Page 121 of My Favorite Secret
There’s no action I can take to fix the situation. I’ll always be waiting for the ground to give way beneath me, wondering if the Fergusons know the truth and what they plan to do with it.
This is even more reason to keep Harper in the dark.
Everything is so messed up. Harper told me she’s decided to not report Paul’s attack to the police for multiple reasons we’ve already discussed, but the tipping factor in her decision came down to Paul saving a life.
Her heart is too kind. She’s always been this way. I should consider her silence a blessing. I can’t let her speak to the police because it will spark an investigation we don’t want. But I also don’t want her to repress this trauma. Felix and I encouraged Harper to speak the truth so she would feel empowered.
Paul’s death is only one part of the pressure that’s suffocating me. I’m so fucking stressed, hoping Felix doesn’t hate me after all this. I feel like a piece of shit for putting Harper through a dead-end mission to find him. But I won’t coax her into believing the lie my father fed her—Felix abandoning her over some fight about money. I’m trying to give her as much of the truth as I can.
Though, a week into Felix’s absence and I can feel her turning against him. I’m trying to do everything I can to save their relationship. But it’s a battle.
The library door creaks open. I’m so on edge that I flinch with shock. Harper enters, wearing a night dress. The moment we make eye contact, I glance away, hating myself for the pain I’m inflicting on Harper by omitting the truth.
Every single day, I want to hold Harper in my arms and tell her I love her. I want to kiss her, make love to her, and tell her everything will be okay. But I don’t deserve any of those pleasures when I’m not being honest.
The door clicks shut and Harper steps up to me. Her voice is hollow. All the fight has left her. “I want you to leave. It’s time you go back to your home.”
I turn to her, stunned by the request. My heart stumbles. I can’t leave. I promised Felix I would take care of Harper. “I’m not leaving.”
A huff of frustration slips past her lips. “You don’t speak to me. You’re barely looking at me. Felix is gone. I don’t know when he’s coming back or if he even is. The worst part is I haven’t only lost him but I’ve lost you too. You’re not the Tyler I fell in love with.” Her voice crumbles and tears follow, but she cries with frustration, not weakness. Seeing her like this breaks me further. “Why the fuck does everybody leave me?”
“Baby, that’s not true.” I grasp her hands and pull them to my lips, hoping she can see in my eyes that I love her. That it’s still me.Fuck. I hate that I’m causing her pain. “I’m never leaving you. I’m sorry I’ve been distant. I feel like I’ve lost Felix too. Please, don’t hate me. You’re everything to me. Felix is coming back, I promise. If there’s one thing I’m certain of, it’s how important you are to him. The three of us are going to be together again. You have to trust me.”
Harper’s lips press desperately to mine. Her arms wrap around my neck, clinging to me like her life depends on it. “You’re my everything,” she whimpers. “I hate that we’re falling apart. I just need things to return to the way they were. I need you to love me, Tyler.”
“I do love you. More than you’ll ever know.” I kiss her hard, showing her nothing has changed between us.
Her needy hands are unbuckling my belt. She quickly has her hand wrapped around my cock.
I shouldn’t have sex with her. Not like this. Not when I’m hiding the truth.
But I love her. God, I love her so much it hurts. She’s asking me to show her that I’m still here. That she still matters.
And she does.
She’s everything to me.
I grab her face and kiss her again, deeper this time, pushing her back until she hits the bookshelf behind us. I don’t mean to be rough, but I can’t help the urgency that floods out of me.
Carrying Harper to the desk, I clear the surface with a swipe of one arm before setting her down. My lips don’t leave hers. I need Harper to feel how much I want her and how nothing has or ever could change my love for her.
The two of us groan as I thrust deep and fast into her, hitting her back wall. That’s all it takes for the stress of the Fergusons to be wiped from my mind.
With each thrust, each moan that slips from Harper’s lips, I realize I need to love her better. I need to worship her and do everything I can to make Felix’s absence as painless as possible.
It doesn’t take long before she’s coming. I feel her pussy contract around my cock as she gasps my name, clutching my shoulders. She’s normally blissfully limp after an orgasm, satisfied and whole. But not this time, too broken inside.
“Tell me you’re never leaving me,” Harper begs. She slides off the desk and pushes me onto a chair, then straddles my lap, trembling as she sinks onto my cock. “Promise me, Tyler. Never leave me.”
“I promise. It’s you and me, always, Princess. When Felix gets back, the three of us will be stronger than ever.”
Though, in saying that, I don’t know what Felix and Iwill tell Harper when he returns. We’ll find an explanation that keeps her safe.
Her lips brush against mine as she rides me with vigor, drawing me dangerously close to coming inside her. “Don’t talk about Felix. This isn’t about him right now. It’s about you and me.”
I don’t like hearing those words one bit. She’s angry with Felix and I can’t allow her to turn on him. “Thisisabout Felix. Tell me you know he’s coming back. Tell me you know he loves you.”
Her movements stop. She meets my eyes and her bottom lip wobbles. “How can you be so confident in Felix and this theory that your father is protecting him from something?”
