12. Harvey
Chapter 12
Harvey
T here’s no denying you’re fucked.
There’s not a chance in hell I’m going to be able to be around this woman in her little floral sundress all day and not pull her into a bathroom just so I can inhale her scent.
“Do I look okay?” She smooths down the front of her dress nervously, glancing from it to me, then back down again.
Her hair is down in loose curls that frame her beautiful face, a pale-yellow ribbon tied in her hair that perfectly matches the yellow sunflowers that pattern her dress.
“Yes. Trust me, it’s not a bad stare. You look beautiful.”
“Oh.” Her cheeks flush a soft pink that matches the color on her lips. “Thank you.”
“Are you still nervous about showing up together?” Her eyes shift away from mine briefly and it makes my stomach drop.
“Not nervous, I guess, but… I just don’t want it to be a thing, you know? With Blaire and Juliette about to give birth soon, I just don’t want to take away from the focus.”
“You mean if they know—about us?”
“Yeah, I don’t want them worried about me and everything going on with work. It would be complicated to explain so I’d rather just keep it between us if that’s okay?”
It’s clear that either she and I are on two different pages when it comes to us, or to her, the only us that’s happening right now is our pretend situation because I stepped in to help her.
“Yeah.” I smile, letting her relax. “Of course.”
“Thank you”—her hand reaches out to rest against my bicep—“again, for everything.”
“You don’t need to keep thanking me, Aspen. We’re friends, remember?” I wink at her and she smiles. “It’s the least I could do.”
We head out of our building and into my car, driving over to Blaire and Jimmy’s house. I flip on the radio during the drive, hoping it distracts from my shift in mood that I’m doing a piss-poor job of hiding.
I remind myself that once I’m at Jimmy’s with a cold beer in hand and the guys to distract me with conversations about work and how bad the Cubs are doing this year, I’ll be just fine.
“Oh my God, you’re alive!” Blaire waves her arms at Aspen as we walk up the sidewalk to their house. “I’d get up to hug you, but Jameson has vanquished me to this chair.” She scowls before standing to throw her arms around Aspen. “Oh my God, I’ve missed you so much.”
“Look at you.” Aspen’s joy is evident in her voice and the look on her face as she places her hands gently against Blaire’s pregnant belly.
“Jules and Alex aren’t here yet but when you see her, you’re going to scream; she is practically minutes from popping.”
“Doesn’t Luka have a bet on that due date?” I ask Jimmy as he hands me a beer.
“I sure do,” Luka says from behind us. “She didn’t deliver yet, did she?” He looks around, a baby bag on one arm, his daughter Daisy in his other arm, who claps and coos when she sees her uncle.
“Not yet,” Jimmy confirms, reaching his hands out toward his niece. “There’s my girl.” He melts the second he sees her every time. To think he almost considered not being a father is crazy because the man is a natural.
“Speak of the devil.” I nod toward the black Challenger that pulls up, Alex and Juliette climbing out with Juliette’s daughter Chloe running up the sidewalk ahead of them.
“Oh God,” Harper groans when she sees her friend waddling up the sidewalk with a tired grin on her face. “I remember that feeling.” She walks toward Juliette with her arms outstretched.
“Let’s just get it out of the way now. Yes, I’m huge,” Juliette says in her calm, classy manner, “and yes, I’m still pregnant. But most importantly, I don’t want to talk about it.”
“She’s at her limit with it,” Alex reiterates.
My eyes wander away from the conversation toward the deck where Aspen laughs with Harper, her skin a healthier shade of pink rather than the sallow pallor it had been a few weeks back. I question what made me not approach her the times I’ve seen her in mixed company over the years. I noticed her the first time I met her, her quiet yet good-natured demeanor a calm relief from the usual chaos that surrounds my life.
Too lost in thought, I don’t even notice when the guys stop talking and walk over to put food on the grill.
“I’m not even going to bother asking you what you’re thinking about.” I turn to look at Jimmy who’s standing just behind me. “So she’s the neighbor, huh?”
Considering he and the guys have been giving me shit for months about my mysterious new neighbor I stupidly admitted being interested in, I know him and the rest of the guys put two and two together since we showed up in the same car.
“Yup.” No point in denying it now.
“Does she know?”
Know I’m attracted to her? Yeah, she got that message loud and clear.
Know I want more than my pattern of fuck buddies and one-night stands? Still haven’t found the time to bring that up.
“Nah.” The bitterness of the beer on my tongue is a welcome distraction from that unwelcome reality.
“At least it seems she isn’t scared of you anymore if she’s willing to talk to you now.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
He gets the message that it’s not something I want to talk about.
“The meeting with Connor Blake go well?”
“Yeah. He still wants the protection so I told him we’d start it on Monday. I’ll take the first shift.”
“Great, I’ll grab the second and Luka will pick up the third.”
I excuse myself to step into the house and use the restroom, taking my time before walking back outside. Aspen’s back is to me, her dress leaving her shoulders and upper back completely exposed. An image of her on all fours, looking back at me over her shoulder with those freshly bitten lips slightly parted, flashes across my brain. I flinch, looking away from the window with guilt for a brief second. When I look back, she’s turned toward me, walking with her hand outstretched toward the back door of the house.
“Oh, hey.” Her eyes light up with a look of genuine surprise to see me standing inside. “You kind of scared me.” She walks past me, down the hallway toward the bathroom, but I follow her, my hand suddenly at her back, pressing her gently into the bathroom and closing the door behind us.
“What are you doing?” she whispers frantically.
