Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“ C ole,” Harper whispered, as she gently slid her hand under the sheet and wrapped it around my morning wood.
“Hm,” I murmured stretching lazily, as I turned my head and squinted up at her, sitting upright in the bed.
“I’ve got to go back to my own room, it’s almost 5:30 a.m.,” she informed me in a reluctant tone.
Grabbing her by the wrist, I pulled her down beside me. Turning to face her, I slid my arm under her neck. Pulling her close, I slipped my free hand over her hip and hauled her warm delicious body flush with mine.
The look between us immediately became intense, and I was torn about letting her go.
“Thank you. I had an awesome time last night,” I whispered, stealing a small kiss.
Biting back a grin she nodded. “Yeah, it was a great movie, huh?” she joked.
“As first dates go, you were a bit of a slut. I mean who puts out like this on the first date? I never even bought you dinner,” I goaded, and chuckled.
Moving her face closer, she went to kiss me but caught my bottom lip between her teeth. Pinching it to the point of pain, she let it go, slipped her hand lower and grabbed a firm hold of my dick.
“I wonder if it’s possible to snap this?” she asked with a straight face, as she gave my cock a gentle squeeze.
“You know, I’ve often wondered that myself,” I joked, rolling her onto her back and settling myself between her legs. My tip brushed her wet heat and I stilled. It would have been the easiest move in the world to slide inside.
Tempting though it was, my life was on the cusp of being better and I wasn’t about to change it by pulling a dick move. With my luck it would probably backfire .
Glancing up at Harper’s face, my breath caught in my throat at how gorgeous she looked in her sleepy morning state.
“Pity the condoms are all the way down at the bottom of the bed in my jeans pocket and my daughter may discover us at any second.”
Genuine concern flitted through Harper’s eyes at the thought and her body tensed. I loved her for thinking of Layla before herself.
“Move, she’ll be awake at any time now,” she ordered, trying to free herself from my hold.
Reluctantly, I shifted to her side but grabbed her and kissed her quickly again. Struggling free, she stood off the bed and grabbed her blouse off the floor. “You owe me $119.99 plus tax for this,” she barked, sternly shaking it out at me before pulling it on.
“Worth every penny,” I agreed, chuckling.
I especially enjoyed watching her pull on her pants and jump as she tugged them up over her ass, and I lay mesmerized by the way her tits jiggled freely in the ripped open blouse while she quickly got dressed.
Yanking the two sides of her shirt closed, she leaned over and opened the door. I called after her and she turned to face me again.
“I really did have an amazing time last night, and I can’t wait until we do it again.”
A wide smile spread on her lips, her blue eyes brightening in pleasure at my words. “Yeah?”
“Hell, yeah,” I replied. Hesitating for a moment she stared pointedly and narrowed her eyes .
“Then you’d best get dressed, grab a hearty breakfast, and get out there and train, because you’re gonna need all your strength for later.”
When she closed the door softly, I flopped back down against the mattress and stared at the ceiling. The smile on my face was like nothing I’d felt in a long time and my internal feelings were somewhere between scared shitless and fearless about my budding romance with Harper.
“Daddy, are you getting up today? What are you doing in here?” Layla asked, pushing the door open and looking around the room.
“I wanted to try something different,” I replied, the amusement in my own voice almost making me laugh.
“Why was Harper in bed with you?” Fuck . I blinked.
“What makes you think she was in bed with me?”
“I didn’t think it, I found you both here. It was noisy in the night and I thought Spot was hurt, so I got out of bed and went in to wake Harper. She wasn’t there.” Fuck. What did she see?
“She wasn’t in her room?” I questioned, and a small pang of guilt hit my chest at asking a question I already knew the answer to.
“Nope. Then I came to get you because the noise happened again.” Fuck.
“And you weren’t in your bed either.”
“You came here?” I asked and heard the alarm in my own voice.
“Uh, huh.”
“Did you open the door, Baby?” My heart beat fast at the thought she’d witnessed some of what had gone down between her nanny and me.
“Yep.” I stopped breathing for a few seconds. “You and Harper were lying down. Were you having a sleepover?”
“We were , how clever are you?” I asked going with her theory.
“Is this a sleepover room?” I nodded.
“Did you have a good time, Daddy?”
“Oh yeah, Baby it was a lot of fun,” I admitted.
“Can I have a sleepover with you and Harper next time?”
I chuckled, nervously. “We’ll see,” I replied, like I think most adults caught in this situation would have offered .
“Yay. So, are you coming to breakfast?” she asked, either satisfied by my reply or having her little mind’s priorities right.
“Sure, Baby. Go tell Matty to start my bacon and I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
Layla took off along the landing and I slid out of bed, shaking my head and grinning as I thought we hadn’t been half as careful as we’d thought we were.
When I walked into the kitchen, Harper shot a secret glance in my direction, a smile quirking her lips.
“Morning,” I offered in a cheery tone.
“Wow, you’re bright this morning,” Matty quipped then I saw her cringe.
“Am I?” I asked, drawing a grin from Harper.
