Songs for this chapter are:

The one that got away- The Civil Wars

Same old, Same old- The Civil Wars

Never say never- The Fray

Give me love- Ed Sheeran

Tessa's POV.

"Good morning, baby." Black ink in the shape of a swallow is the first thing I see when I open my eyes. Hardin's skin has a deeper tan than ever before and the muscles across his chest are much more prominent than they were when I last saw him.

He's always been incredibly good looking, but he looks better than ever now and it's the sweetest form of torture to be laying here, against his bare chest, with one of his arms wrapped around my back and the other lifting to brush the hair back from my face.

"Morning," I rest my chin on his chest, giving me the perfect angle to admire his face.

"Sleep well?" His fingers are gently gliding over my hair and his smile is still perfectly in place.

"Yes," I close my eyes for a moment to clear my brain that has suddenly turned to mush.

He doesn't speak, he only stares at me. I can feel his eyes burning into me and I know he's smiling even though I can't see him.

I open my eyes when I hear Landon's bedroom door open and when I move to sit up, Hardin wraps his arms tighter around me. "No you don't," he laughs. He pushes his back against the couch and lifts his body, bringing mine with it.

Landon enters the living room, shirtless, with Sophia trailing behind him. She's dressed in her work clothes from last night, the black uniform accompanied with a bright smile, suits her well.

"Hey," Landon's cheeks flush and Sophia reaches for his hand and smiles at me. I think I catch a wink from her, but I'm still a little cloudy from waking up with Hardin.

"I'll call you after my shift." She leans up and presses a soft kiss to Landon's cheek. The hair on his face is something I'm still getting used to but it looks very good on him.

Landon smiles down at Sophia and opens the front door for her. "Well, now we know why Landon didn't come out of his room last night." Hardin whispers into my ear, his breath hot against me. Oversensitive and wound up, I try again to remove my body from his.

"I need coffee," I argue. He nods and allows me to climb off of his lap.

I ignore the way Landon shakes his head while smiling, and I walk into the kitchen. The skillet from last night, full of uneaten vodka sauce is still on the stove and when I pull the oven open, I find the pan of chicken breasts still inside.

I don't remember turning the oven or stove off but then again, I wasn't thinking much last night. My brain didn't seem to want to think past Hardin and the way his lips felt against mine after months of deprivation.

"Good thing I turned the heat off, right?" Hardin enters the kitchen, sweats hung low on his hips. His new tattoos accent the plane of his torso, drawing my eyes to the bottom of his sculpted abdomen.

"Uhm, yeah." I clear my throat and try to come to a conclusion as to why I'm suddenly so hormonal.

"What time do you work today?" He leans against the counter opposite of me and watches as I begin to work on cleaning up the mess.

"Noon." I respond, pouring the uneaten sauce into the sink. "Only one shift, I should be home around five."

"I'm taking you to dinner." He smiles, crossing his arms in front of his chest. I tilt my head, raising a brow at him, and turn the switch on the garbage disposal. "You're thinking about shoving my hand into that right now, aren't you?" His laughter is soft and charming and makes me lightheaded.

"Maybe," I smile. "So you need to rephrase that into the form of a question."

"There's the sassy Theresa, I know and love." He teases, sliding his palms across the countertop.

"Theresa, again?" I attempt to scowl at him, but a smile breaks through.

"Yes again, so will you please do me the honor of granting me your time to have a meal in a common place tonight?" His playful sarcasm has me laughing and when Landon enters the kitchen, he only glances at us and leans against the counter.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

"Yeah, just tired." He responds.

"I would imagine," Hardin wiggles his eyebrows and Landon shoves his shoulder.

I stare, feeling like I'm in some alternate universe. One where Landon shoves Hardin's shoulders and Hardin laughs, calling him an asshole, instead of glaring or threatening him.

I like this universe here, I think I would love to stay a while.

"It's not like that. Shut up." Landon adds coffee grounds to the pot and pulls three cups from the cabinet and sits them on the counter.

"Sure, sure." Hardin rolls his eyes and Landon mocks him by saying, "Shore, shore." 

I listen to the two of them banter and take innocent digs at one another while I reach for a box of cereal in the highest cabinet. I'm standing on my toes when I feel Hardin's fingers tugging at my shorts, pulling them down to cover more of my exposed skin.

Part of me wants to pull them up further or even take them off completely, just to see the expression that would come from it, but for Landon's sake, I decide against it.

