AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I look down at her and ask teasingly, “Are they up to my supervisor’s standards?”
She gives me a little glower and some colour flares back into her cheeks. That gives me a moment of relief.Maybe whatever’s happened isn’t too bad.
She lifts up on her tiptoes to try and scope out the interior through the open door, and Tate moves out of the doorframe so that his body doesn’t totally block the view. Tate and I share a wordless look, both of us not sure about what to think of this moment.
“Did you make that?” Harper asks suddenly, pointing over to the newly installed kitchen cabinets.
“Yes,” I say.
“And that?” she asks, now gesturing to the smooth wooden table sat in prized position at the centre of the room.
“Yes.”
“What about that?” she continues, and I breathe out a laugh, not even bothering to look at what she’s pointing at this time.
“Let’s just assume that I made everything you’re currently looking at. Including him,” I add on, jerking my chin at Tate. I guess I’d be introducing him to her at some point, so it might as well be now.
Harper’s eyes fly up to mine, her lips popping open, and then she looks quickly back over to Tate, giving him a stunned once-over. She lingers for a few extra seconds on the large cross tattooed around his bicep, the name etched across his knuckles. Then she gives him a quick nervous smile and moves closer to me again, making warmth spread through my chest as she lets me circle her shoulders with both of my arms.
I slide my gaze over to Tate and he’s squinting back at me, his lips pressed together as if he’s trying to stop himself from laughing. We share a father-son look. Mine says,so this is the woman I’ve been seeing.His says,please dear God leave me out of it.
I half-laugh and he shakes his head, an almost-smile playing around the deep-cut dimples of his cheeks. I think that Harper’s gone into shock, so this is probably the extent of their introduction for now.
Tate gives me a quick shoulder nudge, spares Harper a 0.2 second glance, and then he jogs easily over to his truck, head tilted slightly to shield himself from the pelting rain.
I bring my attention back to Harper and my eyebrows raise a little when I take in her flushed expression.
I think she’s turned on. She likes the fact that I made a kid – a solid six-four kid – and she’s finding it impossible to hide it.
“That’s your son?” she asks, looking up at me through her lashes. I lift one of my hands above her forehead to shield her face from the harsh weather.
“Yeah,” I say back to her, dropping my other hand to her ass and giving her a gentle squeeze.
Her breathing catches in her throat.
“He’s so… big,” she says finally. “I didn’t think that he’d be, like, a whole adult man.”
I nod as I start walking us onto the cabin porch, under the new wooden roof that Jace fitted a few months back. “Yeah, he’s a big guy.”
“Like his daddy,” she says quietly, dropping her eyes to my pecs.
I laugh a little as I move my other hand away from her face, so that I can firmly caress her lower back. “Like his daddy,” I concur.
I can feel Harper’s energy waning. I glance up and watch as Tate’s truck disappears from view, saying absentmindedly, “He’s heading out for the weekend to see his girl.”
Then I look back down at Harper and say, “What were you running over here for? You know that I always come to see you after I finish up.”
The soft pink glow dims down a watt in her cheeks. I narrow my eyes, not liking that reaction.
“Speaking of this weekend,” she begins, and my stomach drops like a load of lumber. I swallow hard, already not liking where this is going.
We had plans this weekend. Date number five.Thedate. The date where she tells me how she actually feels and she can decide whether we end this here or we make it official. Whether or not I get to claim her as my own.
I steel my jaw, preparing for the worst.
“I got a call from my mom,” she says, looking up at me again. Now I’m a little less worried but a lot more confused. When she drops her eyes I look out across the valley and my gaze lands upon the portacabin less than thirty feet away from us. Warm and protected from the cold lashings of the hail.
I tuck two fingers under her chin, lifting her face to mine, and I finally give her a long, slow kiss. Her nails grip into my pecs as I slide my tongue inside and I give her slow unending strokes until she’s moaning and trying to climb me.
