“Go on, baby girl,” Dad orders, and I pull in a breath, take the money from Harlen, and send my dad a look before leaving.
I don’t know what happens when I’m gone, but when I get back, my dad gives me a hug goodbye and a look to Harlen. When I ask Harlen what he and my dad talked about, he tells me it’s nothing I need to worry about. So for once in my life, I don’t worry. Instead, I hang out, eat Chinese food, and then play another game of pool before getting another touch of his lips to my forehead and a goodbye at my car.
***
Hearing my cell phone ring on the way to my parents’ house, I hit the Accept button on my dash then almost run off the road when my cousin June shrieks, “Ashlyn and Dillon got married in Vegas!”
“What?” I shout back in stunned disbelief. I knew there has always been some serious chemistry between the two of them, but I had no idea they were together, especially not enough to get married.
“Evan just told me that Jax is going postal. Apparently, he walked into Ash’s house and found out they got married, lost his mind, and tried to take Dillon out.”
“Shut up.”
“No, you shut up!” she yells, and I smile at my windshield. “God, I can’t believe it. I mean, I can believe it, because they have been beating around the bush for a while now, but still. Married, that’s just crazy.”
“I’m happy for them,” I murmur, and then my stomach pitches. “Wait… what about Isla?”
“I don’t know,” she mutters like she just remembered about Isla too. Isla is the woman Dillon was engaged to. I only met her once, but that one time left an impression, and not a good one.
“I hope it all works out for them.”
“Me too,” she agrees, and then continues. “Her dad is going to flip when he finds out.”
“Uncle Cash doesn’t know?” I whisper.
“Apparently not, and since Uncle Cash and Aunt Lilly are in Florida with Grandma and Grandpa, they probably won’t for a while unless Jax tells them, and I doubt he’s going to do that.”
“I don’t envy Ash,” I mutter my understatement. My dad would lose his mind if I got married in Vegas without telling him, and I know Uncle Cash is going to flip out when he finds out his only girl did that without him there to give her away.
“Me neither, but they’ll be okay. I mean, look at me and Evan. Everything worked out for us in the end.”
“True,” I agree, pulling up and parking out front of my parents’ house.
“Anyway, how are things with you? I heard you and Harlen hung out a few nights ago and that he took you coffee last night.”
How the hell did she hear he brought me coffee last night? Yesterday morning, he called to ask what kind of coffee I liked. I told him, not thinking anything of it, and then later that evening, he showed up at the hospital to bring me coffee and a muffin. It was sweet, but it sucked that I didn’t have time to chat, since I wasn’t on break. Still, before he left, we made plans to go out barstool shopping this evening after he gets off work.
“I—”
“He’s a good guy. Scary, but super hot. I’m happy for you. We should set up a double date.”
“We’re just friends.”
“Sure.” She laughs.
“No really, we’re just friends,” I repeat, this time a little more firmly, not wanting her to get the wrong idea. Hell, not wanting to give myself the wrong idea. For some reason unbeknownst to me, Harlen decided we were going to be friends. Not friends in a way that I would enjoy a whole lot more, like friends with benefits. So as much as I want to rip off his clothes and have my way with him, I’m going to take this for what it is.
“Okay,” she agrees, but I know she doesn’t believe me. “I’ll talk to Evan about dinner.”
“I… okay,” I agree, dropping my head to the steering wheel and tapping it there twice.
“I gotta get back to class. The bell’s about to ring. We’ll talk soon.”
“Soon, have a good day.” I lift my head and look out the windshield.
“Yeah, you too.” She hangs up.
Opening my door, I get out and head up the porch and twist the knob for the door while pushing thoughts of Harlen out of my mind.
“Dad, Mom!” I shout as I walk into the house, not even bothering to knock.
“In the kitchen!” Mom calls, so I toss my purse to the entryway table and head down the hall into the kitchen. Seeing my mom at the stove and my dad sitting at the island, I head for my mom, kiss her cheek, and then go to my dad and tuck myself under his arm he holds up.
