Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

RIFTAN

Fuck. I had to say that aloud, didn’t I? I couldn’t help myself. Since I came back home from the Marines, my eyes have been following Harriet around like a puppy waiting for its master to give it affection.

So, six years of pining for a woman who doesn’t see me as anything but her big brother’s best friend.

I wonder what she’d say if I told her I jack off to the image of her on a nightly basis. The little girl Sean and I watched over blossomed into a bombshell that has my cock thickening with every slow perusal she gives me, but I can’t figure out if it’s from interest or because we’ve known each other so long; I’m just someone close to her.

Her waist-length auburn hair is plaited, hanging over her shoulder— God, what I wouldn’t do to fist all that massive fluff in my hands. It’s like a red cloud when it’s all down her back. Not that she ever keeps it that way. She always has it up in a mess of a bun or braids. Her pale skin, dotted with a galaxy of freckles, has always made me want to trace them all with my fingertips. Her inquisitive green eyes look as if they’re looking right at your soul. Her gaze has always been that way ever since I could remember. Soulful eyes that see deep into the abyss of my heart, which has only had a soft spot for two people. My mother.

And her.

Her body?

Fucking perfection. Curvy, voluptuous, and stunning. I know the moment she walks into a room without seeing her— the air shifts. My body becomes electrified.

When she stares back at me, my heart thumps a little faster.

Those eyes of hers swallow me whole.

“I have no idea how to answer that.” Her voice is breathless, and I wish it was skirting across my skin instead of in the air.

I can’t help the smirk that tilts on my lips. She’s fucking adorable when she’s flustered. The blush that rises on her neck and cheeks gives me a hint of attraction between us, and I’m not sure if I can stop myself from building up that attraction until we burn my bedsheets into ashes.

“You don’t have to say anything, Harriet. Let it sink in. Now, who were you calling a dumb-butt? Not yourself, were you?”

“Actually, yes. But it was a thought I had, so never mind about it.”

More red creeps into her face, and I wonder what she was thinking. “Hmm… I hate secrets, you know.”

I did, but I was keeping my attraction to her a secret, wasn’t I?

Fucking hypocrite.

“It’s not important, Rif. What do you need again?”

She’s the only one I’ve ever allowed to call me that. I hate nicknames. I firmly dislike calling her Harry, as most people do. Outside of her mother, I’m the only person who calls her Harriet. Everyone calls her by her shortened name, and it takes willpower not to snicker. Harry was, one, a man’s name, and two, maybe many people see her as an afterthought, an ornament to the Marks’ name, but not to me.

Harriet is the woman staring back at me.

She’s always been a headstrong girl. What people say about redheads is true. Harriet’s fiery-red auburn hair gives her spunk, and I’ve never known her to have a filter.

While I know she’s a fiery temptress, there’s this sweetness to her that makes her a million times beautiful on the inside as well as on the outside.

“Mr. Marks wanted you to print out the itemized receipt for the Bergner’s and Warner’s accounts for their file.”

She grabs her Post-it notes and writes them down when I feel Sean’s presence behind me.

When he claps me on the back, his eyes look between Harriet and me, and he quirks his brow. “What are we congregating here for?”

There’s this snark in his tone that has my body stiffening. We’ve been best friends all our lives, but he’s never thought I was good enough for his baby sister. He thinks no one’s good enough for her despite her being twenty-six. He hates it when she dates. Overprotective much? It doesn’t even come close. He thinks that because she’s not serious about any of them and never brings them around, she’s safe enough.

“Your dad wanted Harriet to print some paid invoices.”

“So, you volunteered yourself huh?”

I roll my eyes when I hear Harriet’s cell phone ringing. “I was walking to my office, Sean, and your dad stopped me. Why? What’s it to you?”

Sean’s green eyes shift back and forth from me and Harriet, and a heavy sigh leaves my lips. God, he’s so insufferable. “Hmm.”

“Oh, crud! That’s this weekend! Right. Uh… yeah. I’ve known him for a while.” My ears prick at her conversation and the awkward chuckle that leaves her lips. “I want it to be a surprise. Well, it’s not every day your sorority sister gets married. Yes. It’s tradition. Okay. Yeah. I’m… we’ll be driving there Thursday morning. Okay. Love you lots! Bye, Judy!” I turn my head to see her slam her head on her desk. “Dang it. Now what am I gonna do?”

“What’s wrong, Harry?”

Harriet flies upward and looks between us, her face flushing red-hot.

“I forgot my sorority sister Jessica’s wedding is this weekend. It’s a four-day extravaganza, and I was supposed to have a plus one. And well…,” she hangs her head in defeat. “I broke it off with the guy I was dati?—

“Why? What did he do?” Sean’s voice was steel as he took a step into her office. He’s never had any problems interrupting her if it has anything to do with a guy. Like I said, he hates her dating anyone. That’s his baby sister… God forbid she be dating at twenty-six. Let alone ever get married. He’s got rose-colored glasses when it comes to Harriet.

However, I’m also curious. The guy lasted longer than most— almost three months.

Was I counting? It’s not anyone’s business, but yes. I was. Not that I know what he looks like. No one really sees the guys Harriet dates. She never brings them around.

With Sean hanging over her shoulder, I don’t blame her.

Exasperated, Harriet rolls her eyes. “Sean, honestly! It doesn’t even matter.”

“It matters, Harry. What did he do?”

“He didn’t do anything. I’m attracted to red flags. I don’t know why.”

“Red flags? You better start talking, little sister.” Sean’s authoritative voice makes my back teeth clench. I don’t like it when he speaks to her like she’s some child, as if he’s her father, when her father, who’s right down the hall, is the kind to let his kids make their own mistakes.

However, while I won’t dig too deeply into how Sean speaks, I don’t stop myself from saying, “Who knew you’d be such a mother hen? You do know she’s an adult, right?”

Sean spears me with a look that could make a lesser man come to heel, but that’s never been me, and he knows it. “She’s my baby sister, Riftan. If some shit-head hurt her, I’m?—

“You’re going to what, Sean? I can take care of myself, you know? I’m not a Marine or a black belt, but our parents made me take enough self-defense classes, so I could get myself out of many situations. Geez.” Harriet rolls her eyes and swivels back around, clearly dismissing us.

Although Sean doesn’t leave, neither do I.

“So, who’s gonna be your plus one?”

Yup. I said it. Another hard look gets thrown at me by Sean as if he’s seeing the cogs running in my brain. If she’ll let me, fuck yeah, I’ll be her plus one. I have nothing until next Wednesday anyway. Will she take the bait?

“I’ll be your plus one, Harry.”

We both look at him like he’s lost his mind. Harriet even more so.