Chapter 17
Seventeen
Damien watched Harmony’s eyes widen. Her lips parted on a silent gasp. She looked at him with an expression he couldn’t read, one he needed desperately to understand.
Clearly, she was shocked by what he confessed, but was it more than just surprise in her gaze? Was it possible she was feeling the same things he was? Or was he fooling himself into thinking she was plunging headfirst into free-fall right beside him?
“I… I don’t know what to say,” Harmony whispered.
Damien shook his head. “You don’t have to say anything. We’ve only known each other for a month. I know it’s insane for me to be saying this to you.”
“No more insane than me feeling the same way.”
Damien exhaled a laugh. “Is that so?”
She shrugged. “My dad told me once that he fell in love with my mom in one second. He said it was love at first sight for him. When he was at the end… The last few days, he thought I was her. He told me over and over again that he loved me and was so happy to see me again.”
“Oh, Harmony. That… That had to be hard.”
She nodded, rolling her lips in. “It was. But it was also beautiful. He told me things he never would have said if he’d known I was me and not my mother.”
“Like what?”
She swallowed roughly, her eyes filling with tears.
Damien squeezed her hand, recognizing that she wasn’t entirely sure about what she wanted to share.
“My friend’s little brother… the one I told you about.
His name was Anthony. When the gunshots…
We hit the ground. Jackson, my friend, we both just dropped.
We didn’t realize Anthony had been hit until after the piece of shit who shot him was gone.
We got up, checked each other, then noticed Anthony.
Jackson grabbed him, dragged his brother onto his lap. ”
Harmony exhaled a painful breath and shook her head. Tears slid down her cheeks.
“Anthony asked Jackson what happened. He didn’t know. Anthony couldn’t move. He tried to sit up, but the bullets severed his spinal column. He was paralyzed, which was almost a blessing because it meant he didn’t feel the pain either.”
“Oh my God,”
Damien closed his eyes, replaying the scene in his mind.
Years of therapy would never erase those moments.
“Jackson told Anthony he was going to be fine. He held him in his arms and talked to him about what his life would be like. About playing sports in high school and kissing girls in college, about their mom and dad. About riding his bike all summer and ice skating in the winter, buying a boat and teaching him to waterski. Anthony was almost laughing as the ambulance screamed up the street, just before he took his last breath.”
“Oh, Damien,” Harmony whispered.
“Jackson’s parents asked him to do the eulogy at Anthony’s funeral. They were buddies. Even though there were a dozen years between them, Anthony was his favorite person. Jackson planned to stay close to home for college because he didn’t want to go far from Anthony.”
“I had to do my dad’s eulogy. There was no one else, of course, and not a lot of people were there. A few old coworkers, some people from the hospital. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”
Damien nodded. “Jackson couldn’t finish it. He asked me to help him write it, and when he couldn’t go on, I finished his words.”
“You’re a good friend.”
Damien smiled. “Thanks. It was hard. That week shaped pretty much everything for the rest of my life. It pushed me to go into the military, it encouraged me to do the right thing, to fight back against people who incite violence for no reason. I don’t deal well with anyone who uses their strength or anger to intimidate others. ”
“That’s why you do what you do.”
“It is.”
Harmony was quiet for a long moment, then smiled at him with a look in her eyes that gave him hope.
“Losing my dad was the same for me. I always wanted to study science and found pharmacology fascinating, but when my dad was dying, when he thought I was my mom, he told me how proud he was of me. How it was worth it for him to sacrifice all he had to know I was building a better future for myself.”
“I think a parent is always going to sacrifice for their children.”
“Yeah. But I wish he didn’t. I wish he’d let me know what was going on.”
“What would you have done?” Damien asked.
“I would have quit school!”
Damien chuckled. “Which is probably what he was trying to stop you from doing.”
“But I did it anyway. When he died, I had all his debt to pay off. He was putting all his treatments and his living expenses on credit cards. The doctors wouldn’t treat him unless he paid, and once you pay medical expenses with a credit card, it’s no longer considered medical debt, so I had no choice. ”
“That’s not fair,” Damien snarled.