“How are things?” Dad asks, kissing the side of my head.
“Things are things.” I squeeze his waist then take a seat next to him.
“How are things going at the hospital?” Mom asks, studying me in the way only a mother can, like she’s visually taking my temp and checking me for injuries.
“Good. I spoke with one of the emergency room nurses yesterday, and she told me the hospital offers a class on trauma and critical care. She said that if I take it, it should put me in a position to transfer to that department if something opens up.”
“That’d be good,” Dad says, and I nod.
“Fingers crossed. The class is hard to get into. Hopefully they accept me. If not, I might see about going somewhere else to take the same courses.”
“You’ll get in,” Mom says, and I smile at her. My mom is the kind of mother who believes her kids have the power to walk on water and would go to war with anyone who says differently. I love that about her. “So what are you doing today?” she asks, handing Dad a plate piled high with eggs, bacon, and toast.
“Grocery shopping, ‘cause I have no food in my house. Then I’m meeting Harlen at the shop and we’re going to go pick out barstools for my kitchen.”
“He’s going shopping with you to buy barstools for your house?” she asks, sounding like he agreed to walk across hot coals while balancing a sword on his nose.
“It’s not a big deal. He said he didn’t have anything to do today, so he’s borrowing Evan’s SUV and helping me out.”
“I could have taken you,” Dad grumbles, and I turn to look at him.
“You hate shopping,” I remind him.
“I still would have taken you.”
“I know, but now you don’t have to.”
“Honey, you need to be careful. Harlen’s a—”
“Please don’t.” I shake my head, not wanting to hear my dad talk badly of Harlen.
“Baby, that man has demons.”
“Yeah, and I bet if I asked anyone, they would tell me the same thing about you when you were younger. But mom took a chance on you.”
“Are you taking a chance on him?” he questions, and I squirm on my chair.
“We’re friends and I like him. I think he’s a good guy. He’s easy to be around and he makes me laugh. That’s all I know right now.”
“Nico,” Mom says, and Dad’s eyes go to her and I watch her shake her head. Then I look at my dad and see his jaw is tight. “I like him,” Mom inserts, and my eyes go back to her. “He’s always been respectful, and if you like him, I like him,” she finishes then hands me a plate that is just as full as the one she gave my dad. “Though I still wouldn’t have minded going with you to pick out barstools.”
“I still need lamps and a coffee table. Next month, after I close on the house, I’ll have the money for those things. We’ll go to Nashville, spend the day shopping, get dinner, and see a movie,” I promise, and she smiles.
“You got a date.”
“Good.” I dig into my plate then feel my dad’s hand wrap around the back of my neck. Turning to look at him, I see his eyes are soft.
“Love you.”
“Love you too, Dad,” I whisper, and he nods then touches his lips to my forehead in the same spot Harlen has kissed me twice. Not that I’m counting. Letting me go, he goes back to eating. I do the same before taking off, going grocery shopping, and meeting Harlen to pick out barstools.
***
“Where are you?” Willow asks, and I press my cell phone closer to my ear so I can hear her over the loud music playing from the speakers in the back of a truck parked a few feet away and the people around me talking loudly.
“At a bonfire!” I shout into the phone, and Harlen, who is standing at my side, looks down at me. Rolling my eyes at him, I catch his smile in the light of the fire.
“A bonfire,” Willow repeats. “Who the hell are you at a bonfire with?”
“Harlen,” I answer, and a few people around me turn my way to look at Harlen and me, probably wondering what the hell he’s doing with me. Something I have been wondering myself for the last few weeks. “I’ll be back,” I tell him, and he looks at me then scans the area before meeting my gaze once more.
“Stay where I can see you.”
“Righty-o,” I mutter, dropping my eyes to my feet. I stomp in my Converse through the grass and mostly dirt, toward the outskirts of the party, where there are more than a few people making out, and in some cases having sex, in the cover of darkness.
“Willow, you still there?” I ask once I’ve made it to a quiet area.
