Unlikely Places

Chapter 13 Two Questions

'Have lunch with me.'

I replayed the sentence over in my head. Had that been a question or an order?

I looked down at the hand still holding my wrist. I expected to feel the usual rejection my body automatically responded with when someone touched me. Only it didn't happen. Nothing specific did for that matter. The lack of anything happening to me, was a big deal.

There were few people that I could interact with on any kind of physical level and those few were my family and my friends. Percy's touch was becoming less and less of an issue for me now but even with him I sometimes stiffened before I could stop myself.

Why wasn't I stiffening at Pierce's touch?

I looked up at him and caught him watching me with a curious glint in his eye. The glean triggered what I had been waiting for. I stiffened but even I knew the rigid set of my shoulders this time was due to reasons other than my aversion to physical contact.

"Um..." I murmur.

Pierce removed his hand and took a step back. I was appreciative. I may not be reacting physically as I usually did but my mind was still affected by his close proximity. I could think better without him being so close.

"Would you like to have lunch with me?" he repeated.

I noticed it was definitely a question this time which initially triggered relief as I was about to firmly decline. But as I did so, as my lips moved to form the words, I hesitated. Despite all the reasons to say no, and I had some very valid ones, I felt that sliver of curiosity I had been feeling about him raise its frustrating head.

Pierce seemed to take my silence for acceptance as he said, "Good, come on," and started walking towards the door.

I didn't move. I wanted to. I really did and that was a difficult thing for me to admit, but I also replayed our initial encounters and his follow up performance with his sudden appearance and continued ugly innuendos. Those things just didn't disappear because I felt drawn to him.

And I was. Completely.

Nothing like this had ever happened to me. I was never curious about someone I met. I never became emotionally mixed up when dealing with someone. And I had never been attracted to anyone. And I was all of these things.

With him.

I swallowed as I finally came to terms with my feelings. I didn't know why I felt the way I did. I completely didn't understand him nor my reaction to him. I just knew he made me feel things...

The curiosity to understand it was starting to overrule my usual grounded self. Common sense and Pierce Lucciano didn't seem to belong in the same sentence.

Pierce looked back at me when I still didn't make a move forward. I stared back at him fighting an internal battle where I wasn't sure there would even be a winner. Go with him or not? Somehow, I felt I stood a chance loosing either way.

"You haven't answered. Coming?" he quizzed his eyes curious as they watched me.

It was the lack of snide laughter hidden in his eyes that made me brave enough to address the life-sized elephant in the room. I was nervous and I hated initiating conversations like the one I was about to have, but according to Archer and the guys it needed to be done. And I had to agree.

"That makes us even cause you n... never answered my mine?" I finally said, looking at him with a shy but determined gaze.

"So, is that a no?" Pierce asked, and I watched his nostrils flare as he breathed in deeply.