In the living room, she kicked off her shoes and stepped into his arms again. His hands felt sooo good on her. It’d been too long since she’d slept with anyone.

He cupped her ass with his hands, pulling her tightly against him again. In the dim light, his brown eyes took on an even deeper intensity. She draped her arms over his shoulders, his hair soft in her hands as she ran her fingers through it.

“You make it hard for me to say no to you, Harper. Not because I have to say yes, but because I want to.”

She smiled. “Then don’t say no.”

They kissed again. “Where’s your bedroom?” he rumbled against her throat as he picked her up and headed for the stairs.

“Upstairs, first door on the right.”

“I hope you weren’t planning on going to bed early.” He nibbled the side of her neck as he mounted the stairs. She felt pleasant shivers run through her.

“Not anymore.”

He chuckled as he pushed her half-open door with his foot. “Good.”

Chapter Thirteen

He couldn’t believe he was doing this. He carried her over to her bed and laid her on it before crawling on top of her, his body pressing hers into the mattress.

This side of Harper he didn’t know, and he wanted to get acquainted with very well. He suspected this was Harper without her façade, without her protective walls in place. Probably someone very few—if any—people ever knew.

He knew it was stupid and wrong and probably one of the worst ideas on the planet after maybe Betamax and the Edsel, but he couldn’t help himself. He wanted her.

He wanted to make her happy.

She wrapped her arms around him, eagerly returning his kisses and devouring him with her hunger. He managed to sit up and get rid of his shirt and undershirt, tossing them onto the floor next to the bed. He reached down and started unbuttoning her blouse, kissing her as he did and enjoying the feel of her short nails raking across his bare back when she held on to him.

After her blouse joined his shirt on the floor, he released the front fastener on her bra and tossed it over his shoulder.

In the dim light thrown through the window by the streetlamp outside, her breasts looked beautifully pale and glowing. He cupped them in his hands, running his thumbs over her nipples.

She gasped and arched her back toward him. “Yes, please!” she begged.

He bent his head to first one, then the other, plucking at her nipples with his lips and tongue, gently grazing them with his teeth and drawing more happy moans from Harper.

“I bet you’re wet, aren’t you?” he asked.

Another wordless moan from her, and it sounded positive.

He chuckled as he worked his way lower, to her slacks. When she tried to reach down and unfasten them, he pushed her hands away, over her head, where he lightly pinned her by the wrists.

“No,” he said, smirking at her. “I’m driving.”

Her chest heaved with every breath she drew, and she squirmed against him. Not trying to get away, but trying to get closer.

He kissed her on the lips before releasing her hands. “Stay,” he softly ordered.

His cock ached, straining against his pants, screaming at him to fuck her, and fuck her right this goddamned minute!

She didn’t move when he sat up and started working on her pants again. And as he slid them down her hips, that’s when a thought hit him.

“Um, do you have any condoms?”

Her eyes widened then she groaned in frustration. “Shit! You don’t have any?”

He shook his head. “I wasn’t expecting this. Sorry.”

“But…” She threw her head back with a frustrated sigh. She looked like she was about to cry. He wanted to comfort her and laugh at the same time. He got out of bed, dropped his slacks and his briefs, and climbed back into bed.

“Don’t worry, I have an idea.” He knelt between her legs and pushed them apart. “I won’t leave you hanging. I’ll never leave you hanging.”

He chuckled again as he felt her nails graze his scalp as she grabbed his head. When his lips brushed against her outer labia, she let out a happy moan.

* * *

Holy fuck! She’d nearly burst into tears at the thought of not getting any relief after managing to make it this far. He had no idea what an effort of will it had taken her to let go and give in to him. Even though it was what she wanted more than anything, to have someone she could trust to be like that with, doing it was another thing entirely.

And if they didn’t go all the way now, she didn’t know when she’d be able to get the guts to try it again.

Then he pushed her legs apart and her world nearly dissolved at the delicious feel of his warm, wet mouth on her pussy.

“Yesss!” she hissed as his tongue flicked out and stroked her clit. She plunged her hands into his hair, holding on, praying he didn’t stop. She’d only received oral one other time, and that was the summer between high school and her first semester of college.

Hell, she’d still been in college the last time she’d gotten laid.

She held on to him like a soon-to-be bride at a Filene’s Basement sale scoring a prized designer wedding gown. He buried his tongue deep inside her, fucking her with it, driving her out of her mind. Then he replaced his tongue with two fingers, using his tongue to flick her clit again.

She exploded. Crying out, she held on tightly as she rode his face through several orgasms that felt better than any she’d ever had in her life. When she tried to tell him she was done, he wrapped his hands around her thighs and continued going after her oversensitive clit. She squirmed and writhed to get away from him, but then she felt yet another orgasm sweep through her, rendering her practically senseless.

Finally, he relented and sat up with a pleased smile on his face. “Good?”

“Uh-huh!” She crooked a finger at him, urging him close. She grabbed him and kissed him. She could taste her own juices on his lips, musky and sweet, and for some reason it pleased her more than she wanted to admit.

Marking my territory.

Maybe that was exactly it. She rolled him onto his back and straddled his legs. At least his efforts to get her off hadn’t diminished his own desire. His rock-hard cock stood at attention, a good seven inches long, cut, and thick enough to make her happy.

