Stealing Harper(96)

“That’s not an excuse.” His voice was soft as he pulled down the covers, “Come on Harper, get in.”

The way his voice wrapped around my name sent a warm shiver through my body and I had to fight to keep my eyes away from his now-bare chest as I crawled into his bed. Even the quick glance at his sculpted chest and abs had my heart racing. After he flipped off the lights, I felt the bed sink down from his weight and I sat up.

“What are you doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“You can’t get in here with me!”

He chuckled, “It’s my bed, I’m sure I can do what I want.”

I know he couldn’t see me, but I glared at him anyway. Flipping the cover off me, I grabbed a pillow and sank down to the floor.

“Get back in the bed Princess.”

I scoffed at my nickname but didn’t say anything. I could feel his eyes boring into my back and after what felt like an eternity, heard him sigh and the bed shift. I wanted to ask for a blanket but was too stubborn to ask. Next thing I knew I was in the air.

“Oh my word! Put me down!”

He dropped me onto the bed and crawled over me.

“Chase! No!”

“Calm down, I’ll stay on my side. We can even put a pillow between us if it’ll make you feel better.” He snickered.

I grumbled and scooted to the edge of the bed. Obviously I’ve never been in a bed with a guy before, and the fact that he was inches away had my whole body shaking. “I swear if you touch me, I’ll go Lorena Bobbitt on you.”

It didn’t take him long to figure out what I was referring to. He put a pillow over his face to muffle his booming laugh. “Oh my God! Princess! You’re my new favorite!”

“That wasn’t a joke.”

His body was still shaking with silent laughs as he moved closer and trailed his fingers up my arm. “One of these days, you’ll be begging for me to touch you.”

I couldn’t tell if my next shiver was out of pleasure or disgust but I still growled at him and slapped his hand away. “I’m serious Chase. I’m not like all those girls I saw you with tonight.”

“That’s an understatement.” He rolled back to his side of the bed and sighed, “Get some sleep Princess, I’ll see you in the morning.”





2



MY EYES SHOT open the next morning when I felt something squeeze me. Looking down I saw tattoos trailing down to a muscled forearm that was wrapped securely around my waist and gasped when I remembered I’d slept in Chase’s bed last night. I jumped out from under his arm and off his bed in a move so fast it had my head spinning. My heart took off again as I took in Chase’s shirtless body. His tattoos expanded up his shoulders and for some reason I wanted to trace them with my fingers and splay my hands across his well-defined abs and chest. Dear me, this man was gorgeous.

Chase sat up cursing until he realized who I was. “Jesus Princess! You almost gave me a heart attack. I thought I had a girl in here.” He flopped back onto his pillow, raking his hands over his face.

That snapped me back to reality. “Chase?”

“Hmm?”

“Sorry you didn’t seem to notice, but I am a girl.”

He dropped his hands and scowled at me but still proceeded to slowly take in my body. My cheeks were bright red by the time he looked back up. “I noticed last night, trust me.” My question mark face must have prompted the rest of his response. “I meant, I thought I let a girl stay the night with me.”

“Uh . . . ?”

“Someone I’d been with Princess. I thought I banged a girl and let her stay here.”

“Oh.”

He snorted. “Sorry, is that too much for your PG ears?”

“No, I just don’t understand why that would be a bad thing.”

Sighing deeply he propped himself up on an elbow and looked directly into my eyes. “Girls I screw around with aren’t allowed to come in my room, let alone stay the night. This is the only place that is mine, and I’m not about to share it with them.”

“So you sleep with women and then make them leave?” I didn’t even want to ask where he slept with them.

“No, I screw women . . . and then make them leave.”

I shook my head and walked toward the door, “You’re a pig.”

He laughed once without humor and watched me leave.

When I got out to the living room I saw Breanna at the kitchen table with a housemate, as soon as they saw me the conversation stopped. I hadn’t known I could feel even more awkward, guess so.

Looking at me sheepishly, Bree stood from her chair and pulled me toward the living room. “Harper, I’m so sorry. Brad just told me everything.” Her voice broke at the end. “I swear I would never intentionally do something to embarrass you. I know we just met but I’ve been looking forward to living with you and I can’t believe I hurt you like that after just meeting you.”