Her big eyes looked up at me. “Are you?”
Not even for a second.
I turned away from her, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “What do you want from me Harper?”
She stepped forward, looking up at me with zero hesitation. “I want you to do it again.”
“Why would you want anything to do with me?” My eyes narrowed on her. Disappointment clear in my voice, because she shouldn’t want the person she thought I was.
Her mouth opened then shut again, holding back whatever she was going to say in response. Instead, she nudged closer, causing me to step back.
“I’m not going to kiss you again,” I told her flatly.
“Why not? You prefer brunettes?”
“Dammit Harper.” Dropping the fist I held against my mouth, I moved in on her, pressing her against the nearest wall, kissing her furiously—just for that comment. Because no. I preferred blonds. Not all. Just the one. Heck she could have dyed her hair purple and I’d be into it.
Something between a whine and a moan escaped her as she welcomed the heat of my body and the degree of my longing for her lips again. Her cool fingers slipping around my neck kissing me back and holding me like a woman drowning.
I knew I should stop this. Hell, I’d been condemning myself for this very thing for nearly a week now, but she was like a drug. A sexy, slim, luscious drug and there was no shaking this addiction off.
I released her when we both needed to breathe. “Tell me,” she pleaded, her hands still in my hair, her eyes searching mine.
What the hell was she asking me for? What was she askinghimfor?
Troy.
Something twisted in my stomach and my teeth clenched. It was all I could do when I couldn’t very well bite my own fist in front of her. “You should go.”
“You…you want me to go?”
“There’s nothing I need to say.” My eyes trailed downward, and I prayed she hadn’t heard my voice waver. Because hell, I wanted her to stay more than I wanted my next breath.
She watched me for a moment and her tone shifted to something slightly more frustrated. “Can we just forget about high school? Can you—can you just be you? The man you are today…and tell me who that is.” There was a break in her voice, almost like a cry and it gutted me.
What the hell does she want?
I was no idiot. I knew when someone was talking in circles, but whatever she wanted, I wasn’t going to give it to her. I swiped my mouth and turned. Somehow, I’d made this worse. Somehow, I made my brother a better man in her eyes tonight.
And now she wanted him to what? Tell her he’d changed?
I turned, my steel expression making her flinch, but she didn’t back down, instead she begged me with a whisper. “Please don’t ask me to leave.”
That fucking did it.
I released a breath. “Baby, I don’t want you to.” With two strides, I had her back in my arms, my tongue sweeping her lips apart and sliding in to taste her again. Pushing the coat off her shoulders, I let it fall to the floor and she responded by pressing against me, letting her head fall back to give me more as my tongue slid down her neck.
Frustration and possession taking over, I moved her over to a wall that separated my living room and bedroom, pressing my mouth back on hers as I worked the buttons of her blouse. Snapping off the last one, I slid the white material off her and bent to kiss the top of her chest.
It wasn’t until she whimpered that my jaw tightened in fury and I froze for a second. She was too willing, too eager. She shouldn’t want him like this. He didn’t deserve her like this.
I didn’t either. But I couldn’t stop if I tried. I was so desperate to be with Harper, that the idea of stopping made every nerve of my body tighten with grief. I was out of my mind with an intense ache to be with her, to feel her skin against mine, to slip inside her and feel this urgency radiating from her. I wanted it and I wasn’t going to apologize for it.
Lifting her, I let her shirt fall to the floor and wrapped her legs around my waist, moving us into my bedroom. It wasn’t entirely dark. Between the Brooklyn bridge and city skyline through my window, there was just enough light to see where you're going. But the minute we stepped in, Harper’s breathing became erratic—more so than someone panting from being hot and bothered.
This one bordered around nerves, I was sure of it.
Regardless, it was enough to give me pause so I set her over my dresser and flicked on the small lamp beside us. Something told me she wasn’t ready for my bed.
