Page 100 of Forbidden Harmony

There were no tears. Instead she let himhug her for a few minutes before trying to step away. He refused to let her goand she patted his back. “I’m good now.”

“Tell me why you’re upset.”

“I’d rather not,” she said.

“Why?”

“Because I’m not going to bore you with mylife.”

“Maybe I want to be bored by you,” he said.

She laughed, but there was a soft note ofsadness to it that made his chest ache. “I know what you want from me. C’mon,let’s go to the bedroom.”

“I’m hungry.”

She leaned back and stared up at him. “What?”

“I didn’t have a chance to eat supper. Doyou have any of that veggie chili left over?”

“Yes.”

“Do you mind if I grab some?”

She hesitated and then shook her head. “No,but then we’re having sex, right?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Did you eat already?”

“I did.”

He pushed her gently in the direction of theliving room. “Go and knit or something. I’ll grab my food and join you.”

Confusion on her face, she left the kitchen.He grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and the leftover food from the fridge. Hewas hungry, but he’d mostly asked to eat as a way to distract Addie.

He’d prepared himself to listen to Addison cryand moan about selling her wedding dress, but now that she was refusing to tellhim anything, he was oddly upset by it. He didn’t like the idea of her usingsex with him as a distraction from her life.

You want it to mean something more?

No, of course not. But as hard as he triedto deny it, she was already becoming more to him than just a warm place to puthis dick. Right or wrong, he wanted to be more to her too.

* * *

“How was your day?” Preacher said.

Addison stared blankly at him. He ate aspoonful of chili and said, “What did you do today?”

“Not much,” she said. “Talked to Harper, cleanedthe apartment.”

Don’t forget selling your wedding dressfor a measly six hundred bucks. Oh, hey, you know you’re gonna be aloneforever, right? Even if you learn how to be better at sex, you’ll never findsomeone. You’re going to die old and alone surrounded by yarn and seventy-two cats.

“You sure you don’t want to talk about what’supsetting you?” Preacher said.

She would die before she let Preacher hear howpathetic she really was. Hell, she’d been tempted not to let him into her apartmentbecause of how blotchy her face was, but sex would be a great distraction fromher self-pity.

If she could get Preacher into the freakingbedroom.

“I’m sure.” She glanced at his bowl. “Areyou finished?”

“Almost.”

---