They started walking, and he pressed their joined hands closer to his body and rubbed teasing circles against her palm with his thumb. They kept up a steady stream of chitchat—her day, his, another week of shitty weather—and the rumble of his voice smoothed over her frazzled nerves, the worries evaporating from her skin. Harper still didn’t know the language of her feelings, but she was learning not to fight them.
He kissed her at every intersection, each one hungrier than the last. When they finally got inside her apartment, they were a blur of clumsy fingers and rough hands, stripping and clawing at layers until they could finally press skin to skin.
Harper had never been particularly needy for sex, never craved it like her friends seemed to, but Dan’s touch unearthed some hidden sex drive that couldn’t be satiated—an overwhelming and consuming want to be as close to Dan as possible. When her heart pressed against his, it was like she could let go of the years of pain so deeply coiled in every single muscle with a sigh of relief.
They collapsed into a giggling tangle of limbs in her entryway, scaring Judy in the process.
After fumbling with a condom, Harper straddled him, sinking into the connection that was starting to feel as necessary as breathing. She moved over him, watching his face. His lips were parted and brows furrowed in concentration. She watched a swallow travel down the column of his neck and felt his large hands gripping her hips.
“Can I be honest with you?” she asked, planting her hands on his chest for support.
“Hmm?” Dan’s eyes were locked on her breasts and Harper couldn’t help but giggle. She lowered her mouth to his ear and nipped at it.
“This is really hurting my knees,” she whispered as seductively as possible. Dan’s eyes traveled down her body to where her knees were digging into the hardwood floor. After a beat, he threw back his head and laughed. Harper wanted to capture the sound of it in a painting—see its deep reds and rich blues decorate her walls.
“If this is honesty hour,” he said, looking up at her, “I don’t love the cold floor on my ass.”
He sat up suddenly and Harper squeaked in surprise. He wrapped her legs around his waist and used one hand to push to standing, the other gripping tightly around her butt. He moved them toward the bedroom, feasting on her mouth as they went.
“So are we officially bed people?” Harper asked into the kiss.
Dan gave a gravelly laugh before flinging her onto the bed. He crawled toward her with a dark heat that she felt in her stomach, its warmth spreading like a droplet of ink onto paper. He ran his hands up her body before pushing back into her with a deep thrust, causing her to throw her head back with a groan.
“We’re bed people.” He pushed into her with an exaggerated thrust. “And couch people. And bend-you-over-your-desk people.”
He bent his head to suck her nipple into his mouth, causing her to cry out. “And I’m going to buy you knee pads and then we can be floor people. And later tonight I’d like to make us shower people. Because there isn’t one spot in this apartment I don’t want to take you.”
The tension built in every cell of her body as he continued to move in and out of her, touching and stroking her in a rhythm that drove her wild.
“How can it always feel this good?” Dan whispered, more to himself than her.
He fisted his fingers in her hair and bent down to kiss her. It was all she needed. Her muscles snapped, her body arching with the delicious pleasure of it as she flew over the edge.
With a loud groan, he followed her, his hard movements slowing to a stillness as they both worked to catch their breath. He kissed her again, then moved off her to deal with the condom. She lay there, a shimmering pool of pleasure and satisfaction, and wouldn’t have been surprised if Dan could see the waves of golden happiness dancing off her skin.
CHAPTER 30
DAN
“I really need to study.”
Dan released a deep breath through his nose before turning his head to face Harper.
“That’s what you think about after sex? I need to reassess my technique.”
Harper giggled and clapped a hand over her eyes. “I’m sorry! That was awful timing—stupid brain. I have no complaints about your technique.”
Dan leaned over and kissed her cheek before sitting up in bed and reaching for his clothes scattered across her bedroom floor. He’d been spending so many nights here, he had more than a few outfit choices.
“I need to study too. Word on the street is we have a pop quiz in perio tomorrow.”