Chapter 21 Harmony always kept her head down in class, except when she stepped on stage. But things were different today. She ran lines with Leighona, the two of them standing with their heads together in the moments when they were not standing on their marks. Damien rolled a rack of costumes across the back of the stage. He watched Harmony and Leighona, his adolescent gaze lingering. I palmed my cheek to keep the grin at bay when Leighona caught the boy looking and popped her hand on her hip. Harmony followed Leighona's gaze. One look at Damien, and she dropped her chin to her chest and scooted away. The stage was almost fully put together, all the unfinished pieces were in the workshop behind the theater. Everything was as it should be on the surface, so why did my stomach give a lurch every time Harmony avoided me? She was supposed to ignore me. That was the deal. What if she was losing interest? I moved to the back of the theater and put my shoulder on one of the black walls. The sudden weakness in my body spread to my heart. I'd been abandoned before, left behind like my heart and feelings didn't matter. My fiancée walked away from me, leaving me for the director she was working for in Hollywood while we lived in California. I'd moved all the way across the country to escape the pain of her betrayal. Wasn't there a saying about love crossing time and space? I'd been heartbroken, but not as devastated as Stephen when he lost his family. I'd thought I got over her betrayal. One look at Harmony standing on stage, the bright lights silhouetting her frame and highlighting her freckles and blonde hair, and I had to rethink everything. "Jesse, those don't go there," I called out to the kid wheeling one of the rolling platforms to the middle of the stage. He stopped and whirled toward my voice. "Where should I put it, Professor? There's no room in the back unless we rearrange everything." "Then we rearrange everything. We need to do a full rehearsal, props and stages included. That will tell us exactly where they'll work best." I'd run this program before, and we reused most of the same props. I wanted to up our game this year, creating bigger and better experiences. Jesse stepped onto the platform. "Hey, Damien, take me around back." He straddled the framing and threw his arms out wide. The sound of his laughter brought a rush of relief that eased some of my tension. Not all, but some. Harmony fanned the script pages and used them to swat at Jesse. "Get off that." Jesse howled louder. "I'm on top of the world." He did Leonardo DiCaprio's fist pump from Titanic and howled again. "Wrong story." Harmony whacked him again while Damien rolled him behind the curtain. Leighona moved to her spot on stage and tossed her hair. "Come on, Harmony. One more time." Her voice cracked, and I winced. I'd been hearing that happen more often of late, and it didn't bode well for her performance if things continued. Harmony, Leighona, and two others ran through another scene. Harmony sang her part in her rich soprano, her entire body picking up the role and transforming her in a blink. I let them finish out the class, only stopping them when I needed to make a correction. When it ended, they gathered up their belongings and headed for the double doors. Leighona pushed the left side open, sending a brilliant shaft of light spilling into the dim interior. I blinked at the sudden change and almost missed Harmony slinging her bag over her shoulder. I jumped after her, one hand stretched out. I forced it down. "Miss Vogel? A minute, please." She jerked to a stop, a vein pulsing in the side of her neck. The room emptied, and the silence grew thick and cloying. "I'll make this quick." She swallowed convulsively. "Okay." Why the sudden shift in attitude? I didn't dare ask that question, but I did lower my voice to a whisper. "I want you to know that I won't treat you any differently if you decide to end things." One hand raised to her throat. "Do you want things to end?" "No." It came out in an explosion of air. My next class would arrive any minute, and Harmony had another class to get to. Our time together ticked away far too fast. "I want this to go on forever, but I don't want you to feel trapped." "I'm not trapped. I'm here because I want to be." She took a step toward me, hesitated, then moved backward again. "What made you say that?" "You're acting funny today. I mean, your acting is incredible, but it feels like you've thrown up a wall between us." The urge to touch her took over my entire being. There was every chance I'd come on too strong. We promised no feelings, and I wasn't holding up my end of the bargain. "Oh." The slight darkness that had entered her eyes brightened. "It's nothing. Well. Not nothing. I've just been worried about my grades." "I thought they were improving." Mrs. Collins had come to see me again a few days ago, and she'd complimented Harmony on her improvements. She'd said that if Harmony kept up the hard work, there wouldn't be any risk to her scholarship. Her head bobbed, her grip on the bag tightening. I knew that stance, had learned to recognize it in her after less than a week. She was worried. "They are. But the semester is barely halfway over. What if I can't keep them up?" "You