Stealing Harper (3 page)

Chapter Three

T
HERE SHE IS,
my gray-eyed princess. I watched her walk into the cafeteria, and stopped sucking on Natalie’s neck. “Gotta go, see you.”

“Bye, handsome.”

I jogged over to the cafeteria doors and tried to follow at a safe distance from her. I could only see her back, but that was more than enough. She was wearing these tiny black shorts that perfectly hugged her butt and gave me the best view of her legs. Those shorts may not pass her PG rating, but I certainly approved. Before seeing her bent over in my room, and like she was just then, I would have sworn short girls didn’t have killer legs. God, I was so wrong.

I was so focused on her and the way my heart had gone into overdrive since she first walked into my line of sight that I ran into the corner of a wall and a scared-looking freshman coed. I steadied the girl, mentioned what I’m sure was some form of an apology, and looked around quickly, only to find my princess gone. Taking in a deep breath, I popped my neck on both sides and grabbed a bowl of pasta. I needed to calm down. She was driving me crazy, and she hadn’t even looked at me yet.

Get a freakin’ grip, she’s just a girl, a girl that you don’t even want—a girl who pisses you off more than anything.
I heard Zach’s and Drew’s loud voices, and my head snapped up. A small smile crossed my face as I watched her sit down next to Bree. I couldn’t even be annoyed with them for calling her Princess again; she’d been hiding from me for almost two weeks, and now here she was, in all her snarky and sweet glory.

Her shoulders hunched slightly, and I wondered if the guys were embarrassing her again, but I didn’t give myself time to think about it too long. I set my bowl down next to her salad and planted my hands on either side of her plate. I leaned close, letting my chest press against her back, and I almost groaned when I smelled her soft, vanilla scent again.
Not just a girl. Not even close.

“Have you been hiding from me, PG?” I whispered in her ear, and she shivered against me, her arms instantly covered in goose bumps. I had to force out a soft laugh, so she wouldn’t hear my next groan.

“Why?” Her voice was breathy, and I swear my jeans got tighter. “You miss me?”

God, yes.
“Of course. You’re my favorite, remember?” As I let my nose run across her neck and breathed her in more, a soft sound of pleasure sounded in her throat, and I couldn’t help but smile; but that quickly turned into a frown when she leaned away from me.

“Sad to say you’re not mine.”

Little liar.
“You sure about that?” I tapped on her arm, which was still covered in goose bumps, and her body stiffened.

“Chase! Stop bugging her and go sit down.”

I almost growled at my sister. Could she not see I was busy driving my princess crazy? Straightening up, I grabbed my pasta and walked down a few seats to sit across from Brandon. I slapped his hand as I sat, and my eyes narrowed when I realized his kept drifting over to Princess.
Oh, hell no.
Derek and Brad had girlfriends, so while I would still keep her from them, I knew I really didn’t have to worry about them. And, let’s face it, no one had to worry about Drew; he made sure no girl would ever want him. Zach—eh, that was up for debate, but Brandon? He had more girls throwing themselves at him than I did, and with his personality . . . there’s no way in hell I could let Harper near him. He smirked, and I had to force myself not to look over at what I’m almost positive would be Princess staring back at him. My entire body tensed, and I was working my jaw when he looked back over to me.

“Stay away, brother—I’m not joking.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “So she has brought you to your knees.” His eyes darted back to her, and I watched them darken; my hands curled into fists under the table.

I took a calming breath and snorted. “Hardly. She’s my little sister’s roommate, I need to make sure they’re both safe.”

“And you’re saying I wouldn’t do that?” His smile widened, and we both knew he had me on that one. Brandon might have girls falling all over themselves, but he doesn’t do anything about it. He’s a relationship kind of guy, the kind of guy Harper needs.
But even Brandon isn’t
good enough for her. I love the guy, he’s
like a brother to me and vice versa, but no one would ever be good enough for Harper.

“Fuck you.”

Brandon laughed loudly and leaned back to stretch his arms before resting his forearms on the table again and turning his head to look to my left. I wanted to grab Princess and run her out of the cafeteria and away from him. This was a disaster for me waiting to happen. Swear to God, I thought, if he smirked and flashed that dimple at her one more time, I was going to punch it off his face. I could hear her talking to Bree, but I couldn’t look at her, I couldn’t stop watching as Brandon tried and failed to keep his eyes off her.

