Duty Bound

by Samantha Chase

  I didn’t need quite so much help in getting situated in the seat, but I didn’t really want him to pull away either.

  Clearly, my mind was hopelessly disarranged by the fall and near disaster.

  He didn’t pull away when I expected, and I started to feel flustered again by his closeness and my response to it. So I said, “I think I’ll be okay just sitting here.”

  His eyes lifted to my face, and the dark brown of his looked like melting chocolate. “You think?”

  There was irony in his tone, but he still wasn’t pulling away. “Yeah. I’m sure I could drive home if you’d—”

  “I’m not going to leave you to drive home with a sprained ankle.”

  “I don’t think it’s really sprained.” When he started to move down to examine my ankle, I added, “You don’t have to mess with that here. Just get me home.”

  His eyes moved back up to my face.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled. “I appreciate your help.”

  I’d appreciate it more if he’d back off a little so I didn’t feel so much like grabbing and kissing him.

  He reached up toward my face, and my breath hitched, since it seemed like he was going to cup my cheek. Instead, he stroked a hand down my hair, which had messily slipped out of the clip I’d twisted it up with.

  I stared at him like an idiot.

  “You had dirt in your hair,” he explained, his eyes still warm and sweet like before, but also with a flicker of humor.

  “Oh.” I reached for my seatbelt and, in the process, managed to nudge him out of the way. To my relief, he straightened up and walked around the car to the driver’s side.

  I handed him the keys, and he pulled out of the parking space without speaking. I had absolutely no idea what he was thinking. I discreetly studied his face, but his expression was unreadable and his shoulders looked a little stiff.

  I cleared my throat and tried to remember all the ways I didn’t like this man and all the ways it would be a huge mistake to find him too attractive.

  “We should probably go to the police station to file a report,” he said out of the blue.

  “What?” I felt startled and rather rebuffed by the words, as if he were intentionally breaking the strange, intense mood of earlier.

  “I could drive you there now,” he suggested, glancing over at me. “That car was trying to hit you on purpose, so they should get out there and question folks in the area to see if anyone saw anything.”

  “I’m not convinced he was trying to hit me on purpose, and if I decide to go to the police with it, then I’ll go on my own.”

  “Harper, you can’t be so stupid as to—”

  “I can be just as stupid as I want to be,” I interrupted sharply. “I make my own choices with my life, and whether they’re stupid or not is none of your business.”

  I’d actually decided that it was probably smart to go the police with the incident, but Levi’s heavy-handed interference just made me want to do the opposite. I’d go to the police tomorrow morning, and that would have to be good enough.

  “It is my business. How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not going to let you get hurt because you’re too stubborn to take reasonable precautions.”

  “I take all the precautions I need, and even I didn’t, it’s not your concern. I appreciate the drive home, but that doesn’t give you any more claim on my life.”

  “I do have a claim on—” He cut off his own words, so I wasn’t even sure how the sentence would have concluded.

  “What claim do you have on me?” I demanded, strangely wanting to know what he wouldn’t let himself say.

  He didn’t answer the question. “You need to let people help you sometimes, Harper. You can’t do everything on your own.”

  “Maybe not. But you seem to think I can’t do anything on my own. And I’ll ask for help when I need it.”

  He made a frustrated sound in his throat, but didn’t answer. He evidently thought I was too unreasonable to even argue with.

  I stewed the rest of the way back, telling myself I needed to remember this next time I was tempted to be attracted to him.

  Hot or not, an obnoxious, domineering alpha male would always be pushy and overbearing, and kissing him wouldn’t make that trait go away.

  I just needed to keep remembering that.

  It just took a few minutes for him to pull into the driveway of the house. “Where are your folks?” he asked, evidently noticing that their car was gone.

  “They’re away for the weekend. They still like to have romantic weekends.”

  “That’s nice.” I couldn’t tell from his inflection whether he was being sarcastic or serious. “Why do you live with your folks?”

  “Because I’m saving up to buy a place of my own. Do you have a problem with that?”

  “No.” He put up his hands, as if in defense. “I was just asking.”

  He got out and walked around the car, but I started to get up before he’d reached me. He stretched his arms out to support me before I could begin to walk, which was just as well because my ankle was killing me.

  We hobbled into the house, and I collapsed onto the couch, while he went to look for an ice pack in the freezer.

  I slipped off my shoes, making a face at the high heels, although it wasn’t my innocent shoes that had caused the twisted ankle.

  I raised my leg to elevate it and stretched out on the couch, pulling down my pencil skirt as I did.

  Levi returned and placed the ice pack on my ankle. “You should keep it on for twenty minutes or so.”

  “Okay.” I felt kind of stupid and undignified lying on the couch this way, so I pushed myself up so my head was higher on the cushion resting against the armrest. “Thanks.”

  “Do you have a wrap for the ankle anywhere?”

  “I don’t know. There might be one in one of the bathrooms. But don’t worry about it. I can just—” I didn’t finish the sentence, since Levi had already walked out of the room.

  Five minutes later, he finally returned, having found a wrap.

