AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I shrug a shoulder.
“It is,” I say. “Using the money that I’ve earned to treat the woman that I–”
She shakes her head adamantly, cutting me off, but her hands are still on my shoulders, keeping us together. Showing me that she’s not mad at me.
Just hurt.
“It’s not the money,” she says. “It’s the fact that you hid it from me. If you don’t want to celebrate, that’s fine – I get it. It’s kind of girly and you’re, like, the most manly man that I’ve ever met. But I just… I hate it when people withhold the truth.”
She winces, like she’s said too much, and she clambers off of me before I can stop her, clicking open the passenger door and then jumping out, heading straight for her door.
I stare after her in confusion and I try to make sense of what just happened. I watch her unlock her door and close it quietly behind herself.
Maybe it was dumb for me to not mention it to her, but it sounded like she understood my indifference about celebrating. So what the hell is it?
I mull over her words, the frosty air coming off the snow pile drifting in through the still-open passenger door.
It’s as I’m leaning over to click it shut that I realise.
I hate it when people withhold the truth.
I drop my head into my hands, groaning, and then I’m shoving my wallet and the stray condom back into my jeans, grabbing the jumper and jacket that I gave to her, and throwing myself out into the snow.
How could I be so fucking stupid? Of course she hates it when people withhold the truth. Because withholding the truth is the same thing as lying. Which is why she fled to Pine Hills in the first place.
Because that’s exactly what her own sister and fiancé did to her during her literal engagement.
I’ve just given her a reason to maintain her trust issues over the dumbest thing of all freaking time.
Hellno. I slam my door shut, lock up, and then crunch my way through the icy blanketing, my boots sinking so deep that the bottoms of my jeans darken with water.
I’m at her door in under ten seconds, giving it a quick rap as I rest my forehead against the pane. I’m not about to let my blind ignorance ruin the best day that I’ve had in over a year.
“Harper,” I call through the wood. “Harper, I’m an idiot. Please open the door.”
She leaves me to sweat for another minute, my balls about freezing off as the winter chill penetrates the denim. Then I hear the sound of her undoing the bolt and the door opens up a millimetre.
A sparkly eye appears in the gap, her soft hair falling over her face as she whispers, “Go on.”
If I wasn’t so pissed at myself, that would’ve actually made me laugh.
“I’m an idiot,” I repeat. “It was the dumbest thing to not tell you, and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Harper. Going forward I swear, even if something’s not a big deal to me I’ll tell you about it. I’ll tell you every goddamn thing. I never want you to think that I’m hiding anything from you, good or bad. It’s not in my nature, Harper – I would never. I swear, I would never–”
She opens the door fully and I immediately have her in my arms, her breasts soft and warm against my chest, her lips urgent but gentle against my own.
“I know,” she murmurs, not pulling away even to talk. I keep kissing her as she continues, “And you don’t have to do that. They’re my issues and I’ll deal with them.” She smiles against my mouth and whispers, “It’s no biggie.”
I pull back only so that she can take a look at the seriousness in my eyes.
“It is, Harper. Your trust is a big deal to me. And I’m going to earn it, so help me God.”
She laughs and kisses the centre of my pecs, making my heart damn near burst out of my chest.
“You speak so small town-y,” she whispers, smiling.
I run my hands down over her ass and then pick her up with an easy swoop.
“You got your key to lock up?” I ask her, and she shakes her head.
