Chapter Eight
Sitting on his bed was one thing but noticing her clothes discarded on the floor and seeing her in his bed was quite another. He’d managed some great amounts of control the last couple days as far as Harper was concerned but this might just be the final straw.
“Sorry for hogging your bed but I got cold. I promise I won’t bite if you want to crawl in here with me.” Her look of innocence didn’t fool him a bit.
“What if I want you to bite?”
“I might consider it, but you’d have to get in here first.” She held the covers up from the mattress, all joking aside, showing beautiful lily-white legs.
“Are you sure you know what you’re getting yourself into Harper? If I crawl in that bed with you, it’s pretty much guaranteed things are going to happen. I want you to be sure.”
“I’m sure Fin.”
He didn’t have to be told twice. He turned the light switch off at the door but turned on the side table lamp because he wanted to be able to see every inch of her.
He almost shed his boxers too but that might make him look a little desperate.
He couldn’t help it. The more he tried to keep his distance, the more he wanted Harper.
He slid in under the cool sheet but the warm contact from her silky legs against his own created a friction unmeasurable on any scale.
When his hand caressed her hip as she lay facing him, he knew he was at her mercy.
Her petite hand appeared on his chest with a sizzle, as if the heat of her fingers would leave a handprint on his skin afterward.
When her lips met his in a soft yet demanding kiss, he lost all other thought but her.
The way her lips were soft and pliable, only a tiny bit damp.
As her tongue prodded, requesting access to search for his own, he lost what was left of his control, his hands moved about her body and up under the confines of the shirt she wore.
He was powerless in her arms yet demanded control when he edged the T up past her pierced belly button to reveal the luscious breasts, he would give just about anything to caress.
There were only guttural sounds and squeaks from Harper as he continued his perusal.
Using both hands, he pushed the cotton barrier over her head to its resting place on the floor.
The fact she wore lace undergarments just proved there was still much to learn about this woman.
Before he could remove the remaining pieces, she pushed him away.
“I think it’s my turn now.” The desire emanating from her eyes had his palms sweating.
Harper, in all her lacy glory, crawled from beneath the covers, removing the covers from Fin as well and straddled his legs right below the knees.
“I have to say I hadn’t taken you for a boxer briefs kind of guy but you do wear them well.
” She emphasized her statement with a finger trailing across the bulge in his briefs.
The moan that escaped Fin’s lips made her smile.
“I guess we both have our little secrets huh?” Fin punctuated his statement by circling his finger around a lace covered nipple.
“Lace is my weakness.” Harper shrugged her shoulders.
“Trust me, mine too.” Then in a swift move, Fin sat up, dragging Harper closer to straddle his thighs and encircling his arms around to the clasp of her bra.
“This piece has to go.” Within seconds, swift fingers had worked the metal hooks and the bra found its’ home on the floor next to the discarded T-shirt.
“You are so beautiful.” He didn’t’ give her time to respond before his mouth was on one of the rosy peaks while his hand tweaked the other. She gasped but pushed herself into his embrace.
“Mm…that feels so good.”
Before she could get too comfortable, his lips had popped from the first and found the second sensitive nub. His constant change in pressure on her nipples had her fingernails digging into his shoulders.
“Fin I can’t take much more of that.” Again, not needing to be told twice, he circled her waist with his hands and lifted her off of him and into the center of his bed. It was his turn to straddle her legs.
“It’s time to get rid of this last piece of lace Harper.
” Fin had his fingers looped in the thin strip of material riding low on her hip.
She leaned back against her arms, raising her hips, giving him permission and a dare with the devilish look in her eyes to take it off himself.
Once he’d pulled them over her thighs and down her silky legs, he stood at the end of the bed and slowly removed his boxers, a small strip tease just for her.
“Awe, I wanted to do that for you.”
“I’m sure but if you touched me right now, it’d be all over.
This way, it helps me keep what’s left of my self-control.
” He crawled back onto the bed, spreading her legs wider the closer he got.
He didn’t stop until his body molded exactly with hers, his lips covering hers, his shaft teasing at her wet opening.
When her arms crept around his shoulders, he entered her in one swift thrust. The rest became a blur of bittersweet ecstasy.
