Chapter 31

JASPER

H arper confided in me completely, sharing what happened to her. That huge gesture of trust made me react without thinking. When she asked me if I was broken too, I wanted to tell her, yes. I wanted to tell her all the things that kept me up at night, but I couldn't find the words.

I pressed my lips against hers and waited a minute before I deepened the kiss. As soon as she parted her lips to let me in, I couldn't stop myself.

Kissing Harper felt like it was something I'd done all my life. Something so natural and perfect. It felt… Right .

As I kissed her, I ran my hands through her hair gripping her at the nape, keeping her in place as my tongue explored her mouth in ways I had only fantasized about doing. Her breath tingled with the taste of spearmint. I loosened my grip and allowed my hands to roam her body. Her soft, silky skin under my fingertips prickled with goosebumps as she released a small moan against my lips. Her breathing was unsteady as she matched my pace, taste for taste as she slipped her tongue into my mouth relentlessly.

She gasped as I grabbed her by the waist pulling her tight against my body and pressing my bulge against her stomach. I was careful not to get too carried away as I waited for any tension or pull back from her, anything to signal she wanted me to stop instead, she leaned into me and let a small needy moan escape from her chest, one that was only felt, as I swallowed all her sounds up with my kiss only stopping when the need for air became dyer.

The moment I let her go, she took a step back, breaking our intense connection, but she kept looking right at me. Her lustful eyes made me want to throw her over my shoulder and take her to my bed and never let her leave it again.

She wiped her lips using the back of her hand. As She dropped her stare to the floor, she turned on her heels and quickly walked out of the kitchen. She left me there to stare after her.

Holy fuck! That kiss was better than anything I've ever experienced with a woman before. What the fuck is happening to me?

I should have called after her, or followed her, and made sure she was okay. I didn't. I stood there looking in the direction she walked out, feeling something, I was completely unaccustomed to feeling because I never let anyone close enough to make me feel it. Want? need? desire? Fuck , was this what love felt like?

I was losing myself in her and I didn't give a shit. She was under my skin.

A few minutes later, I was walking down the hallway toward her room when the door flew open and Harper came rushing out with her bag and computer in her arms, lost in her own thoughts, she didn't notice me standing there. She ran right into my chest; I threw my arm around her waist to steady her before she lost her footing.

"Where are you going Doll?" I chuckled.

"Um, maybe I need to go home?" She said her voice broke.

"I feel like I've overstayed my welcome," she replied, her voice tinged with hesitation.

I moved closer, whispered, and gently brushed her cheek with my knuckles before tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Did I say something to suggest you outstayed your welcome?"

"No, of course not… I… I just… I don't know what you want." She said with unshed tears. Her voice was weak and uncertain.

"I can't be anyone's one-night stand, and I know you don't want anything serious. I don't even know what I want. I'm so confused because I've never let a man close enough to have to think about these things. I don't know what to do from here or if I should be doing anything. That was my first kiss, and I don't know what it even meant. I don't…. I don't know." she rambled on for nearly a minute. Have you ever sat back and counted an entire sixty seconds? It's longer than you'd think. I couldn't help but smile at her. She was so beautiful in many ways, but absolutely fucking adorable when she was nervous. I could have listened to her ramble on all day, but she noticed me smiling at her and her face instantly turned that shade of pink I love so much. She stopped talking and started fidgeting with her sleeve.

Something she said stuck with me.

"That was my first kiss, and I don't know what it even meant."

She was twenty-four years old and that was her first kiss.

Damn it, she is perfect.

How could she never have been kissed? I'm certain boys were throwing themselves at her when she was in school, the old pictures Max found weren't the best pictures of her because it was after her incident, but she hasn't changed a bit. Has she let her trauma stop her from living? That stops now. She deserves to live without fear, without regret, she deserves everything, and I will give it to her.

"Harper, please put your things back in your room and get dressed; we're going shopping," I instructed firmly. I turned and walked down the hall, leaving before she could argue.

"We have an event to go to and you're going to need a dress," I called over my shoulder.