The Sweetest Things (11 page)

“Please do.” Her hands never stopped moving.

“I gave you your first kiss.”

“Because of a bet I lost.”

“We’ve spent every Valentine’s Day together since we were just learning how to ride bikes without training wheels.”

“Because you were best friends with my brother.”

“You’ve stolen several jerseys and hats and hoodies from me.”

“I like the cologne you wear.”

“When I was away I called you more than I did Pops.”

“Because you wanted to lament about the struggles of being the progeny of the great Ivan Vetrov.”

“We’re living together.”

Harper snorted. “Only because your constant whining about either renting or place or staying with Owen would’ve irked me.”

“We slept together...
a lot.”

“I’m still not convinced that really happened. I’m thinking Jedi mind tricks were implemented.”

“We’re out on a date.”

“See explanation A.”

“And every time another man looks at you, I contemplate how soon I can have their head off their body.”

“Because you’re nutters.” Harper finally turned around to face him. “All your facts and examples prove nothing.”

“They prove
everything
.” He leaned into her until she was practically bent backwards over the game. “You wanna explain to me why it’s so hard for you to accept what’s right in front of your face?”

“Because it’s too soon!”

Konstantine frowned. “Twenty-odd years in the making is too soon to you?”

“Yes.”

“That makes no sense.”

“You’ve had time to get used to the idea of this.” She waved a hand between the two of them. “I haven’t.”

He looked off over her shoulder. “What I’m not understanding is why it seems so foreign to you.”

“What if something happens, Koz?”

His gaze found hers again. “Like?”

“Like us stepping into the relationship role and we hurt each other? What if the novelty of being with me finally wears thin? What if you realize we should’ve stayed the way we were, wondering about the possibility but never touching on it because it’s too much of a risk for—”

“Me to hurt you?” he finished.

Her silence was answer enough.

Konstantine slowly nodded. “Ah, I get it now.” Taking a step back, he shoved his hands into his pockets. “You think I don’t have feelings too, that I wasn’t scared as shit from the moment my plane touched down in New York again and I decided I was going to go for something I’ve been fantasizing about for what felt like my whole life.”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“It is,” he argued. “You don’t trust me enough to believe I’d rather lose my right fucking hand than hurt you.”

Harper tugged at her hair. “I’m saying I don’t want to argue with you about semantics. I just want to be able to think without feeling like I’m putting us in a weird place because I’m having a human reaction to a foreign situation.”

He shrugged. “Cool. No fighting.”

She stared up at him, and he knew she could see right past his bullshit. “You’re angry.”

“I’m not.”

“Koz—”

“Here.” He took out another roll of quarters and placed them in her hand. “You play a few more games, and I’m gonna get something to drink, okay?”

Harper looked as though she wanted to say something, but whatever it was, she held it back...just like she did with everything between them. Nodding, she said, “Okay.”

With a deep breath, he turned and walked away, frustrated as shit and in serious need of a shot.

She felt like the biggest bitch ever
.
Konstantine’s cold shoulder was not
a fun place to be, and yet she was resting on it for the rest of their date. Every response from him consisted of one word. There wasn’t any more teasing. There were no more smiles, no more trying to discreetly cop a feel. It didn’t take long before Harper was ready to go home. She’d rather be in her room and away from him than near him and feel like everything she said or did was just making things worse.

He helped her into his rental without a word and pulled off. The silence was more deafening than the noise in Two Bit’s.
It was driving her insane, and by the time they finally pulled up to her house, she wanted him to say something,
anything.

“Koz?”

He looked over at her.

“I don’t want this,” Harper blurted.

Konstantine quirked a brow but didn’t reply.

“You’re pissed, and I get it. I’m being confusing and difficult but it’s because—”

 “I love you,” he cut in.

She didn’t move, didn’t even blink.

“You ever
stop to examine why none of your past relationships worked out, Sweets?”

She froze. “No.”

“Liar.”

Glaring at him, she clenched her fists at her sides. “I am not.”

“You are,” he challenged. “And a terrible one too. I know why mine didn’t work out.”

“I’m not—”

“Because I was constantly talking about
you
, comparing them to
you
, sending things to
you
. No one could handle it. No one could deal with the fact they’d never be able to measure up to the infamous Sweets. The girl who could name every pitcher to play for Yankees since ’72 and their stats before going to bake a cake that  tasted fucking heavenly.” He stared at her, continuing. “The girl who’s the only one to make my dick hard enough to split granite while wearing the colors of the New Jersey Devils, knowing I’m a fucking Rangers fan and that I
hate
the Devils.”

