HARRY

Her hair fell in her eyes. Every few seconds she was pushing it back in frustration. Isabella's focus was held by the application in front of her. The pen that she held in her strong grip was being pressed into the paper. She huffed in frustration for the fiftieth time this hour.

We were sitting in my living room. Chinese take out boxes scattering the floor. For the past hour, Izzy has been working on her business. Setting up appointments with potential investors and distributers, solidifying her business plan, and researching ways to fundraise. It was clear to me that she was getting tired of doing this and that she was ready to give up. I couldn't let that happen. I knew how important this was to her. How starting this meant she was finally living her life for herself and not her parents. I couldn't be more proud of her.

As she wrote, I ate my chicken fried rice. My eyes glancing over the fading pages of my old copy of The Fountainhead. All of last night's insecurities and Chase's demeaning words were still screaming in my mind. It was hard to believe that everything was going to work out for me. After losing your first love to death, it was fucking hard to bounce back from it. Chase knows my past and I'm pretty damn sure he is using it to toil with me. I had to find something... do something... to show him that I'm better than he ever will be. Isabella chose me. Not him. There had to be some fucking reason for it and I was going to stick around to find it.

"Why is this so hard?" She whined, breaking me from my thoughts. I held back my chuckle. Seeing her this frustrated was cute.

"What is, love?" I fold down the page I'm on and shut my book. I run my fingers up and down her back gently. I can feel her shoulders automatically relax at my touch.

"These stupid questions. Everything. Why did I think it would be a good idea to do this on my own? I should get a business partner or something." She turned towards me. Her eyes widening.

"What is it," I question her; hesitating to hear what she has to say. She begins to squeal.

"You like books! You should be my business partner."

"No," I laugh. "I'm not going to be your business partner, Isabella."

Her face falls. Shoulders beginning to slump. "Why?"

"This is your thing. Not mine. I like books. I like reading - but being a business partner is out of the question." I shake my head.

"But-"

"No." I say firmly, "This is final. No discussion."

She huffs, "You know how hard this is for me." She begins to say softly, "You're so smart. You'd do so well with this."

"No Isabella," I warn.

"Oh," she sits up straighter. Her hand placed gently on my knee. "Your mom said that you used to write. Have you ever thought about writing a book?"

I begin to shake my head, knowing where she was going with this. "No. I haven't and I'm not. Writing a book is not for me. I told you- I like reading books, not writing them."

She scoots closer to me. Her petite frame leaning into my shoulder. "You are so smart. You can do so much with your life if you just put yourself out there." My body stiffens. Chase's warnings start resurfacing, but I quickly shoot them down.

"I like my life, Izzy. Don't try and change it." I argue back, clearly defensive.

She takes notice of my defensive tone. Shaking her head slightly, she runs her fingers through my hair. "Honey," she coo's gently. "I'm not trying to change your life. I'm not going to be that girlfriend. That's not me and you know that. I'm only saying this because I don't want you wasting your life away. You can do some amazing things in this world if you wanted to. Your brain is fascinating. You could write a novel if you wanted to. You could do anything, really. I see so much damn potential in you, Harry. I don't know why you are settling for less than what you deserve."

"You're all I need."

She looks down, her cheeks blushing. "And I, you. But babe, what... what makes you happy? Like, what drives you?"

"I don't know."

She sighs, "I'm sure you do."

"Isabella,"

"Come on Harry. Your mom said you wanted to write but stopped when Sarah died." I stiffen at the mention of her name. A name I've tried for years to push away. "It's been years since she's died. It's time to move on, babe."

Moving on. God, I knew that I should. She was right. It has in fact been years since Sarah died. I have moved on in little ways. My relationship with Isabella proof of that. "It always seemed easier to push my future away." I say slowly. Isabella doesn't say anything. Her eyes focused on me and me alone. "For years, Sarah was my future. We were going to move to London and pursue journalism. That was the plan. After she died, that all went to hell. Why was I going to do something that only reminded me of the girl that I first loved."

She runs her fingers through my hair gently. Her eyes softening at my words. She doesn't say anything. She doesn't interrupt. Only listening to me speak. I never knew how it made her feel whenever I mentioned Sarah. She was really good at holding in her emotions, making it hard for me to read her. Usually I could, but not this time. Instead, her face was empathetic. Her demeanor softening as I sit here.

"I know how much you hate talking to me about this stuff. Thank you for trusting me enough to do so. I love you."

Those three words still did something to me whenever she said them. It was hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that this beautiful girl loved me. That she wanted to be with me. Even though I had no money, no real future... she loved me. She wanted to be with me. What the fuck did I do to deserve this?

"I love you, too."

I leave a kiss on her forehead. She hums in response, a small smile etched on her lips. "You don't have to be a part of this thing." She says a few minutes after. Pulling back slightly so she can face me fully. "All I need is your support."

"You know you have that."

"I know. It means a lot to me."

"Promise me something?"

"Anything."

"Promise me that if an opportunity comes up, any kind of opportunity, for a job or whatever... That you wil take it. No hesitation."

I hestitate for a moment. "Okay." I promise.

"Yeah?"

"I guess."

