Page 74 of The Attraction

“Your job! Yeah, a job which seems to be just sitting around and waiting for something to happen. And that’s bullshit. I’m sick of being on the back foot. It’s time we take the solution to this lunatic and sort him out.” My hands clench into tight fists while I try to contain my anger. “Because now it’s not just Harper that is in danger, and the longer we wait, the worse this is going to get. We need to fix this shit now.”

“What the fuck do you want me to do, fly to the US and take this guy out? Is that your magical solution? Because you are as fucking crazy as he is. We don’t do shit like that, and I’m not asking Ashton to do it either.” Rem steps closer to me, standing with his arms now crossed and like we are in a standoff, even though we are on the same team.

“Christ, I’m not asking you to commit murder, but we need to do something. I can’t just sit here and wait.” Turning and walking toward the bedroom windows, I look out at Harper and all our friends laughing together, enjoying breakfast. My heart’s beating so hard.

“I can’t lose her. I didn’t ever think I’d find her, Rem, that it wasn’t in the cards for me. And not that she is fully on board yet, but she will be. Because this is more than just a situationship. There are real feelings here.” I thump at my heart as I turn back to him. “I don’t know what to do with them yet, but I want the chance to find out.” My voice is lower now, and the emotions of talking about how I feel for Harper has me trying to rein in my anger and concentrate on finding my calm for her. I want her to remember this day for years to come and not from me losing my shit or her finding out that her family are in danger too.

“And you will, Forrest. I promise you. Trust me.” Rem walks toward me and places his hand on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze of reassurance.

“I do.” I give him a nod to let him know this conversation is over. “Just give me a few minutes.”

Rem gives my shoulder another squeeze and turns, leaving me to take a few deep breaths and bring back the happy Forrest that Harper is expecting to walk back out onto the balcony. Well, not necessarily happy but not the angry fucker I am now. Although she is used to my arrogant ass.

Harper will start to wonder if I have fallen into the toilet I’ve been gone so long, and I know I need to get back out to her. Taking one last deep breath, I start walking outside, and as I get close, Flynn lets out a deep laugh, and I know that they must still be on the stories from that damn podcast.

“Hey, you okay?” she whispers to me as I sit down beside her. It strangely brings warmth through me that she is checking in on me.

“I am now,” I whisper back as I kiss her cheek and place my arm around her shoulder, and she relaxes into my body. My mind is still racing with thoughts on how we can fix this problem, but while Harper is in my arms, I allow myself to feel somewhat settled.

After another round of coffees, I look at my watch and see that the cars will be here to pick us all up shortly, to head out for my birthday surprise fun.

Taking Harper’s hand in mine, I call for everyone’s attention. “You all have fifteen minutes to be ready and waiting out the front of the villa for the cars that are about to take us on our next adventure. I have learnt that Harper loves French food, but what I didn’t know was that she doesn’t cook for herself. So today we are heading to the village of Gassin in the Provence wine country, where we will do a private cooking class with a local chef. Nic and Flynn, you are the official taste testers because we both know that you don’t need a lesson in cooking.” I can hear all the gasping and excitement from everyone around me.

“Hey, you can always learn something new, I’m cooking too,” Flynn calls out above the excitement as I stand and pull Harper up from her chair.

“Hopefully this might encourage you to have more than a protein shake for dinner.” Kissing her on the forehead, I smack her on the ass as she pokes her tongue out at my comment, which brings a shriek from her and a giggle as she tries to break free from my hold. But I want another kiss, because the moment her lips are on mine, it always grounds me.

And if there is one thing I’m determined to do today, it’s to be in the moment with Harper. Watch her smile, make her laugh, and most of all, show her what life in a relationship with me could be like.

“I don’t deserve you,” she whispers breathlessly as I pull back from her lips, and everyone has left us alone.

“That’s where you are wrong. This is exactly what you deserve, and I intend on giving you this for the rest of your life, so it’s about time you start realizing it.” I take her hand and start to pull her inside, heading toward our room with her protesting quietly behind me.

“Forrest, we have talked about this,” she mumbles.

“Mhmmm. True, you have talked about it. Doesn’t mean I was listening, my kitten.” I can feel the smile on my face forming as I hear her reaction from behind.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Not another name. I suppose this one isn’t as bad as the rest.”

“I need to try harder then,” I reply as I usher her through our bedroom door and give her another little tap on the ass as she passes me. “You now have ten minutes, get moving, ladybug.”

Her reply is to give me the middle finger and disappear into the ensuite to freshen up while I grab both of our coats and take her handbag to her, in case she needs to put anything in it.

I can see the concentration on her face as she touches up her makeup, so I leave her to it.

I want to tell her she doesn’t need it, but all I want for her today is to be living her best life in whatever way she wants.

I thought about a weekend with just the two of us and doing all the cute couple things, like a cooking class just the two of us, but I knew it would freak her out and make her flighty. And I know the best thing to do for her at the moment is to occupy her mind. With the whole group here, there is no time for thinking, and the laughter is continuously flowing, which is just perfect.

HARPER

I feel like I’m all thumbs, but I have to admit that this is the most fun I’ve had in a long time.

Who knew that a cooking class, even with guys who are professional chefs, could be so entertaining? Especially watching Nic trying to tell Tori what to do and her telling him to butt out, that she can do this perfectly fine without him, then grabbing the teacher to try to help her without Nic seeing her.

I’m happy to admit I have no idea how to cook, and to be honest, I’ve never really tried much more than the half a dozen basic meals I cook if I’m at home and don’t feel like ordering in. It’s not a bad thing that I haven’t needed to learn to cook because I’ve been lucky enough to be able to afford to eat out. But since staying with Forrest, I see the joy he gets from preparing a nice meal for me. Even today, he has so much joy written all over his face as he’s enjoying learning a new recipe.

And as we taste test the main meal, I can’t help but laugh the moment it sinks in with Flynn how good a cook his brother is.

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