Page 32

COREY

Knowing I’m seeing Harlow again after work means my day drags. I used to crave my hours sitting on my stool and working on intricate designs for hours. But as I sit here now, all I want is her.

It’s really fucking weird.

I’ve never wanted anything serious with a woman. I joined the army when I was sixteen and knew that would be my life for the following God knew how many years, so I just enjoyed myself. I had a couple of regular girls I’d spend time with but never one I made any promises to.

I grimace as I think about Carla and what became of her. She was one of my childhood best friends, and guilt eats me that I was a huge part of her downfall. If we hadn’t had that drunken night together at fifteen, things could have turned out very differently.

I sigh, trying not to be engulfed by my memories and mistakes, when a knock sounds out on my studio door.

“Hey, man,” Oz says with a beaming smile on his face. I’m just cleaning up for the day and am more than ready to get the hell out of here to meet Harlow.

“Hey, what’s the grin about? Shit your pants or something?”

“Nah, man. I’m just happy for you.”

“For me?” I ask, not having the fucking foggiest as to what’s going on.

“Yeah. It looks like you’ve got a sweet night ahead of you.”

“What are you—” It’s in that moment he moves aside and allows me to see through to reception.

“Holy shit.”

My eyes run over her light makeup and curled hair, and then the fabric of her dress that covers most of her body but reveals one hell of a cleavage and a hint at her curvaceous leg hiding behind the slit.

She throws her head back and laughs at something JJ says before glancing over to us.

Our eyes lock and electricity crackles between us. All the air rushes from my lungs.

Her lips curl into a wide smile and her hand lifts to tuck her hair behind her ear.

“Fuck, man. You need to get the hell out of here before I leave you with JJ,” Oz jokes.

“Keep your fucking hands to yourself, man.” He holds them up in surrender.

“Oh, you are so fucking whipped. Are your balls even still attached to your body?”

“Fuck off. Like you can talk. JJ has been wearing yours as earrings for fucking months.”

He winces as the visual hits him, but he soon shrugs. “It has its benefits.”

Suddenly, all the things I never wanted, the same woman every night, the thoughts of futures and all the serious stuff that comes with it, doesn’t feel quite so intimidating.

“Right, I’m out of here.”

“At fucking last.”

I drop the last few things into my drawer before shouldering past Oz.

“Here he is,” JJ announces as I fly past her. “Your girl here was just telling me?—”

Her words fade off as I take Harlow’s face in my hands and drop my lips to hers.

JJ and Oz holler behind us in excitement, but I ignore them. My only focus is on the woman in my arms.

“This is a nice surprise,” I say, running my nose against hers.

“I couldn’t wait any longer.”

“You and me both, baby.” Pulling away from her, I turn to look at my employees who both have giant smiles on their faces. “We’re out of here.”

“Have a good night.”

“You wanna drive?” Harlow asks me as we make our way to her car.

She holds the keys out and I take them from her in favour of getting us back as fast as possible.

“What’s that smell?” I ask when my arse hits the driver’s seat.

“That’s dinner.”

“You cooked?”

“Sure did.”

“You are aware that I have no dining table or more than one plate, right?”

“I’ve got it all under control.”

I shake my head, wondering how the hell this happened.

Turns out that having it all planned means that, along with our dinner, Harlow’s car is packed with everything we could possibly need. She’s even got an old foldaway camping table.

Once we get it all up to my flat, she turns to me and runs her palms up my chest.

“I missed you today.” The words are out of my mouth before my brain registers them.

“Yeah?” Her dark eyes light up as a shy smile tugs at her lips. “What happened to Mr. I Don’t Do Tomorrows?”

“Suddenly tomorrow doesn’t seem so scary,” I say quietly, dropping so my lips brush against hers.

“What are you saying, exactly?” She tenses in my arms. Her need to put a label on us amuses me.

“One day at a time, baby. One day at a time.”

“Okay,” she whispers, nodding and playing with the hair at the nape of my neck.

I lower and take her lips again. She lifts up on her tiptoes and presses the length of her body against mine. A groan rumbles up my throat as her soft curves line up perfectly with my hard lines.

My fingers twitch to lift her into my arms and carry her to my bedroom, but I resist.

“You go and shower or whatever, and I’ll get dinner sorted.”

