Singled Out

Chapter 20

Once I got Danny to bed, I had nothing to keep me from going over the barbecue in my head. More specifically, the end of the barbecue.

I knew damn well I hadn’t handled anything right with Harper, but if I’d had a conversation with her or looked her in the eye—or allowed myself another eyeful of her in that bikini—it would’ve been all I could do not to kiss her.

The party had tuckered Danny right out. He fell asleep practically the second I put him in his crib.

Since I’d sweated like a pig during the volleyball game, I grabbed the monitor and headed for the shower. With my mind still on Harper, I turned the water to cold and stood under the spray long enough to shampoo and soap up.

As I was drying off, my phone dinged with a message. I walked to the counter where it was sitting and saw Harper’s name. The benefits of the cold shower wore off in a millisecond.

Is Danny in bed yet?

He is. He was nearly asleep on the short ride home.

Almost a minute passed before the three bubbles appeared. Like a dumb ass, I stood there and watched the screen instead of pulling on sweats. My blood was pounding through me by the time her next message came through.

Can I stop by? I have some questions.

My radar went off. Questions was damn close to We need to talk.

And yet my dick went hard anyway.

That’s fine.

With my heart rate elevated, I wrapped a towel around my waist and hurried to the other side of the house to make sure Danny was still asleep. He hadn’t moved. I watched out of habit to make sure his chest went up and down, then ducked out.

The next second, there was a light knock at the front door.

I checked out the peephole to make sure it was Harper. My dick went even harder at the sight of her. She was still in her bikini, with the skirt back on. Even now, I could see her perfectly in my mind’s eye in that two-piece swimsuit. It wasn’t particularly skimpy, was appropriate for an office beach party, but she was perfection in it.

For a moment, I considered pulling on pants.

Against my better judgment, I opened the door and let her in as I was.

“Hi,” she said, her gaze going to the tented towel, her brows going up. When she made eye contact, her pupils were enlarged.

“I just got out of the shower.”

Harper pressed her lips together and nodded, seeming to withdraw. She breezed past me and went toward the living room. By the time I locked the door and followed, she’d sat on the chair. Not the sectional.

I lowered myself to the edge of the middle cushion of the sectional, my jets good and cooled from her standoffishness. I kept my eyes locked on hers, doing my damnedest to ignore the rest of her body.

“What’s going on?” I asked, leaning forward, elbows on my knees.

“Why don’t you trust me with Danny?” she blurted.

I opened my mouth to answer, but no words came to me at first. I tilted my head, puzzling over the question. “I trust you. I wouldn’t have left him in your care during the game if I didn’t.”

“That’s not the impression you gave off.”

“What impression did I give off?”

“It was clear you didn’t want me to watch him. Your hesitation was embarrassing. I might not have a lot of practice with kids, but I’d never let anything hurt Danny.”

I stared at her, stunned. “I…” I closed my mouth, ran my hands over my face, realized I needed to level with her. “First, let’s get something straight. I trust you with my son.”

She narrowed her eyes like she didn’t believe me.

“I’ve left him with you twice now. If I didn’t trust you, that never would’ve happened.”

“Then why did you act like that?”

I glanced out the window at the black night, my eyes drawn to her reflection. “I don’t want Danny to get attached to you, Harper,” I finally said on an exhalation. “He likes you. He seems to like you more than he likes most people. The fact that he went with you willingly tonight?” I shook my head. “He’s never done that with anyone outside my immediate family.”

“Never?”

“Not with anyone. I’ve probably been overprotective.” I knew damn well I’d been overprotective. “I don’t want anything to hurt him. Ever. And I know there’s gonna be shit in life that tears him up. Look what already happened to his parents. But if I can prevent him from getting hurt, you better believe I’m going to protect him with everything I have.”

“You think I’d hurt him?” Her tone was incredulous.

“I think if he grew attached to you and then you stopped coming around, he’d get hurt.”

Understanding sparked in her eyes. “I see.”

“Do you?”

“If you date someone, you don’t want Danny to get to know them in case it doesn’t work out.” She still looked skeptical.

“Precisely.”

“Except we’re not dating.”

“No.”

“So it doesn’t quite hold up.”

