The Best Man {h.s.}

12

I can tell Harry is surprised by my bold move, but he doesn't seem to mind for a second. He grabs my waist and pulls me closer and I straddle him while running my hands through his hair. His hands slowly move up my back as he moves his mouth from mine and starts kissing my neck. I tilt my head back, completely surrendering to whatever spell he seems to have on me.

His kisses travel down to my collarbone and I feel a tingle shoot down my spine. I want to keep my head tilted back and fully embrace the way he is making me feel, but I need to look at him. I need to see the intensity in his eyes. Our breathing increases as our eyes connect and our hips start moving together.

"Emma," he whispers. Just hearing him say my name is almost enough to send me over the edge. I grab his cheeks and kiss him again. He groans, almost in annoyance, and places his hands on my shoulders to move me away from him.

Oh no. Not again.

I look at him with a mixture of confusion and frustration. He can read my face like an open book, I know it. He sighs and closes his eyes, almost like he's equally frustrated with himself. I throw myself back onto the couch and huff like a five year old.

Why am I so upset about this?

"Emma," hearing him say my name doesn't seem to have the affect that it did a few seconds ago, "I'm sorry." The apology makes me cringe.

"Why are you sorry?" I ask him. "I'm the one who was obviously dumb enough to throw myself at you." I cross my arms in embarrassment.

"I just-" he sighs and sits back, "I'm trying to do this the right way."

"Do what?" I snap with my arms still crossed.

"This." He gestures around the room. "Getting to really know someone. Like I said before, there's something different about you, and I want to figure out what that is without sex complicating things."

What the hell happened to the confident guy that said he was "looking forward to round two"? I don't get it. As confused as I am, though, my eyes still soften at his words. Maybe Chloe really was wrong about him. He starts to smile at my changed expression and I roll my eyes and throw a pillow at him.

"Fine," I begin to say as I point to him, "but from now on, no more hanging out at my apartment. That never seems to end up in my favor." I smile and he follows.

"Deal." He laughs and stands up, checking his pockets to make sure he didn't drop anything. I stay on the couch and watch him run his hands through his wavy hair, enjoying the way his muscles tense up when he lifts his hand up to his head, but I snap out of it when he begins walking towards me. I look down at my hands and try not to think about him returning the favor and jumping on top of me. He lifts my chin up and I look at him.

"I'll see you later," he says as he plants a gentle kiss on my lips before walking towards the door. I want to look at him one more time before he leaves, but I instead look back down at my hands. When he closes the door, my lonely reality sets back in and I avert my eyes to the TV. I end up watching the recording of Vanderpump Rules that Jeremy recorded without my knowledge. One feud leads to another and when the show is over, I shuffle to the bedroom. The night has left me all kinds of confused, but I try my best to hush my thoughts and get some sleep.

...

When I get to work the next day, Jeremy and Ava are nowhere to be found in the lobby. I'm guessing they went up to the office to gossip about my not-so-exciting night before I show up. The elevator ride is filled with its usual awkwardness. Thankfully, the doors open after a few seconds and I make the slow walk to my cubicle. When I get closer, I hear the sound of whispering coming from two very familiar coworkers.

"Shh. She's coming!" One of them whispers and Jeremy and Ava push their chairs away from each other and pretend to be working.

"You guys aren't convincing anyone." I say with a chuckle as I move to my chair.

"Well then spill it, hussy!" Jeremy says and I shoot him a glare. I pause for a second and watch the excitement build in both of their faces. They're like teenagers, I swear. I sigh in defeat when I realize that I have nothing to tell them.

"Nothing happened!" I whine, throwing my hands up in the air. "I tried, trust me I did. I practically threw myself on top of him, but he says he wants to do things the 'right way'." I add using air quotes.

"What does that even mean?" Ava asks, clearly annoyed at the fact that Harry keeps torturing me.

"He doesn't want sex to get in the way of....whatever this is." I say, waving my arms around. "I don't know, but it's driving me crazy!"

"Girl, maybe it's you." Jeremy adds with a worried look on his face. I shoot him another look and he shrugs his shoulders.

"Can you not?" Ava snaps at Jeremy who rolls his eyes.

"I'm just saying. You've showed him that you're interested twice already and he keeps shutting you down. Maybe he's just--" Jeremy lets out a massive gasp and Ava and I almost fall out of our chairs. "Maybe he's gay!" The amount of excitement on his face is enough to put a kid at Christmas to shame.

"Oh my god." Ava and I both say before the three of us burst into laughter.

"I've got something for a Miss Stevens?" a strange voice says behind me and I raise my hand. When I look over at Ava and Jeremy, their eyes are wide and they look like they've just seen a celebrity. I shoot them a confused look and turn around to see multiple delivery men carrying giant bouquets of flowers towards me.

"Well, I guess that answers the gay question." Jeremy says in amusement with a small hint of disappointment. He snaps out of his thoughts and runs over to one of the bouquets to grab a card.

Jeremy reads the card silently with a massive grin on his face. Before I have a chance to grab it from him, Ava runs over and also reads it. They both let out a squeal while they stomp their feet a hundred times on the ground.

"Can I have the freaking card, please?" I say in annoyance. They both look at each other, then Ava holds her hand out to give it to me. I roll my eyes at them and go sit back down to read the card.

Looking forward to seeing you again. Until then, here's a rose for every time I've thought about you today. H