“Where did you get these?” Luke asked, lazily running his fingers over twin scars high on her hip.
Harper was draped over him, naked on the bed in a post-orgasmic coma. She shrugged and buried her face in his chest. He shifted her to the mattress and sat up.
Harper snuggled face down into his pillow and ignored him as he studied her skin.
“Harper.” He poked her butt cheek.
“Mmm.”
“Harper Sue Ellen Wilde.”
She rolled to her side. “That is definitely not my middle name.”
“I don’t know your middle name so I had to make one up.”
“So you went with Sue Ellen?”
“It seemed like a good fit.”
“It’s Lee actually.”
“Parents fans ofTo Kill a Mockingbird?”
“Very good,” she arched an eyebrow.
“I’m more than just a pretty face.”
Harper’s gaze trailed down his naked body. “Oh, I can see that.”
“Hey, I’m not a piece of meat and I asked you a question.”
Harper sighed and rose up on her elbow. “Why do you want to know?”
“Because they look like cigarette burns.”
“Good eye.”
His blood went icy in the span of a heartbeat. “Who did it? Was it that asshole Ted?”
She rolled her eyes. “No, it wasn’t Ted. It was a long time ago. It doesn’t matter who it was.”
“Like hell it doesn’t. Someone burned you with a fucking cigarette and you’re telling me it doesn’t matter?”
Harper sat up. “I really don’t like talking about it.”
“I really don’t care. Tell me who did this.”
He saw the little muscle in her jaw tic and tried to relax. Yelling at her wasn’t exactly a smart way to make a woman open up. He reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “Baby. You can trust me.”
“Why does this matter so much?”
Because you matter. He stopped the thought before it became words. Words that couldn’t be taken back. Shit.
“I don’t like feeling like you’re hiding something from me.” He was such a fucking hypocrite.
“I’m not hiding anything, Luke. It’s just, it’s something I’ve never told anyone.”
“Tell me what happened.”
