Protecting his Best Friend’s Sister

The Protectors: Book One

Samantha Chase

Noelle Adams

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2017 by Samantha Chase and Noelle Adams. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means.

Contents

Prologue

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Epilogue

Excerpt from Protecting the Enemy

About Samantha Chase

About Noelle Adams

Prologue

Levi

The first time Harper Murphy turned me on, she was sixteen and crouching down beside a flat tire on the side of the road.

I was only eighteen. She was my best friend’s sister and totally off-limits, but I wasn’t some creepy thirty-year-old leching on a kid.

Still. She was forbidden. I definitely didn’t want to get hard at the sight of her.

Her brother, Gavin, and I were both seniors in high school that year, and we’d been best friends all our lives. He was getting ready for soccer practice when he got a call from his little sister. She was on a winding country road outside of town, and her tire had blown out. She had a spare in her trunk, and she was trying to put it on herself, but if he happened to be in the area, she’d be happy to see him.

That was actually what she said. If he happened to be in the area. Not that she needed his help. She’d always been little and blond and pretty, and it was hard not to look at her and see delicacy, helplessness. She hated that.

When I was eight and she was six, she chewed me out for helping her move a heavy rock across her backyard so she could set up tea party for her stuffed animals. There she was in her Cinderella dress and a tiara on her head, dragging a rock almost as big as she was, and she yelled at me for trying to give her a hand.

Some things never changed.

So when Gavin got the call five minutes before practice started and asked me to drive out to make sure Harper was okay, I knew what to expect.

Or I thought I did.

She was Gavin’s little sister. Tiny. Loud-mouthed. Braver than anyone I’d ever known—not that I’d ever tell her that. She’d always been on the periphery of my life but never very important.

Then I drove outside of town, saw her little blue car on the side of the road, and pulled my old truck onto the shoulder behind it. I got out and walked over to the blown tire on the passenger side.

And there she was.

Little Harper.

Wearing a white tank-top and very short cut-offs, crouching down on the gravel shoulder. She was small but curvy, and for the first time I took note of those curves. The way her little round ass was hugged by the worn denim, the way the cotton of her top clung to her breasts, the way the soft, smooth skin of her thighs was exposed nearly up to her hips because of her position. Her blond hair was in a loose ponytail, but a lot of it had slipped out and was sticking to her damp neck and shoulders. And her shirt was riding up as she leaned forward, exposing a large expanse of bare skin and the top of her pink panties.

I stood like an idiot on the side of that road, dumb-struck as a wave of heat and arousal slammed into me without warning.

Sure, I was eighteen, and I was so flooded by hormones that I could get turned on by shopping cart back then. But this was different.

This was earth-shattering. Like every breath in my body and every pulse of my blood was all centered only on her.

Harper.

My best friend’s little sister.

Gavin would kill me if he knew what I was thinking at that moment, and I would deserve it. I didn’t have a sister myself, but if I had, Gavin had sure as hell better keep his hands off her.

I couldn’t control the bone-deep desire coursing through me as I stared at her, though. I was rock hard and afraid she’d be able to tell if she looked down at my jeans.

“What’s the matter with you?” she demanded, looking hot, tired, and frustrated. She’d managed to get the flat tire off and was trying to roll the spare closer to the car.

Had I been in a more reasonable condition, I would have been impressed by the fact that she’d been able to jack up the car and loosen the lug nuts on her own. I had far more pressing things to think about, though—like not striding over to her, hauling her up into my arms, and taking her hard and fast on the hood of her car.

“Since you’re here,” Harper continued, looking up at me over her shoulder, “you could try to make yourself useful.”

That was as close to a request for help as I’d ever heard from her.

It took a minute, but I finally managed to make myself move. It wasn’t entirely comfortable, since I was embarrassingly aroused the whole time, but I lifted the spare tire for her and then tightened the lug nuts with a wrench.

I didn’t say anything. I was afraid she’d be able to hear what I was feeling in my voice.

When the spare was on and I’d lowered the jack, she stood in front of me, wiping some of the sweat from her face with her hands.

I’d never seen anything hotter, anything I wanted more than I wanted Harper at that moment.

She dropped her eyes briefly and then slanted a look up at me. “Thanks,” she murmured.

Now my head and my heart were pounding as fiercely as my groin. “You’re welcome.” The words came out as almost a growl.

“I could have done it myself, you know.”

“I know.”

“But it was nice of you to drive out.” She’d been looking at the ground again, but her eyes darted up so unexpectedly that I was afraid she’d caught a hungry look on my face.

She’d evidently seen something but didn’t know how to interpret it. “Why are you acting weird?” she asked.

She’d always said exactly what she thought.

“I’m not.” What could I do but deny it?

“Yes, you are.” She was scowling now, and she pulled her tank-top out away from her chest and turned it into a kind of fan, evidently trying to cool herself down. “Of course I’d get a flat on the hottest day of the year. Story of my life.”

The fanning of her top gave me a clear sight of what was beneath it. Lacy white bra barely hiding perfect breasts.

I gulped and turned away in an awkward move. There was no way I could keep looking at her and hold myself back.

“Well, it would be nice if you were in a better mood about it,” she said, again misreading my expression. “But thanks anyway.”

With that, she took her hot, little self back to the driver’s side of her car and gave me a wave before she drove away.

She left me standing there, still so turned on I could barely move.

I had wet dreams of Harper for weeks afterwards, and even years later, they would still occasionally hit me unexpectedly.

After everything that happened, after Gavin died, you would have thought the attraction would fade into a fuzzy memory, but it never did.

***

Twelve years after that day on the side of the road, I was standing across from Harper again.

There was a grave between us now.

Gavin’s grave.

His body was being buried today.

The sun shone down on the cemetery, and a cool breeze blew across my face, but all I saw was blackness. Having been in the military in a time of war, you’d think I’d be used to this scene by now. But I wasn’t. I hadn’t just lost a brother-in-arms. I’d lost one of my closest friends.

I’d met Gavin in kindergarten. We’d walked through life together.

Only his life ended way too soon.

I could feel the tension radiating off Declan on my right, just as I felt it off Cole to my left. No doubt Sebastian was feeling the same way. I glanced down the line at him and could see the expression we’d been schooled in—emotionless.

We were Marines, damn it. Only now we were home—and not by our own choosing. We’d served. We’d fought on the front lines and now had returned. Injured. Broken. Defeated.

Not all wounds are physical.

We’d been friends for a long time, the five of us. Gavin and I had met Sebastian, Declan, and Cole in boot camp. We’d always been a good team. Despite all the differences between us, we shared a bond that most wouldn’t understand.

Sebastian’s family was old money. No one had expected him to enlist and become a Marine. They’d expected him to live in the lap of luxury. Looking over at his stoic face, I had to wonder if he might have been better off remaining in the silver-spoon life that was now awaiting his return.

Declan was staring down at his hands. His silence was the most unnerving to me. Although I knew it wasn’t appropriate for a graveside, I still needed him to make a joke. To talk about how he’d hooked up with triplets in a bar in Maui.

I needed something—anything—to take the edge off this nightmare hour.

Beside me, Cole shifted in his seat. His scars were the most obvious—as they’d always been. He had never had an easy life, and being a Marine was more like a reprieve to him than a challenge like it was for the rest of us. He was home, but I knew that he’d rather be waiting for word on where he would be stationed next. I thought he’d rather be anywhere than standing here.

Even in the ground.

The pastor recited all Gavin’s outstanding qualities. Good son. Good brother. Good friend. Good Marine. I wanted to shake the man because good didn’t even begin to cover it. Gavin was the kind of guy who always had your back and made serving in such hellish conditions a little more tolerable. He could make you laugh when the world was crumbling around you and tell a story that transported you to a different place and time.

I told myself not to go there. Not now. In a perfect world, there’d be far fewer military conflicts and a lot less need for military funerals. But it wasn’t a perfect world. Everyone knew that.

I didn’t want to be here. I didn’t want Gavin to be there. In a box, lowered into the ground. I would have given everything that was, all that I had, to change it—to go back in time and make it right. To make Gavin not be in that casket.

The five of us were supposed to be friends forever. A couple more years in the service and we were going to get out and do something different. Something just for us. Now there wasn’t going to be any of that. Sure, the four of us left could still move forward, but it wouldn’t be the same. It would never be the same.

I could only beat my head against the wall so many times. It didn’t bring me any closer to having peace, and it certainly didn’t make it any easier to get up every morning and be hit with the brutal reality that I was alive and Gavin was dead. How the hell was I supposed to live with that burden?

The Lord’s Prayer was being said now. My jaw hurt from clenching throughout the service. I knew I was supposed to say the words, but I wasn’t feeling overly spiritual. I’d called out a prayer when the world exploded around me. Maybe I should have been thankful that I was still alive, that the four of us were still alive when so many weren’t.

It didn’t make me feel any better though, and I doubted I’d ever feel like me again.

Everyone was standing. Looking around, I noticed that people were making their way over to Gavin’s family. I hadn’t had the opportunity to speak with them since getting back. Maybe I’d been avoiding them because I was ashamed to face them.

I’d let them down. I hadn’t protected Gavin, despite the years of friendship between us. And here I was, still standing, while Gavin’s body was being lowered into the cold ground.

I don’t know how long I stood there, watching the whole scene unfold before me. Cole nudged me and nodded in the direction of the receiving line. The crowd had thinned out some, and I had a clear line to the family.

Holy shit, how was I supposed to do this? What was I even supposed to say?

Next to Gavin’s parents, I saw Harper again.

It had been years since I’d seen her, although I still thought about her a lot more than I should. She hadn’t talked to me since I’d stood her up for her senior prom. There was a whole story there, and one I’d thought she might understand, but she’d been mad about it. I guess I couldn’t blame her. I’d left town shortly after that, so I hadn’t said a word to her since.

Stepping closer, I could see that it wasn’t a girl standing there—or even the hot teenager I’d lusted after so long ago—but a grown woman.

She’d always been a handful and hadn’t taken crap from anyone. From the look of things, that was still the case. The back-off vibe was coming off loud and clear, even as her face was politely smiling as she thanked people for coming.

For a moment I forgot where we were as my eyes lingered on the beauty of her face, the lush curves of her small body. This so wasn’t the time to notice how gorgeous she was, but there it was, appropriate timing or not. I felt a stir of desire I hadn’t felt in a long time. Too long.

Of all the moments for that to kick back in.

If it were another time—and another woman—I might have acted on it. But she was still Gavin’s little sister.

She’d always been off-limits. His death didn’t change that fact.

Her eyes connected with mine over the crowd, and I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. A dozen emotions crossed her face, even though her expression never visibly changed. Had anyone else seen that?

It was my turn. Shit. I mumbled something. I think it was my condolences. I shook hands with Mr. and Mrs. Murphy, Gavin’s parents. Now that I was standing in front of Harper, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do. Hug her? Shake her hand? Kiss her?

When she was in elementary school, one of the boys in her class had tried to kiss her as we were all walking home from school. She’d slugged that kid, even before Gavin or I could step up to help.

The memory of her walloping that boy made my lips twitch up in a smile, although the slight amusement was incredibly inappropriate.

Nothing seemed appropriate, after everything between us.

Those years as kids together. That afternoon on the roadside. Gavin’s body, in a casket now.

I managed to form a few words, “Hey, Harper. I’m so sorry for your loss. Gavin was a great guy.”

That polite smile she’d been giving everyone else disappeared as her eyes homed in on me and sharpened to a hostile glare. I almost tripped over my own feet as she stepped toward me and whispered so that only I could hear. “Why couldn’t it have been you?”

Welcome home, Levi.

One

Harper

I was getting really tired of people patting me on the head.

Metaphorical pats on the head, of course. I did have an ex-boyfriend in college who gave me a little pat on the head once as he laughed at how much time I was spending in organizing a rally on campus. He acted like the head pat was a joke, but it was all I could do not to slug the condescending bastard. Needless to say, that relationship didn’t last beyond that night.

I’m really short and really blond, and there’s nothing I can do about either of those things. But because I bear an unfortunate resemblance to Tinker Bell, I’ve always had to put up with being patronized, underestimated, or not taken seriously.

Jack, my editor, usually wasn’t guilty of acting that way. I’d worked with him for four years, and I always thought we respected each other. But he was talking over me now, interrupting every time I tried to explain myself, and I hated when people did that.

“I really think there’s more of a story here,” I said, keeping my voice as low and patient as I could. Jack was standing right next to my chair, but the desk beside mine was just a few feet away, so it wasn’t like the conversation could be private. “If you’ll just let me—”

“I’ve given you as much leeway as I can.” Jack interrupted. He was middle-aged, balding, and always looked tired. The staff could always tell his stress level by how high his sleeves were rolled up on his arm. This afternoon they were already up past his elbows. “I’m really sorry about your brother, Harper. All of us are really sorry. I offered to give you personal days last month if you needed—”

“I don’t need personal days. I just need to be able to do my job. And I’m telling you that I can find out more about that accident. There’s more going on—”

“This is a local paper, and I’ve already given you more inches than we can spare on military issues. I’m really sorry about your brother’s accident, but you can’t devote all your time to whatever conspiracy you’re trying to dig up about it.”

His tone at the end definitely sounded patronizing. Like he thought I was deranged with grief or something. I straightened my shoulders since I’d learned that gave me a little more height. So did the very high heels I always wore. I still had to look up at Jack though. I had to look up at everyone.

“It’s not about Gavin’s death. Something strange is going on here, and no one is talking about it. I’ve already brought the paper national exposure with my column last month, so I’d think you’d want me to—”

“Harper, this isn’t a debate. I’m telling you this flat out. Take days if you need them, but otherwise you need to stop obsessing and do your job.”

I stared at him for a minute, waves of heat slamming into me, partly from fury and partly from humiliation. He’d snapped out the last words loud enough for everyone in the bull pen to hear.

Now every one of them would think I was overcome by grief and acting like an irrational child. They would feel sorry for me. They wouldn’t respect me.

And this story would never come out.

Evidently, Jack read something in my face because his expression softened. “I’m sorry, Harper. I just—”

“It’s fine,” I interrupted, putting down the notebook I’d been holding. I didn’t even know why I was holding it. I’d just picked it up when I’d stood up at Jack’s approach. “The town council is meeting this afternoon about that sanitation thing. Do you want me to cover it?”

“You don’t have to do that. Mary was going to—”

“It’s fine. I can do it. It’s fine.” I wasn’t looking him in the eye because I knew—I knew—he was feeling sorry for me. So was everyone else in the room. “It’s really fine.”

I made sure my expression was calm and controlled as I stuffed my notebook in my bag and slung the strap on my shoulder.

“Harper,” Jack began as I started to walk out. He obviously felt bad. I was the poor little girl whose big brother had just died.

“It’s fine,” I said, my voice convincingly casual. “I’ve got it covered.”

I stopped in the bathroom on my way out. Relieved it was empty, I hurried into a stall, locked it, and sat down, leaning over and trying to smother a sudden surge of emotion.

Gavin used to laugh at all my “causes,” every time I found a new issue or battle to devote my energies to. In high school and college, I’d have a new cause every month—from animal rights to the school administration trying to drop the Women’s Studies program—and he thought they all were hilarious.

He’d probably laugh at me now, getting so worked up at uncovering what they weren’t telling me about his death.

Except he would never laugh again.

For a moment the knowledge hurt so much I could barely breathe. I hugged my arms to my stomach and shook helplessly. I’d always hated to cry though, so I pulled myself together, breathing deeply, telling myself that families felt like this all over the world whenever soldiers or sailors or airmen or Marines were killed for reasons that just didn’t make any sense.

I left the stall and went to stand in front of the sink, washing my hands and then running a finger under one eye to wipe away a smudge of mascara.

I never wore my hair loose since it only emphasized the fairy-princess look. But my hair is slippery and never stays neatly in a ponytail or twist. It was slipping out again, stray tendrils framing my face. With a sigh, I tried to tuck the strands back into the twist again.

I’d go to this damned sanitation meeting. I’d always been conscientious, and I made As all through school. I certainly wasn’t going to risk my job.

But I also wasn’t going to give up on this story.

Gavin deserved the truth.

***

I sat for two hours in the town council meeting. I wrote the story while I was sitting there, adding in the sentence about the outcome of the vote—which I’d already predicted—in the last two minutes of the meeting. Once the story was written, I also wrote next week’s column and then spent the past hour sending emails and writing a press release.

I needed a bigger platform if I really wanted to get my voice heard. I’d been interviewed a few times after the funeral by cable news channels, but I felt like the media interest in the accident and Gavin’s death was dying down.

It couldn’t die down yet. I needed to get someone else’s attention.

I hit up every connection I had. When a friend from college replied just as the meeting was ending, I called her on my way out.

I was so excited about the possibility of getting on the news show she worked for that I didn’t think about putting my tablet back in my bag. So I was juggling my tablet and my phone and trying to pull my wallet out of my bag as I stopped by the coffee shop next door.

Jack loved the chai tea lattes from this place, so I figured I’d get him one on my way back and maybe he’d be more inclined to listen to what I had to say.

There was a line, and it was noisy in the coffee shop. I saw Gina DeMarco in line in front of me. She had dark hair and heavy makeup, and Gavin had sort of dated her on and off for years. I turned slightly away from her. I’d always tried to be nice when Gavin hung out with her, but she was one of those overly needy people who invariably got on my nerves. I just didn’t have the energy to deal with her right now, and her unexpected appearance made my belly twist at the memory of Gavin.

Since I was still on the phone, I had to speak louder to be heard over the noise in the shop.

“No, listen to me,” I said, tucking my phone between my ear and shoulder as I tried to get my fingers on my debit card. “You tell them they want me on the show. I’m not a nobody. You tell them who I am and who my brother is and show them the stories I’ve already written. They want me on that show.”

I got to the front of the line as my friend hemmed and hawed some. I gave Gina a distracted wave as she saw me as she was leaving, and I handed the guy at the cash register my card. “Chai tea latte and the biggest cup of coffee you have.”

My tablet was slipping down from where I’d tucked it under my arm, and I barely caught it before it dropped. Then it did fall as the guy asked what kind of coffee I wanted.

“I don’t give a damn. Whatever is freshest.” I leaned over to grab my tablet from the floor and bumped my head on a shelf filled with coffee mugs for sale. My phone fell to the floor. “Damn it,” I muttered, grabbing the phone. “You still there?”

When I ascertained that she was, I said, “Just do what you can. I’ll really appreciate it. I have things that need to be said, and I really think I’m the person to say them. I’ll be happy to fly up to New York on the spur of the moment even if they have an opening at the last minute.”

I’d moved from the cashier to the opposite side of the counter to wait for my drinks, which seemed to be taking an inordinate amount of time to prepare.

My friend was telling me that she couldn’t make any promises, and I was reaching for the two drinks when my tablet slipped again.

I growled in annoyance, feeling flustered and disorganized and like everything was going wrong and no one was really hearing me.

I set the drinks down and bent to reach for the tablet when someone beat me to it.

Levi.

I don’t know where the hell he came from, but he was suddenly there, holding my tablet, looking big and masculine and absolutely gorgeous.

His expression was sober as reached down and pulled my bag open enough to drop the tablet in.

He wasn’t really that gorgeous. Obnoxious, for sure.

“Yes, I’m still here,” I said into the phone. “Sorry. Just get me on the show if you possibly can. I really appreciate it.”

I said goodbye, disconnected, and slipped the phone into my bag, which gave me two hands to take the two cups again.

“What are you doing here?” I asked Levi, who was still lingering as if we were going to have a conversation.

I actually felt kind of bad for what I’d said to him at the funeral. I don’t even know why I said it—just that he was almost smiling as if something were funny, right after they’d put Gavin in the ground, and it made me so mad I had to lash out.

But remembering how cruel the words had been just made me embarrassed, so I was hoping not to see him again at all.

Not very likely since we were both now living in our smallish hometown.

He raised his eyebrows. “Getting coffee.”

“Nice.” I gave my head a little shake and just walked away. No use to continue a conversation that would just annoy me even more than I’d already been annoyed today.

Levi followed me out. “You’re drinking fancy drinks now?”

I stared at him in confusion until he nodded toward the chai tea latte.

“No. That one isn’t mine.” I don’t know why I was offended by the question, but it seemed to imply he thought I was a silly girl who drank pretentious drinks.

To prove my point, I took a gulp of the coffee. It was too hot, so it burned my throat as it went down.

He gave that little smile again—the one from the funeral, the one I remembered from when we were younger and he would hang out with Gavin and do nothing but tease me. “So you still drink your coffee black?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” I felt annoyed again and—what was worse—like the girl who was constantly bossed around by her older brother and his best friend. I moved the tea into the crook of my arm so I could dig my keys out of my bag.

“I don’t know.” He reached to take the tea without asking. “I figured in middle school you were just trying to show off by drinking black coffee.”

That was exactly why I’d started drinking it that way, but there was no reason why he had to know it. “Is there something you wanted?” I couldn’t figure out why he was talking to me at all. We’d never be friends, and after what I said at the funeral, I didn’t know why he would make an effort to even be polite.

Years ago, I was supposed to go to my senior prom with him. I’d been waiting in my pretty dress and heels, more excited than I could ever remember, and he’d just never shown up. Any friendliness that might have remained between us from our childhoods had vanished after that night. He and Gavin had joined up shortly afterwards anyway.

One teenage heartbreak didn’t matter now.

“I was just—” He broke the words abruptly as he stared at my car, which we were approaching. “What the hell happened?”

“What do you mean?” I turned in the direction he was staring and saw what he saw. “What the hell?”

My bad day had just gotten even worse. Only two tires on my car were visible from where we stood on the sidewalk, but they were both completely flat.

When we got nearer, I saw that one of the others was flat as well, and I walked around the car to ascertain it was true of all four of them. “What the hell!”

“Someone slashed them,” Levi said. He was crouching on the sidewalk near one of them, and he showed me the place where it had obviously been cut. “Who would have done that?”

He sounded outraged, and it actually made me feel a little better. I had no idea why. Just that it was nice that someone else thought this was a big deal too.

“I don’t know.” I tried to think of someone who would hate me that much, someone so petty. “Just a random piece of vandalism, I guess.”

It was very strange that it happened right here in the middle of town, but strange things sometimes happened that way.

“It doesn’t look random to me.” He stood up and seemed to loom over me. I hated that he was so much taller and stronger and more than me. “Someone did it on purpose. Who have you pissed off?”

“I piss off people all the time but not enough to do something like this.” I shrugged dismissively. I felt strangely disoriented and upset by this, but I wasn’t about to let Levi see. “I’m sure it’s just random.”

“I don’t think it’s—”

“Well, no one asked you. I’m telling you no one hates me that much.”

“You’ve been stirring up a lot of shit with all those stories and columns you’re—”

“That’s ridiculous. It has nothing to do with that.” I grabbed the tea from his hand and started to turn away, deciding that walking away was the best way to deal with him. Then I realized I didn’t have a functional car anymore, and it was a couple of miles back to the office.

I’d have to walk—in my very high heels—or call a friend or use public transportation.

“I can give you a ride,” Levi said, obviously reading my mind.

“Don’t you need to get back to work?” I knew he was working for his father’s construction company now, like he had for two years after he’d graduated from high school, before he and Gavin had joined the Marines. It was a strange thing to envision him doing—since he’d been so set on a military career since he was a boy—but it looked like that was his future.

Which meant he’d be hanging around town indefinitely.

I couldn’t imagine he was happy about that.

“This is my lunch break.”

“But it’s after four in the afternoon.”

He gave a half shrug. “Just the way the day worked out.”

