Chapter 26 #3
She pulls away to look me in the eyes, holding my face in her hands. ‘Do you— Is that a yes?’
‘Idiot.’ It slips out, held back from earlier on.
I know I’m crying, but we’re both crying, so it’s even.
‘This is what we get for risking our hearts. You leave your heart with me and I’ll leave mine with you and it hurts when we make mistakes, but I trust you with it more than with anyone else. So I love you.’
The way Harper’s mouth moves slick over my own, her hand sliding under my shirt to pull me closer, ignites a hungry flame low in my gut.
But when I run a hand up her back, it passes goose-bumped skin, and when I tug at her lower lip, it’s trembling.
I suck in a sharp breath when Harper’s frigid fingers slide under my shirt. ‘You’re cold.’
She emits a low whine. ‘Yeah. My room?’
It’s like that first time we’d kissed, after bottles of vodka and soju, except this time we’re not drunk on alcohol but on something deeper and far hungrier.
Wet clothes hit cold sheets and Harper’s hands knead my skin, trace the edges of my bra and slide into the waistband of my trousers.
‘Careful.’ I wince as Harper straddles me and an ache throbs through my bones. ‘I’m still . . .’ I gesture to the bandage round my chest. ‘My heart’s okay, but I still got stabbed.’
Harper nips the side of my neck, and I fight a shiver as slick lips travel a heated trail to my ear.
‘Don’t worry,’ she whispers. ‘I’ve got you.’
Our lips move in languid rhythm, relaxed then urgent when I slip a thigh between Harper’s legs. I bunch the hem of her shirt, dragging it up as Harper’s fingers tease the elastic band of my pants.
Fabric slips over shoulders, and I run my hand down her wet back, feeling the bumps and grooves of old wounds.
Harper stiffens slightly as my thumb probes a puckered scar. ‘I hate them too.’
‘You’re joking.’ I flip her, attaching my mouth to the scar on her chest. ‘I love you the way you are.’
‘Tia, God.’ Her hands tangle in my wet hair, body rolling up against mine, cold skin against skin as the air conditioning wicks rainwater off us. ‘I know it’s been an intense night, but if you’re ready . . . I want you.’
I can’t resist the joke. ‘Want me to what?’
Harper drops her head against my collar with a low groan. ‘Tia, please.’
I do know, technically, what Harper’s saying. But uncertainty shaves off the lust emboldening me, and I pull back. ‘I’ve never done this before.’
Harper lifts herself back up to cradle my face and kiss my forehead. ‘Do what feels right for you and I’ll let you know what feels right for me, okay? The most important thing is that I’m doing it with you.’
I ignore the hot flush over my cheeks and steal the compliment from Harper’s lips. My hands work Harper’s button, then zipper, then I press into soaked cloth, eliciting a jerk and a hiss.
‘Your hands are so cold,’ she whines.
I pause. ‘I can stop.’ I lighten my touch and let my fingers trail.
The glare I receive is deathly. ‘Tease.’
I travel down the abs I’d accidentally brushed against when Raven had collapsed bleeding in my room, except this time I get to languish over them with open-mouthed kisses before I reach the elastic of Harper’s underwear.
I press my tongue over the hot fabric, and Harper throws her head against the headboard. ‘Dude, hurry up.’
‘For the avoidance of doubt, we are about to have sex. Please don’t call me dude, and also, ask nicely.’
She slams her head into the pillow. ‘You’re such a brat. Please.’
When I slip a finger into Harper, she emits a tiny whine, and I push myself up to capture it with my mouth, and score her lip with a gentle bite.
I take my time taming every knot of her muscles into submission, our chests heaving and skin slippery, not with rain but with sweat and a different slickness.
Part of me has always worried that this would be awkward, but I find fervent encouragement in the small noises she makes as I move.
I lap up her praise easily, stop when she laughs and points me somewhere else, apply myself studiously as if we’re back in school, competing, until her snickering breaks off into curses.
When Harper’s hips snap up, I pin them to the sheets until she cries out, a rapture of sound that rakes the coiled need in my lower gut.
Harper sits up and pulls me in to kiss her, flipping me against the bed and staring over me, cheeks flushed, lips dark.
‘You’re hot,’ I say, but Harper shakes her head and leans in to capture my lips.
‘No, it’s my turn to flirt with you now,’ she whispers into my ear. Teeth graze the base of my earlobes, and my body flashes with heat. ‘I missed you so much, and I’m not forgiving you that quickly for leaving me.’
I raise a brow. ‘You’re punishing me?’
‘Something like that.’ She presses a kiss to the flesh under my neck, and it sends my nerves into a frenzy. ‘I just want you close.’ Something about her tone sobers the mood slightly, and I swallow as I try to envision how the last week has been for Harper.
She thought I was dead. Must’ve come to terms with it, even.
Harper’s next kiss is soft on my lips. She rests her forehead against mine and closes her eyes, her brows knitted and the line of her mouth troubled. It looks as if she’s battling something I can’t see, so I slide a hand round her waist and hold her close.
‘I’m here,’ I whisper. ‘I’m safe. We’re both safe. It’s all okay.’
‘Ever since my parents, it feels like everyone I love suffers, so when you . . .’
‘I know. I’m sorry.’
Harper takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. ‘I love you.’
I kiss her forehead. ‘I love you too.’
It starts off slow but builds quickly. Delicate kisses over my jawline become bruising over my collarbones, thigh dug hard into my core, a pleasure peaked with pain.
It’s rougher than I expect, teeth scoring my stomach, my thighs, but I find myself craving it, needing to be undone and put back together.
‘Tell me if this is okay,’ Harper says as she slips a finger in, and I make a sound that turns my ears hot. I’d be more embarrassed if I wasn’t so dizzy with the way Harper pushes me into bed and kisses me so hard our teeth knock and her grip leaves my skin numb.
‘Oh,’ I whisper to the moon, because my world is Harper’s mouth hot over my neck, my chest, my side, until my mind goes blank and I yield under the weight of ecstasy, high on her drug.
My lips part, and thank God all that escapes is a litany of curses, because otherwise I’d confess my carnal need to be spilled across the sky. I find myself only able to round out her name, as my thighs clench and my mind is dizzyingly white with pleasure.
‘I love you.’ Harper’s whisper follows the swoop of my stomach and it’s the soundtrack of my undoing, every carefully constructed part of me now unwound. We tangle, hands in hair, ankle hooked round calf, two people put back once more.