Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
“Oh, I don’t want to miss time with everyone,” Harper rushed to say after covering her mouth to hide a yawn.
“You’re exhausted. What time were you up this morning for parents to bring their children into your center?”
“I usually get up at four to have breakfast, dress, and drive to the daycare. Parents start arriving at six. I’ve got a couple toddlers whose mommies and daddies work at the hospital. They have to be there early,” Harper explained.
“It’s time you were in bed. Let me see you home.”
“I hate to cut our evening short but I am exhausted,” Harper confessed before yawning again. “Where are you staying tonight? With your folks?”
“No. I’ll get a hotel room.”
“I overheard earlier that the hotels were full this weekend,” she said, worrying.
“I can sleep in the truck I rented,” Colt assured her. “It won’t be the first time.”
“I don’t want you to do that. I have a couch if that’s better?” she offered hesitantly.
“Thanks, Harper. I’ll take you up on that offer.”
Placing his hand on the small of her back, Colt steered her out of Murphy’s. Harper allowed him to guide her through the door without argument. She’d normally say goodnight to their friends, but they would know she was safe with Colt. It would take the last of her energy to drive home.
CHAPTER 7
Harper rolled over to look at the time on her clock and froze. Colt was on the bed next to her. He lay on his side facing away from her. Glancing over his sculpted shoulder and back muscles, Harper swallowed hard when she reached the elastic waistband of his snug boxer briefs. She didn’t know if she was happy or sad that he was wearing them.
Sad, definitely sad, she thought, scanning over the full, tight curve of his ass.
He was sleeping soundly. Harper tugged the covers over her back slowly to avoid shifting the covers trapped underneath him and waking Colt up. Sliding her legs over the side of the mattress, Harper tried to ease herself into a sitting position. The mattress springs squeaked slightly, and she froze in place, looking over at Colt. His breath caught and then settled back into its normal rhythm.
Harper caught herself breathing with him, willing him to stay asleep as she slowly stood. Smoothing her T-shirt over her thighs and tugging it lower, Harper inched toward the attached bathroom where her robe hung. Once there, she stared at the empty hook and remembered wearing it to bed last night and tossing it onto the side of the bed for the morning. The same side Colt now laid on.
She peeked out the door and could see bits of the flowery material hanging over the side of the bed. Not much—Colt’s muscular form covered most of the robe. Crap!
Okay, she could put her coat on. That would work as a robe, right?
Peeking at the bathroom mirror, Harper shook her head. She needed to look better when he woke up. Before she abandoned the bathroom, she eased her brush off the counter and heard the teeniest click.
The mattress groaned, and she registered Colt’s heavy steps coming toward the bathroom. Freezing, she looked around for some way to hide. Short of getting into the shower and hiding, she was caught.
“Angel,” Colt called, his low voice husky with sleep. As he entered the room, he smiled and walked toward her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close to him.
Harper held her breath as he rested his head on her shoulder and stood, holding her against his body. When he did nothing other than squeeze her close, Harper inhaled. Warm masculinity filled her senses. His hard frame against her tantalized as his arms held her gently, yet securely. She could feel his morning erection pressing against her and reminded herself that he was hard for biological reasons, not because of her. Unable to resist, Harper tentatively wrapped her arms around his shoulders, unsure what to do.
“Good morning, Little girl,” he whispered against her skin before he pressed soft kisses to the bare skin exposed by the wide neckline of her T-shirt.
Harper tried to stifle her moan of delight at the sensations as he trailed warm kisses up the sensitive side of her throat and over her jaw. She was not successful.
“Mmm, let me hear your sounds, Harper. Let Daddy know you’re enjoying his touch,” he instructed.
“Colt…”
Her words evaporated as his lips captured hers—first in a soft kiss, followed by a low groan of arousal that did things Harper had never felt. Colt deepened the kiss and dipped his tongue inside her mouth. She abandoned any concept of control as she responded eagerly to the exchange. The feel of his hardness against her evoked a primal response that couldn’t come close to the excitement already welling inside her.
This was Colt. The man she’d fantasized about for years as a teenager. His face still occupied her thoughts as she pleasured herself alone. Squeezing her legs together, she fought against grinding herself against him. Colt solved her dilemma, stroking one hand down her spine to cup her round bottom and pulling her closer to move against her intimately.