“I’m still processing the news that you’re out with Harlen again, this time at a bonfire,” she says, and I look up at the stars sprinkled across the dark sky. “What the hell is going on with you two?”
“Nothing,” I grumble. “We’re friends.”
“Right.” I hear the disbelief in her voice, and my hand balls into a fist at my side.
“What’s going on? Is everything okay with you?”
“I wanted to see if you were around to get dinner. I feel like I haven’t seen you since you moved.”
“I’m sorry.” She’s right. I haven’t seen her much since I moved. Then again, most of my days off have been spent hanging out with Harlen, shopping with him, watching movies, eating dinner, drinking, and just having fun. I have tried, on more than one occasion, to turn him down when he’s asked me to hang out, but somehow I always end up caving and doing whatever the hell it is he wants to do.
“I’d like to see my sister to spend time with her,” she whines, and guilt hits me in the stomach.
“I have tomorrow off. I’ll drive up and spend the night at your place. We can get dinner then veg out and watch movies.”
“That works. I also expect you to tell me what’s really going on with you and the giant.”
“Seriously, there is nothing to tell. Nothing is going on. We’re just friends, Willow.”
“Right,” she mutters again, and I sigh, wishing for the first time that I wasn’t right, that there was secretly something happening between Harlen and me, something more than us just becoming good friends. “I get off work at four tomorrow, so I should be home by five, if not before.”
“I’ll be there.”
“See you then.” She hangs up, and I shove my phone in the back pocket of my jeans. Looking toward the bonfire, I watch Harlen talk to a guy then feel my stomach muscles tighten uncomfortably when a woman sashays up to him. Like every time it’s happened when I’ve been around, he doesn’t do more than dip his chin toward her in greeting. Still, I hate seeing it. I hate knowing I have no claim over him, that if he did want to take a woman up on an offer of a good time, he could without so much as a second thought.
Watching her walk away, I head back toward him, and like he knows I’m close, his eyes come to me. My stomach does the same thing it always does around him, which is more than a little annoying. I wish I could get over this crush and focus on the fact that I’ve got a really great friend.
“Everything okay?” he asks, studying me.
“Yep, Willow just wanted to get dinner. Since I’m here with you, I told her I’d drive up to Nashville tomorrow and spend the night at her place for some sister time,” I say, taking the beer he has in his hand, putting it to my mouth, and watching him smile as I take a sip and force it down.
“That’d be good.”
“Yeah,” I agree then look around. It’s getting late, meaning most of the people who are still here are no longer just hanging out. Most of them are finding partners to spend the night with.
“You ready to get out of here?” he asks, and I look at him once more.
“Are you okay to drive?”
“Only had two beers. I’m good,” he promises, and I watch him lift his chin to someone across the fire. Looking that way, I watch his friend Everret come toward us with a chick under his arm.
“You taking off?” Everret asks once he’s close, and the girl looks me over then tucks herself tighter against him like I’m going to pull him magically into my snare.
“Yeah,” Harlen answers, taking the beer from me and tossing it into a bin off to the side.
“Cool,” Everret mutters, and then his eyes come to me. “Good meeting you, Harmony.”
“You too.” I give him a smile then watch him and Harlen do the man handshake-back-pat thing before he walks off with his arm around his girl.
“Ready to go?” Harlen asks, tipping his head down toward me.
“Yep,” I say, and then his large hand closes around mine so that he can lead me to his bike. Once he’s on, I get on behind him and hold onto his waist as he pulls off the grass and onto the road. Just like every other time I’ve ridden on the back of his bike, the warmth of him seeps into my skin, the smell of him filling my lungs, and for a few minutes, I pretend we’re something we’re not.
