Two Purple Gloves (A Pear Street Christmas #2)

CHAPTER NINE

“The most beautiful, sexiest, fuckable woman.”

LISA

I ’m sat up in bed, propped up by my pillows against the headboard with my latest romance book in front of me when Harry makes it upstairs. He opens our bedroom door, Mary’s milk bottle in hand, and stops dead when he sees me, a bemused smile tugging at his lips.

“What are you doing still awake?”

“You said you’d be up soon, I wanted to wait.” I shrug, closing my book and placing it down on my bedside table. I see his eyes flick to the cover briefly before coming back to me.

“Sorry, babe,” he says, stepping further into the room and gently closing the door behind him. “I was just pottering, making sure we’re set for the morning.”

I smirk up at him as he steps over to Mary’s travel cot, set up in the corner of our room. “You were ticking things off my list, weren’t you?”

“I may have done one or two bits here and there.”

“I love you, Harry Forest, you know that, yeah?”

After stroking Mary’s mop of brown hair from her forehead and leaving her milk on the side, ready for when she wakes in the next hour or so, he comes over to our bed and sits on my side by my feet. His brow pinched and his lip folded between his teeth in thought.

“You okay?” I ask, sitting straighter and reaching for his arm .

“I’m fine.” He sighs, turning to face me, pain in his eyes. “Lis, what’s going on with you? I know something’s bothering you. If it’s something I’ve done, I’m sorry. I’ve tried to think back but I don’t know what it is. But if you tell me what it is, I’ll do everything I can to make it better.”

My heart breaks a little. This is what Nel was talking about. He thinks this is his fault? The worry etched into every contour of his face tugs at my chest and all I can do is shake my head. “Harry, you haven’t done anything wrong. You really think I wouldn’t tell you if you’d pissed me off?”

He shrugs looking all kinds of uncomfortable. “I don’t know. I mean, I didn’t think so, but I know something has been bothering you, and you haven’t talked to me about it and I was worried that…” He trails off, resting his elbows on his knees and hanging his head.

I shuffle out from under the covers, coming to sit next to him and gently cupping his cheek to bring his face to mine. “You were worried what?”

“Worried I’d said or done something wrong, and you didn’t feel you could talk to me because I’m not so good with talking about stuff like that.”

I frown at him. “Harry, you and I have never had a problem communicating.” He chews on his bottom lip and won’t meet my eye and a thought crosses my mind. “Is this because of you and Nel talking last year?”

He swallows hard and his voice cracks slightly over his next words. “I honestly never knew how much I was hurting her when I used to joke and tease her. Her whole life I thought we were close and just had a bantering dynamic but for years she’d avoided spending time with me, with us , because I made her feel like shit about herself. I couldn’t bear it to discover the relationship we have isn’t what I’d always thought it was.”

I can’t help the smirk curving my lips. “Babe, you know our relationship is slightly different to your relationship with your sister, right?”

“You think?” he asks, completely straight faced .

“Pretty sure.” I nod. “Harry,” I say softly, bringing both hands to his face now. “You and I are solid. We can talk to each other about anything and if you were being a douche, I’d be the first to tell you.”

Turning his head, he kisses my palm. “Then what’s been bothering you, Lis? And why haven’t you talked to me?”

My chin trembles. “Because I’m embarrassed.”

“About what?” He pulls me to him until I’m forced to straddle his lap. When I look down and say nothing, he crooks a finger beneath my chin and forces my face to tilt to his. “Angel,” he says with stern gentleness. “Talk to me.”

“I’m afraid I’m losing my looks and that I’m not attractive to you anymore.” My voice comes out in barely a whisper, and I feel the burn of tears, that I try to blink away.

Harry says nothing, his mouth opening and closing several times as though trying to form words but failing. His eyes dart between mine, searching for something that he clearly doesn’t find as his brow dips. “Lis…I…” He shakes his head, unbelieving. “How long have you been feeling like this?”

I can’t stop the tears falling or the tremble of my lip. “Since Mary was born.”

Reaching up to cup my face with both his hands, Harry swipes at the wetness on my cheeks with the pads of his slightly calloused thumbs. “Lisa,” he says softly, sadness tinging his usually steady voice. He takes a deep breath as though calming himself. “Talk me through this.”

