Me
Sorry. Ignore me. I know you can’t leave Rory alone.
God, how could I forget that sweet girl?
He didn’t respond and no little dots appeared, and my heart sank to my stomach. How the hell was I going to face him in the light of day after just making a fool of myself?
My phone buzzed and I braced myself for rejection when I opened it.
Andy
Let me in.
He’s here?
Heart in my throat, I slipped out of bed and padded down the stairs in bare feet, sleep shorts, and a tiny tank top. Rachel slept with ear buds in, Talia was staying over with her situationship, and Ayanna slept like the dead.
I wasn’t worried about waking any of them up, but I was terrified of having a heart attack from the way my heart was racing in my chest the closer I got to the front door.
I yanked the door open, and there he was—hair mussedlike he’d been running his hands through it, wearing a faded CFU Hockey T-shirt and gray sweatpants. A baby monitor was clipped to his waistband.
And honestly, right here in this moment, I totally got the hot single dad thing.
I don’t know who moved first. Maybe we both did. One moment we were standing a foot apart, and the next we were colliding—his hands in my hair, mine gripping his shirt, mouths crashing together with an urgency that knocked the breath from my lungs.
It was nothing like I’d imagined, and I’d imagined it more times than I cared to admit. It was better.
Hungrier.
Dirtier.
Bordering on desperate.
His lips were soft but insistent, and I could feel years of tension, of misunderstandings, of fighting, transforming into something else entirely.
It was all-consuming.
I had kissed guys before, but never like this—like we’d been drowning and had finally found air. Drew backed me against the doorframe, one hand cradling my face while the other gripped my ass, pulling me closer. I gasped against his mouth, my fingers sliding into his hair, holding him to me as if he might disappear if I let go.
“Harper,” he breathed against my lips, my name a question and a plea all at once.
His voice broke through the lust haze, and I remembered a very important detail that mattered more than my sex life.
“Rory.”
He kissed down my neck, and I could feel his lips pull up in a smile. “My name’s Drew, but I could understandhow I just kissed you silly and you might be a little forgetful.”
I smacked his chest, fighting back a smile of my own.
“Drew, stop. What about Rory?”
He pulled back, his hazel eyes filled with warmth and desire. He brushed my hair back from my face and looked at me like he was memorizing every inch. “I can’t even begin to tell you what it means that she’s your first thought. She’s asleep and Liam’s watching a movie. He said he’d keep an ear out. He has the spare monitor and I’ve got mine just in case she needs me. But I couldn’t—” He broke off, running a hand through his already disheveled hair. “I wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to come when you said you wanted me here.”
Without another word, I grabbed his shirt and pulled him inside, closing the door quietly behind us. Before I even had to ask, his lips were back on mine and we stumbled up the stairs, unwilling to break contact for more than a second.
Drew pressed me against the wall halfway to my room, his mouth hot on my neck, my fingers digging into his shoulders as I fought back a salacious moan. Fuck, it was like he knew every erogenous zone on my body—including someIdidn’t even know about.
We clung to each other as we tumbled into my bedroom, unwilling to create even an inch of space between us. Drew kicked the door closed behind us, and suddenly we were standing in the dark, just enough moonlight coming through my window to see each other. The reality of what was happening settled over us.
