“Darn,” I whisper. “I’ll keep wishing.”
“Or you could bring your man and come for a visit,” he suggests, hugging me into his side.
“Yeah,” I agree, looking at Harlen and wondering if he’s ever been to Florida before. Then I wonder what he would look like in swim trunks. Probably hot.
“Can your old man get a hug?” Dad asks, sounding impatient.
My eyes fly over to meet his. “Are you gonna be nice?”
“Yes,” he grits out, and I roll my eyes and go to him. Wrapping my arms around his middle, I hug him tightly. “In love?” he asks the top of my head, and I nod. “Fuck.”
“Dad.”
“I know, your bubble,” he mutters, sounding amused and annoyed, and I let out a short laugh before giving him a squeeze and letting go.
As I move close to Harlen, his eyes come to me and I take the dish we brought from his hands. “You want a beer?”
“Yeah, baby.”
“‘Kay, be right back.” I slide up on my tiptoes, kiss his bearded jaw, and then head inside. Setting the dish on the counter in the kitchen, I go to the fridge and grab a beer for Harlen and a soda for myself, taking both toward the front door. Just as I step out onto the porch, Mom and Grandma pull up and park. Seeing my Grandma wave through the windshield, I grin, hand Harlen his beer, and then skip down the steps right for the passenger door, swinging it open.
“My baby!” Grandma cries, getting out of the car and wrapping her arms around me in a warm, tight embrace, rocking me side-to-side the same way she’s done all my life.
“Hey, Grandma.” I lean back to look at her, and her hands frame my face. I’ve missed her. I’ve missed Grandpa too, but I’ve really missed my grandma. We’ve always been close, which made it really hard when the two of them moved away to Florida.
“You’ve been holding out on me, young lady,” she scolds, still smiling. “Your mom filled me in on this new man of yours when I got in this morning.”
“Sorry.” I look over the roof of the car at my mom, who smiles at us before slamming her door. “I hope she told you how awesome he is.”
“She did,” Grandma confirms, and my eyes go back to her. “Though, your dad does not seem to agree.” She winks, and I laugh.
“You can tell me what you think of him yourself, since he’s here,” I say, and she looks toward the porch, her eyes widening when they land on Harlen in his uniform of biker boots, dark jeans, and a long-sleeved navy blue Henley that fits him like a second skin showing off every one of his muscles.
“He’s big,” she whispers.
“Yeah,” I agree.
“And handsome,” she whispers again, and I smile.
“Yeah.”
“Perfect for my girl,” she finishes, and I feel my heart squeeze.
“I’m in love with him.”
“You didn’t have to tell me that.” She turns to me, cupping my cheek. “I see it in your eyes.”
“You do?”
“Yeah.”
“I just realized tonight,” I admit, and she smiles knowingly.
“Sometimes us women get so caught up in what’s happening that we don’t notice what’s actually happening.”
“This is true,” I murmur, and she laughs, wrapping her arm around my waist and pulling me into her side.
“Come on, introduce me to your guy.” She leads me toward the stairs, where my dad is taking the bags from my mom while she is greeting Harlen with a kiss to his cheek, something that seems to annoy Dad even more. Fighting back laughter, I head up the steps and look at Harlen as my mom and dad head inside, with Grandpa following behind them.
“Harlen, I’d like to introduce you to my grandma. Grandma, Harlen, my boyfriend,” I say, and she lets me go and takes a step toward Harlen, who rests his hand on her upper arm and bends low to kiss her cheek.
“Nice to meet you, ma’am.”
“You too.” She pats his arm, smiling, and then she comes back to me, getting close to wrap her hand around my cheek.
“Manners, and he’s handsome. Yes. Perfect for my girl,” she says quietly, and I bite my lip so I don’t cry. “Love you, sweetheart.”
“Love you too, Grandma,” I whisper, and her fingers squeeze then let go.
Turning toward the door, she smiles at us over her shoulder, saying, “Let’s eat. Harlen, I want to hear all about you.”
