Chapter Twenty-five
Harper turned to take one last look up at her old apartment and smiled. Life had been good to her there, giving her time and space to find her footing in the world again.
“The joint won’t be the same without you, Harper.” Eddie slung his arm over her shoulder, and Harper smiled to herself when she didn’t jump. Since the day she’d arrived, he’d been a good, if somewhat noisy, friend to her.
“I’m sure you’ll find someone new to bug with your metal collection. Maybe it’ll be a she, and she’ll know and appreciate who the Melvins are.”
“Doubt it. She’ll probably hate it and bang on the ceiling, just like you do.”
They both laughed. “On the positive side, I look forward to getting a full night’s sleep from now on.”
Hands snaked around her waist from behind. “Don’t bank on it, darlin’.” Trent placed a swift kiss behind her ear.
“Oh my God. Boys are so gross.” Drea laughed as she handed Harper the keys to her apartment. “Empty and all locked up, lady. You are good to go.”
Harper bumped Eddie one last time with her shoulder and turned to hug Drea.
A motorcycle screamed down the street and Cujo revved the truck engine like he was on the starting line at Daytona in response. “Time to go, boys and girls, if we want to get this unloaded tonight in time for the game.”
Harper watched the bike, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. Something about it was very familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it.
Drea rolled her eyes. “What is it with boys and their big engines? Seriously compensating.”
“Drea…” Harper warned gently. “Not today, please.”
“You’re right. This is your day. Sorry.”
Watching Drea walk over to her car, Harper sighed and leaned back on Trent.
“What is it with those two?”
“Hmm … who knows,” he replied as he kissed the side of her neck the way she loved.
Harper closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side, giving him more access. Usually that move was capable of distracting her from everything, but something had rattled her. Something about that damn bike.
* * *
“I’m sorry.” Trent stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms tightly around her middle. “This was so not my idea of our first night living together. If you want, I could kill Cujo somehow. Throw him over the balcony maybe.”
Laughing, she pulled his arms tighter around her waist. “It’s okay. You’ll just have to make it up to me later.”
The majority of her belongings had gone into Trent’s storage locker in the building’s basement. The rest was still packed in boxes around his condo.
An impromptu thank-you dinner for Cujo and Drea was fast becoming an all-out party. The pizza boxes were open and partially demolished on the countertop, music was blaring in contrast to the Heat game that was playing silently, and a line of empty beer bottles was starting to grow.
“That would be my pleasure.” The warm breath against her ear made her shudder.
“You have a lot of friends.”
“We have a lot of friends. We’re in this together, you know?”
And man, did those friends know how to overstay their welcome. It was well past midnight and Trent was on a mission to get everyone out of his damn apartment. Never did he think he’d see the day he’d be thankful that his beer fridge was starting to run dry.
Nudging people to get them on their way took another twenty minutes. Turning the lock on the last partier, he breathed a sigh of relief and went to look for Harper.
He found her in the kitchen. Her dark hair was in a messy plait down her back, and her gray T-shirt was sliding off her shoulder, revealing the top of her tattoo. One more appointment, a small one at that, and she was done.
He wondered if he could persuade her to have something personal, just for him, scripted across her hip bone. Maybe he’d bring his gear home and tattoo her naked, on his bed. Now that would be hot.
Trent got hard thinking about it and was just reaching down to adjust himself when Harper turned around from the sink.
“Are you getting off watching me wash dishes, Mr. Andrews? Because that’s kind of creepy.
” Her smile warmed his insides as she turned to get a dish towel out of the drawer.
The sight of her very tight ass in even tighter denim Daisy Dukes was doing nothing for the compression he was feeling in his cargo shorts.
Harper giggled as he rubbed his hands up and down her butt. “Make yourself useful and take all these pizza boxes to the garbage chute.”
“Are we doing domesticated already? I thought we had a honeymoon period where we get to mate like bunnies before we get all honey-do list.”
The T-shirt slid farther down her shoulder and he kissed the trail of skin it revealed. Harper picked up the final plate to dry it, but leaned her head to one side, enjoying the benefits of granting Trent better access.
“I like you here,” he said between kisses.
“Doing your dishes?” Harper laughed as he wrapped his arms around her waist. She put the plate to one side.
He grabbed her, lifting her to sit on the now-clean counter.
How on earth was he going to keep any control when she was looking at him like that?
He stroked the loose strands of her hair over her shoulder and leaned in to kiss her clavicle, licking over and under the little bone with quick flicks of his tongue.
“Yeah, the dishes and the cooking.” Harper tried to push him away and Trent laughed. He ran his fingers along the side of her ribs slowly. “Or it could simply be every part of you is so incredibly sexy, Harper.”
Her legs curled around his hips, pulling him closer as she moaned softly. “And every part of you is incredibly hard,” she whispered, biting on his ear.
Harper’s lips melted against his as he reached to open the button on her shorts. He lifted her with the palms of his hands and slid the shorts and her tiny thong down her legs.
“Ahh. Cold,” she shrieked as her butt hit the cold granite. Trent laughed, continuing to undress her.
His fingers slid up her inner thighs, and he grinned as she opened wider for him. A soft groan passed between them as he circled the top of her thighs, sliding up under her T-shirt to open her bra.
“I love you, Harper Connelly.”
“And I love you, Trent Andrews,” she said with a squeal as he picked her up and carried her to his … their . . . bed.