Always Enough (12 page)

“As a matter of fact, that
is
the sort of person I want to love me. Because, if that’s who
you
are, Harper, then you bet your ass it’s what I want.” I looked down at her. Her chest was heaving, as if confessing her darkest secret left her exhausted. “I can’t say I didn’t know there was something more behind your need to keep me at a distance, but I knew it wasn’t this.” I grabbed her on both sides of her face so she was looking right at me as I spoke. “Your ‘baggage’ isn’t a deal breaker. It’s you and me, Harper. I’m here and I’m not leaving because you think I can’t handle it. That’s just another challenge that I’ll win.”

Her eyes darted back and forth, and I could practically see the wheels turning in her head. She was digesting what I said and thinking of her next move. Either way, I was ready for her.

“You’re a pain in my ass, Lewis, you know that?” she smirked.

Her playful attitude was back. Good. I loved it when she was feisty. “Yeah, and you just let me spank the shit out of yours, so what does that say about you?”

Harper rolled her eyes. “Uh-huh, we’ll see if I let you touch my ass like that again.”

I bent down and picked up my shirt and stopped in front of her.

“Put this on, we’re leaving.”

She was confused. I was starting to adore her confused face. “Now, after everything I just said, you want to leave? I was kidding, you know. You can totally spank my ass again.”

My grin was wide, and I replied, “Yes, we’re leaving right now. And we are leaving right now because you just said you sorta loved me. So I sorta want to take you back to the hotel and sorta make love to you. So put the fucking shirt on, Harper.” As she took the shirt out of my hands I added, “and you and I both know, there
will
be more ass spanking.”

She smiled the most brilliant smile I’d ever seen, before slipping the shirt over her head. I quickly kissed her nose and peeked out of the bathroom door to make sure there wasn’t anybody in the hallway. We snuck out the back way to the dressing room so Harper could get dressed and we made our trip back to the hotel so I could show my girl just how much I loved her

“Again, Harper, you’ll give me another one.”

Kyler growled into my ear, as his fabulously large cock drove into me again. He’d brought me to orgasm twice already, but he was demanding another. My body was shaking from the sheer exertion of it all, yet I couldn’t help but respond to his demand.

He hovered over me, his arms bulging from holding his weight up, looking down at me with appraising eyes. A glimmer of mischief showed itself and he gave me a devilish smile.

“You said … you … loved me … and now … I want … another … one.” He paused, causing a whimper to escape me. “I’ll force it out of you, Harper.”

With that, he started to pound into me over and over again, and I felt the familiar build of my impending orgasm. He bent down to rest on his forearms and, maintaining his pace, kissed me thoroughly. Just as he nipped my lower lip, I started to come. It was powerful and intense. Ky thrust several more times before he yelled out my name and collapsed on top of me. I could feel him still pulsing inside of me and I never wanted the feeling to end. I lay there, rubbing my fingertips up and down his back, delighting in our post-coital cuddling. It was something I’d never really done before. Even when I was with Ky, I always pushed him away and went to get cleaned up. But now? Now, I welcomed it.

I let out a little giggle, which actually hurt my overworked abs.

“What’s so funny?” His voice was muffled, probably because he was face-down on the pillow.

“Oh, just that this seems so, I don’t know … domestic?”

“Well, when you get a chance, please roll me off you because I’m certain I won’t be able to move anytime soon. I’m mush.”

I slapped his arm and, even though I didn’t want him to move from where he was, I gave him a slight shove. He was still inside me and I liked knowing that we were still connected. Ky moved over a few inches, which allowed me the space to scoot out from under him. He rolled over to his back, giving me a full view of the abs I loved so much.

Moving my fingers along each and every muscle, my mind wandered to a place that I didn’t want it to go. I’d told him that I loved him, which opened me up to the possibility of getting hurt. He must have seen the seriousness on my face because he took hold of my hand and pulled me close to him. I rolled in and he tucked me into his chest so I could rest my head on him.

“Stop thinking so hard, Harper. We’re good,” he said, trying to reassure me.

“I’m just wondering what happens when I leave here in a few days, and we both go back to our normal everyday lives. Then what? Do we just forget this ever happened?”

He raised his head to look at me.

“Of course we don’t forget this happened. We’ll do exactly what I told you we’d do before I left for the tour. We’ll talk on the phone, text, email, Skype, or do whatever we can to make sure we’re still good. Distance doesn’t have to mean the end, Harper. I know I’m going to miss seeing your beautiful face and that smart mouth, but the space between us doesn’t mean shit to me. You’re my girl, always have been.” His large hands cupped my face.

He said everything so matter of fact that it melted my heart. Since I opened up to him and the possibilities that this could bring, I had to be willing to give this a wholehearted shot—I owed it to both of us. But I had to open up and let him know about my fears, just like Em had said. We wouldn’t work if I didn’t at least give him the chance to see what was going on inside my head.

“You’re right. I’m sorry I questioned it.”

“Anytime you feel the need to say I’m right, I’m more than happy to listen,” he chuckled.

I laughed and slapped him on the stomach. “Shut up.”

“Hey,” I said, “do you remember that time when you came to my house after the photo incident?”

He tensed. “I’ll never forget it.”