I kiss her lips this time. Holding her close by the nape of her neck. My fingers getting lost in the the soft waves of her dark chestnut hair. She climbs closer to me. Her knees digging into my thighs, her fingers pulling at my shirt. "Whatever you choose to do, I will support you." She says against my lips.

I lean in, kissing her hard, only to pull back slightly. "I know."

Our lips fight against one another. Her hands groping at my shirt, pulling and tugging at the ends. I lift my arms up, allowing her to tug the shirt off. Her fingers gently trace over my tattoos. I watch her, my breathing growing heavy. She bites her lip, pulling it into her mouth.

Izzy leans in again, kissing me carefully. Her fingers skimming over my skin. Her touch light as a feather. She pushes me down. My back hitting the floor. I push back the books that are underneath me, pushing it far away as possible. Not caring if I'm folding the pages. My mind is only set on one thing and that's her.

She hovers above me. Her lips leaving kisses along my jawline and down my neck. Not liking that she was still fully clothed, I pull at her tank top. She get's my subtle hint. Giggling, she pulls her top off, leaving her upper body in nothing but a baby pink bra.

Her hair falls against her skin. She was beautiful. So damn beautiful. Her skin is soft against my touch. My calloused hands feeling rough against her arms. "Mm, c'mere."

I bring her down, closer to my body. Her legs straddling my waist. I leave on hand on her hipbone, but bring my other up to cup her her cheek. I kiss her slowly. Our mouths moving in synch. "Gorgeous," I breath against her lips.

She smiles. Her body moves down my legs. Her fingers palming me as she moves down. My breath hitches at the contact. I could feel my body growing. Straining against my jeans. "Iz," a deep groan vibrates from the back of my throat.

Her fingers fiddle with my jeans. "Let me help," I unbutton them, pulling the tight fitted jeans down my legs. She doesn't say anything. Her mouth continuing its work, kissing up my legs. Her hand palming my boxers. "Baby," I moan out.

She giggles. Reaching up, she kisses my lips. Then my jaw. Then my neck. All the way down my throat and against my sparrow tattoos. Her fingers trail along my v-lines. Her fingers memorizing every indent and muscle. "These are new," she comments on the two leaf tattoos that have recently been added to the collection.

"Yeah," I breathe. "Do you like?"

"Very much." She flashes me a cheeky smirk. Her fingers trace the leaves, slowly reaching down until her hands grip the edge of my pants. In one motion, she pulls them down. I moan in relief, my body feeling free from the constraining fabric.

"Why am I the only one naked,"

She looks down at her still clothed body. "Let me fix that." She stands up, her hands bringing down her leggings to reveal her pink panties. She slides them off, followed by unclasping her bra. She smirks, "Better?"

"Mm, much." I pull her down, her body falling against me. She squeals as I flip her over. "I like this position better."

I kiss her lips. Our tongues fighting against one another. She pulls at my hair. The sensation earning a moan. She bites my lip, pulling it back and letting it go.

Fuck, she was sexy.

"I want to try something," I look at her, waiting for the okay. She smiles wide, nodding a quick okay.

"Wait!" She jumps up and rushes towards my bathroom. She comes back with an unopened condom. "I'm switching pills right now." I nod and quickly wrap the condom on my hardening member.

"Lean on your side," I instruct her. Pushing her lightly to her side. She does so, leaning her head on her arm. I lean beside her. Both of us facing one another. I move her leg up, leaning over her. Scissoring our bodies close together. I ease into her. Our bodies are close together - this position bringing us closer than we have ever been.

"Oh," she moans. Her head falling back. Her hand grips for my arm but moves to my hip. I hold tightly onto the base of her back. My hand dangerously close to her ass.

She holds on to me tight as I thrust in and out of her quickly. My thrusts hitting her deep. "Harry," she screams. "Right there."

"There?"

"Yes," she moans. Her head falling back. I can feel her fingers digging into my skin. She begins to move her hips in a circular motion, causing more friction to be created.

I move my fingers down, manually stimulating her with each thrust. I feel her clench around me. I knew she was close. We were both so fucking close. Our bodies were sweaty. Her hand moves from my hip and towards my back. Her nails scratching at the skin causing spine-tingling shivers in it's wake. My lips find her neck. Sucking, biting, and kissing her skin.

With each thrust, we grow closer to our brink. Her hips thrust up to meet mine as we hit our climaxes together. I grow still, spilling into the condom. My tired body falls on top of her, too tired to move over. Her breath is heavy. Surely, mine is too.

"Wow," she sighs.

"Yeah. Wow," I chuckle.

She lays her head on my chest. My fingers playing with her hair. "I mean it," she says quietly. I sit up a bit so I can hear her.

"Mean what?"

"Whatever you choose to do, I will support you. I love you, Harry. I'm going to always love you. I don't care if you work at a diner all your life. You're my guy and nothing is going to change that." She leaves a kiss on my chest and lays her head back down. I wrap my arm tightly around her.

We lay like that for a while longer. My mind going into overdrive processing what she said. It was easy to hear her out. I knew she wasn't lying to me. Her love for me was clear. Isabella wasn't like the other girls from the world our families came from. A world of high society and money. She didn't care about those things. Yet at the same time, I want to provide for her. Be the man of this relationship.

The more I thought about it, the more my head began to fucking hurt.