Instead, I find the humor in his gesture and roll my eyes at him while unrolling the bag of cereal inside the box.

"Frosted flakes?" Hardin asks.

"In the cabinet," Landon responds. A clouded memory of Hardin and my father bickering over my father eating all of Hardin's cereal. I smile at the memory and file it away.

An hour later, I'm dressed and ready to begin my walk to the restaurant. Hardin is sitting on the couch pulling his boots over his feet when I enter the living room. 

"Ready?" He looks up at me with a smile.

"For what?" I grab my apron from the back of the chair and push my phone into my pocket.

"The walk to work, of course."

Loving the gesture I nod, grinning like an idiot and follow him out the front door.

The walk to work is nice, Hardin asks question after question about what I've been doing for the last five months and I tell him about my mother, David, and his daughter. I tell him about Noah's spot on the soccer team at his college in California and how my mother and David took me back to the same town that I went to with Hardin's family.

I tell him about the first two nights in New York City and how the noise kept me up all night and how on the third night, I climbed out of bed and took a walk around the block and that's when I met Joe for the first time. I tell him that the sweet homeless man reminds me of my father in a way, and I like to think that bringing him food is helping him in a way that I couldn't help my father.

This confession has Hardin reaching to pull my hand into his, and I don't try to pull away.

I tell him about how worried I was about moving here and I tell him that I'm glad he's here visiting. He doesn't mention the way he refused to have sex with me and he teased me until I finally fell asleep in his arms. He doesn't mention his marriage offer, and I'm okay with that. I'm still trying to make sense of this, as I've been trying to make sense of the way I feel about him since he crashed into my life a year ago.

When Robert meets me at the corner, the way he does when we work shifts together, Hardin moves closer, holds my hand a little tighter. Neither of them say much, they just eye one another up and I roll mine at the way men behave in the presence of a woman.

"I'll be here when you get off," Hardin leans in to press his lips against my cheek and uses his fingers to push my hair behind my ear. "Don't work too hard." He whispers against my cheek. I can hear the smile in his voice but I also know there is a hint of seriousness behind his suggestion.

Hardin's "don't work too hard" cursed my entire shift. We were swamped, table after table of men and women drinking too much wine or brandy, and overpaying for tiny portions of food on decorated plates. I don't have a break the entire shift and my feet are killing me by the time I finally clock out over five hours later.

Like promised, Hardin is waiting for me in the lobby. Sophia is standing next to the bench that Hardin is sitting on.

"My feet are killing me," I groan, pulling my shoes off of my feet and tossing them aside. Hardin's eyes follow them and I can practically see the sarcastic comments forming behind that head of hair. "I'm going to put them away in a minute of course."

"Thought so." He smiles and sits down next to me on my bed. "Come here." He gathers my ankles in his hands and I turn to face him as he rests my feet on his lap. His hands begin to rub my aching feet and I lay back on the mattress, trying to ignore the fact that I've had my feet stuck in those shoes for hours.

"Thank you," I half moan. My eyes want to close from the instant relaxation that comes from Hardin's hands massaging my feet, but I want to look at him, I have suffered through months without looking at him, and now I don't want to look away.

"No problem. I can deal with the smell to see that  relaxed, fucking dreamy look in your eyes." I lift my hand, swatting at the air and he laughs and continues to work their magic on my feet.

His hands move to my calves and up to my thighs, I don't bother to stop the noises falling my from my lips, it's just so relaxing and calming to have him touching me, working the sore muscles on my body.

"Come sit in front of me," he instructs, gently pushing my feet from his lap. I sit up, climbing over his lap and sit in between his legs. His hands grip my shoulders first, pressing his fingertips into the tense muscles and rubbing every ounce of tension out of them.

"If you weren't wearing a shirt, this would feel much better." Hardin comments.

 I laugh for a moment, but I'm silenced by the memory of him teasing me in the kitchen last night. Leaning forward, I reach for the bottom of my loose work shirt and tug it free from my pants. I hear the gasp from Hardin as I pull it, along with the tank top, up and over my head.

"What? It was your idea." I remind him, leaning back against him. His hands are rougher now, pushing into my skin with purpose and my head falls back against his chest.

He mumbles something under his breath and I mentally pat myself on the back for wearing a decent bra. Granted, it's one of the two decent bras I wear, but no one sees them outside of myself and Landon from a few embarrassing laundry mishaps.

"This is new," Hardin's finger pushes under the strap on one of my shoulders. He lifts the strap and drops it back down.

