Page 253 of Obsession

I walked quietly behind him, with a thousand words in my head but afraid to speak them.

Although I was sure of how much I loved him, he had been braver than me in this regard. I never expected it to happen like this, that he would be the one to say it first.

I knew that one day I would find the courage, that I would dare to tell him how I felt about him, but I hadn’t imagined a response. Never.

Why was I still afraid to tell him that I loved him too?

Because he had said it first. Because he would feel like I felt obligated to say it too.

Damn it! I had wasted my chance, but I also didn’t want to wait any longer, I had the urgent need to shout out loud how much I loved him.

And that shocked me to the darkest corner of my heart: How much I loved him, despite the danger I was in and the danger to come. Despite the enemies who had long been waiting for an opportunity for revenge.

They had been waiting for me.

If I analyzed the situation carefully, I was probably the last one to know that Harris loved me. His friends probably already knew... so did his enemies.

When we were out of the cemetery, Harris held the car door open for me, and I took off my jacket before I got in and started shaking even harder. I had no way of warming up as the water was dripping from my clothes onto the seat. He took off his jacket and T-shirt before getting behind the wheel, starting the engine and turning on the heater. The green ambient light sparkled on his features, on the strands of hair he had pushed back, and on his sculpted abdomen.

This man loved me.

That was the only thing going through my mind, the only thing I could think about as I tried to convince myself that what had happened earlier was real and that I hadn’t hallucinated because of the cold or gotten high because of the hair dye.

Harris revved the engine, pulled out of the parking space and turned the car around to face the street. I hugged myself and blew warm air into my T-shirt, but nothing helped. The hot air was flowing over my body because Harris had turned the heating up full blast and it was coming from all sides. Even my chair had warmed up, but I was still shivering.

Harris pulled over to the side of the road and reached for me.

“Take these off, baby.”

With all the gentleness in the world, he grabbed the hem of my T-shirt and helped me take it off, then pulled down my bra straps. I hesitated for a moment and looked through the windshield.

“No one can see you in here, you know that,” he whispered.

He had the perfect way of speaking at a moment like this, so I nodded and allowed him to remove my bra.

He threw the wet clothes in the back seat and pushed me against the door. I giggled as he lifted my legs and took off my wet shoes. He unzipped my jeans and pulled them down my legs. Eventually my ankles landed over his shoulders and he turned his head to the side to kiss my calf before massaging it. His hands, I couldn’t understand how, were warm.

“You’re so cold, fuck. I shouldn’t have left you there for so long.”

“I’m much better now,” I smiled and tried to get up, but Harris stopped me as his fingers hooked my underwear.

“These are wet too,” he whispered without any derogatory tone, but full of fear.

I could see his face perfectly in the green light. He knew that if he took my underwear off, I would be completely naked, and he lacked self-control in situations like this.

I was the one who slid the panties down my legs, and when I reached my calves, Harris took over. He pulled it all the way down each leg, far too slowly, as the electric current in my womb exploded like an atomic bomb. I’d been crazy about him before, but after the last few hours, after everything he’d said, after I’d convinced myself he wasn’t a maniacal criminal but a scary andfierce protector, nothing in the world could keep me away from him.

I wanted everything from him, out of him.

I pulled back and sat up, then reached for him. I kissed him before he could say anything and wrapped my arms around his neck as I snuggled into him. I could have sworn I could feel his heartbeat as its frantic rhythm beat against my chest where mine was beating at the same speed.

With one hand, I unzipped his pants, and Harris pushed his chair back so he could lift his hips and remove them. I helped him, then threw his boots onto the back seat as well. Because of his height, it was more difficult for him than for me, but he managed.

When he had got his pants off, he tried to pull me back towards him, but I wouldn’t let him. I tried to pull his boxers down his thighs while he struggled for a few seconds and swallowed.

“These are wet too,” I repeated his words without fear, a seductive smile on my face.

He looked at me as if he’d lost his mind.

---