❝But I can't help it
I'm falling for you
And I can't quit it
Cause I'm stuck on you❞

I stared at the bed, heart pounding all the way down to my dick.

Well, to be more precise, I stared at the woman on the bed. In my bed.

Now don't get me wrong, I've had my fair share of women on beds before but this was different. Not one of them had made my toes curl and throat miraculously turn into ice and fire simultaneously like she could.

Harper Mae Collins was in my bed. And she was building a prison within it.

"Ahem," I cleared my throat, still standing awkwardly near the door to the attached bathroom I'd stepped out of. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Harper huffed, laying big fluffy pillows in the middle with the dedication of a foreman laying brick. "I'm putting in protection."

"That's something that usually goes on a guy's dick, Harp," I joked.

She didn't laugh, stopping and glaring at me menacingly.

"Listen here, Aiden Mitchell," she started in a voice so authoritative I almost creamed myself. In a good way. "I'm totally fine with your best friend staying in my room and with us for a couple of days. And I'm totally fine to sleep in this bed with you. But what I'm not fine with is you getting any funny ideas in that big block head of yours, alright?"

"Whoa whoa whoa," I brought my hands up in the air. "What's with the third degree? I didn't even say anything."

"Precisely!" she said, pointing a throw cushion at me like a weapon as she sat back on her knees. "You didn't say anything because you're a man of action, not words."

Her eyes momentarily dropped south and she stuttered.

"You are keeping your little john away from me or I'll snap it like a twig, you hear?"

Why did that turn me on?

"Listen here Harper Mae Collins," I started, keeping the smirk off my face as I rounded the bed and moved to my side. "If I remember correctly, you were the one who initiated the kiss last night."

"That's not-"

I took my shirt off and her words died in her throat.

"You were also the one who initiated the kiss at the club," I continued, laying my shirt on the back of the chair then getting into bed. "And then you freaked out thinking we had kissed. If anyone's a person of action here, it's you Demon Cub."

The look on her face told me she hadn't heard a word I'd said.

"What? Never seen a man's chest before?" I looked down at my body. Sure, I wasn't built like an Avenger but I was alright.

"Put your shirt back on!" she squeaked.

"I sleep with it off," I answered. "Actually, I enjoy sleeping naked most of the time but I'm accommodating my bed guest so-"

"Shut up Shortcake," Harper huffed and then went back to piling up the pillows between us. I rolled onto my side and watched her, doing my best to keep my expression as serious as hers. She fluffed up the middle pillow before sitting back on her side of the bed, satisfied.

"This right here? This is the red zone."

"Sounds hot."

I raised my hands up again before she could chew me out.

"Alright, alright, the barricade is set. I won't dare cross it, oh mighty enforcer," I teased, earning a glare that could freeze the sun.

"You better not. I have a black belt in knee-to-groin combat," she shot back.

"Really? I thought it was a Master's degree in Pillowology," I retorted, reveling in her eye roll.

"Just go to sleep, Aiden."

"Wouldn't dream of doing anything else," I muttered to myself.

We both settled under the covers and the room slipped into darkness as Harper turned off the lights, leaving us bathed in the subtle glow of the city outside.

In the quiet, I focused on the rhythmic sounds of Harper's breathing. She lay on her back as I did, and I could tell by the sharp inhales that she repeatedly opened her mouth to say something before backtracking.

Smiling to myself, I kept my eyes closed and waited for her to break the silence.

"How are your paintings coming along?" she finally asked.

"Not as well as I'd like," I responded calmly, keeping my eyes closed. "Haven't been able to pick up a brush since the whole Megan incident. Been drowning in commissions, though," I confessed.

Harper sat up, her silhouette outlined against the dim light.

"Commissions? You've been taking those? I thought-"

"You were right, Harper," I admitted. "Gotta pay the bills, you know? I'll have to put my artistic integrity philosophy in hold if I've got to survive. But it's really not my preferred canvas. The commissions I've been getting have been...painful."

