It was after one o’clock in the morning, and I was bone fucking tired. Before I got home, my vision for the evening had been Harper, Harper’s hot body, Harper’s long legs, Harper’s long legs wrapped around my body…you get the point.

Now it looked like I was going to have to take my mom back to my place. Honest to God, my dad was still screwing with my life even after he cut me out of his.

“Let me talk to Harper for a second, and I’ll be right back,” I told my mother as I stood up. Harper disappeared after dumping our cups onto the table, and I hadn’t heard a peep from her since.

The small lamp by the bed was on, and she was on her side, that heart-shaped ass in full view. My cock—oblivious to how the rest of my body felt—woke right the hell up at that sight. Fuck, she was beautiful. Oh, how my fingers itched to rip that pretty little G-string off. “You awake?” I asked quietly, hoping like hell she hadn’t dozed off.

“Yeah, everything all right?” she said in a sleepy, sexy voice as she rolled over. Her long, luxurious waves were spread out on the pillow underneath her head. I couldn’t resist. My whole life, she was exactly what I pictured coming home to at the end of a hard day.

“I’m going to take Ma back to my place,” I told her, stroking her soft golden locks. A man could get lost in there.

“There’s a second bedroom. She’s welcome to stay here,” she said and yawned.

“She’s a TV addict, and right now especially, she needs it on twenty-four seven to keep her sane.”

“I should get a TV,” she mumbled, frowning at me like she was disappointed.

“No, you don’t need to get a TV every time my parents break up. Fuck, that sounds weird.”

As she sat up, her hand snaked behind my head and pulled me down. “I’m sorry. This must be tough on you.” Then she pressed her lips to mine for a gentle kiss. Everything in my body went on high alert. I wanted to deepen that kiss in the worst way.

Instead, I sat back and held her hand. “I’ve gotta take her now before I fall asleep.”

“Call me tomorrow?” she asked, her eyes cast downward, willing to sacrifice her joy for someone else’s.

“You don’t get me. I’m going, so we’re going. One thing I learned during our hiatus—I can’t sleep without your sweet body next to mine. And from the looks of things, if I’m lucky, I’ll manage to grab about three full hours if we leave now.”

The wheels were turning, and she looked me over to see if I was shitting her or not. She soon understood I was serious. “I’ll take my own car so I can drive back here in the morning?” she asked. Christ, she was cute.

“You’re not driving at this time of night. I have an abundance of cars available to drive. What I don’t have a lot of is you. Now, get that sexy ass up and pack a bag. We’re leaving as soon as you’re ready.” I kissed her quickly and got up. If I stayed any longer, I wouldn’t be able to leave.

Fifteen minutes later, with her hair in a messy bun, Harper emerged from the bedroom carrying a full backpack.

“Sorry, I took so long,” she said, truly apologetic. This woman would be the death of me. Here we were dragging her out of her bed in the middle of the night and she was apologizing to us.

“Don’t be silly, dear. This is all my fault.” Mom seized Harper’s arm and looked about ready to cry again. Fuck me.

“It’s nobody’s fault except…whatever. Let’s just go,” I said, completely done with this situation.

We tried our best to be as quiet as possible while we left, but Riley opened her door before we were even at the stairs. “Everyone okay?” she asked, wearing the shortest shorts I’d ever seen. Her tank top hugged her toned body…yeah, I noticed. I’m a guy. I look. But she was not my type. Harper definitely was, though. Where Riley was straight lines and muscle, Harper was soft curves and chest.

“All good. I’ll explain tomorrow,” Harper told Riley as she waved. The three of us marched off to my car. It seemed almost surreal. I didn’t know how many times in my life I wished my mother would pack us up and leave. Of course, she never did, but I hoped and prayed for it all the time. Like most kids prayed to get a dog or a bike, all I ever wanted was for us to leave my dad.

And now that I was edging up on thirty years old, my mother finally grew the kahunas to do it. Go figure.

We made small talk in the car. Harper knew I was tired, and she carried the weight of the conversation. Never was I so happy to see my building. In my mind, I kept subtracting how many hours of sleep I’d get if I could get to sleep by two o’clock, three o’clock, etc. And I could tell you, it wasn’t looking good.

