Page 34 of Beautiful Chaos

When I see Harper, I see the same goodness my mother always had in her eyes, and my mother was a fucking saint.

Chapter 24

HARPER

When I opened my computer to look up the closest bus stop, I noticed an urgent message from Mr. Kelvin. He likely attempted to call, but my phone wasn’t charged, and I awoke to find it completely dead. Fortunately, I have a reliable internal alarm clock that prevents me from oversleeping. If not for that, the morning might have turned into a disaster.

Harper,

Sorry for the late notice, but I’m going to send you a list of contacts to reach out to for the ‘Plaza story’. You will work from home today. I’ll reach out Via Skype this evening. Have a great day.

-Mr. Kelvin

“That’s so weird,” I thought to myself.

We have never worked from home. Mr. Kelvin was too controlling and overbearing by nature to give me the reins on a big story like ‘The Plaza Story’ or any story.

I shrugged it off and packed the rest of my things in my overfilled duffle bag, grabbing my toiletries from the bathroom. I turned down the light, doing my best to leave everything the way it was when I got here.

I was stuffing my charger into my purse when I heard a light knock at the door. It was so light that I stopped to see where the noise had come from. Then a second knock came a little heavier than the last.

“Come in,” I hollered as I bent down, placing my purse on my duffle bag, and quickly grabbing my computer from the bedside table.

When I turned around, I locked eyes with the most handsome man I had ever seen. I thought he looked good in his three-piece suit and loafers but seeing him in denim and a V-neck t-shirt that showed his tattooed chest and neck had me absolutely screaming.

His hair was ruffled. I could smell his body soap and cologne as their masculine aroma floated to my senses.

A smile spread across his full lips, revealing dimples nearly concealed by his well-groomed beard. He posed in the doorway, leaning on the frame with one shoulder, hands tucked into his front pockets, accentuating the veins in his forearms. His tattoos moved like animated paintings, stretching over his firm, flexed muscles.

My eyes wandered, at his chest, to the bulge in his jeans. Jasper cleared his throat startling me back to reality.

“See something you like, Doll?” He teased as I stood there with my lips parted, saying nothing. I snapped my mouth shut quickly and looked at the floor as the heat of humiliation flushed over my face and chest. I realized I’d just stood there ogling him like a horny teenager.

“Um, sorry. I just um. I’ve only ever seen you in suits.” I said with a shaky tone from both the foreign feeling of arousal and embarrassment. He chuckled at my stuttered remark.

“Well, if I knew it had this effect on you, I would have dressed down when I asked you out last, maybe I wouldn’t have been rejected,” he said teasingly with a wink as his tongue snuck out to moisten his bottom lip. It sent a pang of guilt, straight to my gut and something else I couldn’t quite explain. Arousal?

He must have felt the shift in the atmosphere when he scrunched his eyebrows at me and started to walk into the room. I subconsciously took a step away from him. He noticed and stopped immediately.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you, Doll. I was teasing you,” he announced with his hands in front of him in a signal of surrender. I rubbed the back of my neck at the awkwardness that blanketed the situation.

“Okay, so things just got a little awkward due to my tasteless joke, how about some breakfast to restart?” He offered flashing another one of his breathtaking grins.

I couldn’t resist smiling back with a nod, agreeing to the whole fresh start idea as my body was trembling with energy. Just then, he extends his hand out for me to take in return. I hesitated a moment but then laid my fingertips in his palm. His warm skin against mine made my mind go quiet, only focusing on the sensation of our shared touch.

He led me through a long hall, the walls were covered with pieces of aged art, some I recognized, most I didn’t. Everything looked a bit different in the daylight, more lived in.

He guided me further into the dining room where breakfast was already waiting. The ornate dining table was covered in pastries, breakfast meats, and eggs cooked to all different temperatures. With wide eyes, I looked to see Jasper standing back, taking in my reaction.

“Are you having company?”

He shook his head, smirking.

“I didn’t know what you liked so I had a little taste of everything brought up. Please sit. Indulge.” He pulled my chair out, gesturing for me to sit before he himself sat across from me.

Uncertain, I hesitated to move, even when my stomach growled loudly—a sound I was sure he heard, given the soft chuckle that followed.

After a few minutes of awkwardly staring at the spread, his chair scraped across the tile floor, and before I knew it my empty plate was in his hand. He grabbed all sorts of delicious things and piled them onto it.

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