Chapter 4

(MFf )

Harper sat replying to this next guy, her fourth in a row. So far, three had responded, and three had rejected her. Fucking boomer assholes. You’d think they wouldn’t be very picky. Just because she had a few (ok, many) tattoos, and had as many dick ‘boyfriends’ as her tattoos. And that she had a tiny bit of a problem with alcohol, and various medicinals, and a little attitude (who wouldn’t) ... Shit, you would think they would give a girl a break.

She never got a break. Fucking police had taken her license and her car. Fucking boyfriends had stolen her stash. Fucking parents told her to get straight or get lost. She got lost. Shit, she was lost. She had one pair of clothes, unwashed. She had a backpack with crap in it. She had a phone. The end. That was it.

So fuck it. If other bitches could get sugar from some fat old guy, she could too.

Mike sat across the table from this girl as she gobbled down a sandwich while he drank his coffee black. This creature, named Harper, was worse for wear and world away from his Ashley and Taylor. He bought her another sandwich as the last crumb of the previous one disappeared. She obviously had missed a few meals. Though, likely purchased various chemicals, and tattoos, in the place of food.

“Harper, nice name,” is about all he could come up with.

She glanced up and gave a shrug.

Finally, after half the second sandwich was gone, “Uh, fuck, what was your name?”

“Mike.”

“Shit, bad memory. Mike. Well, the deal is, you pay me... $500 ... a week and I’ll be your sugar.”

He looked at her. Her face was smeared and grimy. Eyes sunken so much, he couldn’t see their color. Her hair appeared to only seen water when it rained and scissors when she was a kid. Both arms, elbows on the table covered in a variety of varying quality tattoos. Some on her neck as well. Probably many others under her torn shirt and dirty, worn-out jeans. Her socks were unmatched and old clog type shoes that had seen better days. She looked to weigh well under a hundred pounds and maybe five foot two. Just a skinny kid in oversized, stained clothes.

He sat, wondering about that set of photos of her he had seen, obviously from better days. He was about to become rejection number four, she could tell.

She looked at him, the second sandwich and drink now ignored. He saw the desperation in her eyes. She looked like she was at the very tip end of her rope. He should call a suicide helpline and a drug rehab or rescue shelter. He should not try to rescue her himself.

He was about to answer...

“Sir, Mike, please. I have nothing. I have nowhere to go. I’ve been kicked out of everywhere...”

Fuck, Mike thought to himself. No, just give her some money and point her at the nearest shelter. Don’t do this. Don’t say...

“OK, Harper, but there’s some things we need to lay out first”, dammit Mike, don’t be the rescuer.

Unfortunately for Mike, he saw something in her eyes. Quiet desperation. A desire to change.

“Fuck yes! I will do anything!” she looked down as if through the table into his crotch.

“No Harper, here’s what we are going to have to do...” and he launches into his rules while she looks like she was just given a reprieve from death row.

He watches her head nod and her mouth says things, mostly ‘sure, anything’ mixed with numerous foul words. That was one rule, already broken. He didn’t want to rescue. He wanted another Ashley. No, he wanted HIS Ashley! Shit, he gets Harper. He can’t just walk away, money or not.

Finally, “Ok, Harper, we will see. When do you want to move?”

She finishes her sandwich in one bite, and with a full mouth, “Mouw.”

“Now? Kind of sudden.”

Her eyes are back looking at him as she nods her head. He realizes she’s been sleeping out on the street, for who knows how long. His shoulders slump. He’s unsure he wants her in his condo quite yet. Would she knock him over the head and steal everything? Or call her boyfriend she says doesn’t exist and rob him?

“Here’s what I’ll do...”

At the motel, he hands over his credit card and the manager hands over a key. He looks over Mike’s shoulder at the girl in the car.

“Now we don’t allow no funny stuff here. That better be your daughter...” eyeing Mike closer, “or your granddaughter.”

“Sir, no. No funny stuff. She’s mine,” Mike doesn’t elaborate, instead grabs the key and quickly heads out.

In the room, Mike drops the key on the table, “You take a shower. And get rid of those clothes. What size are you? I’ll go get new clothes and some food.”

“Shit, leaving me?” she actually looked worried. Like she was being dumped yet again.

“No, I will be back, I promise. And ... unlike your past, when I make a promise, I keep it...”

“ ... Oh, and rule, language!”

