Hey guys. :) I'm really liking this cliff hangers thing, so I think I'll be adding them more often. ;)

Anyway, someone asked me for a Pierce's POV and lots of writers do that. Talented, popular writers. But it takes the suspense right out of the story when you change POV's. If I write his point of view now, there will be no surprise later on. Pierce has a lot of secrets and I want to keep them secrets...until they're ready to be revealed. So no, I will not write Pierce's or Cash's or anyone else's POV. It will strictly only be Tessa's POV.

Also, remember, the beginning, with the writings in italics, are just an insight on Cash and Tessa's relationship.

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The doorbell began to ring and I looked over my shoulder, a distraught look on my face. Oh no! Cash was here already! I was barely even ready. I wanted to look good for our first date.

My roommate, Miranda, appeared at my bedroom door. "Tessa, your date is here," she told me, a wide smile on her face. "He's h-o-t, hot! If I wasn't taken, I would so go out with him," she gushed.

I rolled my eyes as I put in my diamond drop earrings that was a graduation gift from my parents. There was a matching necklace and it complimented my red dress. Red was a great color on me; it complimented my light tan complexion and blonde hair.

"Can you entertain him while I touch up my make-up?" I asked her, adding on a little more eyeliner. I didn't want it to be too thick, but my liner sucked.

"Mikayla is already on that," she said.

I gasped and almost made a line on my cheek with the liner. "Are you serious?" I complained.

Miranda laughed. She knew her twin and our third roommate was a whore, too. "You should go now before she gets on that. Or Cash won't be your date any longer."

Muttering under my breath, I checked my make-up and dress, then put on my heels and darted out the door.

Cash looked gorgeous like always. I literally lost my breath and he stared back at me, eyes darkening with lust. A shiver ran throguh my body and I crossed the room, giving an extra sway in my hips, grateful for the dress because it molded to my body like a second skin.

"You look stunning," he breathed, losing interest in Mikayla within a second. She huffed and walked off, annoyed, but I didn't give her a second look.

"You don't look too bad yourself," I replied, flashing him a big smile.

"So, are you ready for our date?" he asked, reaching over to take my hand, looking pleased.

"Definitely." I grinned and let him lead me to his car for our first date.

-

I was momentarily stunned at this revelation and the breath seemed to have been knocked out of my lungs.

"What?" I whispered, staring at him wide-eyed.

"I loved you so much," Pierce revealed, passionately.  "Hell, I still love you now." He laughed, humorlessly. "I was crushed you wanted to go out of state, especially because you knew how much I didn't want to go to college. But I didn't want to hold you back."

I never knew that. He'd never told me that. I couldn't speak because I was so shocked. Why didn't he ever tell me this? I would've stayed. If not for anything else, I would've stayed for him. I would've laid down my life for him back then, when I was young and so passionately in love.

He abruptly let go of me and moved backwards. I stumbled, but my hand grabbed the edge of the table before I could fall. "I should've tried to though. Then you wouldn't have met your bastard ex-husband. And you would've still been with me," he said harshly.

"Why did you never tell me this?" I asked, softly.

Pierce's lips twisted into a sarcastic smirk. "What difference does it make, Tessa?" he echoed my words in an almost mocking way.

I tried to hide the hurt, but he could read me like an open book. Pierce came forward and his arms slid around my waist, pulling me against his hard chest. Then I began to sob, feeling like that was the ten thousandth time I'd cried in the past week. He exhaled, his breath whispering over my hair and his fingers began to run up and down my back in a soothing, non-sexual way.

"You should've told me, Pierce. I loved you more than you gave me credit for. I would've stayed for you," I whimpered, clutching his shirt and pressing my cheek against his chest.

He ran his hand through my hair affectionately, resting his chin on my head. "If I made you stay, you would've ended up resenting me. I didn't want that." He sighed longingly.

I wanted to protest, but I knew that on some level it was true. At some point, I would've ended up hating Pierce for keeping me away from what I really wanted. I quickly sobered and my tears stopped falling as I numbly leaned against his chest.

Taking my silence as an urge to continue on, Pierce pulled out a chair and sat down on it, me on his lap. "Of course, I didn't expect you to be gone for six years. You stopped calling after a while and I thought you just...forgot about me..." His arms tightened around me and I got the sense he was angry, but I couldn't blame him.

