Page 31

HARLEY

I woke slowly.

First, I noticed the firm, comfortable mattress beneath me. Then, the dim light leaking in from the sides of the blackout curtains. Then, the strong, warm chest pressed against my back.

A rumbling voice sounded in my ear. “Morning.” Then lips against my shoulder and the nape of my neck. Stephan’s arm tightened around my waist, hugging me close.

Holy shit.

Last night hadn’t been a dream.

It had really happened.

A slow, warm heat rolled through my body as I turned over to face him.

His hazel eyes were half-lidded, and there was a sleepy smile on his face.

There were a few hickeys under his collarbone right above one of his tattoos.

Had I done that? Last night was hazy in my memory, a mishmash of sensation and intense emotion.

I felt sort of hungover, but in the best way.

“Morning. What time is it?” My voice was a little rough, too. I closed the distance and brushed my lips against his. His lips felt perfect, and his beard was wonderfully scratchy against my skin.

Now that I’d had his hands on me, it would be nearly impossible to stop touching him.

“Early,” Stephan said. “Dylan’s still asleep. Might be for a little while, too.”

I grinned. “What are you suggesting?”

“I need a shower,” he said. “And you do, too.”

“Are you saying I stink?” I teased, then wriggled closer and pushed him onto his back. I was suddenly wide awake, straddling his hips and grinning down playfully at him. “Is that what this is about?”

“Definitely,” he said. He slid his hands up and down my thighs. His firm grip ran over the fingertip-shaped bruises there, reminding me of how easily he’d picked me up last night. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

I laughed and leaned down to capture his lips in another kiss. It was a slow, passionate kiss, but not anticipatory. It was nice to simply kiss him.

We had a lot of time to make up for.

After a few minutes of lazy kissing, Stephan raked his hand through my hair, then flipped me onto my back. “Shower,” he said.

“Fine, fine.” I climbed out of bed on slightly shaky legs and followed him into the bedroom’s en suite. It was just as luxurious as the bedroom, with dark, pristine tile and a huge glass-doored shower with a rainstorm showerhead.

He turned the hot water on, and steam filled the bathroom. We stood under the water together, and I closed my eyes, leaning against his body as the hot water soothed the wonderful ache in my muscles.

Stephan worked woodsy-smelling soap over my shoulders and upper arms. His slow, sensual touch made my brain, still sleepy and kind of post-orgasmic, power down. That was all that could explain why I said what I said next.

“You remember when we first met?” I asked.

Stephan’s hands stilled briefly before he continued washing my back. “No, I totally forgot. We’ve met before?”

I laughed and elbowed him gently. “No, I mean… You remember that clearing by the lake?”

“Mm. Where we had that picnic? And that little sunset romp?”

I shivered a little. “Mm-hmm. It’s been on my mind…”

He leaned down and kissed my neck. “Oh?”

“I thought maybe I had misremembered over the years… That maybe it wasn’t as good as it was in my memory. Because when I remembered it, it was really damn good.”

Another soft kiss. “Yeah?”

“As good as last night.”

He turned me around and claimed my lips. “Is that what you were thinking about the other night? When I heard you touching yourself?”

Crap. Stupid dragon super-hearing.

I made a small, surprised sound and wriggled away from the kiss. Heat burned through me, half-arousal and half-embarrassment. “That’s none of your business!”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” he said with a pleased grin.

We managed to get cleaned up, with only a few breaks for heated kisses and lingering touches.

Afterward, I wrapped a dark, plush robe around myself—everything in his room was so dark—and padded back out into the bedroom.

I fished my phone out from the pocket of my sweatpants and frowned at the lock screen.

“What is it?” Stephan asked as he tugged on a clean pair of jeans. “Someone bothering you?”

“Not exactly. It’s my mother.”

“I take it you haven’t heard from Liz in a while,” he said carefully.

I nodded. “We haven’t spoken since we last fought.

” That wasn’t unusual for us. Ever since I was a teenager, Mom and I had a rhythm of cordial relationship, major fight, silent treatment, quasi-apology.

Rinse and repeat. It made sense when I was a teenager, but now as a grown woman with a kid of my own, I found it exhausting. Why couldn’t she be a reasonable adult?

“What does she want?” he asked.

“She didn’t say. Just asked if I was still in town. She wants to see me today.”

Stephan sighed. “Are you going to answer?”

My frown deepened. “Probably. I don’t really want to. But…”

“Then don’t. It sounds like you’ve given her a lot of chances.”

I set my phone aside. “It’s not that simple.”

