Chapter Nineteen
For fuck’s sake, he didn’t even watch the Lingerie Football League!
Galen paced the confines of Harper’s living room feeling goddamned suffocated. His shoulder holster was too tight, the weight of his Glock tugging his left side toward the floor. He took it off and set it on the counter and unbuttoned the sleeves of his shirt to roll them up to his elbows. It was hot as hell in this damn condo. Didn’t she ever open a fucking window?
He tried to remember what had triggered their argument and came up empty-handed. Who cared what television shows she liked to watch? Hell, she could watch soap operas, infomercials, and talk shows all day, every day and he wouldn’t have given a shit. He was reeling from the events of the day and he’d only been here a little over an hour. First she’d come out of her bedroom acting as though she was oblivious to the fact that she was practically naked. Then she’d turned off the flirt vibe so fast it had given him whiplash.
And let’s not forget the way she all but called you a sexist pig when you didn’t agree that
Supernatural
was the best show ever created in the history of television
. Was she out of her mind? Why the manic bipolar act all of a sudden?
Because he treated her like she didn’t matter. That’s why. The proverbial cup, the one thing she didn’t want to be. He’d been pushing her away since the day he was assigned to protect her, all the while knowing she thought he’d forgotten about what happened between them a year ago. Forgotten about
her
. Christ, how could he ever forget her? She was etched into his brain. Seared onto every inch of his goddamned skin. He had to force himself to leave this fucking condo every night. And then, he practically had to seal his cell phone in a safe buried thirty feet deep to keep from texting her until the sun rose and he could finally see her again.
Forget her? Galen was starting to think that he couldn’t live without her.
She emerged from her bedroom almost an hour later, her puffy eyes rimmed with red. She’d tried to hide the fact that she’d been crying with makeup, but Galen noticed. Which made him feel like an even bigger asshole.
“Harper.”
“Ready for some fritters?” She sounded upbeat, but it was forced. The smile plastered on her face was just as fake as her cheerfulness, and a feeling of foreboding settled into Galen’s gut.
“We don’t have to go,” he said.
“Yes, we do. Come on.”
“I think we should talk, don’t you?”
Harper tilted her head to the side, her expression perplexed. “About what? TV? Don’t worry about it, Galen. Let’s just go so I can eat my weight in pastries, and then we’ll come back and you can watch anything you want.” She grabbed her keys and purse and headed for the door without giving him an opportunity to respond.
“I’m not leaving until we talk.”
“Suit yourself,” she said, pulling open the door. “I’ll bring you back a fritter.”
Galen stalked to the door, his ire as fierce as her nonchalance. He slammed the door closed and wrapped his hand around her wrist. “You’re not going anywhere without me. Ignoring something doesn’t make it go away, Harper.”
“I have nothing to say to you, Galen.”
Galen disregarded the warning in her eyes and pressed on, his hand still holding on to her. “You’re obviously upset about something and it’s not a fucking television show. We are going to have a conversation, Harper. Whether you like it or not.”
She jerked her arm from his grasp. “You’re not my therapist, Galen. Or my friend. You’re nothing but a glorified babysitter. I don’t have to talk to you about a damned thing.”
Glorified babysitter?
That stung. Still, Galen wasn’t about to let her get away with it. “And you’re nothing but a spoiled brat who doesn’t appreciate that people are putting their own lives on
hold
to protect her. I don’t know what’s up with you, Harper, but I am not about to play your games.”
“My games?” Her voice climbed to a shriek. “My games.” Low laughter filled the room and Galen took a step back. Maybe they both needed to cool down a little. She was obviously on the verge of some kind of breakdown. “I think that’s pretty hypocritical coming from you.”
“Harper.” Galen let out a slow breath and rubbed at his temples. Did she have to stand there, her cheeks flushed and parted, her chest rising and falling with each angry breath and looking so goddamned
desirable
? He forced his eyes to her face, anywhere but the curve of her hip, the swell of her breasts, barely concealed by the deep V-neck of her T-shirt. “All I said was that you needed to go put on some clothes before anyone saw you half naked. Do you realize what sort of trouble that could have caused if Peggy or Monroe had showed up?”
