“Oh man”—he nodded—“that dude’s like your brother.”

“I know. This is ridiculous, I don’t know what to do. Brandon’s the best guy for her, I know that, but I want her. And I’m constantly pushing her away and pulling her toward me; I’m pretty sure I’m giving us both whiplash.”

“Look, Brandon’s great and all, but you’re being too hard on yourself. I wouldn’t agree with you that he’s the best guy for her. I think any guy that loves her the way you do is the best guy for her.” I started to tell him I wasn’t in love with her, but he cut me off. “You are, and you’ll realize it one day.”

“Whatever, so what would you do if you were me? I know I should let her be with him, but I don’t know if I can.”

“I’m just going to compare her to Riss because that’s exactly how I think of her, so if someone was trying to take my girl from me—even if she weren’t my girl yet—I’d fight for her. No way I’d let Marissa slip away, and you shouldn’t let this chick slip away. What’s her name?”

“Harper. Princess. Whatever fits at the moment.” Brian raised an eyebrow at me, and I shrugged. “When I first met her, the title fit. Now it just pisses her off, but it still kinda fits her.”

“That’s weird. I’ll stick with Harper.”

I laughed. “Shut up, man. You’d like her. She’s hot, God she’s so damn sexy, and she has no idea. She’s everything I never wanted in a girl and everything I want from her. She’s snarky and at the same time sweet as hell; she’s probably shorter than Bree, and she’s fierce, but she looks like a pissed-off little kitten when she is.” Brian’s chuckles cut me off, and I blinked up to look at him. “What?”

“Chase Grayson is whipped and in love!” he shouted loud enough to be heard throughout the tattoo parlor, and I glared at him. “Oh, man. Screw texting Riss about this. I gotta call her and tell her; you know she’s gonna give you hell. And she’s gonna want to meet her, so I know you and Brandon got some bro-mance going on, but don’t let her go, man.”

I thought about my princess, I’d already screwed things up bad enough, but I was done with it. I was done with everything else but her. She didn’t want me to drink? Then I wouldn’t. All that happened when I did was mistakes with other girls, and no other girl mattered. Not anymore. I didn’t know how to go about fixing what I’d already fucked up, but I’d change everything from here on out, I needed her. “I won’t.”

Chapter Five

I DIDN’T SEE Harper again until Monday, and I was starting to wonder if Brian was right. At the risk of sounding supercheesy and sappy, my chest literally swelled, and my heart took off as I watched her walk across the courtyard with my sister. She looked perfect. Everything about her. I didn’t need to be here ’til later, but I knew she was here and had hoped to catch a glimpse of her. I don’t know what I was going to say to her, but I needed to talk to her. As soon as I stepped away from Drew and Zach, my steps faltered as Brandon walked up and swung her up into his arms to kiss her. My hands fisted, and I had to turn away, so I wouldn’t watch them. I needed to fight for her smart; running up to them and punching him would definitely not win me any points.

“Zach, give me some paper and a pen.”

“What? Why?”

“Just give me some, fast.”

I ground my jaw as I forced myself not to look back over at them. I could hear Brandon talking, so I knew they were still there, I just really didn’t want to see her in his arms again. As soon as Zach tore out a sheet of paper, I ripped the bottom off and scrawled a note on it before handing his pen back.

“Take care of my girl, Bree,” I heard Brandon call from behind me, and I swear I growled.

Motherfucker. My girl.

“Chase, you all right?” Zach asked, and he was looking at me like I was crazy. I felt like it.

“Yep. Catch you guys later.” I turned and had to look for a second before finding Bree and Harper walking away. I caught up to them quickly and realized I still didn’t have a reason to talk to them. At the last second, I threw an arm around Bree’s shoulder, and asked. “What’s up, sis?”

“Uh, nothing. I thought you didn’t have classes ’til later?”

“Had some things I had to take care of earlier, didn’t feel like going home.” I had placed myself between her and my princess, so it wasn’t hard for me to press the paper telling Harper she looked beautiful into her hand. As soon as I felt her fingers curl around it, I let my hand trail all the way up to her elbow and smiled when I heard her breath catch.

“You going to family day this weekend?”

“Bree, you’re asking me? I was the one that actually showed yesterday.”

“Don’t blame me; Harper wouldn’t get out of bed with Brandon.”

