Another Brush of Love (The Carnal Exhibitions Book 3)

by LW Barefoot

  My inner muscles squeeze him as I feel his nails press to the scar. I place my hand on top of his and push harder.

  “You’re mine, Harper.”

  He bites the side of my neck as his nails sink into my scar.

  “You’re mine forever, gorgeous,” he says while raking across the skin that wants to be claimed by him.

  The pain burns as I come screaming Evan’s name, helping him press into me. His growl of pleasure is loud as he roots deep and shatters. Anchoring us with everything he has. Arm crushing my tits, teeth in my neck, cock tightly kicking into me. His nails dig into my skin and draws blood.

  We’re reluctant to pull apart when we finally catch our breath. When he pulls out of me, he gathers me in his arms and picks me up. He carries me back to the bathroom. He sits me down on my feet inside the massive shower.

  I admire the pull of his tight body as he turns on the sprayers and the area fills with steam. I stand and stretch as the space warms. Evan’s hands are all over me, soft but firm as he leans my head back under one of the waterfalls. Our slick skin slides and cleanses while caressing each other. He takes care not to get soap on my newly marked scar.

  Our lips meet with no frantic rush, as if the first time tonight we can explore the most innocent and sinful area on our bodies. Tongues touching and lazily tasting the sweetness of this under-appreciated bliss.

  My fingers work over his tattoo. The loops and form made by my hand a thousand times over now stand proud on this gorgeous man who’s stolen my heart.

  “I want to know why you got this, Evan?”

  Drawing my finger over the embedded ink.

  “I told you why.”

  “Well, I guess it’s also your last initial,” I mutter.

  His grip shakes me and forces my focus back to him.

  “That has nothing to do with why I did this.”

  Anger flashes out of his deep green depths.

  Our excruciating separation would have been the worst time to make such a permanent decision.

  “You were no longer mine, Harper, but I was always going to be yours.”

  Mmm, sweet Evan does exist. The walls we’ve built to protect ourselves shatter. This night, this past day changes everything.

  “I love you, but you’re wrong,” I say watching his reaction. “I’ve always been yours.”

  He breathes deep and searches my face.

  “From the moment you forced your way into my life and dug deeper than anyone has cared to before. I will always be yours,” I promise.

  “I love you,” he says before he crushes his lips with mine and tastes the tongue that just promised him all of me.

  Evan eventually shuts off the water and wraps me in a robe.

  We climb back into bed. He pulls me tight against him and whispers one of his requests I’ve missed the most.

  “Let me hold you, Harper.”

  I fall asleep as he recites his long litany of desires and follows me into the dark.

  Evan

  I stare down at Harper and for the first time in years, I feel as if I need to hit my knees and give it up. I’m thankful and I’m positive I’ve never truly felt this way before. It’s something Mae has tried to instill in me but I’m only now realizing the point.

  I think about last night and press rewind through my memories. I even conjure the way Harper’s lips tasted when she pulled me from thoughts of our haunted past and welcomed me to the present.

  As much as I love her as the meek, quiet woman she is, there was something about how she strolled in here and demanded acknowledgment. She’s strong and fearless. I feel in awe of her all over again.

  I thought I had pushed her past her limits. Adding myself to the long line of people who have betrayed her. I watch as her eyelids flicker in sleep and in dreams.

  The sun slowly pushes through the haze of darkness as scattered rays warm the room. I’ve waited up unable to fall back asleep. My heart’s still pounding with force because none of this is supposed to be happening.

  Tom swore he would get Harper out of New Orleans and here she is ‘technically’ out of the city. I laugh because the sly old agent knew exactly what he was doing and so did Brad and Grayson. Neither one of them called me about coming out here last night. I honestly didn’t know how this all worked out, but I’m so fucking thankful Harper’s here with me where she belongs.

