Page 123 of When You Blush

“Good morning,” she says with a smile, pulling her feet back so I can join her on the swing, her eyes dancing up and down my naked torso. A blush works its way up her cheeks, making me grin and my cock stir in my pants. “You were sleeping too peacefully for me to wake you up. Also, you’re damn hot when you’re shirtless, Blake. Jesus, warn a girl.”

I pass her a shake, sit down, and pull her feet into my lap. The boost to my ego that she likes what she sees doesn’t go unnoticed, but I want to hear all about her this morning. “How are you, baby?” I ask as I set the swing in motion and reach for her hand, linking our fingers.

“Never better.” She sips her shake, licks her lips, and her eyebrows climb. “That’s pretty good for being green.”

“Green is good for you.” I grin and gesture to her book. “What are you reading?”

She holds the book up, showing me the cover, which is what my sister Billie calls ahot guy cover.

“The Knockoutby Bella Matthews. Ilovethis author.” She sighs and lays the book across her chest. “This is a good one. He’s a hockey player, and she’s a ballerina, and I’m really interested to hear what Skyla thinks of this one. If she identifies with the heroine at all because, in the book, she has a foot injury, stress fractures in her foot, and can’t dance, and it’s horrible for her. So it’ll be fun to hear what Skyla thinks.”

“I’d also be interested to hear her thoughts on that,” I reply, rubbing Harper’s calf, up and down, and she sighs and melts into my touch. Skyla moved here almost two years ago, leaving a ballet career in New York, along with an unhinged stalker, to settle here in Montana. Her ankle was badly injured, ending her career, but she opened her dance studio, met my brother, and the rest is history. She’s one of us now, and I love her like a sister.

“I’m almost finished,” she says with a happy sigh, sipping more of her smoothie. “There’s a surprise baby, and the tension is high.”

My eyebrows climb. “A surprise baby?”

“Yeah, she’s pregnant, not on purpose, and he doesn’t know yet, andoh, the drama.” She grins and sips her smoothie. “I’m not usually a fan of the surprise baby trope myself. Because I’m not so sure that a whoops pregnancy is particularly romantic, and definitely not sexy to me, but this book is great.”

“Surprise babies.” I shake my head, but I don’t feel the dread or fear that would have come at the mention of an unplanned pregnancy before I met Harper. In fact,the idea of a home and children with this woman doesn’t frighten me at all.

I’m changing all my rules for her.

“I had no idea that was a thing in books,” I continue.

“It’s a thing in real life, Blake.”

I blink at her, and she giggles.

“No, not me.” She shudders at the thought. “Just fiction in my world. Anyway, book club is Thursday night, and I have to finish this bad boy before then, but I’m almost there. I have a busy few days off coming up.”

“What are your plans, sugar?” God, I love chatting with her in the morning. Just sitting here, sleepy, starting the day together.

The first of many.

This is what I pictured when I asked her to move in here.

“Well, you have to go back to the clinic tomorrow. Boo.” She squeezes my hand. “I’m going to hike tomorrow if my legs aren’t too sore after riding today. I also need to do some meal prep, and I want to make some cookies for Greg and Xander. Ava and I are going to do some shopping on Thursday and grab dinner before book club.”

“I have clinicandER tomorrow,” I inform her, dragging my fingertips up and down the top of her bare foot. “So I won’t be home until well past midnight.”

“Snuggle up with me when you get here.”

I grin at her. “That’s a given. It’s one of the reasons I wanted you to move in here, baby, so I can crawl into bed and hold you every chance I get.”

“You’re swoony, Dr. Blackwell.”

I lift her foot and bite the end of her big toe, making her squeal.

“Ew! No toe biting.”

“You have delectable little toes, sugar.”

“No.” She wiggles her feet, trying to get out of my grasp. “Toes aren’t clean, Blake.”

“You’re pretty clean, Harper.”

My phone pings in my pocket, and I pull it out to check it.