Chapter 4

4

GRIFFIN

K issing Harper is like nothing else in the world.

Holding her close to me, I turn so my back is against the car, so she doesn’t feel caged in. She keeps her body tight against mine, fingers tangling in my hair as we both moan from the pressure of her firm breasts against my chest. I'm slouching down for her, loving that she's only about five foot three.

As her lips part more, our mouths move as one, the fierce energy of the kiss making me feel flushed as a strange darkness bubbles up from the base of my throat, making me want to growl like an animal. I've never felt so possessive, so nearly at the edge of my control. I want this woman more than I've wanted anything else in my entire life.

It takes all my strength to gently press against her, creating an inch of space between us. "I could kiss you all damn night, darlin'," I growl, "but I have a feeling your friends will keep staring out the window. Plus, I really do want to feed you the best pizza on this side of the mountain."

She's wildly cute when she blushes. "Yeah. Dinner would be good."

As we drive into town, I ask, "So, I barely got a glimpse, but it didn't look like any kind of crazy party zone in there. Just a lot of books and papers. The three of you really are working this month?"

She rolls her eyes using her whole head. "Griffin. Do you really think I'm going to just let it slip what we're doing?"

"I guess not." I half shrug, leaning back in my seat. It occurs to me that for the first time in years, I'm driving with a lovely young woman in my car on an official date. "But then what am I supposed to tell people when they ask me what my beautiful new lady friend does for a living?"

Harper bursts out laughing as we turn into town. "Why would anyone ask you that?"

"Because it's the kind of question people ask. Like… Where are you from?" I pull into the parking lot beside Jim's and turn the car off, fixing her with a look. "Well?"

"My family moved around a lot when I was growing up. I've lived in Chicago, St. Louis, Charlotte. But I've been living in Kingsville for school."

I open her door, then take her hand as we walk in. "Kingsville's a nice city. I was there once several years ago. But I guess I'm like an oak – planted where the acorn happened to fall."

Jim's daughter Bianca is working tonight and seats us in the round corner booth by the front window. This gives me the opportunity to take Harper's coat and hang it up for her, then slide in close beside her.

She is breathtakingly pretty with the front of her hair tied back to bring maximum attention to her eyes. The soft amber lighting makes her pale skin glow.

As we’re perusing our menus, I notice that Harper's left hand keeps gravitating to her mouth before she pulls it away. After the second time, I ask, "Do you bite your nails when you're nervous? And if so, does that mean I'm making you nervous?"

She releases a long, soft sigh. "It's harder to read in this light and I don't want you to see my glasses."

"What year is this, 1950? I would love to see your glasses. More importantly, I don't want you ever to strain your eyes because of what you worry anyone might think."

She slips a pair of elegant navy-framed glasses from her purse and onto her face, and I nearly forget to breathe.

She reads the menu for a moment, then turns to catch me staring and frowns. "What? Not what you expected?"

Leaning in, I whisper, "Darlin', you're already gorgeous. But those glasses are both adorable and hot."

"Please. You're just saying that to be polite."

My lips rest against her ear. "Not at all. If we weren't in a restaurant, I'd grab your hand right now and place it on my crotch so you could feel how hard I am just from looking at you in those sweet little spectacles."

A soft, broken noise escapes her throat, her lips falling open. I use the opportunity to kiss her hard and fast and deep for just a few seconds before sitting back decisively. "The pizza is amazing here, of course. But if you'd like to split a pasta dish too, I'd be into that."

Harper is flushed and grinning. "Um, I have a bad habit of reading the entire menu before deciding what I'm hungry for. You don't want to choose something, then find out there are three more incredible things."

"Smart. Do your research before beginning the decision-making process."

"Exactly."

We read in comfortable silence, and I sneak a look around the restaurant. There are four other couples here, all married people that I either know, or have seen them around so often that I feel as if I know them.

