by A. C. Arthur
“She’ll understand,” Gray said and clapped Garrek on the shoulder. “A piece of advice before you go. If she’s the one, don’t let her get away.”
Garrek didn’t know how to respond to that, so he simply nodded before turning away. He jogged down the street to where he’d parked his rental car. She had at least a ten-minute start on him, but he figured there would only be one place she would go to escape. He didn’t really know if she was upset; she’d actually seemed unbothered by Leah’s comments. But Garrek knew enough about women to know that appearances weren’t always accurate.
He sped the entire way, so he saw the Presley farm coming up on the right side of the road in a little under fifteen minutes. Harper’s truck had just pulled in through the front gates and was heading up the winding path toward the house. Garrek pressed on the gas, because he wanted to get to her before she could hide behind the safety of her front door. He might not know where this thing between them was going, or what the thing even was, exactly, but he did know that it was time both of them stopped running from it.
The wheels of his car kicked up dirt as he came to a stop right behind her truck. By then she was getting out and slamming the driver’s side door. Garrek yanked the keys from the ignition and stuffed them into his pocket as he got out of the car.
“Harper!” he called to her.
“Go back to the party, Garrek! Have a good time with Leah while you’re here. And then go back to Wash—”
Her words were abruptly cut off as Garrek reached out for her, turning her to face him after he’d clasped his fingers around her elbow.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked when they were facing each other.
“I don’t know,” he admitted and then lowered his mouth to hers.
This, right here, was what he knew for certain. There had never, in all his thirty years, been sparks like this. The connection was immediately woven the moment their lips touched. That had to mean something.
She balled her hands into fists and pushed against his chest, but her lips parted for him. As if she couldn’t fight this any more than he could. Garrek sighed into the kiss, letting the feel of her tongue against his release the tension that had grown since that first night he’d come to this town.
His phone vibrated in his pocket. She was so close to him now she must have felt it, because she used that as an opportunity to pull away from him. She took a step back and pressed the back of her hand to her now-swollen lips. Garrek dragged a hand down the back of his head and struggled to catch his breath.
What had he planned to say to her?
He had no clue.
All he’d known was that he’d had to come after her.
“Leah’s an idiot,” she said finally, shaking her head and letting her arm fall to her side. “She’s been a pain in the butt since elementary school, when I dumped red finger paint in her hair because she wouldn’t stop kicking my chair.”
Garrek resisted the urge to laugh and shrugged instead. “Well, you said you fought back. I guess that was as good a gesture as any.”
“It clearly didn’t do the job,” she snapped and then sighed. “Still, I shouldn’t have said what I did. We can’t thumb our noses at the gossip and then feed it at the same time.”
“Why don’t we stop doing both?” he asked.
When she looked at him again, it was with a question in her eyes.
“Why don’t we stop worrying about what other people are thinking or saying and just get on with this,” he said.
She looked unsure. “Get on with what?”
They were out in the open. At any moment someone could pull up or come out on the front porch of the house and see them. Garrek wanted privacy.
“Come on,” he told her and then grabbed her hand.
The barn was the next closest place to her house, so he walked them down the small incline toward the direction of the barn. She followed, but he was certain she was wondering what he was going to say or do next. For the first time in way too long, Garrek knew exactly what he was going to do and why. He still had no idea how that would impact tomorrow or the days to follow, but he didn’t give a damn. Now was all that mattered.
When they were close enough, Garrek pushed on the door of the barn, with the feeling that there was no lock on the door. It creaked as it opened, and Harper followed him. He’d never been inside a real barn before, so he had no idea what to expect. It was dark at first, but Harper moved out of his grasp and switched on the lights.
The space was just as large as it appeared on the outside and, surprisingly, pretty empty. Except for a tractor and a light blue ’57 Chevy, there was nothing else inside.
“The chickens, cows and horses are in the other buildings behind the house. We generally just market the eggs and milk and give horse-riding lessons now,” she told him.
She looked so small under the thirty-foot-high—minimum—roof and rafters. But he now knew that she was fierce and determined. She was also the sexiest woman he’d ever seen.
“I know we haven’t been on a real date,” he said as he closed the distance between them. “But that doesn’t mean a damn thing.”
She’d been standing with her arms at her sides, the tips of her fingers barely reaching the hem of that sexy little black dress. There were red roses on the dress as well—one at her left shoulder, and the other on the right side of the skirt. She reached up and pushed her hair back from her face, tucking the curled strands behind her ears.
“I’m not sure I know what any of this means,” she stated quietly.
“I want you, Harper,” Garrek said. “I don’t know why, because that’s not what I came here for. I just know that since that first night when I saw you standing on that stage, I’ve been drawn to you. I can’t seem to keep my hands off you.”
With those words he lifted his hand, tracing his fingers along the line of her jaw.
“I don’t want to stop touching you. I don’t want to stop kissing you. Feeling you,” he admitted and eased closer to her, until the tips of her breasts grazed his chest.
