Fragile(20)
Author: M. Leighton

Out of his mind with desire, Hardy slipped his hands beneath Miracle’s baggy shirt. He let them roam up and down her back, sliding his fingers beneath her bra strap and then back down to her waist to slip them just inside the band of her jeans. Then he moved them around to her stomach. And he felt her flinch.

Hardy froze a second before Miracle pulled away, putting distance between her body and Hardy’s hands. Her cheeks were flushed with desire, but her downcast eyes were clearly hiding embarrassment.

“Miracle, I’m sorry. I got carried away. I’ve never…I mean I wouldn’t…I didn’t mean to…” he stammered, wishing he knew what to say to make her not look like she wanted to run and hide.

“It’s okay. Really. I should probably go,” she said hurriedly, turning to reach for her purse. “I’d say they’re done with the tires by now.”

Hardy had no idea what to say, how to make whatever he’d done right. He wasn’t sure if he scared her with his runaway ardor or what. She’d seemed as caught up in the moment as he had, at least at first.

Whatever it was, he wanted to rectify it, but she seemed anything but willing to talk. For that reason and that reason alone, he simply let it go. For now.

“Okay. I’ll come back and get these later.” Without a word, he followed Miracle out, locked up behind them, and then walked silently beside her to his car.

Hardy tried to keep up some small talk on the way back to Tire World, but Miracle was merely polite, not really taking part in the conversation, much less moving it forward.

When they arrived, Hardy paid for the repairs and got the keys to Miracle’s car. He walked her to it then unlocked and opened the door before handing her the keys.

“Miracle, I’m really—”

“Thank you so much for doing this. I will totally pay you back.”

“I told you I don’t want you to pay me back,” Hardy said, unable to hide his frown.

“Regardless, I will be paying you back.”

“Miracle, look, if this is about before—”

“Please don’t say anything else. Don’t make it worse. Let’s just call it a day, okay? I’ve had a really good time and I really appreciate you letting me borrow your camera.”

With that, she slid behind the wheel and waited pointedly for him to move away from the door so she could close it. With a sigh of frustration, he obliged. She quickly started the car, tossed him a tight smile with her wave goodbye and then drove away.

Hardy was confounded. And very aggravated with himself for his loss of control. He’d gotten the sense from the first time he’d seen her that Miracle was delicate. In every way. Why had he not been able to control himself? He’d never had problems with control before. Was it just that she brought it out in him, that he wanted her that badly?

As he considered it, he realized that’s exactly what it was. He’d never wanted someone so badly. Ever. And so completely, too. He wanted her heart, her body, her mind. He just wanted to watch her, to listen to her, to just stand in her presence. Just being with her made him feel more alive than he’d ever felt. She made him feel everything—deeply, richly, intensely—and she did it effortlessly. But how could he tell her that without scaring her away?

Questions swirled through Hardy’s mind as he let himself back into the dark room to collect the pictures they’d developed. He was once more amazed by the emotional depth she conveyed through her photographs. As he reached for the undeveloped rolls, he found himself wondering what else Miracle had seen that he hadn’t, what other insight into her he might gain from looking at them, by seeing what she saw.

Rolling up his sleeves, Hardy set about developing her last roll of film. He was possibly more confused than ever to discover that she’d somehow managed to take a whole slew of pictures of him without him ever noticing. And what she had captured surprised even him.

Once they were all dry, Hardy packed up the pictures and left, locking the dark room behind him again. In thinking of the photos as he made his way to his car, he couldn’t help but feel exposed, like Miracle had seen things he hadn’t wanted her to see, hadn’t wanted anyone to see. All the way to his house, he pondered her insight, her ability to really see the world, to really see people.

Hours later, Hardy was lying on his bed, looking at the pictures again. He’d become more and more unsettled by them. The longer he studied them, the more desperately he felt he needed to see Miracle. He didn’t have any fear that she’d tell anyone what she believed she saw in the photographs, or that she’d somehow make them public. He didn’t even worry that she’d judge him. Intuitively, he knew she wasn’t like that. Deep down, though, he worried that she would discover she didn’t like who he was, like he didn’t like who he was, and that she would refuse to see him anymore. That’s what worried him.

It wasn’t until he was standing once more in front of Miracle’s front door at a nearly-indecent hour that he realized it might not make the best impression on her or her family. But try as he might, he just couldn’t talk himself into leaving. He just knew he needed to see her. He wasn’t really clear as to why; he just knew he did. He was already ringing the bell before he could give it more thought.

Miracle’s mother was smiling wryly when she opened the door this time.

“Mr. Bradford. Are you going to be making a habit of this?”

Hardy had the good grace to blush as he stammered for a reasonable reply, one that was determined to evade him.

“Well, in that case, you’d better call me Kelly,” she said, stepping back from the door to allow him to pass. “Come on in.”

Hardy smiled and stepped into the living room, holding tightly the stack of photos he carried. Kelly gestured for him to sit, but he remained standing as she called to Miracle.

“What?” came the loud reply.

“Come out here,” Kelly instructed. She said more softly to Hardy, “I bet she had her music on and didn’t hear the bell.”

Seconds later, Miracle came wandering into the living room. The instant she saw Hardy, she stopped dead in her tracks.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Hardy couldn’t look away from her, even though he knew he should. He was almost dumbstruck as his eyes traveled the length of her.

Miracle was wearing tiny pink shorts and a tank top, and while Hardy had seen her very briefly in a bikini, he’d been so concerned for her at the time, he’d paid little attention to the details. But this, this was something different. He could plainly see what her loose-fitting clothing concealed. And far from Cheyenne’s assessment of her physique, Miracle was built very much like a woman.