Obsession (Dangerous Love #1)

CHAPTER 18

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CODE OF HAPPINESS

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“Harris, have you lost your mind? This isn’t funny, take me back!” I whispered angrily, trying to get away from him, but he held me like a fucking anaconda.

“I locked Jay in his room with V, Ty in the living room with Ken. I have turned off the security cameras. No one will bother us.”

“What are you up to, you miscreant demon?”

He grinned without answering until we reached the garage. He leaned down to his car and sat me on the hood.

“Another thing I have been wanting to do,” I gulped as he dropped to his knees and spread my legs. “Make you come on the hood of this car.”

Oh, devil take me . I could have come just listening to him.

I bit my lips repeatedly as my traitorous body answered him, and he realized it as soon as he touched me.

“I’m not stopping this time, baby.”

I didn’t know if it was a threat or not, and I didn’t have a chance to find out because he leaned down and his mouth claimed me whole.

I leaned back and pressed my lips together to keep from screaming. My hands gripped his hair, and I pulled on it desperately as … fuck, I had no idea what he was doing, but he was playing dangerous tricks on my mental stability.

He was more gentle now, his movements slow and erotic.

My blood was boiling, those overwhelming sensations were returning in full force, feelings I’d never felt before, pleasure bordering on pain, but I wasn’t fighting it anymore, I was allowing them to pulverize me.

Countless times I whimpered his name, begging and cursing at the same time. His tongue thrust into me, and as his control faded, his teeth bit wildly into me. His voice and moans vibrated through me, burning and destroying everything in their path.

He grabbed my thighs and lifted my legs onto his shoulders, his face now buried between them. I clawed at his hair as his palms gripped my breasts and squeezed them.

I turned my eyes to the neon light above us. It blinded me, but I believed myself capable of breaking it with the electricity Harris generated inside me.

My back arched, and I sat up, screaming, not caring if anyone heard me. He grabbed my hips and pulled me closer to him as my legs wrapped tighter around his head. He lifted his gaze to me, his demonic eyes lingering hungrily on my body, controlling me as I felt myself move exactly the way he wanted me to.

His hot breath did its part, as he seemingly inhaled me and returned the air that he stole from me with kisses and love bites. And his tongue, damn, what that tongue could do. I could feel the tension gathering in one place, coursing through my veins and about to explode.

“Katherine,” he moaned my name and squeezed my thighs.

That sound was the final nail in my coffin.

I arched my back over the hood, which had become hot, and came, unable to hold back any longer.

Harris didn’t back away but pulled me closer again as the pressure eased and I came to rest on the hood of a Ferrari, on top of Vantablack, naked and satisfied.

If I were to die in the next moments, I had no regrets. My body relaxed in an inexplicable way; one I had never felt before with such intensity. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, shocked at the new feelings coursing through me.

The predator released me only after devouring all of me, then he stood up and reached for me, feasting on the satisfaction in my eyes.

He licked his lips to drive me further into madness. My hands were still tangled in his hair, so I pulled him to me and kissed him with the ferocity he had offered me so far. I wrapped my legs around his torso and pulled him even closer to me, tasting myself on his lips. He smiled through our kiss, realizing what I was doing.

“You’re the most delicious drug I have ever tasted, Katherine.”

His words came between kisses, and I smiled, remembering that I’d often compared him to a drug.

“You can take me anytime.”

Our smiles tangled as he caught my words and growled, seemingly pleased with what he was hearing.

“I’m starting to enjoy your fantasies. Do you have any others?” I asked, and he chuckled devilishly.

“You have no idea.”

That damn shiver returned under my skin.

“But now it’s your turn. Seeing what a pervert you are, I’ll never believe you don’t have any fantasies running through that pretty little head of yours.” Just like that, all my fantasies came back to me, as if he had ordered them, and I started to laugh.

“You have no idea.” I repeated his words teasingly.

His eyes narrowed as he leaned over me.

“Tell me one.”

I shook my head.

“When the time is right, I’ll show you.”