“Shit, sorry, sorry. I’ll try. Really!”

Just as Mike was about to close the room door to leave, “Please sir, come back.”

He sighs, “Harper, I will.”

By the time I get back, I find the room dark silent. I almost reach for the light switch when I hear a movement. Harper is curled up asleep in one of the two beds. Originally, my plan was to leave her here until morning, but after her worried looks and not sure about her disposition, stupidly, I settled to stay. Shit! ... Now I’m the one cursing.

I turn on a desk lamp and set the food down along with a bag of some cheap clothes. I had picked up some toiletries as well, so drop them off in the bathroom while I take a leak.

I come out, startled, “Jeez Harper, I thought you were asleep.”

She is over sitting at the desk, wrapped, more or less, well less, in a skimpy hotel towel, scarfing the food I had brought.

She barely looks up, “Mhanks Mir, Mike!” another big bite gone.

She turns and smiles, mouth full, acknowledging me her version of appreciation at my return. I pick at a bit of the remaining chicken nuggets, my meal already consumed by her.

Trying to break the ice and not gawk at her. Her bare back covered in tattoos, shoulders too. She scoots over as if to give me a place to sit on the one straight chair at the desk. I don’t accept but did take another nugget before they, too, are gone.

Between bites, she starts telling me her story, or at least the version she wants me to hear. I just listen, not trying to shake my head or tisk her when her language drops into foul terms again. As I have found in life, some people just never catch a break. She is one of those people. But, like so many, it seems their decision making tends to lead them down a path where breaks are few.

Condensed version; broken home, daddy abused her (didn’t elaborate), step-daddy, well mom’s boyfriend, did too. Tattoos, Mom fight, dropped out of school, drugs, boys that were asses, no money, homeless, drinking, more drugs, more tats, more boys, etc. etc. Then me. Oh, lucky day.

I hand her the bag, “Here’s some clothes, nothing fancy, hope they fit.”

She wipes her hands and mouth on the towel that she then drops and I discover her pussy has a piercing of some kind as I hurriedly turn around to look away only to discover I’m facing a mirror and she is reflected fully in it. She doesn’t seem to notice or care.

Her thighs and hips have tattoos, one right up against her mound, partially covered in dark bush. There are a belly button ring and nipple piercings as well, plus, yes more tattoos on her belly and chest. Of course, her nose ring and tongue piercing. She turns around, butt facing me and more tattoos. I think, girl, you spent all your cash in a tattoo parlor, all your time, too. I toss her old clothes, still smelling of stale cigarettes and beer, not worth even washing.

As she’s pulling on some plain white panties I finally quit looking, I realize something else.

“Ah, Harper, can I ask you something?”

She doesn’t pause, now sliding on the tee-shirt, not bothering with the pants, “Sure, sir. Fuck, Mike.”

I had told her she doesn’t need to call me ‘sir’.

“Just how old...”

She tells me it’s ok to turn around, then notices the mirror as I look at her cleaned up face. She looks young, real young.

“19.”

“Don’t lie. Remember rule.”

She looks away, “18.”

“Harper...”

“Shit, sir, I mean Mike, I’m 17. BUT ALMOST 18!”

“FUCK GIRL! I can’t be in here with you!”

Her face melts like I just told her that her dog just died. She throws herself against me, tears now flowing. She’s dropped her hard shell for the moment and is a little lost girl.

“Please, sir, Mike, don’t leave!”

Shit, shit, shit! I can’t, “Harper, I won’t leave you. But we have to do something. I can’t stay here at night with you. Maybe there is a youth shelter or something.”

“Oh PLEASEEE! No, not the shelter again. They are packed with assholes that either want to fuck me or steal my stuff! And not the street! That’s worse! You don’t have to pay me. I’ll do anything.”

“Harper, that’s the problem.”

I think of calling a friend, who’s a lawyer, or maybe a church charity. But I know the answer from both; call Child Protective Services. No choice.

“Harper, I have to call CPS. This isn’t legal for me as it is.”

Tears run down her face, “You don’t understand, I can’t go back. I just can’t.”

She looks down, wiping tears, visibly shaking. It’s obvious that something bad happened there. I don’t pry. I start to pull out my wallet, shit, I’m paying an underage girl in a motel room that I just met? I put it back.

“It’s too late to do anything tonight. I’m tired. You sleep on that bed, I’ll take this one.”

