Stealing Harper(42)

“I want you! All I’ve ever wanted is you.”

“Then why are you trying to hurt me again?”

“Because it’s easier that way,” I answered honestly, “You’re with Brandon. Do you know what it’s like watching you with him? Wanting you so bad, but knowing he’s who you should be with?”

“But what if I want you?”

No, no. No more games. “Harper, don’t.”

“I’m so in love with Brandon, but I can’t help what I feel for you, and I know you know what I’m talking about. Whatever this is between us . . . it’s been there since we met. It’s like I can’t get enough of you, but all you do is push me away. It’s all you’ve ever done!”

“Because I’m not what you need, Harper!”

“Then why did you kiss me, Chase? You knew it would change everything, and it did. So tell me, why did you do it?”

Such a frustrating girl! Does she really want to do this now? After every back-and-forth game we’ve played over the last four and a half months? I closed the small distance between us as I spoke—half of me yelling to just leave, the other half wanting nothing more than to take her in my arms. “I needed to. You’re all I can think about, and it drives me crazy! I would have given anything for that kiss, and I knew I wouldn’t get that chance again, so I had to. I had to know if you felt something, too.”

She threw out her arms and let out an exasperated huff. “Was that not obvious? Is it not obvious that I’m in love with you?”

I didn’t waste time crushing my mouth to hers. I’d waited so long to hear those words come from her. She moaned, and her body melted into mine, her legs going weak. I grabbed behind her thighs and wrapped her legs around my waist as I pushed her against the wall in an attempt to get our bodies closer together. The kiss deepened, and I begged her to say it again.

“Chase,” she whispered against my lips before grabbing my face to look into my eyes, “I love you.”

My heart was pounding against my chest. Months of wondering and waiting, and it was finally out there. She pressed her lips firmly to mine, and I growled against her mouth, “God, Harper I love you, too, so much.”

I pushed away from the wall, and keeping her legs around my waist, walked us into my room and lowered us onto my bed. Her hands left my hair and started pulling at my shirt. A soft sound of frustration sounded from the back of her throat, and I pulled away from her long enough to grab the back of the collar to pull my shirt off and throw it to the ground. Harper sat up slightly, and our mouths slammed together before I pressed her against the mattress again. Her hands ran over my bare chest and stomach, and all I could think about was everything I’d wanted to do to her while I’d been giving her the tattoo. Leaning back long enough to give me room to take her shirt off, I threw it to the floor as well and kissed her soft lips once more before making a line of kisses down to the orange lilies wrapping around her hip.

Harper sucked in a soft gasp when I gently bit down on her hip, and I smiled against her skin as I took off the skintight black workout pants she was wearing and tossed them aside as well. Add those to one more thing I didn’t want her wearing around anyone but me. I made another trail up her stomach and sucked on a hardened nipple through her bra before pressing my body against hers, her legs already wrapping around my back.

“I want you.”

My head fell into the crook of her neck, and I groaned—as if everything else didn’t already show how much I wanted her as well, the painfully hard erection I was currently sporting was making it that much more obvious. I bit softly on her collarbone as I tried to make myself stop before this went any further. “I don’t have any condoms here, Princess.”

“I don’t care.”

I laughed. God, this girl will be the death of me. “Don’t say stuff like that, I’m only so strong.”

She grabbed at the button on my jeans, and her shaky, fumbling hands had me thinking Breanna was still right about my Princess. I grabbed her hands and pulled them away, just before she confirmed those thoughts. “Please, Chase, I don’t want to wait any longer. I want you to be my first.”

I leaned away from her and rested on my knees. “I can’t.”

Her eyes went wide with hurt. “You don’t want me?”

“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.”