He tackled me like a crook, cupping me with his palm and breathing over my neck.

“Come on, baby, just one. I want to know the first erotic fantasy that crossed your mind after you saw me.”

My endurance was going down the drain when he talked like that, when he touched me like that. I closed my eyes again and moaned as I realized he wasn’t going to give up until he got what he wanted.

“The first and most detailed was when you brought me here the first time and climbed me up on that wall. I would have strangled you if I’d had the chance, but at the same time I wanted…”

I paused, because how was I supposed to tell him that?

“Don’t stop! Baby, tell me!”

I hadn’t heard a begging moan before, but Harris had just let one out.

“I wanted you to undress me and take me right there, against that wall.”

He glued his lips to my neck and groaned over my skin as his palm gripped my vulva tighter.

“If you weren’t a virgin, I’d take you there right now, I’d give you everything you have imagined and more.”

“And why is that stopping you?”

He lifted his head and looked at me.

“Because your first time won’t be like that. I messed up a lot in the beginning, and I still can’t forget how you compared yourself to my sex toy. From now on, I’m going to show you exactly what you mean to me.”

I bit my lip and gazed into the depths of his beautiful green eyes. They were honest, kind, yet so commanding and strong. Sometimes it was easy to read him, but only when he allowed it.

He took my hand and placed my palm on his chest, his heart vibrating against my skin.

“Can you feel that? It’s never throbbed like this before, and I’m being as honest as possible now. It was dead until you, Katherine.”

The earnestness and honesty with which he spoke my full name transported me to another dimension. His heart was really pounding. I could feel it pumping strongly in my palm through his heated, sweaty skin. My own heart began to beat faster.

The whole moment seemed ripped out of a cheesy movie that I would have called cliché upon watching, but that was before. Now I couldn’t find the beliefs I once had. I never thought a boy would take my hand and place it over his heart to show me just how hard it pounded for me.

His eyes were still on me as I felt mine grow moist. He took my chin between his fingers.

“Never cry for me, not even out of happiness. I don’t want to see tears in your eyes,” he said as he wiped the tear away.

“I haven’t cried tears of joy in a long time. Let me feel this now,” I giggled slowly, my eyes all wet.

He looked at me with the softest expression I’d ever seen on his face while my heart pounded like crazy.

“You’re not a demon!” I whispered exactly what I was feeling.

“Not with you.” His lips pressed tenderly against mine, entangling them in a soft kiss.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he hugged me as I felt the strength and protection in his embrace.

My eyes eventually dried up, and I started laughing as I looked at my body.

“You’re trying to be the ideal boyfriend while I’m naked on the hood.”

He stroked my thigh and purred over my neck.

“Exactly how I want you.”

I giggled again, trying not to think about what would happen if any of our friends came out of their room.

“Run away with me!”

I looked at him, confused.

“What…”

“Wait here!” He kissed me quickly and then ran up the stairs.

I stood there in shock, on the hood, alone and naked. My underwear lay torn somewhere next to his mattress upstairs. I closed my legs and looked around, searching for something to cover myself with.

I was about to jump off when I saw him coming down the stairs, still barefoot and bare-chested, but he had my jeans and bra in his hand.

“What are you doing?” I asked, puzzled, as he held the jeans out to me, and I stood up.

“We’re running away!”

I stopped skeptically and raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I need a few more details.”

He grinned.

“Trust me.”

It wasn’t a question anymore, and I liked that. Considering what had already happened, what worse could come?

I pulled up my jeans and wrinkled my nose at having to put them on without underwear. I gave him a dirty look for ripping them.

“What about my T-shirt?”

“Nah, it’s more fun this way!”

“What’s fun? Going out in my bra?”

“Mhm!”

Oh, that fucking crook with his seductive, sexy, and irresistible smile. I put on my bra and waited for his next move.

“Get in,” he bit my shoulder playfully and then walked away from me.

The garage door opened automatically after Harris entered a security code directly into his phone. Everything here looked old and run-down, a very deceptive first impression for those watching from the outside, because inside was all the latest technology.