Chapter 3
Harmony
“HARLEN,” I MOAN AS his mouth travels down my neck to my breast and he pulls my nipple into his mouth. My clit pulses and my toes curl. Running my hands up his chest and neck, I slide them into his thick hair to hold him where he is. My head digs deeper into my pillow, and my breath hitches when his hand slides over my hip. Squeezing my eyes closed, I wait to feel his fingers against my pulsing clit.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
“No,” I pant, rolling to my side. I shut off the alarm then reach into my bedside drawer and quickly pull out my vibrator. Closing my eyes, I flip it on then finish myself off. Once I come, I lie there waiting for my breath to even out and my body to cool down. “This is getting ridiculous,” I groan to the ceiling then roll to my side, hugging my pillow.
It’s been three months since Harlen came into my life, and in that time, we’ve grown close. He’s always around when I have time off work, when I need someone to bitch at about things that are happening with the doctors or other nurses. He’s around when I need help putting together furniture, need a shoulder to lean on, or a just need a friend. So he’s around a lot. I like having him close; what I don’t like is wanting him the way I want him and being so afraid to lose what we have that I’m paralyzed to do anything about it.
Knowing I’m not going to find a solution to that problem right now, I sit up, drop my vibrator back in the drawer, toss back the covers, and scoot out of bed. Putting my feet to the floor, I head out of my bedroom and past the living room, smiling when I see the coffee table and standing lamp Mom and I picked out. We went to about ten shops before I found the vintage style rectangular coffee table with burnt wood and iron wheels, and three more after that before I found my lamp, a tripod base with a burlap shade. What I love more is that both pieces blend perfectly with the barstools Harlen and I found in the same vintage burnt wood, but with pretty dusty rose velvet tops and black grommets. Even Harlen, who is all man, said they were perfect. Okay so he didn’t say that but I could tell he thought so.
I turn on my coffee pot, grabbing a can of Dizzy’s food from the cupboard. The second I pop the top, he hops down off the couch where he slept last night and comes to sit at my feet. I dump his food in his bowl, set it to the floor, and then make myself a cup of coffee. Once I’ve added cream and sugar, I go to the back door and open it up a couple of inches so he can get out when he’s done eating.
I take my coffee with me and head for my bathroom, where I set it on the sink. Reaching in to turn the water on hot, I strip out of my nightgown, to
ssing it to the hamper. When I step into the shower, I let the hot water clear away the rest of the dream and the worry that’s been plaguing me these last few weeks—worry about my feelings, worry about Harlen’s feelings. Worry that I’m still not really living life.
Once I’m out, I dry off, put on a bra and panties, tie my still wet hair up into a ponytail, and then head to my closet to get dressed. Today is my last day off for the week, which means it’s going to be a busy day. I have plans to meet Harlen at one of my favorite bars in town to get a drink and watch a fight that is playing there tonight. I don’t really want to watch a fight, but I do want to see him before I can’t see him for a few days. So while he watches the fight, I’ll drink and soak up as much of him as I can. Before that though, I need to run to the bank to pay my mortgage, since I haven’t set it up to be drafted out automatically yet. Then I have an appointment at eleven a.m. to get my hair done by Ellie. And after that, I’m meeting my dad for lunch.
I get dressed, choosing a pair of jean shorts with lace showing through the holes in the material, a light pink satin tank with a high neckline and round hem, and my favorite leather T-strap sandals that have large rose gold crystals down the center strap. After I finish getting ready, I grab my cell phone and coffee before shutting off the light in my bedroom, and head into the living room, taking a sip from my mug as I walk.
Going to the back door I look out at Dizzy, who’s busy chasing the birds around the yard, and then open up the door wide and lean out. “Dizzy!” I yell, and his head swings my way, his ears perking up. “Come on,” I call, and he rushes through the yard, up the steps, and across the deck to me. Once he’s inside, I push the door closed behind him. I still haven’t gotten a doggie door put in. When I looked into putting one in, I found out that, with the door being glass, it’s going to cost me a small fortune. So I’m waiting and saving up the money I need to have it done.
“I’m going out, but I’ll be back.” I pick him up with one hand and kiss the top of his head. “Be good while I’m gone.” I set down my coffee then open the jar on the counter where I keep his doggie treats. Giving him one, I kiss the top of his head again before setting him to the ground and watching him run off with it in his mouth.