By the time we got up to my place and had Ma settled in her room, it looked like I’d get a max of two hours and forty-five minutes if I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Jack was tired. The man worked incredibly hard and kept stupid hours. But what I witnessed tonight broke my heart. He was so exhausted, I didn’t know how he kept his eyes open. Even through this, he still asked me, “You hungry? Need anything before we go to bed?”

Always thinking of me and my needs. What more could a girl ask for? “Let’s get to bed. It’s so late, honey,” I told him and pulled him up the stairs, my hand in his warm, strong, calloused one.

When we got to his room, I was in my pj’s already, so I helped him. As I undid the buttons on his shirt, he said, “Are you making a pass at me?” The absurdity of it made me giggle. Jack’s mom came over in the middle of the night, announcing that she’d left his father after a hundred years of marriage. He drove her to his place where he knew she’d be more comfortable, and now he had about five minutes before his alarm went off and he was asking if I wanted sex?

“I’m getting you ready for bed. For sleep,” I clarified, holding up my index finger. “No funny business, mister.” I glared at him and poked my finger into his warm naked chest, serious about my statement.

“What if you do all the work while I watch?” he suggested, and I slapped him playfully.

“Sleep. That’s it,” I told him as I yanked off his shirt the rest of the way and got started on his pants.

“Party pooper,” he muttered, sounding drunk from lack of sleep.

“Yep, that’s me. No fun while I’m around.” His pants hit the floor, and he stepped out of them.

“Harper, you’re plenty fun.” He yawned, making his words even more convincing. That made me laugh again.

“In bed, let’s go,” I ordered and pulled back the sheets for him to get in. Resigned, he threw himself into bed, and I scooched in beside him. “Can you turn off the lamp?”

“Too tired. Can’t move,” he whispered, completely still, eyes shut tight.

Frustrated, I groaned and hefted myself over him so I could reach the button. Before I could lie back down again, Jack’s arm curled over my lower back and his hand and mouth went straight for my breast. A loud sigh came out of my mouth as he added the heat of his tongue, and in about thirty seconds I was a goner.

“I thought you were too tired?” I said, but it came out in a shallow purr. His hard thigh moved up between my legs, and I had to admit, the pressure that created was nice, too.

“It was a trap, and you fell right into it,” he said, moving on to the other breast now. Damn the man and his hands. And mouth.

“Hmm, I’ll have to be more careful next time,” I said, not meaning a word of it, and we both knew it.

Jack left for work at an ungodly hour. There was no way I could open my eyes, let alone function when he kissed me goodbye. I just rolled over and slept for another couple of hours.

When the alarm on my phone went off, I had visions of throwing it out the window. But I figured Jack’s building managers wouldn’t like that much. Instead, I fake cried and sat up in bed. That’s when I heard it. Noises coming from downstairs. Talking noises. Very angry, pissed off talking noises. What the hell?

Slowly, I edged my way to the door and listened. It was definitely Jack’s mom and, holy shit, his dad? I zoomed back to the bed and picked up my phone and dialed Jack. He was going to have a fit. Answer…answer…come on…

“Are you as tired as I am?” he asked, sounding far too cheery for this time of the morning. Man, I hated morning people.

“You don’t know the half of it. Your dad is over here. I can hear him downstairs with your mom. What should I do?” I hopped from one foot to the other, unable to deal with the surge of adrenaline.

“What did you just say?”

“You heard me. What should I do?”

“Fuck me. Don’t do anything. I’m leaving now. I’ll be there in two minutes.” He would, too, if he had parked out the front doors of the restaurant and then stopped in the loading zone at his place. The phone clicked off without him saying goodbye or anything.

They were fighting downstairs, but it hadn’t escalated. Yet. I decided to change clothes and brush my teeth so I’d be ready to run down there if I had to.

By the time I spat out my toothpaste, I heard Jack. Shit. Keeping my phone close at hand, I raced to the landing and hoped like hell this would end peacefully.