Invisible to My First Love (Harper and Maddox) novel Chapter 103

Chapter 103

Harper

He closed the door behind me and pulled me by the wrist to get me right in the middle of the room so I could see at all angles.

Every wall was covered with paintings of Maddox’s mother. In each one, she had different expressions to capture different moods. There were so many variations, but it was all her.

Some of the paintings even felt like actual photographs of her.

I froze, barely able to blink.

“Wow,” I whispered. “This is…this is…”

I trailed off, unable to find the rest of my words as I felt like I was intruding on something sacred.

Then, I let out a breath that I didn’t even know I had been holding in.

I’d only spent about a minute in that room and it felt like the place held more than just art. It held memories, joy, love and grief.

I slowly got closer to one of the paintings, studying the strokes of color that formed her gentle eyes.

“Did you actually paint all these?” I asked, turning to look at him.

“Every single one of them.” He firmly nodded, that cockiness present in his tone even as I spotted something softer in his eyes. “I’ve painted all these over the years. You can tell how I progressively got better. What can I say? I’ve always been that good.”

Even though he tried his best to sound arrogant, the slight crack in his voice betrayed him. He was trying to show off, but I knew what everything in that room meant to him.

There was so much to look at that I began to move around and he was with me the whole time.

“Apart from my uncle, who helped me set up this place,” he whispered, like his mother’s paintings would come to life and tell him to keep it down, “no one has ever been in here.”

My head shot towards him. “Really?”

“Not even my dad.” He kept his gaze on the painting in front of him. “Sure, he’s seen my old room at the estate, but this one is mine. I’ve had it for five years now. He doesn’t even know it exists. I wanted to keep something of my mom and I chose this because she’s the one who got me into art as a child.”

My eyes widened a little in pleasant surprise. “She was your teacher.”

He proudly nodded. “The best. Even after her death, I still had videos of her painting and I learned everything I could.”

Everything was so captivating that I even thought of staying in that room for hours just to take it all in.

“You’re amazing,” I said.

He sighed with a small smile. “If only she could say that to me right now. I mean…look at this place.”

The longing in his eyes and forced chuckle broke my heart a little. It was for this reason that I felt I needed to

make him feel better.

“Thank you.”

When we got to my place, he got out before me as usual and walked over to the other side, opened my door and offered his hand.

“You good?” he said quietly, his lips now dangerously close to mine

“Yeah,” I whispered, my voice a bit unsteady.

“Of course you are.” He smirked, his thumb pressing into my waist as if testing how far he could go.

Suddenly, he let me go, the warmth of his body leaving me in just a split second.

While humming, he walked over to the driver’s seat like nothing had happened.

I stood there for a while, not even turning to face him. My heart raced as I zoned out, thinking about all the different ways the moment I was in his arms could’ve gone.

It was only when he honked his horn that I flinched and when I turned around to face him, I shot him a glare.

“You scared me.”

He lazily had one hand on the wheel, tilting his head. “Why don’t you do something about it? Come closer.”

The invite sent heat crawling up between my legs and fuck, that was all it took for him to do things to me without even trying.

He didn’t even wait to see if I’d get closer as he waved once and drove off.

Standing there as I watched his car get further and further away, I touched the side of my waist where he’d possessively held me, like I could feel the imprint of his hand. One thing was for sure – he was doing something to me.