[Neither of them promised forever, yet it hurt all the same.]
River Hamilton cannot afford to fall for just anyone. To continue the legacy of her family the only way she can, she must eventually marry someone she may not want to spend the rest of he...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
+ + +
R.HAMILTON
When Harry told her they would make things work, and they would be fine, he meant it. Everything that happened from that conversation forward felt like a breath of fresh air, a moment of peace and quiet where River could almost lean back and relax.
River had never been in a romantic relationship. River never dabbled in the offer of one-night stands, and sleezy hookups that plenty of people around her have indulged in. There was, of course, nothing wrong with it. However, as someone who was brought up with the importance of 'education before anything else' mindset, there was little room for anything else.
Not that she would've classified Harry under a sleezy hookup or anything relatively meaningless.
Perhaps she had no reason to put him beneath any umbrella until he created one for them.
There were lingering touches. Kisses that had potential to escalate and light into something bright and burning. Words, too, that replayed in River's mind like a broken record every night. Though, very unfortunately, besides those initiations it felt like a wall had grown between them and stood still.
It made River wonder if he didn't want her on a more intimate level. Harry flirted, sure, and he enticed her, most definitely, but beyond that? He never pushed. It made her question whether she appealed to him sexually because men never waited for what they wanted, they simply took it.
As well as River managed on her own, she desperately wished for more with Harry. There were moments where she was ready to push him over the edge, like the time they went shopping in London, and he kissed her in the changing area while he tried on tuxes, but they were interrupted and Harry jumped back like a spring. The rejection in that made her heart pinch, and discouraged her for a while.
With her lack of experience of seducing anyone, she had no idea how to figure out if Harry wanted her. Her best friends would've gladly helped her figure it out but going to them with something like this, something so intimately related to Harry, didn't feel right. Like an instinct, she wanted to protect him from everyone—close friends and family included.
So, alone with her thoughts and in desperate need to be wanted by the one person who ignited these urges in her, she sat and pondered. Movies made it seem rather cheesy, and books—god, books were another thing. They set such high expectations for her, she didn't know she could trust those tips.
This afternoon and coming evening presented her with a window of opportunity to get somewhere which made her feel slightly stressed. There were no plans in place which left River unprepared and blind. Harry proposed he would cook dinner for them because he'd had a long week, and no energy to leave the house after work.
It made her question where Christian would be. Surely, Harry wouldn't invite River over if his brother was at home. It would make more sense for them to leave Christian alone since he was surely going through a lot with his therapy. Not that River had any idea what people in that position would need. Maybe company is what Christian needed.