So now I could either reject his offer and waste a ton of time trying to find another ride, or I could just say yes. I almost groaned out loud as I thought about buying four new tires and then arranging for the work on my car.

I hated messing around with cars.

“So do you want a ride or not?” Levi demanded.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “I guess. Thanks.”

“My truck is just down the block.”

So we turned around and walked back down the sidewalk, and he opened the passenger door of his pickup to let me in.

I saw a couple of people glance at us as I climbed into the seat, and I desperately hoped no one I knew would see us. I could just imagine the gossip.

Harper and Levi. An item. Brought together by a tragic death.

The reminder of Gavin was like a hammer crashing down on me, and I shook through a silent wave of grief as Levi walked around to get into the driver’s side.

He sat for a minute, his eyes focused on my face. In the silence, I couldn’t help but notice how strong his hands were as they rested on the steering wheel. The fingers were long and graceful, the skin was tanned, and there was power evident even when they weren’t moving.

I suddenly wondered how it would feel if he touched me with those hands, and then I pushed away the thought as completely inappropriate.

“You okay?” he asked at last.

He must have seen something on my face a minute ago when I was thinking about Gavin. Now he was feeling sorry for me too. “I’m fine,” I snapped. When I realized how sharp I sounded, I added, “Sorry.”

He shrugged off the apology and pulled out into the street. “So you really don’t think someone slashed your tires on purpose?”

I really had no idea. “Would you drop that, please? It happened. Let’s just move on.”

So, instead of an interrogation, he called up Rick from a local garage to ask him if he had tires in stock, managed to haggle down the price, and then arranged for the tires to be put on.

I sat in stunned silence after my first automatic objection when I realized what he was doing. I was torn between relief that I wouldn’t have to mess with all the car stuff and indignation over his high-handedness.

I concluded that he probably meant well enough, but he was just as bossy as Gavin had always been, treating me like a child, like I couldn’t handle things on my own.

At least Gavin had the excuse of being my brother. Levi had no justification for his bossiness at all.

When I was around sixteen, Levi seemed to change—at least, he started treated me differently. Before then, he’d basically just ignored me, sometimes laughing at me and sometimes getting annoyed if I was pestering him and Gavin too much. But at some point in high school, he started to recognize my existence, but not in a good way. He’d hang around more than he used to, but not because he liked me. He was never really nice or friendly with me. He just stared at me a lot and bossed me around. He’d always try to tell me how to take care of my car, how to deal with boys who bugged me, not to wear certain shorts or tops because guys would get the wrong idea.

Like how I dressed was any of his business.

Some guys are just bossy by nature, but that didn’t mean I had to be okay with it.

He ended the call right as he was pulling up in front of the newspaper offices. Then he turned to look at me quietly. “Rick said he should have your car ready by the end of the week. He’s booked up tomorrow, but he’s going to fit it in as soon as possible.”

“I never asked you to arrange all that. It’s really not your business.”

“Why wouldn’t I? Rick and I have been friends for years.”

I felt like shaking him, but he was too big for me to even move. “The fact that you’re friends has nothing to do with it. It’s my car, and I make decisions about it.”

He was still frowning as I got out of the car, but he got out too. He walked around to the sidewalk, where I was standing.

“Harper,” he said, reaching out and wrapping his fingers gently around my upper arm.

It sounded like he was going to say something, but he didn’t continue past my name. I gazed at him in surprise, feeling like the placement of his hand was a sign of understanding, of connection.

It was ridiculous though. A little touch like that couldn’t evoke even the slightest of connections. Not between Levi and me.

“I heard your phone conversation back in the coffee shop,” he finally said, his expression changing. “Maybe it’s not a good idea for you to be in the public eye so much. Maybe the tires were random, but maybe not.”

“You’re crazy.” I straightened myself up to my full height. “And next time don’t eavesdrop on private conversations.”

“I guess you still always have to get the last word.” He almost smiled, and his smug expression made me want to scream.

I managed to rein in the urge and instead just said, “Only when I’m right.”

Convinced I’d said all I needed to say, I turned on my heel and walked away from him, carrying Jack’s tea and my coffee.

This whole day was a disaster. I’d have to give up on it and start over tomorrow.

But two things I knew for sure.

I wasn’t going to give up on the story.

And I wasn’t going to talk to Levi again.

Two

Levi

For a year after I went out to help Harper with that blown tire in high school, I felt like some kind of stalker.

I didn’t stalk her. Not really. I just made a point of noticing when she was around and finding out what she was up to. Gavin would occasionally talk about her, and I’d listen.

Nothing wrong with that.

I tried not to feel possessive and territorial about her, but it wasn’t something I could easily control. She was so gorgeous and so little and so incredibly willful.

She did exactly what she wanted, even if it wasn’t smart. Someone needed to look out for her, and I needed to be that person.

The week after she turned seventeen, she went to a party at the house of one of her friends. It was one of those parties—the kind that get thrown when parents are out of town. I’d been to plenty myself, so I suppose I didn’t have any grounds to complain.

But still.

Harper should not be surrounded by a bunch of drunk, horny high school boys, especially if she had been drinking herself.

The idea of it raised my hackles, got me going good.

I’d been at the bowling alley that evening, and I only heard she was at the party second-hand, from a buddy of mine who’d just left. On hearing where she was, I stopped bowling and drove out to the party.

I was just making sure she was all right.

I pulled my truck to a stop across the road from the house and saw the party was spilling out onto the front lawn. That was just stupid. The cops would be out here any minute. It was a small town. If kids in high school wanted to party like this, they had to do so out of sight.

I saw Harper even before I got out of my truck. She was wearing a short skirt—way too short—and the straps of her top were slipping off her shoulders. Her hair was tousled and wavy, and she was strolling down the front walk next to a guy whose hands should definitely not be touching her the way they were.

She was smiling up at the guy, and every nerve ending in my body fired off at the absolute wrongness of her looking at any guy in that soft, admiring way.

Any guy except me.

I found myself getting out of my truck and striding over to her.

She jerked to a stop when she saw me, blinking as if she couldn’t quite process what I was even doing there.

“You need to get home,” I said, a lot of gravel in my voice. “The cops are going to be here soon. You think the neighbors aren’t going to call when a bunch of drunk kids are hanging out in the front yard?”

She blinked at me again. “Levi?”

“You’ve been drinking.” It was clear to me that she had, although she looked only slightly tipsy and not dead-drunk.

“So what if I have? You and Gavin got drunk when you were fourteen years old.”

We had, although I had no idea she’d known about it.

She was clinging to the arm of the boy beside her, and it was making me crazy. She should not be hanging on that stupid kid.

She should not be hanging on anyone but me.

“Take off,” I growled at the boy.

He puffed up his chest, looking outraged for just a minute, but one more intimidating look from me and he staged a quick retreat. I was bigger than he was.

“What the hell?” Harper gasped, still looking blurrily from me to the retreating boy, as if she couldn’t quite understand what was happening.

I took her arm and started to walk her toward my truck, quickly now since I could hear sirens in the distance. “Do you want the cops to pick you up?”

“No.”

“Then shut up and get in the truck.”

She was too out of it to put up a fight, which was a relief. I got her into the passenger seat and then pulled my truck into the street before the first police car arrived.

She was silent as I drove through town, but I could feel resentment bristling through her body.

Finally, she burst out, “What did you do that for?”

“Someone needs to look out for you, if you’re going to be that stupid.”

“It was just a party. I only had one drink! I can take care of myself.”

“Can you? Because it looked like you were leaving with some drunk guy. You think he wouldn’t take advantage of you, when you’re in this condition?” I was angry—simmering with the idea of some selfish bastard doing things to Harper when she was too buzzed to know better—and I knew she could hear it in my voice.

“What if I wanted him to?”

“To what, exactly?” I asked thickly.

“To have sex with me. What if I wanted it?” Her blue eyes were flashing, and her straps had slipped from her shoulders again, causing her neckline to dip far lower than it should.

I wanted her so much I had to stare at the road in front of me and breathe deeply.

“Well?” she demanded, when I didn’t answer.

“If you want to have sex,” I said at last, “then you damn well better find a guy who wants you for you, and not just because you’re a hot body too drunk to make a good decision.”

The words lingered in the air, and soon I knew I’d made a mistake.

When I glanced over, she was staring at me with wide eyes. “You think I have a hot body?” she breathed at last.

Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn.

“I said you want a man who knows you’re more than that,” I muttered.

“Oh.”

I knew she was still buzzed because she normally would have put up more of a fight. She always did when someone tried to boss her around.

We drove the rest of the way back to her house in silence.

She looked more like herself when I stopped the truck—a few houses down from hers so she might have a chance of sneaking back in without her parents seeing.

I was going to wait until she got into the house before I left, of course.

“I was really okay,” she said as she unbuckled her belt.

“We’ll have to disagree on that one.”

“You’re not my brother,” she said. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

“Then don’t do stupid things.”

She was glaring at me as she got out of the truck and walked way.

I watched her as she made it down the sidewalk, then up her driveway, and then into the side door of her house.

It was only then I drove away.

I wasn’t her brother. Her brother was my best friend.

And one day I would have to stop lusting after her this way.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever stop wanting to take care of her.

***

Eleven years later, I was still wanting to take care of her.

And still lusting after her.

Both of them at once, as I stared at the television, where Harper was on the local news, talking about Gavin and how there might be some sort of cover-up going on surprised me anyway. Didn’t the woman ever listen? I knew that my superiors weren’t going to talk to her, no matter how much of nuisance she made of herself to them. Her public plea wasn’t going to change a damn thing.

Snapping off the television, my first instinct was to go and throttle her. I was sure I wasn’t the first person to feel that way. People didn’t get their tires slashed randomly.

This was definitely personal.

Pacing had become my favorite pastime since coming home. Normally it was out of boredom, but now it was out of frustration. What the hell was she thinking? There was standing up for what you believed in, and then there was just plain stubbornness.

Like that was anything new where Harper was concerned.

She’d been the same way all her life. It was one of the things I most loved about her.

And also the thing that drove me most crazy.

It was a good thing no one was around to hear my growl of frustration or to hear the words flying out of my mouth over this whole damn mess. There would be too many questions to answer if anyone saw me. As it was, my entire family was walking around on eggshells, trying to act as if nothing was wrong. No matter how much I threw myself into the construction jobs, I could feel everyone looking at me as if they were expecting me to crack at any moment.

Maybe I was.

Like now.

Damn Harper and her causes. Why couldn’t she just leave this one alone? There was no story here. At least that was what I kept wanting to believe. I knew the way the military works— I’d get more answers than Harper would if I confronted any of my commanding officers, but that didn’t mean I wanted to. I’d be lying if I said that a few theories hadn’t crossed my mind, but most of them involved me and my own role in the whole thing.

 “Are you worried about making enemies, Harper?” the reporter asked right before the camera panned back to her.

“Not at all. If there’s nothing to hide and what they’re saying is true, then they have nothing to worry about. All I’m asking for is the truth.”

“How do you know they’re lying to you now?”

Harper’s gaze narrowed slightly. “Because they haven’t agreed to meet with me. All I’m asking is for a few minutes of their time, to know how my brother and so many others died. If they’d just talk to me, I’m sure that would go a long way to clear things up.”

This time I actually did smile. Hell, I even laughed. Harper was in over her head on this one. This wasn’t some small campus rally to lower the price of school lunches or an initiative about safety in the public parks. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that she was pissing someone off big time.

Someone right here in town had been bold enough to slash her tires. Shit. There were probably a lot of candidates, and I hadn’t been back long enough to get the gossip on where people stood these days in their political views.

Guess it was time to start mingling with the locals again.

***

It was weird to stand in front of a place that was so familiar and not feel the comfort of it like I once had. Gavin’s house. I’d put it off as long as I could, but I now needed to do more than just go to work and go to bed, so this was where I ended up.

The house looked exactly the same, but I knew it wasn’t. Gavin wasn’t here. This was the first time I’d ever come to the Murphy’s home without him. Don’t go there right now, I reminded myself, even as I tried to remember how to walk up the steps to the front door. My legs were like lead, and it was all I could do to breathe normally.

I didn’t even have to knock. Charles Murphy must have seen me coming because the door opened before I lifted my hand. “Levi! What a surprise.” Rather than the handshake I’d been expecting, he pulled me in for a hug. We went inside, and I no sooner had a foot in the door then Gavin’s mother, Darlene, had me in her embrace. They were huggers. It wasn’t personal.

“Look at you!” she said as she appeared to assess me for some hidden injury. “You look wonderful, Levi. Have you eaten? Charles and I were just about to have some coffee. Can I get you some?”

There wasn’t a hint of animosity or anything remotely distant about them—they welcomed me like I was family—and yet I couldn’t let my guard down. Not yet. The place smelled like freshly brewed coffee and pine. Darlene Murphy was a clean freak, and it almost brought me back to our childhood, when Gavin and I would skate around the freshly waxed wood floors in our socks. And then had to run like hell when Darlene caught us.

“How’s the job going with your dad?” Charles asked when Darlene put our mugs on the table.

“It’s good, sir. The jobs are relatively small—residential jobs and all—but I think my dad likes having me work with him.”

“And so he should,” Darlene said as she took a seat.

The silence was almost deafening for a long minute, and I felt myself wanting to squirm. “How are you both doing?”

Darlene’s face saddened first, and Charles’s wasn’t far behind. “We have good days and bad,” Charles said, his voice much softer than it was moments ago. “Gavin had been away for so long that sometimes I find myself thinking that’s all that’s going on and he’ll be home soon.” He paused. “Then I remember.”

There wasn’t a damn thing I could say to that because I felt the same way. I never wanted to go into construction or work for my dad, and on some really bad days, I found myself grabbing for the phone to bitch to Gavin. And then I would remember.

Darlene reached for one of my hands as if she’d read my mind. Words weren’t really necessary.

The quiet moment was shattered by the slamming of the front door and the decisive click, click, click of someone’s ridiculously high heels coming our way. “Please tell me that the coffee is fresh,” Harper called out, just before she walked into the room.

And stopped.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise to see her there, but it was. That was happening a lot lately. Sitting quietly, I watched as she kissed both her parents hello and then went to make herself a cup of coffee. Black. Either she was going to keep ignoring me, or there was something fascinating about fixing a cup of black coffee.

“Aren’t you going to say hello to Levi, Harper?” her mother asked.

The look Harper gave her in response was near comical. I couldn’t help but smirk at her, which only upped her ire. She mumbled a begrudging greeting before walking out of the room.

The Murphys looked at me apologetically. “How is Harper doing?” I figured that it might be easier to get a little insight into who was bothering her if I snooped close to home. Hopefully, she was out of earshot.

“Levi?”

Oops. Clearly not. “Yeah?”

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Her tone was so sweet it could give a guy cavities, but those eyes told me that I was in deep shit.

Taking my mug with me, I excused myself and followed her. I knew this house like my own, but it felt wrong to be here without Gavin.

“Why are you upsetting my parents?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Why are you asking about me?”

“So asking about you is upsetting to them how?”

It was kind of fun to watch her get riled up. She might be tiny—in heels she barely stood taller than my shoulders—but when she was pissed, she seemed to become much bigger. I bet she could even be intimidating to a lot of people.

Not me, though.

“They are grieving the loss of their son, and people keep nagging about how we’re all doing, but at least they don’t come here to our home and do it. This is like a sanctuary for them, Levi, and then you show up and start asking questions!”

For just a moment, I was reminded of the time we were in middle school and Gavin and I had gone fishing. Harper had followed us and given us a long lecture on cruelty to animals and how we shouldn’t use the poor fish for our entertainment.

The memory of her heated outrage and fearless denunciation of us—so long ago—made me smile.

“I’m sorry, but is this funny to you?” she asked, crossing her arms under her breasts and giving me a spectacular view of her cleavage. I really didn’t need to be thinking of that right now. “My grieving family is… what, some kind of joke?”

“Okay, that’s enough,” I said with authority. I towered over her, wondering if she’d back down.

She didn’t.

“Don’t tell me when it’s enough. You’re in my house now, and you don’t get to tell me what to do.”

“Geez, don’t you ever get tired of arguing? All I did was come here to say hello and see how your folks are doing. I haven’t seen them since the funeral.”

Harper averted her gaze at the word. “It was probably for the best. I’m sure on some level you’re a reminder of—”

“The fact that I’m still here and Gavin isn’t? Yeah, I got that. But not from them. From you.”

She at least had the grace to look sorry. “Okay, that was wrong for me to say that day.”

“You think?”

“I really am sorry about that. I shouldn’t have said it. But maybe you could cut me a little slack, Levi. I’d just lost my brother, and I wasn’t handling it well. It’s just been really crazy for the past couple of months. There’s Gavin and stuff with my job and no one wanting to talk to me and my tires were slashed, and then just yesterday there was this letter—”

“What letter?” It wasn’t often, if ever, that I saw Harper on the verge of losing control, but she clearly was right now. “What letter, Harper?”

“You know that we didn’t get to bury Gavin right away, right? Well, after we got all the ‘official’ letters from the government, I felt that something wasn’t right, like they weren’t telling us everything. So I wrote a couple of articles about it in the paper, and I guess someone didn’t like it. They sent me a nasty letter yesterday.”

The curse escaped louder than I intended, and I almost cringed at the possibility of Darlene Murphy coming in and reprimanding me. “And you didn’t think to mention this to me, even getting it after your tires were slashed?”

“Shh! Keep it down! I didn’t tell my parents about that.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because I didn’t want to worry them, that’s why. They’re dealing with enough right now without my adding to it.”

“Then maybe you should let go of this little campaign for the truth that you’ve got going on. You’re not going to get anywhere with it, Harper. You need to let it go before you push the wrong person.”

She was silent for a long moment, and I was almost certain that I had her convinced.

“I’m not letting it go. This whole thing seems suspicious and maybe…”

Uh-oh. I might not have known Harper very well, but even I knew when I was about to be hit with something I wasn’t going to like. “Maybe, what?”

“You were there, Levi. Tell me what happened.”

That was so not going to happen. “You have all the documents that could be publicly released. It’s not open for discussion.” With a final swig of coffee, I put the mug down and turned to go back to the kitchen to talk to the Murphys.

“I never figured you for a coward, Levi.”

That stopped me. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Just tell me what you know.”

“And then you’ll drop your campaign? Just like that?” Her hesitation gave me my answer. “Sorry, princess, but I’ve got nothing to add that good old Uncle Sam hasn’t told you.”

Except my role in your brother’s death.

She stepped in close, and that was when it happened. The smell of her herbal shampoo and the heat radiating off her little body had my whole libido standing at attention and calling out that she wasn’t like a sister. This was a woman. A pissed-off woman but a woman nonetheless. And she was beautiful. And sexy.

And mad as hell.

“Then you leave me no choice. If you won’t tell me the truth, and no one in Washington will tell me the truth, then it’s up to me to find it. Campaign on.” Then she turned on her ridiculously high heels and walked away.

Shit. Now it looked like I had something to do with my spare time other than pacing and brooding. I had to keep an eye on Harper Murphy before she ticked off the wrong person. There were worse ways to spend my time, but I had a feeling I was going to be walking a thin line where she was concerned.

A line between watching over her for her own protection and watching her for my own pleasure.

How twisted was that?

Three

Harper

“What did you just say?” I demanded.

Randy Jenkins had been in my class at school almost every year as we were growing up, and he was now a local police officer. He blinked at my tone. “I already heard about the letter.”

I thrust the letter toward him. I’d gotten a little worried over the weekend about the combination of the letter and the slashed tires, so I figured it was better to be safe and report it. I certainly hadn’t expected to hear this. “This letter?”

He looked over the page briefly. “Yeah. That’s the one he mentioned. And I guess you also had some trouble with your tires? What we need you to—”

“How do you know about that?” The question was automatic, but it didn’t need to be asked. I knew exactly how Randy knew. “Levi? Are you telling me that Levi came here, on his own, without my knowledge or permission, and you let him fill out a report for something that had absolutely nothing to do with him?”

Randy blinked again. He’d always been a blinker, and evidently, the years hadn’t changed this trait. “It wasn’t official. He didn’t fill out a report or anything. He came in for another reason, and we got to talking, and he just mentioned that you’d been having some trouble and wanted us to keep our eyes open. What’s wrong with that?”

I was stewing, so angry I trembled with it, and I couldn’t trust myself to speak right away.

Taking my silence as agreement, Randy grinned. “See? Not a big deal, right? You must be worried too since you’re coming in about it. Levi’s a good guy. He’s just looking out for you.”

“Yeah,” I muttered. “Looking out for me.”

I felt like laying into Randy since he happened to be present. It wasn’t his fault though, and he wasn’t the target of my rage. So I filled out a report and turned in the letter and was told they’d do what they could and would give me a call with any results.

I understood that to mean that they’d do some superficial inquiries, but they didn’t think it was a big deal, and there wasn’t that much they could do anyway.

I didn’t think it was a big deal either, but I didn’t want to be foolish and ignore a real threat.

When Randy suggested that since the letter writer was angry because I’d been so vocal about my brother’s death and the military’s actions surrounding it, a smart thing might be for me to cool it, I just gave him a stony look.

He was exactly like Levi. Exactly like Gavin had been too. Wanting to pat me on the head and shut me up. Refusing to take me seriously.

It felt like I’d spent all my life trying to prove myself to other people, and I was getting really sick of it.

On my way out of the police station, I called Levi. When he didn’t pick up, I let his voice mail have it.

“Listen, Levi. I’m telling you for the last time to mind your own business. You don’t get to go to the police on my behalf. You don’t get to poke around in things that only concern me. You don’t get to try to control me or tell me what I can or can’t do. I’m an adult. I’m not your responsibility or your duty or your way to not be bored. We aren’t even friends. So take your overbearing, obnoxious meddling and shove it up your arrogant ass.”

I disconnected, feeling pleased with my choice of words and the satisfaction of having told him exactly what I thought.

As I headed home in my mom’s car (since mine was still in the shop), I started to give the message a postmortem, something I had a bad habit of. Maybe I should have waited until I wasn’t as angry so he wouldn’t know he’d gotten to me the way he had. Maybe I should have just ignored him and proven he didn’t mean anything to me. Maybe I should have…

On and on it went as I grabbed a quick bite, drove home, and then got a ride with a friend to the rec center for my kickboxing class.

I’d been going to kickboxing for over a year now, and I always enjoyed it, but today I found it more therapeutic than normal.

In a very hard workout, I vented my frustration and exasperation with one egotistical, interfering, and infuriating ex-Marine. I was exhausted afterward but felt much better. Like I might even be able to have a civil conversation with Levi if our paths happened to cross again, which hopefully wouldn’t happen.

On my way out of the building with Maria, the friend who’d given me a ride, I glanced down at my phone, on the off-chance that Levi had tried to call back.

I wasn’t sure what he would have said if he called. I couldn’t imagine him meekly saying he was sorry for his bad behavior.

I couldn’t imagine him being meek—in any circumstance, ever.

“Oh my God, that guy is hot,” Maria murmured excitedly, grabbing my arm as we walked down the four steps from the front entrance of the rec center.

This wasn’t unusual behavior for Maria. She found guys hot all the time and was never loath to share her feelings with me.

I glanced over with only half-hearted interest and immediately stiffened when my eyes landed on a tall, well-built man with dark hair and worn jeans, who was listening to something on his phone and leaning against a car in the parking lot.

My car. The one I thought was still in the shop.

Levi. Naturally.

“Oh my God,” Maria said, her hand still gripping my arm. “He’s smiling at you. Do you know him?”