I don't speak, I only scoot back slightly, pressing my back against his open legs. He groans, wrapping the span of his hand around the base of my neck, his fingers gently rubbing over the bottom of my jaw and back down to the delicate skin under my ear.

"Feels good?" He asks, knowing the answer.

"Mhmm," is the only coherent sound that I can muster. When he chuckles, I push further into him, essentially rubbing my body against his crotch and I bring my hand up to my bra strap and slide it down my shoulder.

His hand tightens on my throat, "No teasing," he warns, pushing the strap back up with the hand that was working on my shoulders.

"Says the master of the art," I complain and push the strap down again. Sitting shirtless in front of him, removing my bra while his hand is still holding me in place is making me crazy. I'm worked up  and Hardin is  amplifying my hormones by panting and rubbing himself against me.

"No teasing," I mock his words. I don't have the chance to get a laugh in at his expense before he puts his hands on my shoulders and turns my head toward him.

"I haven't been fucked in five months Theresa, you're pushing every ounce of my self-control." He harshly whispers, just above my lips. I make the first move, pressing my mouth to his and I'm reminded of the first time we kissed in his dorm room at that damn fraternity house.

"You haven't?" I gape, thanking my stars that he hasn't been with anyone during our separation. I feel as if I knew this somehow, I knew that he wouldn't. Either that, or I forced myself to be convinced that he would never touch another.

He's not the same person he was a year ago. He doesn't use lust and harsh words to get to people. He doesn't need a different girl every night, he is stronger now.. He's the same Hardin that I love, but he's much stronger now.

"I hadn't noticed how gray your eyes are," he said to me. That was all it took. Between the alcohol and his sudden kindness, I couldn't stop myself from kissing him. His mouth tasted like, what else, mint of course and his lip ring was cool against my mouth. It felt foreign and odd but I loved it.

I climb on Hardin's lap now, the same way I did so long ago, and his hands grip my waist, pushing my gently to move along his body when he lays down on the bed. "Tess," he moans, just like in my memory. It fuels me further, pushes me deeper into the overwhelming passion between us. I'm lost there and I sure as hell don't want to find my way out.

My thighs straddle his torso and my hands dig into his hair. I'm needy, and frantic and rushed and all I can think about is the way his fingers are running, so gently, down my spine.

Hardin's POV.

My entire plan is shot to hell now. There's no damn way I am going to stop her, I should have known I didn't have a chance. I love her, I've loved her for what feels like my entire life, and I have missed being with her in this way.

I've missed the sexy as hell noises that fall from those fuckable lips. I've missed the way she moves her full hips, sliding them across me, getting me so fucking hard that all I can think of is loving her, showing her how fucking good she makes me feel both emotionally and physically.

"I've craved you every second of every fucking day." I say into her open mouth. Her tongue swipes across mine and I wrap my lips around it, playfully sucking on her tongue. Her breath catches and her hands reach for the bottom of my shirt and she pushes it up to my arms. I sit up, bringing her half dressed body with mine, and make it easier for her to lift the shirt off of me.

"You have no idea how many times I've thought of you, how many times I've stroked my cock, remembering the way your hands feel on me, the way your hot mouth felt on me."

"Oh god," her moan only spurs my words.

"You've missed this haven't you? The way my words make you feel, the way they make you soaking fucking wet?"

She nods and moans again when my tongue moves down her neck, slowly kissing and sucking at the skin. I've missed this feeling so much, the way she can completely and entirely take me over, take me under, and pull me back to the surface with her touch.

I wrap my arms around her waist and turn our bodies so I can lay her underneath me. My fingers have her pants unbuttoned and my hands have her pants pushed down to her ankles within seconds. Tessa grows impatient and kicks her feet, tossing the pants to the floor.

"Take yours off," she orders, her cheeks are flushed, her hands are shaking, resting on the bottom of my back. I love her, I fucking love her and the way she still loves me after all this time.

We are truly fucking inevitable, even time cannot come between us.

I do as I'm told and climb back on top of her, taking her panties off while she arches her back to unsnap her bra.

 "Fuck," I admire the way her hips curve and her thighs just fucking scream to be grasped by my hands. I do just that, and she stares at me with those fucking gray eyes that got me through hours of bullshit with Dr. Tran. Those eyes even brought me to call Vance a few times.

"Please Hardin," Tessa whines, lifting her ass off of the mattress.

