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She places a hand on my chest. It stills for a moment as her fingers absentmindedly splay to feel the hardened muscle. She pauses to stare at her hand like it isn’t part of her body.

“What’s your name?” I ask.

She looks up like she forgot I was a person and had a voice. “Harper.”

I smile. “Harper, love, I’m going to put my hand on your waist,” I tell her just as I move my palm to the curve of her body and slide it toward her back.

This gets her attention. Her brows curve in confusion.

I raise my other hand. “This one, I’m going to place on your neck.” I do so, weaving my fingers through her hair as I pull her in.

Her chest heaves with a sharp breath. Her pupils dilate.

While her heart is beating a million miles a minute, there’s a surrender to her body. It’s in the way it molds to mine, her soft parts against my hard ones, proving it wants to be as close to me as possible.

Her body is doing one thing while her head is doing another. Her eyes are having a hard time deciding if they want to be fully fixated on mine or drifting toward the man who has thrown her into a frenzy.

So, I do the only thing I can think of.

I kiss her.

Our lips crash with a burst of fire.

I dart my tongue out and run it along the pink of her lower lip, savoring her, tasting her. Her lips part, and when our tongues collide, we are a thrashing of lust and need.

Putting on one hell of a show, I change my grip to her cheek and pull her in as I kiss her like she’s the air I need to breathe. I put so much passion into our kiss that, for a moment, even I lose track of where I am, who I am. All I can think about is … her.

When I feel my cock twitch, I pull back, remembering this is only for show. My hand is on her cheek as I gently push her away. Her eyes are closed, and her lips are parted.

I watch her lids open with a flutter.

Slowly, I lean in and whisper in her ear, “You’re welcome.”

She blinks a few times and then looks at me with a small scowl.

Lowering my hand from her face, I grab my beer, take a swig, and then put it back on the oak with a heavy tip for the bartender. When I face her again, she’s staring at me with doe eyes and glistening lips.

I lean in close to her ear, so close that my mouth grazes her skin. “I know you just wanted your ex to see.”

Her jaw drops for the second time this evening.

With a wink, I salute her. Then, I nod my good-bye to my friends and walk out the door.

3

HARPER

What. The. Fuck. Just. Happened?

My brain is mush, and my body is putty. I’ve been kissed many times in my life. I’ve been kissed poorly, and I’ve been ravaged. But I’ve never in my life been kissed with as much passion and conviction as I just was by a complete stranger.

I raise my hand to my lips that are still tingling.

How did I go from worrying about Aaron to kissing another man?

And liking it?

I look at April, who’s just as shocked as I am, and then to the guy she’s talking to, who is also staring at me like I have three heads. It’s not me he should be staring at this way. His friend is the one who just kissed me and walked away.