“Daniel.” Harper tried to scold him, but she couldn’t help but smile. “I thought you were gonna stop getting paid in videotapes now that you have rent to pay.”
“Hey, Quantum Leap is a viable form of payment,” he insisted. “And I already paid the rent for September. I made out pretty well working on the play.”
Harper laughed, and Daniel put in the tape. She curled up on the couch next to him, and they spent the rest of the night watching old television shows in grainy, warped VHS. It didn’t sound fun or relaxing, but Harper enjoyed herself immensely.
Everything was going well until she started falling asleep on the couch, and Daniel suggested that they go to bed. Harper changed into her pajamas, which consisted of shorts and a tank top. While she admired herself in the bathroom mirror, she couldn’t decide if she should’ve gone with something sexier or more matronly.
But there wasn’t anything she could do about it now, so she brushed her teeth, took a deep breath, and walked into his room.
Daniel had turned on the lamp on his nightstand, and he stood next to his bed wearing only a pair of boxers. Harper had seen him shirtless before, many times actually, and she’d always enjoyed it.
He wasn’t overly muscular, but there were smooth ripples of abs and indents on his hips from the muscles that started in his pelvis. Not to mention the thin trail of hair that ran from his navel down underneath his boxer shorts that Harper found oddly provocative.
But as sexy as Harper found Daniel shirtless, that’s not what left her standing nervously in his bedroom doorway. It was the amount of flesh she saw and the very nearness of him. When they were in bed together, she’d be able to feel nothing but him, and the intimacy of it was overwhelming.
“Are you okay?” Daniel asked.
“Yeah.” She forced a smile and nodded but didn’t step into his room. “Is that how you sleep?”
“Usually.” He glanced down at his boxers. “Do you want me to put my shirt back on?”
“No,” she said quickly. “Not if that’s how you sleep.”
“It is,” Daniel said, then motioned to her. “Is that how you sleep?”
She looked down at her tank top, which suddenly seemed too thin, and her shorts, which had sleeping penguins on them, felt much too juvenile for the moment. She wished she had brought more adult pajamas. Not necessarily sexier, but something a woman would wear, like satin or silk or lace … but that all sounded too sexy.
But maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. She looked back up at the shirtless foxiness that was Daniel and thought that if things got a little hot, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing. He was gorgeous, and he loved her. There were far worse ways that she could spend an evening.
“Yeah,” Harper said finally, and pulled at her shorts. “These are my pajamas.”
“They’re nice.”
“Thanks.”
“So…” He looked at where Harper stood frozen in his doorway, then back at his bed. “Do you want me to take the couch, and you have the bed?”
“No. Part of the reason I wanted to spend the night was so I can spend time with you.” She walked into his room and over to his bed.
“Okay. So let’s spend time together.” He smiled.
Harper climbed into bed and got under the covers. Her natural instinct was to stay at the edge of the bed, but she decided she was being ridiculous. Once Daniel got in bed, she slid over to the middle to be closer to him.
He turned out the light, and the darkness actually comforted her. Something about being hidden relaxed her.
Still, she lay on her back, practically motionless, and she felt Daniel move closer to her. His arm touched hers, and his skin felt too hot. She had no idea how he could even be that warm, especially without a shirt on.
“Is it okay if I give you a good-night kiss?” Daniel asked.
“Yeah. Of course,” she said, in a voice that she hoped sounded normal.
Then his hand was on her arm, strong and reassuring. She felt his stubble first, brushing against her chin and lips. And then his mouth found hers, and when he kissed her, she realized she’d been overthinking everything.
She’d been worried about how far to go and when to go and what he’d think and all of this paranoia. But when he kissed her, all that went away, and she realized it was Daniel. She knew him, she trusted him, she loved him. Things would happen when they were right and not a moment sooner.
When she wrapped her arms around him, she felt her body melting against him. He kissed her more deeply, and his arm went around her waist, pressing her firmly to him. She dug her fingers into his back, pressing into his tattoo and scars.