Curious to see what crazy idea had occurred to him, I went to the car door. Immediately my eyes wandered to the hood, a drop of heat slid through my stomach and reached the spot his mouth had claimed only moments before. I bit my lip and winced as I turned around because he was standing right next to me.

His beautiful eyes narrowed, almost as if he was analyzing something.

“What?”

“I don’t know if you look better inside or on the hood.”

I pressed my lips together to stifle a smile.

“On the hood. Definitely on the hood,” he concluded on his own and I laughed.

“I am not going to argue with you, but I’m not climbing on the hood while you are going 200 miles an hour.”

He clamped his tongue between his teeth in a gesture that was meant to be funny, but it only set my ovaries on fire. I seriously thought I was capable of getting pregnant just by looking at him.

“What?” he asked, even though I was sure he knew exactly what I was thinking because my gaze had not left his mouth.

“Hmm, nothing… I think your tongue might be my new obsession.” He didn’t keep me waiting long, the tip of his tongue was between his teeth again as he slowly and dangerously moved closer, grabbing my hips, and pinning me to the door.

“You’re my new obsession, Katherine.”

His lips touched mine delicately.

“You… all of you! At first it was your body that drove me crazy, but now that I’m starting to really know you, now that you’re starting to show me who you are and…” he paused to taste my lips and I held my breath because I wanted him to finish his sentence, I wanted to know what he was thinking, “…you’re everything I have ever wanted.”

His mouth claimed me completely.

It pressed, bit, and even devoured my breath as I clung to his shoulders to withstand his savage, territorial assault. Harris had kissed me forcefully many times before, but there was something different now, something definite and ferocious, as if he wanted to mark something as his forever.

Damn, this was exactly what I was beginning to feel. It was barely the first night we’d decided to give each other a real chance, and I was already losing myself in his touch.

He held me in his arms and glued me to him while I pressed my hands to his chest and felt his heart pounding violently, quickening with every breath that passed through our tangled lips. He let out an animalistic growl, still pressed against my mouth, then suddenly pulled back and squeezed my hips in his fists, panting.

He exhaled deeply, then opened my door.

“Get in before I literally do what you asked me to do earlier.”

I frowned in confusion, since I’d probably asked for a lot of things.

“Eat you,” he spoke over my lips, then gave my ass a smack.

Laughing, I got in the car.

The engine howled as soon as he got in too, as he just pressed something on the steering wheel, then a small screen retracted under the logo.

“What’s that?” I leaned closer to see it better.

“The code of happiness,” he smiled, then slowly touched the logo again and the very small screen appeared, showing numbers from 0 to 9 and a fingerprint scanner.

My eyes widened.

“This car starts with your fingerprint?”

He laughed.

“Yes, my fingerprint or a cipher, but I like to use the numbers when I’m not in a hurry.”

“That’s why you call it the code of happiness?” I inferred, amused, and he winked.

“Exactly.”

He pressed a button on the dashboard and the engine silently cut out, then Harris grabbed my hand.

“Come here.”

I stretched closer to him, curiosity coursing through me as he whispered in my ear,

“152113.”

Smiling, I pressed the numbers on the screen and the car started like an alien ship as Harris revved the engine and I laughed.

“That’s the code that makes you instantly happy and takes your mind off everything.”

Considering the way he drove his car; I couldn’t argue with him.

I laughed again at one of my own thoughts.

“You don’t want to know what I thought at first when you pulled that stunt in the parking lot.”

I could read the amusement in his eyes.

“I bet it’s something involving the word ‘idiot’.”

My laughter grew even louder.

“Asshole. An asshole with a Ferrari, to be exact.”

He laughed as well.

“An asshole with an F8 Tributo, baby, please. Not just any Ferrari.”

I rolled my eyes. I’d found that out when I’d searched for it on the Internet – like the obsessive maniac I was- but he didn’t need to know that.

