Stealing Harper (10 page)

I let my tongue trace against that bottom lip of hers I loved so much and groaned when she opened her mouth to me. I led us roughly back to the opposite wall, let go of her face, and grabbed her hips to bring her between my legs. She went willingly, and when one of my hands pressed against the small of her back to push us closer together, she moaned into my mouth and arched her body into mine. Her hands slid down from around my neck to fist into my shirt and pull me closer, and I smiled before nipping at her bottom lip and taking her mouth again. By the time we pulled back from each other, we were both breathing hard, and I rested my forehead on hers while I tried to catch my breath.

She put a hand to her chest but didn’t say anything and would no longer look at me. She was looking straight down. I needed her to look at me, I needed to know what she was thinking. That kiss hadn’t been what I was hoping for when I decided to finally kiss her. It was more. It’d been hungry and passionate and like we couldn’t get enough of each other.
So why won’t
she look at me?

“Harper.”

Her eyes snapped up, and my stomach dropped. She looked like someone had just crushed her. I’d never felt so alive, and she looked like she was on the verge of bursting into tears.

“I will think about that kiss for the rest of my life.” I gently pushed her away from me and watched the pain flash through her eyes as I wondered if I’d just made the biggest mistake of all when it came to this girl. I dropped my arms, walked quickly out to my truck, and got away from that house as fast as I possibly could. If she regretted that, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to handle it, so I didn’t want to know.

“C
HASE, STOP.”

I froze and hung my head before turning to look at Brad. “Yeah?”

“What is going on with you lately? I’ll admit it’s been nice the last few weeks not having you and Brandon fighting around here all the time, but you’ve been snapping at everyone and avoiding all of your housemates for the last few weeks, and now when I see you . . . you just look like a zombie. What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

Before I could reach for the doorknob, he put a hand on the door and spoke again. “We used to be friends, but whatever’s happening with you lately has you burning all your friendships, including ours.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say, man. You know what’s going on with me, and you’re taking Brandon’s side.”

“No one’s taking sides—you’re just going about it the wrong way. You’re causing unnecessary shit, and it makes it hard to be in a room with the two of you.”

“Well, there you go. That’s why I’m always gone.”

“Do you realize how dumb all this is?” He waved a hand toward the rest of the house. “This is your fucking house, and you’re never here! Look, man, I know you like her—”

“Love her.” I cut Brad off, and his eyes widened.

“Uh . . . all right. I know you
love
her, but you missed your chance—for now at least. Right now, she’s with Brandon, and if there’s ever going to be a ‘you and Harper,’ then you need to stop doing what you’ve been doing.”

“There will be,” I said softly toward the front door. “I know she wants me, too.”

“Well shit, I hope she does, Chase! I’ve never seen you care about a girl for more than a handful of minutes. You don’t even look twice when Natalie comes around anymore, and she was the only lay you had more than once. I know Harper means something to you; I’m not blind! But if you’re so sure she wants you, too, then don’t fuck up the friend you have in Brandon to get with her.”

“Brandon’s in just as deep as I am, so I’m pretty sure that’s not possible.”

“Well, you need to figure something out. Because how it’s been isn’t the way to go about this.”

I sighed roughly and finally turned to look at him. “Are we done here, Dr. Phil?”

Brad’s head jerked back slightly, and he shook his head, “Seriously man, what the fuck has gotten into you?”

“Look, I’m sorry, I know I’m being a dick lately I just—I don’t know how to explain it . . . if someone were dating Sarah, what would you do?”

“My Sarah?” When I nodded, he continued, “Beat the shit out of him and take her back.”

I raised my eyebrows and continued to look at him.

“But that’s different, bro. Sarah and I have been together for two years, you aren’t even
with
Harper.”

“I know, but if she said yes, I’d marry her today.”

“Chase”—he looked at me like I was crazy—“you don’t even really know her!”

“Yeah, I do, and I’ll do anything to have her. You can think it’s crazy all you want, but you can’t act like you haven’t seen what she’s done to me without even trying. She hadn’t even realized I’d stopped drinking for her. I haven’t had or thought about another girl since the end of August, and the same with alcohol. And the funny thing is, I don’t even care. I could care less that I’ve missed every party over the last four months. None of that matters anymore; she does. And one of these days, she’ll be mine.”
I hope.