Personally, I don’t like this one bit, thinking I am stupid to stay. But, I can’t just abandon her. That’s what she has had all along. Ashley, I miss you!

Finally settled for the night, Mike turns out the light, unable to sleep.

“Good night, sir.”

“Good night ... silly Harper.”

She giggles and turns over in her bed. Mike contemplates what to do, eventually drifting off.

He stirs in the darkness. It’s early in the morning, before sunrise. As he turns, there’s someone in the bed with him. Harper.

“Harper, what are you doing here?” he whispers, not caring that he wakes her.

She mumbles and turns, snuggling closer to him. His arm is trapped and aching, so he pulls it out from between them. No place to put it, except over her as she snuggles closer and purrs almost like a cat.

He thinks, ‘Damn girl, this is bad, really bad. We can’t do this!’

Her hair smells of soap and freshness. Her bottom is pressed into his crotch as they lay on their sides together. The room is cold, A/C full on, making her warmth pleasant. He needs to pee, but doesn’t want to disturb her, not sure why, since she is disturbing him for sure!

She pulls his arm more around her waist, pressing her butt into his now growing morning woody. She obviously feels it as she does slow moves, undulations, rocking slightly to unheard music. She pulls his hand against her bare belly, flat and firm, uncovered from her tee-shirt.

He resists without resisting. Not pulling away nor advancing. He thinks of his Ashley. So sweet in the mornings, waking up beside her. She moves his hand up from her belly button piercing and under her shirt. The side of his finger touches against her breast.

“No Ash ... Harper!” he must not be awake yet.

She uses that as an excuse to turn over, facing him now. Her body pressing into his. She’s smaller than Ashley, bonier. Her face is against his chest and his arms around her. They lay arm-in-arm, as he kisses her forehead, knowing this is the exact opposite of what he should be doing.

She tilts her head up, lips close, and she kisses his lips. Once, then again. And again, now he returns her kiss, intoxicated by her soft desires.

Suddenly, she stops. She stays cuddled to him but closes her eyes as if she feels safe, secure in his arms, and he hears her breathing slow and a little snore. He realizes that she just wanted reassurance and love. Being held. He closes his eyes and accepts her.

Morning sunshine wakes him. He has decided on a partial plan. She’s still asleep as he gets up, takes a leak and a quick shower and then calls his friend...

“Come on sleepy head. Time to leave, its ten o’clock and I’m hungry!”

She mumbles something, snuggling in the soft bed she hasn’t had in a long time. He finally has to pull back the covers and nearly drag her into the bathroom.

“Now clean up and get dressed. We have to leave. And that is an order, not a request.”

At last, out of the motel, hair still wet but clean, they head out of the city, stopping to grab some fast food to eat as they go.

She watches the city fall to rural land, looking worried, “Fuck sir, sorry, Mike, where are we going? You aren’t taking me out to kill me or something?”

He laughed, not thinking about what this might seem to her.

“No Harper, I wouldn’t hurt you. We’re going up to the mountains, to a cabin of a friend. And no, it’s just a cabin, nothing sinister. I think you need to get out of the city for a while. Some fresh air, exercise, change of scenery. Then we can figure out what’s next.”

She’s still skittish but figures he could have knocked her out already if he had been bad. She sat curled up, quietly looking out the window, trying to forget the world she was leaving. Mike looked over at her, obviously scared and lonely. He kept thinking how wrong this was. Why was he doing this? FUCK! He just remembered he’s taking her across state lines now. Federal kidnapping charges? Shit Mike, he told himself, she’s bad news.

It’s a ten-hour drive. They stop only for gas, food, and restrooms. She still scarfs everything he feeds her. Not picky at all, it seemed. They have a little small talk, but she doesn’t want to say any more about her past. She sleeps much of the trip, as he makes sure he doesn’t break any traffic laws.

Finally, it’s late when he locates the cabin and finds the key. He carries the groceries and their meager stuff in and then has to carry Harper. Though she is smaller than even Ashley was, it was a good thing that Ash had worked him so hard exercising and losing weight. Harper had wrapped herself around him as he held her up by her butt. She hardly opened her eyes.

Inside, he realized his next mistake; the cabin only had one bedroom. He laid Harper down on the bed, covered her and went to finish putting away everything and at last, exhausted, he laid down on the couch and covered himself with a blanket.

He woke startled hearing crying, full on sobs.

