Chapter 15
Isettled in next to Harper at the railing, our sides touching, both of us looking at the dark lake and the lights on the distant, opposite shore. With my blood thrumming through me, I fought to get my mind on her dilemma, where it should be.
“Getting more information from Cambria does not mean committing,” I told her. “One baby step at a time.”
Harper turned to face me, resting an elbow on the railing. Peering up at me with those gorgeous but unsure brown eyes that made me want to pull her into me to reassure her. “What if she wasn’t serious?” she asked in a quiet voice.
I gripped the railing with both hands, battling the urge to turn toward her. Being face-to-face would make it too easy to touch her. “Then you know. But what if she was?”
Her chest rose with an inhalation. “That might be even worse. Max?”
I met her imploring gaze. A sly smile slowly spread over her lips. “It seems like you’re afraid to face me.”
I chuckled because she’d read me so easily. “It seems like you’re about to pull your kiss-and-divert move.”
“If you don’t want me to kiss you, all you have to do is say it.”
Gazing down at her, I took in the playful sparkle in her eyes, my attention getting caught up on her lips as she moistened them.
My blood pounded harder, straight to my dick. I clenched my hands on the railing, trying to curtail the urge to run them all over her body, pull her into me, feel every inch of her.
With our gazes locked, the air between us charged, time seemed to stand still.
“I want to kiss you,” I ground out quietly, intently. “I want to touch you all over. Taste every bit of you. Push my cock inside you until you feel it in your chest.”
With her eyes blazing into mine, she said, “Then do it.”
I swallowed, still managing to hold on to the control that was unraveling like a very thin thread. Debating with myself.
“Your dad…”
“Has no place in this conversation,” she whispered. “He’ll never know.”
I glanced toward the house, in the direction of Danny’s room.
Harper laughed quietly. “He’ll never know either.”
For three heartbeats that nearly pounded right out of my chest, I watched her as I tried to convince myself she was wrong.
I couldn’t do it.
And I could no longer resist her.
Turning toward her, I palmed her cheek, my hand shaking with need. With my other hand, I pulled her flush against me, then trailed my fingers down her back to her ass, my erection pressing against her.
The next heartbeat, my lips were on hers, devouring her, tasting her, breathing her in as if my life depended on it.
I turned our bodies so mine pressed her into the railing as her arms went around my neck and her knee rose, her foot trailing up my leg, bringing her core into direct contact with my dick when her skirt crawled upward. A guttural groan rumbled from my throat as I felt her heat and softness through my sweats.
“Max,” she whispered, “we should go inside.”
“Right,” I said on a shuddering exhale. I was half out of my mind, on the verge of drilling into her right here, where anyone could see us. I needed to rein myself in and quit acting like an animal. I nibbled on her lips, then wove our fingers together. “Come on.”
Coaching myself to get my head on straight as we went inside, I locked the slider behind us and pulled the drapes, then glanced toward Danny’s side of the house.
“Go check on him,” she said.
Knowing that would ease my worries, I nodded and went toward his room. I paused outside his door, listened for any stirring before opening it. Prayed like hell he wasn’t awake, didn’t need me.
His room was silent, so I pushed the door open enough to lay eyes on Danny. With a baby sigh, he stirred, turning his head from one side to the other, but he slept on.
I watched him for another few seconds to assure myself he was out.
Without a sound, I pulled the door shut, then hurried back to the living room to find it empty. What the?—
I realized a low light came from my bedroom. I went toward it, shaking my head, relieved as hell she was still here. When I came around the corner to where I could see inside my room, I stubbed my toe on the doorway as I took in the sight before me.
Harper was stretched out on my bed, naked from head to toe, her head propped on her elbow, hips curving up like an hourglass, breasts spilling onto the mattress. She’d turned on the string of blue LEDs around the tray ceiling, casting the room in just enough light for me to feast my eyes on her.
“You’re fucking gorgeous,” I managed. I closed the bedroom door and whipped my shirt over my head.
