Taking Chances (Taking Chances 1)

“Hey Brandon?”

“Hmm?”

I paused, and almost talked myself out of it. But only almost. Leaning over the bed to look down at where he was, I smiled and let my hand fall down to his chiseled chest. I wanted nothing more than to run my hands all over his sculpted body, but I wanted him wrapped around me more, “I don't want you to sleep down there.”

“Oh, okay.” He grabbed his pillow and walked towards the door.

“What...where are you going?”

“To crash on Drew's floor.”

“Why?”

“So you’ll be okay to sleep, I’ll see you in the morning Harper. Sweet dreams.”

This guy beats the crap out of people on a regular basis, but is doing everything to make sure I'm not uncomfortable? My God he's perfect. I chuckled and sat up, “No, I want you in the room. I just don't want you on the floor.”

“Are you sure?”

“Come here.” I held out my hand and waited for him to reach me. He took it and slid in next to me before kissing my palm.

“I really don't mind sleeping on the floor if you're uncomfortable with this.”

“I know.” I smiled to myself as I curled my back into his chest and sighed happily. I was right, it’s like I was made to be in his arms.

“Can I ask you something?”

I laughed at the same phrase that had practically started our night, “Of course.”

“Why wouldn't you see me tonight? After what Chase said?”

Ugh, I'd already forgotten about that. “I was embarrassed and kind of afraid of what you'd think of me.”

“What I'd think of you? Why?”

Apparently I'm the only person who sees it this way. I turned to face him, “Because I'm weird. Up until two weeks ago, I'd never been to a party, I'd never hung out with normal guys my own age, and like Chase said –”

“Am I the first person you've ever kissed?”

I didn't answer for a minute. “Yes.”

He laughed and trailed his fingers across my back in random patterns, “I would have never known, you're an amazing kisser.”

“You don't have to try to make me feel better.”

His next laugh was a little louder, “I'm not, I swear. During the two games of beer pong all I could think about was kissing you again.”

He had no idea. “So you didn't know what 'PG' meant?”

“Not at all. I figured since they called you 'Princess', they had just shortened that with something else to 'PG'.”

“I’m not really a fan of either name.” I grumbled.

“You won’t hear either from me,” he whispered against my neck and my whole body tingled, “I promise.”

The way he was nipping at my neck caused me to almost forget what I wanted to ask him, “Does it bother you that I’m so inexperienced?”

I could feel his smile against my collar bone, his lips brushing against it as he shook his head, “No. If I’m being honest, I love knowing that your firsts will all be with me.”

All? Oh God my heart was racing just thinking about being with him like that. It wasn’t something I wanted yet, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to think about Brandon’s hard body pressing against mine. “Have you ever been with someone?” The way his body stiffened, I knew he knew what I was asking.

“Yes.”

“How many girls?”

He pushed back slightly and ran a hand through my hair, cupping the back of my neck with it, “Harper...is that really something you want to know?”

I was already head over heels for this guy, and if he decided he wanted to be in a relationship at some point, this was something I definitely needed to know. God, please don’t let him be like Chase. I swallowed audibly, “Yeah, it is.” We were talking about all of my firsts being with him after all, it was only fair that I knew too…right?

He blew out a deep breath and thought for a second, “Five. I'm not like some of the other guys here. I actually have relationships, so my last five girlfriends.”

Five seemed like a hell of a lot to me, but then again I was glad that at least he could count them on one hand. Chase could barely count a week’s worth on both hands. “Okay.”

“Please don't ever be too embarrassed to talk to me.” He leaned in to whisper in my ear, “I'll never intentionally make you uncomfortable. If I do, tell me. And I promise I'll never push you to do anything you don't want to.”

“I know you won't, I'm not worried about that.” I pressed my face into his chest and fought the urge to run my fingers across his abs. We sat there in silence for a few more minutes, I almost fell asleep from the way his fingers were trailing down my back, but I wasn't ready to finish my time with him just yet. “Where did you go when you left?”

“Did you miss me?” He chuckled into my hair, “I just took a shower.”

