Page 22 of The Attraction

“Exactly.” He starts laughing at me. “You’ll see.”

And I can’t even be bothered to fight him on this stupid conversation anymore.

“Just get me in that room with him, otherwise I’ll be barging in there anyway. Your choice.” I storm out of his office because I’m done with this conversation, and the fact that I can still hear him laughing as I walk away pisses me off even more.

Why is it that both my friends and my brother think they are these wise men now that they have found love?

Good for them, but I am so far from finding someone to fall in love with, it’s not even funny.

So, they can keep their little pep talks to themselves. I don’t need that shit in my head.

There are more important things to think of… like how the fuck I’m going to convince Harper that living with me is her best option right now and to stop fighting me on it.

Now that’s what I could use some advice on, and yet the men of wisdom are nowhere to be seen.

HARPER

Walking into my office, a sense of peace falls over me.

Yes, this is what I need.

Here I can concentrate, forget about the outside world for a few hours, and get on with helping Felisha conquer the world.

It’s unusual that I haven’t even checked my emails yet this morning, so I feel like I’m behind on my day already. But the first email is one that brightens my day a little.

It’s the confirmation from Luchia Bianchi, a friend of Felisha and Flynn’s who owns a large wine company and vineyards across Italy and other countries. She is more than happy to host their wedding at her home vineyard if they wish, which is awesome.

It is one of our major issues with two very high-profile people, that we need to find somewhere that they can get married in privacy and relax without having to worry about having their own personal moments being plastered all over the internet. Of course, we will release a couple of authorized images after it is all said and done, and that will keep the media happy.

I’m sure they will both be excited to hear that this venue is a possibility. Not that they want a big affair. It will only be family and close friends, which of course means it will be easier to keep it a secret until it is all over.

The first email gave me a false sense of security that today was improving, with the next five I opened all urgent problems that need solving. I was deep into writing a very curt and straight-to-the-point reply to one of our managers at the hotel in Berlin, when Felisha walked into the room, and when I looked up at her, she looked shocked.

“You look like shit this morning. What the hell happened last night? Do I need to go and sort out my future brother-in-law and move you into my apartment?”

“Great, that’s the second time I’ve been told I look like shit today.” I stop typing to look up at her properly.

“Christ, who the hell said that to you, besides me? And you know I love you and that it comes from a good place when I’m honest with you.” Felisha is disapproving that someone was awful to me.

“Don’t worry, it was only me. One look in the mirror this morning and I knew I needed more makeup than I probably owned to fix this,” I say, waving my hand in front of my face. “But obviously, I didn’t do a good enough job.”

“Oh shush, no one else will notice except me because I’ve been looking at that beautiful face since pre-puberty, and I know when something isn’t right.” Closing the door behind her, she moves toward my desk, taking the seat in front of me.

“Well, as much as he grinds my gears, it wasn’t really Forrest.” I try to maintain my calmness because I will not cry this makeup off and let the real world see the mess I am underneath it. And to be honest, I don’t have a spare hour today to fix it either. “The dream’s back.” That is all I have to say for her face to turn from one of anger, like she was ready to hunt down Forrest and give him a piece of her mind, to one of sadness because she knows exactly the dream I’m talking about.

“Oh, Harper, babe, I’m so sorry this is happening again.”

I couldn’t have gotten through that time in my life without Felisha, and I leaned on her so much that she knows every part of the pain and mental anguish I suffered. She held me at night when I was screaming in my sleep for my father, sobbing because he wasn’t coming back.

She was the one who brought me a box full of dinner plates to throw at the walls and floor to try to release the anger and hatred I felt for my dad for what he had done. But most importantly, she was the one who held my hand and pulled me through it all and out the other side of my grief and accepted when my mind stopped me from letting anyone touch me going forward. Who doesn’t even let their best friend hug them? I know I’m just weird, but I can’t help it.

“I’ll be okay, I’m sure it was just the shock of yesterday. I won’t feel as helpless this time. I have an army of men and women around me who are ready to go to battle for me. Last time I was so young, with the weight of the world on my shoulders, looking after my family, and I only really had you. We had no idea how to handle it, and we just muddled through, and looking back, I’m super proud of how we did that. But this time, we are both older and have a lot more knowledge, life experience, and money behind us. No stalker is going to keep me from living my best life.” And when I get to the end of my speech, I’m not sure if I’m saying it to convince her or myself.

But whatever I said makes her understand that I don’t want to sit around and dwell on the fact that my life is volatile again.

“Of course, you’ll be fine. We are going to deal with this guy one way or another and then continue living our fabulous lives.” She pauses and then gets a stupid grin on her face. “So, tell me what happened with Forrest last night instead. I’m sure that’s more fascinating than this.”

“Oh my God, you could have warned me about the playroom!” I yell at her, and we both start laughing as I give her the story of last night and this morning’s craziness.

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