I’d been puked on. Again. And yet I’d never felt so happy, so at ease, in all my life. After setting me on my feet, he reached for my hand. Because it seemed so natural, standing there with our fingers intertwined, I didn’t even think to question it until he did.

“Is this okay?” he asked as he raised our hands in explanation.

I nodded. “Yes,” I murmured. Then a thought occurred to me. “I’m not staying here.”

“With me?” His brow furrowed.

I inhaled sharply. I’d never considered the possibility. “No.” I chose my words carefully. “I mean at the hotel. I have a place off the strip.”

Harry smiled and seemed to relax slightly. The elevator door opened and he tugged on my hand. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

I followed behind, my heart beating erratically, as he steered me through the door of his room and directly to the bathroom. I bit my cheek in an effort to hide the smile eager to spread across my face. My whole life, I’d sucked at hiding my emotions. Why would tonight be any different?

“Do you need help with anything?” Harry sighed. “I saw the dress nearly fall off of you when you squatted. Forget I offered. You’ll be fine.” He laid a hand on my lower back, leaned over, and kissed my temple. “Take your time. I need to take care of a few things.” He backed out of the room and pulled the door closed.

At first, I felt amazing, so happy. Then I remembered I didn’t have any clothes. My shoulders sank. I might actually be worse off than I was before because at least the first time, I knew Kate was bringing me clothes. I peeled off the dress, determined to worry about this later. I practically slid out of the shoes. Turning, I started the shower and watched the room fog up. Luckily, the door was already opaque, which was perfect since I tended toward being overly modest. My mother always thought it was one of my worst qualities.

I dropped the dress in the sink, thinking I could hand wash it later, and then I ripped off the panties. There would be no more recycling of those. Finally, I stepped into the spray and reveled in the soothing effect of the massaging head. Apparently, Harry had moved in already, since there was shampoo, conditioner, and body wash already in the shower. While I cleaned up, I couldn’t help but sing. Seriously, these days, it was subconscious, my one outlet. Right now, I couldn’t hold the happy in. “Somewhere, over the rainbow,” I sang.

The bathroom door opened and I stopped immediately. “Hey, don’t stop on my account. You sound amazing. I thought I should give you a bathrobe, since your clothes were completely destroyed.”

“Well, they weren’t my clothes, so no big loss.” I laughed as I continued to wash the odor from my hair.

“Gimme a few minutes and I’ll make sure you have something to wear,” Harry announced before I heard the door click and I knew he’d disappeared once more.

A few minutes later, I managed to begin singing again. I couldn’t help it. The music bubbled out of me. When I was done, I stepped out of the shower and toweled off. Sure enough, there was a plush white robe hanging on the back of the door. I slipped it on after making a towel turban for my hair. For some reason, I was anxious to see Harry again.

The hinges creaked slightly as I pulled on the handle and stepped out of the bathroom. Immediately, my eyes searched him out. He was on the balcony, leaning on the railing, hands clasped as he stared out over the strip. I stepped through the open slider to join him. “Hi,” I murmured shyly.

“Laney.” Harry stood and smiled at me, then shook his head. “Come with me. I have something for you.”

He brought me back into the bedroom and opened the closet door. “These.” He gestured to encompass roughly five dresses. “Oh, and these.” He lifted a fancy bag with tissue paper sticking out of the top and I swallowed hard.

“You bought me panties?” I chewed on my lip while I worried over the contents of the bag. “I’ll be right back.” Grabbing the bag, I ducked into the bathroom once more, shut the door, and leaned against it while I tried to regulate my breathing. I was entirely too excited, but strangely not fearful. I peeked inside and discovered his choices were perfect. A couple of bikinis, a few cheeksters, and a pair of boy shorts. Tears pricked my eyes. Why did this guy have to be perfect? Why did the women in my family have to specialize in impossible relationships?

I grabbed a pair of black cheeksters, yanked off the price tag, but dropped it into the bag before I pulled on the underwear. The gift was nice, but I’d learned to never rely on a man. The fit was perfect, and I rather liked the way they looked on too. Maybe for the first time ever, I felt sexy. Smiling, I wrapped the bathrobe around me again before I sashayed back into the bedroom.

Harry leaned against the wall. “I’d ask what you thought, but your smile says it all. I’m glad I didn’t foul this up.” He pulled a hand from behind his back. A black bra dangled from his finger. “I thought this might be useful.”

My head tilted. I moved closer and reached for it. When I checked out the size, I realized he’d selected correctly. “Wow.” I frowned. “Oh, you’re one of those guys.” I pulled the bathrobe more tightly around me.

“What guys?” He frowned.

I shrugged. “You know, the kind that can guess a girl’s bra size just by looking at her.” My disappointment was obvious.

Harry chuckled. “Do I look like that guy?” He shook his head. “Actually, I’m the guy who asks Kate what size bra she sent to the laundry earlier.”

“Oh.” I didn’t know what to say. “So, you’re the kind of guy who uses his head. I like that.” My cheeks burned.

He reached out and rubbed my arms with his hands. “Yeah. I use my head, but something tells me my heart is about to get a workout and a half.”

I stared up at him through my lashes. “You think so?”

“Definitely.” Harry leaned close and pressed his lips to my forehead. “Now I need to feed you before you drop from hunger.”

“I don’t even know what I want to eat. I’m so tired. This has been a day,” I murmured as I let my head lean on his chest.

“Then let me take care of you.” Harry held me more tightly. “I’ll make sure you don’t regret it.”

I wanted to tell him it was early to make such a proclamation, but when he pulled me around the corner into the living area, I found he’d set up a veritable buffet. “How?”

“Room service. You can get pretty much whatever you want as long as you’re willing to pay for it.” He shrugged. “Sometimes it pays to be a billionaire.”

I shrank back. “Do you think to impress me with your wealth? If anything, that turns me off.”

Harry blew out a breath. “I don’t know why I said that. I guess I wanted you to know I was financially secure. I guess I thought you might find it a little attractive. Most girls do, I’ve heard.”

My brow furrowed. “You’ve heard? You don’t know?”

“You’ve seen my traveling companions, my best friends since childhood.” He sighed as he began to pull the lids off the various plates covering the coffee table. “Won’t you have a seat?” He gestured to the couch, but I sat on the floor instead.

“Continue,” I urged. Somehow, I had begun to think we might have more in common than I expected.

“Ty, Mr. George, was the handsome, witty, playboy billionaire. Every woman we ever met was drawn to him. He could’ve been truly terrible, but instead, he was a gentleman.” Harry passed me silverware and a napkin. “Help yourself.”

“Thank you,” I murmured as I eyed the French toast.

Obviously, he noticed because he pushed it closer to me, along with the bowl filled with scoops of butter and the small warm pot of syrup. “It’s all yours.”

“Tell me more. I want to know you.” Then I averted my eyes because…who says that?

Harry sat beside me. “Okay. I’m not that interesting. Ty was the one the ladies wanted. Drew was the one they settled for. After all, he was fun. I was the token ginger.”

“Nah. You’re more than that.” I stuffed a bite of the French Toast in my mouth and moaned. When I glanced at him, Harry wore a funny look on his face. “What?”

“Are you always like this?” He grinned.

“Like what?” I turned my attention back to my plate and prepared to scarf down more food.

“You just seem so real.”

I laughed. “Oh, I’m real.”

“So direct.” He raked his fingers through his beard.

“I’m direct.” I snickered. “I’ve been told that’s one of my worst qualities.”

“I like it. I hope you’ll always be that way with me.” Harry leaned over and planted a kiss on my temple.

“Careful what you wish for,” I teased.