Page 60 of Forbidden Harmony

“Addison, wake up,” he said.

The tone of his voice made her sit up.“What? What’s wrong?”

“You can’t stay,” he said.

“What?” She stared at him in confusionbefore understanding dawned. “Oh, right. I’m sorry.”

She slid out of bed and grabbed her clothes.“Do you mind if I use the bathroom?”

He shook his head and she disappeared into thebathroom. While she was gone, he threw on his jeans and grabbed a beer fromthe fridge. He wanted to tell her he would give her a ride home but that wasjust stupid. Still, the thought of making her walk or take the bus made himfeel like an asshole.

She came out of the bathroom. She wasdressed and her auburn hair was pulled into a ponytail. Her face was still a littleflushed but other than that, you couldn’t tell at all that she’d just beenfucked.

That thought bothered him and he grimacedinwardly. What the hell? They didn’t want the town to know they were fucking– that was the last thing they wanted.

“I’m sorry but do you have a shirt I canborrow? The zipper is still, uh….”

He set his beer on the counter beforecrossing to the dresser. “Right. I’ll pay for a new dress.”

“Oh no,” she said, “you don’t have to dothat. I think the zipper can probably be fixed on it. I just need somethingto throw on over the top of it because I can’t, you know, zip it up.”

He rummaged through the dresser and found along-sleeved dress shirt he’d forgotten he had. He handed it to her, and sheslipped it on. It hung to her knees and he watched as she rolled the sleevesto her elbows. She bunched the bottom of the shirt around her waist and tiedit before smiling hesitantly at him.

“How’s it look?”

“Fine,” he said.

Truthfully, she looked damn hot in hisshirt and he had the sudden urge to strip her down and take her right back tohis bed. Instead, he grabbed his beer and took another long swallow as shewalked to the door, grabbed her purse, and put her heels on.

“Okay, well, uh, bye, Preacher,” she said.

“I’ll walk you downstairs,” he said.

He followed her down the staircase. Shepaused at the bottom of it. “I still owe you for the piercing.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said.

“Oh, I can’t do that. I know you chargedme less than you normally do for a tattoo and -”

“I said don’t worry about it.”

He could hear the annoyance in his voice,and obviously she could too because she winced and hurried out into thehallway. She peered down the connecting hallway at the service door. “Is thatthe back entrance into the alley?”

He nodded and she said, “I’ll slip out thatdoor.”

“You don’t have to do that,” he said. Jesus,now he really felt like a dick.

“I don’t mind,” she said. “It’ll be busyout front and there’s no point in a bunch of people seeing me leave your shop wearingyour shirt.”

She walked down the hallway. “Bye,Preacher.”

“Addison, wait.”

She paused with her hands on the exit barof the door.

“I’ll give you a ride home.”

“That’s okay,” she said. “I bought a buspass.”

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