Off The Record Ch. 12

Hi all :)

This next chapter has a little bit of everything in it. It's sweet and spicy, and while I've hinted at Harper's past, we get a little insight into Morgan's history in this one as well.

I also wanted to quickly clarify that in the previous chapter, when they were making out against the door of Morgan's apartment, they were inside, still in Morgan's entryway--and that's not to say that they'll never have semi-public sex--but as of right now, they've been very careful with people seeing them. Apologies if my wording was confusing--I just wanted to explain in case anyone thought that was a setup for them getting caught. They're in the clear for now ;)

I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I do <3

All characters are over 18.

***

Harper sighed as she stared at her laptop screen. There was no way she could pull off the sexy, ruby red lingerie set that the model on the website was wearing.

Her eyes shifted to the time in the bottom right corner of the screen. Another hour down.

She was supposed to be working right now. She had a deadline for her next trial update for tomorrow at midnight, but she hadn't been able to focus. Hence, the midday underwear shopping.

A soft exhale pulled her attention to where Morgan was sitting across from her at the café, her bottom lip pulled between her teeth in concentration.

Harper eyed her number one distraction.

"Everything okay?" Harper asked.

Blue eyes blinked up at her, and Harper was immediately reminded of why she'd been finding it so difficult to focus this afternoon.

They'd gotten into the habit of meeting up to work on their own tasks while keeping each other company, and had done so several times this week.

Usually, Harper enjoyed it. But today, the problem was that Morgan was looking sexier than Harper had ever seen her and she was trying not to get distracted by it.

Her outfit was simply ridiculous.

She was wearing a dark blue sport coat with a matching skirt that hugged her hips, a plain white button down tucked into it neatly.

But the part of the outfit that was driving Harper to the brink of insanity was the navy blue and gold striped necktie that she'd chosen to accessorize the look.

She was just so fucking delicious.

Not for the first time, Harper kicked herself in the ass for turning Morgan down the other day when she had clearly been interested in having sex again.

She was beginning to think that maybe having morals was overrated.

Morgan let out a frustrated sigh, reaching for her cup of coffee. She took her time sipping from it, her eyes still locked on her own computer screen.

And then her gaze shifted back up to Harper, her head tilting thoughtfully as she drummed her fingertips along her coffee cup.

"I'm having trouble writing my questions for the pathologist in a way that brings everything full circle. Do you think you could..."

It took Harper a moment to realize what she was asking. "You want me to help you?" A spark of pride ignited in her chest at the thought that Morgan thought highly enough of her work to ask her for help.

"I mean, what I'm trying to do is essentially what you do every single day, right? It's not like it's classified or anything. And why shouldn't I take advantage when I have the best writer in New York here with me in the flesh?" Morgan winked at her, and Harper rolled her eyes even as she reached for Morgan's laptop, pushing her own to the side.

She scanned what Morgan had, and was impressed with the thoroughness of the questions, especially considering that the pathologist was a witness for the prosecution.

Thinking for a moment, she rearranged the wording of a few of the questions before shifting the device back toward Morgan. "Everything you had was perfect, but I changed some of the phrasing so that the connotation shifted in a way that would make the jury understand things a bit more easily. If the prosecution is going to focus on the emotional aspect of things, you should too."

She looked up to see Morgan smiling at her.

"Maybe you went into the wrong line of work, Cassidy."

One dark eyebrow shifted upward on her forehead when her eyes found Harper's laptop.

"And what have you been working on?" Morgan asked, lips curving into an amused smile. "The story seems to be going well."

Embarrassment swept through Harper, her cheeks heating up, when she realized that she hadn't thought to minimize her shopping cart before she'd reached for Morgan's laptop, the red lingerie set still sitting front and center on her open tab.

Harper gave her a sheepish smile. "It was going well about thirty minutes ago before I started shopping," she admitted. She thought for a moment. "Here, you might be able to help me." She clicked through her shopping cart to bring up the bras she'd been considering purchasing, turning the screen so Morgan could see it.

"The underwire in my bras have been annoying me so I'm trying to get away from that style. But I'm not sure if this material would irritate my skin. You mentioned that you've tried this brand, right?"

Morgan's eyes flickered from Harper, to the screen, and then back to Harper again.

