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He swallowed hard. “I promise nothing,” he said in a gruff voice. He didn’t like to go back on his word, so he didn’t make promises he knew he couldn’t keep. As it was, he was clutching his pillow in front of himself to hide his pulsating desire. How could such a sweet, innocent piece of clothing stir such a reaction in him?
Probably because Jade could wear a clown suit and he would still want her. That was the long and short of the matter. He might not like it. He might even try to convince himself that he didn’t harbor such a strong attraction to Jade any longer. But it was a damned lie. She’d hurt him when she chose Lance, even if he didn’t want to admit that to himself. And he could tell himself he didn’t need someone in his life who didn’t think he was good enough for them. But somehow all that flew out the window where she was concerned.
“Come on,” she said with a laugh, and left the doorway, seemingly oblivious to the heated thoughts running through his mind.
Did she think he was being funny? He wasn’t sure, but he was running out of sleeping options if he was going to stay here and keep her safe. Once the security equipment was up, he could return to his bed at his mother’s house, but until then, he needed someplace to get some decent rest. Reluctantly, Harley followed her out of the guest room and glared across the hallway to Jade’s bedroom. He could see the large bed with the floral quilt tossed back and half a dozen decorative pillows piled on the unoccupied side.
While he stood there, Jade leaned across the mattress to snatch the extra pillows off the bed. As she stretched for the last one, the hem of her nightie crept higher and higher, until he could see the firm cheeks of her bottom peeking out from baby blue cotton panties. Not a thong or cheeky cutouts. They were sweet. Innocent. Just like the kind he’d fantasized about peeling off of her back in high school.
He curled his hands into fists. The universe was testing him; that’s what it was. There was no other explanation.
“Here you go.” Jade pulled back the comforter and patted the mattress in an invitation his eighteen-year-old self would’ve killed to get.
Harley swallowed hard and made his way around the bed to his side. She was right. It was a big bed, and there was plenty of space. He just knew there wasn’t a bed big enough for it not to be a temptation with her so close by.
“Thank you,” he said, as he slipped under the blankets. Her sheets were butter-soft and smelled like lavender, just as she always did. It was almost enough to lure him into a state of comfort that would allow him to forget where he was and who was beside him.
Almost.
As it was, he lay on his back, every inch of him stiff as a board. He didn’t want to relax enough that he might brush against her under the sheets. He closed his eyes and tried to will himself to sleep.
Moments later, in the dark stillness of her bedroom, he heard Jade’s soft voice from beside him. “You know, I never thought I’d share a bed with you, Harley.”
His eyes fluttered open, but he kept them pinned on her ceiling fan as he chuckled. “No, me, neither. If I’d kept you out past eleven your father would’ve had me arrested. Keeping you overnight... I’d be dead.”
Jade laughed, too, the melodic sound bringing back memories of them in the back of his pickup truck, looking at the stars. He remembered lying there, gazing into those big doe eyes and feeling his heart slipping away to the smartest girl in school.
Against his better judgment he rolled onto his side now and looked at her. Even in the darkness he could see her facing him, her white-blond hair sprawled across her pillowcase. Her head was resting on her hands as she watched him with curiosity in her eyes. He longed to reach out and cup her cheek and let his thumb drag gently across her bottom lip. Instead, he balled his fists beneath his pillow.
“It was a mistake, you know.”
Harley frowned at her. “What was?”
“Choosing Lance.”
“I read about what happened with him, and his drug problem. I’m sorry about all that.”
“That’s not what I meant. I mean that I hurt you, and I never wanted to do that.”
Harley wasn’t expecting an apology and he wasn’t sure how to accept it. “It was for the best.” He said the words, but didn’t believe them.
“Maybe so. Perhaps things happen the way they’re intended to. But lying here next to you after all this time makes me wish I’d gotten one last kiss before I let you go. I probably regret that more than anything else.”
Without thinking, Harley surged forward and pressed his lips to hers. He’d had those regrets, too, and now, having her so near, he couldn’t fight it anymore. He had to touch her, taste her, even if it was just to convince himself that his memories of her were wrong. She couldn’t possibly be everything he’d built her up to be in his mind. She’d become a fantasy because he couldn’t have her. The reality would no doubt disappoint him. He hoped that once the kiss was done he could put aside his attraction to her and focus on the case.
He couldn’t have been more wrong. Jade melted into his arms, moaning softly against his mouth. She wrapped her body around him, pulling him close to her. He could feel every inch of her curves as they pressed against him beneath the thin cotton of that nightgown. As one of his hands held her face to his, the other drifted down her side, stopping just as it reached the lacy edge of her pajamas. If he crossed that line, he knew there was no going back.
She was everything he remembered and more, his impulsive experiment backfiring in spectacular fashion. It took all he had to realize it and pull away.
The moment their lips parted, Harley felt reality start to close in on him. What the hell was he doing? He was here to protect Jade and find out what had happened at the hospital. Not to manhandle her and start something up between them that he might regret. Yes, it was just a kiss, but he could feel his grip on his self-control slipping away. The way she responded, the soft noises she made... He had to put some distance between them or things were going to go too far. He rolled away, grabbed his pillow and climbed out of bed.
“Where are you going?” Jade asked breathlessly.
“To the couch.”
Her face wrinkled with displeasure as she looked up at him from the bed. Everything about her beckoned him to come back. To cross the line. “It was just a kiss. You don’t have to go.”
Harley had been waiting for an invitation and this was it. If he could accept it. Instead, he shook his head and walked around the foot of the bed to the door. “Yes, I do.”
