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I closed my eyes as I tried to get my own emotions under control. This woman was so infuriating, yet she was oddly comforting all at once. I’d spent two thirds of my life loving her, and despite what happened ten years ago, there was still something between us. I wanted to deny it, but I would be an even bigger liar than she was if I tried.
The anger and lust were a fiery combination, and I no longer knew which one fueled me more. My own breathing grew a bit ragged before I composed myself. “Are you better now?”
“Y-yes,” she stammered, and I loosened my grip on her.
I had no sooner let her go when she grabbed her bag and fled for the door. She managed to get out and into the elevator, and I cursed. I had to find her before she got herself killed.
Again, I’d been duped by her acting, and I had half a thought to spank her ass into obedience once I found her. I hurried upstairs to throw on a shirt, socks, and shoes, then set off in search of Harper. I took the elevator down to the lobby and when I saw the doorman, I prayed he could at least tell me which direction she went.
“Have you seen a woman come through here in the last few minutes?”
“I sure did. I asked her why she was going out in the storm and she mumbled something I couldn’t quite make out. She went to the left, Mr. Blake.”
“Thanks, Doug.” I took a breath and watched mine almost freeze in front of me when I exited the building. It was nearly a white-out, the thick heavy snow blowing in all directions. The wind was fierce, and it was cold as hell. She would get frostbite or worse if I couldn’t find her. “Unbelievable.”
It was all I could say as I started off in the direction Doug had given me. She had a good possible three or four minutes on me.
She could’ve hailed one of the few cabs still traveling down the icy streets, but I dismissed that thought because she would need to have somewhere to go, and having someone drive aimlessly around the city for nothing wasn’t her thing.
She was on foot. That was confirmed when I looked down at the ground below and saw what I assumed to be her footprints. The snow was a beautiful white shade, it not having been discolored yet from use. I focused on the small tracks and when they veered to the left, I did, too.
I came to a stop as she was huddled in the corner with her head buried in her knees as she sat on the cold, dirty ground.
“Harper,” I said, and she slowly raised her head. “What the fuck?”
“I’m out of your hair, and you didn’t even have to wait until morning. Just leave me alone.” Her voice was as petulant as her expression.
I scrubbed my frozen hands down my face and mentally counted to five in my head before responding.
“You have nowhere to go and we’re in the middle of a blizzard. Come back to my place until the storm clears.”
I tried to keep my voice as even keeled as possible which was hard considering I wanted to shake her until she came to her senses.
“No,” she told me.
“No?” I asked. I then remembered her supposed purpose for even being here and decided to use it. “So, you’ve come all this way to Chicago to warn me about some supposed danger, but you leave without telling me what it actually is.”
“You won’t believe me anyway,” she answered. While she might have a point, I needed to get her somewhere warm before she ended up in the hospital with hypothermia.
“I will believe you. I’m sorry for everything that happened earlier. I do want to know about the danger. How can I protect myself if I don’t know from what? I...”
She extended her hand out to me and I stopped midsentence. I grabbed it, and realized how hard and cold it was, then helped her back onto her feet.
She was shivering, and a quick look at her, I could see where the damp precipitation had seeped into her clothes. She would’ve never made it an entire night out here.
I decided not to voice that observation aloud because she would be stubborn enough to try to prove me wrong. I rubbed her hand between mine for a few seconds, then forced myself to smile.
“Let’s go back to my place. You can get out of those wet clothes while I start a fire.”
“Okay,” she responded, and we walked the half block back to my building. I gave Doug a nod, then led her straight to the elevator.
“I need to run upstairs and get you something to put on. I want you to stay put, okay?”
She gave me a nod, and just in case she was simply humoring me, I took the steps two at a time and grabbed the first T-shirt I saw which happened to be one of the Rushton Academy ones I often wore when working out. I returned to the lower level and she was in front of the window, staring aimlessly out of it. I slowly walked over to her and dangled the shirt in front of her.
“Go ahead and put this on while I get the fire started.”
Harper took it from me and disappeared with her bag into the downstairs bathroom. I moved over to the gas fireplace and within a minute, I had it started. I momentarily watched the flames as they danced behind the metal grate. It was already exuding a good amount of heat which took the chill out of my hands almost immediately.
