The three guys busted out laughing, while Levi actually turned red. I grinned down at my girl and kissed the top of her head.

“Why don’t you come sit down and tell us about yourself,” Sonny said.

We all went to the couch but I sat down before Harper and pulled her down onto my lap. She looked down at me, shaking her head.

“Good lord would you look at that. Ky is a smitten-fuckin-kitten,” Levi said.

“Shut up, asshole. I just don’t want her sitting too close to the likes of you four.”

Harper bent down and whispered so only I could hear, “Are you jealous? You don’t need to be, I’m yours.”

Then she kissed my cheek and sat back up to talk to the guys. I smiled at her reassurance. I wasn’t sure when exactly I’d become an insecure idiot but she’d managed to make me feel better. They asked her all kinds of questions about her realtor business, what Idaho was like, what it was like in high school, and if I had been a nerd. Conversation with her was easy for the guys, and fuck that made me feel good. I’d hoped she would get along with them, but I’d known she would charm them just like she does with everybody she meets. An hour had passed when I told the guys we really needed to get back to the room. I had a lot planned for the next day.

“You do? What sort of things do you have planned?” Harper asked.

“Well, for starters, we’re going to take a ferry out to the Statue of Liberty and take a tour, then we’re going to come back and catch a Giants game. Our tour manager got us tickets for a private suite to watch the game. You’ll love it. Besides, I know how much you loved watching me play football in high school.”

She looked shocked. “How do you know I watched you play football?”

I raised my eyebrow at her and said, “Harper, you really don’t think you got away with hiding under the bleachers during the games, even after you’d said you weren’t coming, did you? Or when I’d catch you sitting in your car across the field from my house while Finn and I were throwing the ball … unless you were there to watch Finn?”

I was teasing and her cheeks held a tint of pink. She looked down and fidgeted with her hands in her lap.

“I didn’t know you’d seen me. How come you never said anything?”

“Because you didn’t want me to see you, and if you did, you would have stopped coming.”

She looked back up at me and we stared at each other for several moments before someone cleared their throat.

“Uhhh … yeah, I think we’ll just go in the other room and leave you two alone.”

It was Lincoln that spoke. Obviously Harper and I had forgotten that we weren’t alone. Her cheeks flushed slightly pink again and she gave a small smile. Since when had my Harper become easily embarrassed?

Still looking at her I spoke to the guys, “Nah, that’s okay, we need to get back to our room. We’ll catch you all later.”

Harper stood up and said goodbye to all of them, telling them it was nice meeting them. Levi chimed in and asked if I was bringing Harper with me to his party.

“Party?” Harper looked at us questioningly.

“Yeah, Levi’s birthday is in a few days and he’s rented out a full floor of an exclusive club in Manhattan. Although, I’m not sure if you’ll want to come with us, it’s going to be pretty much all guys, and the club is well … uhhh … just not the type you find other females in.” I said.

“So what you’re saying is that it’s a strip club?”

I’d been to several strip clubs before but for some reason, admitting to Harper that it was that kind of club was sort of embarrassing. Plus I didn’t want her thinking that I was into that kind of thing. My eyes were for her and her alone. No one could ever compare to her.

“Actually,” Levi interjected, “it’s a gentlemen’s club.”

She snickered. “There’s a difference?”

“Hell yeah, there’s a difference. Strip clubs are for men who are missing their teeth, and women who need someone to be their baby-daddy. A gentlemen’s club,” he used air-quotes to emphasize the term, “is for business men looking for a calm evening and something gorgeous to look at. The women there are educated, and aren’t working to pay their way through college.”

Harper burst out laughing. “That’s a really fucked up description. Do the women get naked at the gentlemen’s club?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Then it’s a strip club,” she replied, leaving no room for argument.

Levi looked frustrated, but the rest of the guys were amused.

“Time to go, feisty girl … before Levi tries to tell you that the girls’ tits are real, and that they’re dancing because they like the music,” I said.

We got up and left the room and went back to our suite to settle in for the night.

“The guys really seem to like you.” I grinned at her.

“You sound surprised?” Her tone is playful.

“No, I knew you’d charm them. I’m just glad they all like you.”

We were standing by the door to her bedroom, when she looked up at me through her long thick brown lashes.

“Are you sure you don’t want to sleep in the same bed as me?” She asked so seductively that I felt my dick twitch, and I had to question my reasons for not being in the same bed with her.

Feeling the need to be honest with her I said, “No, I’m not sure. I want you, Harper. I will always want you … but I need it to happen this way.”

She leaned in ever so slightly and I felt the draw to her. She put her hand up and around my neck, pulling me down to her incredible mouth. Her soft lips parted and I felt her tongue brush my bottom lip. I opened my mouth, accepting her in as we kissed and tasted each other. I needed to pull away before things got too heated. I wouldn’t be able to stop myself if they did, that was something I was certain of.

“You’re tempting me,” I said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Maybe, but you’re obviously resigned to going along with this little … test of wills. That’s fine,” she said, before she kissed me on the lips one more time and moved out of my arms.

Before she walked into her room, she turned and smiled at me.

“Good night, Ky.”

“Night, beautiful.”

She went in her room and shut her door. I ran my hands through my hair and gave it a frustrated tug. Time for me to take a cold shower and have a chat with the Behemoth. I’d never last the week with her kissing me like that.

“Grandma, where’s Daddy?” I came in to the cool air-conditioned house after riding my bike outside. California is always hot during the summer.

“He’s in his bedroom, baby. But I think he’s already asleep.” Grandma has weary eyes.

Daddy has been living with my Grandma and Grandpa since Mommy made him leave. I spend a lot of time at Grandma’s house because my Mommy has to work a lot and Grandma runs a daycare in her home, so Mommy lets me come here all of the time. I don’t see my Daddy much though. He’s always gone with his friends. But when he does come back, he always walks back to his room, and shuts the door.

“Can I go lay down with him, Grandma?” I ask.

“Sure, just don’t wake him up. You know how he gets mad.”

I walk down the hall towards my dad’s bedroom, passing all of the family photos that line the walls. There are a few pictures of me from school, a photo of my grandparents together, and pictures of Daddy when he was younger. He looked different then. Now he looks skinnier, and tired.

I slowly open the door to the bedroom and walk into the dark space. It is lit by the small television that is playing a National Geographic show talking about venomous snakes. Daddy is lying on the bed face down on his pillow, already asleep. Creeping in, I silently slip my shoes off beside the bed and climb up, trying not to jostle him. There’s an extra pillow next to him so I put it under my head and lay down beside him. The television is turned all the way down so I can’t hear it, but I lie there watching the snakes move across the screen, until I fall asleep …