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  The evening crowd is busy, the new band kicking ass. Finally, after we’ve cleaned up, I almost half carry my sleepy girl upstairs and tuck her in once she’s changed. She hardly moved when I got into bed, except to roll over to put her arm around my waist and her head on my chest, yawning loudly. I’m meeting her whole family tomorrow. Me. The one without a family who barely has told Pearl anything but one bad, horrific nightmare part of my life and the one that has never really been loved by anyone. Shit, what have I gotten myself into? I don’t know what she first saw in me, but I’m beyond grateful that she saw something there worth fighting for.

  Chapter Nine

  I’m a nervous wreck! Why am I so nervous? It’s just, Mom, Dad, Stormy, Bo, me and… Harley. Oh, my God! Bo is gonna tell him every single little embarrassing thing about my childhood, and I’m going to want to crawl under a table and oh, hell. I brush my hair again and look into the mirror. I’m going to lose all my hair as many times as I’ve brushed it in the last half an hour. Harley appears in the mirror behind me, but I felt his warmth before I saw his gorgeous face. His arms wrap around my waist as his lips gently kiss my neck, and I close my eyes feeling everything.

  “You seem nervous. What can I do to help?” His lips kiss my skin again, then again, and I tilt my head, so he has even more room.

  “You’re doing great. Just…. Mmmmm…. Just keep doing that.” My head finally relaxes onto his shoulder as his lips move up my neck, onto my jaw, cheek and his teeth nip my earlobe. “We could…. Just stay here and…. Ungh!” Damn, his tongue just went into my ear and swirled around, and I think I almost came. Since I’ve never had an orgasm, I’m not sure but something extreme just happened in the pit of my stomach.

  “God, you respond to my every touch, my every movement. I think you need to hurry up and heal ‘cos, baby, I want to be inside you so bad.” Okay, that may have just been an orgasm, the sound of his sexy and low, raspy voice in my ear, and I’m quivering.

  “Harley…. I….” I can barely speak, much less move. Then suddenly, he has my hand and is leading me out of the bathroom. He gently grabs my upper arms, sets me on the edge of the bed and squats down in front of me, slipping my flip flops on my feet, one by one.

  “There. We need to leave. Like…. Now.” He takes my hand and pulls me up, then walks to the door. I grab my purse from the dresser as we fly by. I’m half jogging down the hallway to keep up with him, which is no easy feat considering I’m in flip flops, but I manage. We’re through the apartment, down the stairs, and we walk to the street. He looks both ways, and I start to look too when I’m pulled by his hand and walk across. We walk down the sidewalk and around the building and to his truck. After he opens the door, he releases my hand, grabs my waist and lifts me onto the seat. He reaches across me, opens the arm rest compartment and takes out his pack of cigarettes and lighter. He stops long enough to buckle me in and shut the door, then I watch as he lights up, takes a deep puff and I watch as he exhales a bunch of smoke, the breeze moving it up and over his lip before it dissipates. Nasty habit and I’m glad he doesn’t smoke much, but damn, that was hot! While I wait, I look around his truck, definitely not new but very clean and in really good shape. He must take good care of it. My head turns to the back window, and I see the blanket I bought him in a plastic liner and fastened to the side of the truck. I startle a little when his door opens, and he sits down as I hadn’t noticed him walk around the truck, but he puts me to ease instantly with his sexy smile. “You’ll have to give me directions,” he states as he starts the truck.

  “No worries. You know, you should really think about parking your truck in the back lot behind the bar where my car is. There’s a pretty wide overhang there and lights in the lot. Safer.” I smile as he pulls out of the lot and onto the street. He looks over at me and places his hand in mine on the seat, squeezing it a little and then his eyes move back to watch the road.

  “Well, I don’t want people to talk. It’s bad enough I think a few of the regular customers have figured out I’m staying with you. I don’t think my beat up old truck would look that great next to your sports car.” He winks at me, but my brows lower and my forehead creases. “Hey, I’m just kidding, sort of. But I really don’t want to soil your reputation any more than I have.”