I snivel and wipe my nose on the back of my hand. “My body didn’t go back into shape after the c-section, I have a belly overhang.”

He looks down, even though he couldn’t see what I’m talking about from this position. Frowning deeper, he shakes his head again. “And you think that makes you unattractive to me?”

Instead of answering, I continue listing. “My boobs have sagged; my nipples seem to be pointing to the floor nowadays. My hair is thinning. My skin is dull, and I’m getting wrinkles. ”

“Okay.” Harry sighs, stopping me from saying anything more. “Just give me a minute here.” He looks away, a thoughtful tilt to his head.

When he takes more than a few seconds to say anything, I start to get nervous, fidgeting on his lap and pinching at the fabric of his t-shirt on his shoulders. “What? Why aren’t you saying anything?”

He huffs a breath. “I’m trying to think of the best thing to say because I know if I say the things that are actually going through my head, they’ll be the wrong things to say, and I’ll definitely make this whole thing worse.”

My lips wobbles and my chest aches. “What’s going through your head?”

He shakes his head with a disappointed downturn to his mouth. “No, it’s not the right thing to say.”

Thinking the worst, I push the tears gathering in my eyes out with a slow blink. “Just tell me,” I whisper.

“That this is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.” He turns back to face me, an unimpressed look on his face.

I blink at him, my brow dropping with the weight of my confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Babe, you’re the most brilliant, most caring, smartest, loving person I have ever known. You also happen to be the most beautiful, sexiest, fuckable woman I have ever laid eyes on.”

My mouth drops open, and I close it, only for it to fall open again. “Bu-but…maybe…once, I was. Now I’m—”

“The most beautiful, sexiest, fuckable woman with a brilliant mind, caring heart, and loving personality to ever exist.” Despite his completely hyperbolic statement, he stares at me with an intense sincerity that pins me in place and makes my eyes burn with fresh tears. He holds my face in his hands and pulls me to him, kissing me softly and sweetly before dipping his tongue between my parted lips and turning the kiss into something so much more.

I can feel every swipe of his tongue as if it were between my legs, one hand comes away from my face to grip my butt with vicious fingers. My hips move of their own volition, grinding into his hardening length. A small groan leaves me as I kiss him back with equal vigour, my fingers raking through his hair, messing up the golden strands.

“Angel,” Harry groans pulling away from our first passionate kiss in what feels like forever, and I pout. “I will never not be attracted to you. You will always be my perfect woman.”

“Then why haven’t we had sex in ten months?” I ask in the smallest voice I have, looking down between us to avoid eye contact.

Once again, he pulls my chin up with one bent finger. “I knew you were feeling a little off after Mary was born. You kept pulling away from physical contact and you were wearing the really baggy pyjamas with the holes in, and I very much got the message.”

I huff out a humourless laugh.

“You weren’t feeling it, and I didn’t want to put any kind of pressure on you, I told myself I would wait for you to initiate something, so I knew you were ready.” He sighs. “But you never did, ten months later, here we are.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

“Babe, you don’t need to apologise. I wanted you to feel comfortable and be completely ready when we had sex again.”

“I was ready,” I say. “I’ve been so horny.” The admission comes out on a desperate breath, wide eyes pleading him to now rectify the situation.

“I figured that when I walked in on you with your book boyfriend the other week.” He raises one brow and I feel my cheeks heat as I fight a smirk.

“Then why didn’t you do something then?”

He tilts his head from side to side. “That’s when I decided you were angry with me. You obviously wanted to come, you just didn’t want me to get you there.” He slumps slightly .

“That’s not true, Harry. I want you.” I kiss the corner of his mouth. “I want you so much.” I kiss the opposite corner. “Like, all the time.”

“I’ve been listening to your audiobooks,” he breathes as my kisses traverse down his neck.

I freeze, lips still pressed to his warm skin. “You what?”

“I started listening to your audiobooks. Fuck, Lis. I’ve been so fucking turned on.”

“Oh my god,” I gasp in awed bemusement, leaning back to look into his deep green eyes. “That’s so hot.”

