Being Harrison Bloom's Girl (That Forbidden Love Book 2)

by Ellie Etienne

  After all, he had choices.

  He didn’t need to stay where he could find no peace.

  What was the point of amassing wealth and making sure he could afford anything he wanted if he didn’t use it to give himself some pleasure and comfort?

  He would go for a drive. He would go somewhere and get a drink, or seven, or ten. He’d buy them all a few rounds, and forget all about Leigh.

  Maybe he would even flirt with a few girls, and see if it led to something.

  He would not let this affect him so.

  But even as Harrison thought of the evening that could follow, he lost the will to follow through.

  He didn’t want to do any of it. What he wanted was one of his quiet evenings at home with Leigh. Or maybe to attend one of those tedious functions they had always hated and make it tolerable by teasing each other.

  He wanted to hold her, and look into her lovely eyes and know that he was hers.

  But he couldn’t do any of that, because she wasn’t his anymore. She was gone. She had left him.

  There was nothing he could do about it.

  So Harrison decided to stay home, which wasn’t home anymore because Leigh wasn’t there anymore, and got stinking drunk.

  And it still couldn’t stop the pain.

  Leigh stared at the phone.

  So, Harrison didn’t want to be friends.

  She hadn’t expected him to cut her out of her life. Maybe she’d been an idiot not to expect it, considering that she had demanded a break and run away from him like a maniac.

  But she’d hoped that what they’d had – before they’d become more – would be worth more to him.

  “Why the long face?”

  Leigh looked up to see Hana, a very concerned look on her animated face.

  Leigh tried to smile, but she couldn’t quite make it work.

  “I called Harrison. He doesn’t want to talk to me anymore.”

  “Oh. Oh, I’m so sorry, Leigh. It’s all fucked up, isn’t it? I’m very sorry.”

  Leigh shrugged.

  “It’s fine. Sometimes, things just aren’t meant to be. You were right about the pressures, and just cutting your losses before it’s too late. I didn’t and now Harrison doesn’t even want to talk to me. I don’t know why I thought we’d be friends, but…”

  Hana sat down next to Leigh and slipped an arm around her shoulder.

  “I know why. He’s important to you. He will always be important to you. He’s family, so he has to be.”

  Leigh sighed again.

  “I didn’t think this through. I didn’t think of what it would do to our family.”

  Hana smiled.

  “I’m sure you’ll figure it out, but for now, you have to stop brooding.”

  Leigh took a deep breath – different, she told herself, from a sigh.

  “You’re right. I told him I needed a break. I guess I should try to actually take a break, instead of trying to hold on to him a little bit. I should.”

  Hana nodded approvingly.

  “And I know that that’s easier said than done, but it’s a good start to say it out loud.”

  Leigh smiled again, and tried to go on with her day. After all, she’d been doing that well so far. But until that day, it had felt like her choice – that she could have him back when she wanted him. Now the idea of really losing him was becoming real, and as went through the motions, going to class, going to the library, none of it seemed real to her.

  “Leigh!”

  She turned around and saw Roger.

  Then she noticed that he had her paper in his hand.

  Oh, shit. She braced herself for criticism.

  “Leigh, there you are.”

  Leigh smiled nervously.

  “Here I am,” she agreed.

  “I read your paper.”

  Leigh waited.

  “I’m changing your grade. To an A-minus, because I think you can do better.”

  The breath she’d been holding came out in a whoosh.

  “Oh. Oh, thank you. I think I was overdue for some good news.”

  “Bad news from home? Is everything fine?”

  Leigh shook her head quickly, and then tried to nod, giving herself a little crick in the neck.

  “Everything’s fine. I’m just having boyfriend troubles, that’s all.”

  “Ah, Prince Charming,” said Roger, and Leigh wished she could sink right through the ground.

  “Yes,” she muttered.

  Roger looked a little contrite.

