Chapter 95: Tender Loving Care
** Harper **
Cuddling in bed with Eli was unlike anything Harper had ever expected. His arms were looped around her in a light embrace, firm enough to press their bodies flush against each other, but also soft enough to feel delicate and intimate as he traced casual patterns along her spine. The touches weren’t exactly sensual anymore, and neither were their kisses. Instead of the usual burning flames, there was now only a lambent spark and shimmering warmth in the way their breaths tickled and the tip of their tongues brushed.
Harper wanted to keep doing this forever. Truth be told, she might love this even more than the daring escapade they had engaged in earlier. She liked the blood-boiling thrill and wild pleasure, of course, but this — lying with him naked, tangled atop a mess of twisted sheets and making out with him in his arms like the rest of the world didn’t exist — melted her heart in an utterly different way. It felt as if they were a real couple doing whatever it was that a couple should do, relaxing into each other’s arms for comfort and love and, above all, just the quiet feeling of being together. In a way, it felt even more intimate than sex.
If only they were a real couple ...
Harper’s mind drifted, her imagination starting to fill in all the blank spaces of what could’ve been. If only they were a real couple, they could’ve stayed like this until they fell asleep, and woke up with their arms still wrapped around each other. They could’ve done the same every night, without having to stick to that silly Saturday evening schedule. Or they could’ve simply kept going for another round ...
The thought made her arms tighten around his shoulders, and her kiss turned deeper out of pure reflex. Well, so much for this cuddling not being sensual.
The effect of her subconscious slip was immediate. Eli’s hand that was skimming her back paused, and the rhythm of his breathing changed. A tiny sigh rumbled in his chest.
"We should probably stop," he broke their kiss and said against her lips. His voice was tinged with a light rasp, the same way it had been all night.
... Stop? Why? Harper opened her eyes and blinked up at him. It wasn’t until then that she started to realize that while they kept entangling themselves in that not-sensual kiss, their lower bodies had pressed closer and closer together in the meantime. As a result ... he had gone hard all the way again, which she would’ve noticed if she weren’t so distracted by imagining all those alternate versions of where the night could go.
Oh.