  “Just put it there,” I said, gesturing to the coffee table. “I’ll wrap it when I take off the ice. It’s really not that bad.”

  “It’s already starting to swell.”

  I sighed. “It will be fine. Thanks for your help.”

  I hoped he would understand my tone as a sign for him to leave, but he didn’t. He sat down in a chair and gave me a significant look.

  “I don’t feel like having another argument, Levi,” I said, my voice slightly wobbly. I was suddenly so tired and frustrated and stretched that I felt like I could just burst into tears.

  “Okay.” He sighed and leaned back in his chair, just watching me.

  “Are you just going to stare then?”

  “I’m going to wait until we take the ice off so I can wrap your ankle.”

  I could tell he meant it. He wasn’t going to budge. And I was just too exhausted to argue.

  I closed my eyes and tried to relax, tried to pretend Levi wasn’t in the room with me.

  He was blessedly quiet, and while I couldn’t exactly forget he was around, at least he wasn’t forcing his way into my attention. We didn’t speak for the next ten minutes, and when I opened my eyes as he got up at last, I didn’t feel the irresistible urge to strangle him.

  He carefully wrapped my ankle, and I had to admit that, for such a macho guy, he really knew how to take care of someone. He seemed to know what would hurt and what wouldn’t hurt, and he even helped adjust the cushions so I was lying more comfortably.

  When he was done, he was kneeling beside the couch, and I’d turned my head so our gazes were locked.

  “Thanks,” I said. I thought it should have been said in my normal voice, but I sounded rather raspy and breathless instead.

  “You’re welcome.” He didn’t move. He just knelt where he was, his eyes never leaving my face.

  “I appreciate your help.” That comment was supposed to add to the conversation
, but it didn’t. At all.

  Levi didn’t seem to notice. “I’m happy to help.”

  “I think I’ll be okay now.”

  “Will you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay.”

  So, now would be the time for him to leave, but he still didn’t leave. His eyes had been deep and somehow uncertain, but as I watched they warmed to a soft blaze of heat.

  My lips parted in surprise at the expression and at how it evoked a matching feeling inside me. Attraction and emotion and desire washed over me as I stared up at him, and I actually lifted my head slightly, some unstoppable force drawing me toward Levi.

  “You are so beautiful,” he breathed, reaching out to take my face in one of his hands.

  “Really?” I said stupidly, flushed and hot and breathless and shaking with all the feelings surging through me.

  “Damn, I want you so much.”

  I didn’t have time to process the soft, rough words because he was lowering his face toward mine. Then he was kissing me, and I was reaching up to twine one arm around his neck so I could kiss him back.

  His mouth was soft at first, questioning, his lips brushing against mine with an almost delicate care. Then his tongue started to slide across my lower lip, and it felt so good that I moaned at the back of my throat and opened for him.

  He immediately took advantage of this and used his tongue to tease and play with mine. I tightened my fingers in the back of his shirt and raised my other arm to tangle in his hair.

  He made a low, gravelly sound and wrapped an arm around me to lift me higher off the couch, so he could have better access to me. My entire body was flooded with emotion and sensation, both of them mingling together with such intensity I couldn’t tell which part of me wanted him most—my body or my heart.

  “Harper,” he murmured, breaking the kiss briefly to give us both time to suck in air. “Harper.” He glanced little kisses on my lips before sinking deeply into my mouth again.

  I was throbbing in my head, my chest, between my legs—and I kept clawing at his shirt and his hair, trying to get even closer to him.

  Then I jarred my leg unexpectedly, and my ankle gave a sudden throb of pain. I made a muffled noise in response, and he immediately pulled out of the kiss.

  “You okay?” he asked, his hot eyes searching me urgently.

  “Yeah. Ankle.”

  I still desperately wanted to pull him back toward me again, pull him down on top of me. I wanted him to rub his body against mine and then get rid of our clothes, so we could lose ourselves in pleasure.

  But the interruption had reminded me of everything else. This was Levi. Gavin’s best friend. And he’d spent his life laughing at me and bossing me around.

  Nothing really had changed, except I was crazy attracted to him.

  But attraction could be controlled. And there was no way in the world I was going to be a one-night stand to a man like Levi.

  I dropped my arms and collapsed back onto the couch, breathing heavily and starting to burn with embarrassment and confusion.

  “What just happened?” I managed to ask, since someone needed to say something.

  Levi was holding himself rigidly still, and I couldn’t read his expression. I had no idea what he was thinking.

  “I don’t know” he said at last, shaking himself off slightly and raising himself to his feet. “I don’t know.”

  “Oh, well…” I trailed off, having no clue what to say. “Thanks for taking me home.”

  Better to get him out of here quickly so I could start to recover my wits.

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Have a good evening.”

  I don’t know if the words surprised him or not, but he finally understood that I wanted him to leave. “Right. You too. Give me a call if you need anything.”

  At last, he left the room and then left the house. I heard the door close and then a car drive away. My car, I assumed, since he wouldn’t have any other way to get back.

  Okay, so that was awkward. And confusing. And incredibly hot.

  But there was no way I could hook up with a man like Levi. He was everything I didn’t want in a man.

