Harkham's Case (Harkam's #1) (49 page)

He pulled the car over on the shoulder of the freeway and stared in her eyes. “Mari Cole, you have to promise me right now that you’ll marry me.”

“I will. Not today, but yes, I will marry you. I love you.” Her eyes softened. She reached out and took his hands in hers.

“And you swear this is a promise you’ll keep? I can’t lose you and what we have,” he croaked through a lump in his throat.

“You won’t. And I don’t need to swear—I already know we’ll be together. Wanna know why?”

“Yes.” He dropped his head a little, then looked up at her through his lashes.

“Because when you touch me, I feel it all the way to my toes. No one else has ever done that to me before, and I have way more to lose than you do.”

His nose pushed up in a crinkled up mess. What did this mean?

“You have my heart, and I can’t live without it, so if I want to live, I have to be with you.”

That was all he needed to hear to turn that car around and head home.

“I’m gonna keep it, too. You can’t have it back until you put a ring on my finger and say I do.”

“Okay, Adam. I will.”

Close enough. She could practice saying “I do” instead over the next few months.

It would give her time to perfect it.

He didn’t have to worry about his lines. He’d been saying them silently in his head on and off since the day she kissed him.

“I will, too. You’ve made me live a life that I
so
love. And that’s not something I’ll ever give up.”

He drove a little faster. Maybe he could find a way to make these next few months move quicker, too.

It was worth a try, because
she
was worth it.

Numbers were nothing to him anymore. All he knew was her.

A PREVIEW FOR HARKHAM’S CHOICE, BOOK 2 IN THE HARKHAM’S SERIES

Chapter 1

A smile flashed across Mari’s face while she rinsed the shampoo out of her hair. Her heart swelled, and she chuckled to herself as she considered how much happier she was now. How in God’s name had her life changed so much in two short months?

It was like a whirlwind swept her away, taking her from her nightmare and plopping her straight down into a dream.

Adam
. Her boyfriend. It was all him.

Water ran down her face and into her mouth as she savored her shower, but she kept grinning like a dork anyway.

He did that to her. Nothing much seemed to bother her a whole lot anymore. He simply made everything better.

Just a week ago, in the spur of the moment, he’d insisted they get married and drove them straight from school, taking them halfway from Phoenix to Las Vegas, before coming to his senses, turning around and heading back home.

Her ring finger almost twitched with the memory of it—almost taunting her and making her heart rate pick up.

Good God, how she adored him.

“Ahhhh,” she released a loud sigh. It was girlie and dorky, but she had to.

There were times like now as she bathed alone, that parts of her wished she had kept her mouth closed and not objected that day, so she could have him in here with her.

That one time they showered together a few weeks ago had been so wonderful.

He received his first blow job, and she received her first real, hard-hitting moment of being utterly consumed by him and all that he was. In the process, she discovered she honestly couldn’t live without him.

How could she? Nothing was the same ever since he entered her life. There was no going back to either of her divorced, frustrating parents—both an absolute mess all on their own, and even worse when expected to care for her, their daughter.

She fought off nasty memories of them and hummed instead. That was what Adam did to fight the numbers. She smiled again.

What would Adam do if she let him in this shower at this very instant? Beg for her mouth on him? Beg to pleasure her? He was so unpredictable at times, and she loved that about him.

There were other times, though, that she knew exactly what he was going to say . . . Adam talked about that failed Vegas trip a lot. Mostly at night when they’d sneak into each other’s room, lay in bed together, talking and making out. Reminders of how they could be married already and he could have his dick inside her, would come up when he was beyond horny and before they had to separate and she had to go back to her own room to sleep in.

The water continued to invade her mouth because she couldn’t seem to stop smiling so wide, her lips had to stay parted.

Damn. He was such an amazing man. There was no one like him.

“Oh Adam,” she said with a sigh to herself. “God.”

She shook her head, trying to rid herself of errant thoughts about stepping out of this shower, going and finding him, then dragging him in here with her.

So many times, she wanted to say fuck it. She was eighteen, and Adam was twenty-one, but still . . . She cared about what Dustin Latham, her future father-in-law, thought about her.

She lathered her hair for the second time, sighed for the tenth time and kept smiling. What surprises would she run into today with Adam?

She finished her shower, stepped out and dried off.

“Jesus,” she groaned, glancing at the paper on the counter. That fucking thing was calling to her.

She couldn’t help herself—she had to read his note from yesterday one more time. The one he’d left on her pillow as a surprise and she’d found after her morning shower.

It was shameless, but she’d been carrying it around with her all over in her pocket so she could see it whenever she felt the urge.

Like now.

She flattened it out on the counter and was careful not to drip on it as she read—

Dear Abandoner,

I really don’t like to wake up to an empty pillow beside me. Why must you torture me so?

Why aren’t we married already? This is not cool.

My little heart can’t take it, not to mention my sore spot. I wake up aching for you, and only you know how to touch me right to make my morning wood feel as pleasant as possible before I can chop down this tree. Okay, well, I wouldn’t actually do that. Chopping would hurt real bad, but I will stroke it until it’s flaccid—but you knew what I meant. I was trying to impress you and sound smarter than usual, but I think I failed. Man . . . See what happens when I wake up to no Mari in my bed?

But back to the morning wood. You’re very smart like that—knowing what I need. Please, wake me up before you leave on the nights you sneak into my room and sleep with me. It’s the least you can do since I gave you three very beautiful orgasms last night with my skilled fingers, and I didn’t even tell anyone at all how happy that made me to do that for you and to watch you climax in my bed.