"I know baby," I bring my fingers to the apex of her thighs and rub my index finger over her, collecting the wetness there. My cock twitches and she sighs, wanting more relief. I push a finger inside of her and use my thumb to brush across her clit, making her writhe underneath me and causing the sexiest fucking noise I've ever heard when I add another finger inside of her.

Fuck.

Fuck.

"So good," she gasps, her fingers gripping at the hideous flower printed sheets on her tiny bed.

"Yeah?" I urge her, moving my thumb faster over the spot that drives her fucking crazy. She nods frantically and her hand moves to my cock, sliding up and down in a slow but tight motion.

"I wanted to taste you, it's been so long, but if I don't get my cock in you right now, I'll come all over your sheets."

Her eyes widen further and I give a few more pumps of my fingers inside of her before aligning my body with hers. She is still gripping me, guiding my cock into her, and her eyes close as I fill her.

"I love you, I fucking love you so damn much." I tell her and lean down on my elbows, pressing in and pulling out, pressing in and pulling out. She claws at my back with one hand and wraps her fingers into my hair. She pulls at it when I shift my hips, spreading her thighs further apart.

After months of improving myself, seeing the brighter side to life and shit, it feels so fucking good to be with her. Everything in my life revolves around this woman and some people may say it's unhealthy or obsessive, crazy even, but you know what?

I don't give a flying fuck, not a single fucking one. I love her and she is everything to me. If anyone has shit to say, they can take their judgmental bullshit elsewhere because no one is fucking perfect, and Tessa brings me as close to perfect as I will ever be.

"I love you Hardin, I always have." Her words make me pause, and another piece of me is glued back in place. Tessa is everything to me and hearing her say this shit, and the way her face looks when I look down at her, is everything to me.

"You had to know that I would always love you, you made me.. me, Tessa and I will never forget that, I enter her again, hoping that I don't end up crying like a bitch while getting her off.

"You made me.. me, too." She concurs, smiling up at me.

"Leave it to us to have a sentimental conversation at times like this," I tease, planting a kiss on her forehead. "Then again, what better time is there for this type of conversation." I kiss her smiling lips and she wraps her thighs around my waist.

I'm getting close now, my spine is tingling and I can feel myself getting closer and closer to coming as her breaths get deeper, quicker, and she tightens her thighs.

"You're going to come," I pant in her ear. Her fingers tug at my hair, sending me to the very edge. "You're going to come now, with me, and I'm going to fill you," I promise, knowing how much she loves my fucking dirty ass mouth. I may be less of an asshole, but I won't ever lose my edge.

With Tessa calling my name, she comes around me. I join her and it's the most relieving, fucking borderline magical feeling in the entire fucking world. This is the longest I've gone without fucking someone and I would have gladly went another year waiting for her.

"You know," I begin, as I roll off of her and lay next to her, "by making love to me, you just agreed to marry me."

"Hush," she scrunches her nose. "You're ruining the moment."

I laugh, "As hard as you just came, I doubt that there is anything that could ruin your moment."

"Our moment," she mocks me, grinning like a mad woman with her eyes firmly closed.

"Seriously though, you agreed, so when are you going to buy your dress?" I push further.

She rolls over, her tits right in my damn face and it takes everything in me not to lean over and lick them. She couldn't blame me really, I've been sexually dormant for a long ass time.

"You are still as crazy as ever." She says.

"Therapy only works for my anger, not my obsession with having you forever."

Her eyes roll and she lifts her arm to cover her face.

"It's true." I laugh and playfully drag her from the bed.

"What are you doing?" She screeches when I lift her over my shoulder. "You're going to hurt yourself lifting me!" She tries to wiggle off of me but I tighten my arm around the back of her legs.

I don't know if Landon is here or not, so I call out a warning just in case. The last thing he needs to see is me carrying a naked Tessa down the hallway of this matchbox apartment. "Landon! If you're here, stay in your damn room!"

"Put me down!" She kicks her legs again.

"You need a shower." I slap my palm against her ass and she yelps, swatting mine in return.

"I can walk to the shower!" She is laughing now, giggling and screeching like a school girl, and I fucking love it. I love that I can still make her laugh, that she grants me with such beautiful sounds.

I finally drop her, gently as possible, on the bathroom floor and turn on the water.

"I've missed you," she stares up at me from the floor. My chest tightens, I fucking need to spend my life with this woman. I need to tell her everything that I've been doing since she left me, but now isn't the time. Tomorrow, I'll tell her tomorrow.

