But I knew it was just a dream. In dreams, you can have anything.
When you wake up, it’s all gone.
I didn’t expect to wake up with Harris sleeping beside me.
His skin was dotted with hickeys, as if he’d been thoroughly ravaged by a succubus all night. I poked his cheek. The touch was real. I shot up in bed, my heart pounding.
looked around. Where was I? This… this was my old bedroom at the Croft mansion. It was exactly as I had
eft it five years ago, as if I had never been gone.
The only difference was Harris, sleeping in my bed.
A Harris who looked like he’d been thoroughly… appreciated.
Panic seized me. I scrambled to pick up my clothes from the floor, ready to make a run for it. But as soon as my foot touched the ground, a hand shot out and pulled me back into bed.
Harris wrapped his arms around me from behind, holding me tight, his voice thick with desperation.
“Taylor, don’t go. If I let you leave again, I’ll go
insane.”
He rolled me onto my back, pinning me beneath him, and kissed me, a soft, pleading kiss. “You promised last night. No more running. You’d let me pursue you properly. You said I have to chase you for as long as you
were in pain. Don’t you remember?”
I… I really didn’t.
“You’re tricking me, Harris. You said I could only ever be your sister. What is this? Let go of me. Mmph-don’t
kiss me.”
Hove Tavlor” he said
Chopter
his voice raw. “Why are you the only one who doesn’t believe it?”
I stared up at him, at the genuine anguish in his expression. A lump formed in my throat. “Well, you never told me,” I mumbled. “How was I supposed to know?”
The shadows in his eyes instantly brightened. He asked, his voice cautious, “Taylor, if I tell you now… is it too
late?”
I clenched my fists, suppressing the wild leap of joy in my chest, and tried to sound casual. “Who knows? You’ll have to tell me first before I can decide.”
Harris suddenly sat up, his expression solemn. He looked more nervous than a man about to propose. He pulled me up into a sitting position, then slid off the bed and knelt before me.
“I’m sorry, Taylor. It’s my fault,” he said, his voice earnest. “It’s my fault my world was too small, my fault wasn’t strong enough to get the message to you. I let you suffer alone for so many years. I’m telling you now I don’t want you to be my sister. I want you to be my one true love, the only girl I will ever love for the rest o my life. Please… let me chase you. Can I?”
I wanted to cry. Was this real? Or was it just a line to make me stay? I was afraid to believe, afraid it was all
mirage.
“We’ll see how you perform,” I said, trying to sound aloof.
Harris leaned in close, his lips brushing my ear, and whispered shamelessly, “Can I let you tie me to the pian
again tonight?”
“Tonight, I want to be in the study.”
Crap. What did I just say? I immediately clamped a hand over my mouth and coughed awkwardly. “I mear tonight I want to read in your study. I always loved reading in there as a kid, you know.”
Harris’s low, seductive laugh vibrated against my ear. “Of course. Wherever you want. My entire being i yours, down to the last strand of my hair. And Taylor… you’re right not to agree so easily. Don’t let me off th hook. You suffered for so long. Now it’s my turn to grovel. I deserve it.”
I covered his mouth, not wanting him to blame himself. Matters of the heart are complicated; it wasn’t hi fault. The fact that he was returning my feelings, that we could finally meet in the middle… my heart felt lik
it was overflowing with honey.