I hear a sudden sharp intake of breath, then Harper looks down, as if hoping nobody heard her. "What is it?"

"Nothing."

I hold out my hand palm up until she takes it. "Harper, I know you don't know me very well, but I promise you can trust me. Did something on the menu freak you out?"

Her luscious lips press together for a moment. "The typo in the legal print at the bottom. Look."

I follow her fingertip to where it says 'Coffee right 2024. All rights reserved'.

I laugh out loud, but she shushes me. "They must have been using voice to text," she whispers. "I don't want to tell them, because they'll just feel bad."

Most people would laugh uproariously at the funny typo, pointing it out to the server, and having a good chuckle at the restaurant's expense. Meanwhile, Harper doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. My heart swells. She's kind, thinking of others even though she doesn't know them. That's something I'd expect from a born and raised country girl, not someone from the city. It also indicates she's very mature for her age. That somehow makes this connection feel even more solid.

"That's sweet of you." I squeeze her hand gently. "Hey… Do you care that I'm thirty?"

"No, should I?" Her beautiful eyes are wide as she thinks about that. "I mean, I'm only twenty-one, but it's not that crazy an age difference, I don't think."

"Good." I hesitate. "Like I said, I'm one of those people who are stuck in one place. I mean, I've traveled a little – California, Florida, New Mexico…"

Harper grins. "All nice, warm places. Makes sense."

"Yeah. But because the family business and my brothers are here, I've never thought of leaving." My thumb caresses her hand. "And you're only here for a month."

"Maybe two."

"What's your living situation like in Kingsville?" I ask.

Her face scrunches up as if she's just smelled something terrible. "Right now, I have a horrid little apartment over a nail salon. I can smell the fumes all the time. And the one window faces north, so I don't have good natural light for reading."

"Ugh. You have to get out of there."

"Exactly. But I don't want a roommate, and it's really expensive alone." Her eyes light up. "Everything changes this Monday, though. There's an amazing place that's a bit bigger and has a huge south facing window. It's a bit cheaper than the place I'm in now, and the landlady wants to rent it to a young female academic."

My blood starts to run cold.

"She won't take any calls about it until Monday morning, since she's on vacation. But I happen to know her receptionist. If I call and am prepared to sign a three-year lease, the place is mine."

The cracking of the ice in my veins is distracting. Of course I want Harper to have fresh air, daylight, and a home she loves. But she could have all of that and more if she decided to stay in Old Hemlock Valley.

Her brows tighten as she frowns, as if catching my discomfort. "I mean, Kingsville isn't that far. It's only–"

"A seven-hour drive," I say quickly. "I…might have looked that up."

Her lovely deep blue eyes grow wide. "Really? Why?"

Fighting the urge to kiss her right here in the restaurant is a challenging exercise in self-control. "I don't ever start something if I'm not sure I can do my part to finish it." Looking down at our entwined fingers, it strikes me how her delicate hand is so light compared to my rough, work-worn skin. "I know that no nice, smart girl would ever dream of ending up with a tow truck guy." I change my voice to make an awful attempt at a snobby upper crust accent. "Forgive me, automotive technician."

Harper laughs, then leans in close. "I'll tell you a secret."

"Like…what kind of work you do?"

" No ." I love that she picks up our hands and smacks me lightly with my own fingers. "That I've never imagined any future guy. So, you know. My mind is a blank slate there."

"But smart chicks dream of being married to doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs. Movers and shakers, or whatever."

Her chin lifts until she's looking down her nose at me. "Are you telling me that I've been dreaming wrong, sir?"

"Uh…apparently, yeah."

I adore how easily we laugh together. How her eyes soften when she looks at me. How our bodies are drifting together of their own accord, like the way the entire length of our thighs are touching, and I can't seem to stop whispering in her cute little ear.

I've never hung on anyone's every word like this.

I'm officially infatuated.

Now I just need to get Harper to relax a little bit and learn to trust me enough to not make that call about the apartment next week.