The UFO cows still haunted my dreams.

"Do you ever take on character art commissions?"

I cracked an eye open, intrigued.

"What do you have in mind?"

I could see her grin shine bright like something out of a toothpaste commercial, even in the darkness.

"Well you see," she started excitedly moving forward on the bed and jostling the pillows out of her very own Wall of Harper, "There's this really tender love scene between Alice and Charlotte that happens toward the end of the book-"

"Wait, no!" I covered my ears before she could say anything more. "I don't want spoilers!"

Harper rolled her eyes and moved over the barricade now, fully close to me. She grabbed my hands and pried them away.

"Oh please, like you can't handle spoilers."

"I'm actually invested in the story you know. I want to see how it progresses naturally."

At this, she paused.

"You're...not joking."

I shook my head, adamant.

"You're actually reading all the chapters and updates?"

"Who do you think Pixis007 is?"

Her mouth fell open. And her hands? They were still holding mine.

"I...well, wow. You sure do comment a lot."

"You're welcome," I smirked.

"I honestly thought Pixis007 was some thirteen year old boy with a lesbian fetish." She paused then looked me over and added, "I guess I was right."

"No character commissions for you, milady."

"Sorry, sorry!" she laughed and grabbed my hands, yanking me up into an upright position like I was a rag doll. "Please, I think it would be amazing to have a visual for this scene. Its super important to their relationship and-"

"You want art of them making love?"

"Nothing explicit. Ugh. How do I..."

Her eyes darted to her iPad and before I knew it, she'd grabbed it off the nightstand and plopped back down right in front of me.

"It's easier if I just read it to you."

"I don't want any spoilers-"

"Please, Aiden?"

I shut my mouth, momentarily stunned by how sincerely she looked at me. That, and the combination of the moonlight on her long hair falling down the shoulder of her cute polka-dotted PJs was enough for me to scream surrender.

"Yeah, okay," I grumbled. "Spoil me."

"Just...envison this. Not necessarily the scene but your emotions. I'll read it to you and I want you to tell me what's the first visual that comes to your mind, based on how you feel after. Okay?"

"Okay." I sat up and straightened my back, leaning against the headboard. "Shoot."

Harper cleared her throat, the light of the iPad reflecting off her face. Then, with a wide smile, she began.

"It had started with Charlotte's smile and perhaps, it would end with it too."

My stomach dropped. I fucking hated tragedies.

"End with it? Harper, don't tell me you break them up!"

"Shh, shut up and listen."

"Fine. Sorry. Go ahead."

It had started with Charlotte's smile and perhaps, it would end with it too.

Alice looked up through her lashes at Charlotte who lay above her, arm outstretched like a makeshift pillow for Alice to lay on while absentmindedly tracing the tendrils of hair that fell down her back. Charlotte hummed in the aftermath of the pleasure, sleep weighing her beautiful eyes.

Alice couldn't help but wonder if she'd ever see those eyes up this close again. Her heart tightened in her chest and she begun to sit up, clutching the sheets closer to her body.

"What is it, Ali?" Charlotte started, rising as well in confusion.

"I must leave," Alice spoke. "Before he has any more reason to suspect us than he already does."

"Leave him be, stay here tonight."

Charlotte's voice had none of the authority it always possessed. She was no Baronness around her. She was just a woman who loved, and sought to be loved back.

It was not an order but a plea.

Alice looked over her shoulder and smiled meekly at Charlotte.

"You know I want to but..."

"But what?" Charlotte sat up, shifting off the bed and closer to her broken other half.

"But he'll destroy you, Char," Alice whispered, her grip on the sheets tightening. "As of this moment, we are but a mere suspicion. If that suspicion is confirmed, the Duke will do everything in his power to protect his status, to put me back in place as his wife, even if that means tearing you down. You would have to leave to save your honor, let alone the Baron-"

"Let him try."

