Chapter Seven #3
“Modest too,” Linc joked, once Kash was out of earshot. “Why don’t you head upstairs? Maybe take a bath or something. Try to relax.”
“You wouldn’t mind?” Harper asked.
If he had his preference, she’d stay down here with him and sit in his chair and fall asleep on his lap again, but that was Linc being selfish. Harper needed her alone time, especially after being around people all day. “Of course not.”
“I think I’ll take you up on that. You really are welcome to come with us tomorrow night.”
“I need to work on some stuff around here, but thank you for the invite.”
“Any time.”
They stared at each other for a beat, and Linc could feel the awkwardness between them.
He hated it, but he wasn’t sure how to fix things.
Grabbing her and kissing her the way he longed to probably wouldn’t work, but that didn’t stop the craving to do just that.
It was a weird thing . . . to want this woman so much after she’d been the bane of his existence at one point in his life.
But that was forever ago. This was now. And now, he wanted Harper Bates.
“Why is your last name Bates and your dad’s Rogers?” he blurted.
Harper chuckled. “How long have you been stewing on that?” she asked.
Linc shrugged and could feel his cheeks heat. “I don’t know. I’ve just been wondering.”
“I changed my last name when I moved to New York. I thought Bates sounded better than Rogers, for some reason. At least, my eighteen-year-old brain found that perfectly logical.” She shrugged.
“Got used to it and never changed it back. When Kash was born, I figured I’d go with it.
My dad wasn’t thrilled, but by that point, he was disappointed with every decision I’d made since graduating high school, so it didn’t really faze me. ”
“I don’t think it was disappointment, more like worry, probably.”
“Maybe. I’d like to think I shed the Harper Rogers I was in high school for a newer, better version with Harper Bates.”
“You did,” Linc said with certainty. He made a mental note to tell her about the talk he’d had with Kash about bullies at some point, when the boy wasn’t around to overhear. Kash probably wouldn’t mind him telling Harper, but he’d still tell her in private . . . just in case.
“All right. I’m going to head up. Will you make sure he doesn’t stay up too late?”
“Of course.”
“Thanks. I feel like I’ve been the worst mom lately. Leaving so much to you.”
“I don’t mind in the least. I enjoy his company.”
“And he loves hanging out with you too. Good night, Linc.”
“Night, Harper.”
Linc watched as she headed for the stairs, his gaze glued to her ass as she went.
She really was a beautiful woman, even tired, grumpy, and frazzled after a long day on her feet.
All Linc wanted to do was pamper her, but he didn’t have the right to do more than give her some much-needed time to herself, while he looked after her son.
Which he supposed was pampering her, in a way. She hadn’t been able to rely on others for a while, and knowing Kash was safe and happy had to go a long way toward taking a burden off her shoulders. He felt good about that.
“So, kiddo, anything you want to watch tonight?”
“How the Universe Works.”
He wasn’t apologetic in the least about watching the series for the eight hundredth time in a row.
It was pretty much all Kash wanted to watch, but Linc didn’t mind.
It was good background noise, and he could read the next book from the huge stack next to his bed.
He used to read thrillers, but they were a little too close to what he’d lived and breathed, and brought back too many memories, so he’d switched to fantasy.
It was a nice change, escaping into the worlds of dragons, ogres, and other fantastical creatures.
He even found that he enjoyed the occasional “romantasy,” which was a fancy way of saying there was sex between the other scenes.
After going into his room to grab a book, and as he settled into his chair—a chair that felt too big without Harper in it—he heard the water rushing through the pipes in the walls as Harper started her bath upstairs.
Visions of her naked in a tub full of bubbles swam in his mind, and Linc did his best to turn them off. Harper was his houseguest, that was all. He’d never do anything to make her think her living here was contingent on anything he might want.
And Linc wanted a lot. Wanted to see if her lips tasted as good as he remembered. Wanted to know if their chemistry carried over into the bedroom. To see if maybe, just maybe, they could put their pasts behind them and forge a new future together.
It was cheesy and sentimental, but the more time Linc spent with Harper and Kash, the more time he wanted to spend with them. He was proud of Harper for how hard she worked, but also resentful of how much her job took her away from him.
Shaking his head at how pathetic he was being, Linc did his best to concentrate on the words on the pages of his book. As the narrator of the TV show spoke about dark matter, he got lost in a story of aliens intent on taking over Earth, and the one woman who might be able to save them all.