Page 47 of Score to Settle
“You can’t tell me it wasn’t the same for you. I bet all the boys took very cold showers after dancing with you. I know I will be later.”
Her lips part and she laughs, the sound like honey through my veins as we continue to move around the floor.
“I was a nerd in high school. Big glasses. Braces. Frizzy hair.”
I stare at Harper as she draws in her lower lip, lost in thought. “I got the impression at lunch with you and Mia that there’s something about high school you’re not telling me.”
Harper looks thoughtful for another moment before she shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter now.”
“You sure?”
“One hundred percent.” She grins and her eyes light up. Those eyes I can’t stop staring into.
The music slows, the singer crooning about lost love, and I pull Harper close. Across the room, I catch the glare from her preppy ex and resist the urge to flip him the finger.
Being with Harper is easy. We laugh and joke and dance and the night slips away. When the band stops, Harper leans her whole body against mine and whispers in my ear, “Take me home?”
“To Mia’s?” I ask. And even though I’ve spent the evening telling myself all the reasons why I need to keep my distance, I hope it’s not what she means.
She pauses, looking uncertain for a moment. Then she smiles. “Might as well head back to the ranch with you, since you’re here.”
Relief hits and I smile. “Yes, ma’am.”
Out on the street the air is biting cold, our breath coming out in little white puffs. The streets are empty of people and vehicles. Christmas lights flash in office windows and shop fronts.
When Harper shivers, I lift my arm, beckoning her close. I think she’ll give me that look that tells me she’s remaining professional and doesn’t need my help, but instead she steps into my body. The perfect fit.
“Thank you for making a difficult night fun,” she says.
“Anytime,” I reply, meaning it as we head toward my truck.
The radio plays old country as we make the drive home. Harper undoes the straps of her heels and sighs as she rubs the back of her feet. I’m acutely aware that we’re heading back to an empty ranch. I wonder if Harper remembers. I wonder if that’s why it feels like there’s a loud, palpable tension crackling between us.
As we pull up to the ranch, there’s a break in the clouds and the house is bathed in moonlight. Across the driveway, icicles hang from the eaves of the barn.
I climb from the truck and as I move around to open Harper’s door, the first flakes of fat snow drift down from the sky. I open the door and Harper swings her legs out. The red silk of her dress rides up, exposing the smooth skin of her thighs. She dangles the straps of her red heels from her fingers and pulls a face as she glances at the ground and then the shoes in her hand, her expression so comically pained that I laugh.
“Would the gentlemanly thing to do be to offer you a lift?”
“Gentlemanly? You?”
“Hey, I’ve been your knight in shining armor tonight.” I raise my chin, pulling my own face at her.
She grins. “True.” She glances to the ground again then back to my face, her eyes dancing with mischief that shoots something electric through my body. “What kind of lift are we talking? Because if it’s a fireman’s carry?—”
I roll my eyes. “Come here.” And before she has the chance to talk herself out of it, I slide one hand around the bare skin of her back and one under her thighs, just below that fucking perfect ass of hers, and I lift her up and stride toward the house. All I can think about is the heat of her body in my arms. Then Harper sticks her tongue out and tilts her head to the sky and I can’t help but laugh.
“What?” she asks with a grin. “Haven’t you ever tried to catch snowflakes on your tongue before?”
I shake my head, watching the white fluffy snow float in the air. “Can’t say I have.”
“Come on, try it with me.” She laughs.
I stop moving and we both let the snowflakes land on our tongues, so cold they feel like they burn for a second beforemelting into nothing. The way Harper’s eyes shine with delight makes me think I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.
We’re still laughing when we reach the porch and I place her down on the cold planks of wood. The way she’s biting her bottom lip is sexy as hell and feels dangerous.
“Don’t look at me like that, Cassidy,” I say as we step into the kitchen. Familiar aromas of fresh bread and coffee and home fill my senses. Buck’s tail thumps from his bed in the corner of the kitchen, but he’s half asleep and doesn’t leap up to greet us. I go to him, scratching his ear briefly, and when I turn around, Harper is standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the hall, snowflakes still resting in her hair. Fuck, she takes my breath away.
