by Sophie Stern
“I was lonely,” I whisper. “But nothing ever happened between us. We always just did our chemistry homework together and then he went home. I never even knew he thought of me that way.”
“Well, apparently, he did. Fuck!” Blake makes a fist and for a second, I think he’s going to punch the wall, but he doesn’t. Instead, he just shakes his head. “I can’t believe that fucker.”
“Now, son,” Patricia says, reaching for him. “Let’s try to consider this rationally.”
“Mom, there’s nothing rational about this. I love Harper. I was going to propose. You know this. You helped me pick out the damn ring. I hadn’t bought it yet, still had to save up, but we went and we picked it out and you said she was going to love it.” He looks at me sadly. “You were going to love it.”
Now it’s my turn to go pale because I had no idea Blake thought of me that seriously. If I’d known, I would have fought harder. I would have tried more, tried better. I would have been a better person. I would have figured something out.
But I just gave up because I thought he didn’t want me.
I quit.
And I lost him.
“Martin,” Patricia turns to her husband. “Let’s go for a walk, shall we? I think these two need a few minutes alone.”
“Good, good,” Martin practically hops to his feet and races out the door. Mr. Cold is like me in that he tries to avoid confrontation when possible. Neither one of us particularly likes dealing with that sort of thing.
Once Blake’s parents are gone, I hold my hands up in a sign of peace.
“I didn’t know,” I whisper. “I had no way of knowing, Blake. I’m so sorry.” I don’t want to cry again. Blake Cold has seen me cry more in the last four hours than anyone should ever see anyone else cry, but I can’t seem to help it.
Blake’s always had my heart.
He’s always been the one I loved.
And I thought he broke me.
I thought he broke my heart and left me, but that’s not what happened at all.
“I missed you,” he says, turning to me. His eyes pierce mine. He looks at me more passionately than anyone has ever looked at me. In the time he’s been gone, I’ve been with plenty of guys. I’m 26, after all. I’m no virgin. None of them has ever made me feel half as sexy, half as wonderful, half as perfect as Blake makes me feel right now.
In this moment, I am a goddess.
In this moment, I am unstoppable.
In this moment, I am his.
I’ve always been his.
He closes the distance between us and fists my hair, bringing my mouth roughly to his. I close my eyes as he kisses me hard and fast and deeply. Sparks shoot through my body at the connection and for just a second, I feel like I’m flying.
“I missed you,” he says again. Then he just keeps kissing me.
And kissing me.
And kissing me.
5
Blake
I’m going to fucking murder Craig Galinski, but right now, all I want to do is hold Harper. She obviously didn’t mean to end things between us. I completely misjudged her. I was wrong. We were both so, so wrong.
We’ve wasted so much time hurting, feeling alone. We’ve wasted years when we could have been together, but I’m not going to let that realization haunt me. Right now, I’m making a choice, and I choose her. I choose Harper. I choose my girl.
I kiss her like I’m never going to stop because honestly, if it’s up to me, I won’t. I’ll kiss her ‘til the stars die, ‘til the sky goes black. I’ll kiss her ‘til the end of time.
I’ll kiss her forever and I’ll never stop because we’ve been apart for too long. It’s been years. It’s been a lifetime.
“I missed you,” I say again.
“I missed you, too, Blake,” Harper whispers. I pull her closer to me. Her breasts press against my chest. I need to touch her. I need to touch all of her. Harper and I will have plenty of time to talk later. We’ll have plenty of time to explore our feelings and I can get on my knees and beg her to take me back. I’d planned to do that all along, anyway. She’s the main reason I came back to Raven. She’s the reason I walked away from my job.
I couldn’t take not knowing anymore.
I needed to try.
Well, now I’m trying, but I’m doing it with my body instead of my words. This isn’t the way I thought Harper and I would reconnect, but I’ll take what I can get. I’ll take her. I’ll take all of her.
I slide my hands up her sides, running my fingers over the soft fabric of her shirt. She’s so delicate and sweet, but I want more. I want to be bad with Harper. I want to be naughty. I want everything I’ve wanted for the last eight years but couldn’t have.
I want her.
I cup her breasts over her shirt as I start kissing her neck. She groans in contentment, and I keep going. I run my tongue over her collarbone and back up her throat, desperate to cover each part of her body with my kisses.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I murmur. She moans, but doesn’t speak. Instead, she runs her hands through my long hair and down my beard. She touches my chest and my back and finally, her little hands settle on my ass. She squeezes and pulls me forward, urges me closer to her.
“I missed you, too, Blake,” she whispers. Harper shakes her head as she looks at me. “I thought I could resist you when I saw you again. I always knew we’d meet again sometime. I thought I could fight this thing between us.”
“You can’t fight fate, Harper.”
“I thought you hurt me, Blake. I didn’t know it was Craig.”
“Shh,” I press my finger to her lips. “Forget about him. I’ll deal with him later. Right now, it’s just you and me. Right now, we have all the time in the world. It’s just the two of us right now, princess. It’s just you and me.”