“Danny’s okay?” she asked.
“Sleeping soundly.”
“Monitor’s on?”
I forced my gaze away from the vision she was, to the dresser, where the red power light shone back at me. As I nodded, I slid my sweats and boxer briefs down my legs, my cock jutting upward as soon as it was free. Harper’s gaze centered on it, and her top leg rose, opening her to me. I knew this image of her, spread out on my bed like an offering of heaven, would be with me till the day I died.
She held up a condom packet she must’ve brought with her, because mine were in the master bath in a drawer somewhere, not having been accessed for more than a year.
“I love the way you think,” I said as I lowered myself to the mattress next to her.
“I love the way you look,” she countered.
With a growl of a laugh, I touched her at last, spreading my hand over the soft skin at her waist, running my fingers down to her ass, up her curves, to the side of her breast. With my thumb, I found the tip of her nipple and rubbed it, eliciting a gasp from her.
As if in retaliation, she grasped my shaft and stroked it. I caught my breath as my eyes rolled back into my head. As soon as I was able, I reached down, entwined our fingers, and dragged her hand upward. “Not yet.” I kissed her lips, teased her lightly with my tongue and teeth. “First I want to taste every square inch of your body.”
I kissed along her jawline, to the spot beneath her ear, then nibbled at her lobe as I closed my palm around her soft, ample breast.
“Not sure I can hold up to that without coming apart,” she said after a gasp.
“Ohh, you’re going to come apart.” I kissed her lips, our needy breaths mingling. “Over…and over…and over.”
In the sexiest feminine growl I’d ever heard, Harper said, “Love me an ambitious man.”
I proceeded to show her how ambitious, laving my tongue over her, roving my hands across every bit of her soft, irresistible skin, learning her body and what drove her the most wild.
Her first orgasm came with my tongue between her folds. Her second exploded from her as I suckled her nipple and fingered her clit. I was lowering my mouth between her legs again, loving the way my name sounded from her lips as she climaxed, when she tugged at me, pulling me up to her mouth as she panted.
“Max, please.”
“Please what?” I asked, then kissed her fully, our tongues tangling and twisting as we ate at each other’s mouth.
She kneaded my ass with one hand, cradling my body between her legs. “I want the next one to be with you inside.”
I nearly lost my load as she dipped her fingers between my legs. When I could speak again, I said, “What the lady wants…”
The sweetness of her giggle as she did wicked things with her fingers turned me inside out. I fumbled around the bed with one hand, trying to find the condom, not sure I could get myself sheathed fast enough.
Harper held up the packet, and I swiped it out of her hands, ripped it open, and slid it on. Bracing myself between her legs, I lifted one of her knees, opening her fully to me. I settled my cock at her entrance, squeezing my eyes shut with the effort it took to not rut into her like a wild animal, in case she wasn’t ready.
“Max, you’re killing me.” She arched her body upward as she grasped my ass in both hands and pulled me into her, impaling herself with a slow, needful moan.
The sensation of being inside her, of her slick heat closing around me, clenching me with toe-curling friction, was nearly enough to make me come instantly. Fully seated, I paused to catch my breath and pull my shit together. “Give me a second,” I said tensely, willing my body to hold out against the ecstasy that was Harper Ellison.
She gave me a few seconds, maybe ten. Then she contracted her inner muscles around me. I gritted my teeth.
When I could breathe again without coming, I pulled most of the way out and slammed back home. “Trouble,” I said, unsure whether I meant it as a complaint or the highest praise.
“You seem…to like trouble,” she said between my thrusts.
I didn’t even try to deny that. I wasn’t sure I could still speak.
With our bodies covered in sweat, moving as one, I drove into her, fighting a fine line between giving in to my own orgasm and holding on to make sure she came first. I was starting to learn the noises she made as her climax neared, loved how she communicated her pleasure so clearly with oh, yes and oh, God, and finally, as I was starting to see a kaleidoscope of colors and stars, my name fell off her lips, and her orgasm gripped her.
