Pierce~
All eight men sauntered into Nate's house gathering in the kitchen to grab a beer before heading out to the back deck.
Marcus gave Pierce a chin lift signaling him to join the group in the kitchen as they all popped open their beers.
"You know we're just giving you shit right?" Marcus said.
"If that girl makes you happy, you don't have to hide that from us. We're happy when you're happy, Hollywood."
Pierce smiled at Marcus, grateful for the affirmation and support. Despite being the largest and meanest looking member of the team, Marcus was a softy at heart.
Slater and Kincaid joined the conversation too and leaned across the kitchen island.
"He's right. We like to watch you squirm, but we don't want you to feel like you've gotta hide shit from us. We know you are feeling some kinda way about Natalie. It's okay to own up to it in front of us." Kincaid added.
"We're assholes, but we're not heartless. We want you to be happy and if that means fuckin' everything that moves, we support you. And if that means settling down with Natalie, we support that too." Slater chimed in, handing Pierce a beer.
The support of his teammates was vital to Pierce's happiness and they all knew that, which was most likely what prompted the conversation in the first place.
Pierce popped the top of his beer and turned his gaze toward Natalie through the window. Just the sight of her ignited something within him, something strong and deep that he'd never felt before.
He sipped his beer and let out a sigh before he finally spoke the words out loud.
"I've got it bad, boys," he confessed.
"Yeah we know that." Caleb said with a smile, playfully squeezing Pierce's shoulders as he passed.
Still unable to tear his eyes from Natalie, Pierce felt like he was going to come out of his skin if he went any longer without touching her.
"Excuse me fellas." he said as he headed toward the glass doors, laser focused on Natalie.
As soon as he stepped over the threshold and onto the deck, Natalie's face lit up with a smile that traveled up to her eyes.
God, she's so damn beautiful.
His eyes were glued to hers as he made his way around the pool, setting his beer down on a table as he passed it, wanting his hands to be free to roam her perfect body once he reached her.
Meeting him halfway, she snaked her small arms around his torso for a hug, but a hug was not what Pierce had in mind.
He cupped her smiling face with his strong hands and tilted her head, giving him access to her perfect lips. He dropped his mouth onto hers with so much passion that he felt her take in fist fulls of his shirt, lightly scratching his back in the process. The sensation brought a groan from the back of his throat as he deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue between her lips. She opened for him immediately, inviting him into her mouth and crashing her tongue into his, breathing heavily and letting out soft sweet moans as he devoured her. The hoots, hollers, and whistles from his teammates in the background made him smile against her lips as he gently pulled away and broke contact with her delicious mouth.
"Hey beautiful," he said, looking down at her with a smile.
"That was quite a hello," she said breathlessly.
"You didn't like it?" He gave her a cocky half smile knowing that wasn't true.
She recoiled her head at his question and quickly corrected him.
"No, I loved it. But now you've set the bar pretty high as far as greetings go in the future."
"I'll kiss you like that every damn day if you want, sweetheart."
"Yes please," she hummed placing one more peck on his lips.
Pressing his forehead against hers, he ran his hands down the sides of her tight body, stopping at her hips and giving them a tight squeeze.
"You look fucking delicious," he whispered suddenly wishing they were alone. But they weren't and were quickly reminded of that.
Claire's tipsy squeal stole their attention and both Pierce and Natalie couldn't help but laugh at her antics and poor timing.
"Oh my Gosh! You two look like Ken and Barbie. It's so perfect, I can't even look at you!" She squealed.
"Thanks?" Natalie said with a laugh.
"Lexi and I are about to play a little drinking game, want to join?"
"Sure," she said happily before turning her gaze back up to Pierce and placing one more quick kiss on his lips.
"Okay we're going to need a few shot glasses and some vodka." Claire said excitedly, leading Natalie away from Pierce and into the kitchen.
Pierce licked his lips, savoring the sweet taste that Natalie had left behind as he took a seat between Declan and Nate on the deck.
A few short minutes later, Claire emerged from the kitchen holding a bottle of vodka with both Natalie and Lexi trailing behind her.
"Annnnnnd here we go." Nate chucked at the sight of the vodka bottle in his wife's hand.
"Okay ladies." Claire said as she set three shot glasses on the table in front of them.
"The first one to finish their shot, wins." Claire stated plainly.
Lexi cocked her hip out and folded her arms in response. "What's the catch?" she asked suspiciously.
"You can't use your hands...Only your mouth." Claire gave both women a mischievous look.
"Oh this should be good." Declan chucked from where the men were sitting as spectators.
"What do you say we make this a little more interesting?" Pierce said rubbing his hands together.
