Midnight Kiss

Chapter Five

(Word Count: 2,300)

Harper chewed on her bottom lip as she observed their waitress carry a tray full of appealing food and sizzling steak to the table beside them, placing it between the two tables and making it ever so tempting to steal away one plate while the waitress served another. As if it could somehow conceal the sound, her arm cradled across her stomach as if she were attempting to sooth a small child rather than her own famished body.

Nerves were far too great that day to so much as think about eating, but now that the date was happening, it was all she could think about rather than the delicious-looking man across from her.

"I think you've gotta little drool," James said, pointing at the corner of his mouth.

Harper wiped at her face, but felt nothing. Her eyes glared back at him. "Funny."

James chuckled and placed his elbows on the table, folding his arms in front of him as he looked at the candle flickering between them. "You didn't eat today, did you?"

"How can you tell?" Harper asked, curious what gave her away.

James leaned over the table and murmured the words, "The way you've been eye fucking that woman's steak."

The way he said the word 'fucking' caused a blush to creep onto Harper's cheeks. "It's a good looking steak," was the only response Harper could think of.

"That it is," James answered, leaning back in his chair just as the waitress approached with their drinks.

It hadn't struck until then she'd been so busy 'eye fucking' every piece of food that passed her she hadn't even glanced at the menu.

"Are you two ready to order or do you need a few minutes?"

Harper opened her menu. "Honestly, I haven't even looked-"

"My date will have what she's having," James interrupted, pointing at the woman who was eating the steak at the table beside them. "And I'll have the same."

They finished ordering the specifics with the waitress and as soon as she walked away from their table, Harper placed her fingers on the stem of her martini glass and looked across the table.

James' eyes sparkled and a small smile formed. "What?"

"You called me your date."

Since she'd had her hand wrapped around his erection the night before, using the word 'date' wasn't a big leap, but it was strange to think all this was happening.

"Surreal, isn't it?" He said as his grin widened. Then he went silent, staring ahead at the flames as his lips fell into a frown. "I spend my entire adult life with one woman and now here I am, on a date with her sister."

His words seemed to catch the attention of the table next to them as she saw the woman's head shoot up from the corner of her eye. Harper ignored the looks his wayward comment earned and kept her attention on James. "Why did it take you so long to kiss me?"

"I was with your sister and when I'm in a relationship, I'm faithful," James answered barely above a whisper. "After we broke up..." James trailed off and ran his fingers. Through his dark, wavy hair. "I spent my childhood hopping from home to home, never really belonging anywhere until your parents took me in. Then I became an adult and your sister and I moved in together. I needed to figure out who I was without a relationship guiding me one way or the other. That, and I wasn't sure if you'd kiss me back."

She would have kissed him back if he'd gone for it out in that field the summer after her freshman year of college. As Harper looked back at that time, she recalled thinking there was a moment when they laid out on the grass and he tilted his head and looked right at her; not just at her, but straight into her heart. His blue eyes were so soft and she remembered when his lips parted, almost as if he were about to say something. But no words came out, and they soon closed as his eyes returned to the sky above them.