“Yeah.”
“Have you given any thought to what you’ll do when you finish playing?”
“I thought about becoming a dog walker, but it turns out I’m not very good at it.”
I laugh and whack his stomach. “Come again with me tomorrow. You can only get better.”
“Hey, play nice.”
“What?” I say, feigning innocence and loving our easy banter. “That was a compliment.”
“It was an insult wrapped up to sound like you had faith in me.”
“I do have faith in you, big daddy.”
As soon as those words leave my mouth, heat dances in his eyes. He picks up the remote, shuts the TV off, and pulls me to my feet. “You want big daddy, you’re going to get big daddy.” I yelp as he scoops me up and I’m sure I’ve never seen him take his stairs so fast. I simply love the way this man reacts to me, the way he looks at me and wants me.
He carries me to the bed and sets me on it. Two seconds later he’s standing before me, naked, and I crook my finger, beckoning him close.
“Can’t forget this,” he says and pulls a condom from the nightstand. “Don’t want to tempt fate twice, right?”
Something in the way he posed that question makes me think he’s asking if I do want to tempt fate twice, but I must be mistaken. He told me straight up he didn’t want kids. Is it possible that’s changed over the last month?
He climbs over me, and presses his lips to mine, and the next thing I know, I’m naked and he’s moving inside me. We hold each other tight, and as my heart pounds hard in my chest and my emotions take a rollercoaster ride, I make the decision to talk to him. First thing tomorrow, I’m going to open up, tell him I don’t want this hook-up to end. Although I’m not sure he’s up for a ready-made family, a big brother and big daddy is one thing, but taking on a family full time is something else entirely.
I push that from my thoughts, and concentrate on the pleasure building inside me, and before I know it, we both climax, and my eyes slip shut as we hold one another. He pulls out of me, cleans us up and pulls me against his warm body. His soft sounds fill the room as he sleeps and my eyes creep open as thoughts once again invade, beat against my brain, and I stare at the ceiling for a very long time before I finally succumb to sleep. When I wake, I reach across the bed, only to find it empty. I jackknife up and check the time. I stifle a yawn and throw my feet over the bed as I call out to Liam, but the house is silent.
I pull on the sweats I wore last night, and a T-shirt and head downstairs. I search the counter for a note, but find none. I snatch my phone from the counter, and read a text from Liam, letting me know he had to run out and I was sleeping so soundly he didn’t want to wake me. A small smile pulls at me and I guess we’ll have to wait until later to have that talk.
I make a pot of coffee, and wander through his house drinking it. Someone raps on the door, and my heart jumps, only to realize it’s not Liam coming home because he wouldn’t knock on his own damn door. I hurry across the room and pull open the door, and the second I see who’s on the steps, I nearly drop my coffee mug. I falter back a bit, my brain rushing to catch up.
“What…what do you want?”
“Now, is that any way to greet me?” Devon says, and opens his arms wide like he expects me to jump into them as he tries to look past my shoulders.
I square my shoulders and put on my best kick-ass face, not that I have a kick-ass face, but no way am I going to let him think he’s intimidating me, even though he is. “You need to go.”
His smirk raises the hair on the back of my neck. “Can’t an old friend come by and say hello?”
“We are not friends, and if you don’t leave, I’ll call the police.”
“Aww, come on, Harper.” He angles his head and a sick feeling swirls in my stomach as his gaze drops to take me in like I’m a juicy steak. “Don’t be like that.” I go to shut the door, and he puts his foot out to stop it. “Just wanted to come by and see the nice set-up you have.”
My heart beats a little faster, and I shake my head. How did I not see what a creep this guy really was? How did I let him into my life—Gavin’s life—and think he was one of the good guys? God, I am such a bad judge of character.
“Where’s your sugar daddy?” he asks.
“He’s not my sugar daddy.”
“Maybe not, and maybe he’s not who you think he is.”
I stare at him, hating the doubt he’s putting in my head, that he could so quickly make me doubt Liam. I’ve admitted numerous times that I was a bad judge of character, but I’m not wrong about Liam. He is one of the good ones. I’m sure of it.
“We’re friends,” I shoot back.
His smirk widens. “Is that why you’re wearing his clothes?”
“What do you want?” I glare at him, and hate the way my hand is shaking as I hold my coffee cup. “You took everything I had, Devon. I have nothing left to give.”
“We’ll see,” he says and pulls his foot back. I slam the door shut, and nearly collapse against it. Goddammit! He clearly saw the picture, and here he is, just like I expected, sniffing around looking for…something. I