  I look out my window and then back at him. “Why don’t you let me worry about my reputation? Besides, I like this truck, it has a certain…. Charm about it.” He looks at me and laughs. “Okay, maybe charm isn’t the best word to describe it but I like it.”

  I give him directions as we go, and I let out a giggle when I see the look on his face when we reach the gates. After giving him the code, which he kiddingly asked if he’d be shot after knowing it, well, I think he was kidding, he drives us up to the circle driveway and parks just down from the front door as Stormy and Bo’s car was in front. I start to unbuckle my seatbelt when he’s out his door, runs around the front and opens my door in time to take my hand. “You know, it’s just us. You don’t have to be someone you’re not for me.” His eyebrow raises, and he gives me his sexy grin.

  “How do you know I’m not that way? We’re just getting to know each other, right?” I shrug my shoulders and smile. The front door swings open with a bang and Bo comes running down the steps, two at a time, and my hand is barely released from Harley’s hold when he picks me up and spins me around.

  “Bo, can’t breathe,” I choke out. He laughs while setting me down and Harley puts an arm around my shoulder when I start to sway. Bo gives him a look, but Harley just squeezes me tighter. “Bo, this is Harley. Harley, this is my obnoxious baby brother Bo.” Bo walks right up to Harley and stretches out his hand. Harley reluctantly removes his arm from around me and shakes it.

  “She’s only older by one year but she thinks she’s so much older than me.” Bo rolls his eyes at Harley, and then his eyes shift to me. He walks to Harley’s side, pushing me out of the way, and puts his hand on his shoulder and starts leading him towards the front door. “Boy, have I got stories for you.”

  My eyes go wide. “Bo! Don’t you dare!” I yell as I walk fast to catch up.

  Bo’s still laughing and releases his hold on Harley by the time I get in the front door and Harley is next to me in an instant, his hand finding mine and our fingers thread through each other’s. I hear Mom laughing outside so I lead Harley through the living room and the kitchen, and I see him looking all around. I’m sure it’s not every day someone walks through a multi-million dollar house, especially one my dad designed. We walk out onto the deck. Mom is sitting in a lounge chair with a fancy looking frozen drink. Stormy is in the swimming pool. Her arms folded over on the side, and Dad is manning the grill under the overhang next to the back door. To me this is a normal family get together, but I look at Harley, his eyes scanning everyone and everything and I’m sure this is so foreign to him.

  “Oh! There they are,” Mom yells while standing and then walks over to us. She gives me a hug, puts her hands on either side of my face and kisses my cheek.

  When she finally releases me, I look at Harley. “Mom, this is….”

  “Harley, so great to meet you, finally!” He sticks out his hand, and I cover my mouth to try to hold my laughter in when she hugs him, his eyes wide and his arms out on each side of her, but then he slowly brings them in and lightly pats her back. “Anyone who saves our daughter becomes part of our family. Come, would you like a drink?” I giggle and almost feel bad for him, but this is my family, and if he stays, he might as well get used to them.

  “Harley, this is my mom, Jade. Mom, I’ll get him a beer,” I answer for him and look over, my brows raised in question. He gives me a sad smile, like he doesn’t want to be alone with her, but I wink and walk off towards Dad where the mini fridge is. “Hey, Dad!” I walk up, give him a kiss, and he kisses my cheek. I open the fridge, grab a beer and then a cup from the table next to it and pour myself a bit of the frozen drink that Mom’s having. I turn and look at Harley, sitting on a lounge
chair next to Mom’s and see them talking. Well, Mom is doing all the talking it appears.

  “He seems like a nice guy, not very talkative.” My eyes shift to Dad and then back to Harley.

  “Yes. He is. He’s just shy, that’s all.” Dad winks and flips some burgers so I take our drinks and walk over to Harley, hand him his beer and sit down next to him on his lounger. He takes a drink of his beer while his other hand lays against the small of my back and just that touch, even though it’s against my shirt, is causing all kinds of sensations throughout me.

  “So, honey, Harley was just telling me how well the bar is doing. I have to say I’m impressed with the way he talks about it,” Mom pipes up making me blink a few times to try to concentrate on the conversation.