He places his hand at the small of my back and I smile up at him and he smiles back as leads me inside the house. We head into the dining room, where there is food already on the table—a huge roast, potatoes, salad, and rolls. Harlen waits for me to sit then takes the seat next to me, while Grandma sits on the opposite side of him next to Grandpa. Looking around the table at my parents and grandparents, feeling Harlen close, I smile to myself.
“Harlen, tell me about your parents. Where do they live?” Mom asks, putting food on Dad’s plate, and my stomach, which was full of happiness and warmth only seconds ago, drops.
“Lost both my mom and dad at fifteen,” Harlen answers softly, and the table goes quiet. Everyone stops what they’re doing to look at him. Wrapping my hand around the top of his jean-covered thigh, I squeeze then feel his fingers slide down my arm and wrist before he flips my hand over, threading our fingers together.
“I’m so sorry. I had no idea,” Mom whispers, and I watch her eyes fill with sadness and pain for him.
“It was a long time ago, Sophie. I’m okay, but thank you,” he replies quietly, and my mom nods then looks away from him. I watch her pull in a deep breath as Dad wraps his hand around the back of her neck, giving her a gentle squeeze. Catching my dad’s gaze across the table, I see remorse in his eyes.
Knowing dinner will be awkward, no one knowing what to say or do if I don’t do something to get us all out from under the dark cloud that’s blanketed the table, I squeeze Harlen’s fingers. “Harlen was raised by his aunt after his parents passed away. They’re close,” I insert, and all eyes come to me. “She’ll be here at Christmas.”
“That’s nice. She will have to come over while she’s here,” Mom says, and I nod.
“I plan on asking her for permission to marry her nephew while she’s here,” I joke, and my dad’s eyes widen while Harlen’s fingers tense around mine. “What do you think she’ll say?” I look at Harlen, and he shakes his head, his lips twitching.
“Hate to burst your bubble, Angel, but no way is my woman gonna propose to me,” he murmurs, and I fight back a grin and narrow my eyes in mock annoyance.
“Is this an alpha rule?”
“Fuck yeah.”
“We’ll see.” I shrug, hearing my mom and grandma both laugh, that sound filling me with relief.
“We won’t,” Harlen disagrees, forcing me to release his hand and wrapping his fingers around my upper thigh to squeeze.
“Would you say no?” I question, and his eyes narrow.
“You’re not asking me to marry you,” he replies without answering my question.
“Would you say no?” I repeat, and his fingers dig in, in a way that makes me squirm.
“It’s not happening,” he states firmly, making my spine straighten in real annoyance.
“You can’t tell me that I can’t ask you to marry me. I can do whatever I want.”
“Fuck, are we really gonna argue about this?” he asks, and I hear my dad laugh but I don’t look at him, even though I really, really want to look at him.
“It’s a new day, a new age. Women ask men to marry them all the time,” I state matter-of-factly, having no idea if that statement is true. I have a lot of girlfriends and a lot of female cousins, and none of them have ever proposed to a man before. At least, not that I know of, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.
“This argument is pointless, since that shit is not happening,” he says, pulling his eyes from mine. Looking at my mom and dad, he states, “Your daughter’s a nut.”
“I am not!” I cry, listening to everyone at the table laugh.
<
br /> “Honey,” Dad calls, and I turn my head and focus on him. “You’re not asking him to marry you.”
“Seriously, you can’t tell me what to do either,” I snap, feeling like a dork, because I sound like a dork. But then again, everyone is smiling, and no one is thinking about the fact that Harlen lost his parents way too early in life, so I’m okay with being a dork right now. “Mom, you wanna help me out here?”
“Honey, I’m sorry, but no.” She shakes her head. “I think a man should be the one to ask a woman to marry him.” She smiles, and I look around Harlen at Grandma, raising a brow.
“Grandma?”
“Gotta agree with your mom, honey. Any man I’d want with my girl better be the one to ask that question, not the other way around.”
“What happened to girl power?” I mutter, and Harlen lets my thigh go then slides his arm around my shoulders, pulling me deep into his side.
