Clearly

You know how there’s a defining moment in every relationship that makes you think, “wow, everything is perfect”? I never really thought Pierce and I would have one since everything was always perfect, but today is the day that I’ve been proven wrong.

Despite the flickering cameras that attempt to follow Pierce everywhere, especially since his break-up is all over the tabloid and he’s moved to a home in the middle of nowhere, our relationship is generally perfect. I no longer believe that he attempts to hide me away because he’s ashamed of me. No, he just wants to keep me safe, keep me out of the public eye so I don’t get hurt like him, but I’m willing to make that sacrifice if the time ever came.

We bicker over simple things, like which brand of cereal we should buy this week. He’s such a square, by the way. He continuously insists on buying cheerios. Not even the good honey nut ones, he likes the plain, disgustingly bland ones that he believes are better than my usual froot loops. I’ll never let him win and it is my current mission to get through to him one of these days. He could spend hours fighting with me over something as inconsequential as cereal, but I bring up the prospect of leaving the house together and he immediately shoots down the offer, not allowing me to explain myself.

I suppose that’s the main reason that I was rendered speechless when he looked me straight in the eye and uttered the question, “Don’t you think it’s time that you let me take you out to dinner tonight?”

“You think that I should allow you to take me out to dinner tonight?” I asked in shock, shaking out my wet hair across our shared bedroom. Yes, I finally just gave up on convincing Pierce that he needed his own room since we needed to ease back into a relationship. This is now our room. “I’ve been trying to convince you to allow me to take you out for the past three months!”

Three months of two men attempting to make decent meals out of complicated cook books, just to give up and order in. I can make a mean plate of spaghetti and meatballs though. Pierce is a much better cook, always spoiling me rotten with recipes his mother e-mails to him regularly, but my stomach has gotten sick of the extraordinary meals of ramen noodles, pizza, and take out Chinese every night. We don’t even allow Pierce to go to the front door to retrieve the food because of the fear that a delivery boy will rat us out and paparazzi will take up permanent residency on our front step, but he’s suddenly okay with taking me out to dinner?

“It’s our three month anniversary,” he whined, tugged on the towel around my waist devilishly.

I smacked his hand away, my entire body turning a nice rosy shade as a small smile appeared on his lips. He’s been much more open with me sexually, more accepting, and though we haven’t done much due to the fact that he’s a bit scared to get back into things because of Hunter, the fact that he loves me enough to want me so intimately is a thought that never ceases to comfort me. He never tried to further our relationship before Hunter. Things have truly changed.

“So? You couldn’t take me out on our two months anniversary?” I questioned, “or our one month?”

“Dalton,” he sighed, allowing me to pull on a pair of boxers before dropping my towel and getting tugged onto the bed when his sinfully long fingers caressed my waist. “Please stop being so argumentative.”

Who is he kidding? He loves that about me.

“Pierce,” I sighed in return, giving him the same tone of voice as he was originally giving me. “I know it’s an important date, I’m aware of that, but I’ve been begging you to take me out for a while and you continuously denied my request because you put me on this pedestal that I don’t deserve to be on. I don’t want my life to be disrupted by the paparazzi either, but unfortunately they come hand-in-hand with you. I’m sick of staying inside.”

“So am I,” he agreed, his hand resting right above the waistband of my boxers as he massaged my belly button with his thumb.

“I want to be able to go to the park with you and take pictures of the forest on the edge of it while we hold hands and do whatever the hell we want. And I want to be able to walk you to your new office and give you a kiss good-bye every morning. And I want to be able to go out to dinner with you whenever we want, so badly,” I explained. “I’m so sick of being this secret. At first, I didn’t care, I liked that I had you all to myself, but I’m ready to… to share us with the world. I don’t want us to just go to dinner and never do anything ever again.”

“I’m ready to show you to the world too,” he argued, rolling his eyes. “Which is why I asked you if you wanted to go out to dinner tonight and even though you do, you’re blowing it into a huge and unnecessary ordeal.”

“I’m good at doing that,” I promised him.

“I think that’s cute though,” he argued. “I like having someone to argue with.”

I rolled my eyes. “You make absolutely no sense.”

“I don’t have to, but you still love me,” he declared, smiling up at me, so easily making my heart stop.

I looked away, shaking my head as I noticed his eyes carefully begin to wander my body. It was like I was this piece of meat to him, a prize to be won, and although I normally didn’t stand for being subjected to such archaic ways, this little burst of power erupted within me. I am the one who decides where we go from here, what we do, and I decide that this is not the time to explore new territory, no matter how eager he is. I mean, he’s an adult, legal to buy alcohol, and here I am, a pathetic little nineteen year-old struggling to start over his business. A scrawny blade of grass compared to a tree trunk belonging to a hundred year old oak. My body is not ready to be shared or worshipped in the way that Pierce’s body is.

Hunter’s changed the ways we both think drastically and despite the evil ways that reside within Hunter’s mind, I could never compare to him physically. I could never hold Pierce the way he deserves to be held.

“What do I need to wear tonight?” I asked him softly, walking over to our shared walk-in closet—something he insisted upon since it’s easier to find everything.

“Something pretty,” he said smiling up at me. “It’s time that I show you off to the world.”

I didn’t know that it was possible for my entire body to look like a tomato. I thought that only happened to my face.

*

I was expecting this huge onslaught of paparazzi to attack us the second we walked outside of our front door. I had to remind myself that we had a huge yard with a long, winding driveway and a front gate. No one can see Pierce’s expensive Audi sports car unless they were spying on us and used our private driveway—perfect for business.

I guess that’s why we’ve been able to remain so secretive. If you saw an expensive car sitting in a driveway of a house that would clearly not support it, people would get suspicious.