“Same concept. Danny could get hurt, and I won’t risk that.”

“Danny would only get hurt if I spent time with him. Right now, he might like me, but if he never saw me again, he wouldn’t miss me.”

“Maybe,” I acknowledged. I hoped she was right. It was damn hard to know what went through an eighteen-month-old’s head. “I’m sorry you felt embarrassed tonight. That wasn’t my intention. There was a lot running through my mind as to how to act around you. Everyone knows we went to the gala.”

“I know.”

“That was supposed to be all it was.”

“Yep.” Harper stood. “Except it isn’t.”

Before I could stop myself, my gaze dropped to her generous breasts in the bikini top, the expanse of her bare abdomen, her sexy belly button, the hint of her hip bones, and the skirt that left one long leg exposed.

I went hard instantly.

“No.” My voice came out rough and husky. I sat back against the cushion, revealing the effect she had on me. “It isn’t.”

I stopped breathing as she stepped toward me, closing the space between us, one foot at a time. When she reached me, she went down to her knees. With her hands on my thighs, she leaned closer. Her gaze darted to my lips, then back into my eyes. Then her lips fluttered over mine, just a tease of a touch. Her breath stuttered out, and I felt it whisper over my skin.

I was dying to grasp her gorgeous ass and pull her into me, but I held back, waited, my heart hammering. I was curious to see what she would do.

“Our night together was a secret,” she said just above a whisper.

“Yes.”

“Nobody knows I’m here now.”

“Where’s your car?” I asked. I’d been too wrapped up in the sight of her at my door to check for her vehicle.

“It’s parked downtown, near the Fly.”

“You walked here?”

She nodded. “Because I can keep a secret.” She smiled meaningfully. The gleam in her eyes was alluring as fuck. I clenched both my fists to keep from reaching for her. “I’m thinking…”

She leaned forward and kissed me full on the lips, none of that fluttering, flirting crap. Her hand trailed up my jaw, to the back of my head, as her tongue plunged inside my mouth.

I couldn’t hold back any longer. I filled my hand with one of her luscious ass cheeks, molding it, drawing her closer. Before I could really get started, Harper broke off the kiss. I was gratified to see she was breathing as hard as I was.

“I’m thinking we have some serious chemistry.”

I let out a gravelly laugh. “We do.”

She ran both her hands up my thighs again, closer to my dick but not nearly close enough. “We already agreed my dad can’t know about us.”

I swallowed and nodded because what she said was true. I could tell her he was okay with us, but something kept me quiet.

“And no one else can know about us.”

“Right,” I said.

She flicked a glance toward Danny’s room. “If we’re not an official couple, Danny will be fine. He won’t get attached to me because he won’t know I’m here.”

Every drop of blood in my body pulsed to my dick. “I see where you’re going.”

Her lips curved into a sexy, vixenish smile. “It’d be a shame to let this chemistry go to waste.” Her mouth was a breath from mine again.

“Crying shame,” I said.

“It’s your call. Fling? Or I can leave.”

“No fucking question,” I managed, about to climb out of my skin if I didn’t get inside her in the next three seconds. “Stay.”

She peered into my eyes, her lids heavy with need. Just when I thought she’d lean forward and seal our lips together again, she reached for my towel and whipped it open. Her hand closed around my shaft, and I groaned. It felt like heaven and left me aching for more at the same time.

The next second, she gave more when her mouth closed around me and her tongue swirled around my tip. My eyes rolled back in my head. I ran both my hands through her hair, fumbling around until I found the hair band holding it up. I struggled with it, trying not to yank her hair out, but I wanted it down, flowing over her shoulders, tickling my thighs, free for my fingers to burrow through.

Without lifting her mouth from my cock, she reached up with one hand and freed her hair. I opened my eyes to see it cascade down like a dark waterfall. Her eyes met mine as she took me farther in, until I hit the back of her throat and moaned in ecstasy.

For the next few minutes, she owned me, working some kind of witchcraft with her tongue and her hands. I felt like I’d been transported to some other plane where time and space didn’t exist, only sensation.

When I was on the brink of exploding, I bit my lip and managed to pull her up, her mouth coming off me with a pop. Her lust-filled eyes questioned me as I guided her closer to my mouth.