“So, Princess”—Drew’s voice was able to interrupt my glaring and Brandon’s staring—“how come we haven’t seen you lately? It’s been like two weeks, and I feel so unloved.”

“Oh I’m sorry. Did your girlfriend deflate already?”

Even I couldn’t help but laugh at that. God, she was cute. And yeah, I definitely didn’t need to worry about Drew. I looked back at Brandon, staring at her, and kicked his leg under the table. He jumped slightly and turned to glare at me. “Tell me right now, do you have something with her? Yes or no.”

Yes I do, she’s mine.
“I told you, Harper’s just another girl. She means nothing to me.” I stabbed my fork into my pasta and looked up in time to see Brandon’s eyes cloud over as he mouthed her name and looked at her again.

His eyes shot back to mine, and he leaned closer. “Then Harper’s fair game, bro. You know I won’t hurt her.”

One of our friends, David, started asking him something from next to me, but I couldn’t focus on him. All I could think about is if Brandon wanted her, I had no doubt he would have her. And I couldn’t let that happen. Without realizing why, I turned to look at her and found her confused eyes looking at me. For once, she wasn’t looking at me like I disgusted her, and having her look at me at all had my entire body relaxing for the first time since I sat down. I would do anything to keep that girl safe, and I had no idea why, but deep down I still knew the first part of keeping her safe was keeping her from looking at me like she was at that moment. I nodded at her and finally started eating.

Zach asked the girls if they were coming to the party that night, and I couldn’t help but laugh when Princess started grumbling about it and looking terrified. Looks like I’d have to keep her safe again, and this time I wasn’t letting her jump out of my arms first thing in the morning.
I may need to keep her from wanting me, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy her while I did it.

“Looking forward to sharing my bed with you again, PG.”

Brandon abruptly stopped talking to David and narrowed his eyes at me. I just raised an eyebrow at him and waited to see what he’d do.

“Thanks, but I’d rather share a bed with Drew’s blow-up doll.”

Ooo, my snarky and sweet-as-sin girl. You just had to go and remind me why I want you so bad.
I turned to look at her and silently cursed her for driving me fucking crazy. I never thought about a girl this much anyway, but to make me feel like I’m going insane because I can’t make up my mind with how much I wanted her and how bad I want to keep her safe and from me was literally making me feel like I was crazy. How could one little girl cause this much turmoil?

Kristen sat down on my lap and her lips were instantly on my neck and jaw. My fingers dug into her hips, but I couldn’t force my eyes from Harper. Her narrowed eyes had widened as soon as Kristen sat down, and I watched as pain flashed across her face for a split second. Shit, I didn’t want to see that; I didn’t want to know this bothered her in any way other than disgusting her. There went my Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality again. Half of me wanted to push Kristen off and grab Harper, pulling her into my arms instead; the other was telling me to keep going, to make her think she meant nothing to me.

“I’d be happy to share that bed with you, Chase,” Kristen said like a freaking toddler seconds before her mouth was on mine.

My princess looked like someone had hit her, and I watched as she tore her eyes from mine and looked across from me. I shut my eyes, so I wouldn’t have to watch her look to Brandon after I’d just crushed her. He was right, he wouldn’t hurt her. I didn’t want him to have her, but he would never do what I was doing to her at that moment.

My fingers flexed against Kristen’s hips when I heard Harper’s soft voice; I had done that, taken the sass from her and brought her right back to the shy, unsure Harper. “Um, I’ll uh—see you all tonight then, I guess. Bye, everyone.”

“Harper,” Brandon called, and it felt like someone had just punched me in the chest. I needed this to happen, them meeting, but God I didn’t want it to.

I held Kristen’s head away and turned in time to see Harper’s eyes grow wide and her cheeks get slightly pink as she watched Brandon walk up to her. He held out his hand to her and said something, but they were already too far away for me to hear them. She smiled brightly at him, and again it felt like someone was punching me. I don’t think I’d ever
really
seen her smile until just then. And it wasn’t even directed at me. Brandon couldn’t keep his eyes off her as they walked to the doors and outside. I really couldn’t let this happen, I decided.

