“What happened?” Harper asked. “Did you confront him? Because I would have.”

  “I did.” Patsy smiled. “He finally admitted that he hadn’t wanted to stop talking to me, and he asked me out on a date. Out of insanity or pity, I said yes.” She shrugged and smiled. “The rest is history.”

  “I spent three-hundred dollars on Christmas presents for people who didn’t exist just so I could keep talking to her. Now that’s dedication.”

  “Hear! Hear!” Colin’s dad said, raising his wineglass in a toast they all drank to.

  “What about you two?” Harper asked Colin’s mom.

  “Yeah, darling.” She nudged Colin’s dad with her shoulder. “Go on and tell me why you fell in love with me.”

  For a moment, Harper thought the indomitable Cole Parks would refuse. Then he took a deep breath and his stiff posture sagged. “Fine. But the first person who laughs gets booted right off the island.” He gave them all a warning look. “I fell in love with Emily the moment I saw her laugh across the room at some high society party we were attending. In a sea of people faking it, she was a vivid, vivacious breath of fresh air, and I was completely bewitched.” He swirled the wine in his glass, staring at the ruby color instead of looking at anyone else, and frowned. “From that second on, I knew in my gut that she was my person. That it was going to be her and me, forever.”

  Harper blinked hard at the sudden sting of tears in her eyes. What a beautiful story. Then she glanced over her shoulder at Colin only to find he’d gone totally still, surprise written all over his gorgeous face. Given his fraught relationship with his father, maybe it was the first time he’d heard that story. It seemed to surprise him that his father would fall that hard and fast—but it didn’t surprise Harper. Meeting his family and seeing Colin interact with them—with his dad—the past few days, she could see clearly how similar he and his dad were. Both proud, competitive, competent men who saw things in black and white, absolutes, including their romantic relationships. It was no surprise that when he fell, he fell all at once and never looked back.

  “All right, kiddos,” Jojo said from across the fire. “Our newest lovebirds are up next. Go on, Colin. Tell us how you fell under Harper’s spell.”

  At first, she expected him to make something up, like they’d been doing all week, but instead, he tightened his hold around her shoulders, pulling her closer into his side and kissing her temple before saying, “I remember the first day I met Harper like it was yesterday. She was working and I walked in to find this gorgeous creature behind a desk. She had on this black top and a purple skirt that showed off her legs to perfection. And her hair was tucked behind her ear on one side, letting me see her cute little coffin earrings.”

  “Sarcophagi,” she corrected him, cheeks prickling with heat. He’d actually remembered a lot more about their first meeting than she’d expected, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. And sure, it had been just two weeks ago, not the year that he made it sound like, but still. The guys she’d dated in the past couldn’t have told her what color her eyes were if they’d had a gun to their heads, let alone what she’d been wearing two weeks prior. Colin, though, seemed to remember every detail. It touched her in a way that both scared and delighted her.

  “Right. Sarcophagi. My little Egyptology demon.” He kissed her temple again, then went on with his story about that day in the Team Oracle offices, inserting just enough truth to make it believable, but keeping it vague enough to not blow their cover. Harper was only half listening, though, still trying to sort through all the confusing feelings swirling inside her—desire, doubt, affection, apprehension. “Anyway, how could I not fall for this wonderful woman?”

  Air. She needed some air and some space to breathe since it felt like everything was closing in on her. While everyone cheered over Colin’s story, Harper forced a smile and excused herself. “I need a glass of water. Be right back.”

  She hurried out of sight, walking through the darkness until she reached the side of the house, where she leaned back against the cool siding and exhaled at last. What the hell was she going to do? She’d promised herself to keep her distance emotionally, but it already seemed like she was in far too deep. Colin was a great guy. And their chemistry together was off the charts. But now, after spending all this time together, pretending to be a real couple, all their carefully planned professional boundaries were blurring—at least for her. Normally, she was fine going with the flow and living in the moment, but Colin was definitely not that kind of man. And knowing how hard it was for him after his ex died, there was no way Harper ever wanted to hurt him like that. Not after he’d been such a huge help to her. Unfortunately, the longer they played this charade, the more she feared that someone getting hurt was exactly what would happen.