"Are you telling me that you've been sitting here shopping for underwear?"

Harper nodded.

"And you didn't ask for my help sooner?" Morgan raised an offended eyebrow before sliding her own work to the side and reaching out and pulling the laptop closer.

Harper opened her mouth to ask what she was doing, but closed it when Morgan raised a finger, telling her to wait.

She spent a few minutes scrolling on the laptop, occasionally looking up to glance at Harper.

"Get this set in the olive green," she said finally. "It would be stunning on you."

Harper raised both eyebrows at the insanely sexy lacy bra and underwear set that Morgan had moved into her cart. She glanced up to find her smirking at her, blue eyes glinting with amusement.

Harper cleared her throat. "I was sort of hoping to prioritize comfort over aesthetics."

Morgan leaned forward, her lips curving into a sexy smile. "That's why I added the other sets too. That one's just for fun. If you ever have a reason to wear it, it probably won't be on long anyway."

"I asked for your opinion on underwire bras. Not your opinion on lingerie that you think I'd look good in." She hadn't meant for it to, but Harper's voice had taken on a low, suggestive cadence.

"It's purely objective," Morgan said, mock innocence in her tone. "Green is your color."

Harper pursed her lips. "Huh. And I see you've taken the liberty of putting in my cup size."

"Highly educated guess," Morgan said, her gaze dipping to Harper's chest.

Heat flooded through Harper, collecting between her legs. She'd just opened her mouth to respond when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a young man approaching their table. He was handsome, with bright blue eyes and hair so dark it was nearly black, and looked to be about thirty.

When he reached them, he just stood there, not saying anything.

The three of them stared at each other for a beat before Harper lost her patience. "Hi," she said slowly, drawing out the word in confusion.

"Hi," he said, but Harper may as well have been a ghost, because he seemed to only have eyes for Morgan.

Morgan gave him a once over, those sharp eyes trying to figure out what he wanted. "Can we help you?" She asked, polite and cordial as ever.

"I hope so." A devilish smile painted his face as he continued, "I'm Scott."

Awkward silence fell over them again.

He shook his head slightly and huffed out a laugh. "I'm sorry. It's just that you're even more beautiful up close."

Harper narrowed her eyes at him. What a lame attempt at flirting.

He cleared his throat. "You looked like you could use a refill," he said, flashing a smile full of white teeth and dimples.

"Really? Because I thought she looked like she was in the middle of something." Harper shocked herself into silence with the sharpness of her tone as two sets of eyes snapped to her face. Morgan tilted her head at her curiously, a small smile raising the corner of her mouth.

Harper's cheeks burned with embarrassment. She was never that rude, especially not to random strangers. She took a deep breath through her nose and made a futile attempt to tame the coiling monster of irritation that had taken up residence in her stomach.

Scott, finally acknowledging the fact that there was someone else at the table, seemed unfazed by her outburst. He gave her a sly smile. "You know what they say about all work and no play, right?" He winked at Morgan. Harper resisted the urge to roll her eyes to the back of her skull.

He raised his fist slightly, indicating the to-go cup in his hand.

Morgan's eyes stayed locked on Harper for a few more seconds before she turned back to the man. "Scott, right?" He nodded eagerly, clearly enamored by the fact that Morgan had remembered his name.

"Unfortunately, I'm maxed out on caffeine for the day," she said. "So I'm going to have to turn down the coffee." She gave him a dazzling smile to soften the blow.

Scott returned her smile, but the disappointment was evident on his face. He pulled out his receipt and a pen and scratched his number down on it, sliding it across the table to Morgan with another wink. "If you change your mind," he said.

Harper wondered if she could make the receipt burst into flames if she stared at it hard enough. Scott gave Morgan one more suggestive smile before walking toward the exit.

Harper watched him go, staring daggers into his back until he crossed the threshold of the doorway.

When she looked back at Morgan, she had leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed over her chest. One perfect eyebrow was raised as she searched Harper's face. She was doing that thing again--making Harper feel like she had nowhere to hide, like she somehow knew all of her secrets.

"That was interesting," she said slowly. Her tone was thoughtful.

