“Chase”—someone pounded on my door—“your dad said you’re in here, and he needs our help bringing some stuff into the house.”

You’ve got to be shitting me. I liked Konrad, he was good to my sister, and he fit in our family well. But I was going to knock him the fuck out for this.

“Chase, buddy,” Dad’s voice came from the other side of the door, “c’mon. Got a lot of ice chests and food that need to be brought in.”

Well, that killed any fantasy of Harper I might have been having. I adjusted myself and fixed my pants before opening the door. “All right, let’s do this.”

The last load was small enough for two, so Konrad went to find Bree as my dad and I went back to finish bringing the last of it in. I’d decided leaving was my only option if I wanted to have any sort of control around Princess, but then I saw her standing there behind Bree and Konrad at one of the poker tables, and I knew I wasn’t leaving anytime soon. She looked amazing, even more so than usual; a brief flash of how I’d been picturing her not ten minutes earlier went through my mind, and I fought with the idea of grabbing her and taking her to my room to actually live it. My eyes snapped up to find her watching me, and her cheeks went red as she dragged her gaze back to the poker table.

I noticed an empty seat at the table and made my way toward it, slowly taking in every inch of her on my way over. I caught a flash of silver and looked at the hand closest to me to find my ring on her finger. My chest swelled, and I couldn’t stop myself from grabbing her right hand to run my thumb over the ring before dropping her hand and going to sit.

The games were passing quickly—I wasn’t winning, but, thankfully, I wasn’t losing much either. Splitting my time so the majority was spent watching her, and the rest was actually focusing on the hand I had, and the bets people were placing was a sure way to lose everything I’d just put down. But it was worth it just to be able to look at her for the first time in two weeks.

“I’m running to the bathroom.” Konrad stood up and stretched. “Take my place, Kid, but please God don’t lose any more of my money.”

I’d never understood why he called Harper, “Kid,” but it’s not like I was one to judge when it came to giving her nicknames. I watched her sit down, and her eyes glazed over as she looked at the cards. God, she was horrible at any card game, but it was cute to watch her try.

“You better just hand over all his chips now, Princess; they won’t be here by the time he gets back anyway.” I smirked at her and loved the way her ever-present blush crept back up her cheeks.

Bree leaned in to whisper in her ear, and I watched closely as she and Harper spoke quietly. My smirk died when Harper’s face drained of color, and a murderous glare followed by a deep ache filled her eyes. What the fuck had Bree said?

Konrad came back before we even got around to showing our cards, and I watched Harper avoid looking at me as she quickly got up and walked away from the table. What the hell? I glared at my sister as she flirted with her boyfriend. She was sitting there having a good time when she’d clearly just hurt Princess? I looked for Harper and found her talking to my parents before slowly making her way toward the kitchen.

I put my cards on the table, tossed my chips at Konrad to make up for what Bree was losing, and got up quickly. “I’m out.” Harper placed five beers on the kitchen island from one of the coolers, and I just shook my head. “Nu-uh. If I’m not drinking, you’re not drinking.”

Her eyes darted in my direction before going back to the beers. “Well then, why don’t you have one?”

“Because I don’t drink anymore.”

She put a hand on her hip and finally turned to face me. “Since when?”

Since when? I stopped looking around the kitchen and looked directly at her. Has she not noticed everything I’ve changed for her since meeting her? “Since I was a jackass and hurt my princess.”

Her eyes went wide, and I heard her next intake of breath, “Huh . . . I didn’t realize.”

“You’re the one that told me I should stop.”

“But I didn’t mean you had to, Chase. You’re grown; you can do whatever you want.”

“I know. Nothing good ever came from drinking, though.” And if I kept it up, I’d never get you. Not like I had her then . . . but it would have pushed her even further away.

She blinked quickly and looked back down to the beers she’d been collecting. “Do you want to split one? Nothing will happen from half a beer, right?”

Nothing would happen from three, but there wasn’t a point in starting anyway. I smiled at her and tried to mimic her voice. “I guess my little body can handle half a beer.”

“You’re so dumb. Help me with these, I’m hanging out at your mom’s table.”

