Chapter 20: The Attraction

Asher’s POV



Harper moves around the bedroom gracefully. Her long hair trails behind her, bouncing with each step she takes. The way she moves has me enraptured and I don’t know why. Who knew someone walking to the bathroom would have me losing my mind.

I haven’t been able to get her out of my head since we sparred together last week. The way she held herself in the situation was so attractive to me. I hadn’t realized just how strong she is until that moment. Now every time I see her, I can’t stop thinking about her for hours.

It’s a confusing time. Just the other week, I had written a letter to Zoey, expressing my undying love for her, and now I’m starting to look at Harper in a different way. My feelings and emotions are all over the place, and I don’t know what to do about it.

I’m sitting at my desk watching Harper move around the room as she tidies up. Her brows are set into a soft frown, and I smile without thinking. Everything she does is cute.

“Are you listening to me?” Harper’s voice shocks me from my thoughts.

“Huh?” I blink at her. It’s obvious I wasn’t listening to her.

Harper folds her arms across her chest, popping her hip out, “Asher, stop letting your head go to space and listen to me.”

I look at my hands, “Sorry. What’s up?”

She continues to move around the room, picking up dirty items of clothing, “We need to be doing more things together outside of being with Amaris and Jack.”

“Why?” I question, “Are members starting to get suspicious?”

She shakes her head, “No, but they will if we aren’t seen alone together.”

Harper has a point. Every time we’re together outside of this room, we’re always with either Amaris or Jack. We haven’t done anything remotely romantic together in front of the pack since our wedding ceremony. We’ve come too far for our cover to be blown over something so trivial.

“Should we go on a date tonight?” I can’t keep fighting my attraction to her. This might be a good way to test the waters with Harper and see how she feels about me, while also showing the pack that we are in love and share special moments together.

Harper looks confused, “It would be a fake date, right?”

I rub my sweaty palms on my jeans, “Of course,” I lie.

“Okay, it’s a date.” She smiles, continuing to clean the room.

I sigh, why am I so nervous around her? I sleep next to her every single night, and yet asking her on a date has me sweating bullets. I need to calm down, otherwise she’ll notice I’m acting weird.

“I’ll organize it,” I say, needing to leave the room to take a breather, “It’ll be so romantic that everyone will have to know we’re in love.”

“I thought we already were,” She gives me a cute wink over her shoulder.

Jesus.


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Harper’s POV


I’ve spent all afternoon planning what I’m going to wear to my fake date with Asher. I wish it could be a real date with him, but I know he doesn’t like me in that way, so I’m happy to pretend it’s fake.

Since Asher rescued me from the cave, I’ve been starting to watch him a little more than I used to. The way he smiles at me makes my skin tingle with excitement and my heart race.

I’m finding myself thinking about what life would be like if we met under different circumstances. Would we stay up late asking silly questions to get to know each other? Would Asher go out of his way to sweep me off my feet with lavish dates and gifts? I’m finding myself thinking about these scenarios too often.

I slip into a fitted denim skirt and pull on a cute black button up top that I tuck into the waist band of the skirt. The outfit is both casual and formal, perfect for a date. Asher came by earlier to get dressed before heading out again. He didn’t say much, but it seemed as if he was nervous. Maybe that’s my subconscious wishing he thinks the date is real, too.

Before he left, he told me to meet him on the back porch at seven o’clock on the dot. He made it clear he didn’t want me being late, so I made sure to leave the bedroom a couple of minutes early.

The compound is mostly empty as I walk through to the backyard. I wonder if there is a movie night in the common room; that would explain why no one is around.

As I approach the back doors, I see small lights scattered throughout the hedges surrounding the yard, they almost look like fireflies dancing through the leaves. When I walk through the doors, I see Asher sitting in the middle of the yard, the only source of light coming from the hedges.

I smile, walking down the steps to him. He’s sitting on a fluffy rug, surrounded by an assortment of snacks and a tall bottle of wine. My favorite wine. I take a seat beside him on the rug; he’s looking up at the sky, watching the moon.

“Does this remind you of anything,” Asher asks gently, his voice flowing with the cool breeze.

I take a moment to look around, noting parts of the scenery that look familiar to me. It doesn’t click straight away, but I smile when it does.

“My special place from home,” My words are as soft as his.

Asher looks at me, a smile on his face, “You wanted to find a new special place to go to when you’re feeling stressed or anxious,” he opens his arms to gesture towards the open space, “Well, this is it.”

He’s so thoughtful. I had forgotten about the grove since being here, and this is now bringing back lots of memories for me. I’ve been going there for peace and quiet since I was a little girl. It was the only place that could relax me and make me feel like myself again.

“If you ever need to come here and be by yourself, I’m more than happy to organize an event for the pack so you can enjoy the space without interruptions,” he says, “Besides, you’re the one who cleaned the area up, so you should get to enjoy it.”

I look down at my hands, trying to not let any tears escape my eyes, “This is so sweet, Asher, thank you.”

Asher smiles, “Don’t mention it,” he moves to face me, “Shall we dig into this lovely food I cooked all by myself.”
I eye him carefully, knowing he’s lying.

“Fine,” he sighs, “Amaris helped me cook. But I did all the planning and setting up.”

I clap my hand on his shoulder, his skin is tight under my touch, “And that’s the hardest part.”

We dig into the food, making small talk about what’s been happening around the compound. Asher tells me about a cheating scandal; a woman was cheating on her husband with a man ten years her junior. He’s been having to mediate with the couple and deal with that behind the scenes, so it doesn’t affect the rest of the pack.

I love getting the juicy details firsthand from the Alpha himself.

The night grows older, our laughing mixed with the sound of crickets is all that can be heard. I haven’t spoken to Asher this much before, let alone learnt this much about him. We sleep next to each other every night, yet I never knew he hates peas and can’t stand rain falling onto his skin.

“Tonight has been fun,” I smile.

Asher smiles back, his hair falling into his eyes as usual. I lean over and push the hair away. My fingertips graze the soft skin on his forehead; I flinch from the touch.

We both look away, embarrassed.

“So,” I change the topic, “I’ve told you all about my ex-boyfriend. Are you ready to talk about your ex-girlfriend Zoey?”

Asher sighs, hesitant, “She was the first girl I had ever loved,” He looks at the moon, as if asking for guidance,

“But, she left me without a reason, not even a note to say she was leaving. She was just gone one night.”

“Yikes, that’s rough,” I’ve heard about Zoey from Amaris, but I had no idea Asher was still so betrayed by her leaving.

He nods his head, “This happened a few years ago.”

It falls silent, the air around us has turned cold, like the topic. I’ve been wanting to know more about her but considering my attraction to Asher I’m not sure how much I want to know. I think I’ll regret not asking him, though.

“Do you still love her?”