Chapter 31
“Nothing says ‘Good Morning’ like a well-timed guilt trip.” ~ Harper
Harper
I snuggle into Kai and his arm tightens around my waist.
He kisses my hair. “Good morning, Slugger. How did you sleep?”
I open my mouth to tell him okay but then I realize I’d be lying. I slept better than okay.
“Pretty good,” I hedge. “I usually don’t sleep well because of Dad’s snoring.”
The earplugs he bought me are great, but they’re almost too great. I’m afraid Dad will call out to me and I won’t hear him when I wear them.
“I’ll have to fuck you to sleep more often.”
I roll over to glare at him. “Awful presumptuous of you.”
“I love you. I’m not sleeping apart from you.”
My heart batters in my chest. This man loves me. And I love him. When he cradled baby Stephanie in his arms with such tenderness, the ice around my heart cracked wide open and love for him poured in.
I open my mouth to confess my feelings but the words get stuck in my throat. I’ve never told anyone I’ve loved them before other than my parents.
He kisses my forehead. “It’s okay, Harper. I get it.”
“What precisely do you get?”
“How your love for me has you tongue tied.”
I bristle. “I never said I love you.”
He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “You let me have sex with you in your bedroom two doors down from your dad. It’s pretty obvious. Especially since you seduced me.”
“I did not seduce you.”
I didn’t. It was more tempting than seducing. Besides, I love pretty nightgowns and lingerie. I have to wear them sometimes.
He chuckles. “Okay. You didn’t seduce me. But you do love me.”
“I…” I trail off with a sigh. “Fine. I love you. I don’t know why. You’re the most annoying person I’ve ever known. You don’t understand the word no. You push and push until you get what you want. You think being a goofball is an honor.”
He wraps an arm around my waist and hauls me close. “And yet, you love me.”
I gaze into his stunning blue eyes and all I see is happiness. My heart clenches in my chest. This is what I’ve always wanted. Since the moment I understood how much my parents loved each other, I’ve yearned for what they had .
I didn’t expect to find love with a goofball who’s eight years my junior but here we are.
“Yea.”
“I love you, Slugger.” He melds his lips to mine. He smells of whiskey and worn flannel and home. Kai is my home.
I dig my fingers into his shoulders as he plunges his tongue into my mouth and deepens the kiss. My tongue duels with his and he growls as he grinds his hard length into my stomach. I throw my leg over his hips and—
“Harper! Where did you hide my Fruit Loops this time?” Dad shouts.
I wrench my lips from Kai’s and bury my face in his chest. “I love my dad. I swear I do. But I don’t like him very much right now.”
He chuckles as he kisses my hair. “I’ll get him settled with his cereal while you get dressed.”
“You don’t have to. He isn’t your responsibility.”
Sparks fly from his ocean blue eyes. “Henry is your dad. You’re the woman I love. Hence, he’s partly my responsibility.”
“Hence? When did you learn the word hence?” I tease since I don’t know how to deal with all these big feelings I’m feeling.
He tickles my ribs. “You think you can tease me?”
I bat at his hands. “Stop. Stop. I’ll wet myself.”
He shackles my wrists. “I’ll stop. But only because I need to help Henry or he’ll blow the whole house down with his shouting.”
I groan. “You aren’t wrong. ”
He kisses my nose before releasing me to jump out of bed. I lay back to watch him walk around the room. He leans over to pick up his jeans and I nearly groan at how spectacular his ass looks as the muscles bunch.
“Are you ogling me?”
“Someone’s enjoying showing off his vocabulary this morning.”
He pulls up his jeans. “Someone’s good at avoiding questions this morning.”
“Harper!” Dad shouts and gives me the perfect opportunity to continue avoiding his questions.
“You better go help Dad. I’m going to grab a quick shower.”
“There’s no rush. I’ve got this.”
