The Only Exception

“What are you going to do with it?” I ask curiously, leaning down to stare at the painting. Heat rises up my neck and I bite my lip because I probably look like such an idiot, blushing like this. The painting is just so beautiful and I’ve never really felt anything about my appearance but looking at this…

How do I say it? It makes me feel like…I am beautiful, which is a strange thing for a man to say. Looking up, I watch Harper as he runs his fingers through his hair and sighs, “I was going to keep it.”

“Why?” I stand up straight to watch as he scratches nervously at the back of his neck. Dark blue eyes stare down at the floor as if it’s the most amazing thing in the world.

“Because I can,” he replies, throwing the covering back over the canvas and moving to take it upstairs. I watch him disappear up the stairs and come back seconds later without the canvas. I’m guessing he put it back in his art room.

“Sorry…again,” I mumble, looking away to watch my feet. The guilt is still eating away at my chest for doing what I did a few nights ago. I really shouldn’t have done it but I did and I regret it. I’m going to make a mental note to ask Harper before I do things from now on…but I should do that naturally.

A hand gripping my shoulder turns my attention behind me to Harper who is giving me a reassuring smile. He gives my shoulder a squeeze and says, “Don’t apologize. It was my fault…I said something I didn’t mean because I was being stupid so do us both a favor and forget about it…and while you’re at it why don’t you go make me dinner.”

“Ah…I see…you only did this so I would cook for you again,” I tease, pushing his hand away to walk towards the kitchen. From behind me, I hear Harper following me and he laughs.

“No, I’d never do that.” I feel his smirk and roll my eyes when I reach into the cupboards for food. The floor boards squeak as Harper and I move about the kitchen, he getting us the plates and some drinks while I make the food.

Harper appears behind me and it causes a shiver to go down my spine. I can feel his chest brushing against me because his hand is resting against the counter so he’s practically leaning on me. His dark hair brushes against my cheek and his hot breath fans across my skin causing it to tingle and burn. If he’s trying to get me to do something else I’ll regret he’s doing a damn good job of it.

“What are you making?” Harper asks, seeming to have no idea what he’s really doing to me. My stomach is twisting and turning and my heart is continuously beating against my ribcage, screaming at me to just turn around and kiss him.

I bite my lip and inhale deeply when his breath hits my neck. The hair on the back of my neck stands at attention and if Simon doesn’t move soon that won’t be the only thing standing up.

“S-Salisbury s-steak,” I choke out through the lump that has formed in my throat. My entire body feels like something is crawling up my skin, tickling it and I curse myself for acting like such a teenage girl.

“Smells good,” he comments and I turn my head, only slightly to see that he has his eyes on me. The moment my eyes lock with his my knees start to shake and legs turn to jello. The smirk on his face makes me believe that he may have an idea of what he’s making me feel like. I bite my tongue and quickly look away to watch as he pulls his hand away from the counter to back away from me.

Once he does, I spin around only to realize that he’s still extremely close to me. My chest comes in contact with his own and I have to grab the counter behind me to keep myself from falling to my knees. I kind of expect him to laugh like he always does but he doesn’t and continues to stare down at me.

Dark blue eyes bore into my own and I can see the emotions whipping around inside them like a hurricane but I can’t place my finger on just one. I don’t know what he’s thinking, not that I ever do, so I simply stand before him, trying desperately to catch my breath that he’s taking from me.

I take a step back when he takes one forward and he goes to take a second and so do I. My back comes in contact with something and I check to see that it’s the counter but when I feel something press against me from the front, I shiver.

Our chests are touching and his leg is pressing between my own. One of his hands are gripping my hip while the other is beginning to run up my neck. Goosebumps break out over my entire body and although I know I shouldn’t, I lean into the touch.

Finally, his hand stops to cup my cheek and my eyes, which closed some time earlier, open to watch as he comes down slowly to brush his lips across my own with half lidded eyes. The feel of his lips skimming across my own makes my heart stop and I can’t help but wonder if it’s healthy for one being to cause such reactions.

His hand runs back to coil in my hair and I’m slightly shocked when he uses his grip to crush his lips to mine. I moanand curse myself for sounding like such a girl and bring my hands up to grip the fabric of his shirt. Our lips move together and he presses his leg firmly against the part of me which is starting to react to the constant rubbing of his thigh against it.

Something wet runs across my bottom lip and my eyes open in shock. I stare at Harper, who runs his tongue across the seam of my lips a second time. Maybe if I didn’t want this so bad I would have realized that we shouldn’t do this because I still hardly know anything about him but…I’m not really thinking with the right head.

I part my lips for him and his tongue invades my mouth to roam every nook and cranny. He runs across teeth and tongue, making my arousal twitch with pleasure. Our tongues dance, twisting together only to come apart whenever we pull away for air.

Harper grips my waist and places me up on the counter, his hands sneaking into my back pockets to take hold of my ass and give it a good squeeze. I throw my arms around his neck and lean down to press my tongue into his mouth and he tastes so good that I don’t even care about our burning dinner or what consequences might come from doing this.

For now, I just want to enjoy possibly the only kiss I’ll get from him.

But of course when I finally get something I want it has to be taken away…by his phone ringing violently. The two of us pull apart with wide eyes and stare at the phone as if we expected it to come to life and scream you shouldn’t do that!

When we realize that it is just that, a phone, we sigh in unison. Before I can catch his eyes, he’s gone and across the room to answer it. His back is turned to me the entire time he speaks, “Hello?…what? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me…What the hell? I don’t have time for this shit!…Take care of it yourself…You wouldn’t…Ok, ok, I’ll be right up just close your trap already, damn it…yeah, bye.”

Harper throws the phone on its hook angrily. I watch as he grips the window sill and stares outside with his back still facing me.

My cheeks are on fire along with another part of my male anatomy. I cross my legs and bite my lip, shyly, while staring aimlessly at the corn boiling in the pot. My heart won’t seem to beat correctly, it continues to stop, skip, quicken, and stop once more while my lips are still tingling and tickling. My entire body is doing things that it really shouldn’t all because of one person that I barely know.

“I have to go,” Simon suddenly says and I frown because he’s still not looking at me. It makes my stomach sting because if he isn’t looking at me doesn’t that mean that he regrets it, right?

“Oh…o-ok.” I’m so stupid. I shouldn’t have let him kiss me or I at least could have not kissed him back! Of course he’d regret it. I mean it’s Simon Harper kissing me another boy. Stupid, so fucking stupid! Great job Roy, you’ve messed up again, dumb ass.

Before I can say anything or ask about what just happened he’s gone, walking out the door with car keys in hand.

I can’t believe I fucked up…again.