Trick - By Lori Garrett Page 0,61

her, taking my time. I want to do this right, slow, but god I’ve missed her the last couple of weeks. I took Daisy’s advice to heart, and that meant I had a lot of work to do. Harlow and I didn’t cease all contact in that time. We texted back and forth here and there, but nothing major. I was really trying to give her her space.

I hope it was a good decision.

“I’m so damn sorry, Harlow.”

I take the last step toward her, closing the remaining space between us. I reach for her chin and tip it up toward me. She wets her lips with her tongue.

“I’m dying to kiss you,” I say. I don’t mention what else I’m dying to do. I’m supposed to be taking it one step at a time. But I know, deep down, if she lets me have just a taste, I’ll never be able to stop.

“Please,” she whispers.

It’s all the permission I need to wrap her tiny body in my arms and pull her to me. Her mouth finds mine and she’s just as hungry as I am. I kiss her so hard that we walk right past the table full of food, and our momentum drives us into a wall. I slam back into it and turn her around, pressing her up and against it, my hands on the full swells of her tits, my mouth working along her neck and her ears, my hips pressed tight against hers.

“Damnit, baby, I haven’t been able to get you off my mind since the minute you walked out of my bar.” I kiss down her neck, but her tiny hands bat at my chest. When I pull back, those blue eyes are looking through me, right to my black heart.

“You know, I walked out of the bar for a good reason, Gunner.” She crosses her arms, making a tiny barrier between the two of us.

“I know that. Part of me wants to tell you that you should walk out of here too.” I watch her bite her lip and lower her lashes, and I rush to continue. “Before I screwed things up three years back, Daniels took me aside and basically asked me why I didn’t man up if I cared about you. It bugged me for years. The other day, Daisy came by and asked me the exact same question.”

“So, what’s the answer?” she asks, her back plastered to the wall, her chest rising and falling with her quick breaths.

“The answer is, I want to be a better man for you, Harlow Mills. I want to be the man you deserve. And, I gotta tell you, that’s scary as fuck for a guy who’s spent his life trying not to prove to himself and everyone he cares about that he just doesn’t give a damn.” I press a light curl behind her ear.

“Why?” she murmurs. “Why is it so scary?”

“Because what if I try for you and fail, Harlow? What if I fuck up in a way you can’t forgive? If I put everything I have into this and still come up short, I’ll never be able to forgive myself.” I run my fingers over her shoulders, loosen her arms, and hold her hands, rubbing my thumbs over her knuckles.

“You will never come up short for me, Gunner,” she whispers, her voice fierce. “Never. You hear me? I’ve had the biggest soft spot for you from the day you met. No matter what you do, not matter what mistakes you make, you can know that I’ll stand by your side. I’ll be there for you.”

No one—not a single person—has ever believed in me the way Harlow does. She should have left me for good a dozen times over things I screwed up just in the last few weeks. But she never does.

That’s a love that I need to earn, because it’s a love a man can’t live his life without.

But, right now, I just need to feel her, to be with her, to know without a doubt that I didn’t lose her. She’s said the words, but my body needs to know.

My blood surges and my mouth finds hers. I lick and suck and kiss like a man gone wild. My hands tug at her little dress until it puddles to the floor, I tear her panties down and sink to my knees, her legs spread in front of me. All she has on is her tiny bra, pink lace that lets her