This Was Meant To Be: BWWM Romance Read online

  Emily shook her head at Leigh as if she couldn’t believe the naivety Leigh was revealing.

  “I can’t believe you never noticed it. I thought you’ve always known, but chose not to mention it. I mean, the family dynamics would probably make things a bit awkward, but it’s nothing insurmountable, I think. Now, you decided to talk to me about it, instead of deciding on your own and telling me about it. So you’re not sure, which means you might have feelings for him.”

  Leigh shifted guiltily, and took another slice of pizza.

  When Emily was around, there was always junk food. After how much she had missed junk food for the last few months, Leigh couldn’t ask her to get something healthy, too.

  Carl would’ve been grumpy about that. To be honest, Emily would never have come around so often if Carl were still there.

  Leigh assumed Carl was off backpacking and happy. It was nice to realize that she was no longer second-guessing what she could and should have done about him.

  She was happy with how things had turned out, and that was a revelation in itself.

  “I don’t know. He’s important to me, Em. But I don’t want things to turn sour between us. All right, so I’ve had a few feelings for him, but I thought it was just a rebound thing and would fade away. Maybe if I give it time, it will, anyway.”

  Emily looked at her steadily.

  “And maybe if you give it a chance, it will turn out to be something more. Look, you have faith in your affection for each other, right?”

  Leigh nodded.

  “So don’t you think it will endure, even if things don’t work out romantically between the two of you?”

  Leigh hesitated.

  She felt like it might. She knew it should. But could she really put it to the test?

  On the other hand, if she didn’t, she might be losing the chance of finding something precious for them. It might be, she knew that.

  And everything Emily had said about Harrison was true, but Leigh knew that he was more than all of that. He was just the most wonderful, most giving person she had ever known.

  Still, she hesitated.

  Emily sighed.

  “Leigh, you matter so much to Harrison. He wouldn’t have told you this without considering everything a million times. So he has faith in what he feels for you. Can you have that same faith?”

  Emily’s words were quiet and serious, and they hit hard.

  She did, realized Leigh. Even when she didn’t have as much faith in herself as she should, she had faith in Harrison. Nothing would shake that. She was sure of that.

  Still, Leigh decided to sleep on it and make her decision in the morning.

  She woke up to a text from Harrison.

  Leigh, I need you to know that I’ll always be here for you, no matter what you decide. I’m always on your side.

  She read that, and she couldn’t have stopped the smile that bloomed on her face to save a life.

  It made up her mind for her.

  She was going to take a chance and go out on a date with Harrison. The future, for once, could take care of itself, because she was going to live in the moment and take a chance.

  *****

  Leigh was nervous as she waited for Harrison to pick her up.

  She had done this so many times and survived just fine, she chided herself.

  But it wasn’t the same. She knew that.

  There was no point trying to fool herself into thinking it was.

  This time, it was a date.

  Harrison got there right on time, and she slipped in, something she had done so often.

  She looked at him, and for the first time in a long time, wondered if he liked what she was wearing, wondered if he was attracted to her.

  “You look lovely. Metallic colors suit you so well,” said Harrison, and his voice held an intimacy that she had never heard before.

  It made her feel awkward, but not just awkward. She was pleased, she realized, underneath the awkwardness.

  She was wearing a short dress the color of dull, beaten, old gold, and she knew it looked good on her. It made her look glamorous.

  “Thank you. Where’re we going?”

  Harrison smiled again, and there was pure male appreciation in his eyes. Had she never seen that before?

  “It’s a surprise,” he told her, and she settled back to wait.

  Leigh would’ve found it hard to relinquish control even a couple of weeks ago. Had that been part of the reason why she had stayed with Carl? He had been so disinterested that Leigh had made all the choices.

  No, she wouldn’t think of Carl. Tonight was for a new beginning.

  But the silence seemed to stretch out between them, almost taking solid form. It wasn’t the kind of comfortable silence that she’d always been used to, with Harrison. There was nothing comforting about it. Awkwardness made the air stiff and heavy.

  Leigh saw that they were driving out of town, and felt them climbing.

  She had a sudden inkling of where they might be going.

  When they went up a dirt track, she knew.

  “There’s a minute’s walk, but I can carry you if your shoes make it difficult.”

  Leigh smiled.

  “I can manage. I’ve been here before.”

  Harrison’s face clouded just a bit and she knew that he was imagining her there with Carl.

  “Alone,” she emphasized.

  She had. She’d come up there, sat as close to the edge as possible, and looked out over the city.

  Harrison smiled.

  “I should’ve known. I bought the land a while ago.”

  Leigh was surprised.

  “I didn’t know that.”

  Harrison grinned.

  “I’m full of surprises.”

  There had always been an observatory, long since fallen to disuse, up that little hill. A lot of people had told Leigh that it was haunted. But she had only found peace there.

  She’d known she was trespassing, of course, but outside of city limits, that didn’t seem to be such a pressing problem.

  Harrison set the picnic out and she chuckled.

  “I should’ve known, you cheapskate,” she teased, and he laughed with her.