  She breathes deep and cuddles up closer to my chest, moaning in her sleep. I want to knock down the barrier that separates us from sleep and awareness. I want to be the one she always runs to, in wake and in slumber. I’ve been going about this all wrong.

  I’m not the only person that capitalizes on vulnerability. It’s what drew my attention to Harper when I first laid eyes on her. I selfishly take anything and everything I want and I’ve wanted her from that first glance. The scarred innocence that shone brightly from her is no longer there and it makes my pulse pick up. The one thing that pulled me to her marked her as something that could be easily destroyed.

  What a cruel lesson for me to fall in love with Harper with all her intricacies and complications. I fell for her guarded words and sweet dancing soul locked behind bars no one broke her out of. I’ve seen her highs and lows and want to barrel through her mind to rid it of every thing that threatens to harm her.

  She shivers, her eyes shifting back and forth under tightly closed eyelids. It’s as if she’s trying to close out what she’s experiencing but that’s how I know she needs to be saved from her dream. I lean back to observe the telltale signs of her getting lost in darkness.

  The warm sun stretches its rays across the horizon and I have an idea. I’ve journaled how Harper’s dreams take that dangerous turn and what signs her body gives away.

  I slide away from her and she shakes. I open the doors that lead out to the balcony. I wrap her slender body up in the sheet and cradle her to my chest. Cursing myself that she was cold and not thinking to find another blanket for us.

  I carry her out in the morning haze. The rays peek over Harper’s beloved trees. She shivers and moans. Her hands pull across her torso.

  I’m not going to allow this to continue as I face us in the direction of the sun. Its warmth wraps around us as I sit us down on one of the sofas placing her across my lap.

  “Open your eyes, Harper,” I whisper in her ear and she trembles.

  “Come back to me, gorgeous.”

  I kiss her neck, just under her ear, and she stops shaking.

  “Come back to me, Harper.”

  I start pulling the sheet away from her delicate shoulders. I don’t want her lost in the night. I need her to wake up as the woman she has become, not who she was.

  I return my lips to her skin, connecting to her, and hopefully anchoring her to the present. Running my fingertips over her exposed skin, I feel her stir.

  “Come back to me, love.”

  I feel her gasp and she sounds as if she’s out of breath. I tickle her sensitive skin in the light of the promising morning.

  Harper pulled me from one of my darkest hours and I swear I will pull her from every nightmare she has for as long as I live. Even then, I will come back and make sure that nothing and no one makes a reappearance.

  Harper

  The rope tied around my heart feels tighter. Its consistent tug is a full on gripping yank. I’m no longer cold and shivering in listlessness. When I open my eyes I stare out across the trees I drew so much from.

  Evan’s arms wrap around me as he pleads with me to come back to him. I hear the conflict in his words as they slowly run through me in meaning.

  I lift my hand to his face turning my attention away from the horizon and to the only one that matters to me. Evan’s expression has my tangled, tethered heart soaring. It’s not his usual severe, closed-off grin. It’s open and he looks so much younger and less jaded.

  “Good morning, gorgeous.”

  “Good morning,” I whisper.

  I feel heat creep up my cheeks as I smile back at h
im.

  “Thank you for waking me up.”

  “I would have crawled through hell to get to you,” he claims.

  I look away because I came back for him. He pulls me tighter against him, not liking my reaction to his statement.

  “That last week you were here I couldn’t tell you the truth about the Sculptor. His presence pushed at something in me. I knew then I loved you because I couldn’t keep you here with me without risking your life. Each day that ticked by, my control slipped. That’s why I was distancing myself from you. And then all hell broke loose when my father laid his hands on you.”

  I felt the distance with each passing hour and I was planning on leaving. I had already packed my bags. We were both wrong on so many different levels.

  “It’s not an excuse. Nothing can excuse my actions, but I was scared. Harper, I’m never scared. So I gave up, and I pushed you away in the worst possible way. Every moment we’ve spent together has been cheapened by my actions, my selfishness. I don’t deserve you, and I never will, but I swear I will love you for the rest of my life.”

