Page 64 of The Attraction

To which Harper bursts out laughing, thankfully. “You win.” She looks at me.

“I usually do.” I pull her to me and kiss her hard.

ChapterFourteen

HARPER

The last few days have been a whirlwind.

Knowing I’d been waking up in the middle of a nightmare wrapped in Forrest’s arms, that explained the constant sense of him as I woke every morning. His scent on my pillow was the present that he had left after calming me and then leaving me to sleep. It turns out it wasn’t a magic mattress like I thought it was giving me such a restful sleep, but rather the man who was lying on that mattress during the night.

Then, giving in to feelings of undeniable want, Forrest and I had the hottest weekend in bed together, and many other surfaces in his apartment as well. We explored each other, and I’m just enjoying letting my guard down, for the moment.

Although we have agreed to keep our arrangement between us, there was no way we could keep it from those closest to us. The moment that his mum called us out over dinner, I knew that if I couldn’t keep it from a woman I’d only met for the second time, then there was no way we could keep it from the rest of the group.

I mean, Felisha cornered me the minute she walked into the apartment for the dinner. Her words were still in my head,“You’ve been fucked senseless again by the man over there who can’t keep his eyes off you, haven’t you?”with the biggest smile on her face. She is so Team Forrest in this. She wants what he wants. For me to ride off into the sunset, happily ever after, but we don’t all get that. Felisha was lucky, and I love that for her.

I’m about having fun in the here and now. That’s all it will be.

So of course, it didn’t take long for everyone else to find out, basically because Flynn carried on about some bullshit that this group of friends have kept enough secrets from each other, so it was his duty to inform them all. It has nothing to do with Flynn being the gossip in the group.

Our group chat with the girls was on overload, but it also felt kind of nice. Although I have my sisters and love them dearly, it’s different than having a group of girlfriends. Since university, there has only been Felisha and me, and that was perfect, but this is a different kind of closeness. We all share a common bond in being with one of the guys, even if it’s temporary for me, and then Cherie is the exception, who is single and happy to be.

I had an interesting conversation with Forrest yesterday as we were lying on the couch just talking and listening to music, something I never imagined myself doing with a man. I know I’m setting myself up for hurt when this is over, because I’m already finding things I’m going to miss, and that will be one of them.

When my phone started going crazy with messages from the girls, he took it from me and told me there was something he needed me to know because he didn’t want me blindsided later.

He continued to explain what happened between him and Cherie. Not that anything ever really did happen but that he thought he wanted it to. It hurt to hear a little, but the more we talked it through, I could see what was happening. His personality and how he has lived his life protecting those he is close to.

Which is why I know I need to walk away from this when the time is right, because I don’t want to be another one of those people that he feels is his responsibility.

But I also know that the next time I see Cherie, I need to talk to her. Not that I don’t trust him, but more to make sure that she isn’t hiding any feelings for him. I’m the queen of not letting people see the real me, and I know she is too. So, it’s important that we talk it through.

Forrest agreed with me to keep whatever this is between us to just his parents and our friends. I know he wanted me to say I would tell my family too, but that feels too much for me. They know me as the emotional ice queen and accept me anyway, so I don’t want to confuse them when they see me letting Forrest touch me. Plus, I would then need to explain how we are living in his apartment, and that is part of this story that I don’t want to share with them.

As much as the weekend was a lot, I walked into work this morning feeling lighter than I have in a very long time.

“Morning, aren’t we glowing today.” Felisha is smiling and proud of herself for pushing me toward Forrest. She may have initially told me to stay away from him, but she soon changed her tune when she suspected we had ignored her anyway.

“Don’t even start with this gloating shit. Yes, I look extra-hot today, I know. Now, can we get on with work? We have a few urgent matters to look at, one of which is going to involve us firing a manager, appointing a new one, and sorting out the shit that has gone down in Zurich over the weekend.” Looking up from my computer, I see her mind has clicked straight into work mode, and we are off and running for the week.

* * *

How I have made it to Friday and am still sane is a miracle.

Felisha and I had to fly to Zurich to oversee the replacement of the manager of our hotel there. It’s probably the most important position in the hotel, and if that person is not doing their job properly, then those bad habits can infiltrate the staff around them.

Forrest was not happy that I was traveling out of the country, and it resulted in a huge fight. I told him to back off and not to dare trying to interfere with my work. He has an important job, but so do I, and I’m not letting anything get in the way of me performing that as best as I can. So, his solution was that I had to have a security team with me that made me feel like I was the freaking King of England. It was overkill, and if I had my way, I would’ve sent half of them home. But Sandon and Rem both told me to let them do their job, and it’s hard to argue with them, when I used that same statement in my fight with Forrest.

“It’s seven thirty on a Friday night, what are you still doing here?” Felisha’s tired voice filters into my office from the doorway.

“The same thing you are, trying to finish off these last few things before I leave.” I press save on the file I was working on, which is the final one that I need to email to our chief financial officer, who is nothing like another certain money man I know. Our CFO is a sixty-year-old woman we hired when all the issues with Felisha’s father came to light. We couldn’t trust the old one that was obviously helping Ewan Kentwall hide how he was bleeding money from the company. Benitta is married with five children. She turns up here every day in her perfect skirt suit at seven fifty-nine am, right before she is due to start. Keeps to herself during the day and only speaks when needed in meetings. But she is good at this job and was so helpful at finding ways that she thought he had taken money from the company when we went through the drama with Felisha’s father.

“I have approved that budget for Benitta, ready for Monday, so she will be right to put it all in place.” I lean back in my chair and stretch my arms out in front of me.

“Thanks. Now let’s go, because you look as tired as I feel.” Felisha leans her hands on the back of the visitor chair on the other side of my desk.

“Yes, boss, and thanks for the compliment.” But I know she’s not wrong.

---