How could he expect anything else, considering the privileged life Harper had lived? She hadn’t grown up with a single, meth-addicted mother who went from man to man. She’d had a superior court judge for a mother, and her parents were together to this day.

Ultimately, he’d given up trying to find a way to break the truth to her. He didn’t want to ruin this night, knew how fleeting these precious few hours would be. And he got the impression she wouldn’t want them ruined. She didn’t want to talk about the future any more than he wanted to talk about specific things in the past.

They were both in the tub, washing up before he had to take her home, when she asked, “When’s the last time you saw your mother?”

“Last night.”

“I thought you went to a Christmas party.”

“I did. But the party wasn’t any fun, and it wasn’t very far from where my mother lives, so I decided to pay her a visit before I came home.”

“And? How was she?”

“About the same.”

“Does she work?”

“She tends to go from one low-paying job to another, but…yeah, most of the time she works. Right now she’s serving drinks at a bar.”

“Have you ever thought of getting her into rehab?”

He chuckled.

“What?” she said.

“She’s been through rehab, Harper. Many times.”

She cast him a sheepish glance over one shoulder. “Oh. I’m sorry.”

He lifted the sponge he’d been using to bathe her and ran soap up her arm. “It’s fine. I’m used to it,” he said, even though it really wasn’t the kind of problem someone could get used to. It was the kind of problem that continually got worse until—

He didn’t want to look down that road.

“Whose party was it?” she asked.

“An old girlfriend.”

“What’s her name?”

“Tonya.”

“Where did you meet her?”

He rinsed the soap from her left arm and started on her right. “She’s the sister of an old friend.”

“But it ended well between you? It must have, if she invited you to her party and you felt comfortable going.”

“She’d like to get back together. I think that’s why she invited me. But I’m not interested.”

“Why did you two break up in the first place?”

“She’s not really what I’m looking for.”

She turned around carefully so she could straddle him despite the limited space. “Then what are you looking for?”

He felt himself grow hard again as her soapy breasts came into contact with his chest and she began to kiss his neck, sucking his skin into her mouth.

“Let’s not talk about that right now,” he said.

After shifting so she could take him inside her, she began to move, causing the water to splash up against the sides. “Because…”