“Up . . . get up, Kristen. Up.” I more or less pushed her off me and took the few steps toward Bree, who was talking to Zach about that night’s party. “You girls planning on staying all weekend or coming and going for the parties.”

She looked up at me like I was dumb. “Uh, staying. And we get your room.”

“Always. Go pack for the weekend, we’re leaving within half an hour, I’ll go get Princess.”

“Don’t be mean to her, Chase!”

I shook my head as I quickly walked toward the door. I couldn’t decide how I was going to be toward her yet. I just needed her away from Brandon. As soon as I was out the door, I saw them, and I couldn’t stop the growl that climbed out of my chest. They were standing close and just staring at each other.
Stopping this. Now.

Grabbing her arm, I didn’t stop walking, I just took her with me, “Come on PG, let’s go.”

“Chase! Stop!” She pulled her arm free and looked up at me like she wanted to go off on me. Such a fierce little princess. “What is your problem?”

“I’m taking you and Bree to the house, and you need to pack for the weekend, so let’s go.”

Harper dodged my hand when I went to grab her again and looked at me, clearly confused, “The weekend, what?”

“You’re staying with me; go pack.”

“Fine, hold on.”

“Harper.”

“Go away, Chase, I’ll meet you in the room in a minute. Go find Bree.”

Yeah, not a chance.
I stepped up right behind her and kept my gaze on Brandon. He was looking at her like she was the damn world, and I wanted to put a football field between them.

“Sorry, apparently I have to go. I’ll see you tonight?”

Brandon smiled, and his hand trailed down her arm; I almost yanked her away from him and into me. “See you then.” I met his glare when his eyes flashed up to mine. I just raised an eyebrow, and he nodded before turning away.

Princess kept up her fierce-kitten act the entire way back to the dorm room she shared with Bree, who was already packing, and even as she packed, didn’t let up as she approached me where I was standing in the doorway.

She held another fake smile on her face, the only ones I seemed to get, and held up her duffel bag as she spoke in a sugar-sweet voice, “Why don’t you be a dear and carry this for me.”

My lips twitched, God did she not realize how damn cute she was? She tried to get past me, and I curled my arm around her waist, pulling her close to whisper in her ear, “Anything for you, sweetheart.”

Her body swayed toward mine, and I heard her breath catch as her hands relaxed against my chest. My heart started pounding, and I didn’t doubt she could feel it, if not hear it. Her large eyes looked up into mine, and suddenly they hardened at the same time she pushed against my chest until I let go. “God, you piss me off.”

“Whoa, whoa. Did you just say ‘piss’? I’m not sure if that’s PG approved.”

She gave her best glare and stormed down the hallway and toward the parking lot. By the time Bree and I got out there, she was sitting on the curb texting someone on her phone, but her seriously-pissed-off look hadn’t left her face yet.
Oh well, I like
her like this.

Once we were back at my place, she refused to look at or talk to me even though we were the only two in the living room, and she finally gave up by flopping onto one of the couches. I watched her bare legs sway back and forth as she watched—the news?
Who the hell watches the news?
Especially an eighteen-year-old girl!
I shook my head and smiled to myself as my eyes found her legs again. Before I could stop myself, I was crossing the room, picking up her feet, and sitting on the couch. I laid her legs back onto my lap and had to force my hands not to run up and down them. Princess had stiffened momentarily, but she didn’t move her legs, and her body slowly relaxed back into the couch. I had to bite down on my cheeks, so I wouldn’t smile.

I looked slowly up her body and over to her red cheeks, her teeth worrying her bottom lip. I zeroed in on one of the new piercings I’d been catching a glimpse of all afternoon and suddenly wished I hadn’t put her legs in my lap. I’d have to thank Bree for her hand in that Monroe piercing, but I couldn’t see this girl letting someone talk her into something like this. “So I see my sister is already influencing you poorly.”

“Do I even want to know what you’re talking about?”

“This.” I touched just above her lip and had to bite back another freakin’ groan when she shivered against me.

“What, you don’t like it?”