“What do you think you’re doing?” I ask.

Harper shrieks with surprise, jumping as she drops a bunch of photographs she has dug out of one of the drawers in my desk. Unfortunately, the towel wrapped around her body doesn’t fall like I hoped it would.

In my mind’s eye, I was already watching it crumple around her ankles, letting me catch a glimpse of her naked body as she attempts, unsuccessfully, to cover herself with her small, dainty hands.

“Oh, Logan,” she says sweetly as a nervous smile stretches across her pretty face. “I was just helping you organize your things. It’s the least I can do since you’re letting me stay here for free.”

I laugh. “You sure can come up with a story; I’ll give you that.”

“I’m serious. After finding out who you work for, I know I might be in real trouble, and I’m grateful that you’re keeping me safe.” Harper blinks her big, doe eyes at me in a move that has probably worked on dozens of guys.

But, I’m not as gullible as the average guy.

Besides, her lie was so obvious I almost feel insulted she thought I’d buy it.

“Come on,” I simply say.

Harper huffs a big sigh. I’ll have to admit she looks kind of cute when she does that.

“Okay, you got me. You caught me in the act,” she says. “I told you, I needed answers.”

I open my mouth, ready to give her a lecture on privacy.

“Look, I’m sorry. I know I have no right going through your things, but I need some answers.” As Harper walks around my desk and steps closer, I can’t help but stare at her bare shoulders and her graceful collarbones. She continues, “I can explain.”

I want to reach out and grab her, then sink my teeth into the flesh on her long, graceful neck. Is she sensitive there? Will she sigh and moan if I kiss her there?

Harper stops just inches away from me, looking up from underneath her lashes. Her hair falls away from her angelic face, distracting me from her naughty behavior.

Obviously, she knows what she’s doing to me. It’s probably written all over my face.

Harper’s full lips stretches into a small smile as she touches the top of the towel, which sits right at her cleavage. I wonder if she’s about to take the damn thing off.

“Please do. Explain, I mean.” I curse myself inwardly for stumbling all over my words. What is it about this girl that makes me lose my cool when she so much as bats her eyelashes?

“You remind me of someone.” Harper puts her hand—her soft, gentle hand—on my cheek and caresses my skin. “Someone I thought I’d lost forever.”

“What, like, an old boyfriend?” I ask a little too quickly. I don’t normally get jealous, but there’s no other name for the pang in my chest.

“Something like that,” she says in a silky, smooth, seductive voice as she leans closer.

“Do you think I’m him, only I’m pretending not to be him?” I ask.

The whole situation is preposterous. I don’t usually care what a girl thinks of me as long as I can get into her pants, but somehow Harper’s confession—which isn’t exactly unexpected, by the way—stings in a way I didn’t anticipate.

What do I care who she thinks I am? If she thinks I’m her missing boyfriend, that means there’s a higher chance she’ll spread her legs for me, which can only be a good thing . . . right?

“I don’t know.” Harper runs her hand down my shoulder and trails a finger down my chest. She gazes into my eyes. “Are you?”

“Did he ghost you?” I chuckle. “I mean, did I ghost you?”

“That’s an interesting word choice,” she says with a wry smile. “I take it you’re not him.”

“No. And I’ve never gotten amnesia either, if you still think that’s what happened. I remember almost everything that has happened my entire life, although sometimes I wish I didn’t.”

“Is there a chance you might have a long-lost twin you don’t know about?” she asks.

I look down into her sparkling, green eyes. She thinks she’s got me wrapped around her finger. But she’s wrong if she expects me to just tell her everything for nothing.

“There is,” I say, deliberately letting my voice hang in the air as I hold back on an explanation.

Something flashes in Harper’s eyes. That’s it. I’ve sparked her interest. I’ve got her right where I want her.

“Really?” she asks.

“Yeah. Really.” I put my hand on her shoulder. Her skin is as soft as it looks. Has she just had a shower? She smells great, too. Like vanilla and jasmine.

I watch with satisfaction as Harper swallows. She looks nervous, but she’s got a lead now, and she’s not backing down. I’ve only known her for a short while, but I can tell she’s not the kind of girl who gives up just like that.

Pressing my thumb on the side of her neck, I feel her pulse. Her heartbeat is racing.

“Why do you say that?” she asks.

“You ask so many questions.” I run my hand up the back of her neck until my fingers are tangled in her hair. “Too many questions.”

“That’s what I came here for,” she says in a strong, steady voice. Too bad for her, I can see her anxiety every time the vein in her neck pulses.

“Is that right? You’re not here to appreciate how well I’m taking care of you? Because that’s what you said earlier.” I can ask questions, too.

Guilt fills Harper’s eyes, but she continues to look straight back at me.

“Are you lying to me, Harper?” I grab the roots of her red hair on the back of her skull, forcing her to bend her neck uncomfortably and look up at me. “Are you nothing but a little liar?”

“I didn’t lie to you. I told you what I came here for when I first got here.”

