by Amity Hope
“Not a lot,” she hedged. “But we do both enjoy a weekend away.”
“I know Dad’s been trying really hard to make sure I’m happy here. And I am,” I assured her. “I appreciate everything he’s done. I don’t want him to have to change his life too much because of me. If that means staying at your house, or you staying here, I’m fine with it. So even if it isn’t any of my business, I just wanted to let you know how I feel. I think he’s really lucky that he has you.”
The last thing I expected was for Paula to get teary eyed. But she did. “Thank you,” she said. “That means a lot to me.”
The doorbell rang and I jumped up from my seat. “That has to be Seth. Have a nice weekend,” I called over my shoulder.
“You too,” she called back.
I grabbed the container off of the kitchen counter on my way to the door.
“Are you ready?” he asked as he stepped inside.
“Almost. Happy Valentine’s Day,” I said as I bounced up on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek. He smiled and took the container from me as I got ready. We slipped out of the house, hurried down the driveway to his truck and we were on our way.
We didn’t go very far. He turned into his driveway.
“Did you forget something I asked?” Perhaps my gift? I hadn’t seen anything when I’d glanced around his truck. My curiosity was making me crazy.
He gave me a nervous smile and said, “Just a minute.” Then he shut off his truck and hopped out. I assumed he was going to run into the house to grab something. Instead, he crossed the front of his truck, stopping at my door. He opened it up and held out his hand. I took it, surprised that he was apparently bringing me inside of his house by choice.
I hesitated only a moment before taking his hand. “Is your dad home?”
He shook his head. “If there’s not a game, then Friday nights he plays cards with some friends. He doesn’t come home until late.”
“Who does he play cards with?” I asked as we entered his house.
He raked a hand through his hair. “I’m not sure. The police chief and the mayor for all I know.”
He didn’t sound like he was joking.
“Are we staying here?” I asked.
“Yes.” He placed the dessert on a table by the door. Then he reached for my jacket, helping me out of it. He hung it up in the closet next to his. He picked up the cheesecake again and he headed toward the kitchen.
I was completely unprepared for what we walked in on. The table was set. Half a dozen candles burned in the center of it.
“What’s this?” I asked as I turned to him.
He scrunched up his face, as if uncertain. “Your gift?” He walked over to the stove. “I made you dinner.” He stirred the contents of a pot and then turned to me. “Is this lame?”
Was he kidding?
“This is probably the sweetest thing anyone has done for me.” I edged closer. “What are we having?”
“Shrimp alfredo. I got the recipe from Brent’s mom the other night. She promised me it was one of her best recipes. And that it was easy and I couldn’t possibly ruin it.” Despite her promise, he still looked nervous.
I glanced at the recipe card on the counter. Butter, heavy cream and parmesan cheese were the primary ingredients. Oh, heaven help me. This meal probably contained four million calories. But Seth had made it and I was going to eat every last bite.
“This looks amazing,” I honestly said.
Seth led me to the table and pulled out my chair for me. He insisted I sit while he finished getting everything ready. He refused to let me help at all. Brent’s mom was right. The meal turned out perfectly.
“I hope this was okay,” Seth said tentatively as we finished. “I just thought it would be quieter here. I’ve never really been out on Valentine’s before. I usually avoid it. But I would guess that all the restaurants are really crowded.”
“This is so perfect,” I assured him. “I meant what I said. I think this is seriously the sweetest thing anyone has done for me.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” I said, unable to stop smiling when I saw the look of relieved happiness wash over him.
“Are you ready for dessert?” he asked as he stood up.
My stomach was so full of butterflies that I didn’t have any more room for food. “I think I’ll pass. I made it for you. Although I have to admit, it was a clever thing to ask for. Dinner with all of the bases covered,” I teased.
He came back to the table with a huge wedge of the triple chocolate cheesecake I had made. Rivers of homemade raspberry syrup were flowing down the sides. He took a bite and then made a noise that made my butterflies take off in flight.
