“Are you going to move here?” Jamison asks.
My heart stammers. I want her to say yes, but I know it isn’t realistic. At least, not yet.
Harper shrugs and plays cool. “Don’t get your hopes up. But I’m keeping an open mind.”
“Well, you should move here. Nice hat, Steven,” Quinn teases. “It’s a good look on you. Very laid-back. I think Harper is a good influence on your style.”
“Funny.”
Quinn glances at Harper then me, and smirks, and I’m not sure how to take it.
Jamison clears his throat. “Ten minutes until we leave, Quinn.”
My mom says her goodbyes and exits the room.
“Where is everyone else?” Harper asks.
“I rescheduled the flight because of Ralph’s surgery. They left a few hours ago,” Jamison informs us.
Quinn bites a smile. “It’s just you two.” She looks at my bags and slyly says, “Take whatever bedroom you want.”
She knows.
She seems okay with it.
She isn’t Jamison.
I wonder if she’ll tell him?
I take Hope from Harper. “Guess Hope lucked out, then.”
“How’s that?”
“We’re her favorite aunt and uncle. She doesn’t have to waste her time with the others now.”
“Aren’t you two sure of yourselves.” Quinn holds out her arms. “Let me see her before we go.”
Quinn and Jamison say their goodbyes. Quinn gets teary, but we assure her we’ll take good care of Hope.
When they finally leave, Harper holds Hope, and we stare at each other.
“I thought they were never going to leave,” she says.
“I know. Was it borderline brutal or just me?”
Harper nods. “Brutal. Especially Quinn’s smirks.”
I groan.
She laughs.
“You hungry?” I ask.
“Little bit.”
“Get comfy, then. I’ll make dinner.”
“You cook, too?”
“Don’t be impressed until you taste it. You want a glass of wine?”
“Maybe water?”
“On it.” I open the fridge and call out, “There’s a ton of leftovers from the party.”
“I’m good with that. Let’s keep it easy.”
I give Harper a bottle of water.
“Do you want anything specific?”
“Just fix me a plate of whatever. I’m really not picky.”
Harper turns on soft music, and she and the baby play on the floor in the family room. Before Quinn left, she informed us Hope ate an hour ago. She’s in her pajamas and about a half hour away from bedtime.
I fill two plates with salad, cheese, and tiny sandwiches. “Dinner of champions.” I set the dishes on the floor and sit across from Harper.
She strokes my thigh. “How’re your quads?”
“Good as new.”
Harper tilts her head.
“Okay, maybe not new. But they’re fine.”
“Are you still going to skip your workout tomorrow so your body can heal?”
“Yep.”
I’ll be more than happy to work out with you in bed.
Assuming she doesn’t change her mind.
She scoots closer and sets Hope on the floor so we can both see her. We play patty-cake and peekaboo with her until bedtime. The entire time, we take any opportunity we have to touch the other person. It’s just a hand on a leg, or finger on an arm, or Harper rubbing my shoulders and flooding me with her scent. The atmosphere is electric, and by the time Hope goes to sleep, the ache for Harper is at an all-time high.
Please don’t change your mind.
You’re breaking your rules. You’ve only known her a few days.
I clean up the kitchen then go into the bedroom. The voice in my head that never shuts up won’t go away.
Don’t be like him.
What if she regrets me in the morning?
When Harper enters the bedroom from putting Hope down, I’m pacing.
“Steven.”
I freeze.
She circles her arms to the front of my body and stands flush to my back.
I put my palms on her thighs, wanting her so badly but struggling with my demons.
She lifts my shirt and kisses my back, and so much heat rolls through me, I groan her name.
She makes her way to the front of me and continues to jolt me with lightning bolts from every kiss. “You’re stressed.”
Great. I didn’t pack condoms.
“Harper, do you have condoms? I didn’t think to bring any.”
“No. I get the shot and am clean. Are you?”
“Yeah, but…” I blow out a big breath.
She tilts her head up. “You seem agitated. Did you change your mind? Do you not want me anymore?” Hurt passes in her eyes.
“I don’t want you to regret me,” I blurt out.
A line forms between her eyes. “Are you going to regret me?”
“No.”
“Then I won’t regret you.”
“Are you sure—”
She puts her finger over my lips. “This gnawing in my body I’m feeling, I’ve never had before. It started when I laid eyes on you. You weren’t even there. It was a picture, and it stirred whatever this is inside me. Every second I spend with you, it spins and grows. And it’s so potent right now, I don’t just want you. I need you, and I need you to take care of me without any regrets or worrying about the future. That is...if you want me.”
She summed up things I didn’t know how to verbalize. “I wanted you from the moment I saw you. And what you just said, it’s how I feel, too.”
She nods.
Any reservation or voice in my head evaporates, and the only thing I want is to please her. When I kiss her, the waves of desire that have plagued me pick up speed. She shudders in my arms and moans in my mouth, and my erection throbs against my zipper.
I remove her shirt and kiss her right shoulder then her neck, across her jaw, then down her left shoulder.
Every breath of hers riles me. Inflaming all the heat bursting in my cells.
I sit on the edge of the bed and pull her on me, tasting her mouth while removing her bra. One palm holds her arching back, one hand pebbles her nipple, and my mouth sucks on her other breast.
Her skin is warm and soft, like a blanket. And I roll my tongue on the edge of her nipple then suck it until it’s so rock-hard, she calls out my name in a breathy tone.
She rocks her lower body on mine. The denim between us becomes damp with her juices and my pre-cum, and the blood in my body pounds in my veins.
She tugs my shirt off me and slides her forearms on my shoulders and stretches in the air as I scrape my teeth on her neck.
“Steven,” she breathes. “Oh God.”
I need to taste her and feel her writhe in my mouth. And I want her to beg me until she can barely talk and only feel an intensity she’s never felt before. So I flip her on the bed and rip her pants off her, sliding her wet panties off with them in one movement.
I fall to my knees and run my cheek on the smoothness of her thigh, and she moans. I suck and lick and kiss the curve of her body where her legs meet her pussy while inhaling her arousal. Her sex drips before I even touch it, and she begs me as I widen her legs.