Harper gave a faint smile as I helped her put on her coat; the tension between them was palpable. She ruffled her little brother’s hair and then we went out. At my car, I went to open the door for her but stopped.
“You are beautiful.”
“Yes, I heard, thank you. Teaching my little brother some naughty language.” She smiled and straightened my tie. “Butholy shitis what I thought when I saw you. You are…devastating.”
“Why, thank you.”
I kissed her and tasted the plum flavor of her lip gloss and the sweetness of her mouth, like black cherries. The kiss threatened to become more than kissing, her need and mine always burning hot whenever we came together. I pulled away with effort, our breaths pluming in the cold under the streetlamp.
“Is that a very big present in your hand, Bennett, or are you just happy to see me?”
She rolled her eyes. “Will you get in the car? I’m freezing my butt off.”
I burst out laughing. “Romance!”
***
I’d made a reservation at the Chart House, the most expensive restaurant in a town full of expensive restaurants. Our table had sweeping views of Narragansett Bay—the water was a swath of black velvet in the wintry dark December, glittering with the lights of yachts and sailboats outside the window.
Harper picked up the menu, and her eyes widened at the prices.
“I don’t want to hear one word about it, Bennett,” I said. “Not one.”
She rolled her eyes, but a small smile betrayed her. “Fine. Just this once.”
“Absolutely notjust this once. You have to let me indulge every now and again. Splurge on my woman.”
“There you go again with this ‘my woman’ business.”
“Well, aren’t you?”
Her pale cheeks blushed, and I declared victory. To myself anyway.
The waiter arrived, and we ordered sparkling water, calamari appetizers, halibut for her, swordfish for me, and then it came time to exchange our gifts.
“Let me go first,” Harper said.
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to feel inadequate and ridiculous after your gift. The diamond necklace from theTitanicor something.”
“Oh damn, you guessed it,” I said.
She laughed nervously and placed the shoebox-size present on the table in front of me then gave it a small push. “Merry Christmas, Orion.”
She bit her lip and watched as I unwrapped the paper. The shoebox wasn’t a shoebox but an antique wooden box with a hand-painted grand piano on the lid, set against an ivory-colored sheet music background. Black notes drifted behind the piano like birds.
“This is amazing,” I said. “Stunning.”
“There’s more,” she said, still nervous. “Inside.”
I opened the latch, and my damn heart clenched. “A protein bar.”
“It’s the second one that Bandit spit out the day we met,” Harper said.
“You kept it,” I said, marveling at the implications. “Because you knew even then…?”
“Maybe.” She smiled, tucked a curl behind her ear. “It’s stupid, I know…”