She melts against me, kissing me, reminding me of why I fell in love with Harper McBride in the first place. She always was the sweetest little thing. She always was a darling.
“I don’t want our first time together to be in the office,” I whisper, realizing we need to slow down. If we keep touching like this, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. I’m going to lose control and she probably will, too. I’m going to go insane and lose my ability to think rationally because I’ll just want to be inside of her.
“Please,” she whispers. “I don’t care. I don’t care that we’re in the office. I just want you, Blake. I need you. Please. We’ve waited long enough. It’s been too many years. I just want you to keep touching me.”
Then Harper kicks her shoes off and starts to wiggle out of her jeans. I follow suit, realizing that if she doesn’t want me to stop, I’m not going to be able to. I need her too much. I’ve wanted her for too long. I need her. I crave her. I love her.
This isn’t how I saw us getting back together, but I’ll take it, and I’ll make love to Harper like I never have before. I’ll hold her like it’s the first time. I’ll touch her like she’s the only girl in the world because to me, she is. It’s always been her.
Soon we’re both completely naked and I take a second to just look at her. She’s even more beautiful naked than I remember. She’s no longer the lanky teenager she was when we first fell in love all those years ago. No, Harper has filled out and now she’s got the curves of a woman. Her hips are wide and her breasts are bigger, fuller. She looks incredible.
“I’m a little fatter,” she says, raising an eyebrow, obviously waiting to see what I’ll say, but I just start rubbing my cock as I look at her.
“You’re fucking beautiful, baby. You’re even hotter than I remember.” She just laughs and touches me, running her hands down my chest.
“And you’re fitter than I remember,” she says. “When did you get a six pack?” I glance down at my stomach and shrug.
“Years of early morning workouts paid off, I suppose.”
“I like it,” she says. “You were handsome before, of course, but this is incredible.” She touches me
everywhere and I grab her, kissing her. Somehow, we make it over to the desk and I sit down in the chair before pulling her into my lap.
Harper rubs herself against me shamelessly, as she should. There’s nothing shameful or embarrassing about this: about two long-lost lovers meeting again. There’s nothing wrong with the way we’re touching each other. There’s nothing wrong with the way we’re both losing ourselves to the moment.
She leans back and I palm her breasts, pinching her nipples.
“Tell me you’re ready, baby,” I murmur.
“Please,” Harper groans, and then she lowers herself onto my cock, sinking down onto my length.
And immediately, the last eight years are forgotten.
Instantly, all I think of is the first time, all those years ago.
All I think of is the way she made me feel as a teenager discovering love for the very first time.
All I think of is how sweet she is.
And now that she’s grinding on my cock, I never want to let her go. I lose myself in her hair, playing with her long locks. She touches my face and kisses my neck and soon I’m struggling to hold myself together.
Soon I’m threatening to come undone.
I reach between us and run my fingers over her clit, pressing her body softly.
“More,” she murmurs as she grinds against me. I rub faster, harder, and I feel her entire body tense as she nears orgasm.
“Come for me, princess,” I murmur, and she does. As she cries out, I find my release at the same time. We come together in perfect unison, like a perfect match.
Like we were made for each other.
Like this was meant to be.
6
Harper
We get dressed in silence, but it’s not awkward.
It’s comfortable.
It’s sweet.
It’s us.
Once we’re dressed, Blake gives me a long hug. He just holds me for a little while, and that’s fine because I’m not sure what to say. I have so many feelings and emotions running through my head right now and I don’t know where to start.
I don’t even know where to begin.
“Why didn’t you come home?” I finally ask. “I need to know. You had so many chances to come back, Blake. Didn’t you at least want to talk to me, want to find out if what Craig said was true?”
“I was hurt,” he shakes his head. “I knew you didn’t end up getting married. I asked my mom about it at one point and she said you and Craig weren’t together, but I assumed you had split up. I thought you’d moved on.”
“I thought you didn’t want me.”
“I thought the same.”
“It seems like something out of a bad movie,” I scoff. “It’s like this weird twisted breakup that neither one of us wanted, but that we got, anyway.”
“I’m sorry about what happened between us,” he says.
“Where do we go from here, Blake?” I look at him. “Can things really go back to the way they were? That was so long ago. We were different people then. We were younger and full of hope. We had so many plans, so many ideas.”
“I don’t know if we can go back, Harper. You’re right. People change. We’ve both changed. I’ve been to hell and back again. I’ve been to war. I’ve seen my friends die. I’ve seen them wounded. I’ve seen them break. I’ve seen them lose everything. I’m a different man than the one who went away all those years ago. I’m not the same.”
“I’m not the same, either.” My heart sinks as I realize this thing between us really can’t happen. It can’t work. We’re not the same people who fell in love all those years ago. We’re not the same people who had those big dreams.
“But we can go forward,” he says.
“What?” I look up at him sharply.
Blake just shrugs. “I learned a lot in the military and even more once I got to Kansas City. I should have come back so many times. Instead, I was weak. It was easier to stay on my own, to not have to face you. It was easier not to have to face anyone in Raven, to be honest. I won’t be weak again, Harper. I’ll be the man you need. I won’t be perfect and I won’t be the man you needed when you were 18, but I’ll be the man you need now. I’ll be the man you need today.”
