AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A hand closed warmly over mine. With his other, he touched my face ever so softly.
“What we did that night was amazing,” he said, adding a gentle smile. “Or rather, what we almost did.”
I let out a nervous chuckle. “We did a lot, actually.”
“True,” he agreed. “But Harper, I think of that night all the time. I think about what you said. About how the friendship was worth more than any short-term pleasure we might get from—”
“I was stupid,” I cut in. “And I was wrong. Look what happened. We lost the friendship anyway.”
“Only because I foolishly rebounded,” he insisted. “And that had nothing to do with you, or me, or—”
“Adrian, you told me you loved me,” I said.
“I know.”
“Right in the middle of… I mean, almost in the middle of—”
“I know,” he repeated.
“And then I balked,” I went on. “I pushed you away. I was scared — no, I was pretty fucking terrified, actually. But not because you came clean about your feelings. Not because I was afraid those words just destroyed our friendship.”
He looked confused, now. His eyebrows came together, and even those were magnificent.
“But that’s what you told me.”
I nodded glumly. “I know that’s what I told you… but it’s not what I meant. Shit, when do young girls ever say what they mean?”
There was an agonizing beat of silence. It went on for too long.
“What was it, then?”
I turned my head to look directly at him. I owed him that much.
“I was scared because I felt those same feelings, too.”
For a long moment Adrian did nothing. Centimeter by centimeter however, his mouth dropped open.
“W—Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I was young and dumb and confused,” I shrugged. “Back then I lived behind a whole series of walls. It might’ve well have been a castle!” Guiltily, I shook my head. “I was good at putting them up, too. Great at it, in fact.”
I let out an exasperated sigh. This part wasn’t going the way I wanted.
“A couple of days went by, and then a week. And you still hadn’t called me.”
“I was afraid to call you,” he admitted. “I wanted to give you space.”
“I know. But then it got…”
“Weird.”
“Yes.”
Adrian leaned back against the couch, stretching his massive body in an unintentionally sexy arch. I saw the delicious ripple of a whole sea of abs, straining beneath his shirt. His biceps and triceps popped out of his too-short sleeves. They looked sculpted and beautiful and hard as rocks.
But he was happy now, even smiling fondly. There was no more confusion in his placid expression. Nothing in the way of ill will.
“We were kids,” Adrian shrugged, folding his hands behind his head. “But we were friends, first and foremost. I loved you then, and I love you now. Most of all, I love that you showed up tonight.” His grin widened, and I felt myself melt into my side of the couch.