"Was it? I would imagine that's happened to you plenty of times before." Harper struggled to keep her voice even as she turned her attention back to her laptop, reopening the tab where her unfinished article was waiting for her. "Being that you look like a fucking supermodel."

"Harper."

Harper forced herself to look up and meet her gaze. Morgan was giving her a knowing look, like she was being ridiculous for giving Stan or whatever his name was a hard time.

She gave her a tight smile before huffing out a breath. "Can we finish up at my apartment? I'm having trouble focusing."

Morgan smirked. "Great idea."

***

Harper had just closed the closet door after hanging her jacket up when she felt a hand on her waist, guiding her until her back collided with the door to the apartment with a gentle thump as she looked into dark blue eyes.

"Jealousy looks good on you," Morgan said softly.

Harper scoffed even as she struggled to breathe. "I wasn't jealous." She wasn't going to give Morgan the satisfaction of knowing just how much the interaction at the coffee shop had bothered her.

"You know that you can't bullshit me, right?" Morgan gave her an irritatingly attractive smile full of that lawyerly arrogance to which Harper had gotten a front row seat recently.

Harper met her gaze head-on, defiance, and maybe just a little denial, coursing through her. She clenched her jaw. "I wasn't jealous," she repeated. "It's about the principle of it."

Morgan said nothing, but shifted closer, giving her a skeptical smile.

Harper licked her lips and continued, "It was rude of him to approach you when he could clearly see that we were in the middle of a meeting. Our clothes were a huge clue." She gestured frantically down her body to make her point. Which was a mistake, because Morgan's eyes followed the motion of her hands agonizingly slowly, giving Harper the distinct impression that she was being mentally undressed. She felt herself blush.

"We were looking at bras together," Morgan said. "Not exactly a highly important business meeting."

Harper pretended like she didn't hear her and continued, "And that was the best case scenario. What if we were on a date? Or if we were a couple?" Harper ignored Morgan's raised eyebrow at this. "The point is, I wasn't pissed because he asked you out; I was pissed that we live in a world where guys like Scott see two women getting coffee together, assume it's platonic, and just interrupt them to try their luck. It's disrespectful."

Harper finally took a breath. Morgan's mouth was quirked up at one side. "Was it not platonic?"

Harper's jaw clenched, not trusting herself to speak. She should have just kept her mouth shut.

Morgan tilted her head, smiling at her patiently, like she was willing to wait all day for her to answer.

"Stop looking at me like that." Harper squirmed under the intensity of her gaze, Morgan's proximity quickly making her mind go fuzzy.

"Like what?" Morgan's voice was low and velvety.

"Like I'm on the witness stand and you're waiting for me to break." Harper had seen Morgan work countless times now, and every single time, it was no less impressive than the first time she'd experienced it. Impressive and unbelievably sexy. Harper didn't envy anyone who had to face those startling cobalt eyes in the courtroom.

Morgan's hands came up to bracket Harper's head on either side of the door behind her. "You're cute when you're flustered. And I love that I have this effect on you. But do yourself a favor, Cassidy. Try not to get arrested, because you would be a mess under oath."

Morgan smirked and leaned in slightly. One hand came up to cup Harper's jaw. "These hazel eyes were definitely a bit greener than usual today." She looked very pleased with herself for her play on words. Harper rolled her eyes. "And for the record, I don't look at people on the witness stand quite like this. It would be wildly inappropriate."

Her voice had taken on a throaty timbre that made Harper throb. She'd heard it before, right before Morgan had fucked her within an inch of her life.

Before Harper could respond, Morgan dipped her head and pressed her lips to the soft skin just under her ear, trailing kisses down Harper's jawline before making her way back lazily, sucking on her earlobe and swirling her tongue around it once. Harper bit her lip to hold back a groan.

Morgan had worn flats today while Harper had worn heels, so the height difference between them wasn't as pronounced as usual. Unfortunately for Harper, this just made it easier for Morgan to access her neck.

"Just humor me and admit that you were jealous," Morgan's voice was low in her ear. Her warm breath hit Harper's throat a second before she felt Morgan bite down. Not hard enough to leave a mark, but hard enough that Harper couldn't stop the moan that fell from her lips this time. She felt Morgan smile against her neck.

