“Is the movie over?” she asked hoarsely, lifting her head. “Did I miss the entire fucking thing?”
“We can watch it again,” I assured her, pulling the blankets up to her shoulder. “Go back to sleep.”
“Where are you going?” she asked, gripping my wrist.
“Bathroom.” I leaned down and kissed her softly. “Be right back.”
I left her in bed and did my business, expecting her to be passed out again by the time I got back. Instead, she was wide awake and watching as I stripped out of my clothes and dropped them to the carpet. I climbed into bed beside her in my boxers and extended my arm so she’d cuddle in beside me.
While I was gone, she’d stripped out of her bra and pants. Her bare legs rubbed against mine as she threw a knee over my thigh.
“I’m so glad you followed me home,” she said after a few minutes, her fingers tracing patterns over my chest. “I was pretty confused there for a second after I hit my head.”
“Sorry I didn’t see it,” I replied, resting my cheek on the top of her head. “Shoulda been right behind you.”
“You were there when it mattered,” she argued. “It’s not like you could’ve stopped that truck from hitting me.”
“Coulda been a deterrent.”
“The guy was a psycho,” she said with a yawn. “I doubt he would’ve cared if anyone saw him.”
“Maybe.” She still thought it was random. Part of me wanted to tell her that I thought the guy had targeted her, but I hadn’t been given the all clear. If it came down to it, they could orderme away from Harp or, at the very least, make it difficult as fuck to see her. It wasn’t worth it.
“I’ll go with you back to the house when you’re ready,” she said, changing the subject. “Just let me know when, okay?”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I don’t want you to do it alone,” she mumbled, her voice groggy. Her arm squeezed me around the middle. “You got me.”
I lay there wide awake while her breathing evened out in sleep and for a long time afterward. I’d been an asshole that morning. I’d lost my shit and hadn’t had the ability to hide it from her. If anyone else—even my best friends—had seen me wild-eyed and panicking like she had, I would’ve been embarrassed as fuck—but with Harper I wasn’t.
I was glad she’d been with me, even though it had gone sideways. I liked having her by my side. I liked that she’d seen where I grew up, it was almost comforting. Someone else had seen it now. For the first time since I became an adult, someone important to me had a memory of the little yellow house with the white trim, the twin bed with the blue comforter, and the hallway with the creaky board right in front of my bedroom door.
I was glad that person was Harper because I had a feeling that this was it.
We’d been seeing each other less than a week.
We’d known each other for years before that.
And, knowing that after the day we’d had, neither one of us had wanted to spend the night apart? I was pretty sure that sometime in the future, I’d be sweating bullets when I let Leo know I planned on marrying his daughter.
Chapter 12
Harper
“Ijust needa trim,” I warned my Gram, watching her wearily as she walked around me. “Like an inch, maybe two.”
“I could add in some layers,” she mused, lifting her eyebrows.
“Trim,” I repeated, widening my eyes at her. “And no bangs either.”
“We’ll save bangs for if you break up with Bas,” she said, waving her hand airily.
“Oh, my god,” I groaned.
“I’m kidding.” She swatted at me as she walked around to my back. “Anyone who’s seen you two together knows that isn’t going to happen. That boy worships you.”
“The feeling’s mutual,” I assured her, closing my eyes as she began to run a comb through my wet hair. “It’s weird to think that I’ve known him forever, but I only realized how awesome he is now.”
