Oh, God. The lewd images that accompanied that comment had me worrying for my sanity.
I wanted that, too. I was so screwed.
"In regards to Jessica–please let me finish," he implored when I tried to interrupt.
I sat back with a grunt and folded my arms protectively. His gaze gentled before he continued. "We ended our physical relationship when I was nineteen. I haven't so much as hugged her since then."
"What about lunching with her?" I blurted out before I could stop myself. Dammit, now it sounded like I cared.
Harrison grinned, his eyes lighting up at my apparent interest. I schooled my features, hoping my face didn't betray the climbing weed of jealousy.
"You mean the lunch we have with about eight other teachers in the staff room?"
"Oh." My cheeks warmed.
He fixed me with a pointed stare. "There's only one woman that I'm interested in, Gracie. And it's not Jessica."
I quietly sucked in oxygen. Not wanting to examine my wavering feelings for Harrison, I hid my stare from his to compose myself. It didn't help that I had sighted the familiar trace of desire and longing in his eyes.
"Now, reunion chat!"
The abrupt change in subject threw me. I kicked myself for hoping he would expound on his last statement, but in the end, I knew I wasn't quite ready for the poignant discussion his confession would arouse.
For the next forty minutes, Harrison discussed the finer details of the event: how many people had RSVP'd, the DJ, who was setting up and packing down, the timeline of events, and which company was providing the photo booth and games throughout the night. He even pulled up the caterer on his phone, and I oooh'd and ahhh'd over the menu.
"This is just like planning a wedding," I joked. "You are the most organized bride ever."
Harrison's deep laugh echoed around the sparse hall as he pocketed his phone. "I did ask Amelia if I could co-plan her reception."
"Can you plan our bridal shower, too?" I groaned.
"What are you doing for that again?"
"High tea at Eaton Inn. It's very posh, darling," I drawled, mimicking a transatlantic accent.
Harrison chuckled again. "It sounds fancy."
"Yeah, it is. Amelia loves European culture, particularly French, English, and Irish. I just googled some ideas and then remembered that I had a lovely high tea at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco for a friend's thirtieth birthday. They had little cucumber and ham sandwiches, mini savories and pastries, and the most gorgeous scones with clotted cream and jam. So delicious! And we felt so upper-class with our little tea cups and saucers," I recalled, miming sipping a tea with my pinky up.
Amusement crinkled his warm, brown eyes. "That sounds right up Amelia's alley. Why is she having a bridal showerandbachelorette? Are they two different things?"
"Yes and no. She basically wants to stretch this celebration out for as long as possible." I rolled my eyes in good-natured jest. "I think a bridal shower is just a casual get-together with friends, giving gifts to the bride, et cetera. Whereas the bachelorette is a messy get-together with your friends where you give out dollar bills to the stripper."
"Or make out with former fellow school pupils in a dark corner of a bar."
I glared at Harrison.Notfunny.
He bowed his head and winced. "Sorry, sorry. I couldn't resist. I won't bring it up again, I swear."
"Hmph!" He'd said that the last time.
We spent another thirty minutes chatting—and not even about the reunion. As time marched on, I slowly began to relax. I transitioned from sitting ramrod straight in my chair to leaning forward with my chin on my palm, laughing and ribbing with him.
I was definitelynotstaring at his firm mouth while he talked or following the movements of his hands as he gestured his point.
He enquired about my time at college and the work I was doing. He seemed so interested, smiling indulgently when my face became animated as I started chatting about my latest projects at work.
He also mentioned his own job—who he was coaching and which boys he thought had the potential to go far. He touched on how his dad was doing and promised to bring Ryan to the reunion.