My heart beat in time with the hum of the engine of Pierce’s gorgeous, sleek car as he cradled my hand gently in his. He had quickly taken us back into the city, leaving our privacy behind, as I suddenly felt so exposed. It’s been three months since I left this lifestyle behind, and Pierce is plunging me back in. My heart began to race—oh, how I’ve missed the wonders of the city.

We didn’t stick out like a sore thumb like we would back home. Cars more expensive than his crowded us on the streets as we made our way to the restaurant that Pierce refuses to tell me the name of. It made me chuckle, how people were throwing our car with the fully tinted windows scornful looks when Pierce’s regular Aston Martin lay untouched in the garage of his estate. He has the ability to buy things twice as sexy as whatever the hell they all owned, but money isn’t an object to him. Sure, he treats himself, but not on flashy things that cost more than his home. I wonder how they would react if they knew Pierce Gordon was driving this incredible hunk of machinery.

“Paradiso?” I questioned softly, racking my brain for restaurants that were in our old area that were out of my price range. It’s obvious by the way that I was dressed that this would be one of those restaurants. I had walked out in my favorite pair of jeans and my nicest button-up shirt, just to have Pierce present me with an Armani suit—a fucking expensive and unnecessary suit. He has had this planned for a while.

“No,” he shook his head. “You should allow me to pick out a few more suits for you,” he said instead. “You look really beautiful tonight.”

I blushed, looking away as Pierce parallel parked in-between a Mercedes and some little convertible. How the hell can he do that so swiftly?

“The Capitol?” I asked him, “Never heard of it.”

“It’s new,” he explained, hopping out of the car and opening my door, coaxing me out of the car gently as the cameras finally began going off.

I was suddenly thrust into a whirlwind of flashing lights, the only thing anchoring me to the ground was Pierce’s hands. To the left were people staring at us, watching us pass their line as we walked right up to the front door for the grand opening. They didn’t seem as thrilled as the people behind the cameras did. I ducked my head, bumping into Pierce’s body, earning a huge chuckle from him as he stepped back to pull the front door open.

I pushed myself against his body, burying my head in his back as he threw his head back and laughed, my arms around his waist as he led us inside, effectively leaving the scum of the earth in our dust.

*

The soft smile he had to give the individual in charge of seating to get us a booth in the back, far away from everyone else in the restaurant and the windows was simply the sweetest. He was so popular, so kind, that people would bend over backwards for him.

His money probably had something to do with it, though.

“That was crazy,” I breathed out, fixing my tie awkwardly as I sat across from Pierce.

He rolled his eyes before standing up and sitting next to me, caressing my thigh gently with his hand as he gently kissed my cheek. “It only gets worse from here, Dalton. That was nothing. They were just covering the opening. People know we’re here and getting out will be a nightmare.”

“Maybe this was a mistake,” I murmured, fiddling with his fingers as I bit my lip.

“Never,” he breathed. “It’ll take time to get used to it all, but I don’t want to change your lifestyle. You love nature and I’m not keeping you from the outside world anymore.”

I smiled, rolling my eyes. “Thank you, love,” I sighed, burying my head into his neck as I peeked at the menu.

He shook his head, carefully removing it from my grasp. “The chef here is a good friend of mine from high school. I know exactly what to order for the both of us.”

“Whatever you say,” I chuckled nervously, fiddling with his fingers again.

“Are you okay, Dalton?” He finally asked me gently. “You seem really nervous.”

“Have I ever told you that I’ve never been taken out on a date before?” I blurted out to him, “like, taken out of the house on a date,” I clarified nervously as word vomit spewed forth from my lips. “Not to mention one where we have stalkers with cameras.”

“That’s so cute,” he murmured gently, massing the back of my hand with his thumb in a way that he knows soothes me.

Silence enveloped us as I chewed gently on a piece of bread, not knowing what to say. I was cuddled into Pierce on our first date. What more could I ask for?

“Are you okay?” He asked me again gently. “Do you regret this…”

“No, no,” I said quickly. “It’s perfect. I was just realizing how perfect this entire situation is,” I breathed.

“You’re perfect,” he said gently, nuzzling me again as I nibbled away nervously.

“I’m far from perfect,” I argued with him.

“But in my eyes you’re perfect,” he responded, “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I murmured, kissing his jugular gently since I couldn’t reach his lips.

“And the paparazzi love you too,” he joked, making me roll my eyes and shove my face in my hands.

“Oh, God,” I murmured, “I’m going to look so horrible. They’re gonna make me a laughing stock.”

“Why would you say that?” He asked, dumbfounded.

“Pierce, don’t be stupid. It’s, like, I was a deer in the headlights next to you whose just big, strong, and confident and good-looking. I made a fool of myself out there.”

“My physical appearance has nothing to do with the fact that you never dealt with the bloodhounds before,” he argued, picking out the one slight slip of my tongue.

“Well when the pictures print it does,” I found myself saying softly.

“Well when the pictures print, you’ll realize how good-looking you are too.”

“I look like a kid compared to you,” I argued.

“You are a kid!” He said around a laugh, “but you’re the most mature and wise kid I’ve ever met. And I love you, everything about you, you’re beautiful to me, Dalton.”

I bit my lip, shaking my head as I swallowed a hunk of dry bread, not knowing how to respond, the silent, “No, I’m not beautiful,” hanging in the air.

He leaned in gently, nuzzling the edge of lip as his arms wrapped around me, pulling me into him in a soft embrace that never made me want to leave.

“You’re gorgeous, don’t you ever think otherwise.” He ordered me sincerely.

I couldn’t help but allow my breath to catch. Maybe I wasn’t just a blade of grass to him. Maybe, just maybe, I could grow to be a hundred year old oak tree too.