“Yes, I know him,” I gritted out through my teeth. He was indeed smiling, but it wasn’t a friendly, welcoming smile.

It was a superior smile of amusement, as if he was laughing at me.

I’d seen that look on his face before. I’d seen it for years and years, when we’d been growing up and he was hanging out with Gavin. My brother used to get annoyed when I pestered them, but Levi had always just laughed.

When I was ten, Gavin and Levi were going to the county fair one Saturday, and I nagged my mother until she finally agreed that I could go with them. Gavin had been in a real snit about it since he didn’t want me tagging along, but Levi hadn’t seemed to mind. He’d laughed at my excitement—not in a mean way—and he’d cheered me on when I’d done well at the games. He’d won a huge stuffed dog because he was so good at the balloon and dart game, and he’d given it to me.

He’d acted like it was no big deal, saying he didn’t want a stupid stuffed animal. He’d laughed when I was touched and thrilled by the stuffed dog.

Nothing had changed. I might be an adult, a professional, and completely his equal, but he was still laughing at me.

I took a shaky breath and tried to control the wave of anger.

“Is that your car?” Maria asked.

“Yeah. He must have gotten it from the shop.”

“Ooh! Why didn’t you tell me there was a guy in your life?” Maria looked like she might jump up and down with excitement over news of potential romance for me.

“He’s not in—”

“No, don’t try to hide it. I can tell by the way he’s looking at you that he’s crazy about you. Plus he got your car for you! You go on over, but you better call me first thing tomorrow and tell me all about him.”

I groaned and tried to object again, but she skittered off before I could. Rolling my eyes, I made my way over to Levi, who was still half smiling with that superior amusement I hated.

“Did you just tell me to take my overbearing, obnoxious meddling and shove it up my arrogant ass?” he asked, lowering the phone from his ear.

For no reason—for absolutely no good reason—I felt the urge to snicker, partly at his expression and partly at the way he’d repeated my words back to me in that dry tone. Snickering would hardly be an appropriate response though, so I gave him what I hoped was a cool look of disinterest. “You should check your messages more frequently. I left that over two hours ago.”

His smile broadened into a grin, making him so attractive that I lost my breath. Seriously. I literally lost my breath, gazing up at him and his warm expression and his gorgeous dark eyes.

He said, “If you found out I mentioned it to Randy, then you must have been at the police station too. So you do think there’s cause to worry?”

“I don’t really think there’s cause to worry. I just want to cover all the bases. But that’s my responsibility. Not yours.”

“Understood.” He was still smiling, and he didn’t look like he understood at all. “I got your car.”

“I see that. That’s another thing that was none of your business. How did they even let you take it? I haven’t paid yet.”

“I said you’d be coming by to pay sometime tomorrow. They gave you a really good deal. Rick is a buddy of mine.”

Snapping his head off was probably not an appropriate response to his getting me a good price on the new tires, but it was exactly what I wanted to do. I took a shaky breath and managed not to lash out.

I glanced around the parking lot for his truck and didn’t see it. “So you drove my car over here? How did you expect to get home?”

“I figured you could drop me off. I’m on the way.”

I smothered a groan and nodded toward the passenger seat. “Get in.”

He handed me the keys, and we got in the car. I had to admit it was nice to have my car back although I would have preferred to enjoy it without Levi’s presence.

I managed to ask him, fairly politely, where he lived and then backed out of the parking place without saying anything rude.

We rode in silence for a few minutes. I don’t know what he was thinking, but I was trying very hard not to scream at him.

“How did you even know where I was?” I finally asked, starting up when a light turned green.

“I called your folks, and they told me. So you do kickboxing?”

“Yes, I do kickboxing.”

“How long have you done that?”

“Over a year now.”

“Are you any good?”

I could hear the smile in his voice, and it made me mad. “I’m pretty good, for my level. What exactly are you laughing at?”

“I’m not laughing.” His eyes were wide with ostensible innocence when I turned to glare at him.

“You’re secretly laughing at me. You’ve always done that.”

“What’s wrong with you making me laugh?”

“Because you’re laughing at me, as if I’m a pet or a child. I’m neither of those things, and I really don’t appreciate your acting like I am.”

He sighed and said in a different voice. “I know you’re not a pet or a child.”

I turned my head again to check his expression since he’d sounded so different. “So why do you feel compelled to control me?”

“I don’t want to control you. I just want you to be safe.”

“Keeping me safe is not your responsibility. I’m not your duty, Levi. I can take care of myself.” We’d reached his apartment building, and I pulled the car into a convenient parking space.

“With your kickboxing?”

“I meant by being an adult who can handle herself, but I might be better at kickboxing than you think.”

He was grinning again as he opened the passenger side door. “So show me.”

“Show you what?”

“Kickboxing. Show me what you’ve got.”

“I’m not a circus performer for your entertainment.”

“I’m not looking to be entertained. If you want me not to worry about you, then show me you can protect yourself. Show me what you’ve got.”

“I’m not going to do kickboxing moves in the middle of a parking lot.”

“Why not? No one is around.”

With a groan, I got out of the car, feeling yet again the need to prove myself to this man who insisted I shouldn’t be taken seriously.

He walked around the car so he was standing a couple of feet away from me. “So someone comes at you. What do you do?”

I moved automatically into my stance as he made a move toward me. I fired off a quick jab, aiming upward, right toward his face. I pulled the punch before it hit, but I would have gotten a really good blow in if I hadn’t.

He looked surprised and pleased. “Good,” he said, sounding sincere for once. “What else?”

He made another move toward me, and I aimed a hook. He blocked it easily, but I followed it quickly with an undercut, which might have done some damage. “Nice,” he murmured, the expression in his eyes changing. Instead of laughter there was something else.

It wasn’t respect. But it was warm. Very warm. It was hot.

It made my cheeks flush, so I covered it by another jab, which he blocked without really trying.

The easy way he blocked it riled me up, so I twisted to throw out a side kick.

It obviously took him by surprise, and he grabbed at my leg with what was probably an automatic reflex. It threw me off balance though. He released my leg immediately, but I still ended up in a heap on the ground.

“Damn it,” I grumbled, trying to assess my condition after recovering from the shock of the fall. I was fine, only my hands were scratched up from catching myself on the pavement.

“Sorry,” he said, leaning down to help me up. “I’m really sorry. Are you all right?”

He looked genuinely contrite, but it was probably from his old-fashioned sense of chivalry where you treat women like they were made of glass or cotton candy.

I wasn’t made of glass or cotton candy, and I could handle a little fall without making a fuss. “I’m fine,” I said, pulling away from his hands. “I’m fine.”

“Damn it, I’m really sorry. I was surprised and wasn’t thinking. I never would have—”

“I know. You’d never hurt a girl.” I looked down at my hands and saw they were bleeding a little. “I’m not hurt.”

“You’re bleeding. At least come inside and clean up some.”

I started to say “no” since I wanted to get away from him as soon as possible, but it would be a real pain to try to drive home with bleeding hands. “All right. Thanks.”

“I’m really sorry,” he said again as we walked into his building. He put his hand on my back in a protective gesture or maybe just to turn me toward the right hall.

“You didn’t mean it. I’m not hurt. Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean a little fall is going to break me. Don’t treat me like I’m delicate. I’m not delicate.” I sounded a little snippy, but I was flustered and disoriented. I was also trying not to like the feel of his hand on my back.

“I don’t think you’re delicate,” he said, unlocking his apartment door. “You were always that way. Looking like a pretty little flower but actually as tough as nails.”

I stared at him in surprise since I never would have dreamed he’d think something so nice about me.

“What?” he asked, looking slightly uncomfortable.

“You never thought that about me,” I said at last, trying to read something in his expression. “You never thought I was anything but an annoying pest with a loud mouth who you sometimes laughed at.”

He’d led me over to the kitchen sink, and he grabbed and wetted a couple of paper towels. “You were annoying sometimes.” His tone was different now. Warm. Almost fond. “You never left me and Gavin alone. You always had to tag along or interrupt our game or join in our conversations. And you always did have the loudest voice I’d ever heard on such a little thing.” Very gently he started to wipe the blood off the palms of my hands.

I’d been softening from his tone and his careful touch, but I stiffened again when I processed his words and jerked my hands away. “That’s what I thought. And that’s still how you’re treating me. And you don’t seem to realize that, while it might be okay to think of a little girl that way, it’s incredibly patronizing to treat a grown woman that way.”

He took my hands back so he could finish cleaning them up. Then he raised his eyes, and they took on that hot, breathless look again. “I know you’re a grown woman, Harper. I’m not likely to miss that fact.”

My breath quickened, and I couldn’t seem to pull my hands out of his grip. “Well, maybe you should act like you know,” I managed to say, not terribly lucidly.

One of his hands lifted to my face, and he cupped my cheek. I couldn’t look away from his eyes. They were the hottest things I’d ever seen. My whole body was overwhelmed with a rush of excitement and feeling. “And how do you think I should treat you like a woman?”

There was one obvious thing that came to my mind. In fact, I couldn’t think of anything else. I felt myself swaying toward him, and he seemed to be leaning down toward me, and I wanted to kiss him so badly I couldn’t see straight.

Then he shifted my hand slightly, causing a sting of pain from the cuts, and that brought me back to my senses. I stepped backward at almost exactly the same time that Levi stepped backward too.

I dropped my head and pretended to be drying off my hands with a paper towel as I tried to pull myself together.

Giving in to an attraction for Levi would be a huge mistake, and I wasn’t going to be that stupid. I just wasn’t.

Trying to get back to casual conversation, I glanced around the kitchen. “Did you just move in?”

“What do you mean?”

“The boxes.” I nodded toward a few open boxes in the corner. “And you don’t have anything hung up on the walls or anything. How long have you lived here?”

“A month or so. Since I got back.”

“What? Why haven’t you finished unpacking and setting the place up? It hardly looks like anyone lives here.”

He shrugged. “I don’t care about that kind of thing. I just pull things out as I need them.”

“But don’t you want to make the place comfortable?”

“I’ve got a chair and the TV. Works for me.”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. Then I walked into the living area and saw that he did have one photo. It was lying flat, but I went over to pick it up.

It was a picture of Levi, Gavin, and three of their friends—the three who I’d met at Gavin’s funeral. It was a casual snapshot, and they were just joking around, but they all looked happy. Close. Alive.

My eyes rested for a long time on my brother’s smiling face. He wasn’t alive anymore.

I put the picture down quickly when I started to tear up. I didn’t want to cry in front of Levi. I didn’t want to show any sign of weakness in front of him.

When I dared to look up at his face, I saw his expression had sobered. For a moment there was something lost, poignant, aching in his expression, before it disappeared.

“He loved you more than anything,” Levi said quietly, after a moment.

I swallowed hard and looked away, trying to control the emotion. “He was always bossing me around, even after we grew up.”

“Because he loved you. If he were here, he’d want to take care of you and make sure you were safe. Since he’s not, I’m going to do it instead.”

I understood more than ever what was motivating Levi. It wasn’t that he was amusing himself by interfering in my business. It was that he felt like he needed to do it for Gavin—out of guilt or obligation. Duty.

Either way, I didn’t like it since it took away my self-sufficiency.

“It’s not your job,” I said, quickly wiping away a stray tear.

“Then whose job is it?”

“It’s my job. I take care of myself.”

“If someone is really threatening you, then you’ll need help. Even the strongest person can’t stop a bullet.”

“Don’t be melodramatic. There’s some petty, spiteful person who doesn’t like what I’m saying, but that doesn’t equal a threat on my life. If I need help, I’ll ask for it.”

“But that’s the thing.” For the first time, Levi actually looked angry. “You won’t ask for help. You’re so determined to show the world you aren’t delicate that you won’t take help when you actually need it. Remember the bees?”

I gasped in outrage at being reminded of that horrible day at age twelve—when I’d been stung multiple times and then had to make it home on my own feet so Levi and Gavin couldn’t be proved right in saying that they needed to carry me. “Just because you think I need help doesn’t mean I actually do. I got home just fine that day, and I can handle this situation right now fine too. You don’t get to impose your help on me just because you get it in your head you want to be a hero.”

“For Christ’s sake, Harper,” he snapped. “Why are you always so stubborn? I’m not trying to be a hero. I’m worried about you.”

“Well, stop worrying.”

“I can’t stop. I can’t stop worrying about you.”

“Then keep your worrying to yourself. I don’t know where you get the nerve to come into my life and make assumptions and judgments about me, as if you have it all together. I mean, look at you. Is your life really so together that you can look down on mine? You cut yourself off from everyone so you can stand on your mountain and look down at us. But is that really living? Not getting involved in anything that matters? Laughing at me because I really care about things and want to get other people to care about things too? What was the last thing you really cared about, other than being a Marine? What do you have left now that it’s gone? I mean, you don’t even live in this apartment. You haven’t done a thing to make it into a home. You don’t have friends here. You don’t give back or do any sort of volunteer work. You don’t even have a damned dog. And you think something is wrong with the way I’m behaving.”

He was angrier than ever. I could see it on his face. But he pulled it in, suppressed it, so it only showed in the tightness of his jaw and the blaze of his eyes.

Ridiculously, I was still attracted to him. I wanted to touch him, kiss him, press myself against him.

And also wring his neck.

With a frustrated sound in my throat, I swung around, grabbed my keys, and hurried to the door before he could say anything in response.

Being around Levi was obviously very bad for my mental health, so I’d have to do better about staying away from him from now on.

Four

Levi

I worked with about a dozen people every day and rarely uttered a word. But sitting there with Cole, Declan, and Sebastian in a bar on a Friday night, I was suddenly Chatty Cathy.

“So what gives?” Cole asked. “You think she’s really in danger?”

I hadn’t meant to even mention Harper. Unfortunately, it seemed like she was all I could think about. I enjoyed my time out with the guys since I was the most comfortable around them. Most of the time we hung out, had a couple of beers, maybe played a game of pool or darts, and talked about shit that really didn’t mean all that much to anyone. But Harper was on my mind, and I figured that, if I needed a sounding board, these guys were it.

Shrugging, I took a pull from my beer before answering, as if that might make me seem a little less obsessive about the situation. “Danger’s a pretty strong word. She’s definitely pissed someone off though.”

“Gavin always said his sister wasn’t happy unless she was challenging something,” Sebastian said.

I’d lost count of all Harper’s causes over the years. Gavin used to always gripe about one or another of them. “If she saw someone swat at a fly, she’d be ready with a petition to protect the entire fly population,” I said, chuckling. What once was annoying, I was now starting to find a little endearing. Not that this current situation was endearing since there was a real possibility of Harper pissing off the wrong person.

“If the people around town know that about her, then why would this suddenly get someone riled up?” Cole asked.

Why didn’t they get it? Seriously, it was like I was the only one who understood the potential for this situation to turn ugly. “Look, this isn’t about something trivial. She’s attacking the military, the government, hell, give her a little more time, and she’ll be banging on the door of the damn White House. You know how fanatical some people can be where matters like this are concerned.”

Sebastian leaned back in the booth and stretched. “It seems to me like maybe she’s the fanatical one in this situation, bro.”

I was already walking a thin line where Harper is concerned, and it wouldn’t take much to make me snap. “Right now she’s just talking. Nothing more. The person who slashed her tires and wrote her that note? They’ve taken it to the next level.”

“Maybe that’s all they’re going to do.” Declan appeared bored with the entire conversation. “Maybe you’re just looking for reasons to stick close to her.”

Crap. Am I that transparent? “What the hell are you talking about?”

Declan smirked and leaned forward on the table. “Look, there is no denying that Harper is an attractive woman.” He paused and looked at his friends. “You can all sit there and look shocked that I’m saying it out loud, but there it is. I would have never made a statement like that if Gavin were here because he would have kicked my ass, but there’s no denying it. Harper’s hot in a sexy, pixie-ish kind of way. I think maybe you’re just being a little overly sensitive to her right now because she lost her brother.”

It was an observation that I had been struggling with more and more since coming home. How much of what I was doing was based on some sort of duty to Gavin, and how much was based on the fact that I’d always been a goner where Harper was concerned, ever since I’d seen her on the side of the road, trying to fix that flat tire.

“It doesn’t matter what she looks like, Dec. The reality of it is that she could be in danger. Don’t we owe it to Gavin to make sure she’s okay? You know he would have done the same for any of us if the situation was reversed.”

It was never a good thing when we all fell silent at the same time. Silence meant that we were remembering, and usually that wasn’t something I wanted to do. Before my thoughts got too heavy, I figured it was time to change the subject. I’d deal with Harper on my own and let the chips fall where they may.

“It still seems strange,” Cole said quietly.

“What?”

“Being back. I mean, I always thought I’d be a career military man. And now? I’m sitting in a bar on a Friday night, and my knee is killing me.”

We all nodded because it was how we were all feeling. The injuries were all different, but the feeling of disappointment was the same.

“I can’t figure out what it is I’m supposed to do with myself,” Cole continued. “Moving back to my hometown wasn’t the smartest move. Everyone remembers me as that no-good Martin kid. They don’t see me for who I am now. I made something of myself, and if it wasn’t for this damn injury, I could have maybe wiped away all the old crap. Instead, people look at me as if they’re thinking that I screwed up in the service too. It sucks.”

There wasn’t much I could say to make him feel better because I was dealing with my own shit. The transition back to our former civilian lives shouldn’t have been this difficult, but we weren’t returning with a sense of celebration. We were home against our will and injured.

Broken and injured.

“I’m working with my dad,” I told him. “I never wanted to do that. Growing up I was forced to, and I couldn’t wait to leave here. I was downright giddy the day I signed up. Hell, even getting deployed gave me relief because it meant that I didn’t have to be here. Now I’m stuck. I have no idea what to do with myself, but it looks like the decision has been made for me.”

“Please, I’m in family hell,” Sebastian said. “Now that I’m back, everyone thinks I’m going to step right back into the family business. My father is practically salivating at having the chance to groom me to take over.” His disgust at the prospect was obvious. “I never wanted to work in the corporate world. It’s not my thing. For all the money and the power we have thanks to that business, I don’t want any damn part of it.”

Sebastian had never been quiet about his uneasiness with his family’s wealth and their position in the community. While his parents had used their money to get whatever they wanted, no matter who they had to destroy in the process, Seb had a conscience. He didn’t mind having his family’s bank account, but for all intents and purposes, he lived a fairly normal life away from his family. He used to say that he preferred to sleep with a clear conscience than with a pile of money. It was good to see that he still felt that way.

“Oh boo-freakin’-hoo,” Declan said sarcastically. “Poor you. Poor little rich boy having to sit in his big corner office while piles of money are dumped in his lap.” He turned to Cole. “And you? Screw anyone who says you’re still that same kid. They’re not worth your time. You’re a freakin’ hero, damn it! You don’t have to prove anything to them.”

I knew it was coming, but I still cringed inwardly as I waited. “And you, Levi? Seriously? You’re the most normal out of all of us. Your family welcomed you back with no expectations. If you told your old man that you didn’t want to work with him, I bet he’d help you find another job. You needed something to do, and so he gave you a job. And this thing with Harper? Maybe she needs your help, maybe she doesn’t. Either way, if it makes you feel better, then keep an eye on her. If you need help, you know that we’ll be there for you in a minute. And not just because of Gavin.”

“Yeah, because she’s hot,” Sebastian said with a laugh, obviously trying to lighten the mood.

Before long, we were all laughing, and the tension of just moments before was gone. Thank God.

“Maybe you won’t have to worry about it,” Cole said casually as he sat back and smirked. “Maybe her boyfriend will protect her.”

Boyfriend? “What the hell are you talking about?”

Cole nodded his head in the direction of the front of the bar and, sure enough, there was Harper with some guy who had his arm around her. “Looks like she may not need your… protection,” Cole added with that same smirk.

My immediate thought was to jump across the table and throttle him, but I couldn’t take my eyes away from Harper. Who the hell was this guy? Why hadn’t Harper mentioned him? I was on my feet before I even realized it.

“Oh shit,” Declan said with a chuckle. “This isn’t going to be good.”

“Sure it is,” Seb said, unable to hide his own amusement. “Levi’s going to go over there and make an idiot out of himself. And we all get to witness it.”

“And use it at a later date for our own entertainment,” Cole put in. The three of them twisted in their seats and watched as I walked across the room.

I knew the instant Harper spotted me because she stood a little taller and her face got a little pinched like she had sucked on a lemon or something. Not the kind of reaction a guy looks for when an attractive woman sees him, but it’s still kind of cute. “Hey, Harper,” I said casually. “Fancy seeing you here tonight.”

“Hmm,” she replied, doing her best to ignore that I was standing right in front of her.

It was a good thing I’m not easily deterred. “Hey,” I said, louder than normal, extending my hand to her date. “Levi. And you are?”

“My date,” Harper she said with a sweet smile. “We’re here for dinner and some drinks. Don’t you have people waiting for you?” She looked beyond me and waved to the guys.

I could see that said date was feeling a little confused by our exchange, but my hand was still firmly waiting for an acknowledgment. I stared the guy down until I could almost see him sweat. I used my best look of intimidation and even arched one brow at him. Finally he caved.

“Tom,” he said. “Tom Walters.” He shook my hand, and I put a little too much of myself into it and watched him wince. Harper saw it too and shot an angry glare at me.

“So,” I said as I tucked my hands in my pockets to keep them from removing Tom’s arm from Harper’s waist. “How long have you kids been dating?”

“Uh—” Tom began, but Harper cut him off.

“None of your business, Levi.” She said with a hiss. “Seriously, your friends look like they’re waiting for you.” She motioned toward the guys, and when I turned, they were all grinning like a bunch of loons and waving at us.

My first thought was that I’d kill them later, but first I needed to know more about… Tom. Even his name annoyed me. “You were saying, Tom.” Moving a little closer, I managed to make the guy remove his arm from Harper’s body as he took a step back.

“Um, Harper and I work together. It’s just a casual dinner, you know. Not a date. We’re not dating. No. Just friends.”

It shouldn’t have pleased me so much, but it did. I looked over at Harper and shook my head as if to say, “What were you thinking?” She must have read my mind because that pinched look returned.

“If you’ll excuse us, Levi,” she said with that syrupy voice she only seemed to use on me. “It looks like our table is ready. Have a good night.” She gave me a little wave as she hooked her arm through Tom’s. “I know I will,” she added under her breath, and I felt my fists clench at my sides.

“Hey, Levi,” someone yelled from across the room. I turned and saw Cole standing next to the table with a now-empty beer pitcher in his hand. “Next round’s on you!” The guys all cheered, and I flipped them the bird before stalking over to the bar.

Have fun, will she? With that guy? With Tom? That guy wouldn’t know how to have fun if it hit him over the head. He looked like the type that sat around and played Scrabble or did the New York Times crossword puzzle. Maybe Sudoku. Chances were he wouldn’t have a clue what to do if anything happened to Harper. Hell, she could probably take him out with one of her little kickboxing moves. The image was enough to make me laugh.

Grabbing the pitcher, I threw my money on the bar, walked back over to the guys, and sat down. They were deep in conversation about some game, but I couldn’t help but look over to where Harper and Tom were sitting. He was talking, she was smiling, and I was pissed. Doing my best to rejoin the sports talk, I heard Harper’s laugh and turned my head in that direction.

“Are you sure you wanted a beer, Levi?” Declan asked.

“What? Why?”

“Well, I was just thinking that maybe you’d want something like a cup of tea or maybe a pint of Ben & Jerry’s while you watch that little chick flick unfolding across the room.” He broke out laughing. The guys all joined in.