“You sure you don’t need help?” I ask, finding the slit in her dress and slipping my hand inside.

“Distracting, you mean.”

“Same thing,” I say, dropping my lips to her neck and licking her sensitive skin.

“No, no,” she giggles, squirming against me and making the situation a whole lot worse. “Go.” She slams her palms down on my chest and attempts to push me away. She’s nowhere near strong enough to move me, but after a few seconds, I take pity on her and step back.

“Okay, okay.” I walk backward down the hall, keeping my eyes on her.

I reach behind me and pull my shirt over my head, dropping it to the floor before swiftly removing everything else.

Her eyes watch my every move, taking in the inked skin I reveal.

“Can I tempt you to join me?”

Her teeth sink into her bottom lip.

“Sorry, you’re on your own this time.” With a wink, she turns away and starts pulling things from one of the bags she carried in.

The temptation to walk back to her and demand she come with me is high, but after a few seconds of watching, I turn toward the bedroom and have a very quick, very cold shower.

“Holy shit, do I live here?” I ask when I walk back into my living area.

Harlow has set up the table. It’s covered in a cloth and has candles flickering in the center.

As I look around the rest of the room, I find candles on every surface.

She stands in the middle of everything she’s done, looking unsure of herself.

“D-do you like it?”

I focus on her as she nervously plays with one of the curls around her shoulders.

I open my mouth to tell her yes, but I find something else coming out. “This place hasn’t felt like a home since the day I picked up the keys. But suddenly, everything feels right.”

“Yeah?” she asks, a wide smile spreading across her lips.

“It’s incredible. Thank you.”

Closing the space between us, I slide my hand into her hair and lower my lips to hers.

She just opens up for me when the buzzer I didn’t know I had on the oven starts ringing and breaks our moment.

“I need to get our dinner,” she mutters against my lips when I refuse to let her go.

“We don’t need dinner. I can eat you instead.” Her cheeks brighten with my words. I fucking love making her blush.

“As tempting as that is, I’m starved.”

Releasing her, I watch as she effortlessly moves about in my kitchen.

“Here,” she says, sliding a bottle of beer my way, proving that she knows I’m watching her.

“Do you realise that you’re the first person to cook in this kitchen?”

“I’d hardly call reheating something I made earlier cooking.”

“It’s more than I’ve done.”

“How long have you been here exactly?”

“About two and a half months.”

“And you haven’t cooked anything?”

“Guilty.”

“How are you still alive?”

Walking over, I wrap my arms around her waist as she plates up the dinner. “I get by,” I whisper in her ear.

She laughs, moving out of my hold and carrying our plates over to the makeshift table.

I watch her sitting opposite me as she takes a sip of her own drink before lifting her knife and fork to dig in.

“What are you waiting for? It’s going to get cold.”

“Thank you for this.” Dropping a forkful of her food into my mouth, I can’t help groaning in delight.

“It’s nothing. I had fun making it all this afternoon. It’s nice having someone beside Brooke to cook for.”

I can’t help but laugh at the mention of her best friend. “What?”

“Nothing, just thinking how different you two are.”

Harlow shrugs. “I told you.”

“How did you meet?” I ask, desperate to know more about her.

Her face drops immediately as she casts her eyes to the corner of the room.

“I-it’s okay, you don’t need to tell me.”

“No, it’s fine. It’s just weird talking about my life back then.

” She thinks for a moment, chewing on a little more of her dinner.

“I was fourteen, almost fifteen, when I moved into their house.” My brows draw together, not putting two and two together straight away.

“I’d been in some awful foster and group homes up until that point.

Living through those after losing my family hadn’t turned me into the nicest of teenagers.

But Brooke’s parents never once gave up on me, no matter what drama I brought their way.

And Brooke and I struck up an unlikely friendship that’s lasted us all this time. ”

“Oh, wow. I thought you were going to say you met at college or something.”

“It wasn’t quite that simple. Brooke has been through … a lot with me, and just like her parents, she stuck by my side the whole time. I owe her everything.”

“Are you saying I need to be nicer to her?”

“Never. She’s a pain in the ass and deserves your banter.”

I laugh. “Good to know. So, you’re still close to her parents then?”