“Harper? What’s wrong?” he groggily gets up and looks into the bedroom.

It’s lit only by moonlight and Harper is curled into a ball crying. He comes close to the bed and she suddenly jumps up, grabbing to him, still crying and crying. She pulls at him. Sighing and trying to comfort her, he climbs into the bed with her. She wraps tightly to him as if she was a little girl that had a bad dream. She probably did. She likely had lived many nightmares. He didn’t fight her, just lying, holding her as she finally calmed.

She whispered, half asleep, “Sir, please stay with me.”

Her voice was like a small child begging for her father. They fell asleep together.

He was awakened by a toilet flush and then felt her climbing back into the bed, nuzzling up to him again. She lay still for a moment, then kissed him on the cheek. He opened his eyes, it was early dawn. She was kissing him now on the mouth. With him still half-asleep, it felt like his Ashley was there. He felt her body wiggling to get close to him as they kissed, just soft gentle kisses. Her leg went over his and his hand fell to her butt. Her bare butt. His eyes flashed open. He was holding a stark naked Harper, now climbing up onto him. She was squirming on him, kissing repeatedly, hugging him tightly.

“Harper, mmrfmm, No! mu shouldn’t me mmowing mis!” his words smothered by her mouth.

She leaned back, her hands busy pushing on his belly, rubbing on his chest, then diving down to his boxers. She started bucking her crotch into his morning hard-on.

“Sir, Mike, I need you, please! I need you!”

She acted as if she was as starved for love (or sex) as much as she had been starved for food.

“Harper, No! We can’t. I can’t. You are underage.”

She was almost crying again as she continued humping her furry bush into his boxer covered dick, now leaking into his underwear.

“Harper! Stop! I’m not going anywhere. I know you think you need to do this to keep me, but you don’t. I am here and am not leaving you!”

He bear-hugged her to get her to stop, his strength overpowering her resistance. It was obvious she used sex as a replacement for being loved. She finally calmed as he stroked her hair. He laughed to himself thinking he was collecting young girls like stray cats.

Hunger and bladder finally forced him to get up. She grudgingly got up too, still holding onto his arm, like a lost child. He realized he was going to have to teach her self-confidence if he was ever going to be able to be away from her again. She barely let go even when he went into the bathroom, waiting at the door like a little puppy.

Eggs and pancakes helped revive the two and he set out to look around outside with Harper in tow. It appeared she was, well, a bit clingy, and didn’t let go of his hand as they walked around the outside in the cold air. She looked at the forest around them and the tiny cabin as Mike surveyed the area. He also pulled some remaining items out of the trunk of his car, getting Harper to carry them, just to free him from her for the moment. She had serious self-reliance problems and abandonment fears. She stayed right behind him as they carried the items in.

“Harper,” he took her hands after sitting the stuff down, “you need to trust me. I am not going to leave you. We are going to stay here for a while.”

She was getting jumpy and eyes darting around, obviously withdrawals from, well, who knows. He figured on that, and pulled out a JUUL, handing it to her.

“Here, this is better for you than cigarettes, well somewhat better.”

She sucked on it after he had set it up, to the lowest setting. He knew she was likely to start taking hits off it like a pacifier, which turned out to be true. For a moment, he wondered if he should have gotten her a pacifier to suck on. He blanked his mind of that after seeing an image of this young girl sucking a binky. FUCK!

“Let’s go for a walk, after all day in that car, we need it.”

She hardly said a word as they walked along the dirt road, one hand in his, the other with her JUUL. He quietly talked to her, pointing out different trees and plants around them. He had a hobby in botany long back, with his wife, who had been an avid gardener. A tear came to his eye. He wondered what she would think of him now, a sugar daddy, walking here, hand in hand with a teenager that would fuck him in a heartbeat, just to be close to him. Shit, he wanted to make love to her, only to not be lonely himself after Ashley and Taylor. He missed them, seeing their faces, giggling and teasing him.

At least Harper had quietened down and seemed to actually calm and enjoy it out here. He did too.

“Mike, sir, I’m cold and I need to pee.”

Her voice woke him from his reverie, “She speaks! And please, just Mike.”

She giggled and squeezed his hand, surprisingly strongly.

He looked around, “Well, for the pee part, how about up that way,” he pointed towards some bushes.

She giggled again, “Ok ... Mike, sir. Shit, sorry. Mike. I’ve peed on the streets so might as well here.”

