“No, that’s not what I said. You are the most beautiful soul, but you are just afraid to let anyone else see that. Let him in, Harper, he might just surprise you.”

“But what if he hurts me?” I whisper my greatest fear in life.

“But what if he doesn’t?” Felisha whispers back at me.

It’s a struggle to hold back tears. “Next time can you be on Team Harper?” I mumble to her.

“I am. You just can’t see it, but you will, and then I’ll be right here with my, ‘I told you so.’ Just like you did with Flynn.”

But that was different. She was worthy of his love.

I’m not lovable. My dad taught me that.

Chapter Ten

HARPER

Waking every morning to Forrest’s scent around me should unnerve me, but it doesn’t; it does the complete opposite.

Last night I cried myself to sleep after Felisha brought up thoughts I was trying to ignore. But I was so tired that they just flooded out, and although I was miserable at the time, this morning I feel so much more at peace than I did when I was falling asleep.

I know it’s not healthy, but I’m ignoring what Forrest said last night. This morning, I need to just carry on as normal.

It gives me an idea of what he was doing for the last six months every time I flirted with him. He would ignore me, and then the next time we met up, it was as if it never happened. Which just made it more of a challenge. Looking back, that really was bad form from me, but he never exactly told me to back off. He just didn’t take me up on the offer, so that’s how I justified it in my own mind.

I head to the gym down the hallway, where I can hear his music coming from, but I have to be brave and just suck it up, walk in, and get on the treadmill. If I want to keep eating these five-star meals every night, then I need to be running them off the next morning. Because Forrest’s suggestion of being naked because my clothes don’t fit anymore is just not happening.

“Morning,” I call in my sweetest voice to him.

I try not to salivate at him with a muscle shirt on, sitting on the weight bench, lifting a huge weight with his right arm. His face is scrunched up like he is straining, and the perspiration running down his skin tells me he has been at this for a while.