He crossed his arms behind his head so he could watch her. For some reason, that pleased her, too.

Her eyes never left his as she gently wrapped her fingers around his cock and lowered her lips to the head. She swept her tongue over the glans, along the slit, and collected a few drops of pearly pre-cum that had already gathered there.

Doug let out a soft moan, his bottom lip caught under his upper teeth as he watched her. She teased him, spending several long, slow minutes lavishing attention on the head of his cock while it throbbed and twitched in her hand. She loved the taste of him and took great pleasure lapping up every drop her efforts rewarded her with.

“Please,” he urged, “don’t torture me.”

She smiled and went a little lower, taking him deeper into her mouth. His pleasured groan rewarded her, and she spent several more minutes teasing and tormenting him until she finally swallowed him all the way to the base. She hadn’t given head in several years either, but she was glad to see that she still remembered the skills of one of her favorite activities.

Doug was apparently glad, too, from the way he bucked his hips, trying to get her to move.

She cupped his balls with her other hand, softly kneading them with her fingers and earning her a few more happy moans from her partner.

“Please,” he hissed, “do it!”

She chuckled around his cock. It felt good to have a man begging her for pleasure.

Hell, it feels damn good to have a man, period!

She started going down on him in earnest. She lapped at his shaft with her tongue as she worked his length with her lips. Just as he let out a loud cry, she felt his cock grow even harder, swelling and throbbing before his load exploded into her mouth.

* * *

Dammit! He hated to admit it, but she was every bit as good as Tate with her mouth. He’d planned on giving her a good show, at least, even if she wasn’t very good at it, satisfied that he’d gotten her off several times. But no acting was needed on his part. Harper’s eager, skilled mouth took control of his cock and drained his aching balls dry.

He pulled her up into his arms, cuddling her close. When he kissed her, he tasted himself on her.

“Good?” she asked, sounding almost tentative, as if the self-assured woman who’d just given him one of the best blow jobs of his life was now worried if he’d liked it or not.

He laughed. “Good doesn’t even come close to describing it.”

Holding her felt so different than holding Tate. He didn’t want to make the comparisons, but he couldn’t help it. Her soft, rounded curves fit nicely against him. He hadn’t been with a woman since before he met Tate, but he was happy he could make her feel good.

At least I can do one thing right and make someone happy.

“That was…amazing,” she whispered against his chest.

“Ditto.” He kissed her forehead. She tipped her face back so he could kiss her properly, on the lips. Now that they’d gotten that first burst of energy out of their system, he stroked his free hand down her belly to settle between her legs. When she tried to protest that she didn’t think she could come again, he shushed her with another kiss, not letting her go as he parted her labia and found her clit. After a moment, she melted against him. She threw her arms around him and didn’t let go, kissing him back forcefully as he drove her to another orgasm.

Something about the sound and feel of her moans in his mouth as he kissed her turned him on even more than the feel of her lips on his cock earlier.

When she came, she tried to sit up to go down on him again, but he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her down on top of him in a sixty-nine. With his fingers digging into her sweetly plump ass cheeks, he buried his face between her legs again and licked her pussy as she moaned around his cock.

It didn’t take long for them both to explode, the feel of her screaming out her climax around his cock setting him off.

And she swallows! Wow…

* * *

She climbed off him, turned, and curled up next to him, drowsy, sated, and feeling genuinely happy for the first time in she couldn’t remember how long. She loved the way he played with her hair, twining it around his fingers.

“How was that?” he asked.

She happily sighed. “That was amazing.”

“I don’t mean to be a buzzkill, but I’m going to have to leave in a little bit.”

She looked up at him. “Why can’t you stay here tonight?”

He smiled and kissed her. “Because I don’t want to have to have a conversation at nearly midnight with my mom that I’m not coming home because I’m in bed with my boss, that’s why.”

“You don’t have to call her.”

“Um, yeah, I do. If I don’t, she’ll be worried. If I told her I wasn’t coming home to start with, that would have been different.”

She rolled on top of him and kissed his chest. “When can we move you in here?”

He shrugged. “It’s your house. That should be your call.”

“I’d say tomorrow, but I’m sure you’d have a perfectly logical reason why that wouldn’t be a good idea.”

He stroked her hair again. “We have a bunch of meetings.” He scrunched up his face. “Dammit. You don’t have a way to get to work tomorrow if I’m not here.”

She kissed him. “Come pick me up.”

“You don’t mind people seeing you ride in with me?”

“Why not?” She kissed him again. She couldn’t seem to stop doing it. “I promise I’ll behave myself in front of others.”

“Like you did tonight?”

“That was different. That was—”

“Crazy?” He smiled playfully.

“I was going to say impulsive, but crazy works, too. I never claimed to be perfectly sane.”

“So she was a gold-digging hussy, huh? I was just guessing about that.”

“Good guess.”

“Easy guess from the looks of her and knowing your father even as little as I do.” He looked into her eyes. “He doesn’t tolerate fakes or fools. And neither do you.”

“I am my father’s daughter.” She settled in more comfortably, wishing he didn’t have to leave but not begrudging him for it. She respected him for caring about his family as much as he did. As much as she loved Gorden and Olivia, she missed having a mother of her own growing up.