Alice's shoulders sunk down. She was done playing pretend.

"Can you stop?"

"What is it exactly that you'd like me to stop, Alice?"

She stood up and dragged the sheets with her, suddenly feeling very aware of every inch of her naked skin that she'd ever beared to Charlotte. And while she cowered in vulnerability, clutching the pure white bedsheets they'd spent hours ruining to her body like a second skin, Charlotte sat bare. Naked.

Proud and unashamed.

Alice envied her.

"Stop pretending!" Alice shouted. "Stop living in this grand delusion that the two of us are something more than we truly are."

"And what is it that we truly are?" Charlotte pushed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Women!"

Charlotte flinched, as if Alice had hurled the word like an insult.

"Women living in a world defined by our husbands. Women that the world will never accept together."

"Do you?"

"What?"

Charlotte rose to her feet and crossed the space between them till she was standing right in front of Alice, smoldering her.

"Do you accept it? Accept us? Accept yourself?"

Alice stepped back but Charlotte grabbed her by the shoulders, steadying her and tilting her chin to make her look into her eyes.

"Tell me the truth."

"The only truth I know is that I love you."

Alice's words came out before she could process their weight. She blinked, taking in the way Charlotte's eyes changed. Lightened.

"That sounds like a truth worth fighting for," Charlotte smiled and leaned in, pressing her forehead to Alice's. "I need you, Ali. I need you in this fight with me. I refuse to give up a life with you and the only time I'm playing pretend is when I'm not with you."

"Char-"

"Run away with me."

Charlotte's hand trailed down the side of Alice's face and to her waist, bringing her close. And Alice felt it all over again like it was the first time - a heart that beat inside of her. Proof that she was living.

"Run away where?" she gasped as Charlotte's head dipped, her nose tracing a line down the sensitive part of her neck.

"Paris. We can start fresh there. Just imagine it."

She lifted her head and met Alice's eyes, a fire burning through hers.

"Waking up in the mornings to the smell of fresh coffee and flowers. We could live by the canal in a small apartment. You could paint and I could write. It would be a modest life, but a joyful one. Together."

Alice closed her eyes. It all sounded too good to be true.

"You say the word and I'll make it happen for us, Alice."

It sounded too good to be true.

And yet...

She found herself believing.

Alice opened her eyes. She let go of the sheets, letting it fall back to the floor. Charlotte's gaze didn't drop from her eyes but she let out a sigh as Alice wrapped her arms around her hips, pulling them flush against each other.

"On one condition."

Charlotte smiled and nudged her nose.

"Anything."

Skin to skin. Heartbeat to heartbeat.

It was all that she wanted to know, for the rest of her life.

Alice smiled and touched the side of Charlotte's face, awakening the flame beneath their skin. And with it, something more.

"Marry me, Charlotte."

Harper set the iPad back on the nightstand and turned to me, bouncing on the back of her legs in excitement.

"Tell me now. What's running through your mind? What's this scene inspiring you to do?"

Wordlessly, I moved forward, my knees obliterating the last of her pillow barrier as I reached her.

"Aiden?"

I took her face in my hands and kissed her.

There was no room for thoughts. There was no room for anything but this moment.

My lips on hers.

Her breath colliding with mine, in gentle surprise at first before she melted into my arms, her own wrapping around my body.

The flick of my tongue along her candied lower lip to taste the remnants of her peppermint toothpaste.

The way her nails dug into my back when I deepened the kiss, consuming her adorable little whimper with a groan of my own.

I breathed her in like she was my very own forbidden lily.

And when I pulled back, she stared at me with hooded eyes and reddened lips.

"I hope that answers your question."

My voice sounded like a stranger's - too deep and low to belong to me. But then again, I wasn't myself around Harper.

