“I took the liberty of writing you a speech. I need to know if there are any changes you wish to make or —”
“Whoa, hold on a minute. Speech?” Who said anything about a speech?
“Well, yes, of course.”
Harper frowned. “Yeah, I’m not understanding the need for a speech.”
“You’ll need to thank the attendees for coming and express your gratitude to all those who helped to organize the event,” said Belinda in an “obviously” tone. “You’ll also need to say a few words of romance to Knox.”
“I don’t do speeches. Not my thing. Knox is the one who has a way with words. If there’s anything that needs to be said, he’ll do that.” Harper would just trip over her own words or blush several shades of red.
“You can’t leave everything to Knox.”
“You’re right, and I don’t. But speeches are more his thing, and I can’t recite something that somebody else wrote for me.” It would make her feel phony. Harper prided herself on not being fake. “Besides, who really wants to hear from a Wallis?” she mocked.
Belinda’s nostrils flared. “Fine. There are a few more things I need to run past you.”
Harper finished off her latte as the cambion read out a list of things from her clipboard. When she abruptly stopped speaking, Harper looked up. And saw that Belinda was staring at the rings. Harper wiggled her fingers. “Like them?”
Belinda swallowed. “That’s a black diamond.”
“I know. So pretty and shiny.”
“He gave you a black diamond?”
Harper grinned. “You’re ecstatic for me. I can tell.”
Spluttering, Belinda turned to Tanner. “Doesn’t it worry you that your Prime isn’t acting like himself?”
Tanner lifted his mug. “It would worry me if it were true.”
Belinda ground her teeth. “He gave her – someone he barely knows – a black diamond.”
The hellhound nodded. “Yeah, I can see that.”
“Let me reiterate, he barely knows her.”
“He clearly feels he knows all he needs to know.” Tanner went back to his newspaper.
Lips pinched together, Belinda turned to Keenan. “Would you commit yourself so completely to someone you had only known a few months?”
“That’s a human question,” said Harper.
Belinda blinked. “Pardon?”
“Since you’re half-human, I can understand why you’d have such an issue,” said Harper. “See, humans need everything to make sense. But not everything can be seen, or heard, or felt, or explained. Some things just are.”
Face flushing, Belinda spoke. “Knox is —”
“Uninterested in you, so get over your-fucking-self.”
“Yeah, it really is about time you gave up the dream of being with Knox,” Khloë told her. “There are plenty of other guys out there. You should consider Keenan. He’s got a monster cock.”
Keenan’s cheeks turned fire engine red. “Khloë!”
“Am I wrong?” the imp challenged, raising one shoulder.
Trying not to laugh, Harper turned back to Belinda. “Are we done here?”
“We’re done,” she said, mouth tight around the edges. “Thank you for your time.” Spinning on her high heel, she left.
A mind slid against Harper’s – comforting and familiar. You sure you don’t want me to fire her, baby? asked Knox. I’d take great pleasure in doing it.
Guessing one of his sentinels had alerted him about Belinda’s little tantrum, Harper said, That would spoil my fun.
All right. His disappointment was evident in his telepathic tone. Don’t forget your flying session later.
I won’t. She was actually looking forward to it.
“Ready to get to work?” asked Devon.
“Yes. Later on, before we close for the day, I need you to do something for me.”
The hellcat smiled. “Gladly. Just what might that be?”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Once again standing near the border of a winding ravine, Harper moaned, “My back is killing me.”
“I know, but you need to master this. It has to be second nature for you.” Knox planted his feet, resisting the urge to go to his mate and comfort her. He was proud of how well she’d done and how very little she’d complained. He was pushing her hard, giving her no breaks. “Now ascend, and hold yourself in position until I tell you to drop.”
So Harper did, just as she’d done at least eighty times in the past half hour. She was aching, sweating, and tired. The light breeze would have been welcome if it wasn’t as hot as the day itself. Seriously, it was like having someone point a hairdryer at your face while it was on its hottest setting. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the breeze brought plenty of dirt with it. She hated the gritty feel of it on her skin.
“Okay, drop.” He nodded in satisfaction at her clean descent. “Again, Harper.”
Biting back a curse, she did it again. And again. And again. And a-fucking-gain.
“Better. Much better. Now, do it once more. This time, I’m going to ask you to go higher and hold it a lot longer.” When she slumped, Knox arched a brow. “Do you want to try flying or not? We’ll do it today, but only if you master this move.”
Harper rolled back her shoulders. “I’ll do it,” she bit out. She wanted to punch him square in the face for grinning at her. “What’s so funny?”