Her body was against Harper in a way that reminded her so much of the night they'd first kissed. It felt like a lifetime ago.

Harper made a mental note to stop allowing Morgan to get her into situations where she was pressed up against structures and pieces of furniture.

But right now, she really didn't care.

"You mean like you were when Joel brought up Cam the other day?" Harper could hear the change in her own voice as her resolve was slowly stripped away piece by piece, driving her closer and closer to the point of no return.

Morgan's mouth paused so briefly that Harper was convinced she imagined it before her lips continued their descent down her neck, the pressure of her kisses increasing until she was sucking on her skin hard enough to bruise.

That was answer enough.

It was so obvious that day in the café that Morgan had been bothered by the conversation regarding Cam, and the jealousy that Harper had seen in her eyes had almost been enough for her to take her up on her offer to have sex that night--to prove to her that she didn't want anyone else, that she didn't want anyone else touching her.

Right now, Harper was a live wire, sparks igniting everywhere Morgan touched her. She dragged her tongue up the length of Harper's throat before pulling back to look her in the eye.

"Maybe I was a little jealous," Harper said breathlessly, trying to ignore the smug look that came over Morgan's face. She cleared her throat and fixed her gaze on something over Morgan's shoulder. "But it doesn't matter. Because we aren't dating and we aren't in a relationship. We're friends. You can flirt with and fuck whoever you want."

"No, Harper, actually I can't." The softness in Morgan's tone drew Harper's gaze back to hers. Her eyes were dark with desire, but there was genuine distress there too. "Because she told me that it could only happen once. And I'm trying very hard to respect that." Gentle fingertips brushed against her jawline. "But it's hard to maintain boundaries when now all I can think about is how her insane jealousy over a stranger's flirtation can only mean that she wants me too." Morgan's eyes very clearly dipped to stare at Harper's lips.

"This is your idea of maintaining boundaries?" Harper couldn't help the sarcasm that entered her tone.

Morgan hummed and smiled at her. "I don't think you realize just how much self-control I'm currently exercising." Her heated gaze dragged itself down Harper's body. "If I had my way, we'd be in your bedroom already."

Harper sighed and squeezed her eyes shut. "Morgan, I really don't--"

Morgan backed off slightly to put some space between them. "I'm sorry. I don't want to pressure you," she said.

Harper tilted her head back against the door and regarded Morgan like she was her next meal, that hot desire pulsing through her veins.

"I was going to say," she began, a dark, dangerous tone in her voice, "that I really don't have the mental fortitude to resist you today. So you either need to stop teasing me and commit,"--she slid her hand up Morgan's chest, gripping that fucking tie around her neck and wrapping it around her hand as she tugged her closer--"or you need to let me get back to work."

Morgan blinked at her. Then a slow, almost shy smile crept across her face. "Oh," she breathed out.

"You are so infuriating," Harper said, pulling her in by the tie to capture her lips with her own.

"Maybe, but you like it," Morgan murmured against her mouth.

Harper nipped at Morgan's bottom lip playfully in response, and the moan that it earned her skittered down her spine and landed firmly between her legs.

Surprisingly, Morgan let her control the kiss, allowing herself to be held right where Harper wanted her.

Harper pulled back, already breathing heavily in anticipation. She tightened her grip on the tie, groaning in frustration for not being able to control herself--for always allowing Morgan to have this effect on her. "What the fuck is this, anyway?"

"It's just a shirt and tie," Morgan mumbled, sounding genuinely confused about why Harper was so worked up about it.

"On anyone else, it's just a shirt and tie. On you, it's the sexiest outfit I've ever fucking seen," Harper growled, surging forward go reclaim her lips.

Morgan's hands moved to the back of Harper's neck, tilting her head back as she slipped her tongue into her mouth.

Morgan broke the kiss long enough to make quick work of the buttons on Harper's shirt.

She watched those blue eyes darken, a storm of lust swirling in their depths as she took in the way her breasts were spilling over the cups of her bra, heaving with every ragged breath she took. Morgan exhaled sharply, her hands tightening on Harper's waist. "Tell me you didn't seriously think I'd want anything to do with that guy when all I've been thinking about is what you sound like when you come."

"I've wanted you so badly." The words tumbled out before Harper could get a grip on her arousal.

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