“Why should it matter? I’m nothing but a job assignment to you. You don’t see me as anything other than cargo that has to get to a destination without a dent. It obviously doesn’t matter to you what I do or don’t wear.”
Was she out of her mind? Did she think he was blind? Immune to her soft beauty, supple curves, and smooth skin? Seeing her in that state of undress had been sheer, unmitigated torture. “It wasn’t unreasonable to ask you to get dressed.”
“Piss off.”
“Harper—”
“How could you forget me like that?” Her body shook with each word she shouted. “Was it seriously that meaningless to you? I thought about you, Galen. Every day for a freaking year! I really want to know, was I just another conquest for you? A girl you bragged about to your buddies at work the next day? Or was I wiped from your memory the second you walked out my door?”
Shit
. He knew she’d throw it all back in his face sooner or later, and now he was paying the price for his deception. Galen despised liars, and right now he hated himself. He took a step toward her, palms up in surrender, and she held up a hand to stop him.
“Did you seriously not feel
anything
for me?” Tears glistened in her eyes, tearing Galen’s heart to shreds. “Did that night mean absolutely nothing to you? Seriously, Galen, do you not have the slightest clue how humiliated I felt when I realized you had no idea who I was? How utterly used? How could you be such a dishonorable bastard?”
Dishonorable?
“Me, dishonorable?” That was a good one. Galen shook his head, his eyes wide with disbelief. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. “What about Cory or whatever the hell his name is? You failed to mention him during our so-called, no-bullshit, all-honesty conversation.”
Her eyes grew wide with his admission. “Cory?” Harper replied, her tone perplexed. “What are you talking about, Galen?” She clutched her fists so tightly her knuckles turned white. “You walked out on me.”
“Because you had a boyfriend!” he railed. “The text messages were piling up on your phone, Harper. ‘Where are you?’ ‘Call me.’ ‘I’m coming over.’ What the fuck did you expect me to do? Hang around until Curtis or whatever the hell his name is showed up? You wanna talk about humiliation? You played me. How could
I
?” he asked with incredulity. “How could you take me back to your apartment when you had a boyfriend waiting for you somewhere else?” A bitter laugh escaped Galen’s throat. “How could I forget you?” he scoffed. “Jesus, Harper, you’re all I’ve thought about for an entire fucking year! Who really used who that night?”
Galen took a deep breath and exhaled. His body was taut with frustration, his pulse racing in his veins. It was all out in the open now, and the worst part of all of this was that despite everything that happened, he’d do it again if he had the chance. All of it.
For just one night more with her.
Harper didn’t know if she should be elated or crushed over the revelation that Galen hadn’t forgotten their night together. Hadn’t forgotten her. Was it worse that he’d deceived her? Pretended not to know her while she agonized for weeks over his casual dismissal.
I thought about you every fucking day
. Harper snorted. Yeah, right. Thought about how he’d managed to trick her into a one-nighter and gone on with his life while she’d been in a state of inertia, putting her life on hold for a memory.
“Yeah, well . . .” Crap. She’d reached the bottom of her cache of snarky comebacks. All she could think about was how much she wanted him to kiss her. Despite the fact that he’d lied.
You are such a loser, Harp
.
His tender expression made Harper’s legs feel like cooked noodles. So much intensity. So much heat. So much
longing
. It only took Galen a few strides to cross the space between them and he took Harper in his arms before tilting her face up to meet his. “How could I forget this?” he said before touching his lips to hers.
Holy. Crap. Galen was the Jedi Master of kissing. As if some mystical force guided his actions, his lips caressed hers, slow, deliberate, an exacting torture that she gladly submitted to. When his tongue flicked out at the seam of her lips, she opened her mouth to him, deepening the kiss, and a low moan vibrated in his chest.
