The Pretense

Chapter 15

Feeling exposed, Harper pulled the sheet up over her breasts. His gaze lingered on the sheet and she had the vague impression that he was about to flick it off her.

Glad that he didn't, she let her breath out slowly.

"Why are you so determined to run off anyway? You don't strike me as the one-night-stand type, or are you?"

"I'm not."

"Then stay. Even just one more day. I have sponsors gig tonight. I am hoping that you'd come with me."

Alarmed by just how much she wanted to accept what she suspected was an unplanned invitation, Harper immediately reacted negatively. "I can't. I have work to do."

Annoyance briefly flickered across his face. "Work from here. You have your laptop with you."

Harper smoothes her eyebrows. He was doing his steamroller thing again, but what was one more day to him? And when would she go back home? Later tonight or in the morning?

He stroked a strand of hair back off her forehead. God, she must look a mess.

"I know what you're thinking. You don't like the uncertainty of it."

Harper's eyes flashed to his. Did he really know her that well or was she really that easy to read?

"It's not hard to figure out, Harper. I know you hate surprises so it follows that you wouldn't like half-baked plans. How about we make it the whole week?"

The whole week?! What is the nerve of this man?

"Five days, to be exact. That way you can come to my mother's gala event, which Callum is expecting to see you at anyway, and watch me race on Sunday."

Harper felt her brows scrunched together, "Why would you want me to come to your mother's ball?"

Matt rolled onto his back and gave her a reprieve from his intense scrutiny, "Honestly? My mother invites every debutante in the known universe to this thing and expects me and my brothers to meet every one of them in the hopes that we'll be falling in love."

His apathetic attitude to falling in love stabbed at something inside her. "Oh, poor you. All those single women in one room. I thought that was every man's dream."

Her words were sharper than she had intended, but she was slightly insulted that he would talk about other women while he was in bed with her. Even if they were women he apparently didn't want.

The reminder that he would never want anyone permanently in his life – not even her – struck a chord because loyalty is all that she seeks. She'd just never sought it with a man before.

"Hardly," his dramatic tone nearly made her laugh despite her aggravation. "Debutantes come with strings attached, stars in their eyes and forceful mothers. That's no dream any man I know has ever had."

Suddenly, he lifted onto his elbow looming as Harper caught her breath. His gaze roved over her face and he trailed a finger over the sensitive skin of her neck just below her ear, winding slow, sensual path downwards.

"I did you a favor last weekend. The least you can do is protect me from women I'm not interested in a Saturday night."

His voice had lowered with intent and Harper's body responded well in a manner she doesn't want. She pushed his hand away. "Stop that. I can't think clearly when you're this close."

"That's only fair since you have the same effect on me."

For some reason, his admission startled her. "I do?"