“Mmmm. Wow. This is amazing. If you made me one of these for every Valentine’s Day for the rest of my life, I would die happy,” he said. He sliced off another bite. Instead of eating it, he leaned across the table. “You have to try it.”
I laughed and opened my mouth. The chocolate crust hit my tongue first, then the tanginess of the raspberry syrup. Next, the creamy cheesecake.
“Good, right?”
“Mhhhmm,” I said as I finished my bite. In my opinion, it was hard to go wrong with cheesecake.
I waited for him to finish eating, hoping that our night wasn’t over.
“What time will your dad be getting home?” I asked.
He finished off the last bite on his plate before answering. “I don’t know. He’s usually out pretty late on card nights.”
Now that he was done, I stood up, taking my plate. We cleared the table and rinsed the dishes. I was reaching for a bottle of dish soap but Seth stopped me.
“I’m not going to let you do dishes on Valentine’s. I’ll take care of them later.”
“Are you sure? It won’t take long if we do them together.”
“Nah, they can wait.” He took my hand, leading me out of the kitchen. “Sorry, I don’t have anything else planned. I thought maybe we could just watch a movie or something. Unless you want to head into town and find something to do?”
“I don’t want to go anywhere,” I assured him.
He stopped at the base of the staircase, where it split off. The staircase on the right led upstairs to the bedrooms. The staircase on the left led down to the family room, just like our house.
“Up or down?” he asked me with a teasing, comical flourish.
I hesitated only a moment before answering. “Up?”
“Okay.” He hadn’t let go of my hand and he continued to hold it as we made our way to his bedroom. He turned his lamp on but left the bright, overhead light off. He pointed to a movie rack. “What do you want to watch?”
“Surprise me,” I said as I slid onto his bed.
A few minutes later, he joined me. I had no idea which movie he’d chosen. I didn’t really care. I hoped he didn’t care either. As soon as he was settled in next to me, his arm sliding around me, I turned to him, fisting the edge of his shirt in my hand and pulling him to me.
His eyes glittered with amusement, or maybe something else, as he brought his mouth down on mine. He slid his free hand around my backside, reversing my move by pulling me closer to him, rolling until I was on top of him.
He smelled divine, a combination of just-showered, mixed with his cologne and him, simply being him. His kiss wasn’t cautious but it started out slow and soft, hands wandering. First settling on the small of my back, then gliding upwards. When my shirt became bunched up, in his way, I readjusted myself for a moment so he could slide it off. His hands coasted across my bare skin as his lips settled onto my neck this time. If I’d been thinking clearly, I would’ve been embarrassed by the sounds that crossed my lips. But I was beyond coherent thought, lost in the feel of his body beneath mine, his hands exploring, his kisses deepening.
He kissed me until my heart felt ready to combust with feeling so much, my body ready to ignite with wanting him so badly. Without warning, he flipped me over so I was beneath him. His amazing blue-gray eyes
met mine as he propped himself up. I reached upward, grabbing his shirt, wanting to feel his skin against mine.
I peeled it off, fully expecting to be knocked senseless by the sight of his abs, just as I had been the night he’d gotten into the hot tub with me. I wasn’t expecting the sight of faded and fresh bruises fanned out across his chest and upper arms. I couldn’t peel my eyes away. He felt my hesitation. Ignoring it, he leaned in to kiss me.
He took each of my wrists in his hands, pinning them alongside of my head as his mouth met mine. His body pressed down on mine. The weight of him, the pressure, was blissful. I wanted to explore it, get lost in it. I wanted Seth to take me somewhere I’d never been before. Somewhere I was more than ready to travel with him.
As his mouth coasted down to my neck, as his hips lazily pressed into me, a lustful haze surrounded me.
I tugged my hand free of his, pulling myself out of it. I slid it between us, resting it on his chest, before carefully pushing him back. “Seth?”
“Not right now,” he sighed, realizing I was probably about to ruin the moment.