I wait until he shuts the door behind him to collapse back in the bed. I told Kai I loved him and nothing bad happened. No earthquake hit. No hurricane appeared. Nada bad shit.
In fact, good stuff was about to happen until my dad interrupted. I throw an arm over my face as I feel my cheeks warm with a blush. I can’t believe I had sex in my childhood bedroom with Dad two doors down.
I debate hiding in the bedroom until it’s time to go to work, but it isn’t fair to force Kai to care for Dad. Besides, I’m an adult. I’m allowed to have sex. And it wasn’t sex with some random man. Kai is the man I love.
Enough with these big feelings this morning. I don’t know if my heart can handle more.
When I stroll into the kitchen ten minutes later, Dad is sitting at the table eating his Fruit Loops while Kai reads on his phone across from him. Kai notices me and starts to stand. “I made coffee.”
I motion for him to stay seated. “I’ve got it.”
“Good morning, Dad.” I squeeze his shoulder as I pass him. “How did you sleep?”
He grunts, which could mean anything from ‘I slept like crap’ to ‘I slept like a baby after drinking a drop of Smuggler’s Hideaway moonshine’.
“I slept well. Thanks for asking,” I say as I pour myself a cup of coffee.
“I bet you did.”
I brace. Here we go. The guilt trip is incoming.
“I slept pretty well myself,” Kai says. If he’s trying to derail Dad, reminding him we slept together in my childhood bedroom is not the way to go about it.
“Are you moving in?”
I choke on my coffee at Dad’s question. I cough and liquid flies from my mouth all over the counter. Kai rushes to me and slaps my back.
“I’m fine.” More shocked than a smuggler who catches his first glimpse of a mermaid, but fine nonetheless.
“Well,” Dad pushes once we’re seated at the table. “Are you moving in or what?”
“Dad.”
“We haven’t discussed it,” Kai says.
Dad nods. “Good. You should get married first anyway.”
“Married?” I set my cup of coffee on the table. At this rate, I’m going to have a coffee bath before I can drink it .
“You know what marriage is. And I expect Kai to ask for your hand in marriage.”
“I will, Henry.”
I glare at Kai.
“What? If he wants me to ask for your hand in marriage, I will.”
“We went from you moving in to us getting married faster than a mermaid can swim.” And mermaids can swim fast. There’s a reason they’re not allowed to compete in the Olympics after all.
He shrugs. “We love each other. Moving in, marriage, babies. It’s all going to happen.”
I gasp. “You did not say we love each other in front of my dad.”
Dad grunts. “If you don’t love him, he shouldn’t be spending the night.”
I bury my face in my hands. Can I start this morning over? No, not this morning. Last night. I should have kicked Kai out when I had the chance.
But no. He has to be all sexy and hard to resist. Stupid hormones.
Kai pulls my hands away from my face. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“I’m not ashamed. I’m embarrassed. Two different emotions. You should know since you were beyond eager to show off your expanded vocabulary this morning.”
“Is vocabulary code for something?” Dad asks and Kai bursts into laughter. I elbow him .
“What? It was funny.”
“Are you two ganging up on me now?”
“You better get used to it if I’m moving in here.”
“No one asked you to move in.”
He points at Dad. “He kind of did.”
“What about your house?”
He shrugs. “I’ll sell it. Or maybe rent it out. The rental market on the island is good considering the amount of tourists who visit Smuggler’s Hideaway. I’ll contact my realtor. Jade lives next door, doesn’t she?”
“Slow your smugglers. We haven’t agreed on anything.”
He shrugs. “No worries. I can be patient.”
I groan. “You’re doing it again.”
He widens his eyes in an attempt to appear innocent. As if. Kai was born a menace. “Doing what?”
“Being pushy.”
“I can’t help it if I know what I want and I go all out to get it.”
Warmth travels through my body at his words. Me. I’m what he wants. And he didn’t stop until he got me. I only hope he won’t get bored since the chase is over now and he has me.