"I'm so sorry, Pierce," I whispered against his shirt.

His body slumped back against the chair. I looked up at him and looked at him with eyes that were drowned in sorry. He looked so broken, it cut me in half. I wanted to take all that hurt away and make those dimples make an appearance in his cheeks again.

"It's okay, Tess. You're here now, aren't you?" He smiled weakly down at me and leaned down to kiss my cheek. I so desperately wanted to turn my head to press our lips together, but something made me halt from doing so.

It was Cash's face and I cursed the day I met in that diner. True, he had given me the best gift and I had no words to thank him for Tanner. But in return, he had taken my heart and crushed it with his bare hands. He used me in the worst way possible. And I found it hard to open up again, even to Pierce. He had said he loved me and I could clearly see it, but could I give him the same thing in return?

You could if you tried, a voice in my head said to me. And I had to agree with it, because it was right. Out of the three guys I had been in love with, Pierce was the only one who had not hurt me. Derrick, the first guy I'd lost my heart to when I was only fifteen, had only wanted me for sex. He never actually got it because I had more respect for myself to say yes, which is why he publicly dumped me. Then Pierce, then Cash. And now it was back to Pierce, so should I give him the chance he definitely deserved?

"Tessa?" His thumb rubbed over my cheek. There was a lingering tear there. "You spaced out there for a second," he explained when I gave him a questioning look. "And you didn't answer my question - you're here to stay, aren't you?" He stared deeply into my eyes, giving me the impression that he was seeing straight through me through to my soul.

I nodded, leaning my face into his hand. It felt so nice being in his arms like this. I closed my eyes and raised my hand and covered his over my cheek. "Pierce, how can you love me knowing I've already been with other men and have a son?" I asked.

 "I haven't exactly been celibate since you left, Tessa. I'm not going to hold your past against you."

The thought of him being with another girl made me burn green with envy, but I wouldn't hold his past against him either. Pierce was notorius for being a player in high school, before we had dated. Not once had he cheated when he was in a relationship with me. So I didn't really expect that he would keep it in his pants for six years. I knew at one point he would've moved on. I'm pretty sure he went to the nearest eighteen plus bar to get hammered and pick up a girl the night I left Springfield.

"Will you give us another try, Tessa?" he asked.

I breathed out heavily. "Pierce, I just got out of a marriage one month ago. I dont want to jump into another relationship," I said softly.

Pierce lifted my head up and pushed my hair out of eyes, kissing my forehead. "I understand."

"You do?"

"Of course." That wasn't the Pierce I knew. Then a mischievous look entered his eyes. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to woo you." He smirked and fell my legs turn to jelly. I was glad I was sitting down or I would've fallen over. That smirk, that promise that he was up to no good, it had the power to melt a woman, maybe a man if he rolled that way. It just reminded me how undeniably sexy Pierce was.

"Woo?" I laughed.

Pierce stuck out his tongue and I resisted the urge to lean over and bite it playfully like I would've done six years ago. "I'm improving my vocabulary," he defended.

I grinned and swiped his hair out of his gorgeous eyes. "More like worsening it," I teased. Gasping, he pushed me out of his lap. I yelped out as I landed on my ass. "I can't believe you just did that!"

"I can't believe you just did that," he mocked.

Sticking out my lower lip, I glared up at him in distaste. "Why did you do that?"

"Why did you do that?"

"Seriously, Pierce!" I cried.

"Seriously, Tessa!" he copied.

"Pierce, come on." It was Pierce's guilty pleasure annoying me to the core. He always mimicked me until I was in tears of frustration when I insulted him, even if it was in a joking way.

He laughed and I huffed. "You said my vocabulary sucked in nicer words."

"Because it does," I told him simply, folding my arms across my chest. "Who uses the word 'woo' anymore?" I questioned.

"Obviously I do," he retorted and the jut of his dark pink lips made him look almost, almost as cute as Tanner. But nobody was as adorable as my little boy.

I was going to reply, but just then, my baby monitor alerted me that Tanner was up. He wasn't crying yet, which I was surprised about. He usually screamed at the top of his lungs until I showed up. Maybe he was entertained with the musical mobile. I grabbed the monitor as Pierce went silent and brought it closer to my ear, hearing Tanner cooing through it.

After a while, I looked up at Pierce. "Would you like to offically meet my son?"