“Daddy’s happy because he had a playdate with Harper last night and they had a sleepover,” Layla informed Matty. Our housekeeper almost choked, and I burst out laughing, while Harper hid behind her hair by pulling it in front of her face.
“Sleepover?” Matty’s tone sounded amused.
“Yeah, I found them in the sleepover room,” Layla informed us all.
Matty immediately clicked it was the spare room on the landing. “It’s good that your daddy and Harper have become such good friends,” she offered, trying not to look at either one of us.
“Are we baking cinnamon rolls today?” Layla asked Matty, letting the conversation drop as I approached the table and sat down next to Harper.
Sliding my hand under the table, I squeezed Harper’s leg and left my palm resting on her knee. Turning to face me she gave me a small smile, but her focus was on Layla who was busy getting ingredients out of the pantry with Matty.
Sweeping her hair over her shoulder, I leaned in quickly and pressed a kiss to her neck. She shuddered, her eyes flicking from mine back to my daughter, then she boldly slipped her hand under the table too and ran the heel of her hand firmly over my semi-erect dick.
“It’s a beautiful morning out there, who wants to go for a swim?” I asked, trying to ignore what she was doing.
“I have my yoga regime,” Harper said.
“Me. I want to swim, Daddy.”
A little disappointed Harper wasn’t coming in; I coaxed a little more.
“You can come in afterward,” I replied, persuasively.
“Maybe, I’ll see how hot I get,” she answered.
“You’re already hot,” I countered, no longer caring who heard it, and my open confession about what I thought earned me a seductive smile. It felt liberating to say what I felt.
Not wishing to disrupt what Layla was already doing, I went down to my office to check my snail mail from the previous few days, but seconds after I entered, Harper came rushing in after me and quietly closed the door.
“Tell me she never saw anything,” she pleaded, her eyes wide.
“No, it’s fine. She said we were lying down, but she asked if she could have a sleepover next time with us, so I think we’re in the clear,” I whispered in a low tone and we both laughed.
Stepping closer to her, I placed my hands on her hips and walked her back against the closed door. “Is it too soon to say what I’m feeling terrifies me?”
“Only if the feeling is horrible,” she warned.
“It’s a great feeling, but that’s what’s scaring me.”
“What is your gut telling you?”
“It’s telling me, ‘Hell yeah, there’s no guarantees in life.’”
“What’s the worst thing that can happen? What do you fear the most?”
“You know what that is.”
“No, I don’t. I need you to spell it out for me.”
“These feelings I have for you. After last night, I could easily go all in. I mean we’ve known each other for many years now and we’ve lived in the same house. I know you as a person. I know your personality: likes and dislikes about bands, music, movies; the way you parent my daughter… all the things it would take years to learn if we were a couple starting from scratch. ”
“Yeah, I get that…” Harper looked as if she was mulling over my explanation.
“What you’re saying is, even though the sex part is new, we’re already living as a family together?”
“Yeah. I fought what I’ve been feeling for the right reasons, but now I’ve had this mental shift in my mind. I don’t want to live alone, but I’m scared to give everything in case I lose it.
“Cole, I know you’ve heard this all before… multiple times, but what happened with Grace was a freak event. Statistically it’s extremely rare. You need to remind yourself of this and challenge it, not let it disable you from finding happiness.”
“I know. I’m trying,” I replied, as I gazed seriously into her eyes and smoothed down her hair.
“Try harder,” she prompted, her smile softening the words. “You deserve to be happy, but you have to allow yourself to be. Believe it and you’ll make it happen.”
Pulling her close, I kissed her gently and pulled back. “Thank you for putting up with me all this time, I know it hasn’t been easy.”
“No, there are times when it hasn’t, but to see you recover from then until now has been a privilege.”
“All right, go and get those sexy-as-fuck yoga pants, I’ve got some voyeuristic tendencies,” I joked. Giving her an affectionate pat on the ass, I opened the door and gently shoved her through it into the hallway. “Because if I keep you here, you’ll be over my desk any second.”
Walking backward, Harper grinned. “Promises, promises,” she goaded, then turned and sashayed away. I smiled at her playful tone, and the seductive way she swayed her hips was designed to get a rise out of me. Adjusting my dick in my pants, I realized she already had.
During the following weeks life didn’t change that much between us, apart from the fact I was more open with my feelings for Harper. Also, now that we were together, there were many more opportunities to get to know my daughter better, and Layla loved all three of us doing things together .
For a while Harper and I continued to meet in the ‘sleepover’ room, but the rest of the time we kept to our separate spaces, and from my point of view, this began to irritate me. With every day that passed, I found myself waiting for the times when we could spend some quality time alone. Nine weeks after Layla had found us in bed together, I’d had enough of this.
When Harper and Layla had left for school, I asked Matty to call the interior designer Grace had used. Explaining the situation, I asked her to redesign my bedroom, and after a few emails, I’d swapped out all the dark wood furniture that Grace had loved and replaced it with white high-gloss stuff instead. The bed went as well and was replaced with an awesome new custom made one. The designer informed me the changes could be completed in less than a week.
