Chapter 3

Harper

It’s early, and I do want to dance. I want to do the horizontal with her brother even more. Ugh. Wonder how Phe would react if I told her that I find her brother attractive? Perhaps, she wouldn’t mind? But I do feel guilty that I’m eyeing my best friend’s brother like he’s a slice of tiramisu I’d love to devour layer by layer.

James watches me from under hooded eyes. His jaw is set. He lowers his arm from around Phe and surveys me with an impatient look.

It’s as if he expects to be obeyed. I have a good mind to tell him that he’s not my keeper. That I’ll do as I damn well please. Although, if I’m being honest, there’s a part of me that would like for him to boss me around. But the last thing I want is to make things difficult for Phe.

She widens her gaze at me, a pleading look in her eyes.

I sigh, then nod almost imperceptibly at her.

James spots it though, for his shoulders relax slightly. He hustles the two of us toward the hallway. He’s tall and broad, with shoulders wide enough that the crowd parts before us.

We retrieve our coats and button up, before following him up the stairs and onto the street.

Cool air engulfs me. I welcome it after the cloying heat of the club. I take in lungfuls, tucking strands of hair that have come loose behind my ears.

“This way.” James leads us to a Jeep Wrangler parked a few cars down. A beep sounds as he unlocks the doors. He holds the front door open.

Phe bypasses it, wrenches the back door open, and climbs in.

It’s either climb into the passenger seat or appear impolite. I can’t quite give word to the reasons why I’d rather not sit in the passenger seat next to James. I can’t exactly say aloud that if I sit that close to him, I’m going to be affected by his nearness. That he feels larger than life, and so handsome, and extremely hot. Enough to distract me. That I feel a certain nervousness around him. And I’m worried that I might give away how he unnerves me.

He holds the door open, looking at me with curiosity.

“You okay, Harper?” Phe calls out from the back of the car.

I laugh. “Just trying to enjoy a few last minutes of cool air.”

Without giving myself a chance to second guess myself, I climb into the Jeep, trying and failing not to draw in a quick sniff of the dark scent that emanates from James. A very male scent. Salt combined with a whiff of metal, and leather infused with notes of cedar. It’s a scent that hints at the danger the man carries pressed into his skin. It screams that he can’t be tamed. That he’s someone who lives a very different life from mine.

He’s a Marine who’s seen his share of action on the frontline, accordingly to what Phe has told me.

“All right?” His low voice rumbles over me.

I shiver, then lock my fingers together in my lap and nod.

He searches my features, then reaches for the seatbelt and hands it to me. “Don’t forget to buckle in.” He smirks at my flustered expression, then glances in the backseat. “You too, Phe.”

He shuts the door, rounds the Jeep, and just before he slides into the driver’s seat, Phe grumbles, “Bossy.”

He eases the car forward onto the street.

“Drop me off first, and then you can take Harper home,” Phe calls out from behind.

I whip my head around, surprised and more than a little flustered by her suggestion. “What?! No, I… I don’t want to trouble him⁠—”

“No trouble,” he cuts me off.

I frown. “You could drop me off at the tube station and⁠—”

“It’s eleven p.m. I’m seeing you home.” His voice brooks no argument.

I firm my lips and stop the sharp retort hovering at the tip of my tongue. I’m in his vehicle. I don’t want to seem impolite. Also, I don’t want to make it awkward for Phe.

Still, I can’t stop myself from glaring at her.

She holds up her hands. “You don’t have to accept the lift if you don’t want to.”

James stiffens. I sense the disapproval radiating from him. But to his credit, he stays quiet.

“I just don’t think it’s safe for you to call a car at this late hour.” She widens her eyes. “And I live closer, so it makes sense for James to drop me off first. That’s why I sat in the back.”

Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.

She’s playing cupid. And she’s not being subtle about it.

Phe picked up on the chemistry between us and now she’s orchestrating this like some meddling matchmaker who thinks she knows what’s best for everyone.

Heat crawls up my neck. The mortified kind.

If James figures out what she’s doing, and he’s not an idiot, he’s going to think I put her up to this. That I’m some desperate girl who needs her best friend to manufacture alone time with him. He’ll shut down completely, and any chance I have of him seeing me as anything other than his little sister’s pathetic friend will evaporate.

I shoot Phe a look that promises retribution. A long conversation about boundaries and interfering in my love life. She has the audacity to give me an innocent smile.

We’re going to have words later.

But what choice do I have? Refusing the ride makes this into a bigger thing than it already is. Makes it obvious that I am affected by him, that sitting alone in a car with James Hamilton is dangerous territory.

I grit my teeth. “Fine.” I nod in James’ direction without looking at him. “Thank you for the ride.”

