I smiled, looking down at where her hand was on my thigh. I covered her small hand with my larger one and pulled it up to my lips. After I pressed a chaste kiss to the back of her hand, I spoke my truths. “Darlin’, I can’t tell you how long I have waited to take you out. I didn’t think it would be professional for me to ask, and now I understand why you didn’t ask sooner.” I let out a small sigh and intertwined my fingers with hers. “I would love to take you out on a proper date. And I know you have feelings for Cam, but I need you to know I am fine with that. I truly believe we are capable of loving more than one person at a time.” Her eyes widened. I let out a soft chuckle at her surprise. “I am polyamorous. After years of relationships and figuring out what I wanted, I can honestly say that’s who I am. I have been in a few polyamorous relationships, and that's where I was the happiest.” I didn’t know how she was going to respond to this, but I needed to be honest with her and with myself. Her grin on her face grew slowly until she was beaming ear to ear.
“Really? I am happy you told me. It must feel really good to be honest with yourself. I totally agree that humans are capableof loving two partners at the same time. I’ve never been in a polyam relationship, but I definitely would consider it.”
I couldn’t help myself, I reached a hand to her face and said, “I’d really love to get to know you better, Miss Harper.” Her eyes glimmered in the shadows.
“I’d love that, Mr. Hayes.”
And with that, I closed the space between us, kissing her like my life depended on it.
When I pulled away, she was breathless. I smiled as her blush deepened. “Let me take you home, Sugar. It’s getting late.” And then, I drove Harper back to the Callahans’.
Truthfully, this girl already had me wrapped around her finger. I remember getting a call from Reed asking if I was still a contractor. He let me know his little sister needed help fixin’ up an old place, but I didn’t expect to meether. I remember my heart skipping a beat when I saw her for the first time. She was wearing an old T-shirt about forty sizes too big for her. The front was tucked into the waistband of biker shorts that perfectly hugged her thick thighs. Her hair was pin-straight with the cutest butterfly clips in it, similar to the ones she was wearing tonight.
Her first sentence to me was, “Are you a cowboy or a contractor?”
I responded, “Well, ma’am, both.”
Then she went off on me about calling her ma’am, and I’ve been taken with her since.
* * *
We pulled into her driveway a little before one in the morning.
“Harper,” I said, shifting my truck into park. “I really would love to do something with you again.”
A blush crept up onto her cheeks. “That would be great. I amalso very excited for us to work together on my currently shitty house.”
My stomach dropped. How could I forget that’s the reason we went out? “I’m so sorry I can’t make it any cheaper, Harper. It’s a big job with a lot of men, but if I were able to do it myself, I wouldn’t charge you.”
“Hush. I didn’t go out with you tonight for a discount.” She laughed loudly. “I’ll wire you five thousand and continue to pay you on a plan, if that’s okay.”
I smiled. It was reassuring that she was here tonight with me because shewantedto be. “Whatever works for you will work for me, darlin’.”
She unbuckled her seat belt, indicating she was ready to get out. I unbuckled mine and rushed out of the truck to help her out. It’s definitely time to get a smaller truck. I opened her door, took her purse, and helped her down. We walked arm in arm to the porch. When we got to the door, she turned to me and met my gaze.
“Tuck, tonight was really nice. I hope we can do something again soon.” She was rocking from heel to toe all of a sudden, seeming nervous.
“I’d love that, Sugar. I hope you get some sleep tonight. Don’t worry about anything, okay.” I took a step forward, resting a large hand on her shoulder. She peered up at me, and I pulled her into a hug. Even though she was a foot shorter than I, I caught her scent in the fall breeze. She smelled like strawberries and vanilla. I craved her. I was hoping she couldn’t feel my hardening cock against her stomach, but I knew the way she took a small step back, she definitely could.
I pulled my arms from around her, dropping one down to grasp her hand. I used the other to tilt her face up to mine. On instinct, she closed her eyes, and she moved up to stand on her tiptoes. I closed the distance to kiss her.
And that’s when the door opened.
Cam stood in the doorway, just staring. His expression was unreadable. He opened the door and walked outside barefoot. Cameron had a natural beauty as a man. He was fit, tall, muscular, and covered in large tattoos. His hair was a tad shorter than mine, falling onto his shoulders. It was ginger or maybe auburn. It was the type of orange that reminded me of when the leaves turned during fall. His eyes were an unreadable icy blue. He was shirtless, showing off his large chest tattoo. His plaid pajama pants clung low to his hips. The thin fabric left nothing to surprise. Dude was packin’. And hard? I caught myself staring and trailed my eyes back up his abs to his eyes.
My hand was still holding Harper’s, and a finger pressed beneath her chin. I glanced back at her, dropping my hands. She looked pissed. If her eyes could shoot fire, I think the entire world would be in flames.
She spoke through gritted teeth, “Cameron.”
He gave her a sheepish grin, scratching at the back of his head, “Hey, Shortcake.”
I glanced between the two of them. The nickname from the text was starting to make sense. “Because of her hair?”
Cam erupted into laughter, “Oh my God, yeah! No one ever gets it!” He walked over with an outstretched hand. I was about to shake the hand of a man with a now softening boner, while none of us acknowledged said boner. I shook his hand with a smile on my face.
“You guys comin’ in? I can rewind my movie.” Cam threw a thumb over his shoulder, pointing at the house.
Harper was stunned. Her mouth moved like a fish. She looked from me to him, back to me. I leaned in close to Harper while keeping my voice very low, “This is the part where he kills us, right?”
