“Have you found a sign yet?” I’m curious.
She nods ever so tenderly. “I’m closer than I’ve ever been.”
I feel it in my bones that it’s me. I lean in to kiss her forehead, but she moves to kiss my lips, giving me the confirmation I needed.
“I wish we had more time.” I can’t get enough. I’m addicted, and there has to be a way around all of this.
“Stone, I’ll write to you. I promise.”
My chest sinks. “Traditional has never been me.”
“Me neither, but distance isn’t on our side.”
“I don’t want this to be the end.”
Harlow hugs me tighter. “I don’t have answers. Just hold me, please.”
Bringing her closer, our bodies mold to one another, and we lie there in silence, but our breathing synchronizes, and when she is blissfully asleep, I stare at the ceiling because I never expected any of this. I’m now a reserved man that’s unfamiliar.
Which is why I sigh and come to the conclusion that I’m not going to let go quite yet.
I finally know what building an attachment means.
It’s just that the wind has been knocked out of me because the bond with Harlow is stronger than I could have contemplated.
8
HARLOW
We find ourselves in a predicament.
Those are the words of Stone’s email a few days after we ended our time in Seattle.
Walking along the beach with a smoothie in hand, I recall what those few days with Stone were like. Then a tinge of disappointment hits me that I had to return to Florida, and him to Illinois. Then a smile begins to hint on the corner of my mouth.
I slept.
I was held.
I wanted more.
His arms around me felt like a new heaven, and his scent I could inhale a thousand times, a sort of subtle crisp shower-fresh smell. I wore his shirt, I kissed his lips, and I wished his hand would have traveled up my thigh to touch me in those sensitive spots that pulse when he’s near.
I kind of curse his respectable boundaries, because if anyone is going to knock down my bricks, then I’m beginning to realize that it’s him. And my body is taking tiny steps to be closer to him.
Pulling out my phone, my thumb scans the email again. It’s refreshing to communicate email letters and not text messages.
Harlow,
We find ourselves in a predicament, and you know why. Distance does crazy things to people. But our biggest quandary… Did I just say quandary? See, I’m already going out of my mind. You’ve made me unrecognizable, and I’m not sure how I feel about that. Nah, I kind of enjoy it. It was about time I became a gentleman.
Did you study what a hat trick is? I’ll send your hockey-knowledge quiz soon.
-Stone
A deep exhale leaves my body. There isn’t one word he wrote that I could disagree with. It’s horribly true that distance might make feelings grow fonder. That could bring a little misery to my life.
Glancing at the ocean, I used to feel like my life was crashing down just like the waves. Now, I feel a new sensation, similar to new waves forming.
