Page 55 of Singled Out

As soon as I realized I was lying on top of her and she was bearing most of my weight, I managed to roll off-center, so I was only half on her, not willing to give up all the skin-to-skin contact yet. I’d be content to lie here like this for a few days. Who needed food?

My son would need food.

The thought of him brought me back to reality faster than I wanted.

I fought off coherent thoughts and let myself just be with Harper for a while longer. I became aware of the way her breasts rose and fell as her breathing evened and slowed. Her skin, like mine, was covered by a sheen of sweat. I found the strength to lift my head and prop my chin on one arm as I gazed down at her. Her hair was strewn in every direction across my pillow. Her nipples were still erect, tempting me. I trailed a finger over one, causing her to shiver. A sexy, vixenish smile stretched over her swollen lips.

She had the look of a woman who’d been thoroughly sated. That had me feeling pretty damn good until she said, “You’re not too bad, Max Dawson.”

My brows shot up as I tried to discern if she meant that or if this was post-sex smart-ass Harper. “Not too bad?”

She let out a light, feminine laugh. “Yeah. That was pretty okay.”

Her smugness registered, and I relaxed. “You weren’t half bad yourself.”

Harper laughed and leaned up to kiss me, pulling my head to her. Her kiss was fervent, her tongue plundering my mouth as if to put an exclamation point on the reaction she wasn’t able to admit to.

I’d take it.

“Be right back,” she said. She slid gracefully off the bed and went into the bathroom. I watched her walk confidently away, her hips with a slight sway to them. Every last ounce of that confidence was justified and then some.

I took care of the condom, then pulled the blankets back as I finally registered a chill in the air. Waiting for her, I lay on my back, legs under the covers, my hands behind my head, staring up at the dim blue lights. Endorphins still raced through me, leaving me in a contented, blissful state.

I liked sex as much as the next guy, but over the years, there’d been a lot of women who tried too hard, as if they thought they could land the former-NFL guy if they just wowed me in the sack. They were the types who tried to take the lead or wanted to get extra kinky. Sex could be calculating, I’d learned, but with Harper, it was different.

Harper had more of a you-get-what-you-see aura about her, as if she wasn’t up for putting on airs for anyone and especially not this has-been athlete. She just…was.

It was refreshing as fuck.

The bathroom door opened, and my eyes locked onto her naked body and her pretty face again as she walked toward me. Instead of lying next to me, though, she sat on the edge of the mattress and picked up her underwear.

I frowned. I hadn’t committed to being done with her yet, was pondering how long until I’d be ready for round two.

“What are you doing?” I asked, rolling to my side and propping up on my elbow.

“I need to go,” she said matter-of-factly. Almost cheerfully.

I frowned, thinking of what another hour could bring us.

She must have read my thoughts, because she leaned over, kissed me briefly, and said, “My car’s out front. The longer I’m here, the more likely someone will recognize it.”

That brought reality home abruptly.

I sat up and did my best to look indifferent. To appear unworried that someone might’ve already seen her car. To seem not disappointed as fuck that there’d be no round two.

Harper was playing it smart. I was grateful one of us had our wits about us.

As she dressed, I pulled my sweats on commando, went out the bedroom door to the deck, grabbed her shoes, and carried them back to her.

“Thank you,” she said, taking them from me but not putting them on.

I followed her out of my bedroom. At the front door, she stood on her tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss to my lips, said, “Night, Max,” and walked out.

After I closed the door, I stood there letting it sink in that, for once, someone was in more of a hurry to end our night together than I was.

Chapter Sixteen

Harper

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