Page 55 of Never Been Worse

“I thought I made that clear when I put a ring on your finger,” I say with a smile.

“No, like youlike me, Wes.Outside of being friends and conveniently married.”

“I thought I madethatclear when I fingered you in your design room.” Harper’s face scrunches up in the most adorable way, and I press a kiss to the tip of her scrunched-up nose.

“You haven’t done it since,” she says begrudgingly.

“That’s because I’ve been into you for a long time, Harper. I’ve just been waiting for you to pull your head out of the sand and realize you want someone who is completely and utterly obsessed with you, and I don’t want sex to complicate that.”

“Oh,” she whispers.

“So, are you ready to admit there’s something between us?” I ask with a smile.

“I thought I made that clear when I married you,” she echoes, and I give her a look, moving us until her ass is pressed against the counter of the bathroom.

“You’ve made a lot of things clear since then, Harper, but one of them has not been that you’re ready to make this something more.”

“I thought I madethatclear when I came on your fingers in my design room,” she whispers, white teeth biting into her plump, pink-painted bottom lip, and I groan, pressing my growing erection into her stomach.

“I must have been distracted,” I whisper, dropping my face to hers, ready to throw everything to the wind and finally consummate this marriage the way I’ve been dying to for a month.

For years, if we’re being honest.

“Tell me, Harper. Tell me you’re ready to be more,” I say, my lips brushing hers as I speak there. “Not as friends, not as friends with benefits. As my wife. Asmine. As something that’s going to last a fuck of a lot longer than twelve months.”

I pray to whoever will listen that she’s ready.

I’ll wait.

I’ll wait a month, a year, a lifetime if it means I get Harper Holden in a real way, if it means she did it on her terms, if it means she came to me willing and open.

But I’d much rather spend that lifetime loving her.

“Yeah, Wes,” she says, looking up at me, nothing between us. “I’m ready.”

“Fuck,” I groan, dropping my mouth to hers and devouring her. I expect her to argue about messing up her lipstick or her hair, but instead, her arms loop around my neck, pulling me closer like she, too, can’t resist having anything between us.

Her phone buzzes with an alarm, something I’ve learned she sets to keep herself on track and not lose time. I groan, leaning my forehead to hers.

“We gotta go,” she whispers.

“Why?” Her lips tip up with a smile.

“Because we have to be seen at Willa’s show.”

“Why?” I whisper again, because I’m ready to ditch this whole plan and run.

She looks at me like there's a genuine battle in her face before she answers truthfully.

“Because I want to go out with you. I want to be seen out with my husband. And I made this pretty dress.” Her lips tip up. “And because you’ve been torturing me for the past month. I figure it’s time I repay the favor.”

I groan again but press my lips to hers gently, casually, careful not to take it any further, before I step back and grab her hand.

“What my wife wants, my wife gets.”

And then we’re off. But I leave content knowing everything has changed for Harper and me.

TWENTY

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