Garrek wanted to rip his shirt off immediately. He wanted her bare skin against his own. That’s what he needed to feel.
“I just want you,” he said once more, leaning in to drop a soft kiss on her forehead, onto one cheek and then the other.
“Garrek. I don’t... I can’t...”
“What?” he asked, closing his eyes as his hand moved from her chin down to the line of her neck.
He wrapped his other arm around her back and pulled her close to him.
“What can’t you do?”
“I can’t think,” she replied before taking a quick breath. “Whenever you’re around, I can’t seem to think straight.”
“What do you think when you’re around me?” Garrek asked just before his tongue traced the line of her lips. “Tell me how I make you feel, Harper. Tell me you want me, too.”
* * *
Harper didn’t know how to say those words.
She’d never said them before, never felt them. Certainly not the way she felt them now. It was in the deepest part of her that the gentle urgings had begun that night of the Sadie Hawkins dance. No, they weren’t at all gentle. She recalled her dream and the ache between her legs that had followed her throughout the next day...until she’d seen him. When she’d turned around on Gray and Morgan’s porch and seen him standing there, it had taken all the strength Harper possessed to keep from running into his arms and begging him to take her right then and there. That would have been ironic, considering her past. It would have also been mortifying.
Hadn’t she tried to steer clear of him? Sure, her reasons were partly based on fear, but she wasn’t going to split hairs. She could be healed and still worry. She could tell herself that her past was behind her and that she was too smart and too strong to let it hinder her growth in the f
uture. But some days, in some situations, they would always be just words.
Right here, right now, with this man, those words were steadily melting away.
She loved how he touched her. Without any fear or reservation. He simply touched. His fingers moved lightly over the sensitive skin of her neck, down to graze the swell of her breasts. His other hand was holding her so tightly, possessively. She wanted to tell him that he could have her, that he could hold on to her for as long as he wanted. Yes, she wanted to give herself completely to him, without reservation. But fear was a sneaky bastard, and it did not like to comprise.
“I don’t do this,” she whispered and let her forehead fall to rest on his chest. “I don’t sleep with guys I’ve only known for a month. I don’t...sleep with different guys.”
“I’m only one guy,” he replied, lacing his other arm around her back and hugging her close. “And you’re one woman. You’re the woman I want.”
“It’s not forever. I don’t know what forever feels like, Garrek. I don’t know what any of this is supposed to be.”
“It’s supposed to be good for both of us. Pleasure and passion,” he whispered and lifted her until he had her cradled in his arms.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on. When he stopped at the Chevy, Harper didn’t know what to expect. She had certainly never—not in her wildest dreams—thought he would lay her down on the hood of that car and stand over her, staring like he was starving and she was his meal of choice. But that’s exactly what he did.
The hood of the car was warm as her bare legs slowly spread open. Garrek’s hands were on her knees, pushing them gently apart. Harper leaned back, bracing herself on her elbows, her eyes trained on him.
“Why me?” she asked, wishing like hell she could let those pesky insecurities go, at least at this moment.
He stopped and looked into her eyes.
“I could ask you that same question,” he said.
He could, she thought as she stared back at him. There’d always been that look she saw right now in his eyes. The one that said he was uncertain, but that he would forge on regardless. Where Gray was confident and self-assured in business and, it seemed, in his personal life, Garrek Taylor was more reserved, holding back parts of himself that maybe he didn’t think anyone else would understand. Harper ached for that part of him.
She also ached for his touch. That’s why she reached out now, placing her hand over his.
“I want you, Garrek,” she whispered, her voice catching as she said his name. “I want you.”
It was permission. It was a revelation. It was perfect, as his hand moved farther up her thigh and Harper felt as if she were guiding it there. When his fingers wrapped around her panties and pulled them down her legs, she lifted up slightly to assist. Then she was sitting up to pull his shirt from his pants. He lifted his arms and she pulled it up and off, flattening her palms on his bare chest. His skin was warm, his pectorals hard.
He lifted the hem of her dress, and Harper moved her arms to mimic his previous movements until the garment was over her head and falling in a heap somewhere on the other side of the car’s hood. She hadn’t worn a bra because of the thin straps of her dress, and under his passionate perusal her nipples hardened instantly.
She thought he might have mumbled something or groaned, but his hands began moving quickly as he undid his belt and the button on his pants. He reached for his wallet next and found a condom. She watched in anticipation as his pants and boxers fell down and around his ankles, and he once again smoothed the latex over his hard length. It looked magnificent. So much so that Harper’s mouth watered, but she knew she wouldn’t dare. Or would she?
Her hands would have to suffice for the moment as she reached for him, holding his warm hardness in her palms—thick and stiff, powerful and delicious. The words floated through her mind as she watched her fingers moving over him. She was used to building things, breaking stuff, squeezing tubes and scraping off paint. She was not used to holding a man’s arousal in her hand, or wanting to do so much more.