  And there was no way he would want me—for anything but a quick fling—either.

  Six

  Levi

  The bitch of it was that there was no excuse for how I felt when I woke up the next morning. I couldn’t blame it on alcohol. My head was pounding, and I felt sick to my stomach, and I couldn’t honestly say that I’d gotten more than two hours of sleep.

  Thanks to Harper.

  What the hell had I been thinking? I knew better than to kiss her, to get close to her. No good could come of it. She was my best friend’s sister. My dead best friend’s sister. That was all. No more kissing. No more touching. No more staying up half the night fantasizing about how it would have been to have her right there on her living room couch.

  I might as well be banging my head against the wall because it was no use. I might be able to abide by the no kissing and touching thing, but I’d be damned if I’d give up the fantasy too. Sometimes, being a glutton for punishment was all a guy had.

  The clock read seven a.m., and I wanted nothing more than to roll over and attempt another hour of sleep. I couldn’t, though. I had to get Harper’s car back to her and then pick up my truck and get to work. A bullet in the foot would be less painful than facing her this morning. What the hell was I supposed to say? Hey, Harper. Thanks for the erotic dreams you gave me last night, but it can’t ever happen again because, well, it’s kind of my fault that your brother is dead. Yeah, that would go over real well.

  I didn’t really have a choice, and that was what sucked the most. In a perfect world, I’d be keeping an eye on her from afar and not even get close to the temptation she had become. Unfortunately, she had a knack for getting into trouble, and if last night’s hit and run was any indication, I was going to be spending a lot more time closer to her than I wanted to be.

  I should’ve just called my dad and asked him to meet me at Harper’s and let him take me to get my truck, but the whole glutton-for-punishment thing won out.

  I quickly dressed in the first clothes my hands landed on. Not that it mattered—working in construction, it all got messed up anyway. I dragged my ass around doing everything possible to put off the inevitable, but once my teeth were brushed, there was nothing left to do.

  The drive back over to Harper’s was short, but being in her car, which smelled exactly like her, wreaked havoc on my senses. I needed to stay focused and not think about her as a woman. I snorted with disbelief. I’d have to be dead to not notice that. But I did need to think of her in a detached way. To forget the way she smelled or how soft her hair was or the sounds she made when I touched her.

  The groan of frustration escaped before I could even stop it.

  My life totally sucked.

  I had no idea what time she had to be at work, but I had to get going now. I dragged my sorry ass to the door and banged. Hard. Harper appeared, and I could tell that I’d woken her up.

  “Levi?” she said sleepily. “What are you doing here?”

  “I have to go to work and I need my truck.” I motioned to her car parked behind me. “Are you okay to drive me back into town to get it?”

  Irritation covered the features that were relaxed only moments ago. “You could’ve called and given me a head’s up, you know. I would have been ready.”

  “Yeah, well…I didn’t. Throw something on. I gotta go.” I walked back over to her car and waited. She didn’t move right away, and there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that she was considering telling me to go to hell. Good. Better to make her hate me then to let her think that last night meant anything.

  It couldn’t.

  Not ever.

  I glanced at my watch. It was going on seven-forty-five. If she didn’t get her ass in gear, I knew I’d be late. Throwing caution to the wind, I walked around to the driver’s side, opened the d
oor, and leaned on the horn.

  I knew that would rile her up but good.

  Sure enough, two minutes later she came stomping out the door. “What the hell is your problem?” she snapped.

  “I have to get to work. Didn’t we go over this already?”

  “We did, and I was fine with that, but you needed to give me more than three minutes to get dressed!”

  “Just making sure you didn’t drag your feet.” As if remembering, I looked down at hers. “How’s the ankle this morning?” I felt like an ass for pushing her right now. It wasn’t that I had forgotten the accident last night. I had just temporarily forgotten her injury.

  She glared at me. “Does it matter?” Walking over to the driver’s side, she climbed in and, true to form, beeped the horn to get me moving.

  Such a smartass. I climbed in beside her. Once I was seated, I nearly flew through the windshield as she threw the car in reverse. “Is there a problem, princess?”

  “Stop calling me that!” She had a white-knuckled grip on the wheel, and by the time we were on the road, I thought she was going to pull the entire steering column from the dash.

  “You never answered me about your ankle,” I reminded her.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at me. “The swelling has gone down, but it still hurts. Happy?”

  “Why the hell would that make me happy?”

  Her jaw worked as she tried to come up with some sort of snappy comeback, but obviously none came to her.

  “You should go to the doctor today and get it checked out. Probably shouldn’t go to work either. You need to keep it elevated and wrapped.” She silently seethed beside me as I continued, “If you have crutches at home, it would be smart to use them. You know, don’t put any weight on the foot.”

  Still nothing.

  “And you definitely shouldn’t wear any of those ridiculous shoes that you normally do. Don’t you own anything without five inch heels?”

  I smacked my head against the window as she turned into the parking lot where I’d left my truck. I guess I had that coming, and I should have been prepared. “Damn it, Harper! What the hell?”

  She jerked the car in park and turned in her seat to look at me. “Get out.”