“What are you saying, Blake? Are you saying you want to date me?”
“I’m saying I want a shot, Harper McBride. I’m saying I want you to give me a second chance. I’ll fight for it. I’ll be good to you. I’ll treat you like the princess you are. I’ll worship the fucking ground you walk on, baby, because you deserve all of that and more.”
Of all the things Blake could have said, that wasn’t one of the things I expected. I don’t have time to answer, though, because just then there’s a knock at the office door and Craig Galinski walks in. He doesn’t even have time to say anything because Blake strides over and punches him right in the nose.
“What the hell?” Craig cries out, grabbing his bleeding face.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Blake asks. “You told me Harper was engaged. You stole the letters we wrote each other. Hell, you were probably the one making those harassing phone calls so she’d have to change her number. How close am I, Craig? How close am I?”
Craig’s eyes open wide and he looks from me to Blake and back again. Yeah, talk about a deer in the headlights. I think back to all the time I spent with Craig and I wonder how he could have done this. I wonder how he could have betrayed us in this way. I wonder how he could have cared so little for our friendship.
“It’s true?” I ask because there was still a little part of me that didn’t want to believe it. There was still a little part of me that wanted to think Craig was just misunderstood, that there was a logical explanation for everything that happened. Now I’m finally realizing there’s no explanation but reality.
“Because you never even looked twice at me,” Craig spits out. He glares at me with venom in his eyes. “I never stood a chance. I was the one who was always there for you, who always walked you to school, who always helped you with your homework. That was me, Harper. That was always me, but you never cared about that.”
I shake my head. “You’re remembering things a lot differently than me. After Blake graduated and joined the military, you and I had a whole year left of school. We had an entire year left to have fun and spend time together and just hang out, but it wasn’t enough for you.”
At the time, I didn’t realize he had a crush on me. Maybe it was me being naïve or maybe I was just a bad friend. I’m not sure.
“You only ever had eyes for him,” Craig says. “Even after years of working with you at different jobs in Raven, you still compared every guy you dated to him, and you never wanted to go out with me.”
“You’re my friend, Craig.”
“I was never your friend, Harper.”
“I think you should leave,” Blake steps up suddenly. “And I think you need to find a new job.”
“You can’t fire me,” Craig smirks at Blake. “You don’t own this place. Hell, even your old man doesn’t own this place, and Harper’s way too much of a pussy to fire anyone.” He looks at me like he knows me, like he’s in control of the situation. He looks at me like I’m going to nod and sigh and tell him to get back to work, and I realize that maybe Craig is right about me.
Maybe I have been weak.
Over the last few years, I haven’t been as strong as I should have been. I certainly haven’t been as brave. I haven’t been as bold or as outgoing or as fierce as I ought to have been.
Now, as the owner of this restaurant, I need to be strong. Now, more than ever, I need to be brave.
For the first time in a very long time, I need to stand up for myself and for my future.
So I take a step forward and punch Craig in the face.
“Fuck off,” I say. “You’re fired.”
7
Blake
By the time Cold One closes for the night, it’s nearly midnight and we’re all completely exhausted.
My parents went home hours ago, worn out from all of the excitement and stress of the day.
“Do you need a ride home?” Harper asks as she locks up the restaurant. We’re the last ones to leave.
After she punched Craig, he threw a conniption and the police ended up coming out to the restaurant. Harper doesn’t need any negative publicity for her place of business, but luckily, the police and most of the patrons seemed to feel that Harper and I were in the right.
As far as they could tell, Craig was just a belligerent ex-employee who was trying to harass his former boss.
No one needs to know the truth about what happened all those years ago. No one needs to know this fight was about so much more than just his job termination.
“I’m staying with my parents,” I tell her.
“I know,” Harper says, turning to look at me. “That was my way of asking if you want to come over and play with me tonight,” she says. “Or, you know,” Harper blushes. “If you need to get home to Mom and Dad.”
“Why, Harper McBride,” I take a step closer to her. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were trying to seduce me.”
“I wasn’t aware I had to try, cowboy,” she places her hands on my chest and rubs them up and down slowly. “As far as I can tell, I’ve got your cock right where I want it.”
“And where is that?”
She reaches between us. “In my hand,” she grabs my length and begins to rub on me over my jeans. “Right here: all mine.”
“Damn,” I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. She gets me. She totally, perfectly, completely gets me.
“What’ll it be, Blake?” She asks, kissing my neck. “Are you going to be bad with me tonight?” She rubs me harder, faster, and I growl.
“You have no idea how bad I can be, baby.”
“Good,” she says, tossing me her keys. “Then let’s get home and find out.”
***
I’m not sure what to expect from Harper’s home. I know she doesn’t live with her parents anymore. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but she’s much too independent to be comfortable living at home. We pull up in front of a small Victorian home, complete with a wraparound porch, and I smile.
