Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 45063 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45063 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Her mind, her body, her touch, her sex, her life, all mine. Her love most of all.
“I’m not interested in playing the field or any of that. You’re my dream man.” Her eyes flicker to the left. She doesn’t want to meet my gaze as words shakily come out of her. “I never believed you’d want me, ever. I wanted it, but I didn’t believe it. I know this is a lot. I must seem crazy.”
I say nothing. Everything I think of would drive me closer to more betrayal.
“You’ve gone this long without getting married, without having kids. I get it. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous.”
I kiss her again. Maybe it’s unfair of me to sink so indulgently into her tempting body, but my mind is trapped.
Adam, I try to think, my thoughts spinning. It’s your sister! What do I do?
Her body is too close, hot and tempting, and mine. My hands glide to her hips. I squeeze possessively, with so much more hunger this time, knowing she belongs to me without question.
Her mouth opens in lust, her teeth clicking against mine. I warn myself to slow down. She’s been through too much.
Her body responds with fire, her fingernails pressing through the material of my hoodie. My hands glide around to her ass, and then I’m lost, massaging, lavishing it with attention.
She will only ever belong to me. Every part of her.
“What if you wake up one day and realize it was just a childish crush?” I growl between kisses. “What if it’s not real?”
She pushes her hands against my chest, leaning back to stare at me. “It’s real. I know it is. If you said, Hey, Harper, I’m just as crazy as you… I’d be ready to start our life tomorrow.”
Suddenly, she spins away from me, pacing over to the window.
“This isn’t easy for me to talk about,” she snaps, with her back to me. “I know how it makes me sound, but it’s the truth. I won’t lie about it, not now that you’ve seen my notebook. You had to find out eventually. I can’t be with you just for…”
She pauses, then drops the atom bomb.
“For the same kind of fling you had with Eva.”
Another laugh escapes me. Big mistake.
My woman spins on me with all the fury of a mother bear, making me think of the future, which doesn’t seem so impossible anymore. If it wasn’t for Adam lurking in the background, I’d tell her right away, all of it.
“How is that funny?” Harper snaps. “This is my life we’re talking about. It’s not a joke. I’m done playing games. Something happened between you and Eva.”
“No, it didn’t,” I snarl, the thought making me sick. “I can’t explain the connection between me and Eva, not without Adam’s permission, but I have to tell you this. The thought of you believing that, even for a second, something happened between us… I can’t tolerate it.”
I move close to her, staring down. “Eva and I knew each other before Adam and Eva met. But we were only ever friends. I swear, Harper, nothing ever happened. She was like a sister to me.”
“Why did Adam freak out when I asked about it?” Harper asks.
“Because Eva was ashamed.”
“Of what?”
I groan. “I wish I could say, but I can’t. She never wanted you to know. Or anybody to know. She was proud like that.”
“Swear on Eva,” Harper says firmly, “that you didn’t have an affair.”
“I swear,” I snarl. “Nothing like that ever happened.”
“Then why did you and Adam fight? Why did you leave? I thought it was about an affair.”
The words are on my lips. Then images of Adam flit into my mind, a thousand of them crashing together and driving home how wrong this is. Even if it feels so right.
“If you thought Eva and I had an affair, why did you want me?” I snap.
“Don’t turn this around on me,” she snaps right back, her voice so fiery I can’t but smirk, despite the rage. “What’s funny?”
“Nothing’s funny.”
“If you won’t answer me about the fight, then just get out. Thanks for breakfast.”
“Harper…”
“Get. Out.”
I could fix this right now, hold her tenderly in my arms, whisper that hers isn’t a one-way obsession.
Instead, I leave, feeling like a coward. Running from love, the only life I want… I need.
I shut the door behind me and walk down the stairs.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Harper
I spend the day in my room, on my laptop, handling some logistical tasks for the podcast. I start editing the next one, though Tiffany said she was happy to do it. I told her no. I want something to focus on.
My boss is okay with me not going into the restaurant since I explained the circumstances, but I can’t just sit around doing nothing. My thoughts turn over and over what Bryson said about him and Eva. There was no affair.