Tryst - Forbidden Hearts Series Book 4

12| One Night

I had never been more nervous in my fucking life. 

As I got out of my car and headed towards the entrance to Down the Rabbit Hole, my heart raced and my mouth was dry. Tonight was the night. My night with Harper. I knew what was coming and I knew what that entailed. Rules. I knew there were going to be rules. Well, one rule. One I wasn't looking forward to hearing. But that could wait until later. 

I stepped inside the crowded bar and my eyes landed on her immediately. She was sitting on her usual stool at the bar—with a bowl of trail mix and a Vodka-soda in front of her. Her hair was down and curly. Just like I liked it. She was wearing a black dress and, even though she was sitting, I knew it was short. Then there was the black heels...

I adjusted my jeans when they suddenly became too tight. Fuck. At this rate, we weren't going to last long here before going to my hotel. The night I met her—in this bar, on that stool—I was mesmerized by her. Completely and utterly mesmerized. It wasn't just how beautiful she was. It was her. Her personality, her strength, and her wit. I've bee lost to her spell ever since. 

I started walking to the empty stool next to her that she was saving for me. Just as I approached, the bartender, Leslie, handed Harper a refill. 

"Here's your Vodka-soda, Harper."

"Thanks, Les."

A corner of my mouth lifted as I sat down. This was just like the first night we met, and it gave me the inspiration to 're-enact' the fist time we met here. 

"Rough day?" She turned to look at me with a wry smile at my words. "Fuck me all you like with your eyes, princess, but it's rude not to answer a question." 

Harper stirred her drink before taking a sip. "Are we really going to do this?"

"Do what?" I asked, loving that she was playing along with my game. 

"This whole bar-therapy-session-thing?"

I chuckled deep. "Talk about it or don't. I'm just offering to listen."

We turned towards each other at the same time. I reached out and stroked her cheek with the back of my hand. "You look beautiful, princess."

Her heated gaze ran over me. "You don't look so bad yourself." 

"Hey, boss. You want your usual?"

The connection between Harper and I broke and I cleared my throat before turning towards Jake. "Yes, thank you."

Harper absently stirred her straw in her drink. A nervous habit. "So, how was your night with the boys?"

The image of the baby nursery I stumbled into came to my mind, but I pushed the thought away must as quickly. If I thought too much about it, I was going to end up saying something that would ruin the evening—and that was the last thing I wanted. If I only had this one night with Harper—or at least until she sorted through her issues—then I was going to enjoy every fucking minute of it. 

"It was good." Jake sat my drink down in front of me. I downed the whiskey before tapping the rim for a refill. "We went to Ryan's and hung out. Well, they kind of kidnapped me."

Harper's eyebrows rose. "Kidnapped you?"

"Yep. The whole lot of them showed up at my hotel room and dragged me out of there." 

When she laughed, I savored it. It had been so long since I heard that sound. "Dragged you out? Come on, Jackson, I doubt that."

I wrapped my hand around the new glass of whiskey that Jake brought me, but I didn't take a drink. "Okay, they may not have dragged me out, but that vixen sure knew what she was doing."