I didn’t either. But I couldn’t stop if I tried. I was so desperate to be with Harper, that the idea of stopping made every nerve of my body tighten with grief. I was out of my mind with an intense ache to be with her, to feel her skin against mine, to slip inside her and feel this urgency radiating from her. I wanted it and I wasn’t going to apologize for it.

Lifting her, I let her shirt fall to the floor and wrapped her legs around my waist, moving us into my bedroom. It wasn’t entirely dark. Between the Brooklyn bridge and city skyline through my window, there was just enough light to see where you're going. But the minute we stepped in, Harper’s breathing became erratic—more so than someone panting from being hot and bothered.

This one bordered around nerves, I was sure of it.

Regardless, it was enough to give me pause so I set her over my dresser and flicked on the small lamp beside us. Something told me she wasn’t ready for my bed.

“What’s going on?” I breathed, my body still leaning toward her, my erection in full effect.

She looked past me briefly, then back to meet my gaze. “Um…you’re…it's um…” she swallowed and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Hey,” I lifted her chin.

Her eyes flew open and dipped to the bulge through the thin fabric pointing at her. She gasped. “Oh.”

“Yeah, I would think if that didn’t happen, you should be worried.”

She released a breathy laugh and it was too cute not to make me smile. “Right. Of course.”

“Is something wrong?” I asked. Having no way of settling my dick, I stepped back a fraction to give her some room.

“N-Not at all,” Harper shook her head vigorously before pulling me back against her.

The urgency in her lips and body language was unsettling. And I wondered if she was afraid she’d change her mind. If there was any chance of that, I needed to stop.

I pulled back and looked at her, swiping locks of her golden hair off her face. Her eyes lifting slowly to meet mine—only because she knew I was waiting.

It took a minute to register all the possible reasons she was holding back. But based on what she was fighting, only one made sense.

“You haven’t been with anyone.” I didn’t bother posing it as a question. The answer was obvious.

She shook her head.

I released a breath, frustration aimed at one aching part of my body that wouldn’t understand that nothing could happen tonight.

She looked utterly humiliated and I laughed, brushing my hands along my face.

“What’s so funny?”

“This explains why you freaked that night in the bathroom stall.” I raised a brow.

She blushed and shoved at my bare chest, a grin finally touching her lips.