We went back to their table, and I pulled up a chair right next to Harper’s, so we were always in some kind of contact. I watched as she leaned in to my mom, and I thought about how perfect she would be in this family, as my wife. That thought slammed into me, and I had to lean back as I let it wash over me. Every feeling Harper had stirred up in me was beyond anything I’d ever experienced, but I’d never once thought about marriage until just then. Even so, I knew that if I could marry Harper, I would in an instant. I watched her laugh with my mom, and her eyes flashed over to catch mine for a few tense moments before going back to the table. It’s official. I’m completely gone on this girl.

Everyone started leaving the numerous poker tables set up around the house to find a spot where they could see one of the TVs for the countdown to midnight, and I frowned when my princess got up without a word or glance in my direction and found her way toward Bree. I saw her take one look at Bree and Konrad making out with each other and laugh to herself as she shook her head. She brought her right hand up to look at the ring I’d just given her, and what happened next was what finally made up my mind. She bit down softly on her bottom lip, her cheeks barely turning pink, and smiled the sweetest smile as she looked at it before dropping her hand and glancing back to the TV. I’d just had one of those freakin’ lightbulb moments when I realized I would give anything to marry her, and I still hadn’t kissed her. But after watching that, I wasn’t waiting any longer.

I walked up behind her, grabbed around her waist, and pulled her back into the dark hallway. She gasped but slammed her mouth shut when I turned her so her back was against the wall and her eyes looked up to meet mine. I cupped her face in my hands and allowed my thumbs to brush over her cheeks as I studied her dark eyes. Her mouth opened slightly, and even with everyone in the house counting down to midnight, I could hear her intake of breath before I finally, finally pressed my mouth to hers. She locked her body up for a few seconds before relaxing and wrapping her arms around my neck. When she began moving her mouth against mine, I knew I could die happy.

I let my tongue trace against that bottom lip of hers I loved so much and groaned when she opened her mouth to me. I led us roughly back to the opposite wall, let go of her face, and grabbed her hips to bring her between my legs. She went willingly, and when one of my hands pressed against the small of her back to push us closer together, she moaned into my mouth and arched her body into mine. Her hands slid down from around my neck to fist into my shirt and pull me closer, and I smiled before nipping at her bottom lip and taking her mouth again. By the time we pulled back from each other, we were both breathing hard, and I rested my forehead on hers while I tried to catch my breath.

She put a hand to her chest but didn’t say anything and would no longer look at me. She was looking straight down. I needed her to look at me, I needed to know what she was thinking. That kiss hadn’t been what I was hoping for when I decided to finally kiss her. It was more. It’d been hungry and passionate and like we couldn’t get enough of each other. So why won’t she look at me?

“Harper.”

Her eyes snapped up, and my stomach dropped. She looked like someone had just crushed her. I’d never felt so alive, and she looked like she was on the verge of bursting into tears.

“I will think about that kiss for the rest of my life.” I gently pushed her away from me and watched the pain flash through her eyes as I wondered if I’d just made the biggest mistake of all when it came to this girl. I dropped my arms, walked quickly out to my truck, and got away from that house as fast as I possibly could. If she regretted that, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to handle it, so I didn’t want to know.

“CHASE, STOP.”

I froze and hung my head before turning to look at Brad. “Yeah?”

“What is going on with you lately? I’ll admit it’s been nice the last few weeks not having you and Brandon fighting around here all the time, but you’ve been snapping at everyone and avoiding all of your housemates for the last few weeks, and now when I see you . . . you just look like a zombie. What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

Before I could reach for the doorknob, he put a hand on the door and spoke again. “We used to be friends, but whatever’s happening with you lately has you burning all your friendships, including ours.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say, man. You know what’s going on with me, and you’re taking Brandon’s side.”

“No one’s taking sides—you’re just going about it the wrong way. You’re causing unnecessary shit, and it makes it hard to be in a room with the two of you.”

“Well, there you go. That’s why I’m always gone.”

“Do you realize how dumb all this is?” He waved a hand toward the rest of the house. “This is your fucking house, and you’re never here! Look, man, I know you like her—”

“Love her.” I cut Brad off, and his eyes widened.

“Uh . . . all right. I know you love her, but you missed your chance—for now at least. Right now, she’s with Brandon, and if there’s ever going to be a ‘you and Harper,’ then you need to stop doing what you’ve been doing.”