Unlikely Places

Chapter 34 All The Time In The World

*** Dear reader, I am not one to leave messages within my stories but this chapter is an exception. I wanted you to know that I struggled and struggled with this chapter and as you read it that will become very clear. The words just would not come. I finally pushed through to get the story moving forward. Please bear with me if you find it lacks in any way or seems off or different. Jackson was just not cooperating.

As always, thank you for reading Unlikely Places. 😊

Nervous excitement had me chewing at my bottom lip as I pulled my car onto Pierce's long, tree-lined driveway. This would be our second date this week. Technically our third if I counted the lunch we had after that horrible meeting. Pierce had asked me to stay and eat with him and after the kiss we had shared, denying him anything had been impossible.

On the nights we hadn't met up we had still talked on the phone. I wasn't a big conversationalist any given time, even less so on the phone. My usual experience had been more or less, get to the point communications.

With Pierce it was different though. We seemed to stumble across so many things to say and discuss and share. Talking on the phone with him wasn't a chore for me as it usually was and it came naturally, too. I didn't feel awkward or tongue tied.

I had learned a lot about him while we talked. He had more of a sense of humor than I would have guessed though admittedly it had a dry sarcastic slant to it but it wasn't mean or cruel. A lot of it was actually self-directed. He had an even greater ability to laugh at himself than I could have imagined.

And he was very curious.

Mostly about me.

He had question upon question that seemed endless in his desire to know more about me. It was a little embarrassing but at the same time surprisingly flattering. I'd always considered myself boring but to Pierce it seemed like nothing about me was too dull for him to want to know.

And if the lunch and the dinner and the phone calls didn't give us enough time to talk, to share, to learn, the texts in between all of those flew incessantly throughout the day right up until I went to sleep.

The texts were never serious. They were cute, fun, and I would say most especially flirty. Not really by me. I didn't have a clue how to flirt. But by Pierce. The man had powers of flirtation that affected me both emotionally and physically.

Yeah, physically.

Pierce, this, what we were doing. All of it was an entirely new, and I had to admit, completely exhilarating chapter in my life.

I glanced in my rearview mirror and saw my smiling reflection. The newness of seeing this side of myself hadn't worn off. I sometimes did a double take when I caught a glimpse of the sparkling excitement shining out of my eyes, or my lips always on the verge of a smile these days, or my ever-present flushed cheeks in a complexion that I could only ever describe before as pale.

I was kind of unrecognizable to myself. I could only imagine what my parents would think if they could see me like this.

This appeared to be my new personal state, too. I couldn't say I liked it or disliked it. It just was. I could however, say I liked the cause of this change very much.

Pierce.

Yeah, I had pretty much stopped denying to myself how I felt about him and how he made me feel. I was even starting to no longer doubt his feelings for me. He was so verbal about how he felt. Sincere and warm with all of his actions towards me.