“No,” I muttered.
The same guy she’d been taking shots with when I left yelled from the kitchen, “I can help with that!”
I shook my head and started to answer when Bree spoke again. “No, no, no. I told you guys, she’s off limits!”
“Come on Bree, what’s your deal?”
She leaned forward and fake whispered, “Cause she’s pure. Completely. Pure.”
My jaw dropped and I grabbed her wrist as she went to tap my lips with her finger. “Breanna!”
Putting her hand back to her own lips she held one finger in front of her mouth. “Shh! Harper don’t tell them!”
A little late for that. I was completely mortified. I wanted to be angry at her, but she could barely stay standing, I doubt she would remember any of this tomorrow. Looking up, I saw four guys standing there staring at me with wide eyes before busting up laughing. I needed someone to kill me. Now. No, first I needed to get out of here. Then someone needed to kill me.
One of the guys I hadn’t met was wiping tears from his eyes, “Oh my God! Princess, is she serious?”
Glad to see they all adopted my favorite nickname. Was there something about me that just screamed Give me a nickname? I couldn’t even respond, my throat had closed up and I thought I would actually cry for the first time in years. Unhooking my arm from Breanna, I made a beeline for the front door, intent on trying to find my way back to campus. I stopped when I realized Chase was blocking the hall that led to the entryway, he was the only one in the room not laughing. Instead, his lips were mashed together and he was shooting daggers at his sister.
“Please. Move.”
He moved, but it was to grab my shoulders and steer me back toward the living room. What was he doing? I dug my heels into the carpet trying to scramble back in the other direction.
“Don’t touch me!” I hissed.
“Just trust me,” he growled in my ear, walking me past everyone still laughing at Bree’s slip.
When we hit a hallway I hadn’t been down tonight, one of the guys from the kitchen yelled, “Looks like Chase is gonna take care of that problem for you Princess!” That brought on a new round of hysterics.
Chase paused for a second, cussed under his breath and started forward with me again. When we got to the end of the hall he stopped in front of a door, and pulled out a key to unlock it before towing me in. When the light flipped on, I blinked until I realized we were in a bedroom, I gasped and tried even harder to get out of his grasp. If I could just turn a little, I could have him on the floor in a few seconds. But his grip was firm, I couldn’t budge at all.
“No! Get off me!”
“Not until you stop trying to hit me!”
I stopped but stayed tense as he waited for almost a minute before releasing my arms. Once he did I turned on him and backed away.
“Calm down Princess.” He sighed sounding uninterested, “I’m not going to do anything to you.”
“I really wish you would stop calling me that,” I said through gritted teeth.
He rolled his eyes and went to a drawer, after throwing a pair of basketball shorts at me he walked back to the door. “Put those on, I’ll be back.”
“Why?”
“Did you want to sleep in that skirt?” He bit his bottom lip, his eyes glued to my legs. “I swear I won’t mind it, I figured you’d be uncomfortable though.”
“Breanna said I would be in a room with her tonight, and if that’s not happening I’d rather just go back to the dorm.”
“I can assure you she’ll be sleeping in the bathroom. I’ll give you a minute to change, I’ll be right back.”
“I am not sleeping with you in here.”
“Look, you’re seriously hot, that alone is going to have them chasing after you. But top that off with the few words you’ve even said that shows me just how snarky and sweet as hell you are, that is one hell of a tempting combination. Trust me when I say they’re going to want to change what they just found out about you. So if you don’t mind, I’d rather make sure that doesn’t happen.”
He slammed the door shut and not more than three seconds later I could hear him yelling at the guys in the kitchen and telling Breanna to fend for herself tonight. I was standing there in his basketball shorts and Bree’s spaghetti strap when he walked back in and locked the door.
“That was rude, she’s your sister. She should be in here too.”
He looked at me incredulously, “Are you serious? You’re gonna defend her after she just spilled that?”
I shrugged my shoulders and put the skirt on a chair, keeping my back to him so he couldn’t see my cheeks flaming again. “She’s drunk. I’m sure she didn’t realize it.”
“That’s not an excuse.” His voice was soft as he pulled down the covers, “Come on Harper, get in.”
The way his voice wrapped around my name sent a warm shiver through my body and I had to fight to keep my eyes away from his now-bare chest as I crawled into his bed. Even the quick glance at his sculpted chest and abs had my heart racing. After he flipped off the lights, I felt the bed sink down from his weight and I sat up.
“What are you doing?”
“What do you mean?”
“You can’t get in here with me!”
He chuckled, “It’s my bed, I’m sure I can do what I want.”
I know he couldn’t see me, but I glared at him anyway. Flipping the cover off me, I grabbed a pillow and sank down to the floor.
“Get back in the bed Princess.”
I scoffed at my nickname but didn’t say anything. I could feel his eyes boring into my back and after what felt like an eternity, heard him sigh and the bed shift. I wanted to ask for a blanket but was too stubborn to ask. Next thing I knew I was in the air.
“Oh my word! Put me down!”
He dropped me onto the bed and crawled over me.
“Chase! No!”
“Calm down, I’ll stay on my side. We can even put a pillow between us if it’ll make you feel better.” He snickered.
I grumbled and scooted to the edge of the bed. Obviously I’ve never been in a bed with a guy before, and the fact that he was inches away had my whole body shaking. “I swear if you touch me, I’ll go Lorena Bobbitt on you.”
It didn’t take him long to figure out what I was referring to. He put a pillow over his face to muffle his booming laugh. “Oh my God! Princess! You’re my new favorite!”
“That wasn’t a joke.”
His body was still shaking with silent laughs as he moved closer and trailed his fingers up my arm. “One of these days, you’ll be begging for me to touch you.”
I couldn’t tell if my next shiver was out of pleasure or disgust but I still growled at him and slapped his hand away. “I’m serious Chase. I’m not like all those girls I saw you with tonight.”
“That’s an understatement.” He rolled back to his side of the bed and sighed, “Get some sleep Princess, I’ll see you in the morning.”
2
MY EYES SHOT open the next morning when I felt something squeeze me. Looking down I saw tattoos trailing down to a muscled forearm that was wrapped securely around my waist and gasped when I remembered I’d slept in Chase’s bed last night. I jumped out from under his arm and off his bed in a move so fast it had my head spinning. My heart took off again as I took in Chase’s shirtless body. His tattoos expanded up his shoulders and for some reason I wanted to trace them with my fingers and splay my hands across his well-defined abs and chest. Dear me, this man was gorgeous.
Chase sat up cursing until he realized who I was. “Jesus Princess! You almost gave me a heart attack. I thought I had a girl in here.” He flopped back onto his pillow, raking his hands over his face.
That snapped me back to reality. “Chase?”
“Hmm?”
“Sorry you didn’t seem to notice, but I am a girl.”