  “Hey,” Colin said, walking up to stand beside her in the shadows. His arm rested against hers, warm and solid and wonderful. “You okay? I hope I didn’t upset you with something I said down there.”

  Given how honest he’d been with her since the start, she couldn’t lie to him now. She turned slightly to face him. With the half-moon above, his eyes looked dark and sparkly, mesmerizing. She couldn’t tear her gaze from his. Didn’t want to. “I like you, Colin. A lot. But we talked about this already. I’m not the kind of girl you normally date, and I don’t want to hurt you. And I definitely don’t want to get distracted from our mission. I…”

  Her voice trailed as he lifted his hand to tuck her hair behind her ear, then slowly leaned forward to kiss her. It was slow, deep, intentional, and almost instantly, she was caught in a riptide of need. Before she could stop herself, Harper was kissing him back, twining her arms around his neck and pressing her body close to his, wanting full-body contact, wanting everything he had to give her.

  All thoughts, all doubts, all the drama was gone. There was just the two of them, this moment, this night, this kiss. It wasn’t their first kiss—but it was the first one that wasn’t part of an act, wasn’t part of the show.

  His hands roamed leisurely over her back as his lips trailed from hers across her cheek to her ear, leaving a trail of heat behind them. He groaned low and she arched against him, unable to help herself. Her pulse thudded loud and her blood sang, and she wished more than anything they could strip bare so she could feel his skin on hers.

  “Get a room!” Jojo said from the porch around the corner, her voice enough to break the sensual spell around them at last. Both Jojo and Sara laughed, then headed inside, leaving Harper and Colin alone again.

  For a long moment, there was nothing but the sound of heavy breathing and cicadas around them. Her back was against the cool house and her front was against Colin’s warm chest. Through their clothes, she could feel his heart racing in time with hers. His head was bowed, and the hardness of his erection pressing against her lower stomach left no doubt that he’d been as wrapped up in passion as she’d been…but that didn’t mean following through on what they wanted was right, or wise. Every cell in her body screamed for her to grab him and pick up where they left off, but could she? Would she?

  He looked up at her then, the heat of his stare burning her even through the shadows. “Come to bed with me, Harper. Right now. To hell with everything else. I just want you, need you, tonight.”

  Common sense reared its head one more time, forcing her to ask, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

  “No.” He laughed, low and sexy, and she felt it like a physical caress, shivering as it danced over her too-sensitive skin. “But I don’t care anymore. I want you. More than I’ve wanted anyone or anything in a long, long time. And I know you’re worried about hurting me, but I don’t need you to protect me. I need you to do what you want. Whatever that is. Understand?”

  She blinked at him, taking that in. What she wanted was to wrap herself around him and never let him go until they were both satisfied. With her body thrumming and her hormones surging, she decided yes. Tonight she’d have him. There’d be plenty of time to worry about the consequences tomorrow. And he was a big boy, he could take care of himself, just like he said. He obviously wanted her, and she wanted him, so why not?

  With that, Harper threw caution to the wind and kissed him again, hard and hot and quick, then took his hand and pulled him toward the porch. “Come on. First one upstairs gets to be on top.”

  10

  They raced up to his bedroom like their butts were on fire—thank goodness the girls were still distracted by their movie downstairs—then Colin closed the door behind them. For all the heat and passion they’d shared outside on the patio, neither of them moved right away now, both staring at each other in the shadows.

  “So…” Harper said. Colin’s fingertips itched to stroke her silky skin, to make her moan low and deep and needy. She moved closer, and he couldn’t stop from placing his hand on her hip. Harper looked down at his hand, then back up at him. “It’s been a while for me.”

  He slipped his hand higher and hooked his finger through a belt loop on her shorts, the need inside him growing more intense by the second. “Me too.”