I was going to kill Brandon. I just had to find him first. “You ladies have fun, I’ll see you later.” I hugged Bree quickly and nudged my princess before making myself go back to my truck instead of finding Brandon. If punching him wouldn’t win me points, killing him definitely wouldn’t.

IT WAS RIDICULOUS, but I’d avoided being at my house as much as possible ever since I’d come home from work Monday night to find Harper and Brandon making their way into his room. Now, I was pretty much only here when I knew Brandon would be in class. But holy hell, if I could walk out of my room to see this every time I was home? I’d never leave. Harper was standing there in the tiniest bikini known to man, her body shaking slightly; I guessed it had something to do with the water that still clung to her skin. I couldn’t stop myself from slowly, so freakin’ slowly, taking in her practically naked body.

“Damn, Princess. You look”—God, I really needed to adjust myself— “wow.”

“I was uh, just coming to get more towels.”

I kept my eyes on her even though she’d covered her chest with her arms as I opened the closet next to me and pulled out a stack of towels. I dropped all but the top one and wrapped it around her shoulders. “How are you?” I brushed my fingers across her cheek, then down her neck, and watched as her eyes fluttered shut.

“Huh?”

I kept my eyes on her completely relaxed face until I ducked my head under her jaw and kissed her throat, keeping my lips against her skin as I asked, “That good, huh?”

She pushed me back after a few seconds, and I couldn’t help but smile at her fierce expression, which was becoming one of my favorites. “Why do you keep doing this to me?”

“What do you mean?” I tried to pull her into my arms, but she stepped back and, with the hand that wasn’t gripping the towel to her chest, pointed at one of my arms.

“This! You can’t keep doing this. I’m with Brandon now; you have to stop. No more notes, no more touches, no more putting your lips on me. This isn’t fair to me. Do you have any idea how crazy you’re making me?”

That Brandon shit had started to piss me off, but as soon as she asked that last question, I was smiling again. “Really now?”

“Chase, I’m serious. This has to stop.”

Hell. No. “Give me one good reason why I should.”

“I told you, I’m with Brandon now.”

“I said a good reason, Princess.”

“That’s a perfectly good reason! And it’s the only one you’re going to get.”

I watched as she bent down to pick up the towels and knew I needed to just tell her how I felt. I’d spent too much time confusing both of us—I needed to lay it all out there. “Harper.”

She squeezed her eyes shut as she spoke to me, and I wanted to beg her to open them so I could look at her stormy eyes. “No Chase, please just—just don’t. I really like Brandon. Besides, you have plenty of girls who are fine with being treated like shit by you. I’m not one of them. Go find another brainless bimbo to screw and get out of your system.”

Holy shit; that hurts. I recoiled like she’d slapped me and didn’t even try to stop her when she turned and walked back outside. She still didn’t get it; she still thought this was just a game for me.

“Hey, there you are,” Brad called, and I tore my eyes from the back door and over to him. “Whoa, are you all right?”

I nodded and looked back at the door.

“Um, okay. Well, before you run off again, I’m gonna grill some burgers in a bit. So why don’t you stay until you gotta go in to work? I don’t know why you’ve been gone so much, but whatever it is, we all miss having you around here. C’mon, we’re all gonna be outside swimming and hanging out until later.”

A shriek that was distinctly Harper sounded from the backyard, and I took off for the door in time to watch her get thrown in the pool.

“They’re just throwing the girls in the pool, calm down.”

“I know, I just . . .” Just what? Didn’t want anyone touching her? Freaked the hell out when I heard her just then?

“Oh shit, man. Please don’t tell me—”

“Don’t worry about it, Brad. And yeah, I’ll stay.”

He sighed but didn’t say anything else; I just shrugged out of my shirt and pulled a chair up to where the towels I’d just given Harper were spread out. I had to grip the arms of the chair when Zach threw Harper into the pool again not thirty minutes later, but other than that, just sat around with everyone and tried not to make it obvious I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. Bree and I were talking about this new prick she had with her and how she wanted to use my room again tonight, when Brandon ran up behind Harper and picked her up. I almost laughed when she kicked at him, but then he kissed her, and the laugh died.

He asked something too low for me to hear, but I definitely heard her response. “Not at all, I’m yours for the next three days.” I watched as he walked them into the house and caught sight of Brad watching me and shaking his head slightly before looking back to the grill.