Harper cleared her throat. “So that was nice.”
Lucas softly let out a chuckle and loosened his arms around her. “Nice? Just nice?”
“Well…” She grinned and shrugged. “It was good. Very good, actually. You are really―um―very skillful with your…tongue.” She cringed.
*What is wrong with me?* Harper pondered. She thought her brain was still fuzzy after coming twice in less than two hours!
Lucas laughed. “Why thank you…if you think so, little miss.” He kissed her head and tightened his arms around her. He was suddenly becoming a little possessive of his awkward *little miss.*
Harper took a breath. She was quiet for a few moments, gathering her thoughts, trying to pinpoint how to articulate the question she had wanted to ask.
“Harper?”
She sheepishly looked down at Lucas’s hands as she pulled them into hers. She started to run her fingers through his palm and fingers. She could feel his eyes on her.
"What's wrong?" Lucas pulled her closer to him, protectively.
Harper shakes her head, laughing at herself softly. "Nothing." She sniffled, sending him a reassuring smile. "It’s stupid…"
“What is it? Tell me?”
“I just…” she sighed. “This is awkward. Forget it. It’s embarrassing.”
“Harper, tell me, please.”
“Okay.” She sniffed again and gathered all her courage, slightly pulling away. “Why didn’t you…” she paused, obviously having a hard time telling Lucas what was bothering her. “Okay…so, earlier, I just thought I couldn’t be anymore clearer when I told you I wanted you inside me.” She stopped and cupped her cheeks between her palms. “Oh, this is so embarrassing.”
But Lucas was already grinning and finding her so adorable as she blushed. “Don’t be. I think I know what you’re trying to say here, where your head’s at, but continue.”
“That’s the thing. I don’t know where yours is. I wanted you, but you reciprocated through different means. Trust me, again, I think you have a very skillful tongue, but―I don’t know, I’m just confused why we’re still on third base?” Harper was already blushing so hard now.
An overwhelming feeling suddenly enveloped Lucas. "Come here, you adorable little miss," he murmured, bringing her closer to him. Then his lips met hers softly, shortly, before leaning up to kiss her temple. He tucked her body against his, so her back is to his chest. “Harper, there’s so much I want to do to you. And you have no idea how much I want to stay here and make love to you,” he said, arm looped around her stomach.
"Then, why aren’t you?" Harper finally responded, just a few moments later.
He kissed her head once more. "We’ll need an entire day for that." Lucas prayed she wouldn’t see right through his pathetic reason. But could he really tell her that hitting a home run would somehow bind her to him? Although there was nothing in the world he wouldn’t do for Harper to be entirely bound by him, he knew it wasn’t the wisest thing to do at the moment. No. Not after the disorder that Alex had caused by being with Francine. He couldn’t let Harper be tied to him. At least not yet. He had to wait. His wolf had to wait.
“Are you just making an excuse?” Harper’s questioning voice cut into his thoughts. “That’s got to be the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no sex addict…I just find it…odd, you know?”
“After all those dreams you had of me? I totally understand you.”
Harper’s pulled away and gasped at him. “How dyou know I had dreamed of you?”
“What? You told me so yourself.”
“Really? I did?”
Lucas laughed lightly. “Ah, yes! Maybe you were so focused on what I was doing to you that it escaped your mind that you did.”
“Hmmm…” Thinking and trying to recall if she really did, Harper’s body limped against his, muscles fully relaxed and body completely sated. “Okay. I believe you,” she then said and searched for a different topic. “Um…how’s work?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“I don’t know.”
“I missed you there. Your replacement, Katrina, she’s really gorgeous and all―”
“―oh, glad to hear that you find her gorgeous.”
Well,” Lucas laughed in response. “She is, and it makes it hard for me to focus, to be honest.”
Harper grinned, not really biting it. Aside from the fact that she wasn’t really the jealous type, she knew Lucas was no Alex. “Good. I’m glad you’re enjoying her―I mean…”
“Dammit, Harper…I missed you. I always think about you. I always want to be with you. But it’s really fucking hard right now to do that.” Lucas’s voice was suddenly bitter.
Harper shifted in the bed and wrapped her arms around his waist. He stiffened for a moment but then softened into her. She smiled at the warmth of his body against hers. Then she sighed.
“Lucas…I really have no idea what’s going on, you know. And since I’m pretty involved in whatever it is, being Alex’s current babysitter and all, I think I have the right to know whatever the hell is happening,” she said firmly. If she was going to get caught up in Alex’s mess, she might as well know what the hell was going on.
Lucas was silent for a good minute before letting out a long and deep sigh. “I know you have questions, Harper.”
“I have a lot. What really happened to Alex? I saw all the wounds. He healed pretty fast, and I must say Dr. Miller is doing a great job, but those were serious wounds and cuts and bruises, Lucas. And where the hell is his family? Why aren’t they here? And why can’t he go home?”
She felt him shift, then turned looked down at her. “Alex had crossed a line and wronged a few people. They’re not happy with what he did.”
Harper looked up at him, hesitantly for a moment, and looked back down, mindlessly drawing circles on his chest. “He was in a very critical state when I first saw him. They must be furious. Whatever it was he did, it must be really really bad for him to deserve what they’ve done to him.”
Lucas grasped her hands, held them tightly, then looked up at the ceiling. “No man deserves what they had done to him, Harper,” he whispered so softly she almost couldn’t hear him.