“Oh, that was fast.” Seriously? He’d only been gone a handful of minutes, it practically took me that long to wash my hair…not that he had that problem. Slowly reaching my hand up, I passed it over his short buzz a few times.

“Does my head bother you?”

“Not at all.” If I was being honest, I loved the feel of it against my palms and fingers. I’d been wanting to do this since the moment I first saw him in the café. I continued to lightly run the tips of my fingers over his head, causing him to groan.

“You don't know how good that feels.”

I crawled higher up on the bed to press my lips to first his head, then temple, making my way to his lips. He crushed his mouth to mine when I got closer and I sucked in a startled breath. He held my body close to his, the weight of him as he rolled slightly on top of me was exhilarating and I found myself trying to pull him even closer. Parting my legs with one of his knees, heat instantly pooled low in my belly when his knee pressed high up against the inside of my thighs. I shuddered when Brandon made a trail to the base of my neck.

“Harper,” He groaned into my skin, “you can't do that.”

I froze, “What did I do?”

He blew out a long breath before rolling back to his side and curling me into his arms. “You can't shiver like that when I kiss you. It drives me crazy.”

Relieved I hadn’t actually done anything wrong, I bit my lip and tried to keep the stupid grin off my face. Good to know I affect him as much as he does me.

“If we don't go to sleep, I'm going to have to go back to the floor.”

I sighed in disappointment, but he was right. “Goodnight Brandon. I'll see you in the morning.”

“Night sweetheart.”

***

There was no freak out when I woke the next day, I knew exactly who had their arm around me and where I was. I stayed wrapped in Brandon's arms for a few minutes just enjoying being there until his fingers started tracing patterns on my waist.

“I'm guessing you're awake then?”

“Well I really hope I'm not dreaming you here.” Dear Lord how could his voice be any sexier?

I turned to face him and when his breath caught, covered my face with my hands. I silently prayed I didn't look absolutely hideous. I had washed my make-up off the night before, so there wouldn't be any streaks of mascara. But I'm sure there could be a ton of other things wrong right now.

He slowly peeled my hands away, “God you're beautiful Harper.” His hand left mine to brush across my cheek and push back my hair. “It was too dark to see you last night, but now?” He paused and slightly shook his head. “Beautiful is all I can manage right now.”

I smiled and studied his face for an immeasurable amount of time. Something seemed off but I couldn't place it for a while. “Your eyes are brown!”

He laughed and I desperately wanted to kiss that dimple, “Thanks for the observation...?”

“No, no. I just thought they were gray, like mine.”

“I've never seen anyone with eyes like yours. They're mesmerizing.” I looked at him pointedly, so he continued, “Grayish, brownish, greenish. Just depends. They change all the time.”

“But they were really gray yesterday, and now they're really brown. They don't just look hazel.”

“Different lights, different shirt colors, different eyes.”

“So what would usually make them green?” I was fascinated now, I wanted to see every different color they could possibly be.

“I don't know, hulk-like tendencies I guess.”

I laughed and kissed his hard jaw, “Well too bad it was dark in Chase's room last night, I would have liked to see that color too.”

His hands clenched into fists behind my back and I'm pretty sure he growled.

“Hey, calm down.”

“Sorry,” he exhaled and forced his hands to relax, "I just feel like one wasn't enough. He deserves a few more for yesterday.”

Males and their constant need to be violent. Ridiculous. “Please don't. I'm fine, all he did was embarrass me.”

“If he does anything like that again and I'm not around, please tell me.”

I blew out a deep breath and kissed his lips to keep from saying anything about his protective nature, he was just standing up for me. “I will.” Tucking my head back into his chest, I finally got a good look at it. “Hey you have a tattoo.” I touched the numbers on his chest and tried to make sense of them.

“I have a few.”

“What do the numbers and letters mean?” I traced them all. U A F 175 9 11 01

“United Airlines Flight 175. September 11, 2001”

“Your Dad.”

“Mhmm.”

“Can I ask you something? You don't have to answer it.”

He tucked my hair behind my ear again and cupped my face, “I'll answer anything for you.”