As they relaxed a time later, too exhausted to move from being wrapped around each other, Fin noticed his alarm clock read after midnight. Kissing her softly he murmured, “Merry Christmas Harper.”
***
Waking up to shrill screams from three-year old’s running in the hallway made Harper take stock in how far she’d come in her life.
She’d come from having nothing and no one to waking in the arms of a man she’d met only a week ago and somehow fallen in love with.
It didn’t seem real. The type of thing that only happened in a romance novel.
Afraid to open her eyes and it all turn into a dream, she moved her arm only to realize the arm lying across her stomach wasn’t her own.
I’m not dreaming. She couldn’t help but smile. And if he wasn’t a dream then everything, she remembered about last night wasn’t a dream either, including the sore muscles from a few positions she’d never known about.
“What are you smiling at beautiful?” Oh boy did she love that raspy voice first thing in the morning. Especially from less than a foot away. She turned her head in his direction.
“Just happy that last night and waking up next to you this morning wasn’t a dream.”
“It definitely wasn’t a dream, and I swear I could get used to this.” She giggled when he pulled her closer to him, his excitement pushing at her stomach.
“Down boy, we don’t’ have time for that right now.
I’m sure if we don’t surface soon, Hayley and Kelsey will be in here after us.
I heard Kaleb say they couldn’t touch a thing until we were down there too.
” Not that she wanted to leave the comforts of Fin’s warm cozy bed.
Ever. They were probably far from that stage though.
She couldn’t help but remember that Santa letter she’d left in the red mailbox at the post office. How were all her wishes coming true?
“Too much contemplation lady. Those wrinkles on your forehead make it look like you’re working that brain of yours awfully hard. What’s on your mind?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Are you ready for presents?” She knew he’d written one himself, but she really didn’t want to discuss her Santa Letter with him. She watched as Fin crawled out of bed, bare as the day he was born and god awful handsome. She couldn’t help but stare.
“See anything you like?” She’d been daydreaming again and looked up to see Fin striking a pose.
“Yes, but not now.” She threw her bed pillow at him.
“Now go get dressed.” He dodged the pillow, running into the bathroom.
He’d told her sometime during the last week that after his sister-in-law passed and he moved in, Kaleb had a bathroom constructed for Fin’s privacy.
Heaven forbid he run naked down the hallway.
By the time he’d emerged, showered, and dressed, she’d gotten herself ready and made the bed.
“Damn, a tiny bit of me wanted to forget we had to go downstairs and hoped I’d find you still naked in my bed.” He wrapped her in his arms, kissing her tenderly.
“Later, I promise.” Then she grabbed his hand, pulling him out the bedroom door behind her.
While the girls were stuffing the last bit of ripped wrapping paper from the floor into a garbage bag held by Fin, a knock echoed at the front door.
“I’ll get it.” Harper leapt from the couch. Kaleb was cooking in the kitchen, and he’d told her more than once to make herself at home, she was part of the family.
I guess that means answering the door too.
When she opened the door, a myriad of emotions encompassed her, shock, relief, and surprise. She had never been so happy to see the woman standing on the front porch.
“Elsie, I’m so thrilled to see you!” She lunged and engulfed the older woman in a tight squeeze and then a kiss on the cheek.
She looked up, pointing in the same direction.
“Mistletoe, the men insisted on it.” Harper escorted the woman inside and helped with her coat.
“Burr, it’s freezing outside.” She shut the door and turned back to the older woman.
“You’re just in time for breakfast; Kaleb is cooking it up now. ”
“Oh, pish posh, I’m not going to interrupt your Christmas morning.”
“We won’t take no for an answer.” Fin chimed in as he joined the women, embracing their guest. “Merry Christmas Elsie, we were starting to worry about you.” He stood next to harper with an arm resting comfortably around her shoulders.
“Don’t waste your time worrying about this old bird. I get around just fine.” She raised her eyebrows at the couple standing before her. “But it sure does look like the two of you have been getting on quite well.”
“Both smiled but Fin spoke up first. “You could say that,” he winked at Harper. “And I’m not letting her get away either.”
“Well, it’s about time.”
Harper and Fin’s mouths dropped open, surprised by Elsie’s admission.
“Now, where are those little girls? I brought presents for them.”