“I do love the post-game uniform.” Her eyes ran up and down my frame.
“Go figure you prefer a man in a tie,” I joked, kicking off my dress shoes.
“Lately I prefer jerseys,” she responded with a playful shrug.
Was she trying to kill me?
“So I see. Nice look on you, by the way.” That was the understatement of the year, but I wasn’t going anywhere that would make the rest of this trip weird. We had two more cities in the next four days.
“Thank you.” She twirled. “Faith gave it to me. She said it would help.” Her eyes popped wide for a millisecond, but I saw it. Like she’d said something she wasn’t supposed to.
I pulled the tie through my collar and then started unbuttoning my shirt. “Faith said it would help what?”
She blushed.
Okay, now I was intrigued.
“Harper?”
“She just said that you would like it. That a lot of the girlfriends wear them.” She shrugged.
“They do,” I agreed, my eyes dancing over her, looking for other clues. What the hell did Harper need help with?
“So you like it?”
I would have liked it better on the floor, but sure. “Yeah, I like it. You look good in my name.”
Her lips parted as I hung my shirt on the hanger, leaving me bare-chested in dress pants. “So. Um. Dinner will be here in an hour. Room service said their steaks were all cooked in butter, and I know you like yours grilled, so I ordered in from a local steakhouse.”
I melted. “Thank you. That was incredibly thought—” I turned, looking at the room for the first time. “Where’s the other bed?”
There was one very solitary, very large bed in the middle of the room. Shit, had I screwed up when the list went out this week?
“Yeah, about that…” she trailed off.
“Is that—” I lifted a bottle from a bucket of ice on the nightstand. “Why do we have champagne? Are we celebrating?”
Had I walked into someone else’s room?
“Faith’s idea,” she muttered.
“What?” I asked, putting the bottle back in the ice and turning to see her leaning against the wall, barefoot and blushing.
“Nothing,” she sighed. “This is so not going according to plan.”
I walked over to her and tilted her chin so she’d meet my eyes. “What plan?”
“The one I made with Faith. She said it would be way easier than this. And way less awkward, too.” Her sigh could have moved a mountain.
“What was this plan supposed to accomplish?” Was she trying to break bad news to me? Did she think I was going to be pissed about the room mix-up?
“Well, if I have to tell you, then it’s obviously not going well!” she snapped.
“Harper, I can call the front desk and get us another room. It’s not a big deal.” I tried to keep my voice smooth and level. I’d never been good with upset women. I’d never had a relationship where I really cared enough about the other person to give a shit, and I’d beat the shit out of anyone who made my mom cry, so my experience was rather limited.
“No! I requested the damn bed!” She ripped her face away from my hand and crossed her arms under her breasts.
“You did,” I said slowly.
“Yes, it was part of the whole seduce-Nathan plan!” she blurted, then covered her mouth with a hand.
Shock and lust hit me simultaneously. My skin was suddenly too tight, my nerves alert, and my dick stirring to life. “Your. Seduce. Nathan. Plan.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Well, yeah! Big bed. Champagne. Jersey.” She plucked at her shirt. “Plus about two hundred dollars in new underwear Faith promised would drive you crazy. But I’m starting to think that Faith doesn’t know the first thing about seduction.”
It took me a good ten seconds to process all of that information, but I was so fucking on board that I was almost panting, ready to beg.
“Harper?”
“What?” She glowered up at me, and fuck if it wasn’t the cutest thing I’d ever seen.
“You want to seduce me?” I clarified. Pretty sure I hadn’t heard anything better since the day I’d been offered a Sharks contract.
“Apparently.” Her eyes narrowed on mine for a second before she looked away, and the flash of insecurity I saw there took this straight from funny to deadly serious.
“It takes four words, Harper. That’s it.” I leaned forward, caging her against the wall with my hands on either side of her head.
“Four words?” She finally brought those eyes back to mine, and they floored me just like they did every time. In this light the blue was dominant, streaked with green and gold.
“No champagne necessary. The bed, however, is a great perk.”
“What are these magical words?”
“You really want to do this? You’re ready for this?” I asked. Saying seduction was all well and good, but like hell was I going to make an assumption when it came to Harper.