Stealing Harper

“Of course I do!” God, can’t she see that?

“I don’t—I don’t understand.” Her stormy gray eyes bounced back and forth between mine for a few moments before they filled with an understanding, and her cheeks darkened. “It’s because I’m a virgin.”

Shit, she has this so wrong. “Not in the way you’re thinking. Trust me, I want to make you mine.”

She cupped my face and pulled me down to her as she whispered, “Then please.”

“Princess, you can’t want it to be me. With what I’ve done . . . I don’t deserve to be given something like that.”

“It’s yours. I’m tired of ignoring what I feel for you and denying myself what I want.”

Her eyes fell down to stare at my chest, and I watched as they slowly looked back up to mine. I waited to see if there was any indecision in them like the days before. But there was only complete trust. “You’re sure, Harper?”

“I want you. All of you.”

I pressed my lips softly to hers again and stretched my body on top of hers as our kisses slowed, and her shaky hands reached for the top of my jeans again. Resting on my forearms, I took my weight off her so she could undo the button and zipper and slowly push them and my boxer briefs down. I helped kick them the rest of the way off and pulled her up to reach behind her and find the clasp for her bra. Once that and her underwear were on the floor with the rest of the clothes, I took my time studying every inch of her, learning what made her moan and her eyelids flutter shut, and memorizing every noise she made when I’d suck on her breast or trail my fingers against her heat.

Her heavy breathing cut off quickly, and her body locked up when I finally pushed inside of her, and I would give anything to have taken away her pain as a short, pained cry burst from her chest. But what she was giving me meant the damn world. When her body relaxed, we began to move against each other again, our mouths finding each other’s desperately, as I slowly made love to my princess. I held both of her hands in one of mine above her head on the pillow and whispered in her ear that I loved her as she came again just moments before I followed. I collapsed onto the bed, rolling so she was in my arms, and we were on our sides as our breathing calmed and we continued to kiss softly and pull each other closer.

Not more than five minutes later, Harper fell asleep wrapped up in my arms. I pulled the covers over us before pressing my lips to her forehead and vowing to love, and take care of her, forever.

THE SOFT SCENT of vanilla registered in my mind at the same moment I felt the tips of Harper’s fingers trailing up my arms and over my shoulders. I cracked open my eyes to see her mess of hair covering my pillow and her shoulder, and I couldn’t help but smile. Waking up to her in my arms was perfect, and though I wished I could have watched her sleep . . . watching as her stormy eyes roamed over my tattoos was just as good.

“Feels good.”

Her eyes flashed up to mine, and she gri

“Why didn’t you?”

“Well, you were a little intimidating, and plus, you not so subtly let me know I wasn’t the kind of girl you would ever be with.”

Uh, fuck that. All I remembered was trying to scare her off and her looking at me like I disgusted her. “What did I say?”

“I don’t remember exactly, you were just freaking out because you thought you’d let a girl stay over and proceeded to tell me you didn’t let girls you would screw stay with you.” She paused and chewed on her bottom lip for a moment before looking back up to me, and softly asking, “Speaking of . . . is it okay that I’m here?”

“I’ve never been happier than when I just woke up with you in my arms.” I gently kissed all over her face before kissing her swollen lips. “You’re the only girl I’ve ever fallen asleep with, and I want to keep it that way. You’re not just some girl. I’m in love with you, Harper, I wouldn’t want you anywhere else.” And, God, I want you here forever.

She smiled wide and sat up to kiss me hard, catching me off guard and causing both of us to laugh before deepening the kiss. She pushed on my shoulder, and I fell to my back, keeping my hands on her naked body as she climbed on top of me and arched her body against mine. I moaned and grabbed her hips to press us closer together as she ground her hips onto me again. I was making a trail down to her breast when the loudest growl came from my princess. And that shit had nothing to do with how we were currently attacking each other. We both burst out laughing as she fell onto my chest, her hair falling in front of her face as her shoulders shook from laughter. Guess my girl was hungry.

“Is there any way you didn’t hear that?”

“Not a chance.” I moved the hair away from her face and kissed her hard before moving her off me and onto the bed, “I’ll go make breakfast; I’ll be right back.”

“Okay, I’ll come help.”

No you won’t. You just gave me you, I’m about to spoil the shit out of you. “Let me do this for you, Princess,” I said softly as I pushed her back onto the pillows and kissed her jaw. “Stay here, I want to see you just like this when I get back.”

She saluted me before curling up in my comforter. Smart-ass.

I got out of bed and started looking for our pile of clothes when I heard her gasp. I whirled around to see her stormy gray eyes even wider than usual. “What’s wrong?”

“Chase”—she blinked a few times and shook her head slightly as she looked back up into my eyes—“you’re beautiful.”

“Beautiful, huh?” I’m pretty sure what I was staring at just then was the only thing that I’d ever seen that could be described as beautiful. I climbed back onto the bed and crawled over her, kissing her softly, and whispering against her lips, “Trying to take away my masculinity, baby?”

“So sorry,” she said between kisses. “I meant. Rugged. And handsome. And so, so sexy.”

I laughed and kissed her cheek before getting back off the bed. God, she was cute. I grabbed my jeans and pulled them on, looked at her staring at me while lying in my bed one more time, then went to make breakfast for my princess.

I hadn’t even made it down the stairs when I heard her phone ringing. By the time I made it to the couch where she’d been when I came in last night, it had stopped, and I couldn’t find it. Walking into the kitchen, I started the bacon and turned on the coffeepot as her phone dinged a few times. Just as I’d finished whisking together the eggs and milk to make an omelet, it began ringing again. I jogged into the living room and dug around the couch, finally finding it in the blanket.

Brandon.

I took a deep breath as I watched her lock screen come back up displaying eleven missed calls, four voice mails, and eight texts from Bree, and six missed calls, five voice mails, and ten texts from Brandon. Her phone dinged again—and there’s voice mail number six from him. I ran back into the kitchen to take the bacon off the skillet, and, swear to God, he called again before I could finish. I wanted to delete all of them but knew I couldn’t. I just didn’t know what this would do to us. New Year’s Eve and the tattoo parlor flashed through my mind, but I pushed those images away. Last night wouldn’t have happened if she didn’t want to be with me. She told me she loved me, and I had no doubt she did.

We’d just have to deal with this, and the sooner, the better.

I grabbed the phone and ran up the stairs and to my room, taking another deep breath before opening the door and praying to God that when she broke the news to Brandon, he didn’t somehow suck her into staying with him. Her eyes lit up, and the sweetest smile you’ve ever seen crossed her face momentarily before falling when she saw whatever expression I currently had.