Chapter 7 #2
She smiles and opens the pack wider, peering inside. “Let’s see. We have cashews, jerky, trail mix, a protein bar, and sour candy.”
Opening the candy, she pops some in her mouth.
“What can I give you?”
You can straddle my lap and let me fuck you here in the woods, sugar.
“I’ll take some jerky.”
“You got it.” She passes me the unopened package, pops more candy in her mouth, then zips up her pack.
When she stands, she loses her balance and ends up over a log, on her ass, scowling as her hat falls right off her head.
“You okay?” I hurry over to her and cup her face, scanning her body.
“I’m a clumsy oaf,” she says.
I shake my head. “The log jumped you,” I reply. “I saw it. Anything hurt?”
“Just my pride and my ass.” I help her to her feet, and she brushes off her backside. I pick up the hat, but I don’t give it back to her yet. “Thanks.”
But I don’t pull away.
I don’t want to pull away.
I step into her and tip her chin up before I slant my lips over hers. A little moan comes from her throat, and she wraps her arms around my waist. She leans into me, presses her breasts against me, and kisses me back.
And every cell in my body ignites.
I frame her face in my hands and devour her. She tastes like sugar and every dream I’ve had for six long, brutal months.
Christ. I’ve missed touching her.
When I come up for air, I rest my forehead on hers. “Should I apologize for that?”
“I hope you won’t,” she whispers. She hasn’t opened her eyes.
“Let’s head back,” I say, reluctantly pulling away from her but keeping her hand in mine. “Before I strip us both naked and fuck you right here where anyone can see.”
She laughs, bites her lip, and grabs her pack. “I’m not into that, Blake.”
“Yeah, well, me neither, but I’m damn tempted.”
Hiking back to the car takes half the time since it’s mostly downhill, and we spend a good portion of it jogging. Not quite as fast as if I were doing this alone, but it’s a good pace, and when we reach the parking lot, we’re both panting pretty hard.
We walk around, catching our breath. She stops by an older SUV that’s seen better days.
“ This is what Tucker found for you?” I ask her, eyeing the dent in the rear door.
“Yep. This is it.” She opens that dented door and tosses her pack inside. “I have to buy an air freshener. It’s a little musty.”
“Is it safe?” I scowl at it and then at her. “I’m pretty sure you can do better than this, Harper.”
Her eyes narrow on me. “If you think it’s a heap, take it up with your brother. I bought it from him.”
“You bought it from Brooks?”
“Yes. It runs great. It’s not brand new or fancy like that Mercedes over there, but it’s reliable, and I didn’t have to deal with it. I cannot stress to you enough how much I hate car dealerships, Blake. It’s a thing for me, okay? So no, it’s not pretty, but it’s what’s on the inside that counts.”
She laughs at her own joke, and I can’t help it. I cage her in against the car and kiss her again. She’s smiling against my lips, and when I pull back, I don’t even pause. “I want to take you out to dinner tonight.”
Her smile doesn’t slip. “I could eat.”
“I’ll pick you up in two hours.”
“Okay, I’ll text you the address. Don’t think I didn’t catch the whole send me that picture so you could get my number thing you did. You didn’t outsmart me, Dr. Blackwell.”
I can’t help but laugh at that and lean in to kiss her forehead. “Got me. Hey, it worked. Shoot me that address, and I’ll see you in two fucking hours.”
“I’ll be ready.” She smiles, and I walk to my car.
When I turn back, she’s gaping. Because I’m standing by the Mercedes she pointed out before, and it makes me laugh .
“Show-off!”
I smirk. “Get in the car, Harper. I won’t leave until you do.”
She shakes her head, sinks into her driver’s seat, and pulls out ahead of me.
Two hours later, to the minute, I pull off the highway and onto a driveway that meanders back through some trees, and then a clearing opens up to a huge log-style mansion that has me blinking in surprise.
This is where she lives?
I pull up in front of the double front door and cut the engine, then climb the stairs and ring the doorbell. A few seconds later, she opens the door, and my jaw goes slack.
She’s in jeans and an oversized pink blouse that falls over one shoulder, leaving it bare.
I want to sink my teeth into her there.
“You’re fucking gorgeous.”
Her hair is down and wavy, and she put some makeup on. Not too much, just enough to make those gray eyes look like … magic.
She takes in my jeans and green button-down. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
“Are you hungry?”
“No. I’m hangry. I could eat literal sawdust, and it would be amazing.”
I watch as she locks her door, then I take her hand and bring it up to my lips. “No sawdust tonight. How do you feel about burgers?”
“I have a fondness for burgers,” she replies. “I’m down for that.”
I lead her to my car and open the door for her, and once she’s settled in the seat, I close the door and circle the hood, giving the house one more curious glance.
“That’s a nice house,” I say as I put the car in gear and pull away.
She glances back at it. “Yeah, it is. The inside is nice, too. But it’s kind of ridiculous.”
I blink at her in surprise. “You think your house is ridiculous?”
“Oh, it’s not mine .” She laughs at that, as if just the thought is preposterous. “It’s Xander’s. He’s another brother. Xander’s never home because he’s off being a fancy hockey player, so when I moved back, he basically insisted I housesit for him.”
That’s right, Xander Hendrix is the starting center for the Denver Flurry.
“Ah, I see.” I nod and pull onto the highway just as Harper’s phone rings. She checks the screen, and I see her frown out of the corner of my eye.
“Sorry,” she says. “I have to take this.”
“By all means.”
She holds the phone up to her ear. “Hey, what’s up? Are you okay? ”
She listens for a second, then shakes her head in agitation.
“No. Absolutely not. You listen to me. You can’t eat that.
It’ll send your sugar levels into the stratosphere, Greg.
I don’t care what Tucker said. He’s not a medical professional, and if you eat that, I will come over there, and well, I’ll do something.
I’ll figure that out later. Seriously, please don’t do that. You’ll feel like shit.”
I scowl and glance her way. She has literal tears in her eyes.
What’s going on?
“Promise me,” she says. “Okay, I’m trusting you. I’ll bake you something delicious tomorrow and bring it over. It’s my day off. No, I wanted to bake anyway. Okay. You stress me out, Greg. For the love of God and all the saints. Yeah, yeah, love, blah, blah. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She hangs up, blows out a breath, and shakes her head.
“Family is hard,” she finally says, and I immediately reach for her hand.
“What’s going on, sugar?”
She links her fingers through mine.
“Greg Hendrix raised me. My parents were shit. It’s a long story.
Anyway, Greg was diagnosed with type two diabetes a couple of months ago, and he’s so not good at regulating it.
It’s the biggest reason I moved home. If you think I have a sweet tooth?
He invented the word. And he’s in good shape.
The man has been a rancher his whole life, and he’s still active despite Tucker doing most of the work now.
Anyway, he’s stubborn, he doesn’t listen, and I seem to be the only one who can get through to him. Mostly, I use the guilt trip tactic.”
“I take it that it’s worked before?”
“Like a charm. I’ll bake him something delicious tomorrow to help with the sweet tooth. If he puts himself in a goddamn diabetic coma tonight, he won’t have to worry about diabetes. I’ll kill him myself.”
I smile over at her. “He won’t. I would have been afraid of you just now, too.”
She smirks and lets out another breath. “Okay, enough of that nonsense. Let’s go eat.”