Page 40 of Meet Me in the Penalty Box

Fuck. She was breathtaking.

Harper fumbled with the keys in her hands and her eyes bounced to mine as she let out a gasp. “Nico,” she said breathlessly as a wave of confusion passed through her irises. “You scared me. What are you doing here?”

Her eyes dropped down to the flowers and then back up to meet my gaze. A pink tint spread across her cheeks and she instinctively batted her eyelashes at me.

“Here,” I said to her as I reached for her bags while handing her the flowers. “Let me carry those and you take these.”

She didn’t argue as she slid the straps from her shoulders and I took them from her. She looked down at the flowers in her hands and back up to me. “What are these for?”

“Just because,” I told her with a shrug as she unlocked her apartment door and let me in with her. “I wanted to surprise you and let you know how proud I am of you.”

Harper paused just inside her apartment as she turned to look at me. “You got me ‘just because’ flowers? And showed up at my place to surprise me?”

I swallowed roughly over the walnut-sized lump that formed in my throat and nodded. “I did,” I said quietly, not fully trusting my voice.

The look in her eyes was a mixture of surprise and contentment. No words needed to be spoken between us in that moment. The meaning behind the flowers shook me to the core and it wasn't until she questioned me on it that the reality of the situation hit me in my fucking soul. I didn’t just go out and buy people flowers.

“The only person I’ve ever bought flowers for before was my mother,” I told her with nothing but pure honesty. My voice was barely audible and Harper’s eyes searched mine. “The last ones I bought were a week before she passed away.”

Harper’s eyes were soft and I watched the moisture collect on her lashes. She took the bags from me and set them on a bench that she had by the entrance. She stepped closer to me, wrapping her arms around my torso as she pressed herself flush against my body.

Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around the tops of her shoulders and held her close as I buried my face in her hair. It wasn’t often that I allowed the grief to settle in, but I couldn’t help myself right now. There was something about the moment that had a rush of feelings slamming into my chest. My heart constricted and I blinked back the tears.

I had already grieved the loss of my mother, but those damn flowers. They had emotions rushing back to me in a moment and I needed to focus on Harper. She was the one who could ground me in this moment.

“Thank you for the flowers,” she murmured against my shirt as she held me tightly. “They’re beautiful.”

I slowly pulled back from her and she leaned her head back to look up at me. “Then they’re perfect for you. You deserve everything in the fucking world and I want to be the one who gives it to you.”

She stared back at me. “Nico…”

“Shh,” I shushed her as I lifted a finger to press to her lips. “You don’t need to argue with me. I won’t say anything more. I just want you to know that you’re important to me, okay? And I’m so goddamn proud of you. You had the opportunity to explore another avenue in your career and you killed it.”

She laughed quietly and shook her head in disbelief. “You haven’t even seen any of the images, so how could you possibly say that?”

“Because I know you,” I smiled down at her, “and you are nothing short of amazing.”

Her eyes were bright as she stared into my soul. Harper Jensen had crawled her way through my veins and into my heart. She nestled herself deep inside and made it her home. Harper was my home and I never wanted to be without her.

“Let me take you out. We need to go celebrate this tonight.”

“Tonight?” She glanced at the clock on the wall. “Isn’t it getting kind of late?”

I shrugged. “I guess it depends on where you want to go.”

“What did you have in mind?”

I held up the bottle of champagne I brought over for her. “Grab two glasses and I know of somewhere we can go where we don’t have to worry about them closing.”

Harper eyed me skeptically, but I didn’t miss the excitement in her eyes. She pushed away from me and went into her kitchen before coming back with two glasses. I slid my hand into hers and laced our fingers together before I pulled her back out of her apartment.

She didn't question me as I led her to my car. She held on to my hand as we headed through the city until we were leaving the city limits. It wasn’t a far drive to the lake and I parked my car under a canopy of trees by the one dock. Harper looked over at me with a tender smile as I got out of my car.

She followed suit and met me around the front of the vehicle. She was still wearing the dress from earlier and the night air was cold. I watched her for a moment as she wrapped her arms around herself and rubbed her arms. Grabbing the back of my hoodie, I pulled it over my head and handed it to her.

Harper looked up at me. “You’re going to be cold.”

A chuckle rumbled in my chest and I shook my head at her. “Don’t worry about me, love. Put it on. We won’t be out here long. I don’t want to risk you freezing.”

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