“I was just thinking about that. I think that was the first time I’d ever let anybody see that side of me. I think I knew then that I could trust you.”

I sat up and rested my chin on the top of my hand. I looked at him, and reveled in the fact that this gorgeous man was mine.

“You can always trust me, Harper. I’d never intentionally do anything to break that trust. You know that, right?”

I nodded, and lay my head back on his chest, thinking back all those years ago …

There was a knock on my door. I didn’t want to answer it, and I was half tempted not to. I’d already told Em on the phone that I wasn’t up for company, and I definitely didn’t want to talk about what happened. The knock came again, and I felt like a jerk for not answering.

“Look Em, I told you I didn’t want comp …” Getting up to answer the door, I trailed off because Em wasn’t the one standing there when I opened the door. It was Kyler Lewis.

“Hey, Harper, I thought I’d stop by and see how you’re doing,” he said from the other side of the door.

I stood there, shocked. Not just because it wasn’t Em, but also because Ky was the last person I’d ever expect to stop by and check on me. We’d had had a strange relationship since we were kids—always picking on each other, teasing, harping, jabbing anytime we saw an opportunity. We weren’t necessarily enemies, but we certainly weren’t friends either. I’d only just recently started getting to know him because Em had started dating Finn. I’d actually found out was that Ky was pretty funny, and more sensitive than I’d pegged him to be.

I reached down and tugged at my shirt. I probably looked like a big mess. “I’m fine.”

“Yeah, you really look fine, Harper.” He was being sarcastic. “Look, can I come in?”

I figured I might as well get it over with. Maybe if I talked to Ky about what had happened, I’d be able to deal with the other kids at school … whenever I decided to go back. I shrugged my shoulders and stepped to the side to let him by.

Ky came inside and looked around. Besides Emilyn, I’d never had anyone from school inside my house and to be honest, it was a little intimidating. I didn’t have much. It was still just my mom and I, and she worked a lot. The house was somewhat bare but we had everything we needed. As he checked everything out, I tried not to be embarrassed by the lack of ‘things.’ Ky’s parents had money, and I’m sure he didn’t normally hang out on my side of town.

Crossing my arms over my chest protectively I asked, “So what are you doing here, Ky?”

He stopped his perusal and his eyes landed on mine. “You haven’t been at school for a few days and I wanted to know why.”

We’d barely spoken and I was already exhausted. I plopped down on the faded, green couch that sat in the center of the living room.

“You know why,” I said, looking down at the floor.

“I suppose I do, but I want to know why you’re letting Aubrey get the better of you?”

My eyes shot to his and I glared at him. “She embarrassed me in front of the entire school, Kyler! She sent that photo to
everyone
and now our whole class has seen me … naked.” I looked down again, unable to deal with my embarrassment.

“You’re letting Aubrey win, you know that, right?”

“You know what, Ky? You can get out of my house. I don’t need to be lectured by you or anybody else. Just get out!”

I got up and fled the living room. My bedroom was down the hall and as soon as I was inside, I slammed my door shut and locked it. Seconds later I heard a light tapping.

“Harper, let me in.”

“Go away, Ky.” I started to cry.

It was quiet, but then he said so softly, “Harper, please, I just want to talk to you.”

I sniffed and decided that the jerk wasn’t going to leave until I pacified him. I unlocked the door, but left it closed, before moving to the bed. Ky opened the door and came in to sit down on the bed beside me. Tears streamed down my face and I hated that he was seeing me like this. I didn’t let anybody see me cry … ever.

“Would you like me to tell what’s been happening at school? I think you’ll be surprised,” he said.

“Let me guess, the photo has been passed around to even more people, and now it’s hitting the next town.”

“Nope. Let’s just say the photo has been taken care of.”

“What do you mean it’s ‘been taken care of, Ky?” I sneered.

“I took care of it. That’s all you need to know.”

“I don’t understand. How did you take care of it?”

He smiled a soft sweet smile at me, and reached up to brush away a tear with his thumb. “Like I said, don’t worry about it. You can come back to school and I promise you, nobody will say anything about it.” The smile faded slightly from his face when he said, “But if they do, let me know and I’ll handle it.”

More tears streamed down my face. “Why are you being so nice to me, Kyler? We’re not friends.”

I know that sounded rude and mean, but it was also the truth.

“We are friends … at least we are now. And I like you, Harper, I always have. I don’t want you to cry any more tears over this.”

He liked me? Well, that was a revelation.

“You like me, huh?” I gave him a slight smile.

“Yep.”

Ky leaned over and kissed my cheek, which caused me to blush.

“That pink on your cheeks looks good on you.”

I didn’t normally blush, but I couldn’t help the heat that crept up to my face. I looked up at him and there must have been something he saw on my face that made him lean over again and softly kiss my lips. He was being so gentle and tentative at first. But when my tongue snaked out and lightly touched his lower lip, he became more aggressive. Ky’s mouth became firmer, and his hands came up to hold me by the back of my neck.

I pulled my mouth back and inch. “Wait, Ky, what are we doing here?”

His eyes roamed over my face and then he brought his stare back to me. “I don’t really know, Harper. I just know that that felt really good, and I don’t know if I can stop it from happening again.”