  “Yeah, Pearl, tell Jade about his creative drinks!” My head turns around as Stormy shouts out from the side of the pool. When I turn my head back to Mom, she’s giving me her wide eyes and grin. She leans her elbows on her knees and winks.

  “Oh, yes. Tell me!” She smiles and looks at Harley.

  We have a great time talking about his drinks and his throwing of the bottles until Dad calls us in for dinner. Sitting around the table is normally a great time, but tonight I’m not feeling it, not when Bo, Mom and Dad are all telling stories about me from when I was little, for Harley’s sake. Ugh!

  “Her hair was blonde, almost white until she got a little older then it turned brown. Weird kid. But it looks even darker when it’s wet. Remember that time the bucket of water dropped over you. You so had that coming,” Bo laughs.

  “I did not, bro! I call bullshit! You told me Stormy had a surprise for me and then when I walked in the kitchen you made the bucket drop and water went everywhere.” I push against his upper arm hard, but he barely moves. My ears pick up Harley’s laughter immediately, on the other side of me, and I know he’s laughing at me too. But I’m so glad he’s having fun, even at my expense. “Okay, I think it’s time to clean up. I wanna hit the pool before we have to leave.” Standing I pick up my plate and glass and head to the kitchen. I’m rinsing off the plate when Harley walks up next to me. I look up and smile. “Did you want to take a swim? I’m sure Bo or Dad can let you borrow a suit.” Placing my plate in the dishwasher, I take his from the counter and begin rinsing it off.

  “Actually, I’d like that. You don’t think they’ll mind?” The look on his face is so sincere, so sweet, how could anyone treat him badly and how in the hell did he turn out as wonderful as he is?

  “I’m sure.” About that time, Bo and Stormy walk in, placing their plates and glasses on the breakfast bar. “Bo, can Harley borrow a suit?” I turn around and grab their plates to clean them off.

  “Sure, man. Come with me. I have a couple I left here,” Bo replies with a smile.

  Harley gives me a little smile and then walks out with Bo, leaving Stormy and me to finish up. “Pearl, Harley’s great and he seems to really be so attentive of you. He hangs on your every word, every movement and there’s no denying there’s an attraction there. No way!” She hands me a glass and smiles, and I roll my eyes.

  “Well, we’ve talked, some. But at least that’s a start. Are you all gonna swim?” I bend down, putting more dishes in the dishwasher and when I rise I notice Stormy has her hand on her stomach. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, just tired. With twins, I guess you end up showing quicker, even at almost eight weeks and it’s almost like I can feel my stomach growing, at times.” She laughs as she rubs circles on her tummy. “I think we’re gonna head home. Bo told me not to work tonight, so Mom is going in for me. I think I just want to keep my feet up and watch some TV.”

  My smile is bright as I look at her. “You’re glowing and you’re not that big, yet.” We both laugh, but her lips are pouting. “You have such a small frame that I’m sure you will be all babies.” She leans over and kisses my cheek and winks as she walks out. Well, I guess I’d better finish up, get upstairs and get my suit on. I’m dying to see Harley in a suit!

  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

  “Well, at least it fits pretty well,” I tell Bo as I leave his bathroom. “Thanks for the loan, man. I appreciate it.” Bo nods as he looks at me and then before I can walk out of his bedroom, he stops me.

  “Hey, you seem like an okay guy but just be careful with my sister, okay? She’s not really had any relationships. Well, not really, and she’s kind of vulnerable, you know?” I nod slowly, and I know he’s just being a good brother, something I’m not used to. “And…. I’d hate to have to beat you up if you hurt her.” He slugs my shoulder then walks out of the room, leaving me to chuckle under my breath. I’d hate to tell him there is no way I would let him beat me up, but he has nothing to worry about as I have no intention of hurting her or letting anyone else hurt her. Over my dead body. And right now? I can’t wait to see her beautiful body in a swimsuit.

  I walk downstairs, looking around and finding no one, then walk through the kitchen and outside on the deck. There she is, in a purple bikini, dipping her toe in the water, her perfect cute and round butt, her flawless skin, and her dark hair with those brown highlights blowing in the breeze. Perfect! I start to walk towards her when she dives into the water, and I quicken my pace until I’m close enough to dive in after her. I don’t stay under for long and when my face breaks from the water, I see her in front of me, wading in the water, her eyes full of desire and her lips parted.

