We sat there talking for another hour before she yawned. I glanced down at my phone and realized that it was nearly ten thirty. Where had the time gone? I wasn’t ready to take her home, but knew that I had to. Reluctantly, I stood and we grabbed another cab.
In the dim lighting coming in from the headlights of other cars, I pulled her close and she gave me a shy smile as she rested her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. I was in a bittersweet kind of limbo for the next twenty minutes. Bitter because I was rock hard and knew that I wasn’t going to find any relief with the beautiful creature in my arms. Sweet because it brought a kind of peace in a way that I had only heard my brother drunkenly describe to me what I assumed he had felt when he and Lana had been so close.
In that moment I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to go through with the seduction plans I had for Harper.
Not when I was sure that I had found what Drake had been working so hard to get back.
Harper
Strong fingers tenderly brushed across my cheek, and I blinked open my eyes to find Shane gazing down at me with some crazy emotion in his eyes. Crazy because I knew he couldn’t be feeling it toward me. I didn’t inspire lust in guys.
He cleared his throat. “Hey, beautiful. We’re here.”
I frowned. “Here?” Turning my head, I found that the taxi had stopped in front of my apartment building. “Oh… Oh!” I pulled away, realizing that I had been asleep on Shane’s shoulder…and embarrassingly enough, I’d actually been drooling. Perfect!
With a chuckle, he opened the door and stepped out before offering me his hand to help me. When the taxi pulled away he didn’t release my hand, but instead linked our fingers as he walked me inside.
“Do you want to come up?” I asked, reluctant to leave him. He had been so much fun to hang out with tonight, so worth the bitching I was going to hear when I finally turned my phone on and answered my mother’s calls.
“I want to...” his fingers tightened around mine, giving them a gentle squeeze before releasing me “...but I don’t think I should.”
“Oh, okay.” I wasn’t disappointed. I wasn’t!
“Can I see you tomorrow?”
My heart leapt and I had to bite my lip to keep from answering too quickly and sounding like some idiot obsessed and unable to go a day without seeing her crush. Nope, I wasn’t crushing on Shane Stevenson. Nope. Nope… Not even a little.
Liar!
“Sounds like fun. Call me and we can make plans… Or you could just come over and hang out?” Maybe he wanted to spend some time with Lana. Damn, there went that pinprick pain to the heart again.
“We can do whatever you want.” His smile was adorable, almost shy and a little sweet. Neither of those things were something that I thought I would ever use to describe a tatted up rock star, but they fit nonetheless.
“Okay.” I pulled my keys from my purse before taking a step away from him. “See you tomorrow, Shane.”
“Harper..?” He paused and I turned back around to face him. His gaze went over my shoulder to where the night doorman was sitting before shaking his head. “Goodnight, beautiful.”
The endearment made something tighten around my heart, and I couldn’t help the involuntary smile as I pushed the call button for the elevator. It opened immediately and I stepped inside. Shane stood watching until the doors closed between us.
As the elevator ascended to my floor, I beat my head back against the wall of the elevator. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid! Crushing on a guy so far out of my league had to be the most stupid, idiotic thing I had ever done in my life.
Linc and Dallas were still up when I unlocked the front door. They sat on the couch with a bowl of popcorn sitting between them. Since it was a Saturday night, I had been expecting them to be out at a club or some party. As I closed the door behind me, Lana came from down the hall with a phone pressed to her ear.
When she saw me she looked both relieved and concerned. I bit my lip and pushed my glasses up my nose. “What?”
“Nothing,” Lana rushed to say. “Nothing… I just wasn’t expecting you to come home…so early.”
She hadn’t expected me to come home at all. “Shane and I are just friends.”
“Of course.” She nodded. “Sure.” She sounded a little confused, but instead of saying anything else, she turned and went back the way she had just came, the phone still pressed firmly to her ear. “Sorry, Layla. Yes, everything’s fine…”
I rolled my eyes at my friend as I dropped down on the arm of the couch beside Linc. “What are we watching?”
“Your phone is off,” Linc scolded.
I sighed and reached down to pull my shoes off. “Sorry. Mother was annoying the crap out of me so I switched it off. Did you need anything?”
“No. We were just worried.” Linc pulled me down beside him and I snuggled close, pillowing my head on his shoulder much the way I had Shane’s just a little while ago. His shoulder was wider, more muscular, but it felt uncomfortable. And while Linc smelled deliciously male, it wasn’t the scent that I wanted filling my nose. It wasn’t Shane’s scent…
Well hell!
Chapter 5
Harper
I groaned when my phone buzzed on the nightstand beside my bed.
I cracked open one eye to glance at my alarm clock and groaned again when I saw that it was only a little after ten. It was Sunday. I had nowhere to be. No one had a good enough reason to bother me so early!
Ignoring the annoying ringtone, I turned over in bed and used my extra pillow to cover my head until the thing quieted down. When it did I snuggled under my covers and relaxed…
Five minutes later it started ringing again!
Muttering a curse, I blindly reached for the thing to turn it off when I saw that it was from Shane. I shot up in bed, letting the covers fall to my waist. When he said he wanted to do something today I thought it would be later in the day. Rockers liked to sleep until noon, right? With the rumored lifestyle Shane supposedly lived, I was sure he wouldn’t call until later tonight. Pushing my sleep tousled hair out of my face, I hit accept and put my phone to my ear.
“Hey.”
“Hey, beautiful.” His voice was slightly throaty, and I bit my lip to keep from smiling like an idiot. “I’m downstairs. Ready to go?”
“I…Umm….” I grimaced. “I’m still in bed.”
“At noon?” He sounded amused.