Chapter 2 #3
“I didn’t realize people actually did that outside movies,” I muttered, my lips twitching.
“Do what?”
I mimicked her, pushing an invisible pair of glasses up my nose.
“Oh, shut up,” she shot back with a huff of laughter.
“What? It’s cute.”
“It’s dorky,” she replied with a grin. “It’s okay. I’m fully aware that I’m dorky. Part of my charm and all that. I embrace it.”
“That right?”
“Yep. Everyone has their thing, right? Myla’s gorgeous. Frankie’s badass. Lou’s sweet and innocent. Meg and Olive are kind of bitchy but unbelievably cool. I’m nerdy.”
“That’s how you see yourself?” I asked in disbelief.
“What?” she asked curiously. “I’m okay with it.”
“You’re as gorgeous as Myla.”
“Shut the fuck up,” she argued, making that noise in her throat again.
“And you’re just as sweet as Lou. Cooler than Olive and Meg by a mile.”
“You’re so full of it.” She rolled her eyes.
“Not as badass as Frank, though,” I said with mock sympathy.
“Is anyone?” she replied.
“No one I’ve met.”
Harper smiled, and I felt it in my gut.
What the fuck?
I’d seen her smile a thousand times. She wasn’t around much, but I’d seen her nearly every time she’d come home from college and the job that kept her traveling. We’d never been close or anything, but we’d hung out plenty of times in the same group.
“I am absolutely comfortable with being the nerdy cousin,” she said, bumping her shoulder against mine. “Everyone has their place, right?”
I struggled for something to say. I’d always thought Harper was beautiful.
She had this shoulder-length brown hair that was so thick you couldn’t help imagining gripping it in your fist, bright blue eyes, and a smile that lit up her whole face.
When you added in the glasses, she was a fucking knockout.
But I thought a lot of women were beautiful and didn’t want to fuck them.
Hell, every one of my brothers had a woman that was gorgeous in her own way, and I’d never felt even a tingle of attraction.
“Hello?” Harper called, waving her hand in front of my face. “You in there, Bas?”
“What?” I jerked.
“You zoned out,” she said, still smiling. Jesus. “Where’d you go?”
“Right here.”
“You want me to leave you alone?” Her voice dropped with concern. “Sorry, I know I interrupted your brooding sesh out here.”
“My brooding sesh?”
“Yeah, you know, sitting out here in the dark, alone, thinking deep thoughts. Pondering the universe. Whatever you were doing.”
“I was just takin’ a break from the noise inside.”
“You said you had stuff on your mind,” she countered.
“It’s not a big deal. Happy for the company.”
“Oh good,” she said with a sigh. “I really didn’t want to go back in there.”
“Why are you hidin’ out?”
“Truth?”
“Always.”
“I got fired from my job today,” she said with a wince.
“No fuckin’ way.”
She let out a chirp of laughter. “Thanks for that.”
“Why the hell would anyone fire you?”
“You’re good for my ego,” she said, bumping her shoulder against mine again. “They fired me because I wouldn’t do shady shit for them.”
“What? Fuck them.”
“That’s what Gray said.”
“Not surprised.”
“It just sucks,” she said with a sigh. “I’ve never been fired before.”
Yeah, I could see that. Harper was one of those people who you just knew was responsible.
The type of person you’d ask to take care of your house when you were on vacation, because you knew she’d go the extra mile.
She’d play with your cat, fertilize your house plants, and leave sticky notes on your mail so you knew which day it had arrived.
“Sounds like a good thing,” I replied. “If they were askin’ you to do shit you weren’t comfortable with.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said, frowning. “I just don’t know what I’m going to do now. I’ve always been working toward something, you know? It feels pretty freaking weird to just be…floating.”
“It’s been less than a day,” I reminded her. “I think you’ve got time to make a plan.”
“Don’t talk logic to me, Bas,” she scolded playfully. “I’m trying to brood with you.”
“Fuck, sorry.” I lifted my hands in surrender and felt a little jolt as she giggled.
“Bas,” she said, drawing my name out. “Where the hell did that come from? Do you like to fish or something?”
“What?” I asked, confused by the change of subject.
“Bass? Like the fish?”
I let out a bark of surprised laughter, nearly choking.
“What?” she asked innocently. “It’s a valid question!”
“It’s short for Sebastian,” I replied with a wheeze.
“Oh.” Her mouth snapped shut.
“Do I like to fish?” I repeated, still snickering.
“Everyone has nicknames,” she shot back, her eyes wide. “How the hell would I know?”
I couldn’t stop laughing. The question was so out of left field.
Then Harper let out a little snicker that quickly turned into her whole body shaking with laughter.
“Knock it off!” she ordered, still laughing. “It was a valid question!”
I just laughed harder. Jesus, she was so unexpected.
With a huff, she rose from the couch and stood in front of me, her hands on her hips.
“Quit it!” Her voice was filled with exasperation, but her expression was anything but annoyed. “Oh my god. I’m out here telling you my secrets, and you’re laughing. Go back to your brooding, I’m going inside.”
