42. Harper
HARPER
It’s late Friday night, and I’m driving to Luke’s.
The entire drive to Blackthorn Ranch, I tell myself it’s a bad idea. That I should wait. That showing up at eleven makes me look desperate or clingy or like some kind of booty call.
But the truth is, I don’t care.
I want to see Luke. I want his hands on me again. I want to fall asleep in his bed and wake up with his arms around me, even if it’s just for a few hours before I have to go back home so my dad doesn’t know I’m sneaking out to have sex.
I know—it’s more than sex, but I don’t think my dad will like hearing that. He hates Jake, and that feeling is extended to Mason and Luke by default.
So I waited until he went to bed and then snuck out again, like any thirty-one-year-old woman would do.
Shaking my head in disgust at myself, I park my SUV behind the barn, where he told me to park, out of sight from the main house since it’s earlier than last night.
I cut the engine and look around. The ranch is quiet.
Most of the lights are off except for a few dim ones in the main house and the glow from the stables.
I take out my phone.
I’m here.
Bennett
I’m naked.
If I had panties on, they’d be a mess.
Bennett
You win.
Get your ass in my bed.
Grinning, I slip out of my vehicle and close the door as quietly as possible. I pause a second to make sure the coast is clear, then make my way toward Luke’s private entrance at the back of the house.
I’m halfway across the yard when I hear, “Well, well, well.”
I freeze.
Lily Carter steps out of the stable, brushing hay off her jeans, a knowing smile on her face. “Harper Garrett. Fancy meeting you here.”
My face goes hot. “I was just, um…”
Her smile widens. “You were just what? Out on a call?”
I cross my arms and give her a narrow look.
She glances back toward the main house, toward Luke’s entrance. “Maybe you’re here making an arrest?”
Behind Lily, past the barn, the door to the stablemaster’s house opens and Mason Rivera stalks out onto the porch, his expression intense. He sees me standing there, probably looking like a deer in headlights, and the intensity fades from his face. He breaks into a slow grin as he walks toward us.
“An alert went out that someone drove up,” he says as he approaches. He slips his arm around Lily. “Did I miss that you guys were having a girls’ night?”
“No.” She leans into him like it’s the most natural thing. “Harper’s sneaking in here for Luke.”
“I wasn’t sneaking,” I protest. My voice sounds defensive even to my own ears.
The front light from the main house comes on, and Jake steps onto the porch. “I got an alert from cam one.”
I close my eyes for a second. I’m going to kill Luke for not warning me about their security.
Jake leans on the porch railing. “Are we having a party I didn’t know about?”
“It’s a private party,” Luke says as he walks around the house, striding toward me. He doesn’t have a shirt on—heaven help me—but at least he’s wearing pants. “You’re not invited.”
Emma appears in the doorway right behind Jake, her hair loose and wearing one of Jake’s oversized shirts. She frowns when she sees me. “Harper, what are you doing here?”
“Delivering a casserole?” I offer weakly, and Mason actually laughs out loud.
“At eleven at night? Is that some sort of euphemism?” Emma’s eyes light up with delight as she watches Luke pull me into him with the kind of casual possession that makes my face burn hotter. “Oh my God. It is a euphemism.”
I groan as they laugh.
“Come on, Jake.” Emma takes her husband’s hand and leads him back inside. “I have a casserole for you too.”
Mason snorts as he steers Lily back toward their home. Lily waves over her shoulder. “Have fun!”
The door closes, and suddenly it’s just Luke and me in the dark yard, his arm still around me, his bare chest still very much a problem for my ability to think clearly. I clear my throat. “Well, that was humiliating.”
“That was inevitable.” Luke’s hand slides from my neck to my jaw, tilting my face up toward his. “You really think they didn’t already know?”
I grimace. “I was hoping.”
“Sunshine, I’ve been walking around here like a smug bastard for two days. They knew.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “You’re enjoying this.”
“Damn right I am.” His thumb brushes over my bottom lip, and my breath hitches. “You’re all bashful about the fact that people know how much I want you. You’re fucking adorable.”
“I am not adorable.”
“You are.” His voice drops, rough and possessive. “And you’re mine.”
Before I can respond, he grabs my hand and pulls me toward his private entrance. “I’ve had enough of the peanut gallery. I want you in my bed. Now.”
He pushes open the door to his suite and escorts me inside. The second the door closes behind us, he spins me around and pins me against it, his body pressing into mine, his hands bracketing my head.
“You have no idea what you do to me.” His voice drops low and my body immediately notices. “Showing up here, looking like that, smelling like strawberries and sex. Are you really not wearing panties?”
“I—”
He kisses me hard. “Don’t tell me. Let me find out for myself.”
I laugh.
“Sure, it’s amusing for you, but I’ve been hard for you ever since you left this morning.
” He takes my hand and puts it over his cock.
“I’ve been thinking about you all day. Thinking about how you taste.
How you sound when you come. How fucking perfect you feel wrapped around me. About your mouth on me.”
My thighs clench. “My mouth hasn’t been on you yet.”
“And that’s a travesty.” His hand slides down my side, gripping my hip, pulling me harder against him so I can feel exactly how hard he is.
“So here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to let me strip you down.
You’re going to let me find out how wet you are, and then you’re going to get on your knees for me. ”
My breath comes out shaky. “That’s a hell of an agenda.”
“You got a problem with it?”
I look up at him—at the heat in his eyes, the possessive set of his jaw, the way he’s looking at me like I’m the only thing in the world that matters. And I shake my head. “Not at all.”
His smile is slow and wicked. “That’s what I thought.”
And then his mouth crashes down on mine.