed displeasure.

"Will you take off your sunglasses?" I suddenly blurted out.

I knew I sounded ridiculous but the damn glasses were getting on my last nerve. I was one second from snatching them off of his face myself and only self-preservation kept me from doing just that. I had a feeling this man was the kind to retaliate. I had no desire to find out what he would do in return.

"Excuse me?" he asked into the silence.

"Could you take your sunglasses off?" I asked again.

He smirked. "Why?"

I wanted to take my dog and walk away. I knew it was the smarter choice than standing here dealing with Pierce Lucciano. I had a feeling the longer I interacted with him the more complicated my life would become.

I didn't like complications. I wasn't a big fan of Pierce Lucciano, either.

Why would I then tempt fate and chance muddling up my life?

Pierce suddenly did as I asked and removed the glasses from his face. His fine features and crystalline eyes stared back at me with open curiosity, a touch of humor, and a hint of something else I didn't recognize.

Against my better judgement, that hint of something else kept me rooted to the spot.