“Do you need a Snuggie or something to curl up with?” Cole asked, cracking himself up.

“Maybe we should head back to your place and relax. You know, we can stop at the local Red Box and rent The Notebook or something if it will help you,” Sebastian added.

Only these guys could get away with this kind of ribbing. If it were anyone else, I would have flipped the table by now. I needed to get a grip. They might have been laughing at me, but the truth was they had a point. I needed to take a step back and just ignore Harper—and her date.

Once the laughter died down, I managed to pretty much stay focused on just the four of us. We had made a pact to get together at least once a month, and now it was time to start thinking about next month. Cole didn’t live far from here, but Declan and Seb had to put in an effort to make the drive.

“How about we meet on my turf next month?” Declan suggested. “Make a weekend of it.”

Everyone was on board, but my mind kept asking, What if Harper needs me? I couldn’t possibly share that thought with the guys without getting seriously ribbed, so I just agreed and figured I’d deal with it when the time came. “How about a game of darts?”

“Sounds good.” The crowd wasn’t too big for a Friday night, so we didn’t have to wait for a board. It was a mindless game, and it was exactly what I needed. Aim and shoot. Aim and shoot. No one needed to know that I was picturing Tom’s face in the bull’s-eye. I was doing pretty well, and my aim was spot on. I was in the zone and loving it.

Until Harper got up from her table to head for the ladies’ room, which was right next to the dartboards. Since it wasn’t my turn, it wasn’t hard to take a couple of steps away so that I was kind of blocking her from getting by.

She stopped right in front of me and sighed with irritation. “What now?”

I shrugged and took a slow drink of my beer. “So how’s the date going?”

Her head fell back as she let out a frustrated growl. I was sure she meant to sound menacing, but all I could think of was that I’d like to gently bite the exposed column of her throat. “Can I please get by?” she finally asked.

“I guess it’s not going all that well then.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What makes you say that?”

“You didn’t answer me. If the date was going well, I’m sure you’d be all chatty about it. The fact that you’re silent tells me it’s not. I’m not surprised, really.”

“And why is that?” She crossed her arms under her breasts, and now I had that image in my head—exactly what I’d like to be doing to them.

“Well, it seems to me like Tom’s kind of a dud.”

“A dud?”

I nodded. “A dud. Absolutely. What do you see in that guy?”

“You know what, Levi? It’s none of your business what I see in him or in anyone for that matter. Isn’t it enough that you’ve interfered with every other aspect of my life? Can’t you just stay out of this? Leave my personal life alone?”

Her eyes were huge and bordering on pleading, and I almost felt bad. Almost. “Sorry, princess. I didn’t mean to get you all riled up. I was simply making an observation.”

“Well, stop making observations. Stop observing. Just… stop!”

I was waiting for her to stamp her foot to make her point, but she didn’t. I turned toward the guys and saw that they were all watching this exchange too. I was so screwed. I’d be a hundred before I ever lived this down. Harper looked in the same direction and smiled. “Hey, guys!”

“Hey, Harper.” They each took turns saying it, and by the time I turned back to her, I realized that she’d made her way around me and had disappeared into the restroom.

I could’ve just stood there and waited, but what was the point? I’d just piss her off more. As fun as it was watching her get worked up, anger wasn’t the emotion I really wanted to see in her. Unable to help myself, I took one last look in the direction of her date. Good ol’ Tom was looking right back at me and appeared a bit uncomfortable. I narrowed my gaze and glared at him, and it looked like he swallowed hard.

Good.

It wasn’t easy, but I kept my distance when Harper reappeared. Luckily, none of the guys made a snarky comment either. Still, the mood was gone. All I wanted to do was get the hell out of there and go home. Maybe watch a little TV. Or maybe do a little research on Tom.

One last look.

Clearly, I was a glutton for punishment because I turned around to get one last look at the two of them sitting together. Only now they weren’t alone. I looked closer and saw that another woman had joined them. They were all talking and laughing, and I guess I felt relieved. If I couldn’t sit there and play the third wheel on their date, I was sure as hell glad that somebody else was.

Five

Harper

I don’t think I would ever pretend to be interested in a man just to make another man jealous. I mean, it feels kind of petty and manipulative, and I never thought of myself as that kind of person.

But I couldn’t help wishing Tom had acted a little more attentive, like he was genuinely interested in me. It was honestly annoying that Levi seemed so surprised that I would have been dating anyone and that Tom so quickly assured him that we were just friends.

It wasn’t like guys weren’t ever interested in me, after all. Strangers asked me out fairly often, so I figured I must be somewhat attractive. All my life, I’d scared men off though. They thought I was loud, overly opinionated, and stubborn. Just like Levi did.

It would have been nice if Levi wasn’t so surprised that a man might want to take me out.

It also would have been nice if he weren’t so incredibly obnoxious all the time.

And it would have been nice if Gina hadn’t come to join us at the table, making it very clear that whatever Tom and I were doing wasn’t really a date.

But there she was. She’d come over to say hello, and I could hardly be rude and tell her to go away. Then she’d sat at the table and started flirting with Tom.

She’d always been crazy about Gavin. I mean, crazy about him. Gavin once told me she wanted to get married, but he’d just never been that serious about her. So it was doubly annoying to me now that she was making a play for Tom.

One, I was supposed to be on a date with him. And two, it just felt wrong to me—that Gavin was dead and even Gina had evidently moved on.

With Levi being obnoxious and Gina being annoying, I was in no mood to extend dinner, so I was relieved when Tom made noises like he was ready to go.

I said goodbye to Tom on the sidewalk outside the tavern. He and Gina were parked in the opposite direction, so they walked off together.

For all I knew, they might spend the night together.

I walked alone back to my car. It wasn’t late, and there were plenty of people around. I was only a few blocks away.

But still… I felt kind of lonely and droopy as I made my way back to my car.

Levi had been with his friends from his old unit. They’d been Gavin’s friends too.

They looked close. Levi had looked like he’d trusted them, not as wary and on guard as he normally was. They’d teased each other and had fun like they’d known each other forever.

As I walked, I wondered what it was like for him to transition back to civilian life. He’d grown up always assuming he would pursue a military career, so maybe he was kind of lost now that it hadn’t happened that way. Maybe that was why he couldn’t let this thing with my tires and the letter out from between his teeth.

He needed an outlet. A purpose. A battle to fight. He’d always been that way, and he wasn’t going to be happy without it.

I tried to think of a job he could do now—one that would actually make him happy and fulfilled.

“Harper!”

The familiar male voice seemed to be summoned out of my musings, so at first I actually thought I imagined it.

I paused automatically though. It’s what you do when someone calls out your name.

“Harper!” the voice came again, this time clearly from behind me.

I turned around and saw Levi approaching with long, fast strides. I gulped at how handsome and masculine he looked in his jeans and T-shirt, his face and dark hair illumined only by the streetlights and moonlight.

I’d just seen him a few minute ago. I’d been annoyed by his behavior. I definitely shouldn’t want to now grab him and sink my teeth into his broad shoulders or rippling bicep.

I cleared my throat and managed to mostly pull myself together by the time he approached. My cheeks were burning, but there wasn’t anything I could do about that.

“What are you doing out here by yourself?”

I gaped up at him. “What are you talking about?”

“Didn’t Tom have the decency to walk you to your car?”

“He was parked in the other direction. It’s not even ten yet, and there are plenty of people around. I think I’ll be okay.” I shook my head and turned back in the direction of my car.

Levi fell in step with me.

“You’re actually walking me back? What, are you my bodyguard now or something?” I sounded snippy and bad-tempered, partly because he annoyed me but also because I couldn’t help but be attracted to him, despite everything.

“You could do worse than having a bodyguard like me.” Humor was flickering in his eyes unexpectedly, which transformed him from cool and intimidating to breathtakingly gorgeous and somehow warm.

“The police don’t think I’m in real danger.”

“You’ve heard back from them?”

“Yeah. They said they couldn’t trace the letter, but it wasn’t a direct threat, so they think it’s just a crazy who sends those kinds of letters to anyone who says things they don’t like.”

The flicker of amusement left his eyes, and he shook his head, glowering a little. I was pretty sure, this time, he was glowering at the police and not at me.

For some reason the expression didn’t annoy me. It actually touched me, filled me with a swell of feeling.

He’d loved and trusted Gavin, the same way he did the other guys he was just drinking with. As frustrating as it was, it was almost sweet—that he was taking the fictional threat to me so seriously.

So my tone was softer as I said, “I really think they’re right about it. The tires were incredibly mean and petty, but they weren’t an attempt on my life.”

“These things escalate,” he murmured thickly. “They start small and get bigger.”

My car was parked across the street, so I started to cross in the middle of the block so I wouldn’t have to walk down to a crosswalk. There was hardly any traffic at this time of night anyway. “Well, there’s no sign that this is getting bigger. So, for the last time, I appreciate the effort, but I really think you can back off now.”

He stopped in the middle of the street and gazed down at me, frowning.

“What?” I asked, suddenly flustered and breathless at the look in his dark eyes.

“I don’t think I can.” His voice was still slightly thick.

“You can’t what?” I was flushed again and paralyzed by his intense expression.

“Back off.”

“Why not?”

It was rather a silly conversation, but it seemed to make sense to both of us.

He shook his head and didn’t answer, and I wasn’t sure what we would have said and done if something hadn’t interrupted.

Something else did interrupt.

I was vaguely aware of lights approaching and started instinctively to get out of the middle of the road.

Instead of slowing down, the approaching car sped up. I was so surprised I couldn’t move for a second since the car was heading right toward me.

Then something else slammed into me, and I was thrown to the pavement, kept from the worst of the impact by a pair of strong arms.

The car continued, driving way too fast for a downtown street, and I tried in a muddled stupor to figure out what had just happened.

There were just a few things I could process. One, I was now in a tangled heap on the ground. Two, my ankle had twisted in the fall and was already starting to throb. And three, Levi was practically on top of me.

“Damn,” he said, easing off me a bit. “Are you okay?”

I just lay where I was and blinked, trying to get my mind to work.

“Harper?” he asked, his voice more urgent. He took my face in his hands. “Talk to me. Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I managed to croak. “What happened?”

“That fucking car almost ran you down. On purpose.”

He helped me move to a sitting position, and I rubbed my face, still attempting to orient myself. When I started to push myself up to my feet—just because it’s instinct to jump up when you’ve fallen to the ground—he put his hands on my shoulders to stop me.

“You pushed me out of the way?” I asked, finally putting a few pieces together.

Levi’s eyes were still searching my face and body, looking for signs of damage, I assumed. “Yeah. Damn it, you could have been killed.”

“But there’s no reason to think it was on purpose. Maybe the person was drunk.”

I just couldn’t fathom that someone would have actually tried to kill me—intentionally. It didn’t fit with the way I understood the world and my place in it.

I got on people’s nerves all the time, but no one had ever really cared about me enough to want to kill me for real.

“It wasn’t an accident. The car sped up and then aimed at you. I was standing right there.”

He sounded so convinced and so angry that I didn’t argue. I didn’t know if he was right or not, but I couldn’t think through it all now.

“Do you think you can stand up?” Levi asked, heaving himself to his feet. He’d scratched up his palm on the pavement but otherwise looked uninjured.

I nodded and started to push up too, but I hadn’t even straightened up when he reached down to pull me to my feet.

As soon as I put weight on my ankle, my leg buckled and Levi had to catch me around the waist.

I should have objected to the arrangement, but I couldn’t help but like the feel of his strong arm around me, the way I had to lean against his big, hard body.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

“Twisted my ankle. It’s probably not too bad.”

“Can you walk?”

“I think so.” I put weight on the ankle again, and it hurt like hell, but I didn’t flinch this time.

All my life, I never liked for other people to see when I was hurt.

He sighed loudly and reached out to support me once more. “Why do you have to be so damn stubborn?”

“And why do you have to be so damn arrogant?” I bit out, immediately riling up at his exasperated tone. I tried to pull away from it, but it wasn’t a smart maneuver since I put too much weight on my twisted ankle. The shot of pain ran through me, stealing my breath.

Down I almost went again.

Levi caught me before I did, and I manfully resisted the desire to jerk away from his arm.

“Can I at least help you get home?” The words were polite and conciliatory, but his tone was not. “Do you think you could put aside your dislike of me at least long enough for me to do that?”

So my first instinct was to snap his head off, but he did have a very small point. It was going to be very hard for me to hobble to my car and then drive home in my current condition. I could probably have done it, but it would take a lot longer and be rather painful.

“Fine,” I muttered. “Thanks.”

“Try not to sound so grateful.” Despite his sarcasm, he was actually being quite helpful, in that he’d already managed to get me moving toward my car. He was supporting quite a bit of my weight, and I was hopping one-legged to make myself feel like I was doing some of the walking myself.

He brought me around to the passenger side of my car and helped me in. As he was leaning over, I felt another sudden surge of attraction.

His face was so close, and his body was right there in front of me. His hands were strong and gentle at the same time as he arranged me in the seat.

I didn’t need quite so much help in getting situated in the seat, but I didn’t really want him to pull away either.

Clearly, my mind was hopelessly disarranged by the fall and near disaster.

He didn’t pull away when I expected, and I started to feel flustered again by his closeness and my response to it. So I said, “I think I’ll be okay just sitting here.”

His eyes lifted to my face, and the dark brown of his looked like melting chocolate. “You think?”

There was irony in his tone, but he still wasn’t pulling away. “Yeah. I’m sure I could drive home if you’d—”

“I’m not going to leave you to drive home with a sprained ankle.”

“I don’t think it’s really sprained.” When he started to move down to examine my ankle, I added, “You don’t have to mess with that here. Just get me home.”

His eyes moved back up to my face.

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “I appreciate your help.”

I’d appreciate it more if he’d back off a little so I didn’t feel so much like grabbing and kissing him.

He reached up toward my face, and my breath hitched since it seemed like he was going to cup my cheek. Instead, he stroked a hand down my hair, which had messily slipped out of the clip I’d twisted it up with.

I stared at him like an idiot.

“You had dirt in your hair,” he explained, his eyes still warm and sweet like before but also with a flicker of humor.

“Oh.” I reached for my seat belt and, in the process, managed to nudge him out of the way. To my relief, he straightened up and walked around the car to the driver’s side.

I handed him the keys, and he pulled out of the parking space without speaking. I had absolutely no idea what he was thinking. I discreetly studied his face, but his expression was unreadable and his shoulders looked a little stiff.

I cleared my throat and tried to remember all the ways I didn’t like this man and all the ways it would be a huge mistake to find him too attractive.

“We should probably go to the police station to file a report,” he said out of the blue.

“What?” I felt startled and rather rebuffed by the words, as if he were intentionally breaking the strange, intense mood of earlier.

“I could drive you there now,” he suggested, glancing over at me. “That car was trying to hit you on purpose, so they should get out there and question folks in the area to see if anyone saw anything.”

“I’m not convinced he was trying to hit me on purpose, and if I decide to go to the police with it, then I’ll go on my own.”

“Harper, you can’t be so stupid as to—”

“I can be just as stupid as I want to be.” I interrupted sharply. “I make my own choices with my life, and whether they’re stupid or not is none of your business.”

I’d actually decided that it was probably smart to go the police with the incident, but Levi’s heavy-handed interference just made me want to do the opposite. I’d go to the police tomorrow morning, and that would have to be good enough.

“It is my business. How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not going to let you get hurt because you’re too stubborn to take reasonable precautions.”

“I take all the precautions I need, and even I didn’t, it’s not your concern. I appreciate the drive home, but that doesn’t give you any more claim on my life.”

“I do have a claim on—” He cut off his own words, so I wasn’t even sure how the sentence would have concluded.

“What claim do you have on me?” I demanded, strangely wanting to know what he wouldn’t let himself say.

He didn’t answer the question. “You need to let people help you sometimes, Harper. You can’t do everything on your own.”

“Maybe not. But you seem to think I can’t do anything on my own. And I’ll ask for help when I need it.”

He made a frustrated sound in his throat but didn’t answer. He evidently thought I was too unreasonable to even argue with.

I stewed the rest of the way back, telling myself I needed to remember this next time I was tempted to be attracted to him.

Hot or not, an obnoxious, domineering alpha male would always be pushy and overbearing, and kissing him wouldn’t make that trait go away.

I just needed to keep remembering that.

It just took a few minutes for him to pull into the driveway of the house. “Where are your folks?” he asked, evidently noticing that their car was gone.

“They’re away for the weekend. They still like to have romantic weekends.”

“That’s nice.” I couldn’t tell from his inflection whether he was being sarcastic or serious. “Why do you live with your folks?”

“Because I’m saving up to buy a place of my own. Do you have a problem with that?”

“No.” He put up his hands as if in defense. “I was just asking.”

He got out and walked around the car, but I started to get up before he’d reached me. He stretched his arms out to support me before I could begin to walk, which was just as well because my ankle was killing me.

We hobbled into the house, and I collapsed onto the couch while he went to look for an ice pack in the freezer.

I slipped off my shoes, making a face at the high heels, although it wasn’t my innocent shoes that had caused the twisted ankle.

I raised my leg to elevate it and stretched out on the couch, pulling down my pencil skirt as I did.

Levi returned and placed the ice pack on my ankle. “You should keep it on for twenty minutes or so.”

“Okay.” I felt kind of stupid and undignified lying on the couch this way, so I pushed myself up so my head was higher on the cushion resting against the armrest. “Thanks.”

“Do you have a wrap for the ankle anywhere?”

“I don’t know. There might be one in one of the bathrooms. But don’t worry about it. I can just—” I didn’t finish the sentence since Levi had already walked out of the room.

Five minutes later, he finally returned, having found a wrap.

“Just put it there,” I said, gesturing to the coffee table. “I’ll wrap it when I take off the ice. It’s really not that bad.”

“It’s already starting to swell.”

I sighed. “It will be fine. Thanks for your help.”

I hoped he would understand my tone as a sign for him to leave, but he didn’t. He sat down in a chair and gave me a significant look.

“I don’t feel like having another argument, Levi,” I said, my voice slightly wobbly. I was suddenly so tired and frustrated and stretched that I felt like I could just burst into tears.

“Okay.” He sighed and leaned back in his chair, just watching me.

“Are you just going to stare then?”

“I’m going to wait until we take the ice off so I can wrap your ankle.”

I could tell he meant it. He wasn’t going to budge. And I was just too exhausted to argue.

I closed my eyes and tried to relax, tried to pretend Levi wasn’t in the room with me.

He was blessedly quiet, and while I couldn’t exactly forget he was around, at least he wasn’t forcing his way into my attention. We didn’t speak for the next ten minutes, and when I opened my eyes as he got up at last, I didn’t feel the irresistible urge to strangle him.

He carefully wrapped my ankle, and I had to admit that, for such a macho guy, he really knew how to take care of someone. He seemed to know what would hurt and what wouldn’t hurt, and he even helped adjust the cushions so I was lying more comfortably.

When he was done, he was kneeling beside the couch, and I’d turned my head so our gazes were locked.

“Thanks,” I said. I thought it should have been said in my normal voice, but I sounded rather raspy and breathless instead.

“You’re welcome.” He didn’t move. He just knelt where he was, his eyes never leaving my face.

“I appreciate your help.” That comment was supposed to add to the conversation, but it didn’t. At all.

Levi didn’t seem to notice. “I’m happy to help.”

“I think I’ll be okay now.”

“Will you?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

So now would be the time for him to leave, but he still didn’t leave. His eyes had been deep and somehow uncertain, but as I watched, they warmed to a soft blaze of heat.

My lips parted in surprise at the expression and at how it evoked a matching feeling inside me. Attraction and emotion and desire washed over me as I stared up at him, and I actually lifted my head slightly, some unstoppable force drawing me toward Levi.

“You are so beautiful,” he breathed, reaching out to take my face in one of his hands.

“Really?” I said stupidly, flushed and hot and breathless and shaking with all the feelings surging through me.

“I’ve always thought so. Damn, I want you so much. I always have.”

I didn’t have time to process the soft, rough words because he was lowering his face toward mine. Then he was kissing me, and I was reaching up to twine one arm around his neck so I could kiss him back.

His mouth was soft at first, questioning, his lips brushing against mine with an almost delicate care. Then his tongue started to slide across my lower lip, and it felt so good that I moaned at the back of my throat and opened for him.

He immediately took advantage of this and used his tongue to tease and play with mine. I tightened my fingers in the back of his shirt and raised my other arm to tangle in his hair.

He made a low, gravelly sound and wrapped an arm around me to lift me higher off the couch so he could have better access to me. My entire body was flooded with emotion and sensation, both of them mingling together with such intensity I couldn’t tell which part of me wanted him most—my body or my heart.

“Harper,” he murmured, breaking the kiss briefly to give us both time to suck in air. “Harper.” He glanced little kisses on my lips before sinking deeply into my mouth again.

I was throbbing in my head, my chest, between my legs—and I kept clawing at his shirt and his hair, trying to get even closer to him.

Then I jarred my leg unexpectedly, and my ankle gave a sudden throb of pain. I made a muffled noise in response, and he immediately pulled out of the kiss.

“You okay?” he asked, his hot eyes searching me urgently.

“Yeah. Ankle.”

I still desperately wanted to pull him back toward me again, pull him down on top of me. I wanted him to rub his body against mine and then get rid of our clothes so we could lose ourselves in pleasure.

But the interruption had reminded me of everything else. This was Levi. Gavin’s best friend. And he’d spent his life laughing at me and bossing me around.

Nothing really had changed, except I was crazy attracted to him.

But attraction could be controlled. And there was no way in the world I was going to be a one-night stand to a man like Levi.

I dropped my arms and collapsed back onto the couch, breathing heavily and starting to burn with embarrassment and confusion.

“What just happened?” I managed to ask since someone needed to say something.

Levi was holding himself rigidly still, and I couldn’t read his expression. I had no idea what he was thinking.

“I don’t know,” he said at last, shaking himself off slightly and raising himself to his feet. “I don’t know.”

“Oh, well…” I trailed off, having no clue what to say. “Thanks for taking me home.”

Better to get him out of here quickly so I could start to recover my wits.

“You’re welcome.”

“Have a good evening.”

I don’t know if the words surprised him or not, but he finally understood that I wanted him to leave. “Right. You too. Give me a call if you need anything.”

At last he left the room and then left the house. I heard the door close and then a car drive away. My car, I assumed since he wouldn’t have any other way to get back.

Okay, so that was awkward. And confusing. And incredibly hot.

But there was no way I could hook up with a man like Levi. He was everything I didn’t want in a man.

And there was no way he would want me—for anything but a quick fling—either.

Six

Levi

When Harper was a senior in high school, I came over one afternoon to pick up Gavin, since we were both playing for a community baseball team.

We’d already made plans to join the Marines, but I needed to finish up my job with my dad’s construction company, since I didn’t want to leave him in the lurch. Gavin was running late, so I hung out in the kitchen with Harper as I waited for him.

Harper was just as gorgeous and sexy as ever, wearing a fitted T-shirt and khaki shorts that hugged her round little ass and her hair piled up messily on her head. She was making four pans of brownies for a bake sale she’d organized at school to raise money for a local food bank.

She was in a good mood and asked me all about my job and what my plans were for the future. She seemed to like the idea that I was joining the Marines. She said it was very brave.

The soft look on her face and the admiration in her eyes totally went to my head. I’d always been good about holding back where she was concerned. I never, ever flirted with her, even when I wanted to.

But I might have flirted that afternoon. Just a little.

Enough to make her cheeks flush and her eyelashes flutter down.

