Taking Chances (3 page)

“Chase,” my
voice stopped him, “I'm really sorry, I was out of line.”

He turned to
look at me, head cocked to the side. When he continued to look at me with a
confused expression I went on.

“I was raised
not to back down to people, but what I said was too much. So, I'm sorry. I
don't know you, I shouldn't judge you.”

A huff of a
laugh escaped his chest and I saw the corners of his mouth slightly tilt up. He
shook his head, still looking confused and now a little stunned before he took
off around the side of the house.

This was going
to be a long night. If I had any idea where we were, I'd try to walk back to
campus.

“Haarrrrrpppeeeerrrr!”
I looked over to see Breanna stumble out the back door. “Harper, come inside,
everyone's gone!”

When I got
close she hooked an arm through mine and led me into the living room. “So did
you kiss anyone tonight?” She raised both eyebrows and it looked like she had
to struggle to keep them there.

“No.” I
muttered.

The same guy
she'd been taking shots with when I left yelled from the kitchen, “I can help
with that!”

I shook my head
and started to answer when Bree spoke again. “No, no, no. I told you guys,
she's off limits!”

“Come on Bree,
what's your deal?”

She leaned
forward and fake whispered, “Cause she's
pure
. Completely. Pure.”

My jaw dropped
and I grabbed her wrist as she went to tap my lips with her finger. “Breanna!”

Putting her
hand back to her own lips she held one finger in front of her mouth. “Shh!
Harper don't tell them!”

A little late
for that. I was completely mortified. I wanted to be angry at her, but she
could barely stay standing, I doubt she would remember any of this tomorrow.
Looking up, I saw four guys standing there staring at me with wide eyes before
busting up laughing. I needed someone to kill me. Now. No, first I needed to
get out of here. Then someone needed to kill me.

One of the guys
I hadn't met was wiping tears from his eyes, “Oh my God! Princess, is she
serious?”

Glad to see
they all adopted my favorite nickname. Was there something about me that just
screamed
Give me a nickname
? I couldn't even respond, my throat had
closed up and I thought I would actually cry for the first time in years.
Unhooking my arm from Breanna, I made a beeline for the front door, intent on
trying to find my way back to campus. I stopped when I realized Chase was
blocking the hall that led to the entryway, he was the only one in the room not
laughing. Instead, his lips were mashed together and he was shooting daggers at
his sister.

“Please. Move.”

He moved, but
it was to grab my shoulders and steer me back towards the living room. What was
he doing? I dug my heels into the carpet trying to scramble back in the other
direction.

“Don't touch
me!” I hissed.

“Just trust
me.” He growled in my ear, walking me past everyone still laughing at Bree's
slip.

When we hit a
hallway I hadn't been down tonight, one of the guys from the kitchen yelled,
“Looks like Chase is gonna take care of that problem for you Princess!” That
brought on a new round of hysterics.

Chase paused
for a second, cussed under his breath and started forward with me again. When
we got to the end of the hall he stopped in front of a door, and pulled out a
key to unlock it before towing me in. When the light flipped on, I blinked
until I realized we were in a bedroom, I gasped and tried even harder to get
out of his grasp. If I could just turn a little, I could have him on the floor
in a few seconds. But his grip was firm, I couldn’t budge at all.

“No! Get off
me!”

“Not until you
stop trying to hit me!”

I stopped but
stayed tense as he waited for almost a minute before releasing my arms. Once he
did I turned on him and backed away.

“Calm down
Princess,” He sighed sounding uninterested, “I'm not going to do anything to
you.”

“I really wish
you would stop calling me that.” I said through gritted teeth.

He rolled his
eyes and went to a drawer, after throwing a pair of basketball shorts at me he
walked back to the door. “Put those on, I'll be back.”

“Why?”

“Did you want
to sleep in that skirt? He bit his bottom lip, his eyes glued to my legs. I
swear I won't mind it, I figured you'd be uncomfortable though.”

“Breanna said I
would be in a room with her tonight, and if that's not happening I'd rather
just go back to the dorm.”

