Page 49 of The Attraction

“You know that answer, Harper. One day you will be ready to admit it yourself too. Now get dressed, the temptation is killing me.”

Looking down, I shiver as I realize I’m still wrapped in just a towel and have been completely naked this whole time while he held me so close. It still baffles me that I let his body be so close to mine. And his touch, who even am I letting him hold me that way?

I’m not sure my willpower would be as strong as his if the roles were reversed. And as I’m feeling myself again, I kinda wish his wasn’t that strong either.

I just wish life wasn’t so complicated. Otherwise, this towel would be on the ground, and I’d be chasing him down the hallway.

If only it was that simple, or could be, even for just a short while. Is it even possible?

That’s a question for another day.

Today my emotions are already too raw, so I won’t expose them to more feelings. Complex feelings at that.

ChapterEleven

FORREST

This woman is going to kill me. Seriously.

I know part of it is my fault because I chose not to tell her the new information that we got from Ashton. I’ve never lied to her but keeping her in the dark is not entirely right either. But nobody knows about her nightmares, not even Harper.

My holding her in my arms every night when she starts to scream seems to be helping her in some way, as she wakes with no recollection of the trauma of the night before.

But I know that one day soon, that will all crumble too. She will either wake to me beside her, or she will remember something in the morning. I’ll deal with it when it happens, but in the meantime, I’m happy for it to be my secret that I carry part of her burden for her. I would carry it all if she would just share it with me.

Like today, something has rattled her, and although I didn’t help by storming in on her, she’s still holding her cards so close to her chest. I want to stand in front of her and demand she tell me, but I know that will just make her more closed off, and I can’t risk that. It takes all my strength not to be my normal abrupt self, but it’s hard. It’s my default.

Over the years, it has served me well, but now with Harper, it’s different, for two reasons. One, because it would just be throwing gas on the fire, but the second is because I don’t want to hurt her, I respect her too much. And that thought alone makes me look back and think. Was I so disrespectful with others and didn’t even realize it? I can’t worry about that now, but I know when things settle down, sometime soon hopefully, it might be something I need to circle back around to.

Walking away from her standing there in just a towel, her hair still wet and hanging down onto her shoulders, was hard. Droplets of water running down onto her skin from her wet hair looked sexy as hell.

The moment my lips touched her forehead, she tasted just like I remembered. Sweet and delectable. A taste I will savor until the next time I’m lucky enough to be so close to her.

I’m torn on what to do now. Should I stay here and watch over her or appoint security to the door and go back to the office to give her breathing space? When I return home later, she will pretend this afternoon never happened. That’s what she does.

I understand it but also need to find a way to break that habit with me. She can do it with everyone else, but I’m not having it with me anymore.

There has to be a way past both our boundaries.

My decision is made. I think I need space from Harper as much as she needs it from me after that interaction.

But just as I’m about to make a phone call to Rem to get security up here, I hear Harper getting closer to my office, where I retreated to after our discussion.

Looking toward the door, she appears in her cream track pants, a loose black comfy t-shirt, and a long cream knitted cardigan that she has wrapped over itself at her waist. It’s like I can see her at the moment. The cream is the light in her soul that is trying to wrap over the top of the black darkness, but it keeps peeking through the cracks, even when she tries to hide it.

Her gentle knock on the door, even though it’s open, is rather cute. The complete opposite to my barging through hers a few minutes ago.

“Forrest?” The shy uncertainty in her voice makes me ache for her. This is not Harper.

“Hey, do you need something?” I walk around my desk toward her.

“I’m sorry I worried you. I’m not used to answering to anyone.” The sincerity in her eyes tells me how much this whole thing is affecting her. Normally I would have just been given a mouthful of words telling me to back off and leave her alone. But this softness is concerning.

“You aren’t answering to me, Harper, you just need to take charge of your own safety. I’m just here to have your back in the process.” It’s like my words have registered with her to look at this in a different way.

“Thank you.” She nods and starts to walk away, when I have an idea.

“Do you want to do something fun to take your mind off whatever has upset you today?” The way she tilts her head a little at me, she looks curious but also perplexed. “I know, I’m not the entertaining guy in this group of friends.” In my head, I’m laughing at my use of the word friend, because I would like to add the wordboy. But that’s not who I am to her in her eyes. We haven’t quite got past that dreaded friend word yet.

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