Page 22 of Nick

Taking a deep breath, he opened his mouth and blew it out.

Closing his eyes, he tried to banish the image, but he now had a raging hard-on that wouldn’t go away, no matter how much he tried. No, he would be left with the image of her flawless backside sleeping across the hall from him.

He set the glass down while gritting his teeth. He was in need of a cold shower. When he passed the open door of the bedroom on the right, he pointedly didn’t glance into it as he headed for the bathroom. If she was tempting him, his control was about to be put to the test.

Harper

She could hear every heavy sigh that he let out as he cursed and tried to get comfortable.

It would be easy for her to soothe him, offer him her ear, but she wasn’t certain that this would be welcome.

She was surprised and somewhat hurt when he offered her the spare room. Initially, she thought he didn’t want her in his bedroom, but it turned out he was concerned about her feelings. There was almost a smell of cautious concern and care around her. She wasn’t afraid of him and didn’t fear sleeping with him.

Her habit of sleeping in a room full of Numbers, whether they were able to see each other or not, was different from that of humans who were used to sleeping alone. When they first began building individual homes, it was an unusual practice. For this reason, Drey constructed his kitchen and dining area so that his Numbers could gather at his residence for touch and reassurance if they needed it.

She had spent a considerable amount of time on her own dealing with coming out of her shell.

Now she was no longer intimidated by the world and certainly wasn’t intimidated by Nick. Occasionally, she was sure he didn’t see that, but other times, he looked at her so fiercely that she was confident he did.

His mattress bounced, the springs making a pinging sound as they bounced back up. He turned over in bed and mumbled again. She sighed and settled in for a long night of listening to him toss and turn.

“Harper!” a shout woke her.

Her hand shot out in panic as she jumped out of bed, trying to turn on her touch light. She cursed as something hit the floor, and a crash sounded. She hopped onto the bed in a crouch, hissing as her sleep-fogged brain tried to work out what was going on.

Rubbing her eyes, she saw a shadow in the doorway and blinked in confusion. When it failed to move away, she blinked again at the familiar form.

She had forgotten where she was for one sleepy moment. “Nick!” she exclaimed, relieved as she realised where she was.

A broken lamp occupied her attention as she rubbed her eyes again.

She was still crouched on the bed, legs open, and wearing only pink lace pants. If the fire in his eyes was any indication, he was enjoying the view.

Biting her lip, she jumped out of the crouch and closed her legs. Nick stared at her breasts, toned stomach, and softly curved hips as Harper stared at him in turn.

She slipped on her bra and top unhurriedly. She didn’t want it to look like she was running away or worried about him looking at her because she wasn’t.

If anything, she loved the expression on his face as he stared at her dumbfounded, as if he had no words to express his thoughts. It was as if he had been shocked into silence.

“Sorry, I forgot where I was for a moment.”

“It’s fine,” he choked. Clearing his throat, he added, “I just shouted to let you know I was headed to the office. You might want to have someone work with you today, so you aren’t alone.”

When she turned around, she found him staring at the lamp. “I’m sorry,” she said again. “You invited me to your house, and it seems I’m determined to break everything. If you keep me here much longer, you may not have walls or a roof.”

Harper was breaking things left, right, and centre. She had been clumsy since she arrived last night.

“Don’t worry about it. I shouldn’t have shouted,” he replied, his eyes fixed on her legs.

Her eyebrows rose in response to his continued stare. “Nick?”

His eyes shot up, and he wiped a hand over his mouth and beard. “Hmm?”

“Are you okay?”

There was a nod, and he cleared his throat. “There are pancakes with syrup on the table. They’re still warm. Come and have some when you are dressed.” He turned and disappeared down the bright hallway.

A glance down at her bare legs was followed by a shrug from Harper. Since it was his home, she would dress if he asked her to do so.

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