TWELVE
Harper
Harper somehow expected Cain to appear the second the ink dried on their sex contract.
She ought to have realized he was as unpredictable as a hurricane.
Two days went by, and nothing.
Then it was a week, two weeks, and a full two months.
And she still hadn’t seen or heard a word from him.
It didn’t mean she could relax.
Despite her cheerful demeanor, a persistent gloom seemed to cling to her, a secret anxiety she kept hidden from others.
Holidays were a big deal in her family, always keeping everyone busy. As a kid, they’d make a beeline for Disney World—a love for Disney she got from her mom. While Harper still enjoyed the movies, that old-school magic had gradually faded. Later on, as a teen, their holiday trips shifted to a ski resort with snow, a cozy log cabin, and trees that soared like fifteen-foot ceilings—a classic, laid-back Christmas vibe. She had a yearning for those days again. To lose herself in the season’s magic.
Now that they were grown, it didn’t mean Christmastime was any less fun. Her parents were great and went all in. Correction. Zara went all in, and Rider did anything his beloved wife wanted.
Though she was nervous about the pending Cain appointment any day now, Harper threw herself into Christmas prep with her mom. By the time her last class was finished, she was ready for eggnog, to sleep in her childhood bed again on Christmas Eve, and then to wake up early to open her stocking. She might be the oldest, but she’d always been spoiled like a baby. And who didn’t love getting presents?
The clubhouse felt like party central.
There was a drop-in potluck for the members and their families all day.
Harper helped where needed, but now she was sitting around a table with her friends and dopey brothers.
“Hero, Burger will rip out your throat if you keep staring at his sixteen-year-old daughter,” Harper laughed as her baby brother, Zane, scowled. Burger was from another chapter, just passing through to go to family in Utah.
“I could outrun him.”
“But could you outrun his pistol? I doubt it. You have too many girlfriends already.”
He only smirked, and she saw his boyish face turning into a man. Any day now, she’d turn around, and her sweet brother would be gone, replaced by his Marinos genes.
Harper leaned over and pinched his cheek. He’d been Hero for years, but to Harper, he’d always be her dopey baby brother.
“Knock it off.”
“Then stop growing up so fast.”
Speaking of genes, she jumped out of her seat when her grandparents came through the clubhouse doors.
Ajax and Annie, the patriarch and matriarch of their family, were legends in Harper’s eyes. She rushed over and embraced them both.
“Happy Christmas Eve.”
“Hriso mou.” My golden . Ajax greeted in his native Greek, still with a robust voice for a man his age. Thanks to him, she was also fluent. “How’s my girl? Have boys been sniffing around you? You tell your pop-pop, and I’ll show up with my guns.”
At his side, Annie laughed and winked at Harper. It had been the same threat he’d been making since he picked her up from daycare one day, and a boy had innocently hugged her. Harper didn’t remember this happening, but she sure had been told about it a lot.
“No boys, pop-pop.” She insisted, threading her arm through his to take them to their seats. She had a nuisance husband she’d like to shoot. Maybe she should put it on her emergency Christmas list for Santa.
For many years, the relationship between father and son had been strained, but her dad and pop-pop seemed to have fixed it now because when Rider left his office, she watched the pair exchanging a hug and then laughing together about something.
That’s what family meant to her.
They were vital.
The family was Harper’s beating heart, and she’d do anything for them, even when her bratty brothers liked to steal food off her plate. She was too late to swat Knox, who shoved the tiropita into his greedy mouth.
“This is why Santa is bringing you a lump of mud.”
He was unrepentant as he stole the last one and tossed it into his mouth with a smirk.
At that, Sebastian came in, brushing snowflakes from his sheepskin coat and off his dark hair. He was carrying a package, and he sent his gaze searching around the clubhouse. Then he strode over to her table.
“You guys seen Sunshine? Is she here? I have her Christmas gift.” Aww, that was sweet. But it only ever built hope in Sunny’s heart when he did lovely things for her in a brotherly way.
“Haven’t seen her today.” Said Knox, still feeding his face with the box of Greek appetizers their grandmother had brought.
“I think she’s out on a date.” Lied Harper, keeping a straight face even as Sebastian’s face pulled down into a frown.
“A date with who? Does Hawk know?” he growled every word, and Harper felt a pinch of happiness that he might be jealous.
“Why would Hawk need to know his daughter is enjoying the company of someone who is into her in a big way?”
Because of her genius lies, Santa was about to offload some of Harper’s gifts from the sleigh. But it was so worth it if it put a rocket under Seb’s butt to claim the girl who loved him the best in the world.
Who said you couldn’t give romance a tiny nudge?
“I’ll break his fucking legs.” He fished out his phone, but soon scowled again. “She’s not answering.” He let out a huge sigh, probably imagining Sunny being romanced. Across the table, Harper saw Saint’s pierced eyebrow go up—he knew she was full of it. But he was a good guy for not ratting her out.
“If she turns up, tell her to call me,” he said, spinning on his boots and stalking out the door.
“Sunny isn’t on a date.” Knox laughed. “Sunny doesn’t date, period. Are you meddling again, sis?”
“She’s getting herself into trouble, is what she’s doing.” Imparted Saint, like he was wiser than his years.
“I’m the Christmas fairy. How green did he look when I said she was on a date?” Harper chuckled and sent a fast text to Sunny to let her know what she’d done.
She replied minutes later.
SUNNY : OMG. I LOVE YOU.
HARPER : Maybe don’t call him back for a while. Let him stew in his frowny jealousy.