“It’s okay. Pack it in, baby, and fight another day for womankind.” He kisses the side of my head. I tip my head back, and he brushes his lips softly over mine before leaning back in his chair and smiling. Seeing him smile, I look around the table and notice that everyone, including my dad, has the same happy expression. Thank God. And thankfully, the rest of dinner goes off without a hitch, but I still wonder what Harlen’s answer would be if I did ask him to marry me.
***
Lying naked on top of Harlen, breathing heavily, my pussy still convulsing around his cock from the orgasm I just had, I lift my head off his chest and sit up. Looking down into his handsome face, I finally understand why people go to such great lengths to find what we have. It’s not about the sex, even though the sex is awesome. It’s about feeling like you belong somewhere, that you belong to someone, that no matter how insane or hard life gets, you have someone in your corner who is always rooting for you, always looking out for you.
His hand wraps around my hip and his other slides up my side, his fingers coming to rest just under my breast. “You okay?”
“Yes,” I whisper, studying my hands as I slide them down then up his defined abs, watching his muscles bunch and shift under my touch.
“What are you thinking?” he asks quietly, and I lift my head to look at him then lean forward, sliding my hands back up his chest until I’m pressed fully against him.
“Until you, I didn’t really understand why people did what they did for love,” I whisper, then continue softly running my thumb lightly over his bottom lip. “I finally understand why someone would do whatever they had to do to find this, why they would risk everything for this. Thank you for giving it to me.”
“Christ,” he mutters, sitting up, gathering me against him, one arm going around my back, and his other hand sliding into my hair.
“I love you,” I add, and his eyes flash right before his mouth lands on mine for a deep, hard kiss.
“Love you too, Angel.” He tucks my face into his neck, and I wrap my legs around his hips and my arms around his shoulders, holding him just as tightly as he’s holding me.
“I do have a question,” I say after a long moment, and he pulls his head back to look down at me.
“What’s that?” he asks, his eyes searching mine.
“Hypothetically speaking.” I squeeze him with all four of my limbs, then ask quietly, “If I were to ask you to marry me, would you say yes?”
“Hypothetically speaking.” He grins. “You’ll never know,” he answers just as quietly.
“Gah, you’re annoying.”
“Yeah, but you love me.”
“Which means I must be crazy,” I mutter, and he laughs, shoving his face in my neck. “It’s not that funny,” I grumble, and he laughs harder. “I need to shower.”
“You can shower tomorrow,” he says through his laughter, and I smack his back lightly.
“Harlen, I need a shower.”
“Tomorrow, Angel.”
“No, tonight,” I gripe, and his head comes out of my neck and his eyes meet mine, the humor gone. In its place, there’s an intensity that makes me hold my breath.
“Tonight, you’re going to sleep filled with me. You can shower tomorrow.”
“Okay,” I whisper immediately, and his face softens, his fingers sliding out of my hair to run along the underside of my jaw before he shifts us up in the bed and turns out the light. Once that’s done, he rolls to his back, with me draped across his chest, my hips wide as my legs rest on either side of his. Jerking the covers up and over us, he holds me to him, one hand on the back of my head and the other just above my ass. I lie there in the dark, listening to him breathe, to his heartbeat against my ear, doubting I will be able to sleep with him still inside me and leaking out. But before long, my eyes slide closed and I fall asleep filled with him in every way possible.
Hearing what sounds like a power saw, I come out of sleep and blink my eyes open, finding the bed next to me empty and the sheets cold. It’s Thursday, the day Harlen took off work to spend with me. I thought we would start out our day together in bed then spend most of the day right here, so I don’t know why he’s not here with me. I listen to the noise shut off and close my eyes, only to have them spring back open when I hear pounding start up. “What the hell is going on?” I ask no one as I sit up.
Looking toward the closed bedroom door like I have the power to see through it, my brows pull together when the pounding stops and the noise from earlier starts back up again. “What the hell is he doing?” I toss back the covers, scooting out of bed. I put my feet on the floor, grabbing Harlen’s shirt that he had on yesterday, and pull it down over my head as I go to the door. Opening it, I head down the hall, stopping dead in my tracks, blinking when I see Everret and another man I don’t know standing near my backdoor and Harlen through a hole in the wall. Yes, a hole in the wall near the floor. His eyes come to me through the hole and scan from my bare feet up my bare thighs to his shirt I have on, before he meets my gaze.