"Twenty bucks says Natalie finishes her shot first."
The competitive nature in all of the men was evident in the way their expressions immediately lit up with excitement and determination.
"I'll take that bet, Hollywood, Claire's got this in the bag." Nate countered.
"What about you Dec? You in?"
"Lexi hates vodka, but that woman can do some incredible things with her mouth, so I'm in." Declan smirked as he pulled a twenty from his wallet.
Caleb appeared behind them and braced his weight on the back of Pierce and Declan's chairs eyeing the money on the table.
"You want in on this?" Pierce asked Caleb.
"The girls have got to take a shot with their hands behind their back, mouths only. We're taking bets on who can finish first." Nate explained.
"Oh hell yes, I want in. Claire - hands down." Caleb said as he tossed a twenty into the pile.
Slater walked around and tossed a twenty in as well, having heard the commotion from inside.
"I don't know man, Natalie's got some experience behind a bar. I bet she can take a shot like a pro. My money's on Nat." Slater added.
Marcus joined as well, lowering his large frame into a chair tossing his twenty into the pile.
"I've gotta go with my girl Lex, because I like an underdog." Marcus chuckled.
Claire narrowed her eyes at the growing pile of money on the table and smirked at the men who had put it there.
"Are you guys really betting on this?" she asked with a laugh.
"Everything with them is a competition." Lexi added as she shook her head.
Once the shots were poured the three women grasped their hands behind their backs and widened their stances, hovering the faces slightly over the shots in front of them.
Gunner stood to the side of the table, acting as the announcer for their drunken event and the group of men looked on as if they were watching game seven of the world series.
"On your mark...Get set..." he paused for dramatic effect, giving Natalie enough time to shoot Pierce a confident wink.
"Go!"
All three women lunged for their shots, wrapping their mouths around the glasses and trying to lift them without the use of their hands. Claire was the first to get her shot glass up high enough to drink the contents, but the second the liquid rushed into her mouth, she laughed and sputtered, spilling the vodka down the sides of her mouth and onto her t-shirt. Lexi was able to tilt the shot back but was struggling to drink it down, squeezing her eyes shut in disgust as she tried. Natalie on the other hand lifted her head with the shot glass firmly in place and threw her head back with the liquid disappearing as soon as her head went vertical, and replacing the empty glass back onto the table with ease while Lexi and Claire were still sputtering and laughing.
That's my girl.
Both Pierce and Slater stood up and cheered as Natalie finished her shot first and coughed against the burning in her chest.
"Hell yeah!" Pierce yelled as he headed toward the table to offer Natalie a drink of his beer to chase away the burn of the vodka.
Everyone was lost in a fit of laughter as Claire cleaned herself off and Lexi finally finished off her shot.
"Poor Lex" Caleb laughed, watching her grimace at the taste as Declan handed her a fruity drink to replace the bitter burn.
Pierce wrapped one arm around Natalie from behind using the other to hand her his beer as a chaser.
"What a champ." He said, pressing his lips into her cheek before she gulped at his beer.
Nate threw his hands up as he laughed at Claire as he brought her a towel.
"You had it babe! What happened?"
Between fits of laughter Claire finally regained enough of her breath to speak.
"I picked up my shot easily, but the second I tasted the vodka, all I could think about was how much Lexi was probably hating it and I couldn't stop laughing." Claire said as she caught her breath.
"Well you're not wrong." Lexi added flatly.
"Then we've got this absolute champion over here." Claire motioned with her arm toward Natalie who took an elaborate bow in response.
Pierce was loving watching Natalie with his friends. She fit in seamlessly and they accepted and joked with her as if they'd known her for years. It was a level of satisfaction that he'd never known existed.
An hour or two later the sun had finally set and the group sat around a large table on Nate's deck laughing and cutting up without a care in the world. Natalie was nestled into Pierce's lap and she had acquired a blanket from inside when she went in to change clothes. Sixty degree temperatures weren't considered cold by any means, but Natalie's legs and arms were peppered in goosebumps every time the cool evening breeze swept over them.
She fit perfectly in Pierce's lap and was completely relaxed, leaning back against him with one arm raised up over her head, lazily draped behind his neck. He rested his hand on her inner thigh beneath the blanket and swept his thumb back and forth over her soft skin which at first was a harmless, comforting gesture, but with every pass his thumb inched further and further up her thigh as if he had no control over it.
Pierce was no longer focused on the conversation and laughter around them and focused all of his senses on Natalie and her reaction to his playfully subtle advance. He waited for her to shift her weight uncomfortably or swat his hand away, but instead she parted her legs ever so slightly giving him both permission and an invitation to continue his exploration. His chest inflated against her back as he steered his hand beneath her shorts searching for the hem of her panties in order to travel beneath them, but felt nothing except soft skin.
