Saving Us (The Billionaire Brothers of NY Duology #1)

30. Harper

CHAPTER 30

Harper

W aking up in bed with Gage was definitely something I wanted to do more often. His warmth, his muscles, his scent. All of it. I wanted it all, all the time. But I wasn’t about to tell him that. The fact that he told me he loved me was absolute perfection. I couldn’t risk what we had by moving in together. I knew it was something he wanted as well, but I was scared it would be the ruin of us.

Because all good things I’ve ever had never lasted.

The men I’ve loved never stuck around.

And I didn’t want to lose Gage Parker.

Beep…Beep…Beep

Gage’s hand reached out for his phone on the nightstand. If the alarm was going off, that meant it was seven. But I’d been up for at least an hour, simply watching him sleep. The peace across his face as he slept gave me comfort, the opposite of that feeling of doom I had all day yesterday. I was thankful that day was over.

And contrary to what I feared, it turned out to be one of the best days of my life.

“Good morning, beautiful,” Gage said as he turned over. “What are you doing up?”

He pulled me into an embrace, those sinewy muscles holding me tight. Sleeping naked would now be a requirement.

“I was enjoying the view.” Balancing my chin on my hand against his chest, I peeked up at him. “Hey, didn’t you mention something about a closet full of ties to me yesterday?”

His interest was piqued. But then he looked at the clock.

“How about I pack a bunch of my ties for our weekend?” he asked. “I will definitely make it up to you.”

“Hmm, that sounds intriguing,” I said. Then something hanging from his bedpost caught my eye. “Is that my bra?”

He turned his head slightly, then a broad smile covered his face.

“Maybe.”

Leaning forward, I plucked it from the wooden post.

“Is this the one I think it is?” My voice went up a few octaves, surprised by my discovery.

“It’s exactly the one you’re thinking of,” he said. “When Fiona showed up, and we panicked, I found it on the floor. You had already run to the back room, so I stuffed it in my pocket.”

I laughed out loud.

“It’s mine now,” he said, taking it from my grip. “Ya know, you told me that day at Sullivan’s that you didn’t expect us to do anything at the shop that night.” His look was suddenly a bit accusatory, but with a side of humor as his smile grew. “But I’m not sure I believe you one bit, considering you had on a matching set under your clothes. And not just a matching set, but a pretty damn seductive one.” He flicked my nose in jest, making sure I knew he was joking.

But I didn’t realize he’d caught onto that. Shit.

“Well, it’s now my memento from that day. We both have one.”

He was referring to my dried rose. I guess he saw it in my kitchen.

“We do, don’t we?”

He pushed out from under me, and I groaned in objection.

Hopping out of bed, he made his way to the bathroom, talking as he went. “Jared and Delia will be here at eight to pick us up, and I still have to pack.”

The moment he left the bed, I missed him. But the view of his tight ass, with those little indents on the sides, as he walked away, almost made it worth it. Christ, his body was chiseled perfection. Lean, hard muscle.

“When do you have the time to go to the gym, Gage?”

He was already brushing his teeth but talked through the brush and paste.

“We have a gym at the office, so I usually get my workouts in during the day.” He bent over the sink and rinsed, then leaned his head back out the door. “And on the weekends, I get in a run or two.”

I felt so lacking in the exercise and healthful habits department. Looking down at my soft body, I wondered if he would prefer someone who was more like him.

“You’re perfect.” His words carried across the room.

Looking up, I knew he caught me looking at myself.

“Stand up.”

His voice was firm, but I really didn’t want to.

“Harper, stand up.”

I did. He stalked toward me as if I were his prey. Once he was mere inches from me, his one finger trailed from my shoulder to my elbow.

“I’ve never felt softer skin. It’s like velvet.” Then both hands curved around my body to my ass. “And this right here, well, let’s just say, I could get into a lot of fights if I let all the guys that stare at it get to me.”

Scoffing, I pushed at his chest, but he held onto my ass, squeezing it, keeping us close.

“There is not a part of your body that isn’t perfect.” As he said that, his hands explored everywhere, from across my belly to my breasts, finishing at my face. “But it’s not just physical.” He put his finger on my temple. “Your intelligence, and drive, and the way you treat people, that makes up so much of what I love about you.” And then his hand went over my heart. “That, combined with how you feel, and love. Your compassion is transforming me into the person I want to be.” He gripped my face and came in for a kiss.

It was a simple kiss. And when he pulled away, he leaned down, our eyes level.

“You are perfect. Perfect for me. You have made me a better person. A person worth loving. So, don’t ever question your worth. Ever again.”

And all I could do was nod.

And smile.

“Okay, help me pack, because now we are getting picked up in forty minutes.”

And I noticed him throw a few neckties in his bag before walking to his closet.

The passing trees were a tremendous distraction. Combine that with the music and the occasional conversation, and I was almost able to ignore the niggling feeling trying to worm its way back in. I was frustrated. As I leaned against the most beautiful man who declared his love for me just last night, why couldn’t I just feel happy?