“Not right now? Don’t you mean not ever?” There was never going to be a good time to ask him questions, not as far as he was concerned, I was sure.
“Yeah, pretty much,” he said. His tone was unyielding as he reached for his shirt and tugged it back on. He moved away from me and for just a second, I considered doing what he wanted. I considered pretending I hadn’t seen anything.
“Seth…” I faded off. I had no idea what to say. There was a lot I wanted to say. I just didn’t know what words to choose so that I would finally get through to him. He had to know this was wrong.
“Harper,” he said, his tone pleading, “please don’t do this tonight. It’s Valentine’s, our first one together. I wanted tonight to be special. Please don’t ruin it.” His knuckles glided across my cheek.
The beseeching expression on his face almost wore me down. It was tempting, the thought of pretending that everything was okay. In a way, it would be so easy to pull him back to me, let him kiss me again. Let myself get lost and not really mind if we got completely carried away.
Before I had to make that decision, the house vibrated slightly with the slamming of a door.
Seth closed his eyes, gritted his teeth and dropped his head back against the headboard. “Could anything else go wrong tonight?” he asked.
A string of profanity shot up the staircase. I remembered the dirty dishes we’d left in the sink. I bounced off the bed, grabbing my shirt off of the floor.
Seth muttered an expletive that I had never heard him use before. I was scrambling to get back into my shirt as Mr. Ryerson’s voice got louder.
“I don’t have a lock on my door,” he warned.
Of course he didn’t, I thought as I finally wrangled my arms into my sleeves. Seth stepped in front of me, reaching for the door handle.
He let out a surprised breath when the door swung open and I stepped in front of him.
Mr. Ryerson’s expression showed even more surprise than Seth’s as I forced a smile onto my face. He faltered, as if he’d been ready to barge into the room but had caught himself at the last moment. One more step and he would’ve crashed right into me.
“Harper,” he said dryly. His face was red and his gaze was cold as it slid over me. “I didn’t realize you were here.”
“I am,” I said. “We were just headed down to the kitchen to do the dishes. Seth wanted to do them right away but I wanted to give my dinner some time to settle.”
His gaze slid past me, resting over my shoulder on Seth. I reached back and grabbed Seth’s hand. His fingers felt limp in mine. I glanced over my shoulder too. The expression on Seth’s face was unreadable.
“We’ll go do them now.” I tugged Seth toward the door.
“Good idea,” Mr. Ryerson said.
“Did you have a nice evening?” I asked, trying to be cordial simply so that he would hopefully calm down.
He shrugged. “It’s supposed to be poker night but almost nobody showed.” He turned and headed toward his bedroom. “You’d think it was a damn holiday or something,” he muttered.
Wordlessly, Seth and I made our way down the stairs and went into the kitchen. I began washing the dishes and he dried them and put them away. I was waiting for him to say something, anything, really.
When he finally spoke, they were words I really didn’t want to hear.
“You should probably head home,” he suggested.
“Come with me?” I asked as I dried my hands off on the kitchen towel. When Dad had listed out the rules for his weekend away, no boys spending the night—meaning Seth, obviously—was at the top of his list. Under the circumstances, I was more than willing to break that rule.
Mr. Ryerson chose that inconvenient moment to saunter into the kitchen. Our gazes were on him as he went to the fridge. He pulled out the container with the cheesecake I’d made Seth. I didn’t dare say a word about it.
“Just come over for a little while?” I pressed.
“I don’t know if—”
“Seth has early practice,” his dad said. “I don’t think he should be going anywhere. And you should probably get home. It’s getting late. You can let yourself out, can’t you?”
Seth’s expression hardened. He clearly wanted to argue. “It’s dark out Dad. I should walk her to her door.”
“It takes her less than two minutes to get home. I’m sure she’ll be fine,” he said. He leveled his gaze on me. I did not want to cause an argument. Not now, and especially not later, after I was gone.
I rested a hand on Seth’s arm. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine.”