"You're not wearing any panties, are you?" he whispered down into her ear.
A subtle shake of her head against his chest was the only response he got in return and he lifted his head slightly as if he were coming up for air, before leveling it again in an effort to appear engaged in the conversation around him.
Gliding his hand down her shorts with no barrier there to stop him, he guided his hand between her legs and slid his middle finger between her soft folds, finding her clit instantly and giving it the special attention it needed. He rolled the sensitive bundle of nerves beneath his finger, feeling her back arch slightly and her nails dig into the base of his neck as she tried to contain her reaction. He felt like a horny teenager again, fondling his girlfriend under a blanket and trying not to get caught. Pulling his hand away slowly, he figured he had teased her and himself enough for the moment, knowing there was only so much they could get away with beneath that blanket.
"I can't wait to get you home." he whispered.
She looked up at him over her shoulder and gave him a flirtatious smile.
"Then take me." she said as she took her lip between her teeth, holding his intense gaze.
"Hey Pierce!" Slater yelled from inside.
Seriously?
Both his and Natalie's heads swiveled, hoping they hadn't been caught feeling each other up.
"What's up?" Pierce answered.
"Hunter said you forgot to take your big ass stack of mail from Knight and that he left your packages and shit by the door inside the garage so you could come get them."
Shit. I meant to grab those on my way out.
"Packages?" Declan asked.
"Yeah, I ordered a couple pairs of shoes that came in today. I've run holes in half of my running shoes. I took them to Hunter's office and let him try them on since we wear the same size, but I forgot to grab them on my way out."
"I wondered why it looked like you two were having a fashion show in his office earlier." Caleb chuckled.
Giving Natalie a squeeze and a peck on the cheek, he lifted her off of his lap and stood to say his goodbyes to the team.
"Well I think we're gonna head out." Pierce announced, taking Natalie by the hand.
"Hey Nate, is it cool if we leave Natalie's car here and pick it up tomorrow morning?"
"Sure man, no worries." Nate responded.
*****
Pierce settled into the driver's seat of his truck and lifted the console as an invitation for her to snuggle up alongside him.
"One quick stop before I take you to bed." he said, giving her a flirty smile.
"Fine by me. It's barely 8:00 which means we've got all night."
Damn it this woman is an absolute hellcat.
He pressed down on the accelerator a little harder at her words, trying to get there as fast as possible and kicking himself for not remembering to grab his shit before he left. If Hunter didn't have such a stick up his ass about clutter and cleanliness, he would have just left them there until the morning. He knew if he spent the entire night rolling in the sheets with Natalie, he wouldn't be ready to jump out of bed first thing in the morning, especially not early enough to beat Hunter there.
Once they arrived, he unlocked the gate and led Natalie inside. They went through the office and kitchen taking the back entrance to the garage so he didn't have to raise the large doors, finding his shoe boxes stacked neatly in the corner from largest to smallest with his letters on top. He rolled his eyes at the level of organization Hunter had in something as simple as stacking shoe boxes and bent over to grab the stack.
"Is this one yours too?" Natalie asked from a few feet away near the garage door.
"Nah, This is the door that Fedex and UPS uses to drop packages. There's always a stack of boxes in here. It's probably ammo or parts - something that Hunter ordered no doubt." He assured her.
"But it's got your name on it." she added.
"And is it your birthday or something because it's got a bow on it too." she chuckled.
All of the blood drained from Pierce's face and he watched Natalie bend at the waist to pick up the box as if she were moving in slow motion.
"Don't touch it Nat!" he screamed as he dropped all the boxes in his hands.
She jumped and froze instantly, shocked by the volume and intensity of his voice as he ran toward her.
He crouched down and inspected the box carefully, removing a knife from his pocket in the process.
"I want you to go stand over there Nat." he said as calmly as he could.
Fear and confusion swirled in her eyes, but she did exactly as he asked and stood on the other side of the garage without question, watching him intently.
Flicking open his knife he broke the seal of the package and opened the lid slowly.
Pierce's stomach dropped and his mouth went dry as he watched a small blank screen suddenly illuminate with rapidly flashing numbers on it.
Fuck...
"Natalie run!" he screamed as he stood and ran to her hoping to get her out of the room or at least shield her with his body.
He could only take a handful of steps before the garage exploded around them with a deafening boom.
The last thing he saw was Natalie's terrified face before his world went dark.
****************************
Are there any other team members that are capturing your heart?
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