“What kind of problems?”Detective James cut her off.
“The kind that only money and connections can buy.Her attacker’s father was very well connected, especially to the police, and they conspired to discredit, intimidate, and leave her open to continued harassment.”He felt Harper’s fingernails dig into the palm of his hand and then release, itching to flare.The police couldn’t do their job effectively without all the facts, he knew.All he could do was hope he’d made the right call.
***
The contents of the side table in the hallway rattled as the door to Trent’s apartment closed with a slam.He hadn’t spoken a word to her since the detectives had left his office, except to tell her that they were leaving.
She jumped as the kitchen cupboard slammed.The clink of glasses hitting the granite followed.
“Want one, Taylor?”He drew her name out, and it sounded foreign coming from his lips.Harper shook her head as he tipped his head back and downed the glass.
The silence was terrifyingly cold.Shoulders hunched, Trent placed both of his hands on the counter and lowered his head.
“Is there anything else I need to know?Hidden kids?A criminal record of your own?Because I got to be honest, I feel like I just took the red pill and am out of the matrix.”
The barb hurt.“I’m sorry.I thought it was for the best.If someone came asking for me, you wouldn’t have to lie.”
Trent lifted his eyes to hers.She could see the hurt etched into the lines in his forehead.
“You don’t trust me?Is that what you are saying?”he asked quietly.
“No,” Harper exclaimed.She wanted to go to him, but the thought of being rejected rooted her to the spot.“That’s not it at all.I didn’t want to drag you any further into my drama so you didn’t get hurt.So he didn’t know you were involved.”
Trent straightened and walked towards her, stopping right in front of her, and put his hands on either side of her face, his eyes stripping away the lies and untruths.
“Don’t you get it, Harper?For reasons I can’t even begin to understand right now, I want to be with you.I want a future with you.Good or bad.Together.So right here, right now, you gotta tell me what you want too, because if it isn’t this… if it isn’t us… I need to know.And if thisiswhat you want, you need to tell me if there is anything else I need to know.”His forehead touched hers, his breath warm on her lips.
“There isn’t anything else.You know everything.And yes, that is what I want.More than anything.It’s the only reason I’m still here.That I haven’t run.You’ve anchored me here.”
His hands sank into her hair and his mouth crushed hers.In that moment as he took her, she realized that losing Trent would hurt more than anything she had already been through.
***
Harper was stroking his chest, her breath slow and steady.They’d talked.A lot.Her tears had stopped, and thankfully her kisses hadn’t.He could spend the rest of the night just kissing her soft, swollen lips and generally staring at the wonder of her like the soppy ass he was.
“Will you keep calling me Harper?”Harper folded her arms on his chest and looked at him thoughtfully.
“I’ll call you whatever you want me to call you, darlin’.”Calling her anything other than Harper would be really weird, but it was her choice.
“I’m not sure I’m Taylor anymore.”He couldn’t stop touching her.He ran one hand up and down the sexy little dip at the base of her back.The other he gently pulled through the length of her hair.
“Harper it is, then.How did you choose it?”
Harper let out a small laugh.“Honestly?”
“I hope you are always honest with me from today onward, darlin’.”
“I was at the bus station and went to the little convenience store to get some water for the trip.While I was standing in the line to pay, I saw Jennifer Connelly on a magazine cover.I knew I was going to use a different name, and I got told once I looked a bit like her—but I figured taking her whole name would be more than a bit weird.The magazine next to the one she was on wasHarper’s Bazaar.So I combined them.”
Trent laughed, remembering Cujo’s unknowingly accurate comment about Harper being bizarre.
He lay there, staring at the ceiling, as Harper drifted off to sleep on his chest.They hadn’t had the easiest of starts but they were finally where they needed to be.
***
“Move in with me.”
Harper’s heart beat through her chest at the words.
