“Mind numbing.” My lips came down to her temple, my voice lowering to a whisper. “Life altering.”
“I have a word too,” she said after a while of silence. Her voice sounded sleepy and I would have to clean her up and get her out of here soon. It was absolutely freezing now that we’d stopped moving and she was starting to give periodic shivers of cold.
“Yeah? What’s that?” I murmured, not able to hold my curiosity even as the list of how to take care of my girl spiraled fast around my brain.
“Right.”
Chapter Twenty
ALTA
What had this man done to me?
Was I broken? The soreness below my waistline would certainly have me believing so. Was I braindead? The fact that I couldn’t think straight ever since we said goodbye that night was a sign that pointed toward maybe. Was I in love? Well…
Almost an entire week later, I was squirming in my seat for the billionth time as I daydreamed what it felt like to have Harper’s hands on me. Awareness of what I felt after hadn’t escaped me either. I had never felt so connected to someone during a hookup. I only ever hooked up with guys I was dating, about to be dating, or definitely wanted to date. None of thosetimes came close to this time with Harp and we weren’t anywhere close to dating. We had simply struck up an agreement.
Memories of Harper using some kind of cloth from his pants to clean me up and checking if the coast was clear as we snuck out of the maze after we finished that night danced on repeat in my mind.
I had to admit, having to sign off on the cleaning crew’s bill and inspect the courtyard area at midnight with wobbly legs, was not my smartest of plans. But Harper stayed with me for that too. Getting me a big sweatshirt from his car that smelled like him and letting me rest my head on his shoulder while we waited for the cleaning men to be done.
All the while we waited he made little teasing jokes or fake grumbled at having to do this so late. It was classic Harper. But he’d done it in a way I wasn’t used to. Soft. Like the way he rubbed his palm along my leg as we sat in the courtyard in the cold. Or how when he thought I may be falling asleep but wasn’t sure, he lowered his voice to a low murmur. Or the way he let me handle everything with the vendors on my own, yet stood close by like some bouncer with his arms folded behind me and a mean look that didn’t seem to belong with his true personality.
And when all was done and he tucked me into my car to go home, he took my face in his hands and kissed me. Not a peck, but a full-blown, mouths clashing, tongues touching, both moaning kiss. When he pulled back, his eyes fell to mine and his mouth quirked.
“What was that for?” I asked, confused and suddenly wound up.
“So you won’t forget.”
“Forget what?” I scoffed, baffled that he thought I could forget anything that happened with him tonight. Yeah right. Not in this lifetime.
But his face softened and his thumb went to caress my jaw as he said. “That I’m here, Boss. Whenever you need me.” Stepping back, he tapped the top of the car. “I’ll follow you home? Make sure you get there alright?”
I nodded, and he did. And an entire week later I still couldn’t stop thinking about him or his body or his hands or that addictive mouth.
Loud ringing snapped me out of my own mind and I was pulled back to reality by the sound coming from my desk.My desk at work. Definitely not the time or place to be thinking about this sort of thing.
“Alta Fernandez speaking,” I chirped into the receiver.
“Ms. Fernandez, hi,” a deep older voice said. “This is Mark Meyer from marketing. How are you?”
“Mark, hi,” I could hear the caution take over my tone. “Was there a problem with the material I dropped off yesterday?”
“No, no. I actually wanted to speak with you about some of the points you brought up about the project. I would love it if you could come down and discuss it now—if your calendar allows, of course.”
I coughed. “My calendar?”
“Yes?” He cleared his throat. “The one you have taped on your desk?”
“Oh, you heard about that, huh?” I covered my eyes, taking the opportunity to hide my embarrassment when I could. “Well, my calendar’s open until noon today, so I can come down and chat whenever you’re free.”
“Right now works great. Thank you, Ms. Fernandez. See you soon.”
Thoughts escaped me as I hung up the phone. I blinked.
What could Marketing want with me?
The day before, I had made a trip down to the fourth floor to drop off some reports they needed. I usually just gave all my finished work to Grace who then distributed it to whoever requested it. But yesterday she wasn’t around when the team asked for the report and since I’d already been working on something similar, I threw something together and delivered it myself.
