Harper

I’ve woken up in Luke’s bed before, but never like this. It’s like his body and mine are one. His leg is tucked between mine, and his arm is wrapped around my torso. His hand is splayed against my bare stomach. After Luke and I made love for the first time, we held each other until we fell asleep. Sometime during the night, I felt his warm lips on my skin and his hand making soft strokes between my legs, and he told me he needed me again.

Those words.

That thought.

Luke, my Luke—the combination of the man I used to fantasize about and the one I’m currently falling in love with—needing me, wanting me like that...It made me feel warm and content but also blazing with passion.

His soft, even breaths against my back let me know he’s still asleep. I want to be here when he wakes up, but my bladder is screaming at me.

As graceful as I can manage, I untangle our legs and slip out from under his arm, trying to not wake him. Once I’m standing, I turn back around and watch as he reaches out to the empty bed. His hand searches for me, and it pulls at my heart. I want to crawl back in bed. Hurrying to the bathroom, I take care of business and then wash my hands. Standing in front of the mirror, I see a completely different Harper than the last time I stood here. That Harper was trying to make sense of her life. She was struggling to understand how her mother could leave her, and she was grasping for closure. This Harper...she’s stronger and more alive. She knows what she wants, and she’s not afraid to take the risks to get it.

Something inside me has changed. I can’t put my finger on it, and I’m not going to overanalyze it, but it feels good.

Walking back into the bedroom, I think about crawling back into bed with Luke, but he’s sleeping so peacefully. I don’t want to wake him. So instead, I grab his shirt off the floor and slip it over my head.

I step out into the living room and find my bag where I discarded it by the door last night when Luke and I were kissing. I smile at that thought and touch my lips. They still feel swollen, like the rest of my body. I still feel him, everywhere.

After digging through my bag, I find my phone and shoot Layla a quick text, telling her I’m at Luke’s. She immediately sends back a bunch of stupid emoticons followed up with a message that simply says: DETAILS.

I roll my eyes and toss my phone back in my bag.

Looking around the apartment, I get that same surreal feeling I had the last time. I walk over to the window and press my hands against the glass. I glance across the way and lock onto Mr. Chan’s building. My old apartment window looks dark, and it’s too far away to see detail. I try to imagine myself in that window, but I can’t. That seems like so long ago. And honestly, I don’t want to. I don’t want to live in the past. I want to live in the now.

I take a deep breath and let it out, resting my forehead against the glass. There was a time when I wanted to rewind my life. I wanted to take back things I had seen, things I had done, but now I know that all those things led me here. And here is where I want to be.

An hour or so later, I’m sitting on Luke’s couch, nursing my second cup of coffee when I hear my name from the bedroom.

“Harper?” There’s a little worry in his voice, and I stand to go to him when he appears in the doorway. “You’re here,” he says, smiling sleepily.

“Where else would I be?” I ask, shrugging my shoulders. “You want coffee?”

“I want you.”

I fight the smile, but I lose. Shaking my head, I place my coffee cup down on the side table and walk over to him.

“You look so good in my shirt,” he says, burying his face in my neck. He lifts me off my feet and holds me tightly against him. “Stay with me today.”

“Okay.” I smile over his shoulder. He didn’t have to say more to convince me.

“How about I fix you some breakfast and then we take a shower?”

“Together?” I ask as my eyes widen. I’ve never taken a shower with a man before. I’ve seen it in movies and read about it in books, but I’ve never done it.

“Yes, together. I don’t plan on letting you out of my sight for the rest of the day.”

“Okay.”

He chuckles and leans down to press his lips to mine.

Twenty minutes later, Luke makes me sit at his bar and puts a plate of eggs and bacon down in front of me. “Eat,” he demands with a smirk. “You need your energy.”

I can’t help but giggle at his confidence. It’s sexy as hell. And don’t get me started on the gray sweatpants. I’ll never get used to the gray sweatpants. They’ll always be my Achilles heel, no matter how many times I see him in them.

As I nibble on a piece of bacon, my eyes drift from my plate to Luke’s back while he prepares his own plate. I watch the muscles roll under the skin when he moves. “Do you work out?” I ask.

He glances over his shoulder with a sly smile. “Are you ogling me?”

“Maybe.”

“Yes.”

“When?” I think I want to watch. Is that weird? I really want to see him all hot and sweaty.