Before she could turn away, I reached out to grab her hips to keep her in place.
“That’s not fair,” I replied, controlling my mirth. “I didn’t laugh at your secret. Wait, what was your secret?”
“That I got fired!”
“Why’s that a secret?” I asked curiously. “No, never mind. We’ll get to that later. I wasn’t laughing at that. I was laughing because you asked me if I liked to fish.”
“Everyone calls you Bas!”
“Yes, they do.” I rolled my lips in between my teeth to stop my smile.
“Like a fish. A bass fish.”
“You gotta stop trying to explain it,” I said hoarsely, barely keeping it together.
“It’s not that funny!”
“Baby, it’s fucking hilarious.”
We both froze.
I was a man who used endearments. I called women sweetheart, doll, beautiful, gorgeous. Not all women—but the ones I was close to. I didn’t even really think about it. I’d picked up the habit when I was a funky-looking teenager, and I’d just never stopped.
Harper had to have known that. It wasn’t a secret.
But there was no way in hell I could play off calling her baby.
I became hyperaware of the round hips under my palms, the little hollow that my thumbs rested in, and where my fingertips were brushing the globes of her ass.
I swallowed hard, trying to find my way out of the hole I’d just fallen into when Harper’s hand left her hip and came forward, her fingers dragging through the hair above my forehead.
Oh, shit. Were we doing this?
She paused, her eyes darting down to mine.
Then both her hands were in my hair, and I was dragging her closer. She stepped in between my knees and tilted my head back, her fingers drifting over the rings in my ears and then down my jaw.
Fuck, she smelled good. Like flowers and something darker. Feminine and warm.
Slipping my hands under her sweater, I ran my thumbs over the smooth skin above the waistband of her jeans. She shuddered.
Her fingertips trailed over my chin and traced my lips before finding the ring in my septum. She gave it the smallest flick and then smoothed up the bridge of my nose.
It was as if everything around us was fucking gone. The only things I could focus on were those small points of contact. Her warm skin under my fingertips and her hands on my face. The tension grew to an unbearable point, and I wasn’t even sure if I was breathing.
I’d been with plenty of women and had good experiences with most of them, but I’d never in my life felt that kind of chemistry. We were barely fucking touching, and I was hard as a rock already.
Widening my fingers, I brushed them upward, and my dick twitched when my thumb found a small barbell in her belly button. It was so fucking unexpected on this woman who described herself as nerdy and was wearing a sweater she’d dug out of some old lady’s closet.
With a groan, I jerked her forward as I lifted the sweater, finding that little ring with my mouth.
“Fuck,” she breathed above me.
Then she was climbing into my lap, and I lifted my head as she settled in, straddling my thighs.
“Come here,” I ordered, sliding my hands into that thick-as-fuck hair.
When her lips found mine, her hair falling down around my face and neck, I had to consciously keep my hands gentle.
She tasted like fucking candy, and she used her mouth like it was her goddamn job.
Harper White knew how to kiss, and she knew exactly how she wanted it.
There was no hesitation in her hold as she cupped my face in her hands, changing the angle as she licked into my mouth.
When she rocked her hips against me, my fist tightened in her hair. I couldn’t think.
I’d just wrapped my hand around her breast, barely brushing my thumb over her nipple, when the back door opened and the noise from the party inside filled the night around us, making Harper jerk away.
“Whoops, sorry,” a woman’s voice said quickly before the door shut again.
I wasn’t even sure who’d seen us because everything outside of the woman in my arms was foggy and muted.
“Oh my god,” Harper muttered, climbing quickly off my lap. “What the fuck did we just do?”
I stood as she backed away, but I was still reeling from that kiss, and I couldn’t figure out why the fuck she’d jumped off me like I was on fire. It wasn’t as if I’d done something she didn’t like. Harper had been an active and eager participant.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, the words coming out harsher than I’d intended.
“What the fuck?” she repeated, looking anywhere but at me.
Then, without another word, she turned and escaped into the house.
Looking down at my jeans in frustration, I paused before following her. I wasn’t going to chase her with my dick trying to escape through my zipper.
Why the hell had she run off? I was sure we’d been having a good time. Hell, I’d been having a great time. I wasn’t an idiot. I could tell when a woman was into me, and Harper had been all in. Unexpected, sure, but that chemistry couldn’t be faked or mistaken.
I wasn’t sure how in the hell I’d never noticed her before. We’d been spending time together for years, and I’d never once wondered what she looked like naked—which I couldn’t get out of my head now and wasn’t helping to get rid of my problem. She had a goddamn navel ring.
I wanted to know what it looked like.
And thoughts like that were going to keep me on the porch for the rest of the night.
Instead, I tried to think about anything else. The Dyna I’d been working on all week at the garage. The dumpster at my apartment that smelled like death. The little old lady I’d helped at the store last week. The smell of dirty socks. Hangovers.
I finally got rid of the erection, but by the time I let myself back in the house, Harper was gone.