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"I have to leave earlier today. My cousin is coming and I promised I'd go pick her up. Will it be a problem?" Ellie asked him, worried that she wouldn't be able to make it on time.
"No, no it's alright. We don't have anything new about the case anyway."
"Good," she gave him a happy smile.
After everything they had gone through together, Alec really was her best friend. Even though he annoyed her more than anyone. And God she was so excited to finally see you again. It had been so long and when you told her you'd stay in Broadchurch with her for a while, she nearly screamed on the phone. She had always been really protective of you since you were so much younger and you trusted her with your life.
You had finished your studies at university and needed a fresh start. Maybe Broadchurch wasn't the most conventional place to do it, but it's where you were born and it felt like home. If you were honest with yourself you had missed the place all this time you were gone.
And knowing everything that Ellie had gone through, you decided that staying at her place would be a good decision. You could both help each other in your own way.
"So tell me how are Tom and Fred?" you asked Ellie as she was driving you both home.
"Torturing me. As always." She laughed and you smiled at her seeing she was happy again. You had spent countless hours on the phone, trying to comfort her and telling her that it'd be okay. And you believed that it finally was.
"And how about work? Is this Hardy torturing you, too?" you joked, having heard all those stories about her horrible boss. You knew deep down she cared about him, but would never dare to say it out loud.
With the way she talked about him, you always pictured him as a grumpy old man with a permanent frown on his face.
"He wouldn't be Hardy if he wasn't."
You arrived at the house and after meeting with the kids and grabbing a bite with them, you decided to take a bath. You were terribly exhausted from travelling and it was exactly what you needed.
After finishing your relaxing bath, with your hair still wet and messy and wearing just a simple shirt and sweatpants, you rushed towards the living room, worried because of some yells you heard.
"What's wrong?" you asked walking in.
And that's when you saw him. His angry face had turned to look at you and your knees felt weak.
He had beautiful dark hair which looked so soft that you instantly had the urge to run your fingers through it. His eyes were brown and big and you could tell that they hid some sadness behind them. His body was tall and thin and gorgeous.
You felt your stomach tighten at his sight and your heart was beating so fast to the point where you could almost hear it.
You licked your lips before you snapped yourself back to reality.
You realised that you were both looking into each other's eyes silently for a long moment and wished that Ellie hadn't noticed.
God this is awkward.
"Sorry Y/N, That's just how we work together. It will take you some time but you'll get used to it." She laughed and rushed to introduce you.
"Hardy, this is Y/N Miller, my cousin. Y/N, that's Alec Hardy, my boss."
He reached out his hand to greet you and you felt yourself blushing. You really hoped he couldn't see it but you figured he probably did, since your cheeks were on fire.
You shook his hand and even though you felt shy, you didn't break eye contant. He looked just as shy as you and that gave you courage.
"Nice to meet you," you said at each other before Ellie informed you they had to go back to work for an emergency. She felt really bad leaving you alone already, but you understood how her job was.
"No worries." You offered a bright smile giving a quick glance at Alec with the corner of your eye, before lowering your gaze, noticing he was still staring at you.
"Bye," Ellie said and and you bit you bottom lip at the sound of Alec's voice that came after her. "Goodbye Y/N."
You didn't manage to get enough of that sweet smile he gave you, since he turned around quickly and walked towards the door.
"And since when you're calling people by their first name, sir?" was the last thing you heard before they closed the door behind them.
You had a silly smile on your face and realised you already had a serious crush on Mr. Hardy.
Some time had passed after your first meeting and Alec's visits to Ellie's -and now yours too- house were becoming more and more frequent. You could tell that Ellie was surprised by his behavior at first, since he didn't use to come over that often, but sooner or later she figured out what was happening.
She knew both of you very well not to realise that you were crazy about each other, but also too shy to admit it.
Alec would find any ridiculous excuses someone could come up with in order to find a chance to see you and Ellie would notice how your eyes sparkled everytime you realised that he was there or how your cheeks blushed when you stole looks from each other.
One night, Ellie invited him for dinner.
The entire day leading up to it, she would give you teasing smiles and playful looks but you couldn't understand why. You did start to suspect her motives though when, not soon after you had finished eating, she pretended she had a terrible headache and went to sleep. She asked Alec to stay with you so the night wouldn't be ruined and he agreed to it, no further convincing needed.
You were both sitting on the couch chatting about your day. Even though with a look or a smile he could just take your breath away, you always felt calm in his company. It was comfortable and familiar and you craved his presence at all times.
During your conversation, you had come really close and were now facing each other with two soft smiles. There was a moment of comfortable silence, before he lifted his hand and tucked your hair behind your ear.
You shivered at his touch and slowly closed your eyes when he leaned in and brushed his lips against yours. You melted right into his arms, feeling dizzy from his scent.
"I've been dying to do that," he whispered in the middle of your kiss and got a soft moan from your mouth in response.
The two of you were too lost in the new feeling of kissing each other to notice Ellie hidden in the back silently cheering for your first kiss. She gave you one last happy smile and left you alone to explore and love each other.