Page 160 of Piece You Saved

“Jane?” A soft kiss on my brow makes me stir.

I blink my eyes blearily at him, surprised I fell asleep.

The light has changed, and Harley is fully dressed, cell phone in hand, looking apologetic. “They need me at the hospital.”

“What time is it?” I yawn.

“Midday,” he says before dipping his head to kiss me.

Wow, I’m really looking to sleep the day away. “Okay.”

I’m not sure what this is between us, whether it’s love or something else, but it’s something. Maybe something that could last forever.

Harley is as assured as he always is. When I look a little closer, I think I see something in him I missed before. A hidden vulnerability that Dariel spotted before I did. I wrap my arms around his back. “Will you come back after?”

“Do you want me to?” he asks, a hesitant note creeping into his voice.

I grin up at him. “I thought you were supposed to be a prodigy.”

He lifts his head to mock glare at me. “Are you calling me stupid?”

“Not stupid. Just slow,” I say, andIboophim. It’s surprisingly satisfying. No wonder he wants to boop me all the time.

Gripping my wrist, he turns my hand and kisses my fingers. “Then I’ll come back after, though I’m not sure when that will be.” He studies me for a beat. “I really don’t know how to be in a pack. All this is new.”

The uncertainty in his voice isn’t what I expected in such a confident doctor. “We’ll figure it out together. At least you’re a shifter. You’ll get there much sooner than I will.”

Harley smiles. “I think I like the sound of that.”

He told me he has to go, but he makes no move to get up.

“You aren’t really called Harley because of the motorcycle, are you?” I ask a question that’s been simmering in the back of my mind since he re-entered my life.

“Yes, Jane. I really am called Harley because of the motorcycle. Were you thinking of riding me?” He grins down at me.

I laugh, wanting to know where all this happiness is coming from and wanting it to continue forever. “Seriously?”

His smile fades. “It was just a name I picked out for myself. I liked motorcycles, so I thought why not?”

I search his face. “What was your name before?”

He shrugs. “I didn’t have one before the foster home. Apparently, someone found me wandering the street. I didn’t like the name they gave me, so when I ran away from the foster home, I decided to pick my own.”

My heart breaks for him. “Why did you run?”

“It wasn’t the best place for me. Neither was the next one, nor the one after that. Eventually, I figured I would do better on my own. I didn’t… until Simon.”

Poor Harley. “I used to think happily ever afters only happened to other people, or they didn’t exist.”

Dipping his head, he kisses me. “So did I. Until Simon, and until you.”

When his phone vibrates, he groans, kisses me again, and says, “Sleep. I’ll be back later.”

I peer up at him. “Why did you call me Jane at the hospital when you knew my name?”

“Fear mostly,” he admits.

“Of what?” I frown.

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