“So, I had my first and most incredible oral sex on the hood of a $280,000 F8 Tributo,” I concluded, realizing he was impressed because I knew the price.

He leaned towards me and took my chin between his fingers.

“And you have no idea how many more things I want to do to you on this hood,” he whispered over my lips. “And, if you are interested in the details, it’s about five hundred thousand dollars if you count the custom tune-up.”

My eyes widened as I tried not to think about how Harris could afford it. I looked at the amount he had won at the race, and it wasn’t even close to enough to afford a car worth half a million dollars at his age.

I analyzed the other cars in the garage, and I could have sworn he owned all the black cars, four to be exact. Another Ferrari, a Hummer and two others whose make I couldn’t even recognize, but he never drove those. One was on a platform and looked extremely expensive and… dangerous.

“Are the black ones yours?” Curiosity drove me to ask.

Harris was still close and nodded as I looked at him intently.

“Racing really pays that well?” I ventured as his expression changed slightly, but I could feel him tense up.

“I manage.”

I shook my head and smiled sarcastically. It was the perfect way to answer without really answering, but I didn’t want to get into it because I’d promised myself that tonight was all about relaxing.

He pointed to one of the cars.

“That Ferrari was the first car I bought with my own money. It’s a TuNero, and even though I love the F8 because it’s newer and more powerful, that one will always be special to me.”

“How old were you?” I asked, as he wanted to talk.

He smiled.

“Seventeen.”

I had no idea how expensive the TuNero was, but it was clearly nowhere near a price a teenager could afford on his own.

“I always thought your parents bought you these cars.”

He started to laugh, but it wasn’t a laugh that came from amusement. He pulled back in his chair.

“No, baby, everything I have is mine.”

I bit my lip as curiosity ate me up from the inside out, and he could feel it. He reached over and grabbed my hips, pushing his seat back, and before I could realize what he was up to, he pulled me into his lap and spread my legs around him. My butt touched the steering wheel, and I had to bend my neck forward.

“Fuck, I can’t get used to how flexible you are. I lose control every time I think about the time you put your leg on my shoulder.”

I laughed, adjusting myself over him until I was straddling him in the sexiest, most dangerous way possible. It would have been easier if I hadn’t been wearing jeans.

“That’s not even half of what I can do,” I whispered seductively over his lips, and he groaned, squeezing my thighs in his hands.

“I can’t wait to discover the rest.”

I smiled, and he sighed.

“I know you have questions and you’re trying to do the math because there are a lot of things that don’t add up.” He ran his fingers through his hair, carefully searching for his words. “Tonight changed a lot, it changed everything for me. Up until now it was all just a trial period, a curiosity, but now I want you, Katherine. I want you like I have never wanted anyone before.”

My heart skipped a beat.

“And for that, I know I have to tell you certain things and answer your questions, so I’ll start with the one you asked earlier,” he jerked his head in the direction of the other cars, “I made my first money as a bodyguard.”

My eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Personal bodyguard?”

“Yes.”

Okay, I was starting to feel a certain heat, and not a pleasant one at that.

“And no, a bodyguard doesn’t usually earn that much, but it depends on who you’re protecting and what you’re protecting him from.”

“ Him ?”

He smiled, amused.

“Yeah, baby, it’s a man. I still work with him, for him.”

“Is he the reason that detective is trying to get you?”

I knew I had overstepped the mark, because he had offered an answer to one question, and I quickly shook my head.

“Actually, it doesn’t matter. I’m just glad you finally trust me.”

“I have trusted you since the moment you risked your freedom to protect me, but some…”

“Some secrets aren’t yours to tell,” I finished his sentence, and he smiled, pressing a soft kiss to my lips.

“Exactly.”

“Okay, so let’s call it Secret Section. Every time you want to open a door, I will listen, but I want you to promise me something.”

I took his face in my palms, and he looked at me intently, but his seriousness was sometimes too sexy for me to focus.

“You’ll never lie to me. I am okay right now with you not telling me everything because we just gave each other a real chance a couple hours ago, but no matter what, do not ever lie to me. I’m capable of accepting anything, but never a lie.”

