All Chapters of Curvy and Off-limits: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Harper's POVI went to search for Declan and found him in his room. The door was half open, some game film playing on his laptop that he wasn't really watching. He looked up when I knocked on the frameand something in his face softened the second he saw it was me."Hey." He closed the laptop. "You okay? Rumor's basically dead now. You don't have to worry about it anymore.""I know. Thank you for that." I stepped inside closing the door behind me. "That's not why I'm here.""Okay." He studied my face, some careful wariness creeping into his expression like he already sensed where this was headed. "What's up?""I need to know what we are." I said it plainly, no easing into it because I spent all day building up the nerve to just say the words instead of circling them. "Not someday. Not eventually. Now."He was quiet for a second too long. "Harper—""I'm serious, Declan." My voice stayed steady even though my chest felt tight. "I lied to Mason today. Straight to his face. Told him nothin

Harper's POVI texted Mason back within the hour, agreeing to dinner again before I even fully decided whether this was a good idea or the worst one I'dve had in months.Probably the worst one, some quiet part of me admitted. Getting dressed that evening with more care than the occasion probably warranted. ‘This isn't about Mason. You know that. This is about proving something to yourself and maybe proving something to Declan too even though he'll probably never know exactly why.’I told myself it didn't matter which reason was true. I got in my car anyway.Mason picked a place near campus, casual this time and easy in a way that should have felt like relief after everything with Declan had turned so complicated. He talked about his upcoming exams, about some trip his family was planning for winter break. I nodded along in all the right places while some detached part of my brain kept a running commentary I couldn't fully silence.This is nice. This is safe. This is the version of a

Harper’s POVNeither of us moved though so I’m an enabler. His thumb stayed there, warm against my skin and something in the air between us went thick and slow all at once. I set the cupcake down on my nightstand without looking away from him.He leaned in first. Giving me every chance to stop it. I didn't stop it.His mouth found mine, soft at first tasting faintly like cream cheese frosting from where his thumb had been. My hand curled into the front of his shirt and he shifted closer one hand sliding to my waist over the thin cotton of my shirt. His fingers dug into my side pulling me flush against him until I could feel every hard line of his body.He pulled back just far enough to look at me, eyes dropping slow over the curve of my hip, down along my thigh where the shorts had ridden up then back to my face like he needed a second to remember how to breathe right. His chest rose and fell in ragged bursts, matching my own."You're not even trying tonight and you still look like th

Harper's POVThe gardener called in sick and somehow that turned into Declan and me kneeling in the flower beds behind the house on a Saturday afternoon, pulling weeds neither of us actually knew how to identify."This one?" I held up a stubborn looking plant with tiny purple flowers."No idea." He shrugged, dirt smudged across his forearm. "Just pull anything that looks wrong.""That's not a real gardening strategy.""It's my gardening strategy." He tossed a weed into the pile between us. "Works fine so far."We worked in easy quiet for a while, sun warm on the back of my neck. The whole thing si weirdly relaxing despite neither of us knowing what we were doing. Somewhere around the third flower bed, the quiet stopped feeling just quiet and started feeling like the kind of space where something honest could actually happen."You know this can't go anywhere." I said it plainly, not looking up from the dirt. "Right? Even if we figure out whatever this is. We're stepsiblings, Declan. Sa

Harper's POVDeclan pulled his shirt off before we even started, tossing it onto the bench like it was nothing and I definitely stared longer than I meant to. Sweat already beaded on his shoulders, tracing paths down the defined muscles of his back."You're doing that on purpose." I said it, trying to sound annoyed instead of exactly what I actually felt."Doing what?" He raised a brow, way too innocent for someone whose back looked like that. Every muscle down his shoulder blades pulled tight when he reached for the barbell, two long lines flaring out from his spine like a pair of wings folded down."That. The whole shirtless thing. It's a lot for a Tuesday.""It's hot in here." He shrugged, grabbing chalk for his hands. "Not my fault you can't handle it.""I can handle plenty.""Prove it. Spot me on deadlifts."I walked over, watching him load the bar with more weight than I expected, watching the way his abs pulled tight when he bent to grip it. He caught me staring and grinned, sl