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Her head lifts, and I’m ready to meet her gaze.
I open my arms wide. “Come here.”
She comes to my side of the couch and climbs onto my lap. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize.” I brush back some of her hair and cradle her face. “I just want you to know you can share things like this with me. I want to know what’s going on with you, even if it’s something that bothers you. Especially then.”
“Okay.”
She tries to nod, but I have a firm grip on her cheeks.
“Don’t think you need to hide any sides of yourself from me. I want to see and know all of you. It’s what makes you, you.”
Her eyes fill with tears, and I hate it. But I don’t have anyone to blame for that other than myself. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything, but I wanted her to know how I feel.
“Should we cancel our plans for today? We can stay in again if you don’t feel like going anywhere.”
Her spine straightens, and she shakes her head. “No. We’re still on. One hundred percent. That asshole will not ruin our time together.”
“Never.”
I stare at her, completely spellbound by her eyes up close, like always.
Harper huffs and raises a hand to cover my eyes.
I nudge her away and chuckle. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“You were staring again.”
“Well, I happen to like staring at you.”
This time, she covers her face with her hands until I pry them off, one finger at a time.
“Harper, you’re so gorgeous I sometimes can’t believe you’re real. I’m still not sure how I got so lucky and you actually talked to an old guy like me.”
That does the trick, and Harper laughs. “Stop acting like you’re a senior citizen.”
My mouth tilts at the corner as I continue to stare at her. I love the way her eyes don’t hide her emotions and how they’re now sparkling with joy and happiness. It brings me immense pleasure to make her smile and laugh. Touching someone else’s life like this has never felt as important to me before. It’s almost as if her happiness is my own.
She leans in to kiss me, and I welcome her lips.
Unfortunately, she pulls back too fast and stands. “Do you still want to go for a swim?”
I stand and tower over her much smaller frame. “Oh, you bet I do. You promised me a race.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “Uh, you know I was joking, right?”
Moving into her personal space still thrills me, and my heartbeat skips in response. I lean so close to her ear I almost touch her skin. “A promise is a promise, baby. Now get your fine ass ready so I can get you wet.”
Harper gulps, and I press my lips together to keep from laughing. Riling her up like this is my favorite new game, even more so since I’m working myself up in the process, as well.
“Mmm. Yes, sir.”
She casts a furtive glance at me and rushes off, but not before I see the flush on her face and neck.
My baby likes to play games too. Something I can’t wait to explore more.
Once Harper’s back, I follow her out of the apartment and to the elevator. We’re quiet, but the corners of her mouth form the tiniest smile which stirs my nerve endings.