  “We’ll need to be quiet,” she said as the voices of the rest of his family echoed from downstairs and outside.

  Colin swallowed hard. He wanted Harper so much he was bound to be noisy about it, so…

  For some reason, the idea they had to be quiet about it only made him hotter.

  She smiled up at him, tracing a finger down the center of his chest. “So, what do you like?”

  “Uh.” His lust addled brain struggled to make sense of her words as that finger of hers reached his waistband.

  “Don’t tell me you’re a missionary-style guy,” she said, pouting.

  “What? No.” He scowled and tugged on her hip, drawing her closer. “I mean, unless that’s what you like. I’m not as vanilla as you think, darlin’. You aren’t the only one with a wild side, you know.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really.”

  “What makes you wild, then?” She nipped his earlobe and a small groan escaped him before he could bite it back. “Tell me.”

  “Tell you what?” he croaked out, his throat parched and full of want.

  “What you want, how you want it.”

  His pulse stuttered and he stared down at her, his gaze sharp. “What about you? I want to know about you too.”

  “Okay.” Her smile turned sly. “I ask you a question. You give me an honest answer. You ask me a question. I do the same.”

  “And I can ask anything I want?” His fingers tightened on her hip.

  “Only if I can do the same.”

  Tension knotted in his gut. Her sweet scent drifted around him and muddled his already murky thoughts. He wanted Harper, more than he’d wanted anyone in a long, long time. Maybe ever. He’d never been a man to run from a challenge, and he wasn’t about to start now. “Fine.”

  “Fine?” She looked surprised and he smiled.

  “Yeah. Fine.”

  She kept her hands on his hips. The position thrust her breasts against his chest. He imagined stripping her of that hoodie, tank top and bra and teasing her nipples until she begged for mercy. As if sensing his thoughts, she pressed tighter to him, each breath making him more aware of her heat and curves and softness. “So, we’re doing this, then?”

  He wanted to cheer from the rooftops, but they had to stay quiet. So, instead, he just grinned and tugged off his T-shirt over his head. “Hell yeah, we’re doing this.”

  The way her hungry gaze tracked his every movement made his temperature soar higher. They moved from the door to the side of the bed, the night air cool on Colin’s bare chest.

  Harper kicked off her sandals. “So, tell me more about this wild side of yours. What have you done?”

  He sat on the edge of the mattress looking up at her, his gaze narrowed. “Are you sure you want to know?”

  “I asked, didn’t I?”

  “You did.” He grinned, taking hold of her hips and guiding her between his spread legs. “Well, let’s see. It all started in SEAL training.”

  Harper’s brows rose. “With the other guys on your team? You got busy in the barracks?”

  Colin chuckled, leaning in to nuzzle her abdomen. “Uh, no. I said it started at SEAL training on base. Didn’t say it finished there.”

  “Where did it end?” she asked, her hands gripping his shoulders tighter, and he eased her shirt up and traced the bottom line of her bra with his tongue, her voice going breathy.

  “In a strip club.”

  “A strip club?”

  “Yep.”

  “Your SEAL training involved hanging out in strip clubs?” Harper arched a skeptical brow at him.

  “Oh, I wasn’t just hanging out there.”

  “No?”

  “No. I worked there too.”

  Her shocked expression gave him the perfect opportunity to pull her down on the bed with him. Harper didn’t struggle, just stared up at him with wide eyes. “You worked as a male stripper?”

  “Once or twice.” He shrugged. “The first time because I lost a bet with my teammates and my penalty was to strip at the club. They thought it would be funny. Like a real-life Magic Mike moment for the ladies who went there.”

  As he talked, he reached down and began to massage Harper’s foot with gentle, circular movements. She melted in his arms, sliding a bit higher on the bed to allow him better access. He concentrated fully on his task, as he did anything important, wondering what she’d do if he bent down and kissed each one of her pretty pink toes. His body urged him to hurry, to get inside her as quickly as possible, to bring them both to the point where neither of them could remember anything but the undeniable, unrelenting passion between them, but he’d waited a long time for this, and Colin wanted it to do it right, to make it last.

