Page 17 of Hold My Heart

“How can I calm down?” This one was a screech.

“Because we are going to solve this together.”

“No, Harlan, we are not going tosolve this together. There is no together. What am I going to do?”

He watched her sink down to the floor on her knees. “You’re going to head in to work because I know how important it is for you, and I am going to stay here until I find our little runaway.”

“How can you be so calm? You know I can’t leave you here to find her alone. And I’m sure as hell not going to let you drive her home. You don’t have the car seat.”

“I have a spare car seat in my trunk from my last job. Trust me, Olympia, we have this covered. You go on and pay for what’s in the cart and get your butt to work.”

“This is ridi—”

“You’re going to have to trust me sooner or later,” he urged.

Then he leaped forward on a pounce, grabbing hold of a pair of cute little legs, which brought a squeal of delight.

“Gotcha!”

In the next moment, the curtains shifted aside to reveal a pair of amused brown eyes and a cherubic smile.

“Like I said,” he told Olympia as his smile widened, “I’ve got this covered.”

Chapter 5

“Iwant you to comehome with me,” Harlan stated.

Olympia glanced up at him with a scowl at being interrupted. Her response could go one of two ways. She could call him out on what was surely a double entendre—he was full of them—or she could play innocent and have the benefit of watching him stumble to explain himself. He was adorable when he fumbled over his words.

Decisions, decisions.

She set the papers aside after circling the reminder to finalize Renee’s adoption in her planner and pushed her glasses higher before giving him an answer. “Come home with you...why? What do you want to do to me?” she asked innocently.

“Oh, I...um—”

He cleared his throat and Olympia kept her chuckle to herself. Harlan really was cute when he got flustered. It was easy getting him there, too, because for all his easygoing ways and down to earth optimism, he sometimes didn’t know how to respond to her. His confusion in that matter was one of her only sources of amusement these days, keeping her from tearing her hair out, or bonding with her bed for twelve hours straight. She was afraid if she went down that road with her bed, there was no coming out.

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