Page 8 of Promises & Pumpkins
Miles stood up, grabbing onto the back of my hips and tugging me against him while I pulled my sweater over my head. His breath was warm on my neck. “I can’t talk you into staying for breakfast?” he asked when I melted against him.
I shook my head, turning in his arms and giving him a quick peck on the lips. “I can’t. Thank you,” I said, chewing on the corner of my lip. “For last night.”
“You’re welcome.” He chuckled, kissing me again. “Are you going to let me do it again?”
“We’ll see.” I giggled, determined to turn him down, but my pussy was arguing against it already. If I could help it, this was going to just be a one-night stand. I backed away from him, making sure my clothing was straight before I left. He followed behind me down the hallway we had traveled in a blur last night. “I’ll see you around?” I asked over my shoulder when we got to the front door. I could hear cartoons from the other room, and I became more anxious to get out of there.
Miles nodded and winked. “Of course,” he said. “You only live twenty steps that way, remember?”
Chapter 7
Miles
The grocery store on a Thursday afternoon was full of moms preparing for the weekend, associates stacking a pile of tomatoes, and… Harper? She turned an onion over in her hands, giving it a small sniff before she tucked it into a plastic bag and set it in the grocery cart. When I approached her, she turned around.
“Hey, stranger.” I chuckled, reaching for one of the plastic bags at the same time she did. We both pulled our hands back until I waved, insisting that she go first. She laughed dryly.
“Oh, hey.” Harper didn’t seem thrilled to see me, and it was likely the same reason she seemed to be avoiding me. “What are you doing here?”
I looked at the pile of oranges in front of us and the basket of groceries like it was obvious. Then I smirked. “Well, you’ve been avoiding me the past few days, and I heard you might be here, so I figured I’d follow you…” I lifted a brow, hoping she knew it was obvious that I wasn’t actually following her. Why else would I be at the grocery store if not to also buy groceries? I waited a second, but she didn’t laugh.
“I’m not avoiding you.” Harper laughed a little too forcefully, drawing attention from a woman being too particular about bananas. “Sorry, I’ve just been busy.” She chewed on her lip in a manner that made me question if she meant it.
“I believe it.” I watched her adjust from one foot to the other, but her eyes didn’t leave mine. “Are you busy tonight? Let me make you dinner.” I pointed at the cart full of food.
Harper shook her head. “I can’t. I am going to my sister’s.” She shrugged, looking at her own basket like it explained that. I chuckled at the returned vagueness.
“What about tomorrow? Are you busy then?” I wiggled a brow, reaching for an orange. She giggled when I tossed it in the air and caught it. “I never get a Friday night off. Let me take you out and show you around Hazy Cove.”
She smiled but shook her head again. “I can’t tomorrow either. I’m busy.” Harper shrugged her shoulders half-apologetically and grabbed an orange, sticking it in the bag and reaching for another. Then she grabbed a third and quickly twisted the bag, tugging a small knot in the end before she set it with the onion.
“Well you can’t be busy every night.” I winked at her, earning a semi-forced smile.
“I’m sorry, I had a really great time with you, and you’re really sweet.” She put her hand on my arm, looking apologetic. “But I just don’t think this would work between us. I hope we can be friends and really great neighbors. You’re just not really my type.”
Was she serious?
I leaned in, gently wrapping my hand around her wrist and drawing her gaze down to the contact. She gulped, but she didn’t pull away. “I sure seemed like your type when you were coming all over my face and begging me to fuck you harder the other night.”
“Shh, shh,” she hissed, looking around with wide eyes to make sure nobody had heard me. So what if they had? Why did I want to convince this arguably-too-young-for-me woman to give me a chance? Maybe she just seemed different. “Will you quiet down?”
“What happened?” I asked, stepping close enough to her to smell the sweet scent of her shampoo. She inhaled, closing her eyes. “What changed?”
“Nothing changed.” Harper looked around the store like she was grasping for any excuse that would take her away from the situation. “I’m just not really looking for anything serious right now.”
I smirked. “Who said it has to be anything serious? It doesn’t have to be anything more than dinner—maybe dessert.”
“It’s never just dessert.” She ran her thumb across my arm before letting go and stepping back. When she turned around to leave, she flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. She had been standing closer to the stand than she realized, and she knocked oranges loose when she bumped into it. A few orangesfell onto the ground and rolled. She bent down to grab them, and three more fell.
I bit back a quiet laugh when Harper huffed in annoyance. She set one of the oranges on top of the stack but when another fell to the ground, she grumbled, throwing the others in her basket. Then she looked over her shoulder at me and smiled like she hadn’t just made a small scene. “See you around, Miles.”
Chapter 8
Harper
“You’re telling me he fucked you until you couldn’t feel your legs, made you scream like nobody ever has, and he offered to make you dinnerand desserttonight, but you told him no?” My sister looked at me like I had just told her I turned down a free, all-expenses-paid trip somewhere exotic—not dinner at my neighbor-slash-one-night-stand’s house. I nodded, and she huffed. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Excuse me?” I was taken aback by her sudden outburst. She had always been the first to try and push me out on a date, but she was also the first to understand and take my side when I said no.
