Page 27 of The Attraction

She is standing there in her little sleep shorts and top. The bedside lamp is on and giving soft light through the room. She then walks to the window and pulls the curtain to the side and stares outside.

“Daddy, don’t go.” She then turns and starts toward the door where I am standing, so I push it open so she can see me and I don’t startle her. But it’s like she is looking straight through me.

“Harper.” I call to her softly, but it’s like she doesn’t even hear me then turns back to the window.

Shit, she’s sleepwalking while in the middle of a nightmare about her father. I don’t know everything that happened back then, just the basics, and I’m sure there is so much more to her memories of that time. A pain that I’m sure is hard to ever get over.

They say don’t wake sleepwalkers, but what the hell do I do? Harper is distressed and obviously going through something traumatic.

Maybe I can guide her back to bed, and she might fall back into a calmer sleep.

“Daddy,” she cries out louder this time and drops to her knees at the window, her hands on the glass of the floor-to-ceiling windows. Her crying is becoming an uncontrollable sob, and I can’t stand here any longer.

It might be the wrong thing to do, but I’ll deal with the fallout later. I can’t stand to see her hurting like this.

Coming up beside her, I kneel down on one leg so I’m level with her.

“Harper,” I whisper as I gently place my arm around her shoulder. And although she flinches just a little, she then starts relaxing into my body.

“He never came back, why didn’t he come back?” Burying her head in my shoulder, I make the decision to get her up off the floor, and wrapping her in my arms, I stand and carry her to the bed, feeling her body shaking with every sob.

“I’ve got you, Harper. You’re okay, it’s over.” I place her down softly on the bed, knowing that she probably won’t remember this in the morning.

But as my fingers start to leave her body, she grabs my wrist hard.

“Please hug me, just one last hug.” The strength she has pulling at my arm is surprising in her upset state.

And this is the moment I know for sure that she is still in her nightmare and talking in her sleep, because she told me straight up that she doesn’t like to be touched.

“Please.” She is now begging me, and I can’t walk away from that.

Lifting her over further on the bed, I tentatively lie down next to her, and before I can even worry about touching her, she has crawled into the side of my body.

Her head is on my bare shoulder on the opposite side to where she is lying, and I can feel the tears on her wet cheeks. Her ear is pushing hard against my chest above my heart. She starts to settle down on top of my chest, and she then latches her arms so tightly around my torso and her knees are curled up in a ball next to mine.

The moment I wrap my arms around her, she stops sobbing and her breathing starts to steady.

I continue to stroke her back and whisper to her, “I’ve got you, sweetheart. I won’t ever let you get hurt like that again.”

I want to kiss her, but I stop myself and instead say the words I know I will never take back. “And that I can promise you.”

She might not be able to commit to a promise, but when I make one, I never back down from it.

Harper might not remember this cuddle in the morning, but I will never forget it.

There is much more to this woman than she has ever let anyone see, but I’m not walking away until she shows me. There is something between us, and now I just need to find out if it’s worth fighting her to see what it is.

“Sleep, Harper. Let me take it all away. Lean on me.”

And as if she understands, she takes a deep breath and then settles into a calm sleep state.

I know I should move her back onto the bed and leave, but I just want a few more minutes.

I don’t know if I’ll ever get to see her this peaceful with me again.

Just holding her a little tighter and knowing she needs me is something that I never knew I needed… until now.

HARPER

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