“Then, why?” She pulled his face down to look at her.
He kissed her forehead. “Because of some rules. When Alex did not obey the rules they have set themselves, this made them exercise the power they claim they have on him.”
“It doesn’t make any sense.”
Lucas briefly smiled. “I know.” He sighed. “For now, to you, it doesn’t.”
A long comfortable silence followed. Their hands clasped together. Then Lucas reached for his pants on the floor and dug out a small box in his pants.
“What is that?” Harper asked when he held the box in front of her.
"A promise ring to remind you that I’m always with you.” Lucas opened the box.
Harper gasped for before her was a beautiful cushion-cut emerald ring. Lucas lifted the band out of the box and slid it over her right ring finger. She smiled at the ring. “This is gorgeous.”
“As long as you keep that ring with you, I’ll always find you, Harper.”
Smiling, her brows creased. “Find me? What do you mean? Are you going away? I don’t understand.”
Lucas took a deep breath. “There’s no easier way to say this, so I’ll just go ahead and say it…”
“What?”
“It’s becoming too dangerous for Alex to stay here. He needs to go somewhere far and somewhere safe. Somewhere no one knows. Even me.”
“Do you mean he needs to leave Seattle?”
“Yes. The people that are after him, they’re furious at him for what he did, and they’re dangerous people.”
“They’re mad at Alex for what? And can’t his family just tell the police? They’re massively rich; can’t they hire people to protect him?”
Lucas shook his head. “No. They can’t protect him. Even his own family.”
“What?! But what did he actually do?”
“It’s Francine. She’s engaged to a very…rich and powerful and influential man―”
“Richer and more influential than Alex?” Harper allowed herself to smile in disbelief as more questions began to cloud her.
“Not really. It’s really complicated. I’m so sorry, but I can’t tell you everything just yet.”
“Why?”
“Because I need you to take Alex away from here, and the less you know, the safer it is for you. He has lost his memory. It’s easier for you to take him away from here. He can’t come back just yet. We need to take advantage of his situation to save him.”
She held out a palm between her and Lucas. “Hold on. Did you just say you need me to take Alex away from here?”
“Yes.”
“No way I’m leaving, Lucas.”
“Harper―”
“No. Listen. I have a life here. I have a job waiting for me. You can’t seriously expect me to leave everything to save Alex’s ass. For one, we’re not even friends. We don’t like each other. We’d up killing each other. And secondly, what am I supposed to do? His family got the money, and they can’t even do shit to protect him. They can’t even visit him. How could I keep Alex’s ass safe when his own family can’t?”
“Those people who are after him have been monitoring everyone connected to him. Especially his family. And I’ve found a way to buy me some time to be off their radar, but it’s just a matter of time now before they start watching my every move. Harper, please. You’re our only hope.”
Harper slowly shook her head. “I can’t believe the length you’re willing to take for Alex.”
“I have to.”
“Because he’s your boss?”
“That…and I owe his parents my life. I have been looking after Alex since we were young.”
“You don’t say.”
“You’re a very strong woman. You can control him. And it’s easier now that he doesn’t have any recollection of what happened or who he is.”
“I don’t know, Lucas. You’re practically asking me to drop my life here for that cretin.”
“I know it’s an impossible thing to ask, but I have no other choice, Harper. Please help me save my best friend. I just need time to fix this mess.”
“A mess that he’s created,” Harper grumpily said. “That poor excuse of a man.”
Lucas’s lips formed into a lazy smile. “You really have no idea how hot you are when you’re pissed.” Throat dry, he licked his lips and eased his arms back around Harper, cradling her close once again. He initiated a kiss by pressing his mouth against hers.
Harper slightly pulled back. “I still don’t understand why you’re asking me to do this.”
“Because I trust you, and you’re the only one that I know who they’d never suspect would help Alex. All I need from you is to keep him as far away from here as you can while we try to fix what he’s done.
“But what about my job?”
“I’ll take care of it. Everything you need, I’ll take care of it,” Lucas assured her.
“What about Alex’s parents?”
“They know that someone is helping their son. But they don’t know it’s you. It’s better that way.”
Harper felt his grasp around her tightened, squeezing her gently. He kissed the top of her head. She could feel him playing with whips of her hair. “What you’re asking me is…”
“Too much, I know.”
Then they were silent for a few minutes before Lucas spoke quietly to her. “It pains me a lot not to see for even just a day. But we have to be strong. I know you and Alex aren’t each other’s favorites, but he’s more like a brother to me than a boss.”
Harper looked up at him. He strokes his thumb against her cheek, leaning over to kiss her gently, arms loosely yet securely wrapped around her frame.
“Aren’t you going to miss kissing me?” she asked through the kiss.
“Every second,” Lucas replied before cupping her face again and running his tongue along her lip.
Harper smiled gently into the kiss and slowly parted her lips. Lucas slipped his tongue inside her mouth, moving one hand to the base of her neck and the other to clasp her hand. He pulled the white bed sheet underneath them and wrapped it around each other as their kiss deepened. When they broke apart, they were already breathing heavily, placing their foreheads together.
“As soon as everything’s sorted out, when it is all over, you and I are going to be making love every day, and I will give whatever life you want, Harper. I swear to you.”
Then Harper smiled to herself as he gently placed a kiss on her forehead.