Page 11 of Secret of His Soulmate

“You mean Ivy didn’t tell you about our talk this afternoon?”

“Nope. She said she talked to you and when I asked what it was about, she said it was none of my business. That it was between you, her, and Jovie.”

“Ivy’s my new favorite St. James,” I joke. “I’m not sure what’s happening with Harper. It’s different.”

Harper and her girls start walking toward us and a smile spreads across my face. Wilder places his hand on my shoulder. “Whatever it is, you look happy. I hope it works out the way you want it to.”

I nod, grateful that no matter what, my family is always on my side. We might get all up in each other’s business to an annoying degree, but there is no better feeling than having my brothers and Clara in my corner.

The other group stands next to us, and Harper asks, “Where should we start?”

“Wilder, Hunter, and I will help our crew with the furniture. We can move it to the backyard, and you can tell us what you want to do with each thing out there. Why don’t you guys start in your bedroom or office? You can pack up the stuff you want to take to my place first.”

“Okay.”

Everyone starts to walk away, but I grab Harper's hand and pull her toward me. Once everyone is inside, I place a quick kiss on her lips. “I hope that was okay.”

She pushes her hair behind her hair as a blush spreads across her face, “Yeah, it was okay,” she whispers.

“You handling all this?”

“Honestly, I’m a little scared to go inside the house. I love my little home and the idea of it being destroyed makes my stomach hurt. I know that it can all be fixed, but it will never be the same. Ya know?”

“I promise we will make it exactly what you want it to be,” I say the right words, but after just a few kisses I want to tell her that she can just live with me forever. There’s no reason to fix her house. She can move her things and live with me, but that would be sure to send her running.

“I trust you to do whatever I want, Miles, it’s just the way it goes, you know? Once something has been fundamentally altered it’s impossible to get it back to the way it was before.”

Before I can ask if she’s talking about more than just her home, Effie yells from inside the house that she has a question about something, and Harper goes inside.

Has our friendship been fundamentally changed by a few intimate moments? Will it ever be the same— is that even what we want? I know I want something more, but I still don’t know what Harper wants. Maybe we need to press pause on everythingbut our friendship. She’s going through a traumatic experience and that makes people do crazy things. Maybe that’s all this has been on her part and it makes my chest hurt to think that maybe I’m pushing her into something she doesn’t want because she thinks it’s the only way to preserve our friendship.

Chapter 11

Harper

It tookthe rest of the day and part of the evening to clear out my house, even with all the help. Wilder and Miles both estimated that it would be two to three months minimum before my house is fully ready. They did admit that I would be able to move back in before that, but if I want to wait for it to be finished, I will be waiting for months.

Miles’s guest room and office are now full of my boxes. Surely, he’s regretting his offer to let me stay here since I’ve all but taken over his house. Titan has taken over one of the big fluffy chairs in the family room and he may be a tiny dog, but he likes a lot of personal territory.

I open the first box to start unpacking. I don’t want to do this. Tears start to gather in my eyes. Why am I letting all of this get to me? I’m always the tough one. Yes, it sucks that my house flooded and that everything in my life has been disrupted, but I have a huge support network. I’m fine. I have Miles St. James. Nothing bad can happen when I have him in my corner.

But what if he wasn’t in my corner anymore? What if we blur these lines between friendship and something more and that lands us firmly in the land of used-to-be friends?

I stand and pace the room for a minute, my unpacking completely forgotten. I need to decide what I want. Do I want to put my friendship with Miles in jeopardy or do I want to stay firmly in the friend zone with him forever? That would mean eventually watching him fall in love with someone else, marry, and have a family. Could I be okay with that? Six months ago, my answer would have been absolutely, that I would love to see it happen. Three months ago, I was hoping he would find someone. I know he wants to settle down like his brothers.

Another thought pops into my head, one I hate myself for having, but what if he’s just romantically thinking about me now because I’m convenient? He’s never expressed this kind of interest before and now I’m here in his house, we get along, we have everything in common… maybe he just wants to settle.

“Gah!” I yell, louder than I intend to.

“You okay?” Miles asks from another room.

“Yes, sorry.”Please don’t come check on me. Please don’t come check on me.

A soft knock on my door dashes my hopes of him letting it go. “Come in.”

Miles walks in looking amazing in jeans, a soft grey T-shirt, and bare feet. When did I start thinking bare feet on men were sexy? He’s carrying a beer in one hand and a glass of white wine in the other.

“I thought you could use this,” he says as he hands me the glass of wine. “It’s been a long day.”

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