Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Max
I awoke sitting up on the sectional in my living room, my feet on the coffee table, my body sweating, and my dick hard.
As I blinked awake, I took a few seconds to get my bearings.
The sun had set. It was still Sunday evening, just after nine according to my phone.
I’d been grading quizzes after putting Danny to bed.
I’d dozed off and had one hell of a hot dream featuring the sexy troublemaker who’d kissed me this morning.
In my dream, she’d done a lot more than kiss me.
“Fuck,” I said out loud as my blood pumped south.
I refused to give in to the urge to finish myself off to thoughts of my boss’s daughter. I wasn’t some eighteen-year-old who needed to rub one out just because of a forbidden dream. Instead I got up and headed toward Danny’s room to check on him, a surefire way to cool my jets.
On the way through the kitchen, I started counting backward from one hundred by threes to get my mind off the discomfort in my sweatpants.
I opened Danny’s door enough to see inside.
He was asleep, so I snuck to the side of his crib to watch him for a few deep, peaceful breaths.
As I’d hoped, my love for my son took over, and my body chilled the hell out.
I reached out, wanting to run my fingers over this amazing little guy’s cheek but stopping myself so I wouldn’t disturb him.
I watched his chest rise and fall a few more times the way I’d obsessively done when he’d first come into my care. The never-ending anxiety that something bad could happen to him was like an old bathrobe by now. Familiar but ugly.
Content that he was sleeping soundly, I crept back out of his room, relieved my erection was gone. I returned to the pile of math quizzes on the coffee table and dug into the last two of the night, hoping equations would keep my mind off Harper.
When I finished, I put the graded quizzes in my work bag, and thoughts of the brunette with the brown eyes returned in full force. I wondered what she was doing. Back in the studio creating jewelry? Or was she in the house with Naomi’s unpredictable brother?
I didn’t like the second possibility. She might trust him, but what if her instincts were wrong? I didn’t know her well enough to have a gauge of that yet.
I picked up my phone to check on her. That was all.
Is your housemate leaving you alone?
I typed in the words but didn’t press Send. We weren’t this familiar, were we? I didn’t want to be a text buddy. Couldn’t really afford to open that door.
I couldn’t handle not reassuring myself she was okay with her unstable roommate though.
I pushed Send.
After thirty seconds, bubbles showed she was typing. I didn’t allow myself to think how relieved I was.
An eternity passed before a message appeared, making me wonder if she’d rethought replying.
He’s beat on my door three times. Don’t worry, it’s locked, plus I moved my dresser against it.
I straightened and was on the verge of calling her when the next message came through: a winking emoji and a laughing emoji.
I should’ve guessed. Sagging into the cushion, I shook my head, eventually getting to the point where I could smile. As always, Harper was trouble walking.
Why couldn’t I seem to leave trouble alone?
I was still trying to come up with a reply when she sent another message.
Max? I was teasing. I’m fine.
Before I could answer that, she sent a photo of herself, which revved my pulse right back up.
She was waving and smiling, an open-mouthed, smart-aleck grin.
Her dark hair was down except for a braid on each side of her part that went from her forehead to the back.
Her eyes shone with mischief and a sparkly shade of lavender shadow.
Her lips were glossed in a muted tone, her cheeks pink with a natural flush, and she wore a necklace with a light-purple, oval stone and earrings that coordinated, all of them set in silver.
I was sure she’d made the pieces herself.
I couldn’t see more, couldn’t tell where she was beyond outside. I tried to tell myself I didn’t care, but I couldn’t pull it off.
No doubt she was trying to throw me off, as she liked to do.
I sat there shaking my head, grinning like that eighteen-year-old boy I wasn’t, weighing my options, halfheartedly attempting to talk myself out of giving it right back to her.
I lost the battle and typed in one word.
Hot.
She didn’t immediately reply, so I hoped I’d thrown her off.
When a full minute or two passed and she still hadn’t said anything, my confidence slipped. Had I misread her?
Maybe she was driving and couldn’t answer.
Or maybe my text flirting game was outdated and lame.
I stopped waiting for a reply, busying myself by prepping my bag for work tomorrow. I went to the kitchen to make my lunch as I always did before bed, but before I could pull out ingredients for a chicken wrap, there was a quiet knock at the front door.
My adrenaline started pumping at the thought it might be Harper.
It was after nine p.m. on a Sunday. Who else would be at my door, particularly after our back-and-forth?
