Between the hard realities I was swallowing about Brock being back, tied with the fact that I had met a man I didn’t immediately cower from, not to mention that kiss—which was more than good—my thoughts were a whirlwind. I had replayed that amazing moment with Jack about a thousand times, and had a hard time wrapping my brain around much of anything else.
There was something about him.
But I hadn’t heard from him, and while I wasn’t an expert in dating, I was pretty sure a week with no word was a brush off.
“You’ve dated a lot,” I said slowly, and Harper turned her attention back on me.
She tied her red hair into a messy knot on the top of her head and raised a brow. “Yes, I have.”
I glanced at the coffee cup in my hands. “Have you ever thought about a guy, in a serious way, after you just met him?”
She smiled. “Well, look at you. I could barely get you to agree to one date, and now you’re talking about one night stands?”
“It’s not like that. Well, kind of…” I shook my head. “Not the one night stand part. Jack kissed me, but I wanted him to. And now all I can think about is—”
“Jumping his bones?” Harper winked.
“I’ve never thought of a man this way. He makes me want things. Physical things.” The sexual tension my body felt when I was with him was new and exciting. And I wasn’t ready to give that up.
“Wanting sex is a good thing. It’s a normal thing.” Harper drawled out the last part, and I met her stare. “Thanks to that asshole step-brother of yours, you associate it with fear and pain.”
She paused a moment, as if the words hurt her throat to say. Harper was my best friend, and I knew she loved me and cared. She also hated what Brock had done to me. She was the only person in the world who believed me.
“I know you attempted a relationship with Andy a couple years ago, and you two never really sealed the deal.”
“I tried,” I whispered quietly.
“I know you did, hun. But to get past all the shitty memories, it takes something stronger. It takes passion. Sounds like this guy from last week made you back burner the bad things, and focus on the good.”
I thought about that for a moment. Jack did make me feel good. Safe. Hot. He made me want sex…want physical things I’ve always shied away from. Maybe Harper was right. Maybe it was the passion. But passion was a feeling I had zero experience with.
“Back up for a second though, you never told me how you ended up at this guy’s place last weekend.”
“Brock showed up at the bar.”
Harper’s face fell, then twisted into a pissed off glare. “That fucker. Are you okay? What did he say to you?”
I shook my head. “Nothing at first. He didn’t even know I was there, actually. Thanks to Jack.”
“Knight in shining armor kind of thing?”
“Something like that. He read me, and it felt like he could sense my anxiety, and somehow just…” I glanced at the ceiling and smiled, “gave me a piece of power.”
“Wow,” Harper said. “Sounds intense.”
I laughed, because if there was one word to describe Jack, that would be it.
“It also sounds like a pretty successful evening of making ne
w friends. You seem a little ballsier since then.”
“I’ll try to take that as a compliment,” I said, taking a sip of my own coffee.
“You should. Because the fact is, your dad is a letdown, but you faced him. And you’re talking about sex for the first time in…ever, which makes me think that either you underwent an invasion of the body snatchers kind of thing and you’re not really Lana, or—”
“Or I’m losing my mind?”
“No, you’re standing up for yourself and finally admitting to what you want.”