She’s always been able to elicit this reaction with me. Ever since we were kids, it’s like she was all I could see. Unfortunately for me, she’s always only seen me as a friend.
I mean I get it. She’s light and optimistic, always looking on the bright side of things. I’m the opposite. I don’t have the patience to deal with most people and I know that I’m a moody bastard. Why would anyone love someone like that?
I know that she’ll always be the only one for me but I would never risk losing her and if I told her that I loved her, that I wanted her, dreamt about her, then I know that I would lose her. Things between us would get awkward and she would pull away. I can’t have that.
I need her.
Bella’s full lips part, her tongue dragging along that lush bottom lip that I’ve fantasized about a million times and I can’t hold back the growl that rips up my throat. I want to run to her, to take her in my arms and study every inch of her. That slightly upturned nose, the freckles that I can see dotting her cheeks from here, that sumptuous body.
Normally, I don’t care to be around other people, especially not in a large crowd, but I would do just about anything for my Bella. I know that her new business is doing pretty good but I could tell that Bella was worried about having enough money to make it through the holidays. When I suggested that she throw a Halloween party for the employees who work at my company, she had seemed surprised but grateful.
I tear my eyes away from Bella and look around the hall, taking in the cobwebs hanging from the ceiling and in the corners and the small tables set up with candles and jack-o-lanterns in the center. There are candy corn lights and a photobooth station set up on the far wall. I smile slightly when I see some of the guests are already taking advantage of it.
I had scoffed when Bella had hung the beast costume up in my room, dreading having to wear a costume at all. My original plan had been to go downstairs and greet everyone, inform them to enjoy the party and then make my escape back upstairs. Maybe Bella would come hang out with me if she got a chance to.
Big crowds make me anxious so I prefer to spend as much of my time as possible locked up in my rooms. Some people call me a recluse and they wouldn’t be far off. I haven’t liked being around a lot of people ever since I was seven and my parents were killed. We had gone out shopping on Christmas Eve and had been stopped when we were leaving the mall.
It all happened so fast. One minute, we were all together, then my dad was shoving me behind him as a loud noise went off. Once, twice. I had squeezed my eyes shut, only opening them when I heard the sound of footsteps running away. By then, my mom and dad were already dead, our packages missing.
It took me years to get rid of the nightmares. To stop remembering the gunshots, the flashing lights of the police and ambulance that arrived soon after, or how the police had shipped me off to live with a grandfather that I had never seen before.
My grandpa and dad had a falling out before I was born over what, I still don’t know. My dad never talked about him and when I was older and had asked my grandpa, he had refused to tell me.
It’s his house that I’m living in now. It’s too big for just me and to be honest, I’ve never really cared for it, but I didn’t have the heart to sell it. Where would I move to? There’s no way that I could leave Bella. Besides, what would happen to Mrs. Porter or Mr. Rogers if I did get rid of it? I couldn’t bear it if they were fired or let go, so I stayed here. I like being further from the city anyway and it doesn’t make sense to buy a new house when I have this one.
Mrs. Porter says that I don’t need a new place, I need a family, people to make new memories with here. She seems to think that a wife and kids is my answer to everything and that once I have that, I’ll be happy to live here. I think she just doesn’t want me to be alone.
She and the rest of the staff are all getting older and I know that she’s worried about me being alone in this world once they’re gone. I don’t have any more family and without the staff here, I would probably rarely see other people.
As I stare at the curvy beauty who has starred in every single one of my fantasies, the goddess in the pretty yellow dress who looks like she’s waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs, I have a feeling that I’m about to find out if Mrs. Porter was right.
As Bella smiles wider at me, my heart rate picks up and I think that I can see how Mrs. Porter might be right. Seeing Bella waiting for me, a smile on her face, wearing a matching costume to mine has this place feeling more like a home already.
Part of me deep down has always known that she’s meant to be mine. She’s meant to be my everything.
But can I find the guts, the courage, to finally admit that to her?
Chapter 3
Bella
* * *
The room grows silent as we wait for Harry to speak. He’s still standing on the stairs and it feels like I’m holding my breath as our eyes stay locked together. What is he doing? Does he need me to rescue him?
The crowd grows restless, people murmuring as the man in the beast costume continues to watch me. Mrs. Porter rounds the stairs, taking one look at the scene and bustling up the stairs to his side. She nudges him and he pries his eyes off mine. I blink hard, the spell that always comes over me when Harry and I look at each other broken.
I try to take a few steps back but there’s nowhere to go. My back flattens against the wall there, in between some pumpkins and a skeleton. I try to catch my breath as my beast clears his throat and welcomes everyone to the party.
I don’t hear a word Harry says. I’ve finally noticed that he’s wearing the costume that I gotten for him and my mind is racing. Does he realize that we match? That we look like a couple dressed up like this?
When I was trying to figure out what to dress up as, I had originally planned on going as a witch. Something dark that would let me blend into the background. Then I had seen the Beauty and the Beast costumes hanging there and images of Harry and I dancing wearing them became crystal clear in my head.
I had hoped that he would see that we matched and looked like a couple and maybe he would get ideas about us. Maybe I would finally have the courage to tell him how I feel.
Just thinking about confessing my love for him has me feeling faint. My palms grow damp and it feels like my heart is racing. It thunders in my ears and I close my eyes, trying to get myself under control.
Come on, Bella. You’re here for a job. Stop lusting after your best friend!
The crowd starts to talk loudly again and I give myself one last mental shake before I straighten from my hiding place and blink my eyes open.
Black eyes greet mine and I gasp, jerking back when I realize just how close he is.
“Careful,” Harry warns, his hand shooting out and cupping the back of my head before I can bang it on the wall behind me.
His fingers brush back and forth on my scalp and I want to sigh. I want to curl up in his palm like a cat.
I step sideways, out of his reach before I start purring and embarrass myself.
“I liked your speech,” I say with a smile, even though I didn’t hear a word he said.
He studies me, his midnight black eyes tracing over every curve of me. I’m squirming by the time he’s made his way back to my face.