Harper's Little Spitfire (Harper's Series) (2 page)

They were the sexiest guys she had ever met. All six-foot five-inches tall, the two eldest brothers, Logan and Mac had green eyes, while Logan had blond hair and Mac varied shades of brown. Zeb and Caleb, on the other hand, had the brightest blue eyes and black hair. They were all built in the right places. Well, technically, they were all built like brick walls, or in a better term, line-backers from a football team. Zeb and Mac were covered in tattoos, or she assumed so from the ink peeking out of their usual jeans, boots and tight t-shirts. She was just guessing Caleb and Logan didn’t, unless they were hiding beneath their clothes. She’d be more than happy to explore and find out. When she had all four standing in a close proximity to her, she could never find the right words.

It never helped that they teased her about it every chance they got. And that was quite a lot. Having lived across town from one another since she was younger kind of sucked in a way.

Breathing out, she couldn’t stand there and think of the boys when she knew, deep down, they would never go for anyone like her. She was like a sister to them, nothing more, and she hated that, but whatever chance she had at spending any amount of time with them, she would take.

Sage felt the girls move behind her, knowing that what Lilly had said had hurt a little, but she wasn’t going to show it. She needed to be stronger than she normally was.

“Sage, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say it that way. It’s just I want you to open up more, be your true self, not this closed-up girl I know you’re trying to be.”

Turning around, she faced all three of them. Although all three were similar in the way they acted—all strong-willed, always saying what was on their mind, whether it being good or bad—they all had a heart of gold and would do absolutely anything for each other, including her.

“It’s fine, Lilly, really. I need to do exactly what you said, and I think the time to start that is now, tonight. So what is the plan and what the hell am I wearing?”

Both Bri and Lilly glanced at each other for a second. Then out of the blue, they screamed with joy that she had finally agreed with them. It had taken years of persuasion, and Sage had finally cracked. Letting them dress her the way they wanted had Sage breaking out in a slight sweat. She knew exactly how they dressed to grab attention of the opposite sex; to be honest, Sage had no idea how half of the clothing was even considered that, but she would go along with it—for the time being, at least.

Kaidence rolled her eyes at the two of them at the way they acted, yet she was ready to do the same. Lilly grabbed her arm and practically dragged her back to her bedroom, with Kaid and Bri following. Lilly pushed her to sit on the end of her bed as all three went into her walk-in robe, and within seconds, clothes were being thrown onto the bed beside her. They didn’t have much to work with since she hadn’t been clothes shopping in over six months. It actually made her quite upset that all she really did was work, work, work. Sage rarely had time to do most of the things she wanted to do.

“Um, well, not to be mean again, but Sage, your clothing choices suck balls, babe.”

She knew that. Pretty much all she owned were jeans, pants, tops—nothing too flashy, because all she wore to work were plain pants and tops. She had one dress in the back that she guessed they didn’t find, and she had only worn that one on a date, once, five years ago. No skirts or any kind of skimpy tops that showed way too much skin. However, she knew by the look on Lilly’s and Bri’s faces that it was changing immediately, like, right that moment, for that night.

“I’m going to go home and grab some things to help her out tonight,” Lilly said, walking back into her walk-in robe.

“I might do the same, then we can all get ready here. It’s better that way since we will all be leaving together,” Bri replied. She waited for Kaidence to put her two-cents in too, but all she did was nod towards them all as she read something from her phone.

“You guys don’t have to go all out for tonight, really,” Sage mumbled.

“Um, yeah, we do. There’s going to be a shitload of new people around.”

“It’s the same old people that go to the club, Lilly. No one new ever comes by.”

Lilly faced her as Bri walked out of the room, obviously needing something from one of the other rooms.

“We aren’t going to Club V tonight. Haven’t you heard at all what we have being saying, tonight or any other night?” Lilly asked.

Well, no she hadn’t. It was hard most days to keep up with them all.

“No, sorry. Had a lot on my mind lately.” More like the only thing she had on her mind were the Harper brothers.

“We’re going to the new club that opened up last week. It’s a private one and you only get in with an invite. And you would be happy to know, I know one of the managers, so I received four tickets to Sway’s nightclub for tonight, and have VIP passes too.” She happily smiled towards her.

