Page 79 of A Home for Harmony

Harmony wore her heart on her sleeve and maybe that was what scared him the most.

He wouldn’t want to hurt her and didn’t know if he could give her what she needed.

“Are you going to tell me what I’ve taught you?” she asked, her head tilted. “Outside of the bedroom because you’ve got the experience there.”

He laughed. She smiled with him, her hand coming up to trace his grin. She always gave him a hard time for not smiling much.

“You’ve taught me it’s okay to be myself.”

“Awww,” she said. “You don’t know how much that means to me. That’s all I want to do for anyone.”

He knew that. He also knew by saying those words it was as close as he could get to saying he was falling in love with her.

Baby steps and he was still wobbly on his feet.

24

ARE YOU WORRIED

“Whoa, talk about some BDE,” Harmony said the next morning when she walked into the kitchen.

He spun his head around and squinted his eyes at her.

“You’re not going to say that in front of my daughter, are you?”

She put her arms around him from behind and gave him a tender hug. “Do you even know what BDE is?”

He shifted to face her and returned the embrace. “I’m a dude. I know what it is,” he said. She loved when he hugged her.

She poked her finger into his side. “I’m not convinced. You’ll have to spell it out for me.”

He grabbed her hand and slapped it on his dick. “It was big and had plenty of energy for you last night.”

She giggled and gave him a squeeze. “Can I tell you how adorable it is that you can’t even tell me it’s big dick energy, that you are finding the most polite way to say it? I bet if you were around any guy friends, you’d say it.”

“I hate to break it to you, but my friends aren’t talking about dick energy around each other.”

“Good point,” she said and gave him a gentle pat.

“Why did you say what you had?” he asked. “It’s not like I haven’t cooked you breakfast before, and that’s all I’m doing now.”

“Micah,” she said. “You’re standing at the stove in a pair of Levis that were made to fit you. Your T-shirt is snug to your body and your arm was bent doing something, making your bicep flex. I know you weren’t doing it on purpose.” She reached up and ran her hand across his face. “This turns me on like you can’t imagine, but I understand why you shave it when you have to work. Your hair is damp and slightly messy, like you towel dried it fast so you could be down here just in case Scarlet showed up earlier than planned.”

“Are you done breaking my appearance apart?”

“You’re embarrassed,” she said, giggling. “I didn’t think that was possible.”

“Everyone gets embarrassed.” He turned away from her to go back to breakfast.

She moved by his side and looked at what he was making. She wanted to say he was grouchy, but he was just being himself.

“Is that one of those French toast casseroles?”

He looked at her. “Your eyes are wide. You look like a deer caught in headlights, except you’re all but drooling on my counter. Like you did last night when I had BDE.”

She laughed hard at his joke, not just because it was funny, but because it came fromhim—from that quiet, hidden part of him she was slowly getting to know. And God, it thrilled her.

“You’re a riot when you want to be. And I happen to be a big fan of anything with maple syrup in it.” She picked up the bottle and popped the top to put some on her finger. “Maple flavored bacon is one of my favorite foods of all time.”