When Its Least Expected (25 page)

The sound of old school Al Green took over the air. He didn’t stop to think how weird

that was since this was a high school dance, but the man’s slow voice was all the
direction he needed to pull Harley into his hold. The silk of her dress was soft against
his hands. He couldn’t stop touching her. With little thought, Mason brought his mouth
to her ear and sighed, singing the chorus about staying together to the one and only
girl who made him think that those words might actually be possible.

“
I … am so in love with you … whatever you want to do … is alright with meee
…” She

stiffened under his touch, but he was determined to keep her close. Eventually, she
relaxed as he continued to whisper-sing the words to her. He felt goose bumps rise
under his fingers as he stroked part of her bare back. Would she ever
not
feel this velvety against him?

Then the song ended. The moment between them ceased. She pulled back just enough to

look up at him. Her eyes were hooded. Her lashes brushed her cheeks as she blinked.
There was longing in those chocolate wonders with a fire to which he definitely could
relate, especially as he stood there peering down at her. Without any kind of control,
Mason lowered his lips to hers, disregarding anything and everything around them.

Screw the crowd of their peers. Screw the worry of drawing attention. All he could
think

about was getting a taste of her lip gloss. That kiss … wow. It poured fire through
his veins, a perfect burn inside and out, but it was also was a kiss of promise, a
kiss of hope and maybe even a kiss of something more.

Harley Anderson had officially bewitched him.

* * *

cloth covering, her head hung low. She was trying to wrap her head around everything
that had happened tonight. She … had a boyfriend. She grinned slowly at that word.
She had a
hot
boyfriend. One who kissed the hell out of her and made her crazy in the head, but
before she was able to turn around to wait for her said boyfriend to return from the
bathroom, an unfamiliar pair of extra-large hands circled her waist, holding her in
place against the table. The smell of alcohol lingered in her nose, the scent so strong
that even a sickly, stuffed up, fevered girl couldn’t ignore. She jumped as the hands
moved up her waist, coming to sit right below her chest, pressed firmly against her
ribs. The unmistakable voice of Toby sounded menacingly in her ear.

Crap, not here…

“Hey, sexy girl, come dance with me.”

He turned her around to face him. She attempted to shove him away with her hands

against his chest, but the move only encouraged him to keep pushing. Push he sure
as hell did.

“No, Toby. Leave me alone. I’m here with Mason, and we’re together now. Back the hell

off!” Harley stared up at him, her brows narrowed to the point of touching while her
finger poked his chest with every word she spoke. A part of her wanted to panic and
not because of Toby this time but because if Mason were to see him there like that,
then there’d be no telling what he’d do.

“I don’t see pretty boy around right now, so I’d say you’re technically free. Besides,
you

know you want me.
You’ve always
wanted me, Harley. Don’t deny it.”

Harley tilted her head and began to study him. He never used to be that disgusting.
His

jagged teeth she could once ignore and his squinty eyes used to be sweet. His hard
jaw used to be sexy. He was once that perfect, boy next door that every girl crushed
after. Now though, she was embarrassed to admit that she had ever been one of those
girls.

Toby licked his lips, tiny bits of spittle splattered onto his chin. She inhaled and
exhaled, determined not to back down. The last time he’d cornered her like this, he’d
screwed with her head, but this time, it wasn’t going down like that.

“You’re right, Toby,” she attempted to relax, running her palm against his black lapel,
in

an up and down motion. “I do want you, all six foot of you ...” His grin turned cocky
as his nostrils flared. Harley smiled with all the menace she could find “… to take
a flying leap to hell, you sick bastard!”

Her knee, so perfectly proportioned to his groin, connected with his jewels like the

freaking kung-Fu pro she totally should have been. Toby grunted and held tight to
the table as his cries echoed throughout the room. He staggered away, but it wasn’t
getting him far. Harley

smiled in satisfaction, wiping her hands together in that my-work-is-finished-here
sort of way.

