I paced my floor for what seemed like hours until I heard Harper, Bree, and my parents talking excitedly in the room next to mine. I sat down on my bed with a huff and closed my eyes as I listened to her voice. God, I’d missed that voice. I’d missed everything about her. Ever since Thanksgiving week, when I’d almost given in and kissed her, and she’d asked me not to, I hadn’t even touched her, and the distance was making me crazy. These last two weeks had been the longest I’d ever gone without seeing her, and I didn’t know if I’d be able to keep my distance when I finally saw her again.

As soon as I heard my family say they’d give her time to get settled in, and the door closed, I took one last deep breath and headed to Bree’s room. I knocked softly as I pushed open the door, and I swear my heart stopped when I saw Harper sitting on the floor.

“Hey, Princess.”

Her eyes went wide when she looked up at me. “Chase, I didn’t think you were going to be here.”

Shit, I should’ve told her I’d be here, too. “I asked if you were coming to the house.”

“Right, I just figured you meant your house.”

I watched her watching me and tried to figure out if she was happy to see me or not. The room got thick, and my eyes flashed down to her chest, which was rising and falling quickly; this couldn’t just be me. I wasn’t dumb, I knew she was in love with Brandon—anyone in the room with the two of them knew that. But the way she reacted to me definitely wasn’t the way she reacted to Brad, or Bree’s boyfriend, Konrad. She bit her bottom lip softly, and a light blush covered her cheeks. God, she was beautiful. I finally noticed all the presents lying around her and remembered why I’d come in here in the first place. Pushing away from the door, I walked over to her and sat down close enough that I could feel her body heat but not so close that I was touching her.

My hand shook as I handed her the ring, and my voice was rough and low, “Merry Christmas, Harper.”

I’d been holding my breath while she stared at the tiny, wrapped box, and huffed a small laugh when she finally asked, “Why?”

“Because you’re my favorite, remember? When I saw it, there was no way I couldn’t get it for you. Please open it.”

With the way my heart was pounding against my chest, I had no doubt she could hear every beat as I watched her face when she lifted the lid of the box. She gasped, and her eyes went wide as she studied it. When she looked up at me, I was relieved to see the awe there as she shook her head, and asked, “How did you know?”

“You doodle it on everything put in front of you.”

She nodded, and choked out, “Chase . . .” Her head dropped, but not before I saw the tears falling down her face. Damn it.

“Don’t cry, Harper. If you don’t like it, or you don’t like that it’s from me, I’ll take it back.”

“I love it; please don’t take it.”

Then why are you crying and breaking my heart? “Then what’s wrong?” I placed two fingers under her chin and tilted her head back so I could look into her eyes and brush away her tears. My breath caught at finally touching her again, and my heart started hammering when her eyes fluttered shut for a few seconds.

“I’ve never had this before. Not just the presents . . . the love that your family has for me. I’ve never had it until now, and it’s so overwhelming. I don’t know what I did to deserve it, and I don’t know if I show them that, too.”

“You do. Trust me.” I looked at her beautiful, tear-streaked face and wiped away more tears that escaped her stormy eyes. There were so many things I wanted to say to her right then. I love you. I want you to be mine. “You’re special, Harper, it’s not hard to love you.” I had to leave before I said more, which would send her running from me again. Without another word, I stood up and left the room.

I went back to my room and tried to talk myself into leaving now that I’d given her the ring, but then the shower turned on, and I groaned as I flopped onto my bed. I raked my hands over my face as I tried to do anything but picture Princess in the shower, but that wasn’t happening. I wanted to thank my sister for getting Harper to wear bikinis and thought of the handful of times I’d seen her at the beach or lying out by the pool at my place. Those suits didn’t leave much to the imagination, and those images mixed with the running water were making my already painfully hard erection, throb. It’d been months since I’d been with anyone, and even before then, Harper had starred in every one of my fantasies. This one wasn’t any different. I quickly undid the button and zipper on my jeans and nearly groaned again when I finally grabbed myself.

“Chase”—someone pounded on my door—“your dad said you’re in here, and he needs our help bringing some stuff into the house.”

You’ve got to be shitting me. I liked Konrad, he was good to my sister, and he fit in our family well. But I was going to knock him the f**k out for this.

“Chase, buddy,” Dad’s voice came from the other side of the door, “c’mon. Got a lot of ice chests and food that need to be brought in.”

Well, that killed any fantasy of Harper I might have been having. I adjusted myself and fixed my pants before opening the door. “All right, let’s do this.”

The last load was small enough for two, so Konrad went to find Bree as my dad and I went back to finish bringing the last of it in. I’d decided leaving was my only option if I wanted to have any sort of control around Princess, but then I saw her standing there behind Bree and Konrad at one of the poker tables, and I knew I wasn’t leaving anytime soon. She looked amazing, even more so than usual; a brief flash of how I’d been picturing her not ten minutes earlier went through my mind, and I fought with the idea of grabbing her and taking her to my room to actually live it. My eyes snapped up to find her watching me, and her cheeks went red as she dragged her gaze back to the poker table.