Need You for Mine(58)

“What are you doing?”

“Something I sure as hell don’t deserve, but can’t seem to stop.”

That gravelly midnight DJ voice he had going on went a long way toward making those pesky concerns vanish. And whatever little worry she was clinging to disappeared the second his mouth came down on hers.

Not hard like before, but soft feathering kisses that skated across her top lip, then the bottom one, before capturing them both in a way that had her knees melting. That was to say nothing for what was going on in her panties.

Adam coaxed and teased, sliding his fingers into her hair and pressing in as close as he could, until all of their good parts were lined up. And the man had a surplus in the good part department. Hard muscles contrasted with the gentle way he held her, and suddenly she forgot how to breathe. She simply didn’t have enough brain cells left to figure out how to get enough oxygen to her lungs.

Then he whispered her name and breathing was the least of her problems. Her bones liquefied, her knees buckled, and her heart turned over. And over again. Before she knew what was happening she was wrapped up in a warm man cocoon, sitting on Adam’s lap, her arms locked around his neck.

She dug her knees into the leather of the chair as her thighs settled around his. Adam seemed to like the direction she was taking because he moaned and took the kiss deeper, took everything deeper, until she didn’t know what was up and what was down, even though it felt as if the ground were rushing up to meet them. And Harper let go.

Let go of the fear and the worry. Let go of that damn parachute string, since it was impossible to hang on so tight and live up to her end of the bet. Because fair was fair, and Harper wanted to fall.

“What are you doing?” This time it was Adam who asked, his voice so thick she could barely make out what he said.

Tugging the bottom of her shirt up to show her belly, she said, “Life is too short to be ordinary. And I want extraordinary.”

Harper pulled her shirt off and, no, she didn’t have on Honeysuckle. But she did have on a see-through demi that was guaranteed to heat things up. Although when she tossed her top to the ground, Adam gave her a look she couldn’t quite decipher. A look that had her wanting to cover herself. “What do you see?”

It took him a long moment to speak, but when he did, his voice was gentle. Almost as gentle as the finger tracing her cheek. “I see a woman who is so extraordinary that she makes everything else here seem ordinary.”

Which was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her. Only instead of kissing her, showing her how incredibly intoxicating she was, he tucked her hair behind her ear and said, “Which is why I have to go.”





Adam was buttoning his pants and nearly to the shop’s door when Harper came around the corner. Still in nothing but teal lace and cutoffs, she paused by the counter and crossed her arms.

Her hair was a mess of curls from his fingers, her lips bruised from his kisses, and her nipples were hard because he was that good.

“Wait. You’re leaving?”

As fast as humanly possible, because it was the strangest thing. As he stood there, holding her gaze, something inside of him shifted. Something massive and sharp that had his chest doing a whole one-two jab combo to his ribs. The one would be peeling those cutoffs right down her legs and having a lose-yourself moment that he’d been going on and on about.

Except he’d gotten his hands on her, tasted just how sweet she really was, and now he knew he’d get lost—only it wouldn’t be for a moment. He’d want more.

Yes, by more he meant sex, but he also meant talking and laughing and not feeling as though in the morning it would all fade away. And that was where the second jab came in.

“I want to leave before it gets too late.”

“It’s barely nine,” she said, challenge lighting those eyes. “And I need more than one pose.”

Yeah, well that would have to wait. Because what he wanted and what he wanted were not lining up. So before he did something stupid, like follow her back inside, he said, “Another night. I promise.”

“But it felt like a tonight thing to me,” she said so quietly he wanted to punch himself. “The chair, the kissing . . . it all felt . . .” She looked up at him and, God, it broke his heart. “Was I misreading something? Because it seemed like . . .”

“No. I mean, yes.” Jesus, his mind was all over the place. Opening up to her about his day had been expected. That’s what Harper did, she talked the truth right out of people. But the way he felt talking to her, as if she really heard him, that was as refreshing as it was terrifying. “I was giving you all the signals, Harper. Loud and clear.”