He looked at me for seconds and I thought I saw him swallow, then he nodded. “Agreed!”

I smiled, then ran my fingers through his hair.

I’d imagined him in many instances, but never as a bodyguard, even though I was sure it wasn’t a typical job, as he’d so subtly put it. I thought about who would hire a seventeen-year-old protector, who he would protect him from, but that was a door to be opened another day.

I remembered Joshua and what he’d done to me, but I couldn’t muster the strength to tell Harris. Not at a time like this, because then he would have lost his cool and our whole night would have been ruined.

Another truth for another day.

“So, did you bring me here for a reason, or just so you could press that Godzilla between my legs?”

He looked down as if he needed confirmation that he had an erection. It was amazing that he managed to stay so calm, considering how hard he was.

The look he gave me when he lifted his head was full of danger, but also satisfaction. Telling a guy that he has a big dick takes his mind off everything else.

“That’s a very interesting comparison, considering you haven’t even seen me yet.”

“I don’t need to because I can feel you pressing into me. I’m actively trying not to think about what would happen if we weren’t wearing pants.”

He bumped his head against the headrest and let out a pained groan, and while I wasn’t expecting that reaction, it was still very interesting.

“Fuck, baby, I don’t need any more images of us doing…”

He continued muttering curses under his breath, then I cried out and pressed myself against his chest.

I was beginning to think the car was connected to his brain because I didn’t see him use his hands, but the car moved in a flash and backed out of the garage. It was not until we were on the road that Harris reached behind my back for the steering wheel. He turned it like a toy and held me with his other arm so that I didn’t hit the door. Fastening the seatbelt in this position was almost impossible. I looked at him with wide eyes, because for some reason he was panting. He had become even harder and the muscles in his arms flexed. I was sure he was thinking about us… without pants.

I was thinking the same thing.

I breathed heavily, and he bit my lip.

“To answer your question, there’s another reason I brought you here.”

I raised an eyebrow. It was even darker now and I couldn’t see him as well, but I could feel his every move, every flex, every breath. It was possible I wouldn’t get out of this in one piece.

“I’m very curious.”

“After you called me an ‘asshole with a Ferrari’ in your head, do you remember what you said out loud?”

I struggled to remember because I’d said a lot of things then, but only to Jay. His grin made me remember immediately.

“No,” I winced and looked down at where I was sitting. “No,” I repeated as I tried to jump back into my seat, but Harris laughed as he held me, then stepped on the gas.

I cried out and banged my head against his shoulder.

“You said you were dying to sit on the driver’s lap in a car like this, but you’d prefer to sit on the lap of someone who actually knows how to drive.”

I murmured with my lips against his skin as I felt the car speed up. He had memorized every word.

“Who knew that arrogant asshole who didn’t even look at me was actually listening to what I was saying?”

He started laughing.

“I didn’t look at you? By the time you walked away from my car, I had you undressed and in five different positions in my head. And yes, I was able to do that and listen to everything you said. That smart mouth of yours was the first thing that turned me on.”

I pulled back to look at him, because there was too much erotic honesty for me to handle. My thighs began to tremble. The vibrating knot in my stomach quickly built up again, and I licked my lips.

I winced as both of his hands touched my ass and he squeezed, but the car still went flying into the street.

“Harris…” I whispered, trying to turn my head, but he caught my mouth with his and bit my lip. He lunged at me like a snake.

“Okay, I’m sorry for what I said. I was just trying to annoy you; you don’t have to kill us both now to get revenge.”

He smirked over my lips.

“Who said anything about revenge? I just want to offer you something you’re dying to taste.”

He grabbed the steering wheel and turned. We were still in his neighborhood, and I hadn’t seen any cars drive by yet, but that would change soon.

“Actually, what you said didn’t bother me at all, quite the opposite. I imagined what I’d do to you when I caught you, how you’d moan my name in this position, how you’ll sweat in my arms as the needle passed 250 miles per hour.”