“Yeah, quite close. My uncle died in service when I was almost eighteen and my aunt came back from where they were posted. I moved in with her. I couldn’t pass up the chance to be with the only family I had left.”

“Jesus, Harlow.”

She shrugs like it’s nothing. “It is what it is. If it weren’t for Brooke and my aunt, I don’t think I’d be here now.”

My chin drops at her admission. “If it helps at all, I’m really fucking glad you are.”

She looks up at me, her large, dark eyes staring into mine, making my heart beat a little faster in my chest. She might have been the last thing I expected—wanted—to find, but already, I can’t imagine her not being in my life.

“So, what about you? What about your family?”

“My mum and sisters live in London,” I say, rattling off the easy stuff without a second thought.

“My sisters are both at university. Mum’s just come back from Germany.

She was living with my dad. But he …” I trail off.

There are only a couple of people who know about this, and those in this country who do thankfully didn’t need me to tell them.

They found out through the family gossip.

“He was cheating on her. He left, and she was forced out of married quarters and sent home. Only, she didn’t have a home because my dad was everything. ”

“Oh shit. Corey, I’m so sorry.”

“We all thought it would be fine. Dad’s been in the army all his life and worked his way up the ranks; he should have had a decent amount of money behind him.

Mum sure seemed to think he did. Turned out a younger woman wasn’t the only thing he was hiding, because he’d lost everything gambling online.

“Thankfully, my sisters’ tuition had already been paid. But Mum came back with nowhere to live, and nothing to her name.”

“Fucking hell. What an asshole.”

I nod, unable to do anything but agree. “We found my mum a flat, and my sisters moved in with her to save on their own rent. Then debt collector letters started appearing for credit cards and loans Dad had taken out in Mum’s name.

” I blow out a breath as I remember the devastation on her face when she admitted just how many there were.

“I came over here for a couple of weeks to get away. Things were already hard, and finding out all that about my parents didn’t really help.

I’d already left London. I was running a studio in Manchester, and then I found the studio here and things just started falling into place.

My boss, Zach, is always looking to expand his empire, and when I sent him the details, he bought it without even visiting.

He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, and here I am. ”

“You left your mum and sisters behind?” Guilt twists my stomach that they’re in London, fighting daily. But my reality isn’t much better.

“Yeah,” I admit sadly. “I was already living miles away and unable to visit much. I earn more here, so although I’m in a different country, I’m able to help by sending more back to help dig my mum out of the debt she’s drowning in.”

“Corey,” she says softly, her head tilting to the side. “You’re sending everything back to them, aren’t you?”

“Everything I can, yeah.”

Putting her knife and fork down, she pushes from her chair and walks toward me. Seeing her intention, I push my own chair back and allow her the space she needs to drop onto my lap.

“Thank you,” she says, placing her palm on my rough cheek and looking into my eyes.

I shake my head slightly. “Believe it or not, that’s the least dramatic part of what I left behind.” Her eyes widen at my admission, but she doesn’t ask. I knew she wouldn’t.

“You’re pretty amazing. You know that?”

“Nah. I’m just trying to do right by my family while running from my nightmares.”

She leans forward, resting her forehead against mine. “Your mum must be so proud of you.”

Forcing her to look up, I find her eyes full of unshed tears. “Yours too,” I whisper so quietly that I’m unsure if she hears me until a sob erupts from her throat.

“Shit. I’m sorry.” She’s up and off my lap before I have a chance to pull her back.

“Harlow, it’s okay. You don’t have to?—”

“Just give me a minute.” Before I know what’s going on, she’s disappeared toward the bathroom and left me alone with my thoughts.

She’s the first person aside from Zach that I’ve properly explained any of that to.

When I told Zach, I was in the middle of dealing with it all and trying to get Mum moved.

But telling Harlow just then was so easy.

I don’t know if it’s because the dust has settled and my life right now is somewhat stable, or if it’s her.

Part of me wants to tell her the rest, the things that keep me up at night, but I doubt those words will come as easily.

After only a few minutes, she returns and drops into her seat.

“So, I guess that helps to explain this place,” she says, taking the heat off her.

“I haven’t really had the time or energy to make this a home. I’ve lived and breathed the studio since I got here. I just turn up to sleep, really.”

“It’s a nice place. And I love that you can see the ocean.”

“Definite perk,” I agree, returning my focus to dinner.