  “I am sorry, Leigh. I didn’t mean to tease you, I’m sure it’s troubling you. Tell you what, come over for dinner. I’ll put your life in grave peril by cooking for you.”

  Leigh was about to say no when she wondered why the hell she should say no. But she opened her mouth and ‘no’ wasn’t the word that she heard coming out from it.

  “I’d like that. Thank you, Roger.”

  Before Leigh could change her mind, she turned around and walked away, telling herself that she had absolutely nothing to feel guilty about – absolutely nothing. She had every right to have dinner with somebody else.

  And it wasn’t even like it was a date. He was a guest lecturer, and she was a student. But they were closer in age than most lecturers and students, and he wasn’t a permanent member of the faculty, rationalized Leigh. Besides, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t anything romantic. He had just seen that she was upset, and offered something that might cheer her up a little.

  But it lifted her mood a little. That evening, when she was dressing – she was glad Hana was out, she’d told Hana that she would be studying, as if she were ashamed of the truth – she found herself wondering if she should dress up.

  Maybe the old Leigh’s style would be more suitable – the sheaths, the dresses, the trim skirts.

  But she didn’t feel like the old Leigh.

  The old Leigh still felt like Harrison’s Leigh.

  Leigh deliberately chose a soft, silk blouse in a vivid pink, which made her dark skin glow, and a pair of jeans that hugged her legs and showed off their toned length. She did her makeup carefully, highlighting her eyes, and styled her hair – she needed a trip to the salon, really, but where did she have the time – efficiently.

  Finally, she looked at her reflection in the mirror and nodded.

  She didn’t look like the old Leigh, the up-and-coming paralegal with the bright future at a reputed and rather stuffy law firm, where she would go back and become a name partner within a decade.

  That had been the plan, anyway.

  Now she wasn’t sure of anything.

  She didn’t look like a student, either. She looked like something in the middle.

  Caught in the middle – that’s how Leigh felt, even if she had apparently burnt a bridge.

  Determined to have a good time, Leigh set off. The short walk in the bracing air helped a little. She was glad of the bulky coat she’d chosen.

  Roger opened the door before she could knock, and Leigh glanced down at his feet.

  “I’m not wearing odd socks,” he informed her, and Leigh grinned, feeling the tension lift.

  It would be fine.

  She would manage just fine.

  “Wow, something sure smells good,” said Leigh, and she meant it.

  “I can cook, you know. I just think it’s usually much easier to pay somebody else, like at the takeout place, to do the cooking for you.”

  Leigh grinned.

  “Must be nice if you can afford it. And make a few salads and chop up a few fruits.”

  Roger made a face.

  “It’s a hard thing for a grown man to admit, but I still hate vegetables. I can manage a few fruits, but vegetables…”

  Leigh laughed.

  “So, are we having meat with a side of fish and fowl to finish?”

  Roger grinned. Leigh sighed a little on the inside. He did have a lovely smile. It looked just a little absent-minded, and he was still wearing his reading glasses.


  Smiling, she reached for them, taking them off him.

  “They’re splattered with whatever you’re cooking. I’ll clean them for you.”

  Roger looked surprised.

  “I didn’t even notice I was wearing them,” he admitted, and Leigh grinned again, letting herself relax, slowly. There was something about Roger that just put you at ease. There were no affectations about him.

  Besides, the man really was adorable. No wonder all the girls had declared that he was a super hunk.

  “Now, I… Oh shit, that might burn,” cried Roger, and rushed into the kitchen. It gave her a moment to appreciate how he looked in an apron.

  She didn’t think she’d ever seen Harrison in an apron. Roger looked perfectly adorable in that completely splattered apron. He looked approachable and real. Harrison only looked approachable to people who didn’t know him very well.

  She knew that he would’ve looked his most forbidding when he’d seen her name on the screen of the phone. Maybe he’d deleted all her photos. Maybe he had set all of that determination and strength he had to work, forgetting all about her, and he had succeeded. Why wouldn’t he? He always succeeded in everything he did.

