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My hands flex around his broad shoulders as I cling to him, and he gently sets me on my feet. When our eyes lock, we are mirrors of need, staring deeply at each other with unspoken words.I want you. I need you. I love you.
I can’t be sure, but the night he found me outside the shelter, I think he mentioned something about love, but I didn’t want to assume that he meant he loved me. But I felt it in the way he soothed me, in the way he pressed his lips against my tear-streaked face, and the way he looked at me like he would never leave me.
Longing pangs in my gut as I realise we need to have a conversation about everything. Now that neither of our original reasons for marrying are valid, things can change. He can leave if he wants, he doesn’t have to be tied to me anymore.
But as I stare at this man in front of me. So strong, in body and soul, I struggle to think ofmyfuture without him.
His fingers stroke my hair as he stares softly into my eyes. “What’s going on in that beautiful brain of yours?”
“I was thinking about us.”
“Yeah?” I’m rewarded with my favourite beaming smile of his.
“And the shelter.”
“You know, the work is almost done. Sam has been keeping me updated.”
“I know,” I say, mindlessly stroking his arm. “I need to make some plans to get donations and adjust the business model since I won’t be getting my trust fund.”
“I can help,” he says without hesitation.
“Thank you,” I reply, meaning it more deeply than a superficial ‘thanks’ because I really do owe him a lot.
His grateful smile is all I need as a response. “So, do we need to go to the shelter today? We can see Mouse and Jelly.”
“Eventually, but first…” I pull him towards my lips with haste and kiss him.
His body melts into mine, and I feel his exhale against me as our mouths move slowly, tasting and softly re-exploring after almost a week of not kissing. And kissing Harrison Clarke is one of my favourite things to do.
When we stop, my hand strokes in his hair as I stare at him, and he stares back. Suspended in a moment where nothing exists but the two of us.
“I made you pancakes,” he says softly.
“With strawberries?” I question, letting him go.
He winks, sending a jolt of need through my body again. “And Magic Stars.”
My head flings back with a pleasure filled groan. “God, I love you.”
Time stops as we both stand stock still.
Zoey, what just slipped out of your mouth?My mind asks itself.
No, that didn’t slip out. It was a thought, right?Yeah, right, tell the awkward silence that.
Ohhhh balls.Right, time for some damage control.
“I-I-uh, I meant, I love Magic Stars and pancakes. They’re great. And those juicy, juicy strawberries. Yum, they’re really tasty too.”
Oh good, I’ve made it worse.
Harrison turns to face me, amusement tilting the sides of his mouth as he watches me spiral into an oblivion of useless words that don’t make sense anymore but want to escape my mouth in another incoherent babble.
He crosses his arms over his chest, popping those slutty veins for me, and uses one hand to stroke the scruff of his beard, which he’s trimmed, and I like it shorter.
“So, is it the pancakes, the chocolate, the strawberries… or me that you love?”
My hands ache at the need to flap around and make more of an idiot of myself, but I manage to restrain them by clasping them together in front of me. I look down to my entwined fingers and then back up to Harrison. “All of the above?”
