“I’m not askin’ your brother to drive me home,” I huffed.
“Why not?” She swayed a little toward me, then snapped back upright. “I bet he wouldn’t mind.”
“I’d never hear the end of it.”
Harper shrugged and pushed her glasses up using one finger at the bridge of her nose. The movement was so fucking cute it was almost startling, and she did it with no self-consciousness.
“I didn’t realize people actually did that outside movies,” I muttered, my lips twitching.
“Do what?”
I mimicked her, pushing an invisible pair of glasses up my nose.
“Oh, shut up,” she shot back with a huff of laughter.
“What? It’s cute.”
“It’s dorky,” she replied with a grin. “It’s okay. I’m fully aware that I’m dorky. Part of my charm and all that. I embrace it.”
“That right?”
“Yep. Everyone has their thing, right? Myla’s gorgeous. Frankie’s badass. Lou’s sweet and innocent. Meg and Olive are kind of bitchy but unbelievably cool. I’m nerdy.”
“That’s how you see yourself?” I asked in disbelief.
“What?” she asked curiously. “I’m okay with it.”
“You’re as gorgeous as Myla.”
“Shut the fuck up,” she argued, making that noise in her throat again.
“And you’re just as sweet as Lou. Cooler than Olive and Meg by a mile.”
“You’re so full of it.” She rolled her eyes.
“Not as badass as Frank, though,” I said with mock sympathy.
“Is anyone?” she replied.
“No one I’ve met.”
Harper smiled, and I felt it in my gut.
What the fuck?
I’d seen her smile a thousand times. She wasn’t around much, but I’d seen her nearly every time she’d come home from college and the job that kept her traveling. We’d never been close or anything, but we’d hung out plenty of times in the same group.
“I am absolutely comfortable with being the nerdy cousin,” she said, bumping her shoulder against mine. “Everyone has their place, right?”
I struggled for something to say. I’d always thought Harper was beautiful. She had this shoulder-length brown hair that was so thick you couldn’t help imagining gripping it in your fist, bright blue eyes, and a smile that lit up her whole face. When you added in the glasses, she was a fucking knockout. But I thought a lot of women were beautiful and didn’t want to fuck them. Hell, every one of my brothers had a woman that was gorgeous in her own way, and I’d never felt even a tingle of attraction.
“Hello?” Harper called, waving her hand in front of my face. “You in there, Bas?”
“What?” I jerked.
“You zoned out,” she said, still smiling.Jesus.“Where’d you go?”
“Right here.”