  That was Harrison Bloom’s signature – success. He would never let anything like a breakup stop him.

  She should be happy for him, and give him the space he needed. She’d been the one to step away from him, after all. She had absolutely no right to resent anything he did to feel better.

  She would never wish him anything but happiness.

  “Close call, but nothing burnt. I hope you like it, it’s fish with my special sauce.”

  “I don’t suppose you have any beer to go with it?”

  Roger looked surprised.

  “I didn’t know you were a beer drinker. I’d have guessed wine.”

  Harrison knew that about her. Harrison knew everything about her.

  “I guess I’m full of surprises,” said Leigh, trying to stop thinking about Harrison, but the more she tried, the more she seemed to think about him.

  Grabbing the beer Roger held out, she walked to the kitchen, and for a moment, she did forget all about Harrison.

  “Is clean-up my role for the evening?” asked Leigh, a little weakly, because the kitchen looked like a particularly furious tornado had ripped through it.

  “Oh no, don’t worry, it looks a lot worse than it is. I’ll manage just fine. Don’t you worry about it. Why don’t you go into the living room and poke around at the books? Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes.”

  Leigh was glad to flee what looked like the scene of a very floury crime.

  She was dreading dinner, but when he served, Leigh was pleasantly surprised when she took the first bite.

  “Wow.”

  Roger grinned.

  “I know, right? You thought it would be dreadful after seeing the kitchen.”

  Leigh grinned back.

  “I did, but now I see why you get takeout. You cook extremely well, but the cleanup must be horrendous.”

  Roger chuckled.

  “It is. That’s why I only cook for people I really like.”

  Leigh let that sink in.

  He really liked her.

  There, that had shattered her little illusion that everything was perfectly platonic between them. Leigh waited for the guilt, but it didn’t come. She was single, after all.

  But the thought that she was single made the excellent fish with the delicious sauce feel like cardboard in her mouth.

  “Leigh, are you all right? You look a little…”

  Leigh smiled and shook her head.

  “I’m fine. I don’t know what you did with this sauce, but it’s excellent. My cooking is very hit and miss. When it hits, it’s great, but when it misses, it’s inedible.”

  “My ex-wife’s cooking is like that, too.”

  Leigh frowned.

  “You were married?”

  “For a few years, when I was far too young. We were both too young, really, to understand what marriage meant. We made a commitment and wanted to stick to it, but it didn’t work out that way. First law school, then my work – I couldn’t seem to make it all work. There wasn’t enough time to make it all work. I was so focused on myself that I didn’t see how much she needed me to be there. Maybe the very fact that I didn’t need her to be there quite as badly should’ve told me that something was wrong. I refused to see it until she finally told me she’d had enough. She has a very quiet, lovely way about her. Even when she was twenty, she had such poise. She’d never do anything as crass as cause a scene. So, she told me, gently, that it was over, and I didn’t even fight for her.”

  Leigh felt like she was holding her breath.

  “I guess it was something like that for Harrison and me, too. I couldn’t seem to keep it all together.”

  Roger smiled a little.

  “It’s difficult. It’s difficult to straddle two worlds and try to fit in both.”

  Leigh nodded, relieved beyond words that he seemed to understand.

  “Did you… Did you ever regret it?”

  Roger shrugged.

  “Sometimes, when I’m lonely. But if you only miss somebody when you’re lonely, then it’s not really love, is it? Elaine deserved better. She has better life now – a family, and children, like she wanted. And we’re friends. I guess we were always meant to be friends.”

  Leigh’s heart beat so hard that she wondered if he could see it.

  “Do you regret it? Getting together with her, marrying her, then leaving her?”

  Roger seemed to think about it before he shook his head.

  “No. I guess I don’t regret anything. I don’t believe in regrets. For one thing, they’re pointless. For another, I wouldn’t be who I am now if things had happened differently. Everything that happens to us shapes who we are. I think I’m fine with who I am now.”