After Layla had gone to sleep that night, I told Harper what I was thinking. “What would you say, if I said it was time, we told Layla about us?”
Smiling widely, she nodded. “You’re sure?”
“I am. What do you think?”
“I think it’s my turn to be scared,” she replied quietly, and grabbed my hand. Placing it over her heart, she prompted, “Feel.” Her heart raced.
“Ah, so that’s what it takes to scare you?” I asked, because she was normally so laid back.
Harper dropped my hand and hugged me tight; then she pulled her head back just enough to look at me. Her eyes softened.
“This is a massive step you’re taking, Cole. I want you to be sure you’re doing this for yourself and not just for me or Layla.”
“Believe me, Baby, this is a move for all of us. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of sneaking around. I miss you from the moment you leave my bed until you’re back there with me.”
“What will Layla think?”
“Layla will think we’re together.”
For a moment Harper was quiet, then her eyes searched my face. “Given that I know how wary you were about shaking Layla’s emotional stability and routines, do you think you’re ready for this kind of commitment with me? ”
“Baby, it’s being sure of what was right for her that’s kept me out of your pants before.”
“So…” she trailed off.
“So, I’m asking you if you’ll move in with me.”
“We have to be sure.”
“Agreed, and I am. Are you?”
“Yes,” Harper interjected before I repeated the argument I had used so often before. Seeing her beaming smile made my heart squeeze at how happy I’d made her.
“Hey, Layla, Baby. Can you come and sit down for a few minutes please?” Harper asked as she wiped her hands nervously on her jeans and gave me a forced smile.
“Is this going to take long? I’m coloring in a unicorn in my pad.”
“No, only a minute or two. Your dad and I want to talk to you.”
Huffing noisily, she jumped down from her chair at the table and wandered over to the couch at the far end of the kitchen that turned into a den.
“Make it quick.” Her sassy made me smirk, because she was as impatient as I was and thoroughly focused when she was doing something she enjoyed.
I glanced at Harper and bit my lip, but I wasn’t worried about telling my daughter because I knew she’d be happy about the new arrangement. “What would you say if I said I love Harper?”
Harper’s eyes shot to mine. I did, I just hadn’t voiced my feelings to her. I hadn’t intended to say it to Layla first either, the words just came out.
“Daddy, we all love Harper,” she replied, impatiently.
“Yes, but because I love Harper, and Harper loves me, we’re going to have sleepovers every night. If I said Harper’s my girlfriend now, how would you feel about this?”
“Does this mean if Steven Moody from school is my boyfriend he has to sleep in my room? ”
“God, no,” I chuckled. “Harper and I are going to live like Max and Sarah-Jayne.”
“Okay, so now Harper’s my mom? Do I call her mommy?”
“No, your Daddy and I aren’t married, but we live like I am.”
“But if you get married, I can?”
“Yeah, but that’s way in the future, maybe,” Harper said, stumbling over the question.
“Good, now can I go back to my coloring book?”
“Sure,” I told Layla, and both Harper and I shrugged at each other because she was my kid and was unfazed by our revelation. Harper and I began talking about the remodeling of my room and Layla dropped her crayon and came back to sit beside us. Suddenly she was far more excited about new furniture and cutting in on the deal, even managing to snag herself a Disney Princess mural.
When the remodel started, Harper was quiet, and I knew something was wrong. When I challenged her, she told me she didn’t want to sleep in the room where I had so many memories of Grace.
“Changing furniture won’t erase how you feel in that room. Please can we move into another one?”
“Fine, we’ll take yours,” I replied sounding indifferent, but I was pleased she’d spoken up, because she was right, and in the nine weeks we’d been together I’d never taken her in there.
Asking the designer to work with Harper on the remodel gave Harper the opportunity to choose how she wanted things to be, and it gave me the chance to spend time with Layla while the changes took place.
I was fine with everything we’d planned until it came to changing the nursery walls. My heart had felt bruised watching some of the most poignant memories from my time with Grace being harshly erased with the sweep of a rolling brush. However, although the design had held significant memories for me, Layla had no such attachment to them, and as they were in her room, it was only right I let my daughter choose.
Moving on took strength, and going forward with a new relationship, I wanted to consider Harper’s feelings, and ten weeks after our first date the décor had all been done, and we finally made the shift to living openly together in Harper’s newly decorated room.
“Does this mean you’re my new mommy now?” Layla asked again when she saw both our clothes hanging in the closet together.
“What do you think, Baby? Hasn’t Harper always been like a mom to you?”
“I suppose,” she scowled with a knitted brow, “but she’s really my mom now because you live in the same bed.”
Her comment about living in the same bed made me chuckle because my desire for Harper was almost insatiable and life in bed with her sounded idyllic. The more time I spent with her, the deeper my feelings became. I missed her when I was without her, and like it is with any new relationship, the time we were alone together never felt long enough.
Another shift with all the changes that had happened was how I felt when I looked out toward Grace’s final resting place. I no longer had the same dark angry feelings about it. Instead my emotions were more melancholic and affectionate. This comparison was something I’d have considered inconceivable before I fell for Harper.