How did she miss this information about a new club opening in their town? Sage really needed to stop thinking about things, especially the Harper boys, and listen more to what they were saying to her.

“So how do you know one of the managers at the new club?”

“Do you really want the answer to that?” Lilly answered, raising her eyebrow towards her.

“Um, no, not really,” Sage whispered.

It was still a little weird for her to listen to how Lilly knew so many people, in addition to her whole sex life around it. All her friends presumed she had a sex life, but the funny thing was, she only had one with herself. Lilly was the first to lose her V-card between them all. After hearing how hers went, she wanted that herself, but once she had heard about Kaidence and Bri’s experience, every possible good thought she had of ever finding that perfect guy went straight out the window and ruined it for her. She hated withholding the truth from her friends, but as she got older, the more they shared their sex stories, she held back. She played along with them, making it obvious that she had, but in her case, she was far from being as experienced as her friends were. It saddened her that she was the only person ever to get herself off. It had come close with a couple of guys, but as soon as they were close to doing the deed, she clammed up and sent them on their way. She couldn’t do it. Yes, she was turned on and wet, but it was never the one she wanted to lose her virginity to.

Kaidence jumped up off the bed, nearly knocking her to the ground. “Um, got to go, something came up, but I’ll be back here later, guys.”

Sage reached for her arm, stopping her from exiting the room. “Is everything all right, Kaid?”

“Yeah, babe, nothing to worry about,” she mumbled and walked out of the room.

There was something going on with Kaid. Sage couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she was going to ask when she came back later on tonight.

Bri and Lilly were still going through what was thrown on her bed; they didn’t even notice Kaidence leaving. Arguing yet again about what Sage could wear, it was a bloody nightmare. Seriously, all she wanted to do was wear what she wanted—something comfortable, nothing too outrageous, but she always gave in to them all. She just hated what they picked and the attention that it drew to her—the wrong kind. She knew whatever they would pick was going to do exactly that, and that worried her. She didn’t want the attention; she wanted to be left the hell alone.

“Sage, we’re leaving. We’ll both be back in a hour. In that time, go and have a shower, shave, wash your hair, the usual. We’ll be back to decide on clothing for tonight.”

Groaning, Sage glanced at the clock on the bedside table. “It’s only 3:30 p.m., guys. Why will it take that long to get ready?” She knew the mistake of saying those words when Lilly’s face turned into one of horror.

“Jesus, Sage, with what you wear on a daily basis and out, we need all the time in the world to get you ready for tonight. It’s a new club, meaning new guys arriving. Do you need me to say anymore?” Lilly’s voice raised as she spoke.

Nope. Well shit, what the hell had she gotten herself into? This was going to be the longest night of her life, and they hadn’t even begun to get ready for the club yet.

Standing up, she walked out of her room as Bri and Lilly followed her. She needed another drink and badly. By the time they would arrive at the club tonight, she was hoping she would be drunk enough that she wouldn’t have to go, but knowing her friends, they would drag her whether she was completely legless, drunk or not. There was no way she was getting out of going to the club, so Sage chose to bite her tongue and deal with it.

Turning around and facing them as they made their way towards the front door, she spoke in defeat, “I’ll do what you asked before you guys get back.”

“Good, you wouldn’t want one of us putting you in the shower when we got back,” Lilly laughed.

“We’ll see you in a hour, and don’t even think about leaving or locking the doors. You know we’ll get in if we have to, Sage,” Bri growled.

“Yeah, yeah. I know.” And she did. It wouldn’t be the first time that Bri had broken into her house. “Go, before I really change my mind about tonight.”

Both girls left her alone in her house. Maybe she could get out of the evening if she told them why she really wasn’t up for it? But she knew if she told them the real reason, they would certainly push her more to go and lose her V-card. Slapping her hand over her face, Sage was convinced the night was going to be a disaster. Pushing herself from the kitchen bench, Sage made her way towards her room.

As she made her way into her room, her phone rang from the lounge room. Quickening her walk, she reached for it before it went to voicemail. “Hello,” she panted.

“Hey Sage.”

