“Harley?”
He lifted a finger, and that’s when I realised he had his phone to his ear, and he was ordering pizza the old school way. He wasn’t using an app; he was actually speaking to someone. Yikes.
He disappeared into the kitchen, and returned with another mug, setting it down beside mine, before he dropped down onto my sofa beside me. The proximity would have terrified me if he was anyone else. I’d have been edging away but instead I wanted to move closer. Something about his scent always calmed me, and I wanted to fill my senses with it.
I didn’t realise I was leaning closer until I heard a low chuckle, and realised he’d finished his call.
“You okay there, little lady? Seems like you’re angling for a hug.”
I nodded, because even though I wasn’t a person who liked hugs, I liked him touching me. It made me feel things I’d never felt. Not just safe and comforted, but also wanted, and treasured.
He lifted his arm, and I snuggled closer, sighing happily when it draped around me, his palm cupping my upper arm.
“So pizza’s gonna be about twenty minutes, they said.”
I nodded. “What will we do until they arrive?”
Another chuckle. “Well, if you asked the wrong man that, you’d get some pretty smutty answers.”
Oh. “But not you?”
Harley’s palm was gently moving back and forth on my arm, and he leaned forward, moving me with him, as he reached for my drink and handed it to me.
“Don’t you want to know how I guessed that was your mug? I mean, assuming I got it right?”
I had been wondering! “Yes,” I replied, a little relieved that he’d changed the subject, while at the same time thinking that maybe he did it because he wasn’t interested in more with me. More of anything.
“It was the only mug not resting upside down in the cupboard and it was out of line with the others. I figured there had to be a good reason for that.”
Damn, he was observant.
“It’s got your ride on it too, so I was pretty sure.” He was right again. It was literally a photograph of my own motorcycle that I took.
“Why don’t you want to do smutty things with me?” I froze the moment those words escaped. Yes, I’d been wondering, no matter what we were talking about, but now they were out there, and I didn’t know how to undo them.
“Uh… I’m guessing you didn’t mean to ask that, but I’m gonna answer anyway.”
Harley lifted my mug back out of my hands and set it down, catching my chin and turning my head so I was facing him. He did that a lot, and I relished each touch, as if I didn’t normally flee from them from others.
“I-”
“I do want to.”
Wait. What?
“You do?”
Harley nodded, his eyes smiling with him.
“I don’t know when things changed between us, but the more we’re around each other, the more I want to spend time with you, and the more I want those things. I would never push you, or try to make you do anything like that though.”
I swallowed hard, pulling my bottom lip in a little, not biting it, but maybe moistening it, like I was thinking about lips rightnow, like both of ours. I saw Harley’s eyes dart down to catch the movement.
“Caroline?”
“What if I want to?”
He stroked my cheek gently, tucking a springy curl behind my ear.