My whole body was throbbing with excitement as I asked her if she had a boyfriend. I’d tried to find out from Gavin, but it wasn’t something he readily volunteered and he’d be suspicious if I asked.

She said she didn’t have one. She wasn’t really interested in high school boys.

I wasn’t a high school boy. I had to bite my lip not to say so.

“It would be nice to go to prom, though,” she said with a little sigh.

My eyebrows arched. “You’re not going to prom?”

She shook her head and fluttered her eyelashes a little more. “No one to go with.”

“I’m sure all kinds of guys would be beating down doors to go with you,” I muttered, screaming to myself that this wasn’t an invitation, that this wasn’t my chance to finally step up and take what I desperately wanted.

Harper.

“Not really. It’s tomorrow. Everyone already has dates.”

“It’s tomorrow?”

She nodded and slanted me a quick little look.

I tried to hold back. I really did. But the opportunity was just too good and my desire for her was just too strong. “I could go with you,” I said gruffly, doing my best to sound casual. “If you just want someone to go with.”

She sucked in a breath, and her eyes went wide. A spark of joy lit up her expression, taking my breath away. “Really?”

I gave a half shrug, still trying to hide the fact that this was everything I’d ever wanted.

I couldn’t give a crap about prom. But having Harper on my arm, being Harper’s date, being allowed to touch her, letting everyone know she was mine.

That was the stuff of my dreams.

“Sure,” I said. “Why not?”

“Oh, wow, that would be great! I’d really like that. You don’t have to go to any trouble or anything. I mean, I don’t need all the trappings. Just someone to go with would be wonderful.”

She was so happy she was practically brimming with it, and I couldn’t help the swell of pride.

She was happy because she was going with me.

I was out of my head excited all that day, through the night, and into the following morning. I knew I should talk to Gavin about it, but I really didn’t want to.

Maybe we could just get through prom without dealing with Gavin.

But no. That was a stupid fantasy. Of course, Gavin was going to find out.

He wasn’t happy. At all.

He came to find me at work the following afternoon as angry as I’d ever seen him. He thought I was taking advantage of Harper. He thought I was going to make a move on her. He thought Harper was going to get her heart broken.

It never occurred to him—not once—that I might actually feel something real for Harper, that I might be serious about her.

I could have put up a fight, but I didn’t. It still felt wrong that Harper could turn me on the way she did. I didn’t have any control where she was concerned—that had been proven more than once. I probably would end up making a move on her. I wanted her in my arms, in my bed, so much I could hardly think of anything else.

And I was leaving town in a few months. I was going to join the Marines with Gavin. We were going to have an entirely new life.

Gavin was right.

This thing I had for Harper was just wrong.

So I asked him what I should do, and he said just not show up for the prom. He’d take care of it.

I was young back then, and that seemed easy enough.

I felt shitty—absolutely terrible—but Gavin was my best friend. My loyalty had to be with him.

I thought Harper might understand that her brother just wouldn’t let it happen, but she was furious about me standing her up afterwards. When I saw her in town the following week, she gave me a stone-cold glare and walked by me without a word.

And that was it with Harper.

I thought giving her up was the right thing to do when I was nineteen.

I couldn’t imagine giving her up now, even if Gavin came back from the grave and demanded I do so. But I was afraid giving her up was what I had to do again.

***

The bitch of it was that there was no excuse for how I felt when I woke up the next morning. I couldn’t blame it on alcohol. My head was pounding, and I felt sick to my stomach, and I couldn’t honestly say that I’d gotten more than two hours of sleep.

Thanks to Harper.

What the hell had I been thinking? I knew better than to kiss her, to get close to her. No good could come of it. She was my best friend’s sister. My dead best friend’s sister. That was all. No more kissing. No more touching. No more staying up half the night fantasizing about how it would have been to have her right there on her living room couch.

I might as well be banging my head against the wall because it was no use. I might be able to abide by the no-kissing-and-touching thing, but I’d be damned if I’d give up the fantasy too. Sometimes being a glutton for punishment was all a guy had.

The clock read seven a.m., and I wanted nothing more than to roll over and attempt another hour of sleep. I couldn’t though. I had to get Harper’s car back to her and then pick up my truck and get to work. A bullet in the foot would be less painful than facing her this morning. What the hell was I supposed to say? Hey, Harper. Thanks for the erotic dreams you gave me last night, but it can’t ever happen again because, well, it’s kind of my fault that your brother is dead. Yeah, that would go over real well.

I didn’t really have a choice, and that was what sucked the most. In a perfect world, I’d be keeping an eye on her from afar and not even get close to the temptation she had become. Unfortunately, she had a knack for getting into trouble, and if last night’s hit-and-run was any indication, I was going to be spending a lot more time closer to her than I wanted to be.

I should’ve just called my dad and asked him to meet me at Harper’s and let him take me to get my truck, but the whole glutton-for-punishment thing won out.

I quickly dressed in the first clothes my hands landed on. Not that it mattered—working in construction, it all got messed up anyway. I dragged my ass around doing everything possible to put off the inevitable, but once my teeth were brushed, there was nothing left to do.

The drive back over to Harper’s was short, but being in her car, which smelled exactly like her, wreaked havoc on my senses. I needed to stay focused and not think about her as a woman. I snorted with disbelief. I’d have to be dead to not notice that. But I did need to think of her in a detached way. To forget the way she smelled or how soft her hair was or the sounds she made when I touched her.

The groan of frustration escaped before I could even stop it.

My life totally sucked.

I had no idea what time she had to be at work, but I had to get going now. I dragged my sorry ass to the door and banged. Hard. Harper appeared, and I could tell that I’d woken her up.

“Levi?” she said sleepily. “What are you doing here?”

“I have to go to work, and I need my truck.” I motioned to her car parked behind me. “Are you okay to drive me back into town to get it?”

Irritation covered the features that were relaxed only moments ago. “You could’ve called and given me a head’s up, you know. I would have been ready.”

“Yeah, well… I didn’t. Throw something on. I gotta go.” I walked back over to her car and waited. She didn’t move right away, and there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that she was considering telling me to go to hell. Good. Better to make her hate me then to let her think that last night meant anything.

It couldn’t.

Not ever.

I glanced at my watch. It was going on seven forty-five. If she didn’t get her ass in gear, I knew I’d be late. Throwing caution to the wind, I walked around to the driver’s side, opened the door, and leaned on the horn.

I knew that would rile her up but good.

Sure enough, two minutes later she came stomping out the door. “What the hell is your problem?” she snapped.

“I have to get to work. Didn’t we go over this already?”

“We did, and I was fine with that, but you needed to give me more than three minutes to get dressed!”

“Just making sure you didn’t drag your feet.” As if remembering, I looked down at hers. “How’s the ankle this morning?” I felt like an ass for pushing her right now. It wasn’t that I had forgotten the accident last night. I had just temporarily forgotten her injury.

 “Does it matter?” Walking over to the driver’s side, she climbed in and, true to form, beeped the horn to get me moving.

Such a smartass. I climbed in beside her. Once I was seated, I nearly flew through the windshield as she threw the car in reverse. “Is there a problem, princess?”

“I really wish you would stop calling me that.” She had a white-knuckled grip on the wheel, and by the time we were on the road, I thought she was going to pull the entire steering column from the dash.

“You never answered me about your ankle,” I reminded her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at me. “The swelling has gone down, but it still hurts. Happy?”

“Why the hell would that make me happy?”

Her jaw worked as she tried to come up with some sort of snappy comeback, but obviously none came to her.

“You should go to the doctor today and get it checked out. Probably shouldn’t go to work either. You need to keep it elevated and wrapped.” She silently seethed beside me as I continued. “If you have crutches at home, it would be smart to use them. You know, don’t put any weight on the foot.”

Still nothing.

“And you definitely shouldn’t wear any of those ridiculous shoes that you normally do. Don’t you own anything without five-inch heels?”

I smacked my head against the window as she turned into the parking lot where I’d left my truck. I guess I had that coming, and I should have been prepared. “Damn it, Harper! What the hell?”

She jerked the car in park and turned in her seat to look at me. “Get out.”

“That’s it? Get out? That’s all you’ve got to say?”

She smiled that familiar smile—the one that didn’t quite make it to her eyes. “I’m sorry. Get out, please?”

I rubbed the spot where there was sure to be a lump and leaned in toward her. “What is your problem?”

A small growl began in the back of her throat before she lashed out. “You are my problem! As usual! You show up at my house without warning, make me drive you to get your truck, and instead of being thankful that I’m doing it, you sit there and lecture me on what you expect me to do.”

“It’s what anyone would expect you to do. You hurt your ankle, for crying out loud! All I’m saying is—”

“How many times do I need to tell you, Levi? I don’t need you hovering around, dictating how I should live my life.”

I leaned in real close and chose my words for maximum effect. “If it weren’t for me,” I snarled, “you might not have a life to be living this morning. Or have you forgotten that someone tried to run you over last night?”

Her eyes went wide, and she paled. Mission accomplished.

I didn’t wait for her response. I pulled back and reached for the door handle. “Go to the doctor, Harper,” was all I said before climbing out and slamming the door. I had barely gotten two feet from her car before she was backing up and speeding out of the parking lot.

Great. With my luck she’d kill herself before whoever was after her made their next move. Good thing she could take care of herself.

***

“Did you get the license plate number?”

“No.”

“Did you get the make and model of the car?”

“No.”

Randy Jenkins looked at me and threw up his hands. “Seriously, Levi, you’ve got to give me something here. Do you have any idea how many cars there are in town? Was it dark-colored? Light-colored? A sedan? A truck? Something, anything, man.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes. Okay, focus. “It was a dark-colored sedan. Two doors.”

He nodded. “Okay. Now we’re getting somewhere. What time did this happen?”

“I don’t know. Sometime between ten and eleven last night.”

“And this was outside of McCall’s Pub?”

“Not directly. We were a little down the block and were crossing to get to the public parking lot. We were maybe about thirty or forty yards from the pub.”

“Okay.” He jotted down some notes. “How fast would you say the car was going?”

“Jesus, Randy,” I said, cursing under my breath. “It all happened so damn fast. One minute this car was blocks away and the next it was speeding up and heading for Harper! If I hadn’t been there—”

“I know,” he said and really seemed sincere. “I have to admit, when you first came to me a week ago and mentioned the trouble you thought Harper was in, I didn’t give it much thought. She has a tendency to—” He paused as if carefully choosing his words. “She rubs people the wrong way sometimes. She’s very opinionated. Even though she is one of the sweetest girls I’ve ever met, to a lot of people, she’s got too much to say.”

“She’s passionate about what she believes in,” I said, feeling my spine stiffen. “Since when did it become a crime to have an opinion? Or to want to fight for other people? Why is it that people find it wrong for her to report the news and want to stick up for people who are too scared to stick up for themselves? Hell, I think a lot of what she does is for the greater good, but someone is still trying to hurt her! What are you going to do about it?”

Randy’s eyes were wide as he looked at me. “Geez, Levi, I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

“Idea? Idea about what?”

“About you and Harper. I mean, I get that you’re concerned because you and Gavin were so close, but clearly now the two of you—”

I had to cut him off right there. “The two of us nothing! You’re a cop, Randy. Your job is to protect and serve. Well, do it. Someone has it in for Harper, and it’s escalating. A note on its own isn’t much. Slashed tires, alone, aren’t much. But trying to run her down in the middle of the street? That’s a serious offense. That’s attempted murder.”

“Let’s not go there just yet. Maybe they were just trying to scare her.”

“And that makes it better? That makes it right?” I’d raised my voice and soon found myself surrounded by several officers. I held up my hand and apologized and waited for them to walk away before returning my attention to Randy. “Whether they were trying to scare her or if it was a drunk driver with no relation to this whole crazy situation, the fact still remains that Harper was hurt. You need to look into this.”

He nodded. “Why isn’t Harper here reporting it herself?”

Because she wants to irritate the shit out of me, was what I wanted to say. “She’s hurt, Randy. She’s supposed to go to the doctor today and make sure that it’s just a sprain and nothing’s broken. I told her that I’d take care of it.”

Without a word, Randy turned to his computer and began typing. “It will take a little while to get a report from the DMV that will list any dark-colored, two-door sedans registered in this area. As soon as I get something, I’ll let you know.” He looked up at me seriously. “In the meantime, tell her to be careful. She really needs to think about who she may have made an enemy of.”

“I think the DMV list would be easier,” I said, only partially joking.

“I’m serious, Levi. Talk to her. Talk to her boss. Her coworkers. Maybe someone has seen something or has heard something.”

“Shouldn’t that be your job?” I asked with more than a hint of sarcasm.

Randy nodded. “It is. But I know you. You’re going to look into this yourself no matter what I do. We’re definitely going to look into all of it. All I’m trying to do is give you a nudge in a good direction to begin.” He smirked. “Just in case the local police aren’t fast enough for you.”

I shook his hand and exited the precinct. My lunch hour was nearly up, and I still hadn’t had a damn thing to eat. Walking across the street to the deli, I wondered if Harper had gone to work or if she’d gone to the doctor to get her ankle checked out. Knowing her like I was beginning to, I’d have to place bets on her being at her office. Wearing sky-high heels and pretending like she wasn’t in pain.

She was a pain.

Stopping on the sidewalk, I looked up and down the block. The deli was only three blocks away from the pub, and the street was lined with parked cars. It was frustrating to realize that at least half of them were dark-colored sedans. How the hell was I supposed to narrow it down if this many cars fit the description? Maybe Harper remembered something.

No, that wasn’t any good. She’d been too focused on talking and hadn’t seen the car until the headlights were staring her in the face. I should have been paying better attention. Hell, for most of my military career, I’d been trained to take note of things that no one else did, and now that there was a chance to apply it in my own life, I screwed it up.

Shit.

There wasn’t enough time to eat my lunch and go down to Harper’s office and talk to anyone. I really wanted something to eat, but I wanted answers more. “Damn it,” I muttered, jogging across the street to my truck.

I was parked outside the newspaper’s offices in less than five minutes. The perk of the small town. I looked around and didn’t see Harper’s car. Maybe she had finally decided to listen to reason and follow my advice. Relaxing slightly, I climbed out of the truck and strode directly into the building.

“Can I help you?” a cute redhead asked. She was sitting at a desk near the front door, so I assumed she was the receptionist.

“Yes, actually. I’m looking for Jack.” For the life of me I couldn’t remember his last name, but maybe she’d just think that I was a friend.

“Who’s looking for me?”

I turned and faced who I could only guess to be Jack. He was an older man, and his shirtsleeves were rolled up so high on his arms that I was certain he was cutting off circulation. I held out a hand to him and introduced myself. “I’m a friend of Harper’s. Can we talk?”

Without a word, he led me to his office and closed the door. I sat down and faced him, but not before scanning the newsroom in search of her. “Is she here today?”

Jack shook his head. “She called in. Something about twisting her ankle coming down the stairs this morning. I think she’s going to the doctor.” He stared me down for a minute. “Why?”

Leave it to Harper to distort the truth. If I was going to make any kind of headway on this whole situation, I needed to be as direct as possible. Jack looked like the type of guy who appreciated that. I gave him a quick snapshot of what had been going on with Harper. “Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary? Anyone hanging around more than they should?”

“Holy shit,” he muttered, wiping a tired hand over his face. “Harper normally gets her share of hate mail but nothing like this.” He leaned back in his seat. “She’s a good kid, a fine reporter. She’s just very… passionate about what she writes about, and I don’t think she knows how to tone it down.”

“She shouldn’t have to,” I said blandly. “Not when it’s important.”

Jack made a face. “To Harper, everything’s important.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle because I knew it was the truth. “Okay, I get that, but have you noticed anything different lately? Any more hate mail than usual? Anyone stopping by here and asking about her?”

He shook his head. “I’ll keep an eye out, Levi, and thanks for coming to talk to me. I was worried about her after her brother was killed. She really took it hard. Only someone who knows her well would have noticed that because she tried to carry on with business as usual. His death and the cause of it have become a bit of an obsession for her, and I finally had to put my foot down to make her stop writing about it. We’re a local paper and all, but I certainly didn’t want the kind of attention she was asking for.”

Now wasn’t the time to debate that point with him. “Let me know if you find out anything. Talk to your employees, but it would be great if you don’t let Harper know what you’re doing or that I was here.” I stood and held out a hand to him. “I appreciate your time, Jack.”

Walking out of his office, I felt like I had taken a step in the right direction. With Harper out of the picture for the moment, I finally felt like I might have made an ally and have someone to help me watch out for her.

Pulling my sunglasses out of my pocket, I stepped out of the newsroom and came to a dead stop. There, leaning against the truck, was Harper. Steam was practically shooting from her ears.

“What the hell are you doing here, Levi?”

Seven

Harper

As soon as I’d seen Levi’s truck in front of the newspaper offices, I’d known he was getting into my business again.

I also knew I was the biggest idiot in the history of the world for letting him kiss me last night.

Not that I hadn’t been kissing him too, but he’d started it—so I was prepared to put the blame for the kissing entirely in his camp.

Also the blame for the huge mess my life was right now.

I’d gone to the doctor—not because he’d told me, but because it was really bothering me and I didn’t want to risk any serious injury. And then I’d decided I should head to the police to file a report too since I really didn’t want some wacko out there trying to kill me.

I’d only delayed because I was so angry with Levi, but the part of my mind that still functioned rationally realized that wasn’t a very good reason not to report it to the police.

But I was definitely not going to let Levi involve himself in the situation any further. Definitely not.

And I also wasn’t going to let some anonymous crazy shut me up or keep me from doing what I wanted to do.

Seething with rage, I waited by Levi’s truck, and he came out in just a few minutes.

And the bastard didn’t even look guilty about visiting my office.

“I was talking to your editor,” he said, raising obnoxious eyebrows.

“About what?”

“About you. About who might be trying to kill you.”

“Nothing gives you the right to come to my place of work and talk to my boss—or anyone else.”

He looked big and hard and intimidating and just a little mussed, with his hair disarrayed and in need of a shave. Part of me wanted to touch him—to stroke his face or his chest—but that just enraged me further. “I’m taking the right,” he said roughly. “You’re in danger, and you’re not taking the most basic of precautions to keep yourself safe.”

“And what basic precautions do you assume I’m not taking?”

“Going to the police.”

I realized something then, and a wave of fury swept over me. “What makes you think I haven’t gone to the police?”

“Are you saying you have?”

“I’m asking what makes you assume I haven’t?”

I could see him hesitate for just a moment. Then he admitted it. “I went there myself this morning, and they definitely didn’t know about the hit-and-run.”

I had to clench my fists at my sides to keep from clawing the arrogant look off his face. I was so angry I couldn’t even get out any words. And the anger was paired with a kind of helplessness I couldn’t tolerate.

It was like when I was a little girl and Gavin had held me up by my elbows to tease me. I’d kicked and screamed and raged at him but could do absolutely nothing to stop him and get down.

I could scream at Levi all I wanted, but he wasn’t going to back down. I could see it on his face.

But I wasn’t a little girl now, and Levi wasn’t my brother.

So, instead of raging, I gave him a brittle little smile. “I’m touched by your concern. I’m sure Gavin would be too.”

I saw something break on his face for just a moment. Then his brows lowered in a frown when I turned and walked toward the office building.

My ankle—which was just a minor sprain, thank God—hurt like hell, but I made myself not limp.

Levi fell into step with me. “What are you doing?”

“Going to work.”

“And then where?”

“Where do you suggest?”

He definitely didn’t believe my sweet voice. “What’s gotten into you?”

“What do you mean? You wanted to help me, right? Maybe you’re right. What do you suggest?”

“Just be careful. Take some basic precautions. Don’t go out alone—especially at night. Don’t be too much in the public eye. Let the military questions die down, at least for the time being until we figure out what’s happening. Will you stop walking for a minute?”

I halted, relieved by the break to my ankle but annoyed because I felt relieved. I turned to face him again, holding my expression in the same smile. “I really do need to get into work. I already missed a couple of hours this morning.”

“Going to the doctor?” He was watching carefully, waiting for my reaction.

I kept smiling. “Just a slight sprain. No big deal. But thanks for your advice. I’m going to try to catch up with work all day, so you shouldn’t have anything to complain about with my behavior. I’ll stay out of trouble. Satisfied?”

“Sure.” His eyes were narrow, and I could tell he was suspicious.

He could be suspicious all he wanted. As long as he left me alone.

We’d reached the door, and I gave him a little wave. “Talk to you later.”

I went up to the next floor and watched from a window as Levi stood out on the sidewalk for a minute before finally striding back toward his truck.

I let out a breath and went to my desk, greeting the people who passed by.

When I sat down, I thought for a few minutes. Then I picked up my phone and dialed a number.

When the voice came on the other end, I said, “Hey. It’s Harper. I think I’m going to head up to DC at the end of the week. I’m wondering if you can help me out with a couple of things… I want to talk to some people—socially, not in an official capacity. What’s going on this weekend that might attract people with some influence in the government or military?”

I listened to a scattered list of possible events until I jumped on a fund-raiser for military spouses in need. “That’s the one. Send me some information about it, will you? And, also, I’d like to have a press conference while I’m there. Can you help me arrange it?”

When I hung up, I was pleased with my plan.

I wasn’t a little girl. I wasn’t a fluttering fairy.

I was a competent professional, and I wasn’t going to let anyone—crazed villains or infuriating ex-Marines—force me into helplessness.

Jack had been talking to someone nearby, but he turned toward me after I hung up. “Heading out of town?” he asked with casual interest.

“Not until the weekend. I won’t have to miss any work.”

“Great. Sounds good.”

He wandered back to his office, and I checked my email for the information about the DC fund-raiser.

***

When I left work later that day, I was trying not to scream at Randy.

“What do you mean you told him he could informally check around to see who might be after me?” I demanded.

“Well, he wanted to help, so I gave him a few things he might do. He’d have done it anyway, whether I suggested it or not.”

“But you had no right to suggest it. I would have come in today myself to report the hit-and-run, and I don’t want Levi to think he has any authority to interrogate my friends and coworkers.”

“I know you like to be independent, but this could be serious. Levi is a good guy to have around if there’s any trouble.”

“I don’t want him around,” I gritted out. “Don’t you dare suggest anything of the kind to him—or anyone else—again.”

He made some apologetic murmurs, although I could tell he wasn’t really sorry at all and he thought I was being irrational.

Maybe I was being irrational, but that was what happened when you were trapped in a corner. You came out fighting.

No matter who was doing the trapping.

When I pulled my car out onto the street, I happened to glance in the rearview mirror and notice a familiar truck a few car lengths behind me.

I gasped in surprise.

Thinking I must be imagining it, I made a quick left turn without putting on my turn signal.

Sure enough, the truck turned too.

That fucking bastard. Was he actually just going to follow me around?

I shook with anger for a few minutes until I got hit with a brainstorm. It would be easier without the sprain, but any discomfort I faced would be well worth the payoff.

So I stopped at the first drugstore I passed and got out. I walked immediately to the feminine hygiene aisle. Then I waited.

In about three minutes, Levi appeared in the aisle. I figured he’d lurk around the entrance for a bit, hoping I was just grabbing something, but when I took too long he’d come to find me, to make sure I hadn’t been kidnapped and whisked away out a back door or something.

I gave him a sweet smile. “What a coincidence!”

He obviously knew that I knew what he was doing, but he was definitely off stride because I wasn’t launching an attack.

“Well, since you’re here, you can help hold things for me while I shop.” I grabbed a jumbo-sized package of sanitary pads and an enormous box of tampons, and I handed them to him. “Thanks.”

Then I turned on my heel and limped down the aisle.