  Roger smiled, and Leigh felt like her world was crashing down around her. Roger couldn’t possibly have known how his words would make her feel.

  Leigh managed to get through dinner, and dessert. But her heart was no longer in it.

  Finally, she rose.

  “I’ll help you clean up.”

  Roger smiled but shook his head.

  “No, don’t worry about it. You don’t want to be here right now, Leigh. I can see that. We can talk later. It’s all right, I find cleaning up my own huge mess rather therapeutic.”

  Leigh would’ve objected, should’ve insisted on helping.

  But he was right.

  She didn’t want to be there.

  “Thank you. I’m so sorry, Roger. It’s been a great evening. You’ve no idea how much I needed it. But there’s something I really need to do now. I’ll explain later – I know I owe you an explanation.”

  Roger smiled again, gently.

  “You don’t owe me anything, Leigh. But when you’ve sorted things out, when you’ve found yourself again, I hope you’ll let me know.”

  Leigh left, knowing what she had to do.

  She knew, too, that it might be the stupidest thing she had ever done. It might be the silliest decision she had ever made. But it was her choice, and she had to do it.

  Thinking clearly, she wrote a note for Hana once she got back to the dorm.

  Dear Hana,

  Cover for me tomorrow if you can, will you? I need to go. I need to see Harrison. I know, I’m an idiot, but I need to figure a few things out. I’ll see you soon. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

  Leigh

  Before she could change her mind, Leigh packed quickly – just an overnight bag – and considered her phone.

  No, she wasn’t going to call. It would do no good.

  She got in her car, and she started driving to Harrison.

  Chapter 7

  Leigh had her key. Nobody questioned her as she went in, made her way to the private elevator, keyed in the code, and went all the way up to the penthouse.

  She stepped out tentatively an
d wondered, not for the first time, if she was making a mistake. Maybe it was a bad idea. Maybe it was a really bad idea.

  “Leigh?”

  Leigh jumped like a startled rabbit.

  “Harrison.”

  It took a couple of tries for her to find her voice and say his name. She couldn’t seem to get it out.

  “Leigh, you’re… Are you all right? Is something wrong? Did something happen?”

  Leigh shook her head quickly.

  “No. No, it’s just… I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I missed you so much, I had to see you. I don’t know what I was thinking, I just got in the car and drove here. I…”

  “Leigh, you’re here. You came back to me.”

  In two long strides, Harrison had pulled her into his arms, holding her tight as if he would never let her go.

  “You came back.”

  Leigh didn’t say anything. She didn’t know why she had come, to be honest. But being in Harrison’s arms was comfort. It was easy. It was what she knew.

  So she took that comfort, holding on to him, raising her face to his for that kiss she had been longing for.

  “Harrison,” she whispered, and she saw, with shock, that he looked like he hadn’t slept in a week.

  But then she stopped thinking, because he kissed her.

  She moaned and pressed herself against him, holding on to him, her hands linking behind his neck. Her mouth was desperate as her lips parted and she swept her tongue into his mouth, seeking his.

  She wanted to feel.

  At least she could know what she felt.

  “Leigh…”

  “Harrison, please. Please, I need you. I need you to touch me. I need to feel you. Please.”

  Her desperation got through to him, and he felt the urgency as she deepened the kiss, tugging his shirt off.

  Some part of her mind wondered why he was fully dressed in the middle of the night, but she didn’t care, not as long as she could get it all off him and touch him. She needed to know she could make him want her again. She needed to know that that, at least, hadn’t changed.

  “Leigh…”

  “Please!”

  It wasn’t a plea. It was a demand, harsh and insistent.

  Harrison couldn’t hold back against it. He pulled off her coat, her T-shirt, and unbuttoned the snap of her jeans. His hands moved over her back, so delicate and sensitive, and he undid the hook of her bra and slid the straps down her arms and off her.