Stephan, now dressed in his usual uniform of jeans and a black T-shirt, stepped forward and tugged the robe a little tighter around me.

I was basically swimming in it, since it was made for a dragon more than a head taller than me.

“I know. She’s your mother and Dylan’s grandmother before she’s the Liz Founty I know from around town. ”

I cringed. I hated to think of the reputation Mom had in town—an unreliable drunk and a sloppy maneater. “I don’t know how to handle her right now.”

He nodded. “If you want her to stay in your life, I won’t interfere,” he said. “But if she talks to you and Dylan like she did that night, I won’t keep my mouth shut, either.”

My heart clenched hard. For ten years, I’d been alone.

Not completely, of course. I had Dylan, my pride and joy. Cassidy was always supporting me. Even Suri had helped out, when he wasn’t too busy being my boss. Dad had been there for me, until he’d passed away.

But I didn’t have a partner. No solid, sturdy foundation. No one who would have my back, no matter what, no matter when.

Could Stephan be that for me?

I was almost too afraid to imagine it. If I had him like this and had to let him go… I didn’t know how I’d recover. Losing him once had been hard enough.

I swallowed hard. Instead of thinking about that, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down for another one of those addictive kisses. “Thank you,” I whispered against his lips. “For having my back.”

Stephan pulled back, and his hazel eyes held mine for a long moment. “I’ve always got your back, Harley. No matter what.”

God, I wanted to believe that. I really did.

I kissed him again, then slipped out of his bedroom and into my own. It sounded like Dylan was awake behind his closed door, and I sighed in relief that I’d snuck back to my room without Dylan seeing. I wasn’t quite ready to explain this yet, not when I had no idea how to explain it to myself.

It sure as hell didn’t feel like “going slow”.

By the time I’d dressed and dried my hair—always an endeavor—Dylan and Stephan were having breakfast. I’d had some time to think and some time to read and re-read Mom’s texts.

Better to get this over with.

“Morning, kiddo,” I said. “You sleep all right?”

“Uh-huh,” Dylan said around a mouthful of bacon. “I dreamed about flying.”

“It’ll happen sooner than you think,” Stephan said. He patted

Dylan’s hair, then handed me a mug of hot coffee.

“Thanks. Do you have time to hang out with Dylan this morning?”

Dylan craned around in his chair at the table to look at me. “Where are you going?”

“I’ve got a little errand to run,” I said. “Shouldn’t take too long.”

Stephan nodded. The small furrow in his brow told me he knew I was going to meet my mother. “Let me call one of the guys and get you an escort.”

“I’m not going far,” I said. “And it’s barely midday. I just want to get this over with, Steph.”

He frowned. He clearly didn’t like the idea of me leaving on my own. I didn’t want to wait around for a chaperone, though. This was family business, not clan business.

“All right,” Stephan said finally, with a sigh. “But you’ll call if you need anything? Anything at all?”

“I will. I promise.”

I pulled up the gravel driveway of my mother’s small cabin tucked into the woods. At least only her car was there, and not some random man’s. I knocked on the door, and when there was no answer, I pushed it open and stepped inside. “Mom? I’m here.”

Mom hustled down the stairs. She looked frazzled, dressed in jeans and a big hoodie that I’d never seen before—maybe one of those random men’s. There were dark circles under her eyes. “There you are! Finally!”

I glanced toward the kitchen. It was a mess of wine bottles, and the coffeemaker looked like it hadn’t been touched since I left. I wanted a cup of coffee, but I was a little afraid of what might be growing in it. “What’s so urgent that you wanted to see me today?”

Mom sighed. “It’s about your father.”

My heart sank. How stupid was I? It had been ridiculous to think she might have wanted to apologize. Once again, I’d set myself up for disappointment. My mother didn’t care when she hurt me. Sometimes I wondered if she even noticed.

She sat down on the couch and waved me over to join her. Hesitantly, I perched on the edge of the cushion at the other end. I definitely wasn’t about to get comfortable with her. “What about Dad?”

We didn’t really talk about Dad, not since he’d passed away two years ago. The heart attack had been sudden, and it had been hard on Dylan and me both. Mom hadn’t exactly been a pillar of support, and I wasn’t eager to relive those hard months right after his death.

“So,” Mom said with an eager glint in her eye. “I got a call from a lawyer recently. It was about the estate.”

I raised my eyebrows. “The estate? Mom, I’m the executor of the estate. You know that. And you know most of it is in a trust fund for Dylan.” The wheels began to turn in my mind. “Who was this lawyer? Why did they reach out to you? Is this another ambulance chaser?”