Page 20 of My Favorite Secret
“Nothing,” Harper says quickly, sliding her hand into mine and tugging me toward the door. “He’s being disgusting. Come on, let’s go.”
“Harper likes to watch me have sex.”
“I donot. He’s lying?—”
“She snuck into Dad’s office to watch me fuck a girl on his desk. Must have been about a week ago.”
I guess that explains why Harper left my place so abruptly last week.
“I didn’t sneak in. I ran off.”
“Only once you’d been caught. You loved it, babe.”
Jesus. If this is Felix’s way of playing nice with Harper, we’re all in for a rough year.
CHAPTER EIGHT
HARPER
“I can’t believe Felix will be sleeping two doors down from me.” I close my bedroom door and sit next to Tyler on the edge of my bed, gasping when he drapes my legs over his lap.
He isn’t acting any different than normal, yet I still can’t get over this new body of his. The sleeves of his polo shirt are stretched tight around his biceps. Each time we hug, I’m met with a wall of solid muscle. He’s a man, not a boy anymore, and I feel tiny beside him. I’ve been tongue-tied around him for the last week because he’s so damn beautiful. The way he grins at me makes me hot inside.
Tyler’s hand remains on my thigh, his thumb stroking back and forth as his other hand twirls my hair. Goosebumps rise over my skin. A shiver travels to the top of my inner thighs. I pray he doesn’t realize the effect he’s having on me.
Earlier in the day, Cindy was talking about sex. About me and Tyler having sex. The thought of us together hasn’t left my mind. I want to feel his lips on me and his hands beneath my clothes. What would he sound like? Whatwould he feel like inside me? My bed is a four-poster queen with silk curtains on all four sides. It would be so easy to draw the curtains shut right now and let Tyler undress me.
But I can’t. I won’t. What on earth is happening to me? I’ve never had an issue with temptation until now. This last week, I’ve thought about sex non-stop. I’ve touched myself to the thought of Tyler every day, sometimes twice a day. The worst part is that sometimes when I reach my peak, Felix enters my mind, spiraling my climax to greater heights. I moaned too loud in my room yesterday and my mother called out, concerned I’d hurt myself. Never have I been so embarrassed.
“You okay, Harp?” Something smug sits within Tyler’s smile as he asks the question.
“I’m frustrated.” I focus on the anger that Felix fills me with, using it as a distraction from Tyler’s touch. “What if Felix brings girls back here? The last thing I want is to hear him having sex. Seeing it has scarred me for life.”
Tyler laughs, his voice deep and handsome and not at all what I need to hear right now. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about walking in on Felix.”
“Because I was traumatized. I’ve been trying to block it from my mind.”
The real answer is I’m horrified over how I reacted during the encounter. The dagger didn’t land deep in the girl’s arm. She can’t be overly injured. But she could tell someone what I did to her. Why hasn’t Felix told anyone?
“I can’t believe my father is going along with this,” I continue. “How is he okay with Felix living with us?”
“From the way your mother was talking when I arrived, it sounds like he’s just as unhappy about this arrangement as you are.”
I think back to the fight I had with my parentsearlier this evening when they dropped the Felix news on me. Not once in my life have I had an argument with my parents. Dad is strict with me and is an intimidating man. That’s how he’s become so powerful and respected in his career. He’s taught me discipline and determination, and I love him for it. He can be very harsh, but his praise is also equally as strong.
Mom sacrificed her career to be a stay-at-home mom and has only recently gone back to painting. My parents dote on me and have given me every opportunity to pursue my dreams. I owe them everything and it feels so wrong to be in disagreement with them.
I kept pacing Dad’s office, trembling with rage as I begged my mother to rethink her decision. Dad was silently fuming in his armchair the entire time, drinking hard liquor and unhappy with my mother. When I told him to talk some sense into her, he sighed and told me the decision is final and that I will stop questioning them.
“Maybe I can try speaking with Dad again,” I say.
“Harper?” My father’s voice shocks me, along with the knocking on my door. I instantly slide away from Tyler, knowing Dad wouldn’t approve of the way he was holding me.
“Come in,” I call out.
The door opens with both my parents on the other side. Dad has an arm wrapped around Mom’s shoulders. The same arm lowers and locks around her waist, pulling her closer. I groan quietly at the intimacy, both of them wearing silk bathrobes. They’ve had make-up sex.
Gross.
