Page 59 of Obsession

“I’d suggest you stay for dessert, but I’m afraid of what might happen, so you can take it with you,” I held a wrapped peanut and chocolate cookie out to him. “It’s not a kiss, but it’s much sweeter.”

He took the cookie and smiled.

“I doubt it,” he was too close again and I felt my butt hit the table as I took a step back. “Don’t talk about kissing while I’m using my last ounce of sanity to refrain from it.”

I pushed my hair back and sighed, I kept doing things that got me into this situation with him.

“I see, so…”

“How bad would a kiss actually be?” He interrupted me.

I stared at him, but he looked at my lips, then those dark eyes met mine.

“It would be very bad, Harris, because you won’t stop at one, and you know it.”

His eyes closed as he took a deep breath, and he moved even closer.

“I want every inch of you, and I still don’t know how the fuck I got here so fast. I saw you for the first time yesterday and you have already managed to scramble my brain. If you think this is how I usually behave, you’re wrong.”

I didn’t want to know any more details, not when he was only inches away from my lips.

“You provoke me, then you push me back, things that usually piss me off, but when you do them, it darkens my thoughts, and not in anger. All I want is…”

He didn’t get to finish because his phone started ringing in his pocket, maybe it was for the best. His lips pressed into a tight line as he took it out. I saw Ty’s name on the display and remembered that he’d called him earlier about the guy in the parking lot.

Harris didn’t answer, he just put the phone back in his pocket.

He surprised me when he leaned over and kissed me on the forehead. That gesture left me breathless, worse than when he sat me down on the tabletop.

“Thanks for dinner, it was absolutely delicious. And I’m sorry I didn’t keep my promise,” he said, his lips still pressed to my forehead.

Without waiting for my reply, he walked past me and left the kitchen. The front door opened and closed again immediately. Seconds later, I heard the strong purring of the engine.

It disappeared as if it had never been there, as if I had imagined everything.

I was left alone with the rain, my heartbeat, and a thousand thoughts about how much falling for Harris would destroy me.

I went to my room and undressed, then threw the clothes straight into the washing machine. I quickly changed into dry sweatpants and a tank top so I would not catch a cold, and I put all my strength into processing what had happened so I would not let this boy take my mind away faster than possible, but it was like I could still feel his lips hovering over mine.

I had never felt so relieved and disappointed at the same time that nothing happened. But Harris was such a good player. I didn’t think him capable of what had happened in the store anymore. It had certainly been a coincidence, but the one who took me home was him, the guy in the kitchen was the real one, and he managed to take my breath away, to bring me to the brink of madness, far too quickly. Even when he was supposed to be abstaining.

I found that he was capable of making himself liked, to joke and smile, to be attentive and not just see me as a new sex toy. This bizarre attraction between us wasn’t just difficult for me, it seemed to make him feel the same way. I couldn’t put all the blame on him because I knew very well what thoughts were going through my head when I looked at him and had him so close to me.

If I’d really wanted to, I could have gotten rid of him and I was sure he would have stopped. But he read me, sensed me and was probably more aware of what he was causing than I was. That’s why I was sure he wouldn’t leave me alone any time soon.

He was mesmerizing, mysterious, strong, seductive… the complete package for a quick death.

I couldn’t believe that after seeing him for the first time yesterday, he had already almost kissed me three times and touched me in a way that other couples waited maybe months for. I was prey for him, and I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn’t the only one, and that while he was whispering maddening words to me, he had a real girlfriend.

Harris was good at it, so frighteningly good, and I was so frighteningly easy to fool, something that had never happened to me until him.

I had to gather my thoughts before I ended up as a name on his list. Not even that.

As I ate my cookie, alone in the empty house, I couldn’t help but think of him doing the same and how I would have loved eating the cream from his lips.

God, I’m even stupider than I thought.

I left my dad a note on the fridge about the food I’d saved for him and then went back upstairs to take a well-deserved shower.

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