Would he? Amber’s heart did a flip-flop. It was possible. She sure loved the idea herself. She hadn’t spoken to Karen in over six years. While she finished school, Laura had been her family. Laura’s mother hadn’t been around all that much, and once they’d both graduated, she very nicely told them to get the hell out. At Rachel’s the girls were her family, with Marta as a mother figure.
Marta.
Some mother figure, drugging girls and exploiting them.
Blake Buchanan and those horrible Internet images catapulted into her mind. Her tummy—full of blue rib eye, tomato-and-mozzarella salad, loaded baked potato, and green beans—threatened to betray her.
Escape. She longed for escape. And there sat Harper, his dark eyes smoking, his hair tousled and sexy as usual, smiling with those full pink lips surrounding nearly perfect white teeth. One of his front teeth slightly overlapped the other. A tiny imperfection that made him even sexier. Her heart melted.
He’d done something so wonderful for her tonight. He’d found her father and brought him to her.
So a man wasn’t in her immediate future. At least that’s what she’d thought. Maybe she’d rethink her stance.
He wanted her. Even now, just sitting on the couch, electricity sizzled between them. His finger brushing her forearm sent tiny flames igniting over her whole body.
Her need was more than physical, though. She liked him. Liked how he treated her, liked his openness, his forthrightness, how he’d told her in no uncertain terms he wanted to take her to bed. It was a statement of pure honesty. Who couldn’t respect a man who valued honesty above all else?
She liked his family, liked his place, liked pretty much everything about him. Loved that he’d offered to bring her breakfast this morning.
Loved that he’d brought her father to her.
Loved.
She was falling for Harper Bay.
Damn it.
His arms would be paradise—a whimsical escape from Blake Buchanan and his threats.
How she longed for escape. Escape only Harper could give her.
His deep voice interrupted her racing thoughts. “Don’t you think?”
“Think what?”
“That Thunder might welcome the idea of family at this point in his life?”
His beautiful eyes, crinkling in the corners, ensnared her. “I suppose he might.”
She melted into his arms.
When their lips met, all doubts rinsed from her mind. Her body took over. She wanted to make love with Harper. She would not stop like she had last night.
He traced the outside of her lips with his soft probing tongue. A butterfly kiss. Laura had taught her about that back in high school, after Karen had kicked her out. She’d never experienced one until now.
The kiss warmed her, heated her, turned her into a blistering inferno. Had she not known better she’d have been convinced her skin was glowing red with passion. Harper replaced the tip of his tongue with his teeth, and he nibbled gently over her upper lip, her lower, and sucked the lower lip into his mouth.
Amber sighed. Goosebumps erupted over her flesh. How was it possible to feel so hot yet so cold at one time? A soft moan met her ears.
It took a moment to realize it had come from her own throat.
“I love kissing you, baby,” Harper whispered against her mouth. “You’re so soft and sweet, so responsive.” He parted the seam of her lips with his tongue and eased it inside.
If she’d had any shred of resistance left, his tongue erased it. She bathed herself in the kiss, let it consume her. Her tongue met his with p
assion so powerful she thought she might explode with desire and lust.
They ravaged each other’s mouths. Amber touched Harper’s cheek, and his stubble scraped against her fingers and palm. So masculine, so right. He was so handsome, beautifully sculpted, and she wanted him so much. Her heart beat against her sternum so hard and fast she felt sure he could feel it in his own chest.