Back, “Better?”

She smiled, “Much.”

He rolled his eyes as she stretched, showing off her tattooed belly.

“Ok, now to warm you up,” he took off in a jog before she could get his hand.

“No fair!” she took off running to catch up, so he took off running.

Even though she was decades younger, she was out of shape and totally winded and collapsed on the ground by the time they got back to the cabin.

“Oh Ho! The great Harper loses to the old Teddy Bear Mike!” he regretted that the minute he said it.

“TEDDY! I LOVE TEDDY BEARS!” she jumped up and tumbled over him as he sat in the grass.

They rolled and she ended up on top of him. Their eyes locked together. Her face was flushed from the running and her breasts rose and fell under her too thin tee shirt for this climate, her headlights making themselves well known. She kissed him before he could move. Then again, then more, her tongue forcing its way into his mouth. Their body heat warmed the air around them. She ground her crotch into his. She wanted to feel attached to him, loved by him.

He finally cleared his senses, knowing having sex with her was not going to build self-reliance, not to mention that it was totally wrong. Nevertheless, he could feel that co-dependent relationship building. He sighed and let her play with him, at least for a bit more.

“Ok, ok, girl, slow down,” he thought to try to trick her, “When is your birthday?”

She finally paused, redirected, “Ah, what day is this?”

He told her the date.

“Only a little over three weeks,” surprising herself. She had lost track.

“Excellent! So, Harper, we have to wait till then.”

She looked confused, “Wait? Wait for ... OH! Well, NOW I know what I’m getting for my birthday ... A TEDDY BEAR LOVER!”

Mike laughed, thinking to himself, well, at least I guess I have delayed this for a few weeks.

He got serious, “Harper, when were you born? What year, quickly!”

“Stinker, I know what you are doing,” she said the year and he calculated, breathing a sigh of relief. She would be 18.

Then he asked, “You wouldn’t lie to me?”

She kissed him, “Never,” she kissed him again, wiggling herself against him, teasingly.

They went into the small town to pick up more supplies, a few new clothes, a new JUUL as she chewed the first one up. He also took her to the women’s clinic for tests. He guessed she likely could have STDs.

She learned the bad news that she had chlamydia, the clap. But at least that was all that showed in her tests. She was also cleared of HIV and Hepatitis. Even so, she came out to Mike crying and was back holding on to him, scared. For a tough street girl, she had folded inward on herself and clung to him at the drop of a hat.

At night, he had given up on sleeping on the cramped couch and the two slept in bed together, with her cuddled tightly to him. It was like having a little baby girl around him ... which had given him an idea while in town.

“Harper, here’s something for you to chew on instead of your JUUL.”

He handed her a baby pacifier he had bought as a joke, trying to make her laugh.

“Does Teddy want a baby girl?” she snickered.

“Uh oh... ?”

She had her own joke planned. She had spotted him buying that at the pharmacy. She grabbed the pacifier and, giggling, ran off into the bathroom. She reappeared after a few minutes.

“Oh FUCK girl!”

She came prancing in, binky in her mouth, wearing an adult diaper she had bought when getting her tampons and pads, and NOTHING else. Bare breasts bouncing and sucking madly on the pacifier, laughing at the look he gave her. If someone had walked in right then, they would have probably been rather surprised.

Here was nearly 70-year-old Mike, lying there in just red-hearted boxers that Ashley had gotten him and this now VERY young-looking girl dancing around, wearing only a diaper and sucking a pink binky.

Mike had thought he had seen everything with Ashley and Taylor, but this was, well, bizarrely erotic, he had to admit. Particularly with all of her tattoos.

“Harper, you are CRAZY!” but he had to laugh.

She danced around him, rubbing against him like a cat. He then noticed something else in her hands.

“Harper, I don’t remember buying any of this!”

She laid a box of condoms and a small bottle of lube on the bedside table and then hopped into the bed, her diaper-covered butt in the air and her small breasts hanging down.

Pulling the pacifier out for a moment, “Doesn’t grandpa want to play with his granddaughter?”

She wiggled her bottom and stuck the pacifier back into her mouth making a big show of it. He couldn’t help but laugh at the situation, she was just so funny looking. He also couldn’t resist playing with her. He grabbed her ankles and dragged her over the edge of the bed, with her squealing all the way.

“Daddy, I’m a BAD GIRL, spank me!”