CHAPTER 17
I glanced at the clock again. Seth was late. Really late. As in, more than an hour late. I’d seen him leave for practice that morning. I wasn’t sure what time he’d gotten home but after a lengthy call with Dustin that afternoon—just to kill some time—I noted his truck was in the driveway.
Dad and Paula were still gone for the weekend. Earlier in the week, I’d asked if I could have friends over and Dad hadn’t had a problem with that. When we’d made the plans, Seth had agreed to come over early. But that was before last night happened. Now I wasn’t sure if he was avoiding me or if something was wrong. Well, more wrong than usual. I’d tried calling him a few times. His phone went straight to voice mail. For all I knew, his dad had confiscated it. I didn’t dare leave a message with anything more than a request for him to call me.
As the minutes continued to creep past, I silently cursed myself for not changing plans. I should’ve cancelled on my friends. Because now, by the time Seth got here—if he showed up—we weren’t going to have time to talk.
And whether he liked it or not, we were going to talk.
When the doorbell finally rang, it made me jump. I hurried to the foyer, not sure if I would find Alyssa and Logan or Seth.
It was Seth.
“Hey, sorry,” he said as he leaned in to kiss my cheek. “I got caught up.” His eyes darted around the room but it didn’t seem as if he actually focused on anything. He finally looked at me and forced a smile that quickly fell away. His face looked pale and dark crescents rested under his eyes. Obviously, I wasn’t the only one that hadn’t slept much last night.
“That’s okay,” I assured him. He seemed…off. I wasn’t really surprised. He seemed jittery, like me when I’ve had two or three too many cappuccinos.
“Are you alright?”
He headed downstairs and I quickly followed.
“I’m fine,” he said quietly.
“Seth.” I reached out and grabbed his arm. He stopped on the floor while I was still standing on the bottom step. I tugged him around to face me. I let go of his arm and slid my hands across his cheeks, tilting his face so he’d have to look at me. “You don’t seem alright.”
He shrugged. “When is everyone else getting here?”
“Alyssa and Logan should be here any minute. Gabby offered t
o stop for pizzas so she and Mason are running a little late,” I explained.
He nodded and my hands slid from his cheeks down to his shoulders. They were tense under my touch.
“You are not fine,” I said quietly.
“I promise it’s not what you’re probably thinking,” he finally said. “We can talk about it later. I don’t want to get into it now, not when everyone is going to be here any minute.”
“I can cancel,” I quickly offered. “I should’ve done that in the first place.”
He shook his head but before he could protest, the doorbell rang.
“Or not,” I muttered as I held in a frustrated sigh. “I better get that. I’m sure it’s Alyssa and Logan.”
“Hey.” He grabbed me by the waist as I turned to leave, catching me mid-step. I turned around to face him. He pulled me into his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist. I hugged him back, deciding whoever was at the door could wait a few more seconds.
“Thanks,” he finally said as he let his arms slip away. “I needed that before everyone else comes barging in tonight.”
I dropped a quick kiss on his lips and headed up the stairs.
I plastered a smile onto my face as I opened the door for my friends.
“We must be the first ones here,” Alyssa noted.
“Please tell me Gabby’s getting more than one pizza. I’m starving,” Logan said. He gave Alyssa a little nudge. “She wouldn’t let me stop anywhere for food.”
Alyssa laughed. “I told you, there will be plenty of food! Gabby knows how much you guys eat.”
“Are we the only ones here?” Logan asked.
I pointed at the staircase. “Seth walked over but he just got here.”
“Cool,” he said as he took off down the steps.
“Oh my gosh,” Alyssa said. “You’d think he hasn’t eaten since yesterday. I hope I was right. I hope Gabby gets enough pizza. If she doesn’t, he’ll be whining all night.”
I forced a small laugh as I headed into the kitchen. “I think we have some chips in the cupboard.” I opened the door and began rummaging around. I pulled out three bags, Dad’s entire stash. I was sure he wouldn’t mind as long as I jotted them down on his shopping list.