  “I love you,” I whisper.

  I have no other words.

  My determination was to get out here and the rest we will have to figure out. I hadn’t planned this far ahead and I damn sure didn’t expect this.

  As the sun shines across the morning haze, I’m astonished by Evan’s accountability.

  “If we’re going to work this out you’ll have to be completely honest with me,” he murmurs.

  “Of course,” I reassure him.

  “What are truly scared of?” he asks.

  “The Sculptor… and you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he took so much from me. He stole time and more importantly my sanity. He haunts me in daylight and in dreams. And I’m scared of him now more than I ever have been,” I take a deep breath knowing that’s not the explanation he wanted. “But you, Evan, I’m terrified of you the most.”

  He looks at me like I’ve just punched him in the gut and pulled his heart out in the process.

  “You took from me as well. The power I’ve freely given you can ultimately destroy me. If you push me away again. If you break my heart again. I love you and I’ve never loved anyone but you. So no, I’m scared of you more.”

  He doesn’t say anything. My confession sinks in as he searches my eyes and finds what he’s looking for before placing a kiss on my forehead.

  “Meet me downstairs when you’re ready,” he says when he finally moves his lips off my skin.

  “Okay.”

  His warm lips linger on my forehead. I’m not sure how I feel about those words coming out of his mouth or the way he sounded.

  Evan leaves me on the balcony and I’m thankful I have time to myself. I realize I hadn’t prepared for this outcome, even though, it’s what I’d hoped for and more.

  Several minutes pass before I hear the bedroom door open and close. I stand and walk back to the room, finding my bag sitting on the end of the bed. I take it to the bathroom with me, going through the motions of starting my day. I’m still trying to pinch myself back to reality.

  My hair is a tangled mess. I locate a hair tie and pile it up on top of my head. I pull on the extra change of clothes I remembered to pack, slipping on the sundress and sandals.

  I walk out of the bedroom to an empty hallway. My studio door is wide open. I didn’t anticipate having to deal with this so soon.

  Despite the fact I forgave Evan for destroying it and my paintings, it still hurt like hell when he did it. I brace myself for what it might look like now. I understand why he opened it. I feel as if we’ve gotten through the worst part of our reunion: his physical reaction the night he pushed me away.

  I look in the room that he destroyed the last night I was here. There are several of my paintings he didn’t destroy. A huge glaring hole stands out on the wall someone’s fist created. New canvases lean stacked against each other on the left wall, just like the first time I walked in here.

  I walk back out to the hall with a smile on my face and future images swirling in my imagination of what I plan on doing with the new materials.

  There isn’t a single clue of the party that took place here through the early morning hours.

  The house is immaculate. I find Mae and Evan in the kitchen. He’s dressed casual in a plain white t-shirt, jeans, and leather flip-flops. The contrast of his dark skin is striking and he’s gorgeous as always. The tattoo peeks out of the sleeve. The roots of the tree design wrapping around his well-defined muscles.

  Mae is at the massive island reprimanding Evan for the debauchery that took place here last night. He smiles as I approach.

  Mae’s back is to us as she digs in the fridge giving her unguarded opinion to Evan.

  “I’m second guessing having my niece’s wedding out here.”

  Mae bends down trying to locate something in the state-of-the-art fridge.

  “I thought it would be perfect to have this kind of setting but now I’m not so sure,” she rants.

  Evan shrugs as he pulls out a barstool next to him and quietly pats the seat. Mae continues her argument never looking up. She pulls a couple of pineapples out and wrestles them onto her cutting board. She’s turned around hacking into the tropical fruit and voicing her irritation.

  “I’m trying hard to understand why all these parties must continue. I wouldn’t want my nieces’ reputation tarnished by having her big day out here. As much as I appreciate you lending the plantation for the family’s use, I don’t want my sweet baby and her husband to be labeled as deviants,” she hisses that last word and I have to cover my mouth to stop from laughing at her concerns.

