Forbidden Hope | H.S.

36

A/N: this chapter is all fluff cause i felt bad for putting you through that emotional roller coaster. it won't last long at all though lol.

"What?" Harry breathes. His face has shock written all over it. I take a deep breath in trying to sit myself up.

"I love you too." I whisper and it happens so fast. His hands cradle my face and his lips are placed on top of mine. It takes me a minute to respond but when I do passion and urgency fill the kiss.

His tongue passes my bottom lip and I open my mouth letting him in. He slips his tongue in and we kiss like this for a while. The kiss started getting heated and I break away not ready for anything else.

"Harry, we have to stop." I whisper, breaking the silence and he hums.

"Okay, just one more kiss." He whispers in my ear.

"Missed you." he says before connecting our lips again. He pulls away with a pop and we stare into each other's eyes.

"I wish I could make you feel good, Hope. You deserve it." He whispers and I sigh.

"I know. It's just that with everything that's happened I'm going to need time." I tell him and he nods.

"You don't have to explain yourself. I'll never understand what you went through and I know that there's more that happened than what you've told me and I'll be here for you when you're ready to tell me." he whispers, stroking my cheek with his thumb. His thumb brushes over my bottom lip and I pucker my lips catching it in a kiss.

"Can you lay down with me?" I ask him and he nods his head before laying down on the bed and pulling me on his chest. It feels like nothing has changed. I know that when I tell him what happened to me things will change so I revel in the silence. Harry strokes my hair being careful of his hand placements and I smile at how careful he's being.

"You know I'm not going to break if you touch me." I tease him and he lets out a breathy chuckle.

"I know. Just want to be careful with you bubs." He responds before letting his hand fall to my hip. I let out a yawn and snuggle into his chest again. We lay in silence and just as I'm about to go to sleep he speaks up.

"When you want to, I want you to move back in." I nod my head but the worry of having another breakdown crosses my mind.

"Okay." I whisper and he strokes my hair placing a kiss to the top of my head.

"What's wrong bubs?" he asks, moving slightly to get more comfortable.

"I'm just scared of something going wrong. I've made a lot of progress and I don't want to have another breakdown." I tell him and I snuggle closer into him feeling embarrassed for admitting what I'm scared of. His fingers slip under my chin pushing it up and my eyes connect with his.

"It's okay, Hope. You probably will have another breakdown at some point because something traumatic happened to you, and I'll be there for you every step of the way." He tells me and I smile. His lips connect with mine in a slow and short kiss. He breaks away mumbling against my lips.

"And now you can't play the 'I don't love you' card." he laughs and I let out a chuckle.

"I guess I should say sorry for that."

"You don't. I understand why you did it. It was to protect yourself and I'm not happy about it but there's nothing we can do about it. It's in the past." He responds and a light smile crosses his face. I move up along his body, nuzzling my face in his neck and swinging one of my legs over his.