I waited for her to pick up the pillow and smack me to death with it. Instead, she let out this little mewl-sigh and moved right back into my arms, grabbing my face and crushing it to hers with a passion I'd only ever read in her stories.

We crashed back into the bed with me on top of her.

"We're...upside...down," she muttered through hungry kisses, her hands losing themselves in my hair.

"You make...me...upside down."

She giggled into my mouth and my heart damn near exploded.

"You're so corny," she whispered, kissing my cheeks.

I hid my face in her neck. I didn't want her to see me blushing like a thirteen year old boy with a Harper fetish, after all.

But I took the opportunity to breathe her in, reveling in the smell of her body. She always smelled like a jasmine garden and it did unexplainable things to my body. I pressed my face closer into her neck, lips skirting along her pulse.

Harper moaned into my ear and I stilled as Aiden Jr. stirred. She froze too, feeling the sudden pointed pressure between her legs.

"Um."

I looked up at her, sensing her discomfort.

"Sorry," I muttered gruffly. "You're just too fucking adorable."

Harper blinked at that and smirked, her hand still tracing the now growing curls of my dark hair.

"Adorable is what gets you off?" she teased and wrapped her legs around my waist, crushing our hips together. I groaned and dropped my head into her chest now.

"Harper," I muttered as she started to lift her hips and grind against the growing titan in my pants. "Stop teasing me."

"Or what?"

She ground once more and my restraint broke.

I shot up, grabbed her hands, and pinned them above her head. The teasing in her eyes died, replaced by sheer surprise.

"Aiden what-"

I kissed her. Hard.

And moved between her legs, repeatedly. Hard.

The moans she released against my mouth were downright treacherous.

"Or," I gasped, kissing my way down her neck, "this happens."

"Aiden, we shouldn't... ah...fuck."

Her legs tightened around me and I almost grinned like a fool. Oh, she was just as far gone as I was.

A button on her PJ top had come undone, revealing glistening skin that I so badly wanted to mark. I might just have if not for the sudden electric shock that ran through her body.

"Aiden, no!"

Her legs around my waist came undone and she shuffled her way out from underneath me too fast and, in the process, partially kneed me in my gonads.

The first thing I felt was shock.

The next thing I knew was blinding pain.

I doubled over on the bed, falling face flat as I groaned deeply, clutching half my right testicle like I was dying.

"Harper...you little..."

She hadn't been kidding about having a black belt in kneeing balls.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!"

She rushed to my side but I jerked away from her, hopping back on the bed with my legs crossed awkwardly.

"No, no. You stay far away from me Inks," I gasped. With one hand, I pushed back to my side of the bed and with the other, I cupped the part of me that was throbbing with pain.

"I really didn't mean to, I just got nervous and..."

Holy shit, was she tearing up?

"Hey, it's okay-"

I reached a hand out to comfort her then stopped, feeling another jolt of pain go up a vein I didn't even know existed.

Oh no. Was I tearing up?

"I didn't mean to hurt you. I just...I haven't done this before and I...you felt really good but I'm saving it for-"

"Sorry."

I forced my eyes open, staring at her.

"Haven't done...what before?"

Harper's face went white.

No way.

No way the great ErosInk could be...

"Harper..." I gulped. "Are you a virg-"

"Hey Harper!"

We both jumped at the sound of loud knocking on the door, Aryan's voice cutting through.

"You asleep?"

"What's up, Aryan?" she called out, her eyes on anything but my face.

"Um...could you come out for a sec? I have a bit of an...emergency."

Harper shot off the bed faster than Road Runner, making a beeline to the door. She opened it and spoke in hushed whispers to Aryan before turning to me with an apologetic, flushed smile.

"I'll be right back. I'll bring back an ice pack. Sit tight."

"What else can I-"

The door slammed shut.

"-do?"

And there I sat, with my balls in one hand and my self-respect in another.

My only comfort was knowing I'd been in worse places.

____

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Song: Falling for U by Peachy! feat. mxmtoon