My tone is grudging, but I refuse to mask it. I turn and busy myself looking out the window, remaining silent.

We drive for a few minutes. Slowly, my muscles unwind, enough for me to sneak a peek in his direction.

The lights from passing cars and streetlights sweep over his face like a spotlight interrogating secrets.

The hollows under his cheekbones carve deeper with each flash, lending a brutal handsomeness to his profile that shouldn’t be as appealing as it is. Light, dark, light, dark. The rhythm is hypnotic.

In the brightness, I catch the fine lines around his eyes, proof of laughter I’ve never heard, a warmth I’ve never seen. Then shadow devours him whole, turning him back into sharp angles and that stern, unforgiving mouth that could wreck me. Intimidating as hell. Beautiful as sin. Two versions of the same man, and I want them both. Both dangerous. Both capable of destroying me in different ways.

“You never told us what you were doing at the club,” Phe calls out from the seat behind us.

James glances at the rearview mirror. “I was supposed to meet a friend.”

“A friend?” Phe frowns.

Was he meeting a date? Somehow, the thought makes my heart sink, and I’m not sure why. I don’t know this man at all. I’ve only just met him, yet I feet this attraction to him. This pull I’ve never experienced before. Enough for me to ask, “A girlfriend?”

No sooner are the words out than I wince. Why did I blurt that out? It hints at the direction my thoughts have taken. And I don’t want him to find that out. When his lips twist though, I realize, I’m not in luck.

“A friend,” he drawls.

I shoot a glance at his face, but he’s focused on the road.

“Hmph.” I place my hands in my lap and turn to gaze through the windshield as well.

“You don’t have a girlfriend though, do you?” Phe’s voice is casual. Too casual.

I flush to the roots of my hair. Argh, she’s asking the questions I can’t. She’s taking this matchmaking thing too seriously.

And James has definitely noticed, for when he replies, he addresses her but turns to me. “No, I don’t.”

Our gazes clash, hold, and then I forget to be embarrassed because by God, every pore in my body seems to pop. Something sizzles in the air between us and envelops us in a cocoon of bubbling intimacy. The rest of the world fades. Electricity zips down my spine and to my extremities.

Then, he turns back to the road. The bubble pops. I release the breath I wasn’t aware I was holding.

Now that he’s not looking at me, some of the tension in my muscles fades. But being in this enclosed space with him means I’m still very aware of him.

“What happened to your friend?” Surely, my words must reveal that I’m interested in him. But I can’t stop myself. That secret part of me that awakened when I saw him wants to elongate this conversation, just so I can be at the receiving end of his attention.

“I told him I had something important come up,” he murmurs.

“What are you doing back in town? I thought you weren’t on leave for another week,” Phe asks.

Tension snaps through him. I glance at him in time to see him set his jaw. “Our mission wrapped up early, so I came home.” A muscle ticks above his cheekbone.

Something tells me, that’s not all to the story.

Phe, too, must pick up on the heaviness that seems to wrap around him, for she doesn’t push him for clarification. We fall silent for a few seconds, then she murmurs, “It’s good to have you home, big brother. Even though you can be a pain in the you-know-where, by being overprotective.”

He shoots her a grin in the mirror, and my breath catches. James Hamilton smiling is a punch to the gut.

The charisma rolls off him like heat from an oven set to broil, inescapable in close quarters. His presence hums with a low magnetic pull. An allure I feel in my bones, the way you feel a timer about to go off before it rings. My heart stutters. My thighs tremble. This man is a force of nature. The kind that diverts the direction of rivers and causes volcanoes to erupt.

My mouth is suddenly dry. I wrap my arms about myself in an attempt to get control of my emotions. The sudden movement catches his attention.

He swivels his head in my direction, his gaze tangling with mine, and I feel it in every cell in my body.

A flush colors my cheeks. My pussy clenches. It’s as if he’s sucked out all the oxygen in the car, and I can’t breathe. Then he looks away, and once again, I feel like I’ve been released from the web of a spider. He turns off the road and onto a side street. A few minutes later, he’s pulling up in front of Phe’s home.

He brings the car to a stop, pulls up the handbrake, then throws his arm over the back of his seat and turns to look at her. “It’s good to see you too, squirt.”

Phe wrinkles her nose. “That makes me feel ten again. And I’m not anymore. You know that, right?”

His feature soften. “You’ll always be ten to me.”

Phe rolls her eyes, leans forward and drops a kiss on his cheek. “Bye, Mr. Royal Marine. Thanks for the ride. Goodnight, Harper.” She winks, then pushes her door open and steps out. He waits until she’s safely inside of her apartment building. She turns and waves at us, then shuts the door.

For a few seconds, we sit in silence, then he turns to me. “What’s your address?”

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