Page 101 of On the Double

I looked up at him in confusion. “The accident with your parents?”

He nodded. “That’s how they died. We were all in the car. It was actually the night of her high school graduation.”

“What happened?”

“Head-on collision. They were killed instantly, but we both walked away with barely a scratch.”

Fucking hell. How was it possible that this woman was so cheerful all the time? It had to be depressing as hell to go through all that.

“Anyway, she hasn’t really talked about the accident yet, so I have no clue how she’s dealing.”

I looked toward the hall, feeling the need to go to her, but I didn’t want to be rude and walk away.

“Go on. I’m gonna eat and head to bed. I’ll put this away.”

“You sure?”

He rolled his eyes at me. “It is my house.”

I headed down the hall, quietly opening the door. Harper was still asleep, but looked uncomfortable as hell. I stared at her for what felt like an hour before finally sitting down on the edge of the bed, dropping my head in my hands.

How the hell had I let this woman get to me so much? I used to think she was crazy, but I had grown so used to her antics in such a short time that all I could think about was the fact that if I walked away from her, I’d never see that far-off look in her eyes as she daydreamed about me. Could I really deal with that?

Hell, could I deal with sticking around?

I looked over just as she sighed and snuggled into her pillow. “James Earl Jones,” she murmured.

I chuckled, shaking my head. I could stick around for a little longer.

27

HARPER

I tried to roll over,but failed miserably. Having only one arm worked in funny ways. For example, it really made for a good story, but also made it impossible to do things on my own. Groaning, I flung my good arm out to the side to grab anything to help hoist me upright, but instead met a hard body.

“Highlander?” I grumbled.

“Not exactly.”

I knew that voice. With my eyes still closed, I prodded the hard male specimen, making sure everything was as it should be. Yep, it was definitely him. “You have clothes on.”

“Well, I don’t generally stay naked unless I’m in bed.”

I pried one eye open and blinked at him. “You are in a bed.”

“Yourbed,” he pointed out.

“I thought that would give you even more reason to be naked.”

Rolling his eyes, he turned on his side, propping his head up on his hand. “How can you be thinking about sex right now?”

In truth, I wasn’t. But the last time I saw him, he was naked, and that’s what ran through my mind when I felt his body next to me. Alas, we were not naked in his bed, and the last few days were not someterrible dream. My body really did hurt, and the hole in my arm was one hundred percent real.

Well, technically, it wasn’t a hole anymore. They fixed my bones and stitched me up. I was no longer holy. I was just me with a lot more cuts and bruises. Speaking of which, one of those bruises was making me very uncomfortable.

“Can you move me?”

He sat up immediately, his eyes roaming over my body. “How?”

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