“I can’t lose sight of what I’ve been doing all this for. I just can’t,” she continued. “You’ve been jumbling my mind and taking up all my thoughts and now, more than ever, I need to keep a clear head and my eyes on the prize.” Harper looked at him, eyes tinged with sadness. “I have to follow this path I’ve created for myself—it’s not something I expect most people to get, but it’s something I have to do. And avoiding distractions is the only way to do it.”
A distraction.
Dan would admit that the title stung. He didn’t want to be a distraction. He wanted to be a cheerleader. A stress reliever. A laugh. A kiss … He wanted to support her.
Harper took a shaky breath but met his eyes with resolve. “I think we should just be … friends.”
And there it was.
“Friends.” Dan repeated the word slowly and with a grimace. It left a bad taste in his mouth, and he wanted to remove the word from their vocabulary.
But Dan could still reach into some small, logical corner of his brain that wasn’t plastered floor to ceiling with thoughts of Harper and reason how difficult the situation must be for her, that she needed to do what she thought was right. Her walls were steel-enforced, and her resolve just as strong. Dan could either walk away or stand at the perimeter, as close as she would let him.
Any Harper was better than no Harper.
“Of course we can be friends. I would love to be your friend,” he said.
She looked at him warily before offering a sad smile. “Really?” she asked, picking up her foot and giving his shin an awkward nudge. Dan returned the gesture with his own foot.
“Really,” he said. And he meant it. “But is there any chance you are referring to the type of friends that also make out occasionally?”
She let out a bark of a laugh. “No. I don’t kiss my…” She waved a searching hand.
“Friends?” he added smoothly. Harper bobbed her head nervously, lips pressed into a thin line.
“Harper?” he said after a moment.
“Hmmm?” she hummed, her eyes dancing around him. He took a step toward her.
“I’m going to be the best friend you’ve ever had.” He gently pinched her chin and brought her eyes to meet his. They were filled with hunger and conflict.
“Thu might have something to say about that,” she said in a breathy whisper.
Dan let out a soft laugh. “No doubt, but I’m up for the challenge.”
They stared at each other for a long moment, both on the verge of giving in to what they craved.
But Dan wouldn’t push her.
He wanted whatever parts of Harper she was willing to give him, and he wouldn’t be greedy and demand more.
But the urge to lay his mouth on hers, even for a moment, was too strong to deny. He had to give in, just this once.
He moved in slowly and pressed his lips against her forehead in a featherlight touch. The simple press of her soft skin against his lips sighed through his body. It soothed the ache in his chest. Calmed the fire in his veins. He lingered, for only a second, before whispering, “Good night … friend,” then pulled away from her and reached for the door.
“Is that how you say goodbye to all your friends?” Harper called after him, her voice slightly hoarse.
He shot her a cocky grin over his shoulder but pushed the door open and kept walking. “It is now,” he said back.
CHAPTER 15
HARPER
About a week later, Harper and Dan sat on her couch while a movie played on the TV.
Because that’s what friends did.
They sat stiffly on a couch.
Pretending to watch a movie.
While making sure to keep a solid six inches of friend-zone space between their bodies.
Meanwhile, Sexual Tension had invited herself over and squeezed in between them, laying an inappropriate hand on Harper’s thigh and giving it periodic squeezes that sent butterflies much lower than her stomach. It was the sickest form of torture.
Want coursed through Harper, drying her throat and making her skin buzz. She ground her teeth together and squirmed on the couch, trying to ease the aching tension that was building through her. She looked at Dan from the corner of her eye, and wondered how the hell he looked so cool, so calm, when her body was about to implode in a lusty rampage.
She hated him for it.
A raw wildness was working its way to the surface of her skin, and she was helpless to do anything but give in to the torment, feeling like it had the power to break her bones.
While Dan sat there.
Staring blankly at the TV.