Harrison’s expression was confused right up until I went up on my tiptoes, paused a second to build up my confidence, then pushed my mouth against his.
Instantheat, and the memories of what else Harrison’s mouth could do. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me back like nothing between us had changed in the months since Aspen.
“Oh, Gwen,” he murmured as we kissed.
Yeah, he felt it too. How right we were together.
But…why did I have to initiate the kiss? I tried to focus on how damn amazing it felt, but nagging thoughts kept pulling me out of the moment. If Harrison wanted it, he would’ve done it first. Sure, he seemed like he couldn’t get enough of me, but…why did he leave it up to me?
The doubts kept piling up until I finally pulled away.
“I’m sorry. Good night.”
I jogged back to my door without looking back at him. I could feel him still watching me as I slipped into my room and slammed the door.
The flight home was going to be awkward AF.
15
HARRISON
Atext buzzed in. Even though it was early, I was already awake.
In fact, I’d hardly slept. How could I, when that kiss kept replaying over and over in my brain like a movie? I’d been forced to take care of myself in the shower before bed, which should’ve been enough to clear my head and put me to sleep. But no, my head refused to clear. When I closed my eyes, all I could see was Gwen.
I leaned over to grab my phone off the nightstand.
Wait. Myfatherwas texting me?
I sat up. Dad was old-fashioned. For anything business related, he preferred email. Texting was only for personal things, which meant he hardlyevertexted me unless something was wrong.
The words swam in front of my eyes. He was in New York and wanted to hitch a ride home with me?
Rather than text him back, I opted to call. He picked up before I even heard a ring.
“Hey, son,” he answered.
Son. He only called me that when he wanted something.
“Good morning. Why are you in New York?”
No need for pleasantries.
“Oh, this and that,” he said vaguely. “Meetings. You know how it goes.”
I did, which was why I had a flight lined up to take me home. What I couldn’t figure out was why hedidn’t.
“Would it be okay if I deadheaded?”
He loved using aviation industry terms on me, like he knew my business better than me, although this one didn’t quite apply to the scenario seeing as he wasn’t crew hitching a ride on a commercial flight.
I sighed. “Yeah, if you can get to the airport by nine.”
“Sure, no problem. I’m already up and at ‘em, and I assume you are as well. You’ve always been an early riser.”
I frowned at my reflection in the mirror across the room. Why was he being so chitchatty? He’d spent his whole life working in the hospitality industry, and hecouldgladhand with the best of them, but he rarely brought that behavior home. I couldn’t remember the last time my dad had bothered to make small talk with me.
Something was up.