“I can assure
you she'll be sleeping in the bathroom. I'll give you a minute to change, I'll
be right back.”

“I am not
sleeping with you in here.”

“Look, you're
seriously hot, that alone is going to have them chasing after you. But top that
off with the few words you've even said that shows me just how snarky and sweet
as hell you are, that is one hell of a tempting combination. Trust me when I
say they're going to want to change what they just found out about you. So if
you don't mind, I'd rather make sure that doesn't happen.”

He slammed the
door shut and not more than three seconds later I could hear him yelling at the
guys in the kitchen and telling Breanna to fend for herself tonight. I was
standing there in his basketball shorts and Bree's spaghetti strap when he
walked back in and locked the door.

“That was rude,
she's your sister. She should be in here too.”

He looked at me
incredulously, “Are you serious? You're gonna defend her after she just spilled
that?”

I shrugged my
shoulders and put the skirt on a chair, keeping my back to him so he couldn't
see my cheeks flaming again. “She's drunk. I'm sure she didn't realize it.”

“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.”

M
y 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 towards 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.”

“Really, it's
fine. I've heard enough stories that I figured you didn't know what you were
doing.”

“It's not fine!
You should hate me.”

I nodded and
looked over at Brad who was grinning at me. “Well I don't plan on seeing any of
these guys ever again, so there's no use in making you suffer with me.” I
smiled at her, trying to make light of the situation.

Although I was
still humiliated, I'd never been one to hold a grudge, and I wasn't about to
start now. I had wanted to come start a new life here, and even though I seem
to have taken five steps back, I was still determined to make this the best
experience ever. Embarrassing moment or not, it's not like I had a lot of
options here. Either let this get to me and cower away from people, or hold my
head high and push forward.

She still
looked sullen and it was making me uncomfortable. “Well at least people don't
think I'm a whore.”

That brought on
a smile which turned into a light laugh. “You're a glass half full kind of
person, aren't you?”

“Definitely.”

Hugging me
tightly before walking back to her cup of coffee she said, “At least let me buy
you one new outfit.”

“Hah! I won't
stop you. Are you sure you're up for that today though? I figured you wouldn't
be up for much of anything after last night.”

“Sweetie, I'm
always
up for shopping. Go change, I'm ready when you are.”

I walked back
into Chase's room to find it empty, after shedding his basketball shorts I
quickly stepped into Bree's skirt. Before I could pull it up, the door swung
open and Chase walked in.

“It's really a
shame you don't let anyone see that sexy little body.”

Blushing fifty
shades of red, I pulled them up and turned to face him.

“Calm down, you
don't have anything I haven't seen before.” He cocked his head and raised an
eyebrow making it disappear under his shaggy blonde hair. “Not saying I
wouldn't want to see yours.”

“Bite me.” I
pushed past him towards the door.

“Is that an
invitation?”

“Not even close.”

He grabbed my
waist, and pulled me against his chest, his nose skimming along my jaw, “One of
these days Princess, I promise you.”

I turned to
scowl at him once more, “I would never be desperate enough to want you.” Okay
that was a lie; my breaths were already quickening just feeling his sculpted
body pressed against mine.

His smile was
slow and sexy, “We'll see.”

***

Breanna and I
were lying on our beds in the dorm room after an epic six hour shopping trip at
an outdoor mall. As promised, I let her pick out all my outfits, and she paid
for one of them. Now that we were done, I was regretting how much money I'd
spent, but I'd just bought fifteen different shirts, four pairs of jeans, a
couple pairs of ultra-short shorts and skirts, three sexy but cute dresses and
five pairs of shoes. After that was done we headed to Victoria's Secret, and I
blushed my way through the entire store while she picked out all my new
underwear, bras and sleeping clothes. Our last stop of the day was at Sephora
where we basically purchased my own make-up counter after Bree swore to teach
me how to put it all on. And for all that? I think I did pretty well. The only
thing Sir had let me do growing up was work at one of the Post Exchanges. Not
that kids my age were generally allowed to, but everyone knew our situation so
I started there when I was twelve and had saved every cent.