I perk a brow while I wait.
He steps close to where I’m still standing in the open foyer. “Happy Birthday, whoever you are.”
“Thank you,” I whisper.
“How old are you?”
I straighten my back. “Twenty-one.”
His left hand darts to the middle of his chest. “You’re joking. You’re twenty-one?”
“Ouch?” I grimace. “That sounded like an insult.”
He loosens his tie. “You seem older to me. Something in your eyes makes you seem wiser than any twenty-one-year-old I’ve ever known.”
That’s a compliment I’ll happily accept. “I am wise.”
“Wise enough to know that only the people closest to me call me Harry.” He huffs out a humorless laugh. “Yet, you’ve done it repeatedly now.”
I nod.
“Why is that, London?”
I want to laugh and ask why it’s a big deal, but I can tell that he views me as a puzzle that he can’t solve. If I’m not mistaken, he’s enjoying this little game we’re playing.
“Sooner or later, you’re going to recognize me.”
His brow furrows slightly. “You say that as if we’ve met before.”
“We have,” I say with a smile. “Concentrate on my face, and it will all come back to you.”
He closes the distance between us with measured steps. Before I know what’s happening, his hands are cupping my face, luring my chin up, so our eyes meet.
His gaze travels over my forehead, to my eyes, and nose before it trails to my lips. “You’re breathtaking. I’d remember this face if I had seen it before. I’d remember everything about you.”
My traitorous nipples harden again even though the silk of my dress is starting to dry.
“You’ve seen me before,” I whisper.
He edges closer, his breath breezing over my cheek. “Have I kissed you before?”
Only in my dreams.
I hold those words inside of me. “No.”
“I’m an idiot.” He smiles. “I won’t make that mistake twice.”
His eyelids flutter shut, and as his lips hover over mine, I feel a war raging within me.
I can seize this moment and let him take me to bed, or I can confess that I’m his best friend’s younger sister.
The angel within me is winning the battle with the devil, so I sigh. “Harry?”
His eyes pop open and search mine for an explanation.
I drop my gaze to the floor and suck in a deep breath. “I need to tell you who I am.”
“It won’t change the fact that I want to kiss you,” he confesses in a deep tone. “I’ll still want you in my bed for the night. Let me give you a birthday to remember, London.”
I glance at his face. It would be so easy to give in to the temptation.
But it would be wrong.
I rest a hand against the center of his chest. The man is solid as a rock. My imagination runs wild with a vision of what he must look like shirtless, and as my gaze trails down his body, I’m hit with the thought of him naked.
“You’ve never been with a man like me,” he whispers, his voice heavy and thick with need. “I promise you’ll never forget this night.”
My core burns with desire as I stare into his eyes. “Harry.”
“I want you under me saying my name.” His lips brush my cheek. “I want to hear what I do to you. I want to watch you come undone when I touch your…”
A sharp series of knocks at the door yanks me from his arms.
“Fuck.” Harry shoves a hand through his hair. “That’s Sean. He’s a friend. I have no idea why the hell he’s here.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Harrison
“Oh no.” London looks around as if she’s searching for a hole she can jump into. Is there a back door in this place?”
I chuckle. “Sean knows I bring women home. I’ll introduce you. His timing is shit, but he’s a good guy.”
“I need to use the washroom.” She glances toward the stairs that lead up to the bedrooms. “Is there one up there?”
“Three,” I tell her. “Are you sure you don’t want to say hi to Sean?”
“I can’t.” Those words leave her lips as she sprints toward the staircase.
It’s impressive, given that she’s wearing sky-high heels. Before I can chase her down, she’s up and disappeared from view.
Sean knocks again with the distinctive pattern we came up with one night when we were drunk and high. Too much beer and weed resulted in us standing on opposite sides of my front door, creating a secret knock that only we use.
It’s lame as hell, but we’ve never dropped it. I doubt we ever will.
I knock back using the pattern Sean is expecting before I swing open the door.
He’s standing there dressed in jeans and a green sweatshirt that once belonged to me. He borrowed the shirt when he briefly lived here and never bothered to return it.
“Look at me.” He holds both of his arms out to the side. “Do I look different to you?”
“What the fuck?” I stand in the middle of the doorway. “What are you doing here?”
As usual, he brushes right past me and invites himself in. “I asked you a question, Harry. Do I look different to you?”
I glance toward the staircase. “No, why?”
He turns to face me. Tears well in his eyes, and even though there’s a beautiful woman in my home, I focus all my attention on my best friend.
“What’s wrong?” Concern edges my tone. “What happened?”
“This!” With a flourish, he yanks a small plastic zip top bag from the back pocket of his jeans.
He waves it in front of my face. It’s too close for me to make out anything since my reading glasses are currently in their case in the inner pocket of my suit jacket.
My hand darts out to circle his wrist so I can hold his hand in place a few inches in front of me.
His pulse is racing.
I know why the second I get a clear view of what’s in the bag.
“I found this.” His voice cracks. “Calliope must have put the baggie under the bathroom sink. I saw it when I went in there looking for bubble bath.”
I hold in a laugh. “What?”
“I like lavender baths,” he says as if I should know. “She fell asleep, and I thought, why not take a bath but then…”
“But then you saw this?”
A tear falls onto his cheek. “It’s positive, right? Look at it, Harry. Tell me it’s positive.”
I squint, but I can’t see shit that small without my glasses, so I head toward my jacket. I slide the case out and open it. With the reading glasses in my hand, I walk toward Sean.
He’s literally bouncing in place. The shoes on his feet are tapping each time his heels hit the floor. “Look, Harry. Tell me I’m not dreaming.”
I grab the clear zip bag and get under the overhead light to get a better look.
“Congratulations,” I say with a crack in my voice. “This pregnancy test is positive, Sean. You’re going to be a dad.”