Page 40 of A Touch of Heaven

“Harper, let’s make a deal. New starts for both of us? I don’t know if my new start is with Nate, but I think I owe it to both of us to try. So please, I’m asking you to support me in this.”

She stands up, brushing the sand off her shorts, and puts her pinky finger out to me. I smile, standing up and curling my pinkie around hers. “Deal.” She says, and the next thing I know, we’re hugging and giggling.

“Sooooo, Nate,” she wiggles her eyebrows at me, “That boy can kiss, right? I mean, it looked like a good kiss?”

I laugh, nodding at her. “God, yes, Harps, the boy can kiss like a god!”

She grins, linking her arm with mine as we walk down to the beach. “Damn, girl! The boy looks like a god. Of course, he can kiss like one. Have you gone any further?”

I shake my head. “He told me he’s waiting for me to tell him I feel the same.”

She gags. “Urgh, what a dork! Does he not realize sex happens wayyyy before you declare your love for each other? I mean, it’s not 1930…god you must be gagging to lose your V-card by now. I think you’re the only virgin I know…well, except my ten-year-old cousin.” I nudge her in the ribs, laughing.

“Hey.”

We both laugh as we walk through the door to our beach house. The heavy mood is gone; it feels lighter, and Harper seems lighter, too. I don’t know how I would be if that happened to me. Yesterday, Jax told me I was strong. If only he could see Harper. She seems to be the epitome of the word.

“Okay, girl, get dressed! I’m starving and could seriously eat lots of bacon right now. I need to know how I came home to you two being so cozy on the chair last night.”

I roll my eyes, knowing I’m going to spend the next few hours detailing every moment between me and Nate until she’s bored with hearing it.

CHAPTERTWENTY

NATE

Last night was unbelievable. Feeling her in my arms so openly. Having her not only kiss me back but initiate it. Feeling her incredible body against mine. I want her so badly. I always have, but right now, all I can do is think about how good my dick will feel as I push inside her for the first time.

I want to be the one taking her innocence. Part of me wishes I waited for her, but the other part is glad I didn’t because now her first time will be perfect. I can show her how good it feels. Make her crave me as much as I do her. I want to spend hours worshiping her.

My first time was shit. I was drunk, and so was the girl at the time. It was pointless because all I could think of the whole time through my drunken haze was how wrong it felt. After all, it wasn’t her, but I was the only guy on the football team who hadn’t slept with a girl, so I eventually gave in to the pressure.

I can see the look in my Tink’s eyes now as she starts to think differently of me, now considering what we could be. I need to keep trying with her because I need her to be mine in every sense of the word. But I need her to want to be mine. If anything, that’s more important to me.

When I woke up with her limbs entangled with mine, I lay there watching her sleep. She looked like an angel in my arms. I watched her chest rise and fall steadily. I watched her hair shine as the sun hit it through the window. I watched her lips murmur silent words as she dreamed. I felt how soft her skin was as I stroked her cheek, how amazingly beautiful the sight was. I leaned in, kissing her forehead, and then that’s when things changed for me.

The image of my beautiful angel became tainted because she whispered his name. I wanted to kiss her. I couldn’t resist. I leaned in and kissed the cheek I just stroked. The second my lips touched her skin, she cuddled into me more. But his name was the one that fell from her lips. She thought I was him, and she liked it.

Suddenly, everything came crashing down on me. The looks exchanged between them, the comments Asher and Jax made, and why she was crying on the beach. She was in love with Chase, not me.

I felt like I was dying at that moment.

Had I waited too long?

Had my brother crept in before me?

Did they fall for each other when I was off trying to find another girl to replace her in my heart?

She tried to reassure me when I confronted her, but there are still doubts in my mind. All I know is I’ll love her more than he ever could, and I’ll show her that. I’ll show her I’m the right choice for her. He can’t love her the way I can. I don’t think my brother is capable of it anymore.

Chase changed a few years ago. Before, he always had my back. My older brother always protected me and was always there for me, that was until he became part of the unholy bastards. Since Asher came to town and they became friends, he stopped and they owned the name given to them at the fight ring downtown.

And as he grew up, he got closer to Jax and Asher; he distanced himself from me and everything else in his life. They became his brothers, and it left me on the sidelines, cold and alone. If he wasn’t with his fling of the week, he was with them. They would disappear for days at a time.

I figured they were off partying, but over the last couple of years, I had seen something change in him. He stopped caring about things; he drank more, and he slept around a hell of a lot more. Sometimes, when he came home to stay, I would hear him shouting in his sleep. I sometimes wonder if they got him mixed up in something bad because he’s come home with bruises. I found out he’s been fighting in the illegal fight ring downtown.

He has always been hot-headed, but he loses his temper much quicker now. He used to walk away from a fight, always saying it wasn’t worth it, but over the years, he stopped doing that. Instead, he opts to turn his knuckles bloody, and he won’t stop until someone pulls him off, whoever is unlucky enough to get on his bad side.

I snuck in once, wanting to watch him. There was a guy completely unconscious on the floor, and Chase was just laying blow after blow. It took three guys to drag him off the poor dude on the floor.

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