Chapter Six
Kassie
Islurped up my cereal while scrolling through my phone. For once, I was up bright and early at 10 a.m.
The excitement fluttering in my chest about yesterday was too much; I had to let it out. I was so glad that Harlow asked me to move in with her. I worried our personalities wouldn't align when she asked me to move here, but we actually complemented each other well.
She’s the orange cat to my black one.
Harlow came thumping down the stairs, eyes half-closed and fingers absently scratching her cheek. The pink satin bonnet onher head was askew, probably concealing what I imagined was a wild nest of bedhead underneath. I blinked twice at the sight; the disheveled morning version of my usually put-together roommate was quite a contrast to her normal appearance.
“You okay?” I asked with a mouth full of cereal.
Harlow grunted and headed straight for the coffeepot. She poured half a cup into her Hello Kitty mug and filled the rest with vanilla creamer and sugar.
Once she finally sat down, she let out a sigh.
“Yes,” she shakily replied and took a sip. “That’s good stuff.”
We both sat in silence until I finished my cereal. “Did you not sleep well then?”
Harlow tilted her head, her eyelashes fluttering to meet mine. “I slept great. The best. Really, would repeat the night, actually. Which reminds me, I probably should go charge my vibrator.”
She went to stand up, but I grabbed her hand. “I’m about to explode. I must tell you something. It’s serious.”
Harlow’s eyes widened. “What is it?” She leaned over the table.
“I met this guy, yester…”
Harlow screamed and jumped up out of her seat before the words left my mouth. She knew my preferences, knew that I was… particular. That I had read too many novels involving monsters who doted on their women. It had distorted my view of the human male… but other than human? Yeah, bring me some of that.
I knew it would never happen, so why waste my time on any human, if I couldn’t get what I really wanted?
I’d stick with my fiction stories and my trunk of collectibles.
However, there was something about Atlas I liked.
Harlow turned around in a circle before she picked up the frying pan. “This calls for pancakes!”
I rolled my eyes. There wasn’t any use in telling her no.
She pulled out a bag of flour. “Everything! Tell me everything!”
So I did. How Atlas fell right into my line of vision, quite literally. The large, clumsy giant was a bashful lumberjack who didn’t appear to fit into his body. He was knocking over things in the shop yesterday that I didn’t even think hecouldknock over.
He made this cold heart flutter.
Maybe it was the way his red flannel stretched across his shoulders, worn in all the right places. Unlike those gym bros with their chiseled six-packs, Atlas had this solid, bearlike build—the kind of body that promised warmth when curled against it. At almost six feet, I rarely find guys who make me feel small, but Atlas? Standing at what had to be seven feet tall, he made me feel downright petite.
“What attracted you most to him?” Harlow hummed as she put a stack of pancakes on my plate.
I drummed my fingers against the table, eyeing the mountain of pancakes with dread. "It wasn't just his lumberjack aesthetic," I said, pushing the food around my plate. "It was how this giant of a man seemed terrified ofme. Like he might accidentally break me if he got too close." I caught myself grinning at the memory. How crimson had crept from his cheeks to the tips of his ears, probably spreading beneath that wild beard of his like a forest fire.
“Then, I felt his arms. They were huge, bulky. Made me think of what else was huge.”
Harlow squealed and curled herself up into a ball, shaking her hands around like a child. “I’m happy for you! And not a monster or some supernatural being!”
Harlow paused and placed her legs down, then gazed around the room. “Wait, do you think…”
