Midnight Kiss

Chapter Four

(Word Count: 1977)

Harper had been dating, albeit poorly, for eight years now. She was now twenty-four and had her first date when she was fourteen. Yet in those eight years of dating, she'd never felt more apprehensive than tonight. Her entire wardrobe was dispersed across her bedroom. She'd stabbed herself in the eye with her mascara brush and had to start from scratch. Her heel snapped off her favorite pair of date shoes, and the best dress she owned had a wine stain on the skirt and a mystery odor protruding from it.

If ever the heaven's brought down a sign to Earth in big neon lights flashing, 'Warning! Warning! Abort mission!' this was it.

By the time a fist hit her front door, Harper was starting to suspect this was fate telling her their relationship wasn't meant to be pursued. Yet once she opened the door, all those doubts slipped away when she saw James there with a bouquet of tulips in his grasp.

"You remembered," Harper whispered, as if she were talking to herself in disbelief.

They'd always been her favorite flower. Those and lilies. Her dad had given them to her for Valentines Day every year throughout her youth.

"I did," he responded in an easygoing manner. "I sent some to you all four years when you were away at college, you know."

Harper did not know. She received them even after she moved away, but they were always signed 'your valentine', just as her dad had signed them. And she called back home crying tears of joy when she received them the first time, but her dad brushed it off saying he knew nothing about it, just like he had in years past when she lived with her parents.

"Those weren't from my dad?" Harper asked.

James pressed his lips together and swayed his head. "Your sister told me how homesick you were that first year and wanted to do something I knew would make you smile. Then I just kept doing it."

Harper stared at him, her body unable to move and her mind unfit to think while the rest of her somehow managed to both heat and tingle. She licked her lips, tasting the slight sweetness from her lip gloss. "I don't think I've ever been turned on as much as I am right now," Harper replied, kicking herself for being as candid as she was.

A faint hint of rose crept onto James' cheeks and he exchanged a quick knowing gaze with her before they fell to the hardwood floor between them. "As tempting as it is to just skip dinner and take you right to the bedroom to finish what we started, I think you and I should do this thing right." His eyes returned to hers as he spoke the final words. "Take you out on a real date, woo you with flowers, dazzle you with conversation."

Color her already wooed, because Harper was positively and forever dazzled by James Wittig.

Rather than just gawk at him for all eternity, which had its appeal, Harper grabbed her coat off the hook by the door and slid it on, then picked up her purse from the small dining table she had and followed him out the door.

As they road the elevator down to the main level in silence, Harper had the 'Fifty Shades Of Grey' elevator scene playing on a loop in her mind, attempting to somehow will it into reality.

"You're blushing."

Harper's head shot up, and she looked over at James, who was leaning against the wall of the elevator, one leg crossed over the other and his arms crossed as he stared straight ahead.

"You aren't even looking."

"But I was," James responded. "And I gotta admit, I find it damn sexy."

Harper was moments away from losing all self control and making that elevator scene a reality. But unlike the movies, elevator rides didn't last forever and before she could make her move, the doors separated and her elderly neighbor, Charlotte, strode inside.