Callum & Harper (Sleepless 1)

“So,” I said again.

“Okay, let’s just get it out in the open.”

“Get what out in the open?” I asked.

“You know.” She hesitated.

“What?” I questioned, raising one brow. “Get what out in the open, Harper?”

She turned beet red.

“I’m beat,” she said, chickening out. “I’ll think I’ll take a bath. I haven’t had one of those since I was a little girl.”

This made my heart sink a little for her. She deserved daily bubble baths in giant porcelain claw tubs. I yanked her hand back as soon as she started to walk off. She crashed into my chest, breathing hard.

“Yes?” She said timidly.

“I meant what I said tonight when I said you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen,” I said, studying her face.

She looked at the ground for an answer before bringing her eyes back up to mine. “I know,” she simply said, pushing herself closer to me.

Suddenly the room felt smaller, too intimate, too dark.

“I can’t believe you can kiss like that,” I murmured before I lost my nerve, remembering the passion we had in our first kiss earlier that afternoon.

She swallowed hard. “I can’t believe we kiss like that.”

“We are very good at it,” I whispered in her ear, bringing her cheek to mine.

“You’re beard is coming in,” she whispered back, making me smile.

“It is late. Sometimes that happens,” I chuckled.

She openly smelled my neck, making me laugh yet again.

“Are you smelling me, Harper Tate?”

She laughed. I dug my nose through her hair and inhaled.

“Are you smelling me, Callum Tate?”

“Yes I am, Mrs. Tate.”

She brought her face from mine and looked at me.

“Do you like that I’m Mrs. Tate?”

“I do,” I confessed but she moved further away, turning from me, confusing and wounding me.

She leaned over the dresser mirror and undid her hair piece laying it gently on top of the dresser.

“I’ll run your bath,” I said, walking to the bathroom to hide my bruised ego.

I sat at the edge of the tub and turned on the water. On the countertop near the sink, sat a basket with a note that read, ‘To Mr. and Mrs. Tate’. I peeled the ribbon off the top and opened its lid. Inside, were candles, bubble bath, chocolate covered strawberries, a bottle of champagne and two glasses.

“Harper come here,” I said.

When she stood next to me, I showed her the basket. She picked up the card.