Page 54 of The Assistant
“Thank you. For everything you’ve done,” I say, taking a step closer and wrapping my arms around him for a hug. He holds me close, and I feel the desire in his body as he squeezes me tight.
When we finally pull away, he looks down at me with a smile, brushing the hair behind my ear and cupping my cheeks in hishands. Before I know it, his lips are pressed against mine, and it feels like everything is as it should be.
It’s only a brief kiss, and I’m more surprised when he pulls away than I was when he kissed me to begin with. I almost wish he would lean down and kiss me again, but instead he backs away.
“Goodbye, Harper,” Dawson says, giving me a reluctant wave and turning around to leave.
I stand motionless by the entrance to the dorm watching him walk away without turning back. It feels like a final goodbye. I know I should be relieved by that because this is a chapter of my life that’s closing now. I have nothing but the future to look forward to, and that should be exciting.
But as he disappears in the distance, my heart breaks. I can’t get Dawson off my mind because I’ve fallen for him. I’m in love with someone I can’t be with.
Chapter 29
Dawson
It’s only beena few days since I last saw Harper, and I can’t get her out of my mind. My lips still tingle and burn with the memory of our final kiss. I wish I could have done more. I wish I could have wrapped my arms around her and swept her away, bringing her home to be with me again.
I can’t escape the memory of her anywhere I go. When I’m home, there’s an entire room that used to be hers. I can still smell her shampoo on the pillows in my bed. When I’m in the kitchen, I think about the night we shared after I discovered her nightmares. I think about running my fingers through her soft blonde hair and feeling the warmth of her body against mine.
I should be able to escape her when I’m at work because there’s so much to focus on and worry about, especially now that my father has nothing to do with the business. But she used to work here. She was always so on top of everything. My schedule had never been more aligned, and she went above and beyond to understand every detail of my job in ways I barely even know.
No matter what I do, I can’t stop thinking about her. I suppose this is my curse in this life. I have a love, and I lied and deceivedher. Now I’ve lost her, and I have to accept that. Fighting to get her back is only going to push her away more.
“Mr. Price?” Denise, my new assistant, says as she barges into my office unannounced.
“What the hell did I tell you?” I snap, jumping to my feet behind the desk. Her spine immediately straightens, and she stares at me in shock. “You never enter my office unannounced. I could have been on an important business call for all you know.”
“Of course, Mr. Price. It slipped my mind. I won’t let it happen again,” Denise promptly says. She immediately walks out of my office and closes the door, knocking on it as if she didn’t already have my attention.
“Are you trying to be smart?” I ask, my voice sharp with her. She opens the door and steps in once again, closing it behind her. Her cheeks are red, and she looks around confused, as if she has no idea what she is doing wrong and how to correct it. “Just tell me what the hell you need and leave me alone.”
She drops a few files on my desk that she organized for a board meeting I have tomorrow. I listen as she goes over the system she made in detail, which is a lot more convoluted than just writing labels on folders. Harper never would have done this. I had a system that I liked, and Harper adapted to it, making things easier for me without making a big deal about it.
She never asked for acknowledgment or approval before doing simple, menial tasks like this. Harper didn’t want to be here, but she wanted to prove herself worthy of her art school tuition. She’s definitely done that.
“This doesn’t work for me, restore it to the original filing system,” I say, cutting Denise off mid-sentence.
“Very well, Mr. Price.” She grabs the folders off the desk and shuffles back to her own office to do what I said.
As soon as the door closes, I feel bad. I know she’s just trying to make a good impression on me because she’s new. I’m comparing her to someone she’ll never meet the standards of, and I’m taking my disappointments with Harper not being here out on her.
I’ve been in a foul mood ever since Harper moved out of the penthouse, and I’ve been taking it out on everyone. She just made my life more colorful in ways I never thought possible. I miss her.
I try to focus on work as much as I can for the rest of the day, eager to get home and just fall asleep so I can have a brief amount of time where I’m not thinking about Harper. Right now, I’ll take my nightmares over the constant reminder of how badly I fucked up.
My office phone rings, and I pick it up without looking. “Dawson Price.”
“Hey, it’s Xander. I just wanted to see how you’re doing.” I hear Xander slap his hand over the bottom of his phone and say something to someone behind him, who I assume is either Quinton or Ella. “Ella told me to ask you what’s going on with Harper.”
I take a deep breath and close my eyes, leaning back in my chair. Where do I even begin with that?
“I wish I knew. I had to let her go,” I say reluctantly. “She’s starting a new chapter of her life, and I didn’t want everything that happened to hold her back. She’s at school right now, and everything’s going great, though.”
“Damn,” Xander says, and I can almost hear him shaking his head. “I can tell the two of you had something special. Not a lot of people would be willing to go up against someone like Malik for just anyone. I know you must have really cared about her.”
“I do. I still love her,” I say, running my fingers through my hair. Admitting it to someone else feels vulnerable but poignant. All my life, I’ve grown up with everything I’ve ever wanted handed to me. With that comes a lot of women trying to crawl into your bed.
I’ve never been taken with a woman the way that I am with Harper. She’s not like anybody else I’ve ever met, and meeting her has been life-changing for me. I don’t know if I’ll ever find anything like this again.