I know I beg and plead and pull you back into the bed when you try to get up so I can have more snuggles, but it’s really rather rude to abandon me so cruelly. Just a word and a kiss, sweetheart? Please?

If you do not comply, I will be forced to lie in wait behind the shower curtain and sabotage your abandoning plans in there. Don’t make me set my alarm on my phone, ‘cause I’ll do it, you know.

Tomorrow I expect a grope too on my crotch when you wake me up, to make up for your flagrant disregard of my absolute need for more Marissa Cole in the morning. I need my cuddle time and my girl all to myself before others take you away from me.

You need breakfast. I need morning loves. Let’s make the mornings better with more skin, okay? Better for everyone.

And no one has to know. Promise—I won’t say a word about it to anyone. I won’t even show them the books or articles that taught me how to make you come so hard on my fingers, even if they were exactly right and very enlightening.

Let’s at least do this until I can steal you away for another Vegas road-trip. One that will be completed next time.

Love,

The Abandonee

Good Lord, but he was the most adorable man alive.

She set it aside and went back to her morning routine.

Reading his note this last time would be enough to keep her in this delirious state of happiness.

Well, that note and memories of what took place less than an hour ago . . .

Really early this morning—way before his dad would be awake—she woke him as he requested, gave him a quick handjob, then when he fell back asleep, she crept out of his bed and hopped into the shower in her own bathroom. The one she shared with his sister, Samara. A Jack and Jill bathroom was less than fun when she knew it meant more ways for Adam to figure out how to break in. And that man was genius at doing that type of thing.

She wiped down the entire bathroom and removed all traces of herself, including her note she kept fixating on. Samara would never even know she was sharing a bathroom with another teenage girl.

Or at least that was always Mari’s goal since Samara hated her so much.

It was best to stay out of that tiny, dark-haired, judgmental girl’s way. Mari could only take so much before she might snap and hit her for being such a controlling, psycho, little mother-hen to Adam most of the time.

His dad was getting better at least, now that Dr. Harkham was backing Mari, and telling him that she had done wonders for Adam and his issues. Dustin was nearing a neutral attitude toward her, so she couldn’t complain. He didn’t avoid her, but he didn’t seek her out or talk to her a whole lot either. It was as if he was neither upset nor glad she was here. At times, it felt like he accepted it the way a man on death row might swallow his fate and stop contesting it.

A lump formed in her throat and in her gut. She swallowed, trying to dislodge the one higher up, but it did nothing for her. Thinking of Adam’s dad and sister always made her tense up and feel like her insides were twisting into pretzels.

It always made her feel guilty, to know his dad probably felt stuck as her ward, and because of it, she would redouble her efforts to cook and help out more around the house, to earn her keep and stay on his good side.

She finished getting ready, then opened the door to her tidied-up room, leading out into the hallway. Adam was probably downstairs, eating breakfast already. She took a backward step as she scanned the room to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything.

“Mmmnnnhh.” A grunt came from the ground as her foot knocked into something solid.

She turned at the hips but kept her feet stationary.

“Adam . . . ? What’re you—”

He was lying on the ground, asleep in nothing but his pajama pants.

She looked around to make sure nobody else in the family was seeing this.

What the hell was going on?

She crouched down and jostled him, but he didn’t wake.

Her next tactic was to grab his arms and drag him into her room.

He was heavy, but it was easier than she thought.

She toed the door shut, slumped down to the ground, sat crossed legged and massaged his back while kissing his temple to rouse him.

“Adam . . . Time to wake up,” she said.

He stretched, then grabbed blindly for her.

She lay down next to him and spooned. “Why were you asleep in the hallway outside my door?” she asked, stroking the back of his neck.

Goose bumps erupted on him, making her smile and blow in that same spot to keep them there.

“You said not to break into your room anymore—especially when you’re showering. I got tired of waiting, so I closed my eyes. I didn’t like being out here. I needed to touch you.” He reached back, grabbed her hand and wound her arm around him as he settled her hand in his. He placed it on his chest and snuggled into the ground like it was a comfortable place to be.

“I was with you all night, cuddling as we slept.”

“I know. It’s not enough.” He hummed.

“But when I didn’t live here, you slept alone every night. What’s changed?”

“I wanted to be in a bed with you then, too, but it wasn’t an option. Now it is. Stop leaving my bed.” He sighed like he was content to stay here forever.

“I knew this was a bad idea . . . I never should have started sleeping in your bed each night. This isn’t good for you to be this dependent, and we’re gonna get caught. I need to get a job immediately and get my own place,” she said and stopped the light touches on his back and neck.

“No!” He flipped over and held her head still with one hand while peering deeply in her eyes. “Stay.”

“How can I? Your dad’s never gonna allow you to sleep with me every night, and I can’t let you sleep in the hallway outside my door.” She stroked his bottom lip with her thumb, then kissed it.

“I’ll convince him. And, besides, we’re not sleeping together, because it’s not sex.”

She grinned. “That’s right—this is not about sex at all,” she said with a facetious tone.

“This
is
all about sex. It’s all I want to be the happiest me I can be—lots and lots of yummy Mari sex—but he doesn’t have to know that bit. I’ll keep quiet about it this time.” Her face dropped. He cleared his throat and added, “This isn’t lying—I’m not doing that. I’m just making sure I keep private things, private.” He smiled like he had it all figured out, and he was the smartest man in the world.