Harper hoped it worked out for Sunny one day. If not with the older Priest brother, she should give the younger Priest boy a chance since she had a strong suspicion Tanner was in love with her. It was all very complicated around these parts.
She’d heard some of her family’s origin love stories, which were wild. There was even a kidnapping somewhere. If nothing else, her generation had to outdo them in the romantic stakes.
She’d gotten married against her will and was waiting for her husband to claim her body because she’d signed it away on a contract.
How was that for wild?
However, her marriage was far from romantic because she pictured her husband’s head exploding at least five times a day.
Christmas was a complete affair with eye-blinding lights, too much food, epic naps, and the best time spent with her loved ones. But it was over too soon, and now it was the night before New Year’s Eve and only a few hours until she turned twenty-one.
“Thanks for the ride home, Dad.” She smiled across the truck cab at him.
“You’re welcome, doodle-bug.” He said, using her childhood nickname. “Do you want me to come in?”
“I’m fine. Get home to Mom.”
Waving to him from the doorstep, she went in.
Usually, the fridge was her first stop when she got home. She’d grab some sparkling water and a snack, then chill on her bed and watch a show. But she was beat and just went to her room.
There was little warning that she was about to be scared alive.
As she opened her bedroom door, about to drop her purse, she noticed a shadow in the corner, perched on her comfy reading chair.
She’d seen horror movies that started exactly like this as her skin chilled all over, and though no noise came out of her opened mouth, she still had the reflexes of a meerkat, and she reached into her purse and whipped out her trusty taser.
“You do have a taser.” Her missing husband stated, smiling in the dark. “Honey, I’m home,” Cain announced in a threatening timber.
Her initial fear subsided, revealing that it was him, not a stranger. Only her enemy. Harper flipped on the light, illuminating his relaxed form in the warm light, looking like he’d been there a while. He was without a jacket and shoes. He had the shadow of stubble on his jawline, and his hair looked like he’d scraped his hands through it a few dozen times.
“You broke into my house.” She accused. “How? I have security. How did you even get a key?”
“I own the building.” He smiled.
“An old man called Herschel owns this building.”
“Not anymore. I made old Herschel an offer he couldn’t refuse.”
Oh, my god, she envisioned her landlord in a shallow grave. “Did you hurt that sweet old man?”
“No, I didn’t hurt him. His bank account is fatter now than it ever was. This building is a shit hole.”
“It is not. And if it is, why did you buy it?”
“To have access to my wife, of course.”
Her pulse pattered.
Harper didn’t know if it was fear or something else speeding up her heart.
Rooted to the spot, she unglued herself and placed the taser on top of the dresser.
“You’re an absolute maniac. We have a deal. I would have answered the door if you’d knocked.”
“I liked this way better.” The monster smirked like it was the normal thing to do to buy an entire apartment block so he could break into her home. Then he rose to his feet in an athletic move, and those heartbeats went into an agitated flutter of fear and something else that was the opposite of fear, as he neared until he towered over her.
It had been two months since she’d seen him, this enemy, this man she hated with every fiber in her body, and his devil horns hadn’t grown any more prominent, but that didn’t make him less devil.
Was this it, then?
Had he come to collect on their deal?
She swallowed as he took the purse out of her hands and tossed it onto the seat he’d been occupying. And then he went for the zip of her jacket.
“Stop that. I can take off my coat.”
“But I’m doing it.” he smiled sinisterly, and she let him.
What else could Harper do? She was out of rights. Her coat got tossed on the same chair, and then Cain dropped to a crouch, unlacing her boots and carefully removing each one. He rose again and carried them out of the bedroom, returning within a minute.
“Why are you here?” she asked, but didn’t want the answer.
What else could it be if it wasn’t to have sex with her?
The way Cain only looked at her was unsettling.
His eyes were too dark and unreadable, and his face wasn’t any better. He stood far too close and drew a line down her cheek with a fingertip.
“You’re cold.”
Her voice shook when she answered. “It’s snowing outside.”
She knew this day would come, eventually. There was no way she could have hoped he’d moved on to torment someone else’s life.
She wished he’d left it a day longer or given her some notice.
Now Harper would remember the evening before her twenty-first birthday being the night she had to sleep with her husband.
Cain’s finger continued to travel over her cold cheek, and then he dropped his hand.
“Go have a hot shower.” He told her.
And because she wanted to prolong him for as long as she could, she grabbed a pair of PJs and escaped to the bathroom without a word of protest.
Once the door locked behind her, she started the shower until it steamed up the room, and she let go of her held breath.
How was this her life?
How did she get here?
Her family would be heartbroken learning how Harper ended up with an unwanted husband. But she wasn’t thinking about her family while she warmed up in the shower, trying to waste as much time as possible.
It took over an hour for her to shower, dry off, and get dressed. She then spent another thirty minutes blow-drying her hair.
Her blood burned in her veins seeing him lounging on her bed in only a pair of black boxer briefs. It wasn’t the sight of him semi-naked that raised her temperature. It was seeing a familiar book in his hands.
The asshole was reading her journal!
“I’m not in here, sweet baby. That’s disappointing.” He grinned with a rakish curl of his lip.
“You despicable asshole!” she hissed, frozen in the doorway, unable to drag her eyes away from the nearly naked man in her bed.
It didn’t go unobserved by Harper that he was the first man in her bed.
And it just had to be the enemy .
“Put that down right now.” She cautioned.
His reply was a saucy wink as he continued to read her private thoughts. “Come and get it off me.”