“I’m not your daddy, but I will spank you anyway, you naughty girl.”

He pulls down her diaper, bare butt in the air as she flattens herself on the bed. He pops her bottom as she squeals. Then again.

“OWW! Fuck! That hurts!” acting angry now.

He backs off thinking he had hit her too hard, a little shocked. She giggled and rolled over, now on her back and her diaper pulled down around her knees.

“Oh JEEZE, girl! You’ve shaved!”

With her tattoos and her skin and bones, and legs now freed as she kicks the diaper off, he realizes just how different she is from Ash and Tay.

“Well, Teddy Bear? What are you waiting for?” she asks, spreading her legs to entice him.

He can tell she is trying to draw him into her cute, seductive little web, again mixing sex with the desire to be loved.

“Harper, you know we can’t do this. You’re not 18 yet!”

Ashley had at least seemed older and more mature, even if only a few years older than Harper. Her face was downturned as her mood shifted.

Her voice drops an octave, now sad, “Don’t you like me?”

“Harper, of course. And I would ... but, not ... we shouldn’t...” yes, even Mike was at a loss for words.

He picks up the diaper and takes the pacifier from her hand and places them aside, then wraps the blanket around her as she sits up.

“Harper, honey, you don’t have to do these things to keep me with you. I am not going to leave. Nor make you leave. Sweetheart, I want to help you gain confidence in yourself. To help you grow.”

She looks away for a few moments, then, as if nothing he said mattered, her face lit.

“Fuck, I’m going to be 18 next week! THEN we can PLAY!”

She immediately fell against him, kissing him deeply as he tried to resist. Then as suddenly, she bounced up, dropping the blanket and skipping away towards the bathroom, as he watched her tattooed bottom and her pussy lips wiggle and disappear.

Showered and washed, and dressed in leggings, tennis shoes, and a hoodie top, she was ready for their daily hike. She actually enjoyed them now, particularly with him.

“Come on, slowpoke, get your ass moving, let’s go old man!”

As they walked, Harper started talking, “Hey Sugar Daddy, shit, aren’t you supposed to be giving me $500 a week? Where’s my money, honey?”

He looks at her. He had been catching himself looking at her butt swinging in her tight leggings all morning, but this time she has stopped and stared at him.

“Actually, my, sweet foul mouth sugar, I’m putting that money into your trust fund automatically.”

“Trust fund? I don’t believe you ... sugar!”

He pulled out his phone.

“Wait! Fuck! How does your phone work and mine not?”

“It doesn’t, not here. In town. I’m just showing you an email of the statement.”

She looked again, this time at the numbers. It already showed a little over $2,500.

“So Sugar Teddy, how do I get it?”

“It’s in trust. You will start getting it when you start school.”

“School? FUCK! I dropped out, so how can I go to college?”

“Mouth girl! Remember the rules. Maybe I should deduct, say $50, every time you cuss.”

“Shit!”

“$2,450.”

“Shit, SORRY! Ah ... DARN! Please, sir!”

“You stinker, you know how to manipulate me.”

She just smiles and gives a little shrug, keeping her mouth shut for the moment.

“As far as school goes, there are GED programs for a high school diploma.”

She makes a sour face, “FU ... I mean DOUBLE DARN!”

“Anyway, that’s a long way off. No rush. You’re young.”

“You keep telling me that,” and she sticks her thumb in her mouth like that binky.

He just laughs and urges her forward. She walks a few steps, then suddenly turns. His eyes were back at her tight little rump.

“Ah HA! Caught you! No wonder you have been having me walk in front. You’ve been ogling my butt all this time!” she breaks out into a devious smile. His turn to shrug. But he ends up walking in front.

They reach the highway and turn around, headed back, now side-and-side. She’s that sweet little thing again, for the moment. However, he thinks she’s up to something. Her arm is in his and she’s too quiet, usually talking about something. She sucks on her JUUL. He goes back to pointing out plants, quizzing her on each.

“What’s this one,” he points to a bush.

“Easy, Rhododendron.”

“See Harper, you are getting better at this.”

She did have to acknowledge that she felt more comfortable, less wary here. In fact, she felt free, like a weight lifted off her shoulders. It was so nice to have no one else around, no street noises, and no shifty men gawking. The sun dappling through the trees, a chill in the air signaling the changing of the seasons. Back in Florida, it was pretty well summer all the time. But she had a plan to tease him...