Side Squeeze (Jasper Falls 6)
Page 80
He and Mariella definitely didn’t struggle in that department. And there was no way he was discussing his sex life with his sister.
He did, however, stop denying that Mariella was someone important to him. He wouldn’t label his feelings, though, because that would lead to more expectations on his sister’s part. And Giovanni’s, because he had no doubt Erin told her husband everything.
Harrison wasn’t sure if he loved Mariella. He’d never cared about a woman as deeply as he cared about her, but he had very limited experience with love.
He loved Erin, but that was different.
His feelings for Mariella were complicated and layered. Their story was more than a decade long and full of unspoken moments that seemed to carry more implication than any four-letter word possibly could. She was sweet and sexy as hell. She made him laugh, and he rarely had to pretend around her. Despite all of the ways they didn’t work as a couple, there were a lot of ways they did.
They had a policy that they never lie to each other. That might explain why he avoided her at times, because when the truth would inevitably hurt her, he couldn’t bear to see it through.
Most of all, Mariella didn’t put up with his bullshit. She accepted him, but also called him out on his crap. She held strong to her boundaries, and even though that put unwanted distance between them, he respected her all the more for having such high standards for herself.
Was that love? Was love letting someone go so they could find something better, as Erin had said? A selfish part of him didn’t want to give Mariella space. His greedy side wanted to force her to see and talk to him and tell him exactly how he could fix this. But a fearful part of him feared there was no fix for them and any pressure would only destroy what little connection they had left.
After responding to a few clients that required instant feedback, he closed his laptop and took a quick shower. He was out the door and heading toward the elevators by eight thirty for another day of selling discounted tools on Happy Fucking Lane.
The elevator doors parted on the ground floor, and he came up short when he came face-to-face with Mariella and the son of a bitch who worked with her now touching her ear.
“Harrison.” She noticeably tensed, the man’s hands touching her hair and ear as his head tipped close to hers.
Harrison’s jaw locked. What the hell was this? Those were his ears.
“That should do it,” the man said, getting his fingers off her lobes before Harrison snapped his hands at the wrists.
Mariella flushed and touched the side of her head. “I lost the back of my earring.”
So she let this clown touch her? How was that the solution?
Harrison pushed past them, not looking back as he left the hotel. When he got to the store, Erin already had the coffee made and music playing. He threw the bag with her bagel inside onto the counter.
“You’re in a mood. Did something happen?”
“Why are you texting me at six in the morning? Shouldn’t you be sleeping in your condition?”
“I’ve been up since four.” She held out her hands and shrugged. “Bean’s a morning person.”
“Well, I’m not.” He opened the register and counted the cash. They needed to make another deposit. “Where can I get a pair of earrings around here?”
Erin bit into her bagel and grinned. “Earrings for a girl?”
“No, earrings for my cat. Yes, for a girl. Nice ones. The kind with good backs that won’t fall off.”
He couldn’t get the image of that man putting his hands all over Mariella’s ears, breathing in her hair, his breath exhaling on her skin. He slammed the register and Erin flinched.
“There’s a jeweler that just opened up by Town Hall.”
He stuffed a stack of bills into the leather bank envelope and zipped it shut. “I’m going to the bank.”
He was still steaming when he made the deposit, his temper only mildly cooling when he found the jeweler. He glared at the display of glittering engagement rings, his attention tied to an emerald cut ring he thought might look nice—
What the hell was he doing? He was there for earrings. He could guarantee one thing though. If they were married, no one else would lay a finger on Mariella’s sexy ears again. They were his.
“Where are your earrings?” he barked, forcing his eyes away from the rings.
A woman in a red suit directed his attention to the back wall. “This is our signature collection, and there’s a seasonal display in the front. Are you looking for something in particular?”
“Strong backs.”
The woman frowned. “All of our jewelry’s made of fine metals. We also offer insurance if you want additional protection.”
He just wanted a reinforced back so other men kept their grubby paws off of her. “What about these?”