Page 83 of Most Likely to Fear Love

Harle’s hand moved to the back of my head, cradling it gently. His other arm tightened around my waist, pulling me closer. I melted into him, allowing myself to be held, to be comforted.

I closed my eyes, letting the tension drain away, the weight of the day slowly starting to lift. I loved the sound of his heartbeating, steady and strong, and I let myself lean into it, soaking in his warmth.

After what felt like an eternity, Harle leaned back and crooked his finger under my chin, lifting my face to his. He gave me an unnervingly searching gaze before pressing a kiss to my forehead. “Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

I laughed softly. “No, it was quite nice, actually.”

“Glad you think so.”

“It’s just…”

“More overthinking is what it is, but go ahead and tell me.”

“I don’t know, I’m just confused.”

“What about?”

“That you hug me to just hug me. I’m sort of expecting it to lead to sex and when it doesn’t, I don’t know what you’re doing. Like just now. And yesterday morning.”

“I’m just hugging you because you smell nice and you feel good. It’s not more complicated than that.”

“Oh. Right.”

“So, we’re good?”

“Yep.”

He smiled, brushing a thumb across my cheek before stepping back, giving me the space I suddenly needed. “Good. Now, how about we get this dinner finished up?”

After dinner,we cleaned up the kitchen. I rinsed the dishes, handing them to Harle to load into the dishwasher. Except for the fact that I was wearing a see-through nightgown, and I was here for one very specific purpose, we felt like a normal couple, just hanging out after work. That did weird things to my insides, so I pushed the idea away. More like shoved, you could say.

Once the dishes were done, Harle nodded toward the living room. “You wanna watch a movie?”

“Great idea.”

“What are you in the mood for?” He grabbed the remote control and turned the television on, navigating to the index of movies.

Flopping down on the couch, I grabbed a cushion and hugged it to my chest. “Nothing sappy. Or sad. And no romcoms, because they’re bleurgh.”

“They’re what?”

“Bleurgh.”

“I could watch you make that face a hundred times and still think it’s funny.”

I laughed. “Well, I’m not going to do it again, sorry to disappoint. I like action movies, if you must know.”

“Is that a fact?”

“Yeah. All the crashing and blowing shit up really does it for me.”

“Okay then, one action movie coming right up.”

Grabbing the throw rug from the armchair, he sat down next to me and propped his feet on the coffee table.

As the opening credits started to roll, he raised his arm, inviting me to scoot closer. I hesitated for a moment.Because you smell nice and you feel good. It’s not more complicated than that.I shifted over, snuggling in and resting my head on his shoulder. He arranged the rug over both of us, then dropped his arm over my shoulders and pressed a kiss into my hair.

“Comfortable?”

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