Maybe it was simply that I was afraid of love. And I was used to that.

Knowing my past, it would be expected for me to feel unsure about moving forward. And as close as Gage and I had become, it’s been less than three months. When I talked to Vic about that, she said it was totally normal as we got older for things to move quicker.

Biological clock shit.

But this feeling felt…different.

I wasn’t scared of commitment. As he held me in his arms, it was the one of the few things I looked forward to.

This was a legitimate sense of fear filling my entire core.

The entire time at the event, this fear invaded my every move. After my run-in with Rebecca, I’d thought that was it. And it lifted once I walked away from her, so I thought I was in the clear. But, when I woke this morning, it was back.

“You okay?” Gage asked me.

“Yep,” I lied as we cuddled against one another in the back seat.

We had finally made it out of the city, over the G.W. bridge and were on the thruway. Jared was a good driver, which was not always a guarantee for a city dweller. But he wasn’t born and bred here, I’d learned.

“So, where in Virginia are you from, Jared?” I asked.

He lowered the music so we could go back to talking.

“Falls Church, it’s in NoVa,” he said.

My confused look didn’t escape anyone in the car. Delia chose to clear it up for me.

“He doesn’t understand that people who aren’t from Virginia don’t understand the NoVa thing. It stands for Northern Virginia. It’s basically the whole top part of the state that’s outside of D.C.”

“Ohhh, okay,” I said, understanding.

Jared reached across the console and grabbed Delia’s hand, holding it in his. From my seat, I was able to see her responses to his tiny gestures. We’d spent time together as couples, but I liked seeing them like this. It was obvious she was very much in love with him.

It was a seasoned relationship. They were in sync. They had a rhythm together. He moved, but she was ahead of his move waiting for him.

“And you guys didn’t meet in college, right?” I asked Delia, forgetting their back story.

“Right, these two went to school together. I didn’t meet them until they moved to the city. They’re a package deal, though. They’re a bit like chicks,” she said, then laughed.

Gage pushed against her seat, and Jared poked her leg.

“What?” she yelled back at them. “Are either of you able to convince us otherwise? Is there anything you do socially without the other?”

Turning in her seat to be able to see them both at the same time, Delia’s triumphant smirk spread slowly across her lips. “Yeah, I didn’t think so.”

My silent laugh wasn’t so silent, and Gage pulled me into his side.

“Whatever,” Jared conceded. “I’m man enough to handle being called a chick. What about you?”

Jared found Gage’s eyes in the rear-view mirror, and they shared a conspiratorial look.

“Same,” Gage replied.

Everyone fell back into a comfortable silence as the Range Rover hummed along the highway. I think I started falling asleep when I felt Gage reach into his bag at his feet. He pulled out his laptop.

“Sorry, babe, I have to return a few work emails.”

While he got to work, I pulled out my phone and did a little research on the Catskills. I’d never been to the area and was looking forward to it.

“So, what’re we doing this weekend, Delia?” I asked.

She spun around in her seat, the excitement all over her face.

“Fourth of July is so much fun at the lake!” she exclaimed. “I’m so glad you guys are coming. My parents’ house is literally right on the lake, so we can go boating, fishing, or swimming whenever we want. But tonight, there’s a big bonfire down by the main lake house. And tomorrow are the fireworks. Plus, we have s’mores to make, and there’s this really amazing trail close by. I thought we’d go for a hike tomorrow morning.”

Her smile was infectious. It all sounded idyllic.

Kind of made me think of my childhood summers on the Jersey Shore. I was thinking of asking Gage if he’d like to spend a weekend there this summer, take him to my old stomping grounds when I was a tween and on the prowl.

“It sounds amazing, thanks for inviting us,” I said. “I’m a beach girl, but I love the lake. I just don’t get to them often. This is perfect.”

“Hey, babe,” Jared said. “Can you help me with this?”

He seemed to be struggling to get his jacket off.

“I’m sweating my ass off, even with the air on. Can you pull this arm off for me?”

Delia pulled the jacket off his right arm.

“Shit,” he complained. “I can’t get my other arm out.”

I heard him unclick his seatbelt and watched him pull the jacket off from behind his back.

But then everything happened in slow motion.

The pickup that was coming straight for us came out of nowhere.

Across the grass median.

At full speed.

In my periphery, I saw Gage looking down, still absorbed by his computer.

Delia was helping Jared with his jacket.

Jared was watching straight ahead and checking his rear-view mirror.

As he was trying to buckle up again, no one was looking at the median.

But there was no time even if he had.

Fractions of a second, I would find out.

“JARED!”

But I was too late.

His swerve did nothing to prevent the impact.

As it hit us, the front driver’s corner of our SUV took the brunt of the collision.

The imagery created in the movies when a car flips: the slow motion as the crunching glass sprays across the interior of the vehicle, the passengers suspended in the air while upside down, as if time has stopped, the absence of sound, the deafening silence.

It’s eerily accurate.

But then it all went black.