will." I'd make sure of it. There was no reason for her to be afraid. I inched closer, giving her every chance to back away. She stood her ground, the look in her eyes encouraging enough for me to risk touching the back of her hand. "I believe in you, Harmony." Her face transformed, the anxiety falling away with such suddenness it was shocking. "Thank you." With a hand on her wrist, I reeled her in close enough to kiss. It was against the rules. I was supposed to keep my distance in class. But I'd already broken the rules by falling for her. The risk of someone catching us lingered in the back of my mind and prompted me to tug her deeper into the shadows. No light reached us here, and even her face turned shadowed despite standing nose to nose. "You can come to me with any problem." I longed to say more, to tell her exactly how I felt, but it was too soon, our time too limited, for me to do more than offer her a kiss on the cheek. She turned her head at the last minute, and I captured her lips with mine. The room around us disappeared, leaving behind nothing except the touch of her lips, the sighs between us, and the throbbing need to prove she could trust me with her whole heart. She moved her hand from the bag to my hip, her touch igniting my skin and spreading liquid heat. How did she have such power over me? I'd never known anything like this, not even with my fiancée. "I want you," she whispered against my lips, her words raw and honest. I sucked her bottom lip between my teeth and guided her into the hallway that led around to my office. We barely made it through the door before I was lifting her into my arms and holding on for dear life. Harmony made a noise in the back of her throat and worked on undoing the button on my slacks. She kissed the hollow of my throat and pushed my pants down. Both hands wrapped around my cock and stroked hard. Her jeans followed my slacks, both landing in a heap on the floor. "Are you sure?" I gave her one last chance to change her mind. This was more than me breaking the rules, this was an obliteration of the system we'd set up to keep ourselves safe. She slid onto my desk and guided my cock between her legs. "Fuck me, Matthew. Please." Her cheeks took on that delicate rosy color, and she bit her bottom lip while wiggling closer to the edge of the desk. I had every opportunity to stop. To hell with that. I hooked her knees over my arms and pulled her to me, fully seating my cock in the same motion. She gripped my shoulders, her nails flexing into my skin twice before she let go and leaned back, setting her palms behind her and anchoring her weight. With her legs still hooked over my elbows, I pumped my hips, driving my cock in and out, going from tip to balls hard enough to bounce her ass on the desk. My cock swelled when she rolled her hips to take me deeper. "You're incredible, Harmony." I ground out her name between clenched teeth. My orgasm was right there, one move away if I chose to let go. Not before she found hers. I spread her legs wider and changed the angle. Her gasp told me everything I needed to know, and when her head fell back to expose the slim column of her throat, I was an absolute fucking goner. She came quickly, her legs quivering in my grasp and the room choking on her moans of pleasure. "Please, Matthew." She raised her head and stared into my eyes. "I want to feel you come inside me." I sped up my thrusts and relinquished my control. My toes curled in my shoes as spasms wracked my body. I buried myself to the hilt, coming in a hard rush that left my vision swimming. Our matching pants slowed to steady breaths. My heart continued to race, and I leaned over her to kiss her lips. An I love you rested on the tip of my tongue. I held it back. When I told her that for the first time, it wouldn't be in a cramped office after a quick fuck. Grinning, she swung her legs out of my grasp and stood. Her perfect ass tempted me to bend her over the desk for a second round, but the sound of students racing across the stage drove me to yank my pants on and smooth Harmony's hair. Her lips were puffy from my kisses, and she wore her pleasure in a glow that radiated from her eyes. I couldn't do anything about that except help her get out the back door without anyone spotting her. I clasped her fingers, bringing them up to my lips and kissing her knuckles. "I'll see you later." She kissed the corner of my mouth. "Definitely. Every single inch." Her eyebrows arched in a playful manner she'd begun showing this week. Tapping the end of her nose, I matched her smile. "Can't wait." The noise from the stage intensified, and I heard someone shout my name. Harmony turned me around and pushed my back. "Go. I know my way out." She opened the door and nudged me out into the hall, then ducked the opposite way, leaving the theater through the one emergency door that didn't blare an alarm. My earlier worry fell away as I watched her go. She wasn't growing tired of us. The cathartic release of her company put a lightness in my steps that carried me out from behind the curtain with a smile on my face. I clapped. "All right. Let's get started." I'd worried no woman would ever want to stay with me. Harmony proved me wrong. 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