Roses (Harry Styles AU)

2

~ Adriana's POV ~

Who knew that a cocktail party could be so exhausting? Trying to get to know twenty men individually in one night is proving to be quite the challenge. So far I've talked to eight of the men and I can already mentally note who I want to say goodbye to later this evening.

After having a good chat with a man named Ian, he walks me back into the "waiting room" with all the other guys sitting in there. Almost instantly all of their eyes focus on me and one particular pair of eyes stick out to me. Harry- I think his name is- was leaning against the fireplace with a glass of scotch in one hand while the other was placed in the pocket of his slacks. His eyes were burning a pathway through the room and I could feel this sort of tension between the two of us. As Ian sat down, I noticed Harry take a step forward to try and get his time with me, but before he could reach me I was swept away by Tyler, the dark skinned god. I looked over my shoulder at Harry to say sorry, but he was already back in his position leaning against the fireplace. Although this time his eyes were focused on Tyler's hand that had made its way down to my waist. Slightly confused, I turned my head back around to focus on Tyler as we walked into the pool courtyard. We carefully made our way around the pool and sat down on one of the outdoor sofas. A plate of chocolate covered strawberries was placed on the small table in front of us and I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face.

"Did you do this for me?" I asked Tyler.

"Yes. Hopefully it's not too corny." He replied with a nervous look on his face.

"Hey don't be nervous about this! I just so happen to be obsessed with chocolate covered strawberries!" I say and take his hand in mine. A genuine smile spreads across his face as relief flows through his body.

"Really? I was scared that you'd be allergic or something but my grandma insisted that I bring you some of her famous strawberries." Tyler said while leaning down to grab one off of the plate.

"Oh my gosh your grandma made these? That's so sweet! You'll have to tell her that I say thank you!"

"I'll tell her once you actually try one." He chuckles and holds the dessert up to my lips.

"Mm are you going to feed me? That's quite romantic."

"I'm a romantic guy, now take a bite." He instructed and I did just that. The chocolate on the outside of the strawberry was so creamy and the berry itself was so sweet. The two textures combined and sent a wave of pleasure down my body. As I continued chewing, I grabbed one of the strawberries and held it up to Tyler's lips this time.

"Mm you're going to feed me. How romantic," he joked and then quickly took a bite. After a few more minutes of us joking around and talking, it was time for us to go back to the other guys. As we began walking back inside, Tyler took my hand in his and pressed a kiss to the back of my hand. I smiled at the sweet gesture and leant my head against his shoulder. We quickly broke apart when a bright red suit caught our attention. Harry was walking directly to us and played it off as if he didn't see how close Tyler and I were just a few seconds previous. As soon as Harry reached us, I said goodbye to Tyler and turned to face Harry.

"Can I steal you away for a bit or were you and Tyler still talking? I didn't mean to interrupt." Harry asked politely.

"You didn't interrupt us, we were walking back inside. I wanted to pull you away next actually," I said with a light laugh, "but only if that's okay with you," I added.

"It's more than okay with me," he spoke and then held out his hand for me to take. "Shall we?"

"We shall." I said and entwined our fingers. Harry lead the both of us into the upstairs part of the mansion. We walked through a multitude of corridors until we finally reached his destination. It was a room with a small fireplace and sofa placed directly in front of it. Two glasses of wine were also placed next to the sofa and Harry swiftly grabbed them both and handed one to me.

"Should we make a toast?" He asked before either of us drank from the flasks.

"To new beginnings and one crazy adventure?" I proposed and harry nodded his head before repeating the same words. We clinked our glasses together and then both of us took sips of the wine.

"Would you like to sit down? I can grab us a blanket as well if you'd like." He asked while setting his wine glass down.

"A blanket would be lovely. This dress is quite drafty." I chuckled and sat down after placing my wine glass down as well.

"I can only imagine how much you must've been freezing sitting outside for so long without a jacket or a blanket." Harry said as he sat down with a fluffy blanket on his lap.

"It was very chilly, but it was bearable." I spoke and grabbed part of the blanket to cover the lower half of my body. Harry did the same and then quickly set his sights back onto my face. It seemed like he was examining every inch of my skin.

"I'm sorry, but I think you have a bit of chocolate on the corner of your lips," he said and then wiped it away with his finger. What he did next practically had me on the floor. He took his finger and placed the tip of it in his mouth and then sucked the small amount of chocolate off of it. My jaw practically hit the floor and I wanted to pounce on him so badly. There's something about him that I'm drawn to but at the same time I feel like I've met him before.

"So, I have a question," I say, ignoring what just happened.

"Ask me anything." Harry replied with a smirk on his face.

"What's most important to you in a relationship?"

"Trust. There has to be 100% of trust between both partners because without it I don't think I could stay sane."

"Why's that?"

"I'm a very jealous guy. I know that's a negative quality for men a majority of the time but I just hate the thought of whoever I'm dating being with someone else and then lying about it. So coming on this show was completely out of my comfort zone." He answered honestly.

"So why did you come here then? I don't want you to ever feel uncomfortable." I said and grasped his hand in mine while moving closer to his body.

"I needed to see you again." He said and grabbed my legs to lean them over his lap.

"What do you mean again?" I asked as his other hand rests on my thigh, lightly rubbing it where it's exposed from the dress.

"It was at a bar in New York. You came up to me and for the lack of better terms, you sat on my lap and made out with me for quite a bit of time," he spoke quietly, trying to prevent the camera men from hearing him.

"Oh my god I knew that I knew you from somewhere! I am so sorry about that. I must seem like such a w.hore or something similar from forcing myself on you like that." I spoke, my face getting red at my embarrassment.

"No no no! Don't be sorry! I'm sorry for just bringing it up like that! Trust me, you didn't force me to do anything I didn't want to do!" He rushed out and tilted my chin up with one hand. "Those lips of yours had me in a dazed state of mind for quite a while if I'm being honest." He said, eyes trained on my lips.

"Wait but how did you know that I was the next bachelorette?"

"Well when I first saw you at that bar I knew exactly who you were since we both just so happen to be in the modeling/fashion world. I just didn't want to seem like a creep and scare you away that night so I pretended to not know who you were after you kissed me," he said but before I could say anything he continued speaking. "So after you left the bar, I called my management team and had them do research to find out what you were going to be up to the following months so I could 'conveniently' run into you again. They told me that they found out that you were the next bachelorette and I knew I needed to be on this show to get to know you or else I'd regret it. I'm sorry if that was out of line for me to do, but I needed to see you again."

"Wow Harry. You're probably the most dedicated man here and I really admire you for that so don't worry about creeping me out," I told him with a small chuckle. "It's pretty adorable that you came all this way just to see me again."

"Oh trust me Adriana, I didn't come all this way to ONLY see you. I have other things in mind for us."

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