I tumbled over the next second, clasping on to her for dear life as sparks of fiery pleasure shot through me. I buried my nose in her long, silky hair and knew I’d associate her exotic scent with the most exquisite of pleasures until my dying day.
We lay there breathing hard, not talking. I had to let my body come down before my brain would start working. I’d come so hard I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be the same again.
As soon as I realized I was lying on top of her and she was bearing most of my weight, I managed to roll off-center, so I was only half on her, not willing to give up all the skin-to-skin contact yet. I’d be content to lie here like this for a few days. Who needed food?
My son would need food.
The thought of him brought me back to reality faster than I wanted.
I fought off coherent thoughts and let myself just be with Harper for a while longer. I became aware of the way her breasts rose and fell as her breathing evened and slowed. Her skin, like mine, was covered by a sheen of sweat. I found the strength to lift my head and prop my chin on one arm as I gazed down at her. Her hair was strewn in every direction across my pillow. Her nipples were still erect, tempting me. I trailed a finger over one, causing her to shiver. A sexy, vixenish smile stretched over her swollen lips.
She had the look of a woman who’d been thoroughly sated. That had me feeling pretty damn good until she said, “You’re not too bad, Max Dawson.”
My brows shot up as I tried to discern if she meant that or if this was post-sex smart-ass Harper. “Not too bad?”
She let out a light, feminine laugh. “Yeah. That was pretty okay.”
Her smugness registered, and I relaxed. “You weren’t half bad yourself.”
Harper laughed and leaned up to kiss me, pulling my head to her. Her kiss was fervent, her tongue plundering my mouth as if to put an exclamation point on the reaction she wasn’t able to admit to.
I’d take it.
“Be right back,” she said. She slid gracefully off the bed and went into the bathroom. I watched her walk confidently away, her hips with a slight sway to them. Every last ounce of that confidence was justified and then some.
I took care of the condom, then pulled the blankets back as I finally registered a chill in the air. Waiting for her, I lay on my back, legs under the covers, my hands behind my head, staring up at the dim blue lights. Endorphins still raced through me, leaving me in a contented, blissful state.
I liked sex as much as the next guy, but over the years, there’d been a lot of women who tried too hard, as if they thought they could land the former-NFL guy if they just wowed me in the sack. They were the types who tried to take the lead or wanted to get extra kinky. Sex could be calculating, I’d learned, but with Harper, it was different.
Harper had more of a you-get-what-you-see aura about her, as if she wasn’t up for putting on airs for anyone and especially not this has-been athlete. She just…was.
It was refreshing as fuck.
The bathroom door opened, and my eyes locked onto her naked body and her pretty face again as she walked toward me. Instead of lying next to me, though, she sat on the edge of the mattress and picked up her underwear.
I frowned. I hadn’t committed to being done with her yet, was pondering how long until I’d be ready for round two.
“What are you doing?” I asked, rolling to my side and propping up on my elbow.
“I need to go,” she said matter-of-factly. Almost cheerfully.
I frowned, thinking of what another hour could bring us.
She must have read my thoughts, because she leaned over, kissed me briefly, and said, “My car’s out front. The longer I’m here, the more likely someone will recognize it.”
That brought reality home abruptly.
I sat up and did my best to look indifferent. To appear unworried that someone might’ve already seen her car. To seem not disappointed as fuck that there’d be no round two.
Harper was playing it smart. I was grateful one of us had our wits about us.
As she dressed, I pulled my sweats on commando, went out the bedroom door to the deck, grabbed her shoes, and carried them back to her.
“Thank you,” she said, taking them from me but not putting them on.
I followed her out of my bedroom. At the front door, she stood on her tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss to my lips, said, “Night, Max,” and walked out.
After I closed the door, I stood there letting it sink in that, for once, someone was in more of a hurry to end our night together than I was.