He held up his hands and took a step away, “All right, man . . . all right. Just try to be smart about it, yeah?”

I smirked and nodded as I opened the front door. “I’m taking my cues from her.”

I hadn’t seen or heard from Princess in almost a week since kissing her on New Year’s Eve, and every day Brian made me kick myself for leaving after the kiss. He’d even had Marissa come down to the shop to lecture me about kissing her and leaving, and how I’d probably hurt her more by doing that. I wasn’t sure if they were right, but I sure as hell was about to find out.

On one of the Sundays, I’d heard all the girls talking in the kitchen about flowers, and Harper had gone on about orange lilies being her favorite. I’d known I couldn’t just get her some, but hearing her talk about them never left my mind, and I’d sketched up a large drawing of four orange lilies for her as a tattoo. She knew I had a tattoo for her, and I knew she wanted one, but I refused to tell her what it was unless she came to get it; and I’m pretty sure the only reason she never did was because Brandon would have stopped her. It’s just such a damn shame he’s still in Arizona right now. I hopped in my truck and pulled out my phone.

So . . . you ever going to come get that tattoo?

Princess:
When are you free?

Seriously?

Princess:
:) Make me an appointment. I’ll be there

We open at four today. Come in then

Princess:
Do I get to know what it is first?

You can see it when it’s done. I’m warning you now, it’s going to take hours.

Princess:
Chase, I swear, if you put something I hate on my body . . . I’ll kill you

I promise you’ll love it

Princess:
Don’t make me regret this

See you in a couple hours Princess

Hell. Yeah.

I cranked the engine and took off for the shop to start on the outline so I’d have everything ready by the time she got there, and was almost done when Brian came in.

“Thank the good Lord above. Chase has come to his senses and finally gotten him some ass!”

My expression deadpanned as I looked up at him.

“Or maybe not.”

“You would be correct with the latter,” I mumbled as I went back to the outline.

“Then what was up with the goofy grin?”

“Princess is coming in for her tattoo.”

“Oh no shit? I gotta tell Riss!”

I snorted and looked back up to him. “Do you tell Marissa everything?”

Brian took a massive bite of a burrito and looked at me funny, “Uh . . . yeah.”

I just shook my head and went back to the outline.

“Riss said this is huge,” he said around another big bite, “and that it means she’s either not that upset with you or wants to see what will happen.”

“That’s nice, Bri.”

“And Riss wants to know if you’re gonna kiss her.”

I dropped the pen and looked up. “Brian, I don’t know man. I didn’t think she’d agree to it in the first place; I don’t know if she’ll even show up. Tell Marissa if she wants to be in on it so bad, she can come watch.” Brian took another bite, nodded, and started tapping on his phone. “No don’t
actually
tell her that! I don’t want to freak Princess out! Which means you can’t act like you know who she is, either. I swear, she’ll probably run away screaming if she sees you smiling at her the way you do when I talk about her. She’s gonna think you’re a freak, Bri, so just be cool.”

“I can be cool”—he shrugged—“I’ll be so cool she’ll be like ‘man that guy’s so fly,’ and she’ll leave your ass for me.”

I choked on my gum and had to wait a couple minutes before responding. “Did you just say ‘fly’ in a thug voice? Shit, all you’re missing is the grill, real O.G. over here.” I laughed and dodged the balled-up foil from the burrito he threw at me. “And leave me for you? Please. Brian, you have massive hair, look like you haven’t shaved for days, and are covered in tattoos and piercings. Like I said, she’ll run away screaming.”

“Psh, nah, you be trippin’.”

“You are so white. Leave me alone. I want to finish this before she shows.”

“You can bet your ass I’m gonna be texting Riss a play-by-play once she does!”

I just shook my head. “As long as you stay away, you can do what you want.”

Thirty minutes later, I was done and sitting with Brian when my Princess walked into the shop. She was in sweats and still looked more beautiful than any other girl I’d ever seen.