I swallowed but couldn’t answer as my moans drowned out all words when Harris pulled down my bra cups and took my breast into his mouth.

I arched my back in his arms and my ass pressed against the steering wheel. I barely managed not to scream and pull his hair because his reaction had been too sudden and volcanic. He had thrown all thought out of the window.

His groan vibrated against my skin, and I finally couldn’t think about anything else; the danger, the speed I could feel without looking, the city lights flashing past us like lightning as the pleasure turned my mind to ash.

His tongue pressed against my nipple, then circled it slowly, madly, deadly, before he attacked again, taking as much of my breast into his mouth as he could.

I pulled at his hair as my head fell back, wrapping my legs tighter around him. There wasn’t enough room for what I wanted to do, for what I needed to do. Rabid. That’s how I could describe his reaction as he ripped my bra off and undid it faster than I ever had. It flew somewhere in the car while the beast went back to his attack.

I moaned out his name exactly as he had said would happen. I hadn’t even thought about it, as pleasure dictated my every action.

I felt his hand as he turned again, and I tried to figure out how the hell he could see the road with his face buried between my breasts. When I looked at him, I noticed his eyes were open and focused somewhere to the right.

There was a monitor on the dashboard, right next to my hip. He didn’t need to look through the windshield because the whole road was right on that screen, and I started laughing.

My head fell back again as my laughter filled the car as he lowered me down and his lips quickly touched my neck, kissing, and biting as I still laughed. My pulse quivered on his tongue as one of his hands kneaded my breast.

“You’re incredible,” I admitted for many reasons.

My words, and probably the trust I showed him, turned him on even more, as I felt him step on the gas pedal as the car went forward like a rocket, while Harris was as dangerous as a death trap. He was about to give in, and I didn’t know which part of me he was going to ruin first.

With his free hand, he did as he had promised. He ran it along my back, up the sweaty line of my spine, then grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me down where our lips collided like comets in the sky.

Now I was sure he couldn’t see the monitor either.

“How much do you trust me?” he asked.

“Probably more than I should.”

He smiled over my lips, then everything went black.

Darkness swallowed us.

Except for my hormones, which flared up like a swarm of demented fireflies. I couldn’t see anything because the car was engulfed by profound blackness. All I could hear was my whimpering and Harris’s breathing.

The lights were off, but the engine wasn’t.

Oh, Jesus, take the wheel!

“Focus on your pleasure, baby,” he whispered, and I tried to listen to him, because otherwise I would have become aware of what was really happening, that we were going 200 miles an hour in a car with no lights.

I couldn’t see any cars passing us, but that wasn’t good either.

It was even more dangerous than it had been in the race, as I now risked flying through the windshield. My neck ached from bending too long, and Harris noticed my discomfort and pushed me forward, bending me until my back touched the steering wheel while his hand supported my neck. It was futile to think about what my breasts looked like to him at that moment, he proved it when he took one in his mouth and sucked on it gently, going wild, just like my sounds, which came out as whimpers and then turned into moans. He squeezed and bit.

I opened my eyes as my scream filled the car.

I saw the sky.

For a moment I thought I was hallucinating from sheer ecstasy, but the image was as real as could be. From this position, I could see the sky through the windshield. I swallowed and allowed myself to relax over the steering wheel. I could feel the engine vibrating like a mighty beast, quiet but deadly. The stars were faintly visible as the sky seemed cloudy, or maybe I was just detaching myself from reality.

When his tongue reached between my breasts, I pulled him by the hair and moaned his name, moving in his lap and pressing myself against him. He pulled me into his arms and held me tightly, seconds before he suddenly braked.

Everything inside me knotted up and my brain whirled around as if it was caught in a tornado. I whimpered in fear and leaned my head towards him.

“Fuck, baby, I can’t take anymore…” he panted over my lips.

I understood all too well what he was alluding to. I could feel how hard he had become and the way he was pressing into me was painful for me, too.

He groaned in pain, and I noticed that his zipper was already open.