Still, when I looked out the peephole and saw her standing on my doorstep, there was a punch to my chest that took the wind out of me and made my mouth go dry.
I opened the door and tried to look puzzled instead of really fucking happy to see her.
“Hi,” she said a little shyly. “Is Danny asleep?”
“He is.”
She relaxed a degree. “Do you mind if I come in?”
In response, I opened the door wider and stepped back. I was running possible comments through my mind, smart-ass ones, flirtatious ones, but I held them in, because suddenly the stakes were a lot higher with her staring up at me in the flesh.
“Am I interrupting anything?” she asked as she glanced around.
“Just an ill-advised flirtation via text messages with this hot girl I know.”
Her shoulders relaxed even more, and her smile widened, became more natural.
“What brings you by?” I asked. We weren’t on booty call level, though if she kissed me right now, I didn’t think I could resist the temptation.
“I just wanted to talk,” she said quickly, shutting down my line of thinking in a heartbeat.
Well, mostly. Because the parts of her that hadn’t shown in the photo were just as alluring as that pic she’d sent over.
Her legs were showcased by a short lavender skirt with silver buttons down the front.
On the top, she wore a white, thin-strapped tank that contoured to her curves and bared a two-inch strip of skin at her waist. On her feet were minimalist sandals with wedge heels, making her legs about two miles longer.
“Talk,” I parroted as I reined in my thoughts. “We can talk. Inside? Or we could sit on the deck.”
“The deck’s good. It’s cooled down a lot.”
I flipped the living room and kitchen lights off except for one under-cabinet one to avoid attracting bugs and went to the thermostat and flipped the AC off. Then we went out the back. I left the slider open, closing only the screen, so if Danny needed me, I could hear.
“Have a seat,” I said, gesturing to the outdoor sectional that faced a fireplace. It was cooler than the daytime but not nearly enough for a fire.
Harper leaned down and removed her shoes, then sat in the corner of the sectional and pulled her legs up under her, her knees to the side.
“This is amazing,” she said, sinking into the lush cushions.
“It’s more comfortable than any furniture I own.
Which isn’t a lot actually. That’ll have to change soon. Dakota and I are signing a lease.”
“Mrs. Karasinski’s place?” I asked as I sat at a right angle to her, keeping a few inches between us despite my desire to slide up against her.
“Yes. In spite of it looking just like the inside of her shop.” Her eyes widened meaningfully.
“There’s a lot of stuff in her shop if I remember right.”
“You do. I can’t wait to see the apartment once the crap is all gone. The bedrooms each have a window seat looking out on the square. There’s a deep, claw-foot tub that looks unused, and the back deck has a view of the woods.” Her eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Congratulations. You can’t beat the location. How soon can you move in?”
“A couple of weeks. They have to empty it, and then we’re getting new floors and paint.”
“The sooner you’re out of Naomi’s—”
“Ian’s fine. Stop worrying. So when we were looking at the apartment, the agent was also showing the shop downstairs to a potential business owner.”
“Anything good going in?”
“Well, maybe. Do you know Cambria Clarke?”
“I had her in an advanced class years ago.”
“She graduated the same year as me,” Harper said. “She’s thinking of opening a shop to sell her candles.”
My brows shot up. “I haven’t been inside that store for a long time, but that’d be a lot of candles, wouldn’t it?”
She laughed and nodded. “A shit ton of candles. So she’s rethinking her business plan, possibly broadening her focus.” Harper paused and inhaled deeply. “I said I might be open to her selling my jewelry.”
“Hell yes. That’s great, Harper. I think it’ll sell easily.”
She had a pensive expression, as if she was going to say more. She bit her lip, then said, “She asked us whether we’d ever thought about going into business.”
“Like owning the shop with her?”
“I guess so. A partnership. I said signing a lease was a big enough commitment for one day. But I can’t get the idea out of my mind.
I was sitting at Humble’s, celebrating with Dakota, and I kept thinking about what a shop like that might look like.
After Humble’s, we went to the Fly. There were lots of people out tonight, and I still kept thinking about Cambria’s question. ”
“Do you think she meant it?”
“I have no idea how serious she was, but maybe?”
“So candles and jewelry?”
“And Dakota’s ceramics. Cambria mentioned gift items and home decor. We could have handmade soaps and body care, picture frames, stickers… Lots of possibilities.”