“I just wanted to see how you were doing after last night.” I feel awkward pulling her into the bathroom now. It is an exaggerated gesture just to ask how she’s feeling but that wasn’t really my motivation for dragging her in here. I just want to be near her, to walk up and kiss her or pull her down onto my lap around the table while we talk, the way my friends outside are doing.
“You picked now to talk about that?” Her eyes grow wide. “You could have asked me this morning or on the way over here.”
“You’re right.” I reach behind me and slowly twist the handle on the door, peeking through the crack to make sure nobody is coming down the hallway. “We’ll talk later.”
“Wait.” Her fingers lightly graze my arm. “I’m okay.” She smiles, her top teeth sinking down into her lower lip.
“Just okay?” I give her a questioning look and she lets out a teasing laugh, covering her mouth.
“I feel good…”
“Satisfied?” Here I am again, teasing myself. I should walk back outside right now and discuss this with her later when we’re alone. Her smile fades and her eyelids grow heavy. She slowly shakes her head. “No?” My grip on the doorframe tightens, the ache in my balls almost unbearable. “And what would satisfy you, Aspen?”
She doesn’t reply as she gently scoots herself back onto the bathroom counter. Her eyes remain on mine as she gathers the material of her dress into her hands, bunching it up as she slowly spreads her thighs apart for me.
I pull the door closed, my eyes dropping to her exposed skin. My hand trembles as I gently wrap my fingers around her upper thigh, then place my other hand on the back of her neck as I pull her toward me.
“You have no idea the things I want to do to you.”
Her voice lowers to even more hushed tone as she says, “Take me.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, the restraint it’s taking to hold myself back from doing just that feels supernatural.
“Please.”
“Oh fuck,” I groan. “Now you’re begging me? Are you trying to kill me?” She reaches for me, her hand grabbing my shirt and pulling me toward her until our lips almost touch. “Do you have any idea the self-restraint it’s taking me right now? Even the military didn’t have me this close to breaking.”
“Just kiss me.” Gone is that shy woman from a moment ago, replaced by need.
“Do I need to handle you before we go back out there?” She nods her head slowly. “Put your hands on the counter,” I instruct her. “Don’t move them or I stop.”
She complies, her hands flat against the counter as her chest begins to rise and fall more rapidly with excitement. I slide my hand beneath her dress, pushing her panties to the side.
“Don’t lift your hands and keep your back against the mirror, you understand me?” She nods and I gently push my finger inside her, her already wet pussy quivering around it. “Just like that,” I encourage her as my finger begins to move inside her. I keep the pressure on her clit light while stimulating her G-spot.
I can see it in her eyes already. The way her mouth hangs open as her body surrenders to my touch. “Just two fingers,” I murmur. “That’s all that has you under this spell right now.” I wrap my hand partially around her throat, partially around her jaw as I watch her. “I’m sorry I’m not kissing you but I can’t right now.” I look down, watching my second finger disappear inside her as I add it to the first.
“Why?” Her question is more of a cry.
“Because every time I kiss you”—I curl my fingers, applying a little more pressure as her body starts to convulse—“all I want to do is fuck you.” Her fingers grip the countertop, her moans growing louder. “Deep and thoroughly over and over again. Shhh.” I clamp my hand over her mouth, her teeth biting down on my palm as she comes.
I’ve lost all track of time in here with her. I have no doubt that our small group of friends noticed that two of us have disappeared together.
“Better now?” I tap her chin gently as I help her off the counter after cleaning her up.
“Thank you.” She sways a little and I hold her to help steady her. “When are we going?”
I stare down at her face. This time her cheeks aren’t flush with embarrassment but desire. Maybe this is exactly what she needed to explore what she wants, a relationship with someone she can trust.
Relationship?
I open my mouth to tell her to march her insatiable ass out to the car so that I can take her home and remedy this situation right now when someone jiggles the handle. I grab it just in time.
“I’m in here,” Aspen says. “Be right out.”
“Sorry, no rush!” Juliette says on the other side of the door.
“Shit!” Aspen mouths the word to me. She’s trying to tell me something else, but I can’t make out what she’s saying. Only the words pregnant and upstairs.
I don’t have the patience to come up with some escape plan and odds are, Jules is standing right outside the door waiting till Aspen leaves because she’s eight months pregnant and not about to climb a set of stairs.
So I do the only thing I can, grabbing the handle and swinging the door open. I step out into the hall just as Aspen’s hands cover her mouth and Juliette’s eyes grow wide in surprise when she sees me.
“It’s not what it looks like,” Aspen says quickly. “I had something in my eye and he was helping me get it out.”
Juliette looks at her, then at me, a knowing look on her face that spreads into a grin. “Yeah, I had something in my eye once. Alex tried helping me ‘get it out’ and look what happened.” She laughs, pointing to her large belly.
“It’s, um…” She looks at me, then back to Jules.
Jules shakes her head. “I don’t need an explanation.” She slides her finger over mouth and pretends to toss a key. “But if you don’t move, I’m literally going to pee my pants and I’m not responsible if it splashes onto you two.”
We jump out of the way and she runs into the bathroom. I don’t want to ruin the mood by asking her why she wants to keep things so hush-hush between us. I’m not an idiot. I’ve been around long enough to know it most likely means it’s not a long-term thing or she doesn’t trust it has the potential to be that.
“So back to what we were saying.” She laughs when I turn her around to face the kitchen and swat her ass.
“Not a chance in hell we’re getting back on that subject right now.”