He laughs and turns around with his plate, setting it down beside mine. “Uh, I work out at the gym at Fremont. While I was on sabbatical, I took up running. It really helps me relieve stress and work out...frustrations.”

“Maybe I should run?”

He leans over and runs his nose down my neck like he did last night, and I can’t help the full body shiver. “You don’t need to run. I’ll help you work out your stress and frustrations,” he says with a husky tone.

Oh, God.

I close my eyes as his lips work their way up and down my neck and then to the collar of his shirt I’m wearing. “I want…” I begin but drift off, unable to make coherent sentences. He steals the words out of my mouth with each kiss.

“What do you want, Harper?” he asks as he continues to send me into another realm. “Tell me. Anything. Whatever you want.” His words come out in pants between kisses, and his breath puffs against my skin, the sensation hitting a nerve that goes straight between my legs.

I glance over his shoulder and to the window, biting down on my lip to keep from moaning. “I want the window.”

His head slowly comes up until he’s eye level with me. His deep blue eyes meet mine, and he pauses for a moment, reading me...trying to figure out exactly what I’m asking for.

“I want you,” I clarify. “But I want you to take me against the window. I want to feel what it’s like to be completely consumed by you.”

He thinks for a moment, placing a chaste kiss on the side of my mouth. “Tonight, when the sun goes down and the entire city goes dark,” he says, trailing his nose down my cheek, back to my neck. “I’ll let you fuck me there. As long as you stay in front of me...my back to the window.” He pauses, breathing deeply where I can feel his forceful exhale. “They can have me, but they can’t have you. You’re mine.” He kisses back up my neck and then takes my lips slowly. “I want you to feel the rush. I want to make all your fantasies come true. Whatever you need, I want to give it to you. But I can’t share you...You’re all mine, no one else’s.”

His words send a current through me, flooding my body with warmth and want.

I’m his.

I haven’t felt like I belong to someone in a long time, if ever.

*WaS*

His large palms are pressed firmly against the glass while my back rests against it, the coolness a stark contrast to the heat radiating from my body. Luke’s lips make a trail from my mouth to my covered breasts. His teeth tug at my shirt until one of my nipples is exposed. Greedily, he begins sucking and nipping. Each bite sends a shot of electricity to my core. This experience is so different from last night. Last night was soft and caring. It was the two of us mending and healing. But this is raw and needy, primal almost.

The entire world behind me falls away, and the only things I can concentrate on are the sounds coming from Luke and the way he’s making me feel. His erection presses into me and ignites a fire I didn’t know was possible.

I watch.

I see.

I feel.

I unravel my legs from his waist, and he spins me around, allowing me to see the city lights below—feeling the surge of adrenaline from the possibility of being watched. I brace my hands against the window, and my mouth drops open as he presses up against me from behind.

“I need to be inside you,” he grits out. Turning around, I take charge by beginning to unbutton his jeans. He stands there, watching me. Just as I’m getting ready to pull them down, I turn back to the window and realize I don’t want anyone seeing him either. He’s mine.

“Not here,” I tell him. “I want your bed.”

He doesn’t wait for me to say anything else, lifting me effortlessly. I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his torso. As he walks into the bedroom, I realize it was never the window I was after, only the man.

He lays me on the bed and loops his fingers through the edges of my panties, pulling them off. Once I’m bare before him, he sits back on his heels between my legs. I feel his eyes as they travel up and down my body. And like last night, my initial reaction is to hide, but the second my arms go to cover my chest, he pulls them away and anchors them to the bed.

“Remember what I told you. Don’t ever hide from me. Always know that you’re the most exquisite woman I’ve ever seen. Every inch of you was created just for me.”

I feel my body relax at his words. The insecurities I’ve always had crumble away.

When he hovers over me, caging me in with his hands on either side, I lift up to meet him, begging him with my body. I want to feel him.

His mouth descends on mine, and he presses his still clothed erection into me, putting pressure exactly where I want him. “More,” I plead. “I need more.”

“Anything,” he tells me. “I’ll give you anything.”

“Just you,” I say with a moan. “I only want you.”

I look up at the man above me, watching as he loses himself in me…in us. When he opens his eyes and they connect with mine, I see it. I see the way he looks at me.

I see myself through his eyes. And I love what I see.

The end...

Oh, wait. Mr. Chan has a few things he’d like to say.

While writing Luke and Harper’s story, Mr. Chan and his thoughts on situations kept popping into our head. We’d love to share them with you in Mr. Chan’s epilogue.