Oh, my God, his voice.
Smooth, sexy, a little grumble as he said her name, sent a shiver down her spine, making her whole body shake with want.

“Zeb,” she practically panted. Well shit, he wasn’t the only one she did that around; it was all the Harper boys.

“Why are you panting, Sage? Are you having sex?” he all but growled.

What the...?
Oh, sweet Jesus. With him mentioning sex, it had her thinking of all the things she wanted done to her, by him. She shouldn’t be having these kinds of feelings towards any of the Harper boys; they were like brothers to her.

“Sage.”

Shit!

“Um, no, I’m not, Zeb. I was about to have a shower, and had to run for the phone.”

“So, what? You’re standing there naked?”
Did he just groan? Is he picturing me naked right now? Get yourself together, woman
, she chided herself.

“Zeb, I’m not telling you that. Jesus,” she hissed.

His laughter came over the line, “Settle down, spitfire. It was a good thought though. Anyways, I was calling to see what your plans were for tonight?”

“Um, I have plans with the girls tonight, why?”

“What you all got planned tonight?”

She wasn’t going to tell him where they were going. She knew them all too well, and if she told Zeb which resulted in him, telling the rest of his brother’s where she was going, they would either say ‘like hell she was’ or they’d rock up tonight and take her straight home. She wasn’t dumb, and although she really wasn’t up for the club, she didn’t want any one of them ruining it for her.

“Um, nothing special, just staying in, having some drinks and watching a movie or two,” she lied, hoping he wouldn’t pick up on it.

“Really? Why does it sound like that isn’t exactly your plan for tonight?”

“I wouldn’t lie to you, Zeb,” she whispered.

Laughing, he said, “I don’t even believe that, spitfire.”

God, she hated that name. He wasn’t the only one who called her that. All of them did; well, all but one of them. The one she wanted to hear it the most coming out of his mouth.

“You believe what you want, Zeb. I know what I’m doing. What’s your plans tonight? Do you have the next girl lined up to put a notch on your bedpost?” She couldn’t help but throw it out there at him. It wasn’t a secret to everyone in Laker what the Harper boys were like. It was the only talk of the town. They didn’t exactly admit or deny the truth behind the rumours that were spreading like wild flowers.

“Is my little spitfire jealous and wanting something she keeps hearing about?” he whispered.

My? What?
She couldn’t keep up with the back and forth of them all.

“In your dreams, lover boy. You have absolutely nothing I want, and even if I did, which I don’t, I wouldn’t want it anyway. God knows what you’ve caught sleeping with so many women.”

A boom of laughter came across the line, making her drop her phone,
damn it!
Why did he have to laugh so bloody loud?

“Aww, spitfire, that is a complete lie and you know it. Plus, I’ve never slept with anyone without a rubber. All squeaky clean here, baby.”

Groaning, she loved it when he called her baby. But she would never admit how she felt about him.

“TMI, Zeb. Like I keep telling you, I don’t want to know about your sex life. Unless there is anything else you wanted to say, I’m hanging up.”

“Okay, okay. Might drop over later tonight sometime after the meeting we have at the company. Will you still be up then?”

She wasn’t planning on staying at the new club tonight for too long; go in, check the place out, have a couple of drinks, dance a little, and then be home before midnight.

“Yeah, I will be. Give me a call before you do, okay?”

“Will do, spitfire. Talk to you then,” he replied and then hung up.

Walking back towards her room, she threw the phone on her bed and walked into the bathroom. Turning the water on, she stripped out of her clothing and slid under the welcoming water.

Moaning as it ran over her body, she welcomed the heat that erased some of the tension her body was carrying. She needed to back her hours of work down to a reasonable amount, which wouldn’t help really. She usually left work around 4 p.m. every weekday, yet she was up till around 11 p.m. most nights, still working. She was contemplating whether to hire someone else to run the shop and work from home on her online store. The girls teased her all the time about her job, constantly questioning why she owned a sex toy shop when she never used any of the items. They didn’t know the truth behind it. She tested pretty much every item that came in. She had a black metal box in the bottom of her walk-in robe that was padlocked away from prying eyes. All her favourite toys were in there.