“You have to admit your story sounds a little far-fetched. Besides, you did lie to me when I caught you just now,” I say.

Harper remains silent.

“I can’t let a liar into my house,” I whisper in her ear. A smile plays on my lips when I feel her shiver. “You know now what a dangerous world I live in. What if you’re just a spy sent here by Robert Foster’s enemies? What if you’re a cop?”

“I’m neither one of those things,” she says.

“Oh, and I’m supposed to just take you at your word? That doesn’t seem like the smart thing to do, does it?” I level my gaze at her.

“I . . . I have an employee ID. It’s in my bag. Upstairs. In my wallet. I promise you, I’m just an office drone working for Mr. Foster’s company,” Harper says nervously.

“You could’ve gotten some low-level job there just to be able to tell me that. Or, easier still, you could’ve printed an ID card. I don’t know what the real ID looks like. It would be an easy job for the cops.” I pause and look into her worried eyes. “Maybe I should call Robert Foster and ask what he thinks of the situation.”

Harper widens her eyes in panic. “No. Look, he doesn’t know me. You can call my manager at work. He’s been working there his whole adult life. He’ll vouch for me.

“I’ve worked at the company for five years. I do so much overtime I don’t have time to be working as a cop or as a spy for the mafia. Please don’t call Mr. Foster. I’ve worked too hard to get to where I am.”

“Have you now?” I ask. “Aren’t you a good, little, worker bee?”

I’m enjoying this little game we’re playing more and more. Judging by her frantic breaths, Harper probably isn’t, though.

“If you’re so committed to your career, then why don’t you care about staying here for an indeterminate amount of time?” I ask. “Something about your story doesn’t add up, Harper.”

Anger flashes in Harper’s eyes. Good. Maybe now I can finally get some real answers out of her.

“Because he was the only thing that has ever really mattered in my life, okay?” Harper’s eyes burn with pain. Jealousy rips through me as I watch the emotions that wreak havoc inside her.

“You know what? There’s one thing you can do to prove you’re not a cop, at least.” I should shut up. I’m not thinking straight right now. But, I can’t. “Cops, you know, they’re not paid enough to do the things they do. They’re definitely not paid enough to go all out when they’re undercover.”

Harper watches me, her body tense as she listens to my every word. It’s wrong, but it makes me feel so fucking powerful, and power is a potent drug.

“You know what cops don’t do on the job?” I smirk. “They don’t fuck. Even when they’re undercover whores, they don’t fuck. Doesn’t that sound ridiculous? They just call for back-up.”

“What are you saying?” From Harper’s voice, I can tell she already knows where I’m going with this. She’s a smart girl. She just can’t quite believe her own conclusion.

“I’m saying . . . If you fuck me, I’ll tell you everything you want to know.” I speak slowly, enunciating every word so she knows exactly what I want.

Harper stares at me quietly as she weighs her options.

She knows she can’t leave my house because there are more dangerous people waiting for her outside. She knows I can overpower her if I choose to—easily.

She can say no, but that will defeat the whole purpose of her being here. She knows I won’t offer her another chance like this.

Harper’s a smart girl, but she probably has no experience in situations like this. If she has indeed spent her days working herself to the bone as she has told me, she probably finds herself in completely alien territory right now.

To be honest, I don’t doubt her story for a second. It must be something about those big, doe eyes. If eyes are the window to the soul, then she’s practically living in a glass house, with all her thoughts visible to anyone who bothers to peer inside.

The point of my offer is not for her to prove anything. The point of my offer is for her to spread her legs and let me sink myself balls deep into her pussy.

“Okay,” Harper says in a small, mousy voice.

“What did you say?”

“Okay.”

“Okay what?”

“Okay, you can . . . fuck me.” The way she pauses before saying a curse word is adorable.

Harper is shaking. Unfortunately for her, that’s exactly the kind of thing that turns me on.

My grip on her hair tightens as my other hand yanks her flush against me. She gasps, and I shut her up by crushing her lips with mine.

These lips . . . They’re so hot. So soft. So full.

She barely kisses me back, and I don’t blame her. The way I coerced her into this probably doesn’t endear me to her.

But ever since she got here yesterday, I’ve been salivating over the prospect of taking them again, and now I am.

My hand on her back pulls on her towel, hard. I hear it fall softly on the tiled floor and pull away just enough to look down at her naked body.

Fuck, she’s an angel with the body of a succubus.

Her tits are round and heavy. Her narrow waist flares out into beautiful, ample hips that lead to her smooth, long legs.

As I pull her into my arms once again, I revel in the sensation of her bare chest pressing against me. My fingers follow the curve of her spine on her back.

Unexpectedly, Harper opens up for me and kisses me back. She even swipes her tongue between my lips and sucks my lower lip.

Fuck, what I wouldn’t give to feel those lips on my cock. But that will have to wait. Luckily, we have time.

Thud.

I pull away from Harper and freeze as I hear what sounds like sharp knocking on the front door.

“Logan!” a female voice shouts with irritation. “I know you’re in there. Open the door!”

What the fuck?