Chapter Sixteen #3
Happy that Kash was in Portland, safe and sound, she got out of her minivan and shivered.
There was a cold front moving in that would drop the temps at least ten degrees tonight.
It would stay chilly throughout the weekend, then start warming again next week.
Not for the first time, she was relieved that she wasn’t living in her car.
Winter nights had been the worst . . . then again, summer wasn’t great either.
Basically, living in the car had been the lowest point in her life.
And she was still ashamed that Kash had to experience it as well.
The front door opened as she approached, and seeing Linc waiting for her wiped all the bad memories from her head. She was here now. She and Kash were happy and healthy, and she had Linc.
“Food or bath first?” he asked, after he kissed her hello.
“Food. Definitely,” Harper told him. “It smells awesome, and I’m starving.”
“I thought since you had to work later than planned, we’d go to The Lobster Buoy tomorrow for the potatoes. Tonight, I made a simple chicken-and-rice stew.”
Harper smiled. “Thank you. I appreciate you so much,” she said in a soft tone. “It’s been a very long time since anyone’s taken care of me the way you have. The way you are.”
“Tomorrow I’ll take even better care of you,” he said with a small smirk.
Harper laughed and rolled her eyes. “Boys. All you think about is sex.”
“Who said anything about sex? I’m talking about taking you to work and picking you up so we can go straight to Zach’s lobster shack.”
She giggled. “Uh-huh, suuuuure you are.” But she wasn’t upset that her boyfriend—fiancé?
—was so attracted to her. She’d taken her looks for granted for a very long time, and now that she was nearing forty, and no longer felt as if life was beating her down, she appreciated Linc’s attraction all the more.
“You hear from Kash?” Linc asked.
“Uh-huh. He’s good. In Portland. Ready for the competition tomorrow.”
“When is he supposed to get back to the school on Sunday?”
“They have a competition in the morning, then the awards ceremonies, then they’ll head back. So probably around three or so.”
“Awesome. We’ll have almost twenty-four hours all to ourselves,” Linc said, the satisfaction easy to hear in his tone.
Harper shivered. She was just as excited as he was. She hadn’t forgotten what he’d said about making love to her in every room in the house. It would feel amazing not to have to worry about what they said or did for a short while.
She stepped into Linc’s personal space and ran a hand up his arm to the nape of his neck. She was leaning forward to kiss him when a huge yawn came out of nowhere. She was blushing by the time she was finished, and Linc was grinning like a loon.
“Hold that thought until tomorrow afternoon, Harp. Tonight, let me pamper you. Food. Bath. Maybe a massage.”
“Be still my heart,” she said, only half kidding. She’d never had a massage before. Had always been leery of a stranger touching her all over when she was half dressed. But having Linc massage her from head to toe? Yes, please.
“I love you,” she told him.
“I love you too. Come on. Let’s get you fed so you can go read that new alien romance book you downloaded.”
“You don’t think I’m weird for liking that genre?” she asked.
“Nope. Don’t give a shit what you read, as long as it’s relaxing for you. And as long as you enjoy it.”
“Cool. Because it’s so good! It’s book three in a series where six women have been kidnapped from Earth and rescued from the bad aliens who wanted to sell them in an auction.
But now they’re trapped on another alien planet, where they were all separated and are trying to find each other .
. . with the help of the big, hunky male aliens whose long-buried instincts are triggered and they realize the female humans are actually their fated mates. ”
“Sounds good,” Linc said.
Harper was surprised to realize he wasn’t patronizing her. “They are,” she said firmly. “The women are like, ‘Dude, slow your roll because I’m freaking out. I have no idea where I am and there are five-legged lionlike things trying to kill me.’”
Linc chuckled. “Yeah, I can see why they’d be less than excited about the alien guys wanting to shag.”
“Shag?” Harper said, giggling.
“Yup. And I’m assuming their tails can do some freaky stuff.”
“Of course they can.”
“Right. So . . . food, bath, book, then sleep. Work in the morning for you, and then I’ll see if I can manage to get creative, and be just as good or better as aliens with tails.”
Harper loved this. Loved being able to talk about things she enjoyed with another adult.
And not be mocked for it. She was more than tits and ass, which was all she’d ever felt she was in New York.
She was judged for her looks and only her looks.
No one had cared about whether or not she had a brain in her head.
Being with Linc was refreshing, and it made her regret how much of her life she’d wasted in the city. Thank God she was done caring what others thought. She was living her life the way she wanted. With the man she loved, and enjoying each and every day.
There was no guarantee of happiness in life. You had to take each day as it came. Because you never knew when things could change. Harper was aware of that more than a lot of people. For now, she was deliriously happy, and she was determined to do whatever she needed in order to stay that way.