“Holy shit, is that her?” Brian asked, and I nodded as I stood up. “Damn, I’m gonna need to take a stalker picture of her to send to Marissa; your girl is hot.”

“You’re so fucking dumb. Remember, stay invisible. You may know about her, but she doesn’t have a clue about you.” I walked to the front and took what felt like my first real breath in days when she smiled at me. I grabbed her hand and led her back to my station. “I can’t believe you actually came.”

“I know. I’m kind of freaking out.”

Shit. “Then I’m not going to do it, Princess. I’ll do it whenever you’re ready.”

Her eyes went wide, and she shook her head quickly. “No, no. I want it today, but I’m afraid it’s going to hurt, and it’s really hard not knowing what it is. Can you please just let me see it?”

Uh, no.
That was the deal. “I’m not going to lie to you and say it won’t hurt, but it’s different for everyone. Some people hate outlines, some hate shading. Some people don’t feel a thing, and some hate the entire process. I told you, you’ll love what it is. But it’s a surprise; I can’t tell you.”

She bit her lip and looked around for a few seconds before looking back at me. “I’m trusting you with this, Chase.”

I put a hand around the back of her neck and pulled her close to me. “I know, Harper, thank you.” I kissed her forehead and forced myself back to lean up against my counter so I wouldn’t press my lips to hers. “Where do you want it?”

“Um . . . you said it was big, right?” I just nodded. “Can I know how big? Because the location depends on the size.”

“Turn around.”

“What? Why?”

I laughed when her eyes went wide again and put my hands on her hips to turn her body away from me. “Because I already have the outline ready to go, I’m about to grab it to get the farthest points, and I don’t want you to see it.” I grabbed tracing paper and laid it on top of the outline, marked the points, and turned her back toward me. “This big.”

“Okay, I want it here.” She grabbed the paper from me and held it up on herself. “I want it to start on the far left side of my stomach and wrap around my left hip.”

That’s almost exactly where I had pictured it on her, too. I had to take a deep breath when I realized I was about to freely touch her, and reached for her shirt to roll it up so it would be out of the way. “Lie down on your side.” Once she was on the table, I tugged the left side of her sweatpants down slightly as well, and my heart started hammering about the same time she sucked in a quick, audible breath. “I’ll keep everything covered, I promise. I just need this side farther down.” My voice came out deep and husky, and I tried to shake it off; I’d done tattoos in more intimate places than this on women, and it’d never affected me like this.

“Chase?”

“Hmm?”

“You said it’s going to take hours?”

“Yeah, probably three. As you can see, it’s big, and the shading is really detailed. That part will take the longest. This is where you need to trust me. I’m about to put the outline on, so please don’t look.” She squeezed her eyes shut and made the cutest scrunched-up face I’d ever seen. “If you ever need me to stop, just tell me, okay?”

“ ’Kay. I’m ready, let’s do this.”

Once the outline was on and how I wanted it, I set up the machine and inks and put on my gloves. I turned to look at my princess, and I couldn’t help but just stare at her for a few moments. God, she was perfect. I heard someone clear his throat and looked up to see Brian nodding and giving me a thumbs-up. I shook my head and flipped him off before rolling my chair over to her and squeezing her hand. “You picked the perfect spot; this is gonna look awesome.”

“It better.”

I smiled and started on the outline. Her body relaxed soon after I started, but when I looked over almost halfway through the outline, her hands were still clenched into fists. She was doing amazing so far, wasn’t flinching or making any pained noises. But inking the girl that meant the world to me with
this
tattoo had to be a better moment for me than kissing her, and I wanted her to enjoy it, too. “You okay?”

“Yep, just pay attention to what you’re doing.”

I laughed. Did she really think I’d mess this up on her? I finished the outline, fixed the machine to start the shading, and went back to giving my princess her lilies. I tried to ignore the way my heart was pounding and jeans felt like they were tightening as I continued to work on her, but the way her body felt, all I could think about was ripping off my gloves and exploring every inch of her without them. It definitely didn’t help when I looked up to see her biting her lip and her chest rising and falling in a calculated pattern. She started moving her body slightly, like she was uncomfortable, and hell if I didn’t start thinking of every way I could
make
her comfortable.