“Was that not working?” she asked.

I let out a rough chuckle. “Incredible. But I want you to ride me.”

“Yeah?”

“Fuck yeah.”

She stood, still fully dressed. I expected her to rectify that, but she went to the chair where she’d first sat and picked up a bag I hadn’t previously noticed. She dumped out the contents and rustled through it until she held up a condom packet.

With a glance toward the large windows facing the lake, she eyed the sole lamp that was on, walked over to it, and clicked it off, leaving only a dim light from the kitchen. It was just enough to see as she slid her skirt down her thighs and kicked it to the side. With her swimsuit still on, she straddled me, her core hovering inches from my needy cock.

I reached behind her and unfastened her top. Before she could slide it down her arms, I palmed her sumptuous breasts like the treasures they were, bringing them to my mouth, hungrily tasting one, then the other. Her necklaces jingled together as she arched into me, holding her breast to my mouth as if she couldn’t get close enough.

I feasted on her, suckling her nipple, teasing my tongue over her pebbled flesh, savoring the taste of her. With my free hand, I kneaded her ass again, losing myself in the sensual indulgence that was her body.

I heard the condom being ripped open. Then her fingers were on my dick as she positioned it on the tip and slid it down to the root, squeezing me in the process, drawing a gasp of pleasure from me.

With a needy sigh, Harper lowered herself to my lap. I opened my eyes to see her holding her bikini bottoms to the side. She slid down me with a moan, turning me inside out.

I worked my hands under the thin material over her ass, massaging her cheeks as if they were bare. She paused when I was all the way seated in her, a look of ecstasy on her face. Then she ground her body against mine, circling, deepening our connection.

She seemed to be fighting herself, trying to stay in control, moving in a slow circle then stopping, biting her lip. I let her take charge even as I was dying to thrust into her.

Finally she slid partway off me in a slow, torturous motion. Her bliss-filled groan nearly shot me to the stars. Then she slammed home again. All I could do was hold on as she did exactly what I’d asked her to and rode me like a fucking goddess.

Her hair was everywhere, her breasts bouncing, our bodies moving as one until she cried out and contracted around me. That was all it took for me to come so hard I couldn’t breathe, could only hold on to her for dear life and ride out my shattering orgasm.

I eventually became aware that Harper’s gorgeous body had gone limp as she breathed hard near my ear. I wrapped my arms around her tightly, catching my breath too. I’d be content to stay like this for hours. Maybe weeks.

“That,” Harper said eventually. She had a lethargic, satisfied smile on her face. “That’s the chemistry I was talking about.”

My agreement rumbled out of my chest. “Mm-hmm.”

She lazily lifted her head and kissed me.

I brushed her hair behind her ear and cradled her cheek. “Stupendous chemistry.”

“Please tell me we can keep doing that in secret.”

There wasn’t a man on this planet strong enough to say no to what she was offering, our bodies still intimately connected, her irresistible breasts pressed into my chest. I still needed to make sure we were on the same page though.

“As long as there’s no strings and no feelings. No one gets hurt. Not Danny, not you, not me.”

“I’m good,” she purred. “Single and free with some mind-bending sex on the side is my jam.”

I chuckled and wondered how I’d gotten so fucking lucky. “Sounds perfect. I need to take care of the condom.”

She pulled away from me and shifted to the side. I took a minute to summon the strength to get up and walk away.

When I came back from the bathroom, Harper was stretched out on the sectional, still in the bottom half of her bikini, though it was askew. I leaned over the back cushions from behind the sectional and scooped her up into my arms cradle style, eliciting a quiet squeal of surprise.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“Taking you to my bed for round two. We messed up the first time.”

“What?”

I dipped my fingers into her bikini bottoms. “We forgot to get these out of the way. We’ll need a replay.”

With a sexy laugh, she said, “I like it when you talk all footballish, Coach. Let’s see if you can get a touchdown.”

“Trust me. I know how to score.”

As I carried her to my room, there was a quiet but pesky voice in my head warning me that getting involved further, making this a recurring thing, wasn’t wise. I ignored that voice, set her on my bed, and peeled her swimsuit down her legs.