  “So, you took off your clothes for money for strange women?” Harper asked, her eyes closed and head thrown back, completely giving herself over to the pleasure he was giving her.

  “Yep.” He stroked her toes and looked up at her and gave her a dirty grin. Then he scooted up and nudged the bottom of her tank top up with his head and licked the sensitive skin just below her navel. She shivered, biting her lip, as if holding in a moan. It was too much. It was not enough. He moved quickly, pulling off her tank top, then unhooking her bra and removing it too, leaving her naked from the waist up, same as him. Her nipples tightened in the cool air, and he didn’t think he’d ever seen a more beautiful sight than her laying there, wanting him, ready for him. He bent and took one nipple in his mouth, toying with the other while she writhed beneath him, only the occasional tiny mewl or gasp breaking the silence.

  He kissed his way down her stomach again, then nudged her legs open, propping himself between them to give her soft thighs some attention. Harper gazed down at him, sinking her fingers into his hair and making him shudder from the caress. She flashed a naughty grin. “Whatcha doin’ down there?”

  “Playing.” He winked, then continued kissing and stroking her until he reached the waistband of her shorts. His pulse was pounding hard behind his temples, and his cock felt ready to tear through his jeans, but he was having too much fun to rush now. “I do love to play.”

  She laughed, low and sexy. “And here I thought you were all about work.”

  “Not tonight, I’m not.” Colin trailed his fingers down her sides and caught them in the waistband of her shorts, slipping them around to the front. Slowly, he undid the button on her jeans, then slid down the zipper. Man, she looked so gorgeous and vibrant that it nearly hurt to look at her. After a few tugs, her shorts and panties were gone, leaving Harper naked beneath him. She didn’t try to hide at all, obviously completely comfortable in her body, and it was one more thing that drove him wild about her. No shyness, no hesitation, just life and adventure full-force.

  His blood sang with need and he couldn’t wait any longer.

  He spread her legs wide and lay between them, kissing her inner thigh again before using his thumbs to part her delicate folds and licking her most sensitive flesh. He sucked gently, using his tongue and fingers to make love to her until she was panting with need. Man, he’d never been this into anyone before, never felt this level of desire. Only with Harper.

  After several minutes of teasing her to the brink of climax only to pull away and deny her satisfaction, he slid first one, then two fingers inside her slick channel. Pumping them in and out in a steady rhythm, he resumed his erotic torture on her most sensitive flesh. She arched against him, needing more, more, so much more, head tossing on the pillow, lip bit tight to keep from crying out. Then he crooked his fingers inside her and pressed upward into her G-spot, and she came hard. Never one to settle for less than the best, he nursed her through it, still licking and nuzzling her slick folds with his tongue, as he dragged her orgasm out as long as he could, unable to get enough of her. From the way she was clutching at his hair and digging her nails into his shoulders, it appeared she felt the same about him, encouraging him with small whispers and sighs and gasps, telling him and showing him what she liked.

  Unable to resist, he brought her to climax a second time, her body pulsing around his fingers and his tongue as she orgasmed again.

  Eyes closed and breath ragged, she lay panting against the pillows while he kissed his way back up her body, stopping to kiss the thudding pulse point at the base of her neck. “You’re magnificent,” he whispered. “Have I ever told you that?”

  “No, you haven’t,” she teased him back, her voice sounding drowsy and content.

  He chuckled against her skin, then propped himself up on one elbow beside her. “Does that mean I should do it more?”

  “Definitely.” She squinted up at him with one eye.

  “All right then.” He bent and kissed her long and slow and deep, allowing her to taste herself on his lips. His cock still ached, demanding release, pressing painfully against the fly of his jeans. As if reading his mind, Harper reached down and stroked him through the stiff material. He swallowed a groan.