He cupped her breasts then and whispered, “Beautiful.”
Harper sucked in a breath. In the next instant, Garrek was pushing her back on the hood of the car. He was moving over her then, taking a turgid nipple into his mouth. She hissed and arched up to him. One hand worked the other breast while he sucked hungrily. Her center throbbed as Harper could think of nothing more than feeding whatever need Garrek had at this moment.
She wanted to scream when he tore his mouth away from her breast to drop kisses down her torso. With one hand still cupping her other breast, he stroked his tongue over her skin, soliciting whimpers and moans from Harper as she closed her eyes to the ecstasy. When he continued to move lower, his hands holding her knees now and spreading her wider, she sucked in a breath and stared up at the rafters. She didn’t know where else to look or what else to say. Words didn’t seem to come, but she did lift her head to look down and was shocked to see Garrek staring up at her.
His face was inches away from her now cleanly shaved mound. “When?” he asked, his voice gruff with arousal.
“Girls’ day,” she whispered. “I came to your room afterwards.”
He cursed and lowered his head then, tracing his tongue over her skin. Then he was licking, using his tongue to separate her folds and find the jewel that hid inside. He sucked, and Harper moaned.
Her fingers pressed against the hard metal of the car as her legs came up until the heels of her shoes were on the hood as well. Garrek kissed and licked until her thighs trembled and she wanted to scream out his name. Harper bit down on her bottom lip until she was sure she was going to draw blood. Then he pulled his mouth away from her.
He was licking his lips when she opened her eyes and dared to look at him again. Then he was grasping her hips and pulling her so that she slid down on the car, right onto his waiting arousal. With one smooth thrust he was inside her, and then measured strokes began the torture, all the way in, almost all the way out. In and out, over and over again, until she was moaning and whispering his name. And when she couldn’t hold on any longer, Harper let out a long sigh and let the tremors of pleasure completely take over.
Garrek pumped fiercely, like her pleasure had somehow fed the most primal part of him and he needed to find his own release soon. That moment came and so did Garrek, with a powerful thrust and her name on his lips.
“I’m sorry,” he said moments later as he backed away from her.
Harper cringed. She quickly scooted off the car, reaching back to grab her dress. “For what?” she asked and hurriedly slipped the dress over her head.
He’d already moved away, turning his back to her. He was adjusting his clothes, and she took that moment to search the ground near the car for her panties. She found them and bent down to pick them up.
“For never being able to wait long enough to get you into a bed,” Garrek said and wrapped his arms around her the moment she stood up straight again.
“Oh,” she replied. “Well, I think I can do something about that.”
He was smiling at her, and Harper felt as if she were glowing from the inside out. In the seconds that she’d thought he was regretting what they’d done—again—she’d felt the icy spikes of fear creep right back into her mind. But apparently she’d been wrong, and she was beyond glad about that.
“Really? What do you have in mind?”
He was still holding her in his arms, rocking them back and forth. She reached behind her back and, with the hand that did not have balled-up panties in them, took his hand.
“You follow me this time,” she said.
A few minutes later, when they were just about to take the steps to the front porch of the house, he stopped.
“Are you sure? I mean, your father and grandfather aren’t going to be sitting in the living room waiting with a gun ready, are
they?”
Harper chuckled at the genuine concern in his voice. Turning to him, she came up on her toes and dropped a quick, loud kiss on his lips. “They’re at the softball game. We have the whole house to ourselves.”
He smiled then, leaning in to kiss her this time, pulling her bottom lip into his mouth for a quick suckle.
“In that case, a bed might be underrated, but there are so many other great places in a house that we can—”
“Come on,” she said and moved out of his grasp.
Harper felt giddy as she ran up the steps. Her purse was still in her truck. She quickly reached into the secret compartment on the side panel beside the door where an extra key was kept. After unlocking the door, she put the key back and welcomed Garrek inside.
He closed the door behind them and then turned to scoop her up into his arms once more.
“Tell me where you want to go and then tell me how to please you...again,” he said before kissing her.
This kiss stole her breath, her senses and, Harper feared...her heart.
Chapter 11
Garrek was surprised to learn that Harper was a pretty sound sleeper. At dawn he was able to slip out of her bed and into the bathroom for a shower. When he returned to the bedroom, she was still asleep. After he’d dressed and she still hadn’t stirred, he decided to leave her a note inviting her to dinner. She deserved a real date.
As he’d stood watching her lying so peacefully amid the sheets they’d almost ripped from the mattress last night, he’d thought that Harper Presley deserved so much. Definitely more than he’d given her so far, and more than Garrek had ever considered giving anyone. He had no idea how much time passed as he stood there simply staring at her. But it was long enough to count the twenty-nine freckles that danced over the bridge of her nose, and the circle of twelve that marked her left cheek. And long enough for the thought of waking every morning to this view to sink deep into his mind and, to Garrek’s surprise, his soul.