“I need you.”

Those simple words said so much. I dared to touch his erection; he had no underwear on, and I wasn’t ready for direct contact with his heated skin, because that’s how it was, inhumanly hot.

Harris bumped his head on the headrest and moaned.

“I’m yours, baby,” I dared to say in a whisper, knowing full well what I really meant.

“God,” he gasped, squeezing my hips.

“What… is stopping you now?”

I could only make out his figure in the darkness as he lifted his head and pressed his forehead to mine.

“Everything has changed tonight.”

I didn’t understand what that really meant and was afraid to ask.

He exhaled hard a few times, then began to calm down.

“Does it have anything to do with the fact that I’m a… that I haven’t been with anyone else before? Because I’m pretty sure you wanted to do it before you found out.”

I wanted so badly to see his face, and as if he’d read my mind, he reached forward, and the green ambient light surrounded us.

He was aroused to the point of insanity, but also serious.

“It has to do with what you have become to me, with the fact that I want us to start right this time. And yes, it also has to do with what you told me.”

“Why? Why do you…”

His lips stopped my words as he pressed them to mine.

“I have never had such a hard time giving up anything in my life, even my brain is bursting right now, but I’m doing it for you.”

I could understand that without any further explanations. He wanted me to trust him, really trust him. That was the result of me comparing myself to his sex toy.

I gave him a soft smile and took his cheeks in my palms. He was hot and sweaty.

“If it makes you feel any better, you started perfectly this time.”

He smiled, then sighed against my lips.

“It helps a fucking lot; I just hope I won’t go crazy in the meantime.”

I laughed and leaned down to kiss him, then he sped up again.

This time we stayed put, even though my breasts were still bare, and Harris hadn’t zipped up his pants yet. Our chests were glued together as he drove at the same speed as usual, his eyes fixed on the monitor. This time, he had no aggressive distractions.

The haze of arousal died down and we could both breathe normally again, although Harris was still tense and the way he kept kissing my jawline told me he wasn’t fully relaxed yet.

“Babe, where’s our child?” I asked, trying to distract him.

It worked because he burst out laughing.

“With Uncle Ty,” he replied, still laughing.

“Do I want to know what that means?” I giggled.

“I gave it to him to take care of and block it while the software runs its normal course. We should have turned it in today.”

I knew that, and I tried not to think about our grade.

“This morning, my biggest problem was how to put up with you as that doll’s parents, through another psychology class.”

He chuckled and kissed my neck.

“And what’s your biggest problem now?”

“How to get you to repeat what you did in the garage.”

I expected him to laugh, but he clamped my lip between his teeth as I felt the car go uphill. Where the hell were we?

“All you have to do is ask, baby. Anything, as much as you want.”

My breasts pressed against his chest as I hugged him tighter, overheated.

I flinched as loud thunder broke the silence and looked out the window, noticing the small drops falling on it. I turned my head to the windshield, seeing no more stars as the clouds collided and the storm unleashed.

Harris laughed as he turned on the windshield wipers.

“It couldn’t have been better.”

I smiled too.

Another dazzling light split the sky above us.

He detached himself from my neck and turned his attention to the road ahead, his hands on the steering wheel. Finally, the car stopped. It was quite difficult to figure out where we were, as I couldn’t see anything clearly, but I was eager to go out into the rain with him.

Harris seemed to be thinking the same thing as me. We smiled at each other for a few moments, then he took my bra from God knows where, pulled the straps up my arms and over my shoulders, then managed to fasten it at the back, but not before planting another kiss between my breasts.

I couldn’t get out like that, so I preferred to sit back in my seat first and then get out normally, and as soon as I was off him, he walked out of the car.

I watched him for a few seconds, mesmerized by the raindrops sliding down his skin. His head fell back, opened his arms wide, and surrendered to the wonders of nature unleashed. Lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating his body, and I heard myself whimper as the image took my breath away.