  “I thought you’d prefer this. I didn’t want us to be photographed by people who don’t know better. Anyway, have a seat, my lady.”

  She sat down, and so did he.

  She looked at him now. He was meant to be in the city, of course. There was nothing of the countryside about him. Even in the little, cookie-cutter town where they had grown up, Harrison had belonged, but he had always been for the city.

  So had she, really.

  Being framed by the sky and the twinkling lights of the city suited him.

  He looked so handsome, thought Leigh, struck by it.

  She smiled. She couldn’t help it.

  “What’re we having?” she asked, indicating the picnic basket.

  “Open it and see,” teased Harrison.

  Leigh opened it, strangely not feeling ridiculously overdressed. She liked this, she realized.

  She saw the contents of the picnic basket and squealed.

  “Harrison, you remembered!”

  Harrison laughed, because the picnic basket had pasta from her favorite hole in the wall, and their house wine.

  Of course he had remembered. He had wanted her to be completely over Carl before he took her there, but he had suddenly wanted to bring it to her, instead.

  Conversation flowed again, and it suddenly became easy, and natural.

  It didn’t feel like a date, Leigh told herself after a while.

  No, it didn’t feel like the kind of date she was used to. It felt like far too much fun to be like that.

  By the time they had dessert – baklava, to her shock, but delight, because it was also a favorite – she sighed.

  “Thank you, Harrison,” said Leigh, softly.

  Harrison looked at her.

  When had he come so close to her? She wasn’t
sure.

  But she liked it, didn’t she? She liked how he was so close to her, and she only had to lean a little to rest her head on his shoulder.

  She had done that, so often. But this time, it wasn’t the same. She knew that.

  This time, it was about more than just support and comfort.

  This time, she realized with a shock, she wanted Harrison to kiss her.

  Did she?

  She searched her mind thoroughly.

  Yes, she definitely did, she realized.

  Harrison watched the emotions flitting over her lovely face, and waited. He could read her. He knew that not many could.

  He saw the conclusion she reached when she opened her eyes, and her eyes gleamed in the light cast by the moon.

  She looked enchanting.

  And he wanted her to make the first move. Somehow, it was important to him.

  “Harrison?”

  He nodded, his lips curving in a smile.

  “Will you kiss me?”

  The sweet words nearly took his breath away. He had longed for so long to hear them!

  “Leigh, we can wait.”

  She shook her head.

  “No, I think we’ve waited long enough. Kiss me.”

  She felt him as he moved closer, and turned to her. His presence was a tangible thing. She could feel it.

  When his fingers touched her, under her chin, and raised her face to his, she trembled, just a bit.

  As he leaned closer, and closer, she felt her body go taut in preparation.

  But that first brush of his lips over hers made her go still.

  It was as if all the stars in the sky had flown through her, pulsing their light and their warmth, making her tingle everywhere.

  It was the lightest and sweetest of touches, but she felt it all the way through to her soul.

  She moaned, and her lips parted slightly. Still Harrison was gentle, soft. His tongue slid along the seam of her lips, touching the insides of her lips but not sliding into her mouth.

  Tempted, her tongue ventured to touch his, stroke it gently, and she felt as if the light inside her exploded.

  She found herself on her back, with Harrison’s strong, tall body covering hers. She gasped as she felt the kiss become all-encompassing. She felt like she was drowning in him.

  His mouth moved over hers insistently, passionately, and she moaned against him.

  Her hands moved over his back, sliding around him and pulling him closer to her.

  She could feel the hard length of his manhood pushing against her, and couldn’t help how her legs parted for him to settle between them.

  She felt her hips move against him and his hand moved down her neck, cupping her breast over her dress and stroking it softly.

  She felt her nipple harden as he brushed over it, and she moaned again.

  This time, she moaned his name, and it was a plea.

  She had never felt so much before. It felt as if everything she was feeling was too big to be contained in her body. She whimpered and moved against him as she felt his fingers brushing over her nipple over and over again. She could feel his hips moving, brushing against her, and she knew that he wanted to be inside her.

  And oh, so did she. The wild desire that was coursing through her as her fingers tangled in his hair and she kissed him mindlessly, welcoming the gentle invasion of his tongue, responding in kind, was demanding everything.

  She wanted to be taken, right there, in the open.

  The thought didn’t even fully form and his lips moved to her ear, licking and sucking until she arched into him, stroking his hard manhood with her body as she pressed herself into his hand.

  When his mouth moved down her and to her neck, licking and sucking on the sweet dips and hollows there, she shivered.

  “Harrison, that feels so good,” she moaned, and she felt his hand slide down her dress and touch her breast, stroking over her nipple through the soft material of her bra.

  “You are so responsive. Your skin is so soft. I want to kiss and touch every inch of you. I’ve wanted to kiss you and taste you for so long, Leigh.”

  Harrison’s words pushed her past all reason, and her mouth took his, in a long, demanding kiss that told her that she would take everything he could offer, and then more.

  Her hands moved down his back and cupped his ass, pressing him closer into her softness.

