Page 55 of Darling Obsession

I force myself to hold Harlan’s gaze. It’s not easy looking at him this close. “Do you have any idea how terrifying you are?”

He frowns, like that genuinely confounds him. “Terrifying?”

“Intimidating.”

I can see that the computer in his brain is struggling to process. “Right now?”

“Always.”

“I’m not trying to intimidate you,” he says uneasily.

“What were you doing in your car in front of the bakery just now?”

He scans my face. “You were upset.”

That really doesn’t answer my question.

But my pulse races. I feel one of those Harlan-induced hot flashes coming on.

He was concerned about me?

“Of course I’m upset. He lied to me.”

It’s about so much more than that, though.

The tears are creeping up again, burning in my eyes. Everything I’ve been holding together so tightly feels like it’s seeping through the cracks, as all the pressure I’ve been under for months on end finally begins to unravel me, right here in Harlan Vance’s car.

Shit.

I’m a mess.

The tears spill over before I can stop them this time.

Next to me, Harlan stiffens as I dab the tears from my cheeks with the hem of my poofy skirt.

“Tissue?”

I look up to find the driver handing a box of tissues over the seat.

I reach to take it. “Thank you.” I’d forgotten he was right there and could hear all of this. “I’m sorry,” I sniffle, dabbing the tears from my face with a wad of tissues. I don’t know what I’m trying to save my makeup for anyway. “I didn’t even say thank you for driving me?—”

“Don’t thank us,” Harlan cuts me off.

“But I appreciate?—”

“Stop now.” His tone is so cold, it’s like an icy hand around my throat.

I swallow my words.

“He didn’t mean that as rudely as sounded,” the driver says.

I catch his eye in the rearview mirror, and he gives me just the hint of a smile. There’s empathy in his eyes.

I glance sidelong at Harlan. “How can you be sure?”

“Been working for him for years,” the driver answers. “You should see him when he’s in areallybad mood.”

I swear I can feel the man next to me ticking like a bomb about to go off.