He passed in front of the car and approached me. He opened my door and leaned down towards me as he grabbed my hips. I laughed as he pulled me right into his arms, and I cried out as the cold drops touched my heated skin.

We both laughed as Harris dropped me back onto my feet. There was no mud, just grass: cold, wet, and so pleasant.

I let my head fall back too, mimicking his reaction from earlier as I felt the marvel of nature envelop my body. I closed my eyes under the cold raindrops and bit my lips in ecstasy. I should have felt cold, but I didn’t.

I hadn’t felt this free and happy in a long time. Probably never before.

I looked at him as we were surrounded by darkness, broken only by the headlights and lightning bolts that constantly lit up the sky. I no longer needed to see him, to feel him, to feel his power and attraction, to feel how my body reacted to him.

He was more beautiful than I could bear as the drops of water dripped over his hair and onto his face. Even the rain adored him, it worshiped him. Lightning lit up his body again, highlighting everything that was perfect about him, almost as if nature couldn’t get enough of admiring him.

And this man was mine.

He wanted to be mine and was capable of making sacrifices to show me that the games were over.

I was already his. I’d probably been his since the first time he’d touched me, since the first time he’d seen me and decided he wanted me.

I clung to his neck, and he grabbed me by the waist. The emotional charge of the moment brought tears to my eyes, but they could not be separated from the rain.

He smiled at me in the most wonderful way, with a softness that had nothing to do with the scary man from this morning. His lips brushed gently over mine, and I felt the droplets of water enter my mouth as the rain tangled into our kiss. My hair was soaked and stuck to my back as Harris ran his fingers through it like he was playing with a silk ribbon.

“There’s something good about the distance you have put between us these past few days.”

I looked at him curiously and blinked away the water that had collected on my eyelashes. The thunder wasn’t loud enough to stop me from hearing him.

“I never would have found out how much I wanted you if you hadn’t brutally kept me away from you for so long.”

He touched my lips for just a second, with infinite gentleness.

“What I told you is true, baby. I have never missed anyone before, but what you did to me nearly drove me insane.”

“I know exactly what that feels. That’s why I’m here now, intent on giving you everything, because I know what it’s like without you.”

His smile slipped past my defenses and into my soul; he kissed me, then took me in his arms and walked away from the car.

“This is my favorite place,” Harris whispered before letting go of me.

I turned my head and just whimpered.

God, we were… we were on the edge of a cliff, very high above the city, which could be mistaken for a sea of lights in the distance.

Harris turned me around so I could take in the amazing view as he pressed his stomach against my back and hugged me from behind.

I looked around and could make out a few trees, but when I looked down, there was nothing but a dark void. We weren’t just far away from home, I also felt like I was in another galaxy.

I turned my head and looked at Harris, who was staring at the city, fascinated by his home. His eyes read wonder, kindness, maturity and freedom.

I knew this was the real him, the one who was holding me now, no matter how many of his faces I’d seen or how many he was still hiding, this was his real one – the real one for me – and I knew immediately that I couldn’t deny myself what I was feeling any longer, what was slowly destroying me at a devastating rate.

I was falling in love with him.

His absence and the pain of missing him had shown me just that as I had torn myself to pieces to keep away from him.

Now that I was in his arms, everything inside me had been rebuilt.

I had never felt more alive, freer, or happier than in that moment.

Maybe I wasn’t as cold as I thought.

I turned my face to the city and tried not to think of the consequences, of what would happen if I was wrong, if this was just another strategy to get what he wanted from me.

He could have done it earlier, since I’d given him my consent, but he’d stopped. For me.

I had to trust him.

I needed to trust him; I had to trust what he felt for me because I knew there would be many obstacles ahead.

Tonight he told me a little secret, but there was much more. He had told me three years ago what his job was, but he hadn’t mentioned anything about the present.

No feelings and attachments, so no pain and goodbyes. That’s what I’d brutally carved into my mind when my mother stomped all over my heart, but I knew that disappointment coming from Harris would hurt a lot more.

His coming into my life could either be a blessing or a curse.

Only time would tell.