“I tried to forget you, Harper,” he murmured against her mouth. Something inside of her cracked at his words, and she gripped his shirt in her fists, pulling him closer. “I couldn’t get you out of my head, no matter how hard I tried.” He reached up and gently pulled the elastic band from her hair, allowing the thick locks to cascade down her shoulders. His fingers wound through the curly length, sending pleasant shivers down Harper’s spine. “Every day for a year I saw your face in my mind, heard your voice in my ears.”
Galen eased her back, supporting her with his arm while his head dipped to the swell of her breasts. His heated breath seared her skin, quick pants that preceded a slow pass of his tongue and then, a light nip of his teeth. She had somewhere to be. Someone to meet. Oh, who the hell cared! She’d been waiting for this moment for an
eternity
. The rest of the world could wait.
“I don’t care who you were with then or why you didn’t tell me. I don’t care if you’re with him still. If that makes me a lousy son of a bitch, then so be it. I want you. And I’m tired of telling myself that I can’t have you.”
Harper couldn’t talk. Couldn’t form a coherent thought to save her life. Had the words she’d been dying to hear spilled from Galen’s lips? If this was a dream, she wasn’t even remotely interested in waking up. Her senses were awash with his clean, masculine scent, his skin on hers, the way his blue eyes burned with a passion that tied her stomach into knots. Galen seized her hips in his grasp and jerked her to him, his lips bruising, punishing as he slanted his mouth across hers. This was nothing like the playful, teasing way he’d kissed her their first time. This was hungry. Demanding. Desperate. And she gave as good as she got, nipping at his lip, thrusting her tongue in his mouth so she could revel in his taste. Her body burned with need, and her breasts tightened as they rubbed up against his shirt.
“I need to see you.” His voice was ragged, strained. “I’ve wanted to see your body again for too goddamned long.”
She wasn’t generally self-conscious, but her few sexual escapades prior to Galen had usually begun with the lights off. Her first time with him had been such a sensory experience. In her darkened apartment, she’d forgone the full sight of him in exchange for the feel, scent, taste of him. Now, though, all bets were off. Like the last time they’d been together, he was in control and a rush of excitement cascaded over her. Submitting to Galen’s desires was exactly what she wanted.
Harper hooked her finger in one of Galen’s belt loops and began to walk backward, guiding him down the hall to her bedroom. She might have warmed up to him seeing her body in the light of day, but she wasn’t quite ready to put it all on display in the middle of her living room. He followed willingly, his eyes glued to hers, a smile playing on his full lips. He could get to her with a look, and with each agonizing step she felt the proof of her arousal as a slick warmth pulsed between her thighs.
Once in the bedroom, she guided Galen to the side of the bed. She took a step back and, with her gaze still locked on his, dragged her T-shirt up the length of her body, discarding it beside her. She kicked off her shoes, and shucked her jeans. It took all of the courage she could muster to expose herself this way, and she moistened her suddenly dry lips with her tongue before slowly removing her bra and underwear and stretching out on the bed. Bare took on a new stark meaning as she lay before him, and Harper’s heart hammered against her rib cage as he dragged his eyes slowly down the length of her body, pausing at the juncture between her thighs and back up to her face.
He scrubbed a hand across his mouth and drew in a ragged breath. “Jesus Christ,” he said on an exhale.
Harper waited, her chest rising and falling with quick little pants of breath, as Galen stared. He stepped up to the bed and reached out, tracing his fingers from her throat, between her breasts, and down past her belly button. A shuddering breath escaped her lungs as he paused and his eyes met hers. “Open your legs so I can see all of you.”
Harper let her knees fall open and an almost tortured groan escaped Galen’s throat. He braced one arm to the side of her head and the pad of one finger resumed its path down the outside of her left thigh, around her knee, and back up the inside of her thigh. Harper arched into his touch, her body shaking with anticipation. His finger dipped into her slick heat and her entire body ignited with pleasure.
All of the pent-up frustration she’d felt over the past weeks melted away under Galen’s touch. The heartache, the anguish, the utter embarrassment. So many miscommunications had formed a barrier between them, but with each touch, each heated gaze, that wall crumbled until there was nothing left but dust.
When he pulled away, Harper nearly cried out in frustration. “Look at me, Harper,” he said as he unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it to the floor.