Tonight, I will enjoy her sassy remarks, savor her laughs, and try to earn as many possible forms of affection from her.

Tessa's POV.

When I wake up on Monday morning, Hardin isn't in my bed. I know he has some sort of interview or meeting but he hasn't mentioned exactly what type of interview or which part of the city it's in. I have no clue if he will return before I have to leave for work.

I roll over, clinging to the sheets that still smell of him, and press my cheek against the mattress. Last night.. well, last night was amazing. Hardin was amazing, we were amazing. The chemistry, explosive chemistry between us is still as undeniable as ever, and now we are finally at a place in our lives where we can see our faults, each other's faults, and accept them and work through them in a way we couldn't in the past.

We needed this time apart, we needed to be able to stand alone before we could stand together, and I'm so thankful that we made it through the darkness, the fighting, the pain, and emerged hand in hand, stronger than ever.

I love him, lord knows that I love this man, through all the separations, through all the chaos, he has crawled into my soul and marked it as his, never to be forgotten. I couldn't have if I tried, and I did try I tried for months to move along, day by day, keeping myself busy in an attempt to keep my mind from him.

 Of course, it didn't work and thoughts of him never strayed too far from my mind and now that I have agreed to work things out, in our own way, I finally feel as though everything could work out for us. We could be what I once wanted more than anything.

"You had to know that I would always love you. You made me.. me, Tessa and I will never forget  that."  He said while pushing inside of me.

He was breathless, gentle, and passionate. I was lost in his touch, in the way his fingers traveled down the length of my spine.

The sound of the front door opening finally brings me out of my day dreaming and remembering last night. I climb out of bed, reach for my shorts from the floor and pull them up my legs. My hair is a matted mess, letting it air dry after the shower with Hardin was a terrible idea. It's tangled and frizzy, but I brush my fingers over it the best I can before pulling it back into a ponytail.

Hardin is standing in the living room, his phone pressed to his ear, when I reach the room. He's dressed in his usual style of all black and his long hair is a wild mess, like mine, yet it looks perfect on him.

"Yeah, I know. Ben will let you know what I decide." He says while noticing me standing near the couch. "I'll call you back," his tone is short, impatient almost, and he ends the call. The annoyed expression disappears as he takes steps toward me.

"Is everything okay?" I ask him.

"Yeah." He nods, looking down at his phone again. His hand runs over his hair and I wrap my hand around his wrist.

"Are you sure?" I don't want to be pushy, but he seems off. His phone rings in his hand and he looks down at the screen.

"I need to take this," he sighs. "I'll be right back." He kisses my forehead before stepping out into the hallway and closing the front door behind him.

My eyes travel to the binder on the table, it's open and the edges of a stack of papers are sticking out from the sides. I recognize the binder as the one I bought for him, and smile at the fact that he still has it.

Curiosity gets the best of me and I find myself opening the binder and reaching for the first page.

AFTER: BY HARRY STYLES

Is printed on the first page. I flip to the second,

It was the fall when he met her, most people were obsessing over the way the leaves were turning and the smell of burning wood that always seems to linger in the air during this time of year, not him, he was only worried about one thing. Himself.

What? I brush through page after page, looking for some sort of explanation to calm the chaotic thoughts and confusion. This couldn't be what I think it is...

Her complaining felt overwhelming to him, he could barely stand the sound of her voice at two in the morning when he stumbled into their apartment.

Tears fill my eyes and I flinch when some of the papers fall to the floor.

In a Darcy inspired gesture, he funded her father's funeral the way Darcy covered Lydia's wedding. In this case, he was attempting to mask a family embarrassment caused by a drug addict, not an underage sister marrying spontaneously, but the ending was the same. His Elizabeth ran back to him after he threw a little money around, just the way Darcy's did.

I can feel the acid rising in my throat. Ran back to him after throwing money around? I had no idea that he paid for my father's funeral.

Even though she was unable to bear children of her own, she couldn't let go of the dream of them. He knew that and he loved her even so. He tried not to be selfish but he couldn't help thinking about the little versions of him that she stole from him.

Just as I decide I cannot take anymore, the front door opens and Hardin walks in. His eyes go directly to mess of white paper printed with disgusting black words, and his phone falls to the floor, joining the mess.

(Love you all!! I will be updating sooner than this chapter, this one I have had planned in my mind for so long and I had to make sure I did it exactly how I wanted and every word was right for me, so sorry about that! But we are so close to the end and all of these words matter so much! but the wait will be shorter this time, love you all!! xo)