I back away from him, one step at a time, and he reaches out to stop me, but I can’t let him touch me. The moment his fingers grasp me, it’s like a burn that I remember. The way it was before he broke down my wall.

No, not again, I can’t do this again. I need to get out of here. I should have listened to my head last night. Logically I knew I could never love another man again, but my heart tricked me into believing it was possible. Well, that stupid heart is now smashed to a pulp just like last time. But I know the signs now, and the only way to stop this pain is to get as far away from it as I can.

I push his hand off me to ease the pain. “No, please don’t.” Holding back the tears, I see the confusion buried deep in the lines on his forehead, but his eyes tell me he knows what is happening. The love I saw last night has gone, and there is anger and pain.

“Harper, don’t do this.” He is trying not to yell, but the growl is enough to tell me how he feels.

“I can’t, I tried, I just can’t.” My feet are moving toward the door in a backwards shuffle until I almost trip and spin so I’m facing down the hallway, trying to get to the front door. The place I need to escape, to be free so I can breathe.

I hear his footsteps behind me the closer I get to the door, but I just wish he would yell at me. That, I know how to handle, but not this tender side of him that he has totally opened up to me since I’ve been here. That’s the man I can’t bear to hurt.

The instant I place my hand on the door handle, I know that no matter what I do from this moment going forward, it’s already too late, I’ve already hurt him.

Lifting my head and turning to look at him one last time, the first tear starts to fall.

“You promised me you wouldn’t run.” His heart is begging me to stay.

“You promised me you’d let me go,” is all I can reply.

“Only temporarily.” He throws my favorite words back at me, and it’s like a punch to the gut. Now I know how it made him feel when I said it to him, time and time again. “You’re mine, and nothing will ever change that.”

The pause has me turning the door handle and pulling the door, because the love pouring from his soul is stealing every bit of oxygen from around me. I have to go.

I can’t stay any longer.