Stealing Harper(35)

I went back to my room and tried to talk myself into leaving now that I’d given her the ring, but then the shower turned on, and I groaned as I flopped onto my bed. I raked my hands over my face as I tried to do anything but picture Princess in the shower, but that wasn’t happening. I wanted to thank my sister for getting Harper to wear bikinis and thought of the handful of times I’d seen her at the beach or lying out by the pool at my place. Those suits didn’t leave much to the imagination, and those images mixed with the running water were making my already painfully hard erection, throb. It’d been months since I’d been with anyone, and even before then, Harper had starred in every one of my fantasies. This one wasn’t any different. I quickly undid the button and zipper on my jeans and nearly groaned again when I finally grabbed myself.

“Chase”—someone pounded on my door—“your dad said you’re in here, and he needs our help bringing some stuff into the house.”

You’ve got to be shitting me. I liked Konrad, he was good to my sister, and he fit in our family well. But I was going to knock him the fuck out for this.

“Chase, buddy,” Dad’s voice came from the other side of the door, “c’mon. Got a lot of ice chests and food that need to be brought in.”

Well, that killed any fantasy of Harper I might have been having. I adjusted myself and fixed my pants before opening the door. “All right, let’s do this.”

The last load was small enough for two, so Konrad went to find Bree as my dad and I went back to finish bringing the last of it in. I’d decided leaving was my only option if I wanted to have any sort of control around Princess, but then I saw her standing there behind Bree and Konrad at one of the poker tables, and I knew I wasn’t leaving anytime soon. She looked amazing, even more so than usual; a brief flash of how I’d been picturing her not ten minutes earlier went through my mind, and I fought with the idea of grabbing her and taking her to my room to actually live it. My eyes snapped up to find her watching me, and her cheeks went red as she dragged her gaze back to the poker table.

I noticed an empty seat at the table and made my way toward it, slowly taking in every inch of her on my way over. I caught a flash of silver and looked at the hand closest to me to find my ring on her finger. My chest swelled, and I couldn’t stop myself from grabbing her right hand to run my thumb over the ring before dropping her hand and going to sit.

The games were passing quickly—I wasn’t winning, but, thankfully, I wasn’t losing much either. Splitting my time so the majority was spent watching her, and the rest was actually focusing on the hand I had, and the bets people were placing was a sure way to lose everything I’d just put down. But it was worth it just to be able to look at her for the first time in two weeks.

“I’m running to the bathroom.” Konrad stood up and stretched. “Take my place, Kid, but please God don’t lose any more of my money.”

I’d never understood why he called Harper, “Kid,” but it’s not like I was one to judge when it came to giving her nicknames. I watched her sit down, and her eyes glazed over as she looked at the cards. God, she was horrible at any card game, but it was cute to watch her try.

“You better just hand over all his chips now, Princess; they won’t be here by the time he gets back anyway.” I smirked at her and loved the way her ever-present blush crept back up her cheeks.

Bree leaned in to whisper in her ear, and I watched closely as she and Harper spoke quietly. My smirk died when Harper’s face drained of color, and a murderous glare followed by a deep ache filled her eyes. What the fuck had Bree said?

Konrad came back before we even got around to showing our cards, and I watched Harper avoid looking at me as she quickly got up and walked away from the table. What the hell? I glared at my sister as she flirted with her boyfriend. She was sitting there having a good time when she’d clearly just hurt Princess? I looked for Harper and found her talking to my parents before slowly making her way toward the kitchen.

I put my cards on the table, tossed my chips at Konrad to make up for what Bree was losing, and got up quickly. “I’m out.” Harper placed five beers on the kitchen island from one of the coolers, and I just shook my head. “Nu-uh. If I’m not drinking, you’re not drinking.”

Her eyes darted in my direction before going back to the beers. “Well then, why don’t you have one?”

“Because I don’t drink anymore.”

She put a hand on her hip and finally turned to face me. “Since when?”