My wish for space is not happening because there is barely room for me to breathe right now.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not fighting back. I move my hands to his chest to push him off, but he grabs them and pins them above my head. His big hand takes both my wrists and holds them down, while his other hand is on my chin and making sure he has my full attention.

“Tell me what crap was spinning around in that head of yours that started your spiral in the car.” His eyes are trying to pierce my soul.

“Nothing.” I don’t want to talk about it, and I’m certainly not saying the word love anywhere near him.

“I call bullshit. Try again,” he demands, but I’m not giving in that easily.

My silence sends him the same message but without words that I’m not ready to talk about it.

“Okay, if that’s the way you want to play it, then I’ll talk for you.” He shocks me with his words and then drops his lips onto mine. It’s not gentle, this kiss is rough and arousing. I shouldn’t feel the tingles right now, but he is already bringing them out in me. I just can’t ignore the way he is making his point. “And that’s to remind you what we have. We are hot and heavy, soft and sultry, or whatever the hell we want us to be. No one word defines us, Harper. So, stop freaking the fuck out because Felisha said the word love.” The heat as his lips take mine again burns my body, and I respond by raising my hips to rub against him in a way that I can’t stop.

But the moment I open my eyes from his scintillating kiss, I can see it in his eyes no matter how hard he tries to hide it, and I know that I’m on borrowed time.

Forrest has fallen in love with me.

But I can’t return that same feeling to him. I can’t let myself fall into that trap. That just leads to hurt, and I won’t go there again.

I need to stop my heart from wanting to feel it too.

It’s just a stupid fantasy that I can’t have. I knew that, and I told him from the beginning. But he pushed me into this illusion that it would be okay. We’d just have fun and worry about it all later.

I warned him, but I won’t do this to him. I’m not letting him get any more attached than he already is.

I don’t want him to feel the kind of hurt that has plagued me most of my life.