Harmony shrugged. “No one asked me if it was fair, just told me I was responsible. Thankfully, I had a little warning. It was one of the things he told me when he thought I was my mom. He said, ‘Darlin’, I wish I could have protected her more. I wish I could have left her an inheritance instead of a mountain of debt.’”
“What did you say?”
“I didn’t really know what to say. I told him it would be fine. It made him feel better. I think.”
“It still doesn’t seem fair that you had to handle all of that. And by yourself.”
“I’m used to being by myself,” Harmony said.
“You’re not by yourself anymore.” Damien took her hand. He brought it to his lips.
“Thank you.”
Damien held her gaze and turned her palm over. “I don’t know what this is between us, Harmony. I can’t make you any promises. I want to, but I won’t cheapen how I feel by saying anything beyond what I’ve already said, but I don’t want this to be over when you’re safe.”
“Did Lacey and Claudia say something to you?”
Damien shook his head slowly. “No. Not about whatever you think they said. They both said they really like you and think we’re good together. What are you asking about?”
She sighed heavily. “I told them I thought this would be over when I was safe. That you were… that this was just because of the situation we’re in.”
Damien pressed a kiss to the center of her palm. “I already told you that isn’t the case.”
“I know. I have a hard time trusting people. Including myself.”
“I don’t,” he said casually. “I rely on my instincts all too often. In my career, I have to. I have a sense of things sometimes, not always right, but I’ve learned to let it guide me.”
“What is it saying right now?”
He smirked. “That our breakfast is going to get cold.”
She matched his smirk. “Why is that?”
He licked her palm, making her fingers curl. The soft inhale of breath told him she was on board. “Because I can’t wait to have you again. To feel you come on my tongue. To slide deep inside you and listen to the sounds you make. To—”
“Stop telling me what you’re going to do and actually do it,” she breathed.
“Yes, ma’am.” He kissed his way up her arm, pausing at her elbow to slick his tongue over the creases on her skin.
“How do you make something like my elbow feel good?” she whispered, her voice full of wonder.
He chuckled against her flesh. “We have erogenous zones all over. Not just the places we think of.” He pulled her closer, nipping the tender skin on the underside of her bicep.
She gasped, the sound coming out as a half-moan.
Damien smiled as he continued his exploration of her body. He wanted to learn every inch of her. Every sound she made. Every spot that made her feel good.
She turned her head when he made a move to lick below her ear and nudged him out of the way. She kept moving, capturing his lips in a hungry kiss he was all too willing to share.
He let Harmony lead the kiss, her tongue searching his mouth the way his did her arm. She grabbed for his body, cementing their connection.
Damien covered her body with his, following her path as she laid back on his couch.
She made space for him between her legs, and he settled in, not feeling the need to rush.
They had time. They needed time. He wanted her to know his words weren’t empty.
They weren’t words he tossed around. They were words he’d never said to a woman before because he’d never felt them before.
Harmony’s nails raked over his scalp, drawing goosebumps on his skin as she trailed her hands down his bare back. She cupped his ass, dragging him against her.
He felt her heat through the thin layer of his flannel pants.
She was bare beneath the tee she pulled on when they rolled out of bed in search of coffee and food.
He thrust against her, groaning and feeling the spiral of lust that never seemed to dissipate around her.
Would he ever stop wanting her the way he did? He hoped not.
She gasped for breath, pulling away from the kiss. Her hands didn’t slow, clutching at him and encouraging him to keep going.
He had a better idea.
Damien bared his teeth and slid them over her jawline to her ear. He nipped at the spot behind her ear, then trailed his teeth over the cords on her neck to where they turned toward her shoulder.
Harmony moaned and writhed against him, her words nonsensical as he worked her shirt up with one hand and jumped the line of fabric with his teeth.
He dropped his knees to the floor and pushed her foot down to stay between her legs. He dragged his teeth over her flesh, toying with one breast in his fingers while he nipped at the other.
She moaned and pushed her breast into his mouth. He greedily sucked her mound deeper, not letting her retreat when the pleasure skyrocketed. “Oh, fuck. Damien.”
He danced his fingers over her body, skimming her curves as he made space for his hand between them. He didn’t tease her before plunging two fingers into her wet warmth.
“Yes,” she moaned, her core clenching around his fingers and greedily sucking them deeper. “Damien.”