Page 56 of The Pilot

“Not a surprise,” Harper muttered.

Linc grinned, but he went on. “Me wanting you has nothing to do with last night. Nothing to do with whether or not I sleep. And fuck all to do with gratitude. It has to do with the fact that I’ve lusted after you for weeks. Because I admire the hell out of you. Because you’re an amazing mom, hard worker, and you’ve won over my family without even trying. And because you have a spine of steel. Life has done its best to knock you down over and over, and yet you refuse to yield. To bend. You have no idea how fucking rare that is.

“I want you because you smell good. Because your body is incredible. Because I can’t wait to see your red hair strewn across my pillow as I take you. Because thinking about you masturbating in the shower gets me harder than I’ve ever been. I want you because you’re you, Harper.”

“Oh. Okay then, carry on,” she said, letting go of his wrist with a small smile.

He chuckled. “If at any time you want to stop, all you have to do is say the word. Consent is important to me, Harp. Especially after knowing what you’ve been through. Nothing could hurt me more than you going through with something you aren’t sure you want, simply because you don’t want to hurt my feelings or because you think we’ve gone too far to stop.”

His words meant the world to her. But he was delusional if he thought she didn’t want him. “I want you just as much, Linc. I think I’ve always wanted you . . . yes, even back when I was a royal bitch. There was something about you that drew me in, but I was too young to understand it then, and even if I had, too cowardly to stand up to my friends and do anything about it. I knew you were going to do great things, and I think I was jealous.

“Now, watching you with Kash, the most important person in my life, makes me want you even more.” Then she grinned cheekily. “And of course, you’re hot, Linc. You’re what girls call a silver fox.”

“I’m not that old!” he protested with a chuckle.

“I don’t know, I see some gray hairs coming in,” she teased.

Linc growled and covered her completely.

She giggled, loving the feel of him over her.

Then he froze. “Is this okay?” he asked.

Knowing what he was referring to, Harper was quick to reassure him. “I don’t remember any of it. Just waking up in the alley.”

“Still . . .”

“It’s okay. More than okay. I love the feeling of you on top of me. In the middle of the night, when I woke up from my own nightmare, you were all snuggled up next to me . . . it felt amazing.”

“Wait, you had a nightmare? Are you all right?”

“Focus, Linc. You. Me. Bed. Sex.”

“I’m serious . . . was it about . . .”

Knowing he wasn’t going to let it go, and secretly loving that about him, she nodded. “Yeah, but the second I realized where I was and who was snoring in my ear, I forgot all about it. Fell back asleep within minutes.”

He eyed her for a long moment, as if trying to decide if she was telling the truth. Finally, he nodded. “Okay.”

“We were discussing what we wanted to do today,” Harper reminded him, wanting to get back to him touching her.

“That’s right, we were,” he said, moving a hand to her waist and slipping it under her T-shirt. Harper held her breath as he eased that hand up her body, barely making contact with her skin. “First, we can see what our hosts have made us for breakfast.”

His fingers brushed against the underside of her breast.

“Then we can take a walk. It’s cold, but the exercise will be good for us.”

He was driving her crazy with his light touches. Tickling but not touching her nipple, which had gotten hard the second he got close with his fingers.

“Maybe some more shopping. There’s that store you wanted to go to with the yard-spinny things.”

“Linc,” Harper whined, as he continued to tease her with his words and hand.

“It’s too bad the botanical gardens are closed for the season. We should’ve gone in December, when they had all the lights up.”

“I swear if you don’t touch me right now, I’ll—”

“I am touching you,” he interrupted, mock innocently.