She fought a smile as he kept talking. “The girl who I missed more than anything in this fucking world while I was gone, but I couldn’t find the words to express it because I’m a goddamn man, and all we do is grunt shit half the time.” His hand came up to trail against her cheek. “The girl I’ve been in love with since the first time I saw her rock climbing cabinets just so she could get a chocolate chip cookie.”

Harper felt extremely teary eyed all of a sudden. . “I—”

“Hush,” he said, climbing out of the rental and coming around to her side. He swung the door open and helped her down.

She didn’t speak a word as he got her inside and locked up, but the moment she heard the deadbolt slide into place, she turned around.

“Koz—” Her words were cut short when she suddenly found herself pinned against that door, Konstantine’s mouth on hers as he kissed her hard and fast.

He bruisingly pressed his mouth to hers, his tongue sliding against the seam of her lips, coaxing her to open for him. When she did, he teased her with the tip, pushing it forward then pulling back until she growled and dug her nails into his arms before breaking the kiss.

Panting, Harper tried talking to him. “Wait
…
just wait
…
”

“Fuck waiting.”

Everything inside her was screaming for her to trust Konstantine the same way she’d trusted him all her life, but circumstances had changed, hadn’t they? Things were different now. And even if they stopped sleeping together and tried to pretend nothing had ever happened, they’d never truly be the same. He’d branded her. And if the look he was currently giving her was any indication, Harper had branded him too.

There was no easy way out of this one. She was in too deep.
They
were in too deep, and just the thought of walking away from him made her stomach clench. Harper loved him—there was no doubt about that—but what happened if he suddenly decided her quirky nature and inability to turn on her filter wasn’t cute anymore?

“You’re thinking. Stop thinking,” he demanded, tugging at her jacket then throwing it over his shoulder. “I tried, Sweets. I
really
tried to be nice and logical and to compartmentalize things so you could have time to get used to me, us, but I wasted enough time.” Gripping the bottom of her blouse, he pulled it up and over her head. “No more being nice or logical.” Konstantine placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back into the door. “And fuck wasting time.”

“Can’t we just—”

“No,” he interrupted. “I’d hurt myself before I hurt you so if you want me to stop the only word you have to say is
no.
Until you say that word”—he yanked her leggings down, kneeling to help her step out of her shoes; all three items went sailing—“you and I are gonna be working things out physically.”

Koz’s hands were suddenly in her hair, on her shoulders then down her back and sliding beneath the waistband of her panties as he plundered her mouth with his own. She heard a rip, and cool air kissed the lips of her now naked pussy. Harper gasped and jerked backwards. Her eyes lifted and she gazed up at him. The look he gave her made her smolder on the spot. One minute she was terrified of him breaking her heart, and the next she was shifting from one foot to another, trying to alleviate the ache that had built between her thighs. Insanity.

He kissed his way from her lips to between her breasts then down her torso, swirling his tongue into the indentation of her belly button as she bucked against him.

“I think you and I need to have a conversation about what belongs to me and what belongs to you,” Konstantine calmly stated, standing again, his own coat gone now as well as his sweater and shoes. “See
…
” He continued unhooking the front clasp of her bra and cupping her tits in his hands, his thumbs flicking across her nipples. Swallowing down her moan, he moved his mouth away to stare at her. “Your pleasure, your smile, your laugh, your happiness are no longer your own, Sweets.” He pinched her nipples, and her thighs rubbed together as her center flooded. “You share them with me now. These”—he gave a sharp tug to the sensitized nubs—“belong to me.” One hand found its way down her torso, his fingers delving between the lips of her pussy to play with her. “And this is most certainly mine.” He delivered a smack to her clit.

“Koz!”

“That breathless sound of your voice because you’re close to coming?” Konstantine smacked her clit again.

“Fuck!”

“Mine,” he growled then pushed his middle finger into her core, curving it until he pressed against her G-spot.

Harper gripped his forearms as her legs shook, threatening to give out on her. “Ah.”

“All the cream spilling over my hand because you’re so goddamn wet?” He strummed that spot, and she arched towards him. “Mine.”

“Jesus H!”

“The expression on your face right now where you look like you don’t know whether to laugh or cry?” Withdrawing his hand, he picked her up and wrapped her legs around his waist, undoing his jeans and pushing them down along with his boxers. She felt the broad head of his cock probe her opening. “Mine.” He slammed inside her, and Harper shattered into what felt like a million little pieces.

Konstantine used the door as leverage as he pounded inside her, every connection of their bodies leaving her breathless and overwhelmed. “And. This. Is. Yours.” Punctuating each word with a thrust of his hips, he lifted her right leg higher as he tapped her womb.