He moves so quickly, I don’t even know what’s happened until I’m on my back on the mattress and Harry is leaning over me, sucking kisses onto my jaw, neck, and collar. “Goddamnit, if I knew that all these times I was fucking my fist in the shower, you were just in the next room wishing I was fucking you instead…” His lips find mine and we kiss deeply, teeth clashing and tongues lashing.

“Just don’t be surprised by the changes,” I say when we break apart for breath.

“We’ve been over this, I love everything about you.”

“You haven’t really seen my body in the last few—”

“Lisa,” he interrupts with a firm tone. “We may not have had sex in a while, but I know your body. In all its forms.”

“I’m a woman not a transformer, Harry,” I huff.

He snorts in a way that some people might find unattractive, but I’ve always found very sexy. “I may not have been in close proximity, but I’ve seen your body. I’ve watched, drooling, as you changed each morning or got ready for bed each night. I’ve seen you in the shower and in the bath and believe me, I was taking it all in. All these…changes, you’re worried about, I have to say, babe, I haven’t noticed them. When I’m looking at you, I’m not looking at how tight your tummy is or how high your tits sit. I’m looking at all the soft skin I want to kiss, all the places I want to stroke with my fingertips.”

He gently cups my face as he says, “Wrinkles? I love every one of them, they show how many years I’ve had your happiness. They only show when you smile, and I love to make you smile. Your hair looks no different to me, but hey, I’m just a stupid bloke, I don’t know about this stuff. I think you have stunning hair, but if you’re not happy, do some research and see if there’s anything you can do to get it back to what you’re comfortable with. Whatever, you need, babe. Just make sure you’re doing it for you, not because you think I need it to be attracted to you, because I’m already painfully attracted to you.”

I stroke over the stubble adorning his jaw and look into his beautiful, kind eyes. “Harry,” I breathe, tears falling from my eyes and down my temple. “How’d I get so lucky?”

He shakes his head. “I’m the lucky one, Lis. I’m the one who can’t believe I get to wake up to the perfect girl every day.”

He dips to push his mouth against mine and I feel the rigid length of his cock against my thigh. I reach between us to grip him, wrapping my fingers around him as much as I can with his chinos still on.

“Fuck, babe. Don’t tease me, if you keep doing that, I’m going to pin you down and fuck you with less respect than you deserve.”

I moan at the filth in his words, and he correctly takes that as an invitation, shoving his hand into my sleep shorts and pushing them down as I try to work the button of his trousers open. Just as I’m able to push them down to his hips, a cry breaks out from across the room. We both pull apart with frustrated grunts and Harry climbs to stand, pulling his clothes back into place before heading over to the cot. Mary’s mouth is turned down into an almost perfect semi-circle as her eyes crinkle. Harry lifts her from her bed, holding her close to his shoulder and bouncing slightly as he walks back over to me. I reach to take her from him, but he shakes his head.

Sitting on his side of the bed, he leans back against the headboard and offers her the bottle of milk he bought up earlier. She grabs it greedily and starts drinking like we haven’t fed her for days .

“Sweet girl,” he sighs. “I love you kid, but you just ruined what was turning out to be a very good night.”

I giggle and climb back into bed, sitting close to my husband as he takes care of our daughter. Mary sees me and takes the bottle away from her mouth to give me a joyous smile, milk spilling out of her grin, making Harry and I laugh. “You’re forgiven, baby girl,” I tell her.

“Hm,” Harry grunts. “Jury’s still out.”

According to my bedside clock, it’s twenty minutes later when Harry gently places her back down in her cot. My eyes open from where I’d been dozing, the lids heavy and dropping closed no matter how hard I try to keep them open. Harry strips down to his boxers—I remember when we used to sleep completely naked but once the boys were big enough to reach our door handles, that stopped immediately—and slips under the covers, pulling me into his arms, my back pressed to his chest.

“Shall we pick up where we left off?” I ask, but it comes out over a rather unladylike yawn.

Harry laughs into my hair, tickling my neck. “I love you,” he whispers. “You’re tired, baby. Sleep now.”

“I love you too. Maybe we’ll try again tomorrow?” I ask hopefully.

He hums in amusement. “I’m counting down the hours.