Page 151 of Off Pitch

“So charming,” she says softly, looking up at me with an unmistakable look in her eyes.

Love.

I lean down to kiss her before we stop swaying, and I pull her against me with my arms wrapped low around her back.

“Harlow,” I say, “do you know how much you mean to me?”

“Yeah,” she replies with a soft smile. “I think I do.”

Just then, a breeze blows by, unobstructed by anything when we’re so high up. She shivers against me.

“Do you want to head inside, Lo?” I ask.

Harlow nods in response, and we walk off toward the elevator.

The descent on the elevator is quick since my penthouse is just one floor below. We could have taken the stairs, but I didn’t want her to trip in her heels.

When the elevator doors open, we take a few steps to my penthouse door and walk inside, closing the door behind us. As soon as it clicks, Harlow leans back against the wall, grabbing my shirt by the collar and bringing my mouth down to meet hers.

I return the kiss as she moves to drape her arms over my shoulders, and mine grab her low on her hips. I feel her tease her tongue lightly across my bottom lip, so I open it, and she slides inside. When she softly moans against my lips, any semblance of restraint I had snaps.

I kiss her harder, hands slowly roaming her body. She slides her hands down and begins to untuck my shirt, pulling it free from my slacks. Before she can start working the buttons at the front of my shirt, I grab her wrist, stopping her.

“Harlow,” I rasp.

She looks at me, mortified. “Oh my God! I’m so sorry! I just assumed-”

I cut her off. “Don’t you dare start thinking this is because I don’t want you, Lo.” Her expression eases. “Ireallyfucking want you. But…“ I take a deep breath. “But I don’t know if I really deserve to have you.”

“Are you still hung up on last month?” she asks. “Obviously, you don’t think everything is fake anymore, or we wouldn’t be where we are now. I’m not worrying about what you said then because all that matters is right now. And right now, I just want to be with you, Knox.”

I softly smile. “That’s all I want, Harlow. To be with you.Actuallybe with you.”

Her smile is so bright that even the sun can’t compare. “You want to be with me?”

“Yes,” I reply, brushing her hair out of her face. “More than anything. I want to be able to call you my girlfriend and for it to actually mean something. I want you to be mine.”

“I am yours, Knox,” she says before pressing her soft lips against mine again. “I’ve been yours. And if you’re asking me to be your real girlfriend, not just your fake one, that’s a very easy yes.”

This time, I kissher, letting my emotions take control and convey everything I’m feeling. But even if actions speak louder than words, sometimes you need those words of affirmation to truly get the point across.

“Harlow,” I say, resting my forehead against hers and staring into the blue abyss of my girlfriend’s eyes. “You are everything I want, everything I’ve ever wanted. I’m sorry that it took me a bit to see that. But there’s no mistaking it now. How I feel about you is unlike anything I’ve felt before.”

“And how do you feel then?” she asks, her smile lighting up her face with understanding.

I press one more kiss to her lips.

“I love you, Harlow.”

fifty-four

Harlow

All the air hasbeen stolen from my lungs.

He said it.

He actually said it.

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