She was wicked. She was kick freaking ass, and best of all, she’d done it. She’d literally

kicked him where it counted, and she felt damn good about it until her head started
to spin and her eyes began to burn.

Crap, being sick took all the glory out of everything.

“Everything all right, little beast?”

Harley jumped. A strangled gasp too easily escaped her mouth. Mason stepped in front
of

her. Okay, so maybe she was a little tense. His voice was soothing though, and she
leaned into his outstretched arms seconds later, welcoming his warmth. She felt like
crap and was so worn down from the amount of adrenaline she’d just lost that it only
increased the incessant pounding in her head.

“Yep, I’m good,” she lied, nodding briskly into his neck. She closed her eyes as she

inhaled his sexy smell through her mostly clogged up nose. “I just need my delicious
boyfriend to dance with me again.”

She leaned back to state her needs, and his eyebrows rose at in question, his lips
quirked.

She bit her lip as he glanced back over his shoulders, praying he wouldn’t put two
and two

together. Luckily, he didn’t respond as Toby stood and limped away, hands directly
plastered over his unmanly parts.

“Okay, little beast, we’ll dance one more time, but then we have to get you home because

you honestly look like your about ready to collapse.” With a resolved sigh, she sank
deeper into his hold, and his hands pulled her tight against his body. He placed a
single kiss against her forehead as they began to sway to the slow ballad playing
melodically over the speakers, but seconds later, he pulled back to look down at her.
The frown on his face said it all.

“You’re burning up! Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” Her eyes were heavy as she

stared back at him with a blank, duh-like expression. She rolled her eyes at him and
his

protectiveness.

Yeah, okay, so she felt a little bit shitty. There was no denying that. She’d been
feeling

this way since they stepped through the gymnasium doors, but she didn’t want to ruin
their night, especially now. “I’m going to take you home, okay?” With affection brewing
heavily in his baby blues, he rubbed the back of his hand down her cheek.

“What about those two love birds?” Harley didn’t deny her need to leave, only closing

her eyes at his touch. She gestured with a free hand towards Maisy and Aric dancing
only a few feet away.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be back for them
,”
his voice promised angrily. “They can’t get into too much trouble here. Besides,
I want to get you into bed.”

A giggle escaped her mouth, he groaned back at her in obvious embarrassment. She

opened her eyes to stare up at his abnormally red cheeks. He was so cute! And those
lips. God, she loved them especially when they turned up on one side like they were
doing in that moment.

“Is that so, Mr. Daniel? ‘Because I’m pretty sure my parents wouldn’t approve of such

behavior in their home. My dad’s already threated the nunnery thing before in the
past, you know.” She teased as they made their way out the door, his hand lingering
on the small of her back.

Part of Harley was dying to know what would happen though if she took his words to

heart. Her pulse spiked with the thought.

“Let’s get you home, you dirty minded girl.”

He gripped her tighter and winked, pulling her towards his car. The air was freezing
her

overly heated skin. Not even the light sweater she wore or Mason’s heated body could
take the chills away. She was a mess. “Are you okay, or do you need me to carry you
to the car?” Harley shook her head annoyed. She was sick, not an invalid, but apparently
her answer wasn’t

convincing enough because soon after, she found herself being swooped into his arms
and

cradled protectively against his chest. She screeched, giggled, and then sunk in to
his hold.

Apparently she was worse than she’d thought.

Or he just felt so good. So comfortable.

Once home, Harley was so exhausted and drained that she was barely aware of the

anxious voices surrounding her as she lay in her bed, shivering almost violently under
the covers.

“Her fever is one hundred and three,” her mom’s voice was surprisingly calm as she
placed a cold, wet compress against Harley’s cheeks. “She never should have gone tonight.
I should have made her stay home. She’s been fighting this for days.”

“Should we take her to the ER or something? I’ll call my mom. She’s a nurse, and she

might know what to do.”