  She wanted him to feel her hips moving against him, asking for more. That sweet friction was making her demand more.

  But he pulled away.

  He looked down at her, lips swollen with kisses, hair mussed and her dress shifting down. He saw the slightest hint of her areola and his body tightened even more.

  “Not tonight, Leigh. Not yet. Time,” said Harrison.

  Leigh opened her mouth to object, but now that he had moved away, she could feel the discomfort of the blanket they’d been lying on.

  “Take me home,” said Leigh.

  It was a command.

  Chapter 7

  A week after that first date, Leigh was getting ready again to meet him. But she was puzzled.

  What she wasn’t, was satisfied.

  Harrison hadn’t taken her home and ravished her, as she’d hoped. After that stupendous first date, and another long, lingering kiss at the door, he had left.

  Since then, they had gone out twice, and they had shared those deep, drugging kisses. She’d felt so much. And every time, she had ended up home alone.

  This time, she chose her sexiest lingerie, determined that she wouldn’t end up coming home alone. Well, there wasn’t much of it. But she knew that what there was of it was effective. At least, she hoped it would be, because it was new.

  Somehow, she wanted something new for Harrison.

  Besides, she needed a distraction and Harrison was handy. Things were getting a bit tense at work. Slimy Willie seemed to be back to his old tricks.

  Leigh had caught a couple of mistakes just in time, so they hadn’t become mistakes; at least, not the kind that mattered.

  She needed a distraction, and she was beginning to feel like the sexual tension was affecting her concentration. She kept losing her train of thought and dreaming about Harrison.

  She needed to get laid.

  She was going to. If he thought he had even a dream of resisting her when she really turned on the heat, he was wrong.

  And that was why she was cooking, and they were spending the evening at home.

  She was going to seduce Harrison. This time, there would be none of this dropping her at home and disappearing business. This time, she would have him.

  If there was an intensity to her need that she had never felt before, she chose to ignore it. Leigh wasn’t ready for complications, not right then. She’d had one very serious relationship in her life, and look how that had turned out! She was entitled to be a bit selfish.

  But she knew, deep inside, that she was trying to justify it to herself using reasons that were just not true. Nothing with Harrison could ever be simple. There was too much between them for sex to be a step taken lightly and thoughtlessly. Even dating was a huge step, from which there would be no going back, not to the place where they’d been.

  Leigh refused to think about why she felt such a need for him. But she did, and she wouldn’t ignore it any longer.

  To busy herself, she tidied the kitchen counter, which she had put to excellent use, making Harrison’s favorite red sauce that took an age and a half to be ready.

  She didn’t think about why she felt the need to give him so much time and effort, either.

  Tonight, Leigh was focused on taking.

  When he rang the bell, Leigh was ready. She knew she looked good, in a long dress that bled all the colors of the rainbow and left her shoulders bare except for two very thin straps. The neckline was a deep V that showed off her high, perky breasts. The dress skimmed over her waist and hips cleverly, showing off her curves with every move, but looking deceptively modest until she moved.
/>   “It’s open,” called Leigh when she heard the door.

  “I came just as your neighbor did. She seems nice. A bit suspicious, she did ask me if I have an ax on my person before letting me come in.”

  Leigh laughed.

  “That’ll be Mrs. Patterson. Yes, she is a bit obsessed with those reality murder shows. You’re lucky she let you in at all.”

  She turned around, and with that twirling move, her dress seemed to hug every curve for a second, shimmering over her.

  “You look…”

  Harrison felt his throat go dry.

  Leigh’s eyes gleamed with mischief as she noticed how his eyes widened.

  “I look?” she questioned.

  “Wonderful,” said Harrison, his voice hoarse.

  Leigh smiled and moved again, walking to the cupboard to get dishes.

  “It’s a slow-simmered sauce with pasta for dinner. I thought we might jump straight to the main course, because you’ll want to fill up on that,” said Leigh, and she bent over, getting a serving platter from a cupboard under her kitchen counter.

  Harrison felt his body stirring to life as he watched her ass wiggling in the air as she looked for something. He could barely think. His blood was definitely more focused in parts of his body that had nothing to do with thinking.

  When she stood up, he was sorely disappointed, but she leaned forward a bit to pick up something and he got a view of her cleavage that made him nearly whimper.

  He had been trying to go slow, because he believed that Leigh needed that. But if she kept looking as enticing as she did at that moment, he wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer.

  And they were eating at home, alone! He didn’t think he could trust himself.

  “Maybe we should go out,” said Harrison.

  Leigh turned around, her eyes wide and hurt.

  “Do you think my cooking is so bad, then?” asked Leigh.

  Harrison shook his head immediately. If his blood had been flowing properly to the head on his neck, he wouldn’t have said something that stupid.

  “No, no, of course not,” assured Harrison. Damn it, was he going to stammer like a teenaged fool?

  Leigh smiled, and it was that secret smile that said that she knew things – things he’d rather not let her find out, not that moment.

  “Are you afraid to be alone with me, Harrison?”