Noticing the section of condoms, I grabbed a big box and turned around. He was still standing there like a statue, holding the female-product packages. “Well, come on,” I urged him. “I don’t have all day to shop.”

He gave me a cool glare but started toward me, making an obvious point of maintaining his macho aloofness.

I thrust the condoms at him and kept shopping.

I walked through every single aisle of the store and found some hemorrhoid wipes, adult diapers, and men’s hair-growth cream for him to carry too. People were definitely giving him strange looks as he trailed me with his collection of items, but he never said a word.

Just gave me darker and darker looks.

When I circled back and found some his-and-her-lubricant intended to increase the pleasure during sex, his composure almost cracked. I saw it happen, but he managed to hold it together.

With a sigh, I led him to the cashier and paid for all the loot he dumped on the counter.

“I hope you had fun,” he muttered as we left. He’d taken the bags, so he put them in the trunk of my car.

I gave a blithe shrug. “All of them are necessary items.”

“I think the hemorrhoid wipes and the sexy lubricant might be counterproductive.”

I almost—almost—laughed, but I didn’t. Just arched my eyebrows and got in my driver’s seat. “See you at the next stop,” I called out at him, smothering a laugh at his expression.

I stopped at another drugstore, a small grocery store, and convenience store, at each one making him carry a similarly embarrassing collection of items. I thought for sure he’d give up after the second one, but he kept trailing me at every stop I made.

I did hit pay dirt at the convenience store, where we ran into a guy Levi went to high school with while we were standing in line to pay.

I thought the guy’s eyes would bug out of his head when he saw Levi with feminine sanitary items tucked under his arms and a motley collection of other supplies preciously balanced on a pile he was carrying, with the lubricant the crown on the top.

I had to give up after that stop though. For one, my ankle was killing me. For another, these items were really starting to add up, and I didn’t have that much extra in my bank account.

So I headed over to Levi’s apartment, deciding I’d end this delightful shopping trip with a flourish.

He was out of his truck almost before he could have put it in park. Certainly before I got my seat belt off.

“What are we doing here?” he demanded, looking confused and suspicious.

“Don’t get worried,” I told him. “I just need to store some of this stuff here. My mom would totally freak if I brought in the lubricant and all these condoms to the house.”

He looked vaguely relieved that I didn’t have something worse planned for him.

I quickly tried to think of something worse he might have been afraid of, but he must be more creative than me because I couldn’t think of anything good I could do here to drive him even more crazy.

So I just opened my trunk, emptied one of the bags, and filled it with all the condoms and the lubricant.

“So your mom will be okay with your bringing the adult diapers into the house?”

“I think I’ll have to donate those,” I admitted. “And maybe some of the tampons. It will be years before I can use all of these.”

I heard him chuckling, low in his throat, but I didn’t look at his face, afraid I might start to laugh too.

I was angry with him, I reminded myself. Absolutely furious.

I wanted to claw his face off.

Laughing with him would hardly be an appropriate way to express this anger.

I winced as I turned and put weight on my ankle. I tried to hide it, but not effectively.

“You better come inside and put ice on that ankle,” he said in a different tone. He sounded concerned, not bossy, and it really was hurting.

So I said, “Okay. If you think you can refrain from obnoxiousness for about ten minutes.”

“I can, if you can refrain from torturing me for fun.”

I tried to fight a twitch of my lips. “But it’s so fun.”

He responded with a half smile of his own, and we headed into his apartment.

I collapsed on his couch and stretched out my leg, trying not to remember that we’d kissed on a different couch almost twenty-four hours ago.

He brought ice for my ankle and then sat in the chair beside the couch. He lifted his eyebrows in a dry look. “So did you have enough fun this evening?”

I couldn’t help but giggle a little as I thought about his face, carrying around all the embarrassing stuff. “It was kind of fun.”

“What kind of a reaction were you hoping for?”

“Honestly, I figured you’d be cool and collected—like you were. But I thought you might give up following me.”

“You’re not going to scare me away with feminine hygiene products.”

I laughed again, recognizing something soften in my chest at the sight of the warm smile in his eyes. For some reason he was more attractive now than he’d been even the day before. More human or something.

I cleared my throat, reminding myself that indulging an attraction to Levi was probably not a smart thing to do. Was definitely not a smart thing to do. “You’re a brave man,” I said, keeping my voice light.

“I hope so.”

Something had shifted in his voice, and I could see it in his eyes too. It felt serious, private, intimate. I gave a little nod in response, understanding him even in the way our gazes held.

I had to break the gaze eventually, though, since my heart began to flutter in a very dangerous way.

Instead, I relaxed and closed my eyes as the pain in my ankle started to subside.

“Can I ask you a question?” I said, before I knew I was going to speak the words.

“Sure.”

I opened my eyes and saw him watching me with a sober look, as if he knew what I was going to ask was important. Maybe it wasn’t important, but it had hurt me a lot back then.

So I said softly, “Why didn’t you show up for the prom?”

He blinked. “What?”

“The prom. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten. We were supposed to go, and I was all ready, and I was excited, and…” My voice broke slightly from a tightness of emotion. “And you never showed up.”

He’d straightened up and something urgent and confused had transformed his face. “Didn’t Gavin tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“That I wasn’t going to take you. He said he would take care of it.”

My heart was racing now, and I could barely breathe. “What do you mean? Gavin knew? You’re saying he knew?”

“Of course he knew! He was the one who came to me and demanded that I not go with you. He was… well, he was worried for you, and I guess I can understand that. But he said he was going to take care of things with you. I assumed he’d tell you that I wasn’t going to show up.” Levi’s voice was hoarse, and he rubbed his eyes briefly. “Oh, fuck, you’re saying that you didn’t know and I just never showed up?”

I was shaking now, like the whole world was being remade. “Y-yes. I thought you’d… just forgotten me.”

“I’m so sorry, baby. I knew you’d be disappointed that I had to cancel, but I never would have… I never would have left you hanging on purpose.”

“Really?” My voice wobbled embarrassingly.

He reached over and cupped my face with one hand. “I wanted to go with you. A lot. So much that it might have been a good thing that Gavin interfered.”

“Why would he do that to me?”

“I’m sure he was trying to protect you. I’m sure he did what he thought was right.”

Of course he had. He was my brother. He never would have hurt me on purpose.

And somehow it changed things to know that Levi never would have hurt me on purpose either.

I nodded. “He loved me. I don’t want to be angry at him when he’s not here to defend himself.”

“Then don’t be angry at him.” Levi paused. “And don’t be angry at me either.”

“I’m not,” I whispered, my body flooded with feelings so strong I could barely handle them.

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, trying to slow down my heartbeat.

When I opened them again, Levi was still gazing at me.

“What?” I demanded softly, feeling self-conscious.

He shook his head.

“What?”

“I was just wondering why you always have to be so damn beautiful. I thought so back then, and I still think so now.”

My lips parted slightly as my heart exploded with feeling again.

He continued, his voice low and husky in a way I almost never heard it. “And I was wondering why I can’t be smart and just keep my mouth shut instead of saying things like that.”

“So why did you say it?” I asked, something pulsing in my blood that had nothing to do with the pain in my ankle.

He stood up and stepped over, kneeling next to the couch beside me. “Because it’s true. It’s so damn true.”

So I admit it. My mouth fell open again. I stared at him from where I reclined on the couch, and there was no way in the world I could look away from his hot eyes, his chiseled features, his softening lips.

Then his lips were moving toward me, and I desperately wanted them to. I mean, desperately. I’d never wanted to be kissed so much in my life.

I already knew what it was like to kiss Levi. I knew how good it was. And something about the way I felt right now and the way he was looking at me promised even more.

I lifted my shoulders up off the couch so I could meet his mouth more easily. His lips took mine hard and urgent, and it triggered a visceral hunger in me. I reached around to grab at the back of his neck as his tongue slid against my mouth. Then inside.

Feeling and sensation coursed through me, causing my skin to flush and my heart to pound. Levi made a throaty sound and moved over me more so he could kiss me more deeply.

I was rocking beneath him, the compulsion of a building arousal driving my body into rhythmic motion. He was mostly on the couch now too, his chest pressing into mine as I tried to wrap one of my legs around his hips.

I had to turn my head and gasp when I felt suddenly like my head might explode. I couldn’t understand how I’d gotten turned on so quickly, from nothing more than a kiss.

“You okay?” he asked, panting audibly. He straightened up slightly, and when I turned to look up at him, I saw he was searching my expression.

“Yeah,” I said. “Just about to go wild for no particular reason.”

His expression shifted, and he gave me a wicked look. “What do you mean no particular reason? I think there’s a very particular reason.” He reached down to cup my face with his hand and gently caressed my lips with his thumb.

The light touch felt so good I felt arousal pulse stronger between my legs. I gasped again and reached up to grab the couch cushion.

“See,” he said, his smile broadening. “I told you there was a reason.”

“Don’t get smug.” I reached out toward his crotch and was infinitely pleased to find a hard bulge at the front of his jeans. “It feels like you have pretty good reason yourself.”

“Damn right.” With a soft groan, he leaned back down to claim my lips, but this time he pulled me up instead of lowering himself onto me. He easily hauled me up from my position and rearranged me onto his lap. He was incredibly strong—I knew that firsthand—but I’m still not sure how he managed to move me so easily.

But move me he did. I’d been stretched out on the couch, but in just a few seconds he was seated on the couch instead and I was straddling his lap.

I’ve got to admit it. I had no complaints about this new arrangement. I clawed at the back of his neck and shoulders as his kiss became hot and aggressive. I wanted it. Needed it. Opened more fully to him and met the motion of his tongue with mine.

My body was alive with pleasure, excitement, and increasing need, and I started grinding myself against his groin to answer the deepening ache.

“Harper,” Levi murmured, finally releasing my mouth. “Harper, you’re incredible.”

I gave a silly whimper in response—which was as lucid as I was capable of at the moment—and let my head fall back, arching my neck and dragging in thick gasps of air.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said hoarsely, his big hands sliding down to span the curve of my bottom. “So beautiful and hot and eager. Fuck, I’ve never wanted anyone so much.”

It was exactly what I needed to hear. I rubbed my arousal against the hardness of his, desperate for relief and not caring how shamelessly uninhibited I was in my need.

His hands tightened on my hips, holding me in place from my frantic motion. “Not so fast,” he rasped, “or it will be over before it’s begun.”

I clawed at his neck some more and struggled to move against the strength of his hands. “But I need to come so bad.” I was half-embarrassed to admit it, but the deep need for him was just too strong.

“You will,” he murmured, sliding his hands up to my ribs and then higher to cup my breasts. “Just trust me. You will.”

I breathed deeply to calm myself down, trying to fight the instinct to hump him until I came. I arched into his hands when he started to gently fondle my nipples through my shirt. “I’m not big on trust,” I managed to gasp, the words slipping out without conscious thought, so overwhelmed was I by emotion, sensation.

“Me either.” His words seemed just as unconscious as mine were. “But trust me in this. I want to make you come like you’ve never come before. I want to make you come apart beneath me.” He pulled my head down with one hand and kissed me softly. “What do you want?”

“I want that.” Our foreheads leaned together briefly. “But I want you to come apart too.”

“You first.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. And the amusement shook my whole body. I could tell he was smiling as he wrapped his arms around me in what was almost a hug. Finally he asked, “Should we go to the bedroom?”

“Yes, please.”

He chuckled at the irony of my words, and then he moved me off him so he could stand up. Before I could stand up fully, he’d swung me up in his arms and carried me into his bedroom.

“I didn’t think you would indulge in romantic gestures,” I told him, wrapping my arms around his neck and unable not to enjoy being carried by him this way.

“Just practical. With your ankle and all.”

“Ah. I should have known.”

I liked that he was still himself, no matter how turned on we both were. This had happened fast, but he wasn’t a stranger to me. I’d known him all my life. I knew who he was. He was familiar to me in every way.

Which made doing this with him even hotter somehow.

When he lowered me onto the bed, he started to slowly undress me, kissing and caressing every part of my body he revealed as my clothes ended up on a pile on the floor. It wasn’t long before I was moaning helplessly and squirming beneath his skillful touch.

I was completely naked when he returned to caress and then suckle my breasts. I’d reached up to grip the pillow beneath my head and was clenching my fingers as I got more and more out of control.

It was harder than I’d expected to trust Levi—even just enough to let him pleasure me like this. I’d trusted him the night of the prom, and he’d left me standing alone in my pretty dress, totally crushed. But I hadn’t had the full story on that. I knew the truth now. Levi had been trying to be a good guy back then. He was always trying to be a good guy, even when he drove me crazy.

Even knowing this, I still felt like I needed to take control of it, and it was so hard to give it to him.

But he knew exactly what he was doing. My body had never felt like this before, and it was a kind of sensual torment I’d never imagined. Finally he moved down my body, and his mouth lingered just at the juncture of my thighs.

“Please, Levi,” I gasped, pushing my hips up toward his mouth. “Oh, please.”

“Fuck, you’re so gorgeous.” His eyes raked from my face down to my arousal, which was more exposed now as I parted my legs for him. “I want to see you come apart for me.”

Then he gently explored with one hand, parting my folds and then thumbing my clit. I bucked up toward his touch, but he didn’t linger. Instead, he slipped two fingers inside me.

“Fuck, you’re so wet. I can’t believe you want me so much.”

There was no denying this fact, so I didn’t even try. I tried to ride his fingers until he held my hip with his free hand. I grew still beneath his touch as he lowered his mouth.

I was moaning on his first touch, and my verbal response got louder and more uncontrolled as he pleasured me with his fingers and mouth.

Then I finally lost it and came apart completely as the sensation coiled down tight and then released. I cried out and thrashed on the bed as the sensations rushed through me, and I was gasping breathlessly when I finally came down.

Levi was grinning as he straightened up at last, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Don’t get smug,” I said since—seriously—it just had to be said.

He chuckled and moved up so he could gently kiss my lips. “I think I deserve to be a little smug.”

“Okay. Just a little. But don’t forget. It’s your turn to come apart now.”

“I can’t wait.”

I felt washed with a warm, full satisfaction, relaxing every inch of my body. There was a delicious kind of irony here.

What we’d already done was undoubtedly the best sex of my life.

And it wasn’t even over yet.

Eight

Levi

Nothing had ever felt so good, so fucking incredible. A million thoughts raced through my head, and they were all saying the same thing. I need more of Harper. Now.

She was sprawled across my bed—naked, flushed from an orgasm, and gasping for breath. All I wanted to do was make it happen again. Sex had always been enjoyable for me, and I was used to being in control. But being with Harper like this… It was like nothing I’d ever experienced.

Maybe because I’d been wanting her for so long—since all the way back in high school—or maybe because we were just so right together.

My hands were almost shaking as I reached over to the nightstand and yanked the drawer open to grab a condom. With less finesse than I care to remember, I stripped off my jeans and sheathed myself before diving back in for another round.

I wanted to taste her again—every inch of her, from head to toe.

And linger along the way.

Starting at her painted pink toes, I ran my tongue up to the sensitive spot behind her knees. She squirmed restlessly, and I had to put a hand over her flat stomach to hold her still. As I continued my journey back up to the sweetest part of her, I couldn’t help but smile as she spread her legs open a little further in invitation.

She was sweet.

She was hot.

She was wet.

With one flick of my tongue, she cried out my name, and all I could think was “And she’s mine.”

I ached to be inside her, but I needed this just as much—to make her shatter again. She was so sensitive to every stroke, every flick of my fingers or tongue, and I could feel her getting ready to come again. It turned me on even more. A small part of me wanted to hold back, make her wait, make her beg, but it was just too much to handle.

“Levi!” she cried out, and I knew I was a goner. No sooner had my name crossed her lips than I was right there, kneeling between her legs with my arousal throbbing at the first contact with her wet flesh. Her beautiful blue eyes opened and looked at me. “Please.”

I buried myself inside her. The clasp of her body was perfect, and we fit together in a way that had us both sighing. Normally, at this point in the game, I’d be focused on getting my own release, but then Harper’s eyes met mine and she smiled. Shit. All I could think was that I wanted this to never end. I wanted to keep her beneath me, panting and begging… and smiling.

With each thrust, she met me.

With every stroke, she made a throaty sound. Almost a purr.

I had to close my eyes because the sight of her was going to make me come very soon, and I didn’t want that. I wasn’t ready for this to end.

She reached out a hand and cupped it around my neck to bring me down for a searing kiss. Her tongue tangled with mine and mimicked what our bodies were doing.

“Let go, Levi,” she whispered urgently. “I need you. Harder.”

Shit. If I did what she asked, we’d be done in the blink of an eye. I needed her to come again—just once more—and I swore to myself that then I’d be satisfied. I adjusted my position so I could support myself on one arm and reached between our bodies. I ran a finger down to where we were joined before settling over her clit. “Come for me, Harper,” I demanded, my voice ragged even to my own ears. “Come for me now.”

“I can’t,” she said as her head thrashed from side to side.

“Now, Harper. One more time for me.” At any other time, she would have argued, and I realized I was coming to like that about her. Part of me, even now, wanted her to argue, just so I could tease and pleasure her more.

I moved my finger once, twice, and then she was soaring again. It was all too much—her cries, the clenching of her so tightly around me—and I just about lost my mind. I pounded into her with such ferocity that I had to hold an edge back so I wouldn’t hurt her, and yet I just wanted more. To be deeper. To be so firmly embedded in her mind and body that she’d never forget this night.

She called out my name one more time as I finally let myself go. I can’t remember ever coming so hard or for so long. Afterward, I couldn’t seem to catch my breath.

I collapsed on top of Harper simply because my arms gave out. Instead of asking me to move, she wrapped herself more tightly around me—her ankles locked behind my back, her arms around my shoulders.

It felt almost as incredible as what we’d just done. Even more intimate. I kissed her temple as I struggled to get my breathing to slow down.

“I’m crushing you,” I murmured and did my best to disentangle us. I rolled over and tucked Harper in beside me. She let out another one of those soft purrs that I was really beginning to love and snuggled in closer.

“I didn’t mind,” she said quietly.

This was a first. Since coming home, since Gavin’s funeral, the silence between us was comfortable. I knew I couldn’t speak for Harper, but the more comfortable my body got, the more my conscience started to beat me up.

There was never any doubt in my mind that this was going to happen. Harper had attracted me since the funeral. I fought against it and knew it wasn’t the right thing to do, for either of us, and yet it was inevitable.

The real problem was the timing. Gavin was dead. Harper was threatened. And I’d been walking around in an aroused state ever since that first kiss.

“Levi?” she said softly.

I looked down at her face. Her beautiful face was already making my heart rate kick up again.

The normally confident woman wasn’t the one looking at me. Instead, she looked almost uncertain. “Are you okay?”

That made me frown. “Yeah, why?”

“You’re quiet. And you’re frowning. I can’t imagine frowning after sex is a good thing.”

I couldn’t tell her the real reason I was frowning or what was going on in my head. But I could see that she needed some reassurance. “I’m good,” I said and gave her a small smile. “How about you?”

She blushed. She actually blushed, and it was as sexy as she’d been just moments ago when she was writhing beneath me. “I’m good too.”

“That’s good. Really… good.” Shit. Why couldn’t I speak like a normal person? Right now I sounded like a complete idiot. True, it could be that I’d just had my mind blown by the most powerful orgasm of my life, but really, I should have been able to pull together a normal sentence.

The silence returned again, and this time it wasn’t quite so comfortable. I couldn’t think of a damn thing to say, and it wasn’t until Harper started to stir beside me that I realized she was trying to get up. “Where are you going?”

She didn’t meet my gaze. “I, um, figured I’d get dressed.”

“Why?”

Now she looked at me. “Because that’s what you do.”

“Who?” What the hell was she talking about? I could still feel the sheen of sweat on my body from all the exertion, and she was getting ready to leave?

Harper rolled her eyes. “What do you mean, who? People. No one stays in bed forever. You… have sex.” She gestured to the messy bed. “And then you get dressed and go.”

Maybe someone who didn’t know Harper like I did wouldn’t have heard the slight tremor in her voice. But I did. I reached out and tugged her back down beside me and hugged her close. She didn’t resist, but I could feel a stiffness in her body that wasn’t there moments before.

In that instant, I wanted to find every man she’d ever slept with who had jumped up and left her after they were done with her and kill them.

“Levi?” The uncertainty and the tremble were hard to miss this time.

“You’re not leaving.” Normally that tone of voice was enough to get her riled up, but this time it seemed to soothe her instead. She finally relaxed against me. I placed another kiss on top of her head, and just to make sure that she understood what I was saying, I added, “I don’t want you to go.”

“I’m glad,” she said with a sigh. “I just thought that…”

“What?”

She shrugged. “It’s just been my experience that guys don’t normally want to, you know, linger or cuddle after sex.”

The way she said “sex” felt wrong. Who the hell had she been sleeping with? Where was she finding these assholes? “Well, I can’t say that I’ve ever been one for cuddling.” I made the word sound faintly repulsive. “But I can say that I am all for the lingering.” I shifted so that I could see her face. Her eyes were still a little uncertain. “Maybe I’m not done with you yet.”

“Oh, really?” She gave me a teasing smile.

“Yeah, really.” There was no teasing in my tone. I wasn’t done. Not by a long shot.

Her expression changed from one of sass to confusion. “I thought… I mean, I didn’t think…”

“What, Harper? What did you think?” When her eyes looked away, I reached out and put my finger under her chin and gently forced her to meet my eyes. “Tell me.”

“I didn’t think you’d… want me again.”

Anger raged inside me again at the faceless men who were clearly so blind and selfish that they hadn’t realized what they’d had in their arms. I took one of her hands in mine and guided it down over my erection. “What do you think?” At first she looked shocked, but then she smiled again. And began to gently stroke me.

It would have been easy to just roll her beneath me and have her again. We’d both enjoy it. But I wanted to understand her. I needed to know why it was that she was doubting herself. I couldn’t even say why it was so important in that moment, but it was. I never had to say a word. She read the question in my eyes.

“I’ve never been with a guy who really wanted a second round.” I knew that admission cost her a lot.

“Then they were crazy.”

She made a face at me. “I don’t think so. It’s me.” There was vulnerability in her voice. “I scare guys away.”

She’d thought I hadn’t wanted her ten years ago, when I’d had to stand her up for the prom. At least I knew now why she’d been so angry afterwards. She’d thought I’d just left her hanging, when it was the last thing I wanted to do.

“Harper—”

“I’m not all soft and feminine like most women. I’m too independent, and that freaks guys out. I know I can come across as intimidating, but no one has ever wanted to see if there was more to me than that.” She looked up at me. “There is more to me than that. Why doesn’t anyone get that?”

I did. I wanted to know everything about her. What made her tick? What made her laugh? What made her cry? “Like I said, Harper, they were crazy. Those guys weren’t worth your time.”

“If it was one or two guys, I might agree. But almost every man I’ve dated—not that there have been masses of them, but still—has only wanted one go-around.”

“You mean those guys broke up with you after sleeping with you?” The fury was building. I was ready to jump up out of the bed and start taking names.

“No, no, no,” she assured me as she placed her hand on my chest to calm me down. “I mean that, while we were seeing each other, our sex lives were just…”

“Ah.” Now I understood. No heat. No passion. “Seems to me like that was their problem. Not yours.”

“How can you say that? If I had been more feminine, more in touch with my softer side, then maybe…”

“Maybe nothing. As the man who just had you and is about to have you again, I can tell you that there is nothing wrong with you.” Now I did pin her beneath me. “You are incredibly soft,” I said as I lowered my head and nuzzled at her breast. “And beautifully feminine.” I rubbed my erection against the juncture of her thighs and watched as she sighed with pleasure. “And if no one else appreciated that, then all the better for me.”