  “Your family seems nice,” I whisper.

  She moves closer, and I put my arms around her waist. My mouth crashes against hers and I hold her tight. When I release her luscious lips, I turn her around, my hands pull her body against mine, and I bring my legs up until she’s sitting in my lap. I release her for a moment, using my arms through the water moving us to the shallow end and then put them back around her. I press my mouth against her ear. Her head tilts back showing her long and slender neck, my noses presses against the soft skin of her face and her eyes close as I whisper, “I’ve been wanting to do that all afternoon.” I hear her soft moan and my cock jumps to attention. Her eyes open lazily and they look over at me. Her smile is actually a little devious.

  “Hmmm, and what exactly is that underneath me? Did you bring something into the pool with you,” she whispers seductively.

  “Damn, you’re gonna be my death, baby. Remember, you still need time to heal.”

  I almost fall back as she turns around quickly, her legs moving around my waist, her arms around my neck and her fingers in my hair. Her eyes search mine, and her face turns serious. “Maybe I feel that I’m healed enough. Maybe I don’t wanna wait any longer. Maybe I can’t wait any longer.” Her face moves closer until her lips are on mine, my hand moves up her back, feeling her soft skin and then under her wet hair until it cups the back of her neck.

  “God, what you do to me, woman,” I whisper against her lips. My mouth covers hers, our tongues intertwine and my heart beating so fast along with all the electrifying feelings throughout me, making my cock even harder. Reluctantly releasing her sweet mouth, I look into her eyes. “Are you sure? You know I’ll wait as long as you need.”

  She smiles while nodding, her hand slides out of my hair, around my shoulder and down my arm and my eyes roll back into my head when her hand grasps my aching cock through the suit. “Shit.” I moan and open my eyes. Her face has changed to one of desire, her chest rising and falling with her heavy breathing and matching mine. “Are you ready to go?” I choke out stuttering. She doesn’t say anything, simply moves off me and swims to the ladder. I’m not far behind her and watch her sexy bottom swaying as she climbs up the rungs. When I get out and go over to the lounge chair, I take the towel from the chair, drying off quickly and then grab my jeans that thankfully I brought down with me. Removing the suit underneath the towel, I put my jeans on and then my shirt. By the time I look up, she’s dressed and crooking her finger at me. Damn, my cock just twitched!

  I think we made record time getting back to her apartment. I park my truck in
the back parking lot only because I didn’t want to waste time walking the usual half block. Our lips lock as soon as I help her from the truck, our hands hungrily all over each other as we make our way to the stairs. She almost falls going up the steps, so I lift her into my arms, her legs clasping around my waist as we continue our kissing frenzy. I fumble with the key in the lock. Once I get the door open, I walk us through the door and kick it shut behind me. She locks the door, and I stumble my way down the hall. Our tongues tangled together. My fingers fist in her hair and at one point, I push her against the wall for a minute. Once we get into the apartment, and she locks the door behind us, I don’t bother with the lights as I carry her towards the stairs. We are panting heavily, our moans loud in the quiet, and as I get close to the stairs, I trip, and she hits her head on the wall. “Shit! Are you okay?” I breathe against her lips, my hand rubbing the back of her head. Her mouth reattaches to mine quickly, and I have my answer.

  I hold on to her tightly as I take the stairs, trying not to drop her or fall. Finally, we get to her bedroom. I lay her down on the bed, and I’m hovering on top of her, in between her legs that spread so quickly for me. My hand moves from her hair down to the end of her shirt and push it up feeling the soft skin of her flat stomach until I reach her bra. Both hands move to her back, our mouths never breaking contact, and she arches as I unclasp her bra. My hand instantly moves around her front and covers her breast. Her mouth releases mine as her head tilts back, and I watch her face as she moans with my touch. Hottest thing I’ve ever witnessed. My thumb and finger begin tweaking her nipple, and her body starts to wiggle beneath me. “Harley,” she moans as I lean down, my mouth sucking on her perk nipple and her hips buck into my groin. Fuck!