Page 79 of Freefall

“Then use your fucking words. Tell me what you want.”

“I want you inside me, Nate. Please.”

I finally put us both out of our misery and push inside her. For a fraction of a second, there’s nothing but silence, then our heavy breaths and the sound of skin slapping skin fill the space. I fuck her slowly at first, rolling my hips and drawing out every single sensation. When she starts panting, I speed up, lifting her legs onto my shoulders so I can get deeper.

She forgets her hands are still bound and tries to lift one, letting out a frustrated sigh when she can’t.

“You close?” I guess. “Do you need something?

“Yes,” she gasps.

I know what she needs, and she’s been so good. I won’t make her say it. I move my thumb down, rubbing small circles on her swollen clit. Her breathing accelerates and the edge of my vision blurs, heat spreading up my spine. She comes with my name on her lips, her walls contracting around me as her legs shake. My own orgasm tears through me as I empty into the condom.

We collapse into a sweaty heap, neither of us speaking. Once my breathing steadies, I peel off the condom and turn back to her. “Don’t move.”

She stays still as I take the panties off her wrists, brushing my thumb over the faint pink marks left behind. “Does it hurt?”

“No,” she says softly.

“You’d tell me if it did?”

She gives me a sleepy smile. “Yeah.”

Satisfied, I pull my jeans on and head into the kitchen. I open the fridge and find her full water bottle. I’m going to pretend she refilled it before she left and that she hasn’t gone an entire day without drinking water. I grab it and walk back into the bedroom.

“Drink.”

She takes the bottle without argument, tilting it back until nearly half of it is gone. When she’s done, I screw the cap back on and set it on her nightstand.

“Will you stay?” she asks, and damn, the hope in her eyes makes me want to.

“Not tonight, baby,” I say softly, my eyes drifting toward the hallway. I don’t have to say the rest. Daisy is asleep twenty feet away. Whatever this is between us, she can’t wake up in the morning to find me here.

Harper follows my eyes, giving me a small nod. She smooths her dress back into place, pulling the blanket up and over herself. “Goodnight, Nate.”

There’s no regret in her voice, and somehow that makes leaving even harder.

“Goodnight, Harper.”

I should walk out, but I don’t. Instead, I wait until her eyelids grow heavy and her breathing slows. Then before I can convince myself not to, I lean down and press a kiss to her forehead.

I thought I could hate her.

God, I want to hate her.

But every time I try, I think about the day we met and how she said she was sorry that my mom died. Not in the perfunctory way people usually do, but like the thought of that little boy losing his mother genuinely hurt her.

She named our daughter Daisy for God’s sake.

Even though she didn’t want me to be in their lives, she honored my mother because that’s who Harper is.

She forced me to open up to her. Kissed me and taught me not to be ashamed of the darkness inside me. She didn’t try to fix it or make it disappear. She showed me how to embrace it.

Harper was the only person who ever saw past the mask I’d created and found the real me underneath.

Raw, vulnerable, naked.

Just like those pictures she took.