Seeing the look he gives me, I bite my lip then feel my eyes widen when heat hits my thighs—that heat not coming from him. I look up at Everett and the guy standing next to him, and I find them both looking at me, or more accurately, looking at my bare legs. “Babe, clothes,” Harlen orders, appearing suddenly at the open sliding glass door, and my glare shoots to him.
“What are you guys doing?”
“Clothes, now,” he growls, and my nose scrunches in annoyance. “Harmony.”
“Gah! Fine.” I spin on my bare feet and go back to my room, ignoring the laughter I hear behind me. Grabbing a bra from my dresser, I put it on under his shirt then pull on a pair of my sweats before I head into the bathroom. Bent over the sink, brushing my teeth, I look at Harlen in the mirror when he fits himself to my back.
“Not real fond of men I know, knowing exactly how good you look wearing nothing but my tee,” he says, and my nose scrunches up once more.
“I didn’t know that anyone was here besides you,” I retort through a mouthful of foam before spitting and rinsing my mouth. I shut off the water then dry my face with the hand towel I take off the hook and turn to face him. “What exactly are you guys doing? I thought we were going to spend the day in bed.”
On the word bed, the fingers of his hands wrapped around my hips dig in and his eyes darken in a really good way. “Putting in a dog door for Dizzy.”
“What?” I breathe.
“Been meaning to do it for a while now but didn’t have the time. Today, I have the time, so I asked Mic and Everret to help me get it done.”
“Oh,” I say softly, resting my hands against his chest, melting into him, and feeling my chest get warm. He heard me mention putting in a doggie door for Dizzy and went about getting it done. Yes, I love him.
“It shouldn’t take us to long. Once we’re done, you and I can get back in bed.” He grins, and I smile.
“Okay.”
“Made you a cup of coffee. It’s on the island.”
“You are so getting lucky,” I whisper, leaning deeper i
nto him, and he laughs—only I’m not joking, not even a little bit.
“I’ll remember that.” He dips his head, brushing his mouth over mine, then grabs my hand and pulls me out of the bathroom and bedroom. “Baby, you know Everett, and that’s Mic.” He lifts his chin toward Mic, and I smile at him, seeing him return the expression.
“Hey, guys.” I give them a wave then bend to pick up Dizzy, who’s finally noticed I exist. Holding him to my chest, I look at the hole in the wall then the box leaning against the side of the door. “Thank you, guys, for helping with that.” I nod toward it.
“No problem,” Everett mutters, looking between Harlen and me.
“Not a big deal,” Mic states with a shrug, having no idea he’s saving me thousands of dollars, so it’s not just a big deal; it’s a huge one. Now, instead of saving for the door, I can buy a bed for my guest room.
“How much do I owe for this?” I ask, and Harlen’s fingers dig into my hip, so I look up at him.
“Babe.” He shakes his head in what I guess is an answer. It’s just one I don’t get.
“Babe what?”
His eyes search mine, then he mutters, “We’ll talk about it later.” He brushes his lips over mine before letting me go and heading toward the door.
“Does anyone want coffee?” I question the room at large. Getting three no’s in return, I climb up on the stool holding Dizzy and sip my coffee, watching the guys work. An hour in, I get bored and decide I should be productive, so I start a load of laundry and pull out the dry mop and my other cleaning supplies to start cleaning my house.
Pulling yet another load of laundry out of the dryer, I take it back to the bedroom and empty the basket, dumping the clothes on the bed. Picking up one of Harlen’s shirts from the pile I just dumped, I look at the bed and the laundry I’ve already folded, and seeing the piles of his clothes mixed in with mine, warmth settles over me.
“Guys are gone,” Harlen says, stepping into the bedroom, and I stop folding his shirt in my hands. Looking from him to the clock, I see it’s already after three. The guys were here before I got up at nine, so they were here for over six hours. I ordered them pizza at one, but they still deserved more than that—like me being able to tell them thank you before they left.