6. Miles

Chapter 6

Miles

I stand in the hallway outside the guest room for a long time. I’ve seen Harper in bathing suits and tight dresses, but nothing prepared me to see her naked. My heart is still pounding, and my dick is harder than it’s ever been. I want to open her door and let her know that she’s mine. That we are meant to be together.

I saw her looking at my body. It felt so damn good. Maybe Ivy was right, and Harper does think of me as more than her best friend, but how am I supposed to find out? I can’t just ask her, especially not when she’s been so upset.

When I heard her sobs from my bedroom, my heart stopped. I rushed to her door and then argued with myself about going into her room. Harper is so independent that I didn’t know if she would want me to witness her being upset. Then the sobs got louder, and I couldn’t stop myself from going in. I didn’t even realize I wasn’t dressed until Harper did.

I return to my room and quickly change into pants and a T-shirt. I want to get downstairs and start some breakfast before she gets down there. As I walk by her room, I hear Titan scratching at the door. I can hear the shower running, so I crack the door and let him out.

“Hey, buddy. Let’s take you out and get you some breakfast.”

Titan barks in answer and we set off for the kitchen.

I let him out and fill his food and water bowl first. Next, I turn on the coffee pot, glad that I remembered to pre-fill the machine last night, and wait for the magic bean water to brew. While I wait for that to finish, I pull out the creamer and the ingredients for French toast, Harper’s favorite breakfast food.

I pour my first cup of coffee and get to making breakfast. This is another thing I could get used to. Wake up on a Saturday morning, have coffee and French toast with Harper, and then tumble back into bed or putter around the house.

Everything is finished and on the table when Harper comes down. I open the door and let Titan back in and he settles at his breakfast.

“This looks delicious, Miles. You know I love your French toast.”

I would rather you love me. “I knew today would be another shitty day and thought maybe starting it out with one of your favorite foods would help.”

With a mouth full of food, she says, “Can’t hurt.”

I laugh. Harper seems to have recovered from her breakdown this morning and seems happier now. I hate to ruin that, but we need to talk about her house. The crew is already over there working. The water is all out, and we can start using the fans and removing the carpet.

“So, the house.”

Harper takes her last bite and picks up her coffee. “Okay, I think I’ve had enough sugar and caffeine to tackle this now. Lay it on me.”

“First, nothing we’ve seen so far is catastrophic. It’s all easy to fix, there’s just a lot of things that need to be fixed.”

She nods but doesn’t say anything.

“Okay, they’ve finished pumping out all the water. That took a while, and we couldn’t do anything else until that was done. The crew is back over there, and they are going to set up a bunch of huge fans, but first, they will pull up the carpet and padding. The tile and wood floors will have to come up later, but we’ll get the carpet out now. Once we get things dried out more, we can assess how much of the walls will need to be redone.”

Harper nods the whole time I talk, her face gradually falling. “How bad do you think the walls are?”

“I don’t want to pretend that it isn’t as bad as it is. I think we are going to have to redo the walls completely. I don’t want to risk mold and water damage can be deceptive. All the floors will have to be replaced too.”

My stomach clenches as tears form in Harper’s eyes. I hate that she’s going through this and would do anything to take all of this upset away from her. I grab her hand and squeeze.

“It’s gonna be okay. I’m gonna be here every step of the way. We’ll do this together.”

A sad smile crosses her face, and she says, “I know you will be here. There’s no one else I would trust. Can I go over and see what’s salvageable furniture-wise and pack up my clothes and stuff? I need to find a place to stay and get my stuff out of the way of your crew.”

I take a deep calming breath. “I can drive you over to help with your stuff, but Harper, you know you can stay here. There’s the guest room and Titan is fine here.”

“I know, but…”

“But, what?” I ask, wondering if what happened this morning is what’s making her want to leave.

“I don’t want to take advantage of our friendship. You’re already helping me with my house.”

“I would do anything for you, Harper.” The statement comes out more seriously than I intend it to, but it’s one hundred percent true.