She was about to speak, but I cut her off with a kiss.

We were done talking.

***

Two days later, I was waiting on Sebastian.

I didn’t mind waiting. I actually could use the time to get my head on straight. Harper and I had been sharing a lot of private time together, and between that and the physical aspect of working construction, I was exhausted. I was used to going without a lot of sleep, but it was starting to catch up with me.

I told Harper that I was meeting up with Sebastian tonight and that I wouldn’t be seeing her. I just didn’t tell her why I was seeing him.

“You look like shit, man,” Sebastian said as he slid into the booth opposite me.

“Thanks, I’m fine. And you look pretty too.”

Sebastian gave me a smile that was almost blinding. He could have been part of the Osmond family with that damn thing. He came from money, and a fortune had clearly been spent on his teeth. “I know.”

A waitress came over, took our drink orders, and was gone before I even could register what she looked like.

“Seriously, Levi, you look like hell. What’s going on?”

“Lack of sleep.”

He arched a brow at me. “Really? Anyone I know?”

“Shut up.” I leaned back and ran my hands through my hair because I didn’t know how to ask what I needed to ask.

Sebastian continued to study me until after our drinks came and then took a sip of his beer before leaning forward on the table and meeting my gaze head on. “It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the two hour drive to get here, but if I had to venture a guess, I’d say this isn’t a social call.”

Time to cut to the chase. “It’s not. I need your help.”

“With?”

I huffed with irritation. Not with Sebastian but with me. I filled him in on all that had been going on with Harper, choosing to leave out the newfound sexual aspect of our relationship. “The local police are too damn slow, and I don’t have the kind of time to give this the attention that it needs.”

Sebastian’s expression was blank as he listened. “And this involves me, how? I certainly don’t have the time to come here and help out.”

“I know that. It’s just that you have… access to things that we mere mortals don’t.”

“You know I hate when you pull that card, right?”

I shrugged. “Believe me, I didn’t want to involve anybody else in this situation. But I figured you’d know the name of a good PI who could help with this. Maybe someone who owes you or your family a favor. I don’t have the kind of money that you do, but—”

He held up a hand to stop me. “Don’t give me that bullshit, Levi. If you need help, then I’m there. I don’t give a damn about the cost. That has nothing to do with it. We’re friends and that’s why I’m willing to help. I don’t need or want your money. Gavin was my friend too, and that means I’m concerned for his sister’s safety as well.”

I nodded and felt a little ashamed that I even brought up the money aspect. I only did it because I didn’t want Seb to feel like I was trying to take advantage of him. He’d had enough of that in his life, and I didn’t want to be one of those people. “I appreciate that, man. I really do.” I took a sip of my own drink. “I’m just hitting one brick wall after another. If I didn’t have to go to work every damn day at a job I hate, I’d be able to do a lot of the legwork myself. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.”

He nodded. “Or the night, apparently.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

A knowing smirk crossed Sebastian’s face. “I think that your lack of sleep is only partially caused by your… concern for Harper. The rest? That’s all on you and her.”

There was no condescension to his words, and it made me relax. “It just happened,” I admitted, dropping my head. “I really tried to fight it. It was just…”

“You don’t owe me an explanation. You’re a grown man, and Harper’s a grown woman. From what I observed at the bar the other night, you guys definitely had a thing going on.” He shifted in his seat. “Just make sure that you remember who she is and that you’re with her for the right reasons. Gavin may not be here anymore, but that doesn’t mean that it’s okay for you to be using her need for protection as an excuse to be sleeping with her.”

“Shit. Do you think I’m that much of an asshole?”

He shook his head. “No. I think you’re one of the most honorable guys I know. But I think this is a tricky situation and that lines can easily get blurred. Just keep your head on straight.”

It was easier said than done.

“So can you help me?” I finally asked. “Do you know anyone who can give this a little attention?”

Sebastian pulled out his phone and began scrolling through his contacts. Before I knew it, he was talking to someone. And soon he looked at me and nodded.

It was the first time in a long while that I felt a glimmer of hope.

Unfortunately, that was the easy request.

“There’s just one more thing,” I said, suddenly feeling ridiculously uncomfortable. Seb merely cocked a brow at me and waited. “She’s got it in her head to go to DC this weekend. Some sort of fund-raiser event.”

“So? She’s a reporter. Maybe she’s just covering the news.”

Now it was my turn to cock a brow. “Have you been paying attention at all? Trust me. Harper is not going to Washington for a business trip.”

“How can you be so sure? Maybe there’s a story—”

“Oh, there’s a story. Only she’s the one who’s creating it.”

Sebastian leaned back in the booth and threw up his hands in frustration. “I’m already in for the damn penny. Might as well give me the pound.”

“I want to make sure that she doesn’t get in to the event.”

“And you think I can do that?”

I shook my head. “Not personally. But I think you know somebody who can.”

“You’re pushing your luck right now, Levi. You know that, right?”

“Do you think that I want to be doing this? Do you think I feel good about this? Five minutes ago you were telling me that I’m an honorable guy. And now? Now I feel like I’m fucking lying to everyone.”

“All right, all right. No need to be so dramatic.” He reached for his drink. “Get me the name and date of the event, and let’s be done with it.”

“You’re pissed, aren’t you?”

He shook his head. “Not at you,” he said with just a hint of annoyance. “It’s the whole damn situation. I thought that once we came home… shit would be different.”

I couldn’t agree more. “Me too.” I finished the rest of my drink and then looked over at him. He was one of my best friends, and I was asking him for the same kind of favors that so many others had, and I hated myself for it. “I just want you to know, if there were any other way to do this, I would have.”

“I know.” We sat in silence until it was uncomfortable. As if waking from a trance, Sebastian slammed his hands on the table and leaned toward me. “Well, since you’ve dragged me into your sorry situation, I’d say it’s only fair that you pay for the food.”

There was that damn Donny Osmond smile again. It was hard to not return it. “Deal.”

Nine

Harper

“What are you doing?” Levi asked, rolling over to face in my direction. He’d just woken up and was stretched out on his bed with the sheet barely covering his lower half.

“Just checking on some stuff.” I quickly finished writing an email and hit send before I glanced up to smile at him.

He was definitely a sight to smile at. His bare chest was incredible, with rippling muscles and smooth planes leading down to the rumpled sheet. His hair was sticking up on end, and he desperately needed to shave.

“What do you need to be checking on at five thirty in the morning?”

“I just thought of something and wanted to get it done while it was on my mind.” I’d actually just thought of someone else I wanted to talk to while I was in DC this weekend, so I’d hauled myself out of bed to write my friend a quick email to see if she could arrange it.

I hadn’t yet told Levi about the trip to DC. I knew he wasn’t going to be happy about it, and I didn’t want to deal with an argument, especially since things were going so well between us.

I experienced a stab of guilt at the thought of keeping the trip from him though.

Whatever was happening between me and Levi, it felt real to me. It might not be long-term, but it felt real. And keeping something like this from him didn’t feel right anymore.

“So you aren’t going to tell me what pressing duty dragged you out of bed at this ungodly hour?” He frowned at me and adjusted his leg, causing the sheet to slip dangerously low around his hips.

So call me shallow, but my gaze couldn’t help but linger on his lean waist and hips, at the dark trail of hair that led down beneath the sheet.

“Hey,” he said in an amused tone. “I’m talking to you.” He gestured toward his face. “Up here.”

I giggled helplessly and put down my tablet. “If you want me to look you in the eye, then you shouldn’t sprawl out naked in such a deliciously sexy way. What’s a girl to do?”

“A girl,” he said, a familiar heat igniting in his dark eyes, “can come back to bed and do something other than leer.”

“We just had sex a few hours ago. Just how insatiable are you?”

“You have no idea how insatiable I can be when it comes to you.”

I laughed again and picked up my tablet. “Let me send one more email while I’m thinking about it. Then you can indulge your insatiability to your heart’s content.”

He didn’t object, so I tapped out another quick email.

When I finished, he was watching me as I walked back to the bed, pulling down over my thighs the T-shirt of his I’d thrown on before going to sleep.

“So you really aren’t going to tell me what that was about?” he asked, his tone more serious as he lifted the sheet as an invitation to join him under the covers.

I climbed into bed and rolled on my side to face him. “Actually, I’m going to DC this weekend, and I’m trying to arrange things so I can talk to the people I need to talk to.”

His face was utterly sober now. “Do you really think that’s smart?”

A familiar defensiveness rose inside me, as it always did when someone was trying to hold me back or tell me I was wrong. “Why wouldn’t it be smart?”

“Because someone is trying to kill you.” He reached over to stroke my cheek briefly and then trailed his fingers—feather soft—down my shoulder and arm. “And believe it or not, I don’t think the world would be better without you in it. I think the world would be much, much worse.”

Despite my prickly response, I felt a melting in my chest at his words and his tender tone. “Women go to DC all the time without getting killed.”

“Yes, but they haven’t had attempts on their life already. And they don’t go to stir up a hornet’s nest.”

“I’m not going to stir up a hornet’s nest.”

“Yes, you are. That’s exactly why you’re going. You want to make sure your voice is heard—as loudly as possible—so you can get some answers.”

“So what’s wrong with that?” I was feeling strangely torn—as if he were making some degree of sense, as if I were doubting my own decisions.

It wasn’t a common feeling for me, and I didn’t like it.

He pulled me over so I was straddling his hips, and he reached up to cup my face in both hands. “Two things are wrong. One, I don’t think you’re ever going to get the answers you want, so you’re fighting a losing battle. And two, something is wrong with any plan that puts your life at risk.”

“I’m telling you—”

“You can’t tell me you aren’t at risk. Someone has tried it already. If you stir up a larger shit storm, then the likelihood is they’ll try it again, more purposefully this time. You know that. You know it.”

I was affected by his words—I couldn’t help but be—but it just wasn’t as easy as that. I slumped above him, falling down to rest against his chest.

He wrapped both arms around me, and I felt safe, protected, cherished.

“I can only be me,” I said at last. “You can’t expect me to be anything else.”

“But can’t you be you and also safe? I can’t believe it’s not possible to be both.”

I thought about that. Thought about what was driving me to find answers. Thought about what it would mean to give up the search.

“I can’t,” I said at last. “I can’t not do this.”

I heard and felt him release a long sigh. My cheek was pressed against his chest. “Can I come with you then?”

I raised my head to look at his face. There was a question, almost a plea in his eyes.

Somehow—at some point—I’d learned to trust him. Maybe it had happened years ago, when he was my brother’s best friend. Or maybe it had happened in the past week. I didn’t really know.

But I did know one thing. He was asking me this now because he wanted the best for me.

I couldn’t throw that back in his face.

“Okay,” I said, nodding a little jerkily. “You can come with me.”

He gave a low groan and pulled me up higher on his body so he could reach my lips. “Thank you,” he murmured against my mouth.

It felt important. It felt like something had changed. Like something had been decided between us.

My heart fluttered wildly in fear, in confusion, in excitement… and in something even deeper.

His tongue slipped into my mouth, and his hand tangled in my hair. He held my head in place as he deepened the kiss, and I tried to squeeze my hands beneath his back so I could hold on to the warm, hard substance of his body.

“Levi,” I gasped, when his hands slid down to my bottom, pushing me gently against his groin.

“Hmm,” he murmured, his mouth too busy against mine to answer fully.

I turned my head as pleasure and feeling washed over my body, my heart. “Is this my thank-you for letting you come?”

“Baby,” he said hoarsely, grabbing the fabric of the T-shirt I wore and pulling it over my head. “I’ll give you any sort of thank-you you want.”

I rose up, straddling his hips and completely naked now, arching my back as his hands stroked up to my breasts.

I gasped with pleasure and let my head drop back, my hair spilling messily down my back. “Do you mean it?”

His breathing had accelerated, and I felt the tension of arousal in his muscles. His eyes devoured my naked body. “Do I mean what?”

He’d obviously lost the thread of the conversation—he was so far gone in lust.

So I explained, “Do you mean it that you’ll give me any sort of thank-you I want?”

“Of course. Just say the word.” He thumbed my nipples, making me gasp.

I lowered his hands and stretched them out on the bed beside him. “Do you trust me?”

He blinked. “Of course.”

“Do you really?”

He reached up to cup my face again. “Why wouldn’t I trust you, Harper?”

“Because, before, you were always trying to control me. That’s not a sign of trust.”

“I wasn’t—”

“Shh.” I covered his mouth with two fingers. “I’m not trying to get in an argument. You said I could have any sort of thank-you I wanted, and I want, as my thank-you, for you to show me that you trust me.”

I honestly had no idea what he would say. He was a powerful, dominant man, and he wasn’t used to giving up control.

It felt important though. It felt like the natural result of the unspoken thing that had just been decided between us.

“How can I show you?” he asked, his voice like gravel.

I pulled up again and ran my fingers down his chest to his belly. Then I scooted back slightly so I could take his erection in my hands.

He jerked slightly in response to my caress and reached up to pull me down into another kiss. “I thought this was your thank-you.”

“It is.” I resisted his hands and then wrapped my fingers around his wrists to place his hands back on the bed. “I’m doing this.”

Something changed in his eyes, and I knew he understood. “I see.”

“If you trust me, then you won’t always have to be in control.”

“Is this a test then?” he asked quietly.

“Not a test. A thank-you. If you don’t want to do it, then we don’t have to.” I hovered above him, meeting his eyes without looking away. “Seriously,” I added. “We don’t have to.”

He was very still for a few seconds. Then he nodded. “Do whatever you want.”

I took a shuddering breath and leaned down to kiss him. His lips met mine, and so did his tongue, but he didn’t take control of the kiss the way he normally did.

I deepened the kiss, taking my time, exploring his mouth until I could feel the tension in his body tightening to such an extent that he was rocking slightly beneath me.

So I released his lips and pulled up, panting and flushed.

I smiled at him, and he smiled back. His arms were outstretched on the bed, and I could see he’d clenched his fingers in the covers.

Feeling excited, powerful, strangely emotional, I trailed kisses down his chest, exploring the contours of his pectoral muscles, his nipples, his abdomen, until I followed the line of hair down even lower.

He was breathing jerkily now, but he hadn’t moved his hands from where I’d placed them.

I stroked his erection gently and felt his hips give a little thrust into my hands.

I glanced up at his face, and his eyes were so hot and hungry I lost my breath. His jaw was tight though, and I could see he was visibly reining in his need to move, to thrust, to take control.

I lowered my head and took him in my mouth.

“Fuck,” he gasped, his hips jerking slightly. He tossed his head back and forth on the pillow a couple of times. “This feels more like a thank-you for me.”

I let him slip from my mouth. “Maybe it’s for both of us.”

I waited until he’d relaxed a little, and then I slid my lips around his erection again. I started to suck rhythmically, stroking his hip, his thigh, his balls with one of my hands.

After a minute, his hands flew over to my hair as he let out another groan. But even before I could raise my head, he’d dropped them again and clawed at the sheets instead, holding himself back from controlling the encounter in any way.

I was filled with something I’d never experienced before as I built him up to climax. This went against all his instincts, but he let me have control of it anyway.

He was doing this for me. For me.

He was muttering out raw, helpless words about how good it was, how incredible I was, how close he was to losing it. And then I dug my fingernails into the inside of his thigh as I sucked hard a few last times.

He came with a muffled roar, his body jerking helplessly with the power of his climax.

I kept sucking him until his body had softened, and then I let him slip out of my mouth.

He gasped helplessly as I crawled up his body.

“Can I hold you now?” he asked hoarsely, his eyes never leaving my face.

I nodded, strangely close to tears. “Yeah.”

He wrapped his arms around me and turned us over so we were both on our sides. I fit myself against him as he started to kiss me, gently, tenderly.

“I don’t really know if any man has trusted me before,” I admitted, nestling into his embrace. “It means so much that you do.”

I felt something tighten in his body briefly before it relaxed. He nuzzled my hair and didn’t say anything.

Feeling like I needed to say something else to acknowledge everything I felt, I met his eyes and whispered, “I trust you too.”

***

The next day I was packing for DC in the late afternoon when the doorbell rang.

My folks were out doing errands, so I ran to the window, stuck my head out, and yelled down to Levi, “It’s open. Come on in.”

For the past two days, I’d been brimming with giddy excitement and trying to talk myself down from hoping for too much so early.

After all, I’d only been with Levi for a week. I mean, really with him. I’d known him all my life, but a week-long sexual relationship didn’t really warrant all these happy, fuzzy, hopeful feelings.

I couldn’t seem to help it though, and I grinned at him over my shoulder when he came in the room.

“Why is the door unlocked?” he demanded with a frown.

Naturally, that made me frown too. “Because it’s always unlocked during the daytime. This isn’t a big city, you know. Almost everyone in this neighborhood leaves their doors unlocked.”

“And the fact that someone is trying to kill you doesn’t make your parents think it might be smart to lock the door?”

I stared at him in astonishment. “You think I told my parents about all this crap? Are you kidding?”

He made a frustrated sound in his throat and rubbed a hand over his face.

“Anyway,” I added before he could say anything else, “if someone really wants to kill me, a locked door is hardly going to stop them.”

“So you think we should make it easy for them?”

I rolled my eyes and turned back to the closet. Evidently, his trusting me did not extend to not being an obnoxious ass in bossing me around about safety. I pulled out the one evening gown I had—a simple, long black sheath—and laid it out on the bed.

The fund-raiser I was attending tomorrow night was black-tie, and this was the only appropriate outfit I had for it.

I’d had to spend a lot of my savings to buy the ticket for it, but it would be worth it.

Levi was leaning against my desk and glowering disapprovingly.

“I thought we’d moved beyond this,” I said quietly, after a minute.

He let out a long sigh. “What the hell am I supposed to do, Harper? I don’t want you to get hurt. I can’t stand the thought of you getting hurt.”

It was the strangest feeling—being torn between soft sentiment at his words and the familiar resistance to anyone doubting my power and competence. “I’m letting you come with me on this trip. Isn’t that something? I’m letting you help keep me safe.”

“Yeah, but you’re still taunting the crazies.”

“We’ve been over this. I’m not going to not be me. I’m not going to let them silence me.”

“I know.”

“And I’m not going to let you control me, just because we’re sleeping together.”

Something strange flickered over his face. “Is that what we’re doing?”

In a different context, it would have been an idiotic question since of course we were sleeping together. But I knew what he meant. Did “sleeping together” really capture whatever this thing was between us?

I didn’t think either of us really knew.

I let out a breath and turned back to my closet. “I really don’t know what we’re doing.”

He didn’t say anything while I found the pair of shoes I wanted from the back of my closet. Then I laid them on the floor beneath my evening dress. “What do you think?” I asked, gesturing to the outfit, wanting to move us into more normal conversation. “That will do for a black-tie fund-raiser, won’t it?”

His face twisted briefly, for no reason I could understand.

“Does it look bad or something?” I asked, confused and a little hurt.

“No. It’s fine. It’s just that I feel like I should tell you—”

My phone rang then, and I picked it up to see that it was Jack. “Sorry,” I told Levi. “I better get this.”

I talked to Jack for a few minutes about a new story he wanted me to write, and when I hung up, Levi was scrolling through texts or something on his phone.

“What were you saying before?” I asked him, trying to remember back to our previous conversation as I zipped up my bag.

“Just that you need to be careful.”

“One day I’m going to try to count up every time you’ve told me that and give myself a cupcake for each one.” I slanted him a provocative look. “I’d have to buy clothes twice as large.”

He chuckled and came over to wrap his arms around me from behind. “Even double your size from too many cupcakes, you’d still be irresistible to me.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “You are so full of crap.”

He leaned down to press a kiss against the side of my neck. “I speak nothing but the truth.”

I was feeling quite sappy again, despite my attempt to be reasonable. I was tempted to turn around and kiss him, but that would probably have led to something else, and I wanted to get to DC at a reasonable time this evening.

Plus I didn’t want my parents to come home and catch us going at it.

So I pulled out of his arms and gestured toward my overnight bag. “Would you mind taking that to the car? I need to check to make sure I haven’t forgotten something.”

He grabbed the bag, with only a little good-natured grumbling, and was on his way down when my phone rang again.

This time, when I picked it up, it was my friend from DC on the line.

The conversation was not good.

Not good at all.

When I hung up three minutes later, I was shaking with shock and outrage. It took me a full minute to even process it.

I couldn’t believe. I couldn’t believe it.

Levi wouldn’t have done something like that to me. Not behind my back. Not after telling me he trusted me.

Not after I’d trusted him.

I was sitting on the edge of the bed, trembling, with my phone still in my hand when he returned to the room.

“I hope you got us a good hotel room,” he said, a fond note in his tone. “One with a very big bed.”

He was teasing. That sexy teasing that was so characteristic of him. Even the casual comment felt intimate, special.

And all of it was a lie.

“What’s wrong?” he demanded, evidently seeing something in my face. He strode over and sat on the bed beside me, wrapping one arm around me. “Damn it, Harper. Tell me what’s wrong.”

I just sat there, staring down at my phone.

He took the phone from my hand and looked at the callers. “Did someone threaten you?” he asked. “What did they say?”

“Maxwell,” I managed to force out.

“What?”

“Maxwell,” I repeated. “That’s your buddy’s last name, isn’t it? Sebastian Maxwell.”

It was like something in his body got tense, although I didn’t see anything actually change in his stance or posture. “Yes,” he said slowly.

“Because someone with the last name of Maxwell took it on himself to get me uninvited to the fund-raiser.”

Levi didn’t say anything. He just sat stiffly, looking at me.

The shock was coalescing into a kind of betrayed anger I’d never experienced before. “Why would he do that? Why would someone with the last name of Maxwell do that to me?”

“Harper,” he began in a mollifying tone. “Don’t—”

“Don’t what?” I spit out, jumping to my feet to get away from him, to keep him from touching me. “Don’t overreact? Is that what you think I’m doing? This happened before yesterday. How did you even know about it before yesterday?”

He made a face and glanced away.

“How did you know?” I repeated in a clipped tone.

“Jack told me what you were planning.”

“Jack? Jack? So you’ve been spying on me through my boss.” I was almost choking on shocked indignation. “And you think I’m overacting? When you’ve been going behind my back all this time and betraying me?”

“I didn’t betray you.” He stood up too, and he looked cool now and in control. “There’s no reason to take it like that.”

“No reason—” I gaped at him, wondering who this man even was. Who had I been in bed with for the past week?

Definitely not the man I’d thought he was.

“I need to keep you safe,” he said, stepping over and holding me by my upper arms. “Keeping you safe is the most important thing, and you refuse to see reason about it. I’m just doing what I have to do.”

It all felt so horrible, so bewildering that my whole history with Levi took on the same dark pall. I gasped again as something else came to my mind. “Is that why you started fucking me in the first place? So you could have an excuse to be around me more often and keep me safe?” I yanked myself out of his grip. “That’s it, isn’t it? It was all part of this stupid, noble crusade you’re on that you say is for my protection but is really about giving yourself some sort of heroic purpose to make you feel better about your wreck of a life.”

The angry words must have hit home. I saw a reaction on his face.

We were both breathing heavily, staring at each other in the silence of the room.

Then I said, “Get out.”

“Harper,” he began, taking another step toward me and reaching out again. “If you’d just let me explain—”

“There’s nothing to explain here. Nothing you say is going to make what you did all right. You lied to my face.”