Mason frantic voice echoed off the walls, and she already heard the tapping of fingers
on

a phone just as the door clicked shut. Her mom was there again, this time surprising
Harley with a chuckle and a sigh. “Oh honey, that boy would walk on water for you,
do you know that?” She pulled the blankets up tightly around Harley’s neck like she’d
done many times when she was a little girl.

Harley just let her eyes have their way, and they stayed shut. There’d be time to
talk to

her mom tomorrow. Sleep was necessary. After a few more minutes of mommy pampering,
she

felt her body shifting as her mom got off the bed. Faintly, she heard her telling
Mason something along the lines of
not too long, and she needs rest
, but Harley couldn’t be sure. Her wits were so far gone that nothing made much sense.

Sleep – she needed it so badly.

Soft, tentative footsteps tapped against the wooden floor. “Little beast, are you
awake?”

She might have made a moaning noise back, but she couldn’t be sure.

Then gently she felt him lay down behind her. His chest pressed to her back, and she

shivered with his breath inhaling and exhaling against her neck. He draped an arm
over her

waist, running circles over her hip bone. It was probably not meant to be intimate,
but even fevered beyond belief, her body was still responding, pushing back into him
in a way that said
pull me closer – impossibly closer
.

He chuckled in her ear, “Go to sleep, beautiful.” He kissed her the tip of her ear,
“There

will be plenty of time for that another day.” The promise of those words left her
eager and a little bit ashamed. She was turning into a regular old hoochie-mama. She’d
never acted this way with a guy before. Not even with Aiden…

Just before sleep won out, during that slightly awake but too close to sleep to respond

phase, her name became an echoed sound in her ears. It was sweet and so sincere sounding
that she felt a small smile creep upon her lips in response, but Mason didn’t stop
at her name. No, something else completely unbelievable sounded in her ears. She tried
not to stiffen. She tried to pretend to stay asleep, but it was almost impossible,
especially with what she’d just heard.

She held her breath deep in her lungs as her fingers grappled with the ragged edge
of her

tee. She waited for something more to fall from his mouth, an apology or other words
of regret maybe, but the only sound that she could hear was his steady breath in her
ear. There was

nothing to show that he’d changed his mind.

It was all a dream or a hallucination maybe. It had to have been because there was
no

way in hell that Mason Daniel could have just told her he loved her.

It was well past ten when Mason had finally left Harley’s house. He’d patiently waited

for her to go lax in his arms, for her breathing to even out, for that moment when
he could finally tell her how he felt.

Damn, he was so far gone it wasn’t even funny.

The warmth of her fevered body still lingered against his skin as he drove his sister’s
date home. The scent of strawberries was still fresh on his clothes as he pulled into
his driveway, and the words he had spoken were still loose on his tongue as he turned
off the car. Harley had become a part of him in a way that no girl ever had before.

“What’s up with you, Mase? You haven’t spoken more than two words since you picked

us up from the dance. You okay?” Maisy’s inquisitive words knocked him for a loop
as she

tugged at his coat sleeve. He’d been in a zone, a far gone, Harley zone.

He shook his head as she stared back over at his sister. “Sorry, Sis. Just tired and
worn

out from the night.” He wasn’t up for sharing the details. She’d figure them out on
her own soon enough.

Tonight was his night to marvel at his new found non-bachelorhood.

Maisy yawned, stretching her arms above her head as they headed towards the front
door.

With his hands in the pockets of his coat, he snuck lazily up the sidewalk next to
her, taking in every inch of the eerily blackened sky above him. It was ominous, not
a single star was visible, and even the moon had taken on a few more shadows from
the clouds above. He shivered and

stared over at his sister while she followed his pace towards the house. Her fingers
fidgeted against the lace of her dress. It was her tell. The one sure sign that something
was bugging her.

He waited for her to reply because she always told him everything, but it never came.
He took it as a sign that she was just tired like he was.