  I’ve wondered how Mae took the ludicrous parties and now I know.

  Evan signals for me to keep quiet as I slide next to him. We both help ourselves to the dishes Mae has already laid out.

  “And I’ll tell you another thing, if that assistant of yours passes out in my kitchen again she’ll wake up with her head looking just like this.”

  Mae swings the head of the detached pineapple in one hand and the substantial knife in the other, turning around to focus on Evan in all seriousness. We both burst out laughing. There was no way she could expect anyone to take her seriously if she realizes how hilarious this is. She tries to keep up her act and carries on.

  “Y’all think that’s funny but she had some fella passed out with her. Far be it from me to judge, but that’s not healthy. For heaven’s sake, you two should, at least, be thanking me for using Clorox ‘cause you eatin’ where I found ‘em.”

  Mae’s seriousness makes us laugh harder. I can only imagine the look she gave Stacy and the unfortunate man Mae found this morning.

  “I’ll talk to her,” Evan says and as funny as it is, I know how Mae treats her space and she hates for anyone to invade it.

  I notice a dog bed over by where she cut the pineapple. Mae explains that both Grayson and Brad drove back to the city earlier this morning.

  “Mae, did you get a pet or have you been letting your gator in here at night?” I tease.

  I’m sure I’m not the only one who wants to change the subject. Mae turns her attention to the bed.

  “Go see for yourself,” Mae says.

  I look to Evan. He shrugs, lifts a glass to his lips and takes a drink. I stand up and walk over to the cushiony bed with ‘Roux’ embroidered across the plush pet bed.

  “Did you buy this for my Ru’?”

  “Of course, I’m not trying to replace him. I just wanted to make sure he had something when y’all got back.”

  I know how optimistic she was when I left. But this single suggestion at making me feel as if I belong here and even my dog is indescribable. I look up at both of them staring at me.

  “That is if the two of you have worked everything out? If not, you can take it with you,” she says.

  Mae turns her attention back to Evan. He grins deviously at her and she shakes her head. His proud expre
ssion does something that knots and unknots my anticipation.

  “I ordered several of those beds. Martin already scattered them throughout the house. Brad mentioned bringing Ru’ out here later this afternoon. His dog food is right there in that container.”

  Sure enough, Mae has outfitted Ru’ with everything he needs and then some. I’m sure she loved typing out the name and changing the spelling to Cajun.

  Evan and I finish breakfast with Mae going on about the line-up for Jazz Fest. She never once mentions the big news that’s taken over the media attention in New Orleans and across the country.

  I insist on cleaning up after us while Mae goes to collect what she’s taking back with her to New Orleans.

  “Do you want me to go back with Mae? I know she mentioned Brad bringing Ru’ out here, but I need to get some of my things, that is if you want me here?” I ask.

  “Of course, I want you here and you’re not going anywhere else. Brad’s bringing your bags from Florida.”

  Evan puts away the rest of the food when he closes the pantry door and walks over to me.

  “I don’t think it’s smart for you to be in New Orleans right now. Tom agrees with me. He even promised he would get you out of town last night, I just didn’t know he meant you would be here.”

  “So this is it, we just pretend like nothing happened and I never left?” I ask because I don’t want to assume anything.

  “No, I don’t want to pretend. This isn’t a normal situation and I haven’t had time to think about us. I was planning on upping your security and staying away from you completely. I’ve had your house watched since the intrusion and as you know, Jamie’s been staying with Kate. Between Tom and I, her apartment is more than secure and monitored.”

  He kisses my cheek and I turn my attention to him.

  “I love you, Harper. I don’t want to hide anything from you, not any longer. You could have been at home when the Sculptor was there. He got access to your building with a Hawthorne Holdings employee badge and it was legitimate. We’re still looking into how he obtained it.”