Free Maybe Forever (Missing Pieces Book 1) by Keyanna Butler Page B

each other for several seconds. The atmosphere in the room changes completely. Dakota swallows and then clears his throat.
    “I love you too,” he says. Harper smiles at him, blushing slightly. Dakota lays flat on his back, and she rests comfortably on his chest. He wraps his arms around her, amazed at how she fits every curve of him like a puzzle. Harper feels drunk and disoriented from his scent. She presses her forehead into his naked chest so her nose fills up with his fragrance. Dakota has a slight intake of breath as she rubs her hands up the sides of his chest. She curls up closer to him, throwing her leg across his so there is no space between them at all. Her lips brush the tiny hairs on his chest. Dakota catches his breath quickly, but the reaction does not go unnoticed by Harper. She looks up at him, surprised.
    “Are you okay?” she says, looking concerned as her heart races a mile a minute.
    “Yes, I’m fine,” Dakota says, pressing his lips together slightly. Harper giggles as he pulls her on top of his lean body. She brings her legs to either side of him and finds his lips.
    “Dakota,” she says breathlessly between kisses, feeling her foggy head is going to fall off her shoulders, it feels so light.
    “Yes,” he says, connecting his forehead to hers.
    “I want you…all of you,” she says, licking her swollen lips. Dakota doesn’t respond to her with words; instead he makes her lips part again, showing how much he cares.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Eleven
     
     
    “Christmas Eve in New York. Is he fucking kidding? Why did he have to pick Christmas?” Harper mouths an apology to the people surrounding them in the cafeteria as Casey has yet another outburst from their conversation.
    “Casey, keep it down,” Harper says through clenched teeth, half amused and half exasperated. The transition from being a nurse to a nurse manger has been challenging, and Casey has been there every step of the way, but at the top of the list of challenging things was keeping her friendship with Casey at work intact even though, technically speaking, Harper was now her superior. Simple things like not complaining when she had to schedule her for some Saturday nights were like pulling teeth. But there were some perks like getting first choice on her break hour and maybe not assigning her to the more obnoxious patients first. But Harper promised they would always have their lunch together, and that’s what they were doing currently.
    “You can’t expect me to react quietly when you tell me that your ex wants you and your son to spend Christmas Eve together in the most magical place there is. I mean come on, have you seen the end of Home Alone 2 ? You have a little over a month. Are you prepared? Thanksgiving is in a few weeks.” Harper shakes her head.
    “There is nothing to prepare for. What, am I supposed to say no, Casey?”
    “Yes. In fact, you say hell no. You say no fucking way are you kissing him under a mistletoe in Central Park.”
    “But what about Jamie? He seems so…excited about the idea of all three of us spending time together. I mean, I know he would never admit how much he wants it, but he does. Should I let him down?” Casey shakes her head. She sighs and puts her fork down on her tray, her grilled chicken salad nearly finished.
    “Have you talked to Dakota about all of this?” Harper nods her head.
    “Yeah. I mean, he’s not excited about it. He doesn’t trust Aiden’s intentions, but he thinks it’s important for Jamie to see his mother and father getting along. And it’ll be the first Christmas we’d all be together.”
    “I don’t trust him either. He gets his eyebrows professionally waxed. I don’t trust guys who get their eyebrows professionally waxed.” Harper chuckles and takes a bite of her sandwich.
    “I mean what’s the worst that could happen? Aiden makes a move on me?”
    “Yes.”
    “And then I set him straight. Done.”
    “But what about ice