“I did not lie—”

“You did! Or just the same as lying. You were working behind my back all along, and you still had the gall to pretend you trusted me. There’s no way in hell I’m going to fuck a man who does that to me. Get out.”

He was angry now too. It was clear from the fire in his eyes, from the tightness of his jaw. “So that’s it? You won’t listen to anything I say? You just make assumptions about me and my motives and decide that they must be true? You can berate me all you want about not trusting you, but you’re guilty of exactly the same thing. You say you trusted me, but you really didn’t. You are so obsessed with making sure that no one ever belittles you or controls you or silences you that you can never actually hear what someone else is trying to tell you. You’ve never trusted anyone but yourself.”

“I can’t believe you’re standing there saying that to me. You. You’re the one who betrayed my trust. Don’t you dare blame this on me. Now get out!”

He turned to walk to the door but paused before he stepped out. “You can have the last word, like you always do. I don’t give a damn about that. But I am going to say this. There’s no reason for you to go DC now since you can’t attend the fund-raiser, but I’m still going to make sure you’re safe, even here in town since someone is still trying to kill you.” He let out a bitter huff of amusement. “I owe that to Gavin at least.”

“Get out!” I practically screamed at him. I couldn’t stand to even look at him anymore.

He left after that. I heard him walk down the stairs and then out the front door. I watched from the window as he took my overnight bag out of his car and returned it to the house.

I was sure he locked the front door before he closed it again.

Then he drove away.

I sat shaking, panting, too crushed to even cry.

But it didn’t matter. I told myself it didn’t matter. Levi had never been that important to me. Whatever I’d felt for him was obviously based in absolutely nothing and, as such, it wouldn’t last.

No doubt, Levi thought he’d won. He’d kept me from going to the fund-raiser, to DC, everything. Exactly as he’d always wanted.

He was treating me like a child, like a little girl. He was patting my head and sending me to bed.

Exactly like he’d always done.

Nothing had changed.

But that didn’t mean I was going to put up with it.

So I was uninvited to the fund-raiser. I’d figure something else out. I wasn’t going to back down just because Levi wanted me to.

I grabbed my phone and my purse and hurried downstairs, picking up my overnight bag on the way out.

I threw everything in my car and started to drive out of town, heading for the interstate.

Levi thought he’d won, but he hadn’t.

There was no way in hell I’d let that happen.

Ten

Levi

I wanted to say that I had no idea what Harper was going to do next, but that was bullshit. If I wasn’t so damn pissed off, I’d be laughing. Did she honestly think I wouldn’t know that she was going to take off to DC on her own?

Predictable.

Painfully predictable.

She may not have mentioned where it was we were supposed to stay, but following her wouldn’t be hard. Knowing her like I did, I knew she’d be so focused on her anger that she wouldn’t even think to check her rearview mirror.

Predictable.

I knew the minute I put her luggage back in the house that leaving wasn’t the right thing to do. I should have made her listen. Of course, there wouldn’t have been much listening—not with her wanting to get the last damn word in.

But I should have done better. Tried to get her to understand me. Tried to understand her.

I slammed my hand on the steering wheel in frustration. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. None of it. I wasn’t supposed to be driving up I-95, chasing after Harper. I wasn’t supposed to be watching after her. Hell, she wasn’t supposed to be in danger.

And Gavin wasn’t supposed to be dead.

No matter what happened between Harper and me or with whatever she was trying to stir up in Washington, at the end of the day, Gavin wasn’t coming back. I wasn’t a Marine anymore. My life wasn’t my own.

And the kick of it was that I was just starting to settle into what life had thrown at me. I still would rather be doing anything but construction for my dad, but it wasn’t quite as painful as it used to be. I was settling back into being at home. Being with my family. Being a civilian.

I was settling into being with Harper.

That was the scariest thing of all.

In a perfect world, we would have reconnected at a later time. I would have finished my time in the corps, come home with Gavin, and met up with her again. We could have had a chance to explore our undeniable attraction in a space of safety and security. Gavin would have been pissed—that was a given. But in time, he might have been okay with it.

But too much had happened too fast.

If Gavin were here, Harper wouldn’t be in danger. Maybe only to herself, but not the kind of danger she was flirting with now. My foot pressed down a little harder on the accelerator. This had to stop. Soon. Now. Yesterday.

The rest of the drive wasn’t easy. There was traffic to deal with and one particularly tricky stop for gas where I was certain Harper was going to see me. But, true to form, she was so singularly focused on her task that a marching band could have walked by and she wouldn’t have noticed it.

It was barely dark when she pulled into the hotel parking lot. I pulled in right behind her, effectively blocking her in. She jumped out of her car, stormed over to my door, and pounded her fist on the window. “What the hell are you doing here?”

I knew she’d be pissed. That was a given. But there was a hint of vulnerability in her eyes that almost had me regretting what I’d done.

Almost.

Shoving the door open, I stepped out and slammed the door. “What do you think I’m doing?” I snapped. “The real question is what the hell are you doing here? You’re not going to get into that event, so you might as well forget about the whole thing.”

Her eyes widened right before they turned to slits. “I’m not getting in thanks to you.”

God, she was infuriating. “Look, I’ve tried to be patient with you. I’ve asked you nicely and not so nicely to stop what you’re doing. It’s enough now, Harper. Let it alone!” My voice was harsher than I’d ever used on her, but it didn’t deter her one damn bit.

“No one asked you! I never asked you to get involved! I never asked you to take the role of… what, some kind of protector or bodyguard! I didn’t ask for any of it!” Tears filled her eyes, but she held it together.

“Of course you wouldn’t ask. You’re so busy trying to prove to the fucking world that you’re strong and tough and that you’ve got it all together that you don’t have a clue about what’s really going on around you. Open your eyes! This isn’t a game. You are out of your league here. Leave it alone.”

“I know how big this is. I’m not a moron.” Her entire being vibrated with fury. “What you don’t realize is that Gavin was my brother. My flesh and blood, and I loved him. I wake up every day, and I think I’m going to see him, talk to him. And then I remember. It’s like losing a limb. My family will never be whole again. My life will never be whole again!” She swiped at a tear that dared to fall. “So fuck you if you can’t understand that. I’m going to keep talking to people and keep asking questions until I know what happened.”

In that instant, defeat washed over me. It wrapped around me. Suffocated me. It didn’t matter what I did. It didn’t matter what I said. She was going to keep going with this, and in the end, she’d be no better off.

And she’d end up hating me even more than she did right now.

“What are you fighting for Harper?” I asked with a deadly calm that I’d never felt before. My words were harsh, and part of me meant to hurt her. “After all your petitions, press conferences, and editorials, what will you have? Nothing. He’s not coming back.”

She looked ready to speak, ready to argue my point, but I didn’t want to hear it. I was done. I looked her in the eye and felt a stab to my heart that I hadn’t felt since I stood over Gavin’s dead body.

I opened the door to the truck and climbed back in, refusing to look at her again. No, Gavin wasn’t coming back. I pulled away and did my best to focus on the road ahead of me. “And neither am I.”

***

I walked into the bar, and three pairs of eyes stared at me with a combination of shock and pity.

“If any of you wants to tell me that I look like shit, I swear to God I’ll kill you.” I didn’t bother waiting for any kind of a response. I walked directly to the bar and ordered a drink. The drive home from DC the night before had been hell, and the only way I managed to not lose my mind was to get the guys on the phone one by one.

Thank God, they were all living in limbo like I was without a hell of a lot to do. It made getting together on short notice a lot easier. Paying for my drink with a muttered “Thanks,” I walked over to the table in the back corner where Sebastian, Declan, and Cole were waiting.

The last time we were all here together, they’d been making fun of me for just about everything. Clearly they could see that I was in no fucking mood for it tonight, so they all just waited for me to sit my sorry ass down and tell them what was going on.

“Twice in one week,” Seb said to break the silence. “You’re lucky I’m anxious to get away from my family.”

Declan laughed. “Not me. I had a date tonight. I had finally convinced the lovely Tiffany Aimes that she needed to sleep with me.” He glared at me with a grin. “I needed to get laid. This better be important.”

Important? Hell, it was probably only important to me. Looking at the three of them, their eyes all on me, waiting, it suddenly hit me what a selfish bastard I was. They all had lives. This thing with Harper? Maybe I was seeing something that wasn’t there. Maybe I really was still dealing with my guilt over Gavin, and I’d made more out of the whole damn thing then there actually was.

“I’m sure the dialogue in your head is fucking fascinating,” Cole said as he scooped a handful of peanuts from the bowl in the middle of the table, “but I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we’d appreciate knowing why we’re all here and why you’re so pissy.”

“I’m not… pissy.” Yeah, I was, but it burned a little to be called on it.

“What would you call it?” Declan asked, taking a sip of his own drink.

“Harper found out about why she got uninvited from the DC thing.” Seb was the only one who nodded. Cole and Declan were still in the dark.

“How?” Seb asked.

I shrugged. “Does it matter? She found out, she’s mad as hell, and she’s in DC right now. Probably banging on doors and pissing people off.”

We all sat in silence until Cole spoke. “I don’t get it. What’s the big deal? We all know that no one is going to talk to her. They’re certainly not going to tell her anything different than what she’s been told already. It was an accident. That’s it. It sucks, and it was a fucking nightmare, but it was an accident.”

“Was it?” I asked quietly.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Declan demanded. “Of course it was an accident! Why would you even question that?”

“I was supposed to go in first. It was my job to make sure the area was secure,” I said as I broke out in a sweat. I closed my eyes, and I was there. I was watching the whole scene unfold all over again. “I got distracted. I missed something. I never miss anything!”

The silence was deafening, and I was thankful that they weren’t trying to make conversation or trying to convince me that I was wrong. I knew what I’d done.

Or didn’t do.

“She may not get a different answer,” I said finally, “but she’s going to push whoever it is that she’s pissed off further over the edge.” I ran my fingers through my hair and shuddered inwardly at the thought of Harper being hurt.

“Well, I talked to the PI,” Seb said, interrupting my thoughts.

“And?”

“We need to look a little closer at Harper’s inner circle.”

“Meaning?”

“Who is around her? From everything that you’ve told us, there hasn’t been anyone out of the ordinary lurking around, so that means it’s someone that blends in. Someone who no one would question seeing around Harper.”

It made sense. Damn, why hadn’t I thought of that sooner?

“I’d say that’s your next obvious step,” Cole said.

“Absolutely,” I muttered, mentally kicking myself for missing the obvious.

Again.

Why didn’t I just kill off the whole damn family and get it over with? At the rate I was going, it wouldn’t take long. I was supposed to be watching out for Gavin, and I’d failed. I was supposed to be protecting Harper and… Well, I hadn’t failed yet, but it was just a matter of time.

Instead of walking away—again—I should have stayed. I should have put my personal feelings aside and stayed with her. Who knew what kind of trouble she was getting into, and if she got hurt, it would be my fault. Sure, she wasn’t helping matters, but in the end, it was because walking away was my specialty that Harper was going to get hurt.

And not just physically.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that part of my quick-exit strategy was to avoid anything deep or long-term. I never stuck it out, never got too serious. The kicker was, I could’ve seen myself sticking it out with Harper.

And I was already serious.

About her.

About her safety.

About us.

“Okay, now that we’ve given Levi a pat on the butt and pointed him in the right direction, can we please see about getting laid?” Declan said, as he sat up a little straighter.

“Dude,” Cole said, leaning back with a look of disgust. “I know it’s been a while, but you’re on your own on that one. Not that you aren’t attractive,” he added with a wink and a smile, “but you just aren’t my type.”

They all burst out laughing. “You could do a lot worse,” Declan said.

“As long as that worse comes in the form of female curves, I’m in,” Cole said as he stood. “Next round’s on me.” He took a couple of steps before looking over his shoulder. “And don’t think I don’t know that you’re checking out my ass.”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Very funny,” Declan said, “but I’m serious. It’s been a long time since we’ve hit a bar together with the sole intention of looking for a hookup. You cheated me out of a sure thing tonight, so what do you say we leave this dark corner and go over to the bar and see what we can see?”

A couple of weeks ago, I might’ve said yes. But now? I couldn’t. I may have walked away from Harper, but that didn’t mean that I wanted somebody else. A sigh escaped before I could stop it.

“Oh, for the love of it,” Declan said with disgust. “If you’re going to go all pouty and pathetic, you might as well go home.” He stood. “Now if you gents will excuse me, there’s a redhead over there that I think desperately needs my attention.” He was gone before either Seb or I could say a word.

“You all right?” Seb asked when it was just the two of us.

I shrugged. “I’m going to take the PI’s advice and look a little closer at Harper’s inner circle. Wouldn’t that be a bitch if it were that easy?”

“I don’t think it’s going to be easy, Levi. Especially if it’s someone in her inner circle. Someone who’s close to her that wants to hurt her? She’ll never see it coming.”

Great. And I’d left her alone in a city full of people Harper thought she could trust.

***

One of the perks of working for family—particularly family who walked around you on eggshells—was that when I said I needed some time off, no one questioned it. Which was exactly what happened Tuesday afternoon when I told my father that I wouldn’t be back after lunch.

I had stayed away from Harper for almost four days, with no contact at all, and I was going slightly crazy. Rather than going to her, I thought the better route was to go to her parents. Harper may not have told them everything about the threats against her, but maybe they had noticed something out of the ordinary where she was concerned.

I was desperate, and right now they were my only hope.

The afternoon seemed like the perfect time to head over because I knew Harper would be at work.

When I pulled up to her parents’ house, I was struck by that familiar wave of sadness that I’d had since Gavin’s funeral. Only this time it was tinged with an additional sense of unease. It felt wrong to be snooping behind Harper’s back, but she’d left me no choice.

“Levi!” Darlene Murphy said with a smile as she pulled the door open. “This is a surprise! Come on in!” She wrapped me in a fierce hug, and it made me smile. Darlene had always been like a second mom to me, and I realized how much I’d missed her. “What brings you over today?”

I had been about to answer when Charles walked in and gave me the same exuberant welcome his wife had. Once all the general greetings were over, I followed them into the kitchen where I was offered some coffee and a piece of pie.

Déjà vu.

“How’ve you been, Levi? How is work going with your dad?”

I thanked Darlene as she placed a steaming mug of coffee down in front of me before turning my attention back to Charles. “It’s been going well, thanks. I’m amazed at the amount of work that he constantly has.”

Charles nodded. “He’s very fortunate—but then again, he’s also a gifted contractor. He’s done work on most of the houses here in the community.”

I nodded in agreement. Construction might not have been my thing, but I was smart enough to know that it was certainly my dad’s and that he was good at it. I only hoped that someday I’d find something that I loved like he did and be able to make a career out of it.

“I was wondering how you were both doing,” I began hesitantly. “And Harper. Has everything been okay?”

They exchanged a look before turning back to me. “We’d be lying if we said that it’s been easy,” Charles said. “We simply take life one day at a time.”

“We’re so thankful that Harper is here,” Darlene added. “She’s always busy, of course, but it’s nice to have her so close by.” She smiled warmly. “Plus we still spend some time with Gina, and that makes us feel closer to Gavin.”

Gina? Who the hell was Gina? I cleared my throat and asked, “I’m sorry. Who’s Gina?”

“Gina was Gavin’s girlfriend,” Darlene explained. “Surely Gavin must have mentioned her to you? We were so certain that they were going to get married when he came home.”

Gavin had a girlfriend? I wracked my brain and tried to remember if Gavin had ever mentioned her, but I came up blank. She must have been someone local. Someone who… “Wait a minute. Do you mean Gina DeMarco?”

Darlene nodded. “They went out on and off before Gavin enlisted, but she wrote to him the entire time he was in basic training and deployed. She used to come over for Sunday dinners,” Darlene sighed. “She’s like family.”

Family? How could Gina practically be family when Gavin never mentioned her? Were his parents aware that this was a one-way relationship? I now remembered Gina from back in high school, and she’d always had a crush on Gavin, but he’d never taken it seriously. Gavin and I were as close as brothers. He would have told me if he had been planning on marrying someone when we got out.

“Levi?” I turned at the sound of Harper’s voice. I kept my expression blank, but just the sight of her made my chest ache. She was in yoga pants and an oversized T-shirt—mine—and her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Her face was pale, and her expression was bleak. I had to fight the urge to walk over and haul her into my arms. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see your folks,” I said and forced myself to turn my back on her. “I hadn’t seen them in a while.”

Why wasn’t she at work? Why was she home? Wasn’t she feeling well? Was she sick? A million questions raced through my mind. Had something happened in DC? Was she hurt? I shook my head and returned my attention to her parents. We made small talk until I heard Harper leave the room.

“Do Harper and Gina hang out together?” I asked as a thought occurred to me.

Darlene shook her head. “Heavens, no. Gina is a very quiet girl. I think Harper overwhelms her. I think that if… if Gavin had come home, I’m sure they would have gotten along just fine. But since the funeral, they seem to be giving one another a wide berth.”

I let that statement settle a bit before I stood. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’ve got some business to attend to.”

“With a job site?” Charles asked as he stood.

Shaking my head, I reached out and shook his hand and then walked around the table to hug Darlene. “No,” I said, making sure that I didn’t sound overly anxious. “It’s a personal matter, but I need to get some calls made before close of business today.” I thanked them for the coffee and promised to come back and visit again soon.

I walked out to my truck and even managed to pull out of the driveway and go down the block before I pulled out my phone. I scrolled through the contacts and hit Seb’s name.

“I swear,” he said when he answered, “at this rate I’m going to assign a private, direct line solely for you.”

“Yeah, yeah… I’m a pain in the ass.” I finally let the urgency I was feeling process.

“Admitting that you have a problem is always the first step.”

“Can we skip the funny banter and be serious?”

Sebastian was silent for a moment. “Okay, sure. What’s going on?”

“I think we have a lead.”

Eleven

Harper

I’d been living in a self-manufactured cocoon for the past four days, but Levi’s appearance downstairs had broken it wide open.

I returned to my room when I left the kitchen and tried to hide myself away again, get swallowed up in the familiar walls, the sound of the television, the blocking of everything that hurt, but it wasn’t any use.

I’d watched Levi drive away earlier, and I stayed by the window, looking outside for a long time. Waiting for… something.

What came was a knock on my bedroom door.

“Come in,” I called, smiling tiredly when I saw my mom at the door.

She didn’t say anything. Just walked in and sat at my desk chair.

I sighed and turned around. “Do you remember when Beaker got trapped in that basement?”

Mom made a face and raised a hand to her chest. “Oh God, don’t remind me. I still have nightmares about that. That stupid dog. And those stupid boys, going after him.”

When I was eight, Gavin, Levi, and our dog had been exploring and came across an abandoned house. While they were nosing around, the stairs to the basement collapsed, sending the dog falling down with no way of getting out.

I’d been following them around, as I often did, and I’d caught up just as the boys were starting down into the basement to rescue the dog. I still remember my panic as I saw them trying to find a way down. Even as a child, I knew how dangerous it was.

“I begged Gavin not to go down,” I said, leaning my head against the cool window. “I was practically screaming at him not to do it.”

“It was a losing battle,” my mom said. “Getting him to see the reason in being cautious always was.”

“He laughed. He laughed and said there was nothing to be afraid of, but if I tried to follow him, he’d make me pay.” The memory ached in my throat, more now than it had ever done before.

My bossy older brother. Who would never boss me again.

My mom didn’t answer, but I could see a similar ache in her expression.

“He always did rush into things without worrying about the consequences,” I murmured, closing my eyes when they started to burn.

After a minute, Mom asked very softly, “Are you going to tell me why you haven’t left the house in four days?”

A surge of emotion rose up without warning, and I had to contort my face to keep from sobbing.

“Please tell me what’s going on,” my mom whispered.

“It just feels like,” I began, forcing my voice to work through the tension of grief in my throat, “…like he died again.” My whole body shook as the sobs wracked me, too strong to possibly control. “Like I lost him all over again.”

There were tears on my mom’s face too when she came over to give me a hug. I shook against her for a minute before she asked, “Will you please tell me what happened in DC?”

I hadn’t told her yet. I hadn’t told anyone.

I straightened up and wiped my eyes with the sleeve of my sweatshirt. “I talked to someone.”

“Who?”

I gave a half shrug. “It’s an anonymous source, so I better not say. But it’s someone who works at the Pentagon.”

My mom looked wary all at once. “What did the source say?”

“That it wasn’t just a random accident that killed Gavin. That someone really messed up. That it’s somebody’s fault that he died.”

“What do you mean? Whose fault? Who messed up?”

“I don’t know. The source either didn’t know or didn’t tell me. But I keep thinking…” I trailed off, unable to even begin speaking the words.

“What?”

The words stuck in my throat again, but I forced them out. “It could have been Gavin who messed up.”

I felt her stiffen beside me. “We don’t know that.”

“I know. We don’t know anything. But what if it was? Is that really a story worth bringing to light? Is that really the answer I’ve been looking for? I don’t even know what I’ve been looking for, but now I wonder if there’s really any reason for my search… other than trying to keep Gavin alive, any way I can.”

Mom let out a long breath and put an arm around me. “It’s your choice. You need to do what you need to do. But if it were up to me, I’d let it go. Nothing you uncover is going to make Gavin less dead, and sometimes things are silenced for good reason.”

Her words rang true, were the final conclusion of the internal journey I’d been on since I returned from DC. But they still hurt. Horribly.

“What if the silencing means that justice isn’t done?” I asked at last.

“Sometimes justice isn’t ours to carry out.”

I thought about that for a minute. Then nodded, understanding what she meant. “I really do think that the truth is something to fight for,” I said then, in a strange, stretched voice. “That the truth is something that shouldn’t be hidden.”

“Yeah.” She squeezed me with her arm. “I agree. But maybe the truth is bigger than we think it is.”

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe exposing the facts about the accident won’t really add to the truth. The truth is that Gavin is dead. He was a good man, a good brother, a good son, a good friend, and he’s gone just the same. The truth is that life is sometimes senseless like that— If there’s a purpose, it’s impossible for us to see. Is exposing whatever facts are hidden about the situation going to change any of that?”

“No.” She was right. I knew she was right. And I suddenly felt better about the decision I’d already made.

I hadn’t realized before I’d already made it.

“The truth is bigger than the facts,” she went on. “Think about it this way. The facts are that that boy who was downstairs earlier has been moving heaven and earth to keep you safe. And he’s been getting on your last nerve in the process.”

“Mom,” I began, feeling suddenly bombarded by the sudden shift in topic.

“Just listen. Those are the facts. Anyone can see them. But the truth is that he’s doing it now because he cares about you so much that he’s torn up over the thought of you being in danger.”

“Mom,” I said again, gulping over a different kind of tension in my throat. “I know you like to see the romantic silver lining everywhere, but a man can be pushy and arrogant and obnoxious without it meaning he has feelings.”

“I know that. I’m sure Levi has been pushy and obnoxious without feelings plenty of times. But that’s not the truth right now.” She gave me an observant look. “I know you think your old parents are too blind and stupid to know what’s going on, but it’s pretty obvious that something’s been going on between the two of you.”

“But that doesn’t mean—”

“I know it doesn’t mean feelings. But that boy downstairs has feelings, and he has them for you. Maybe he doesn’t know what to do with them, but you learn to see things more clearly as you get older. And I can see what’s going on just fine.”

I felt flustered and confused and oddly excited. “I don’t think so. And even if he did, there’s no way I can be in a relationship with someone who needs to control me all the time.”

She looked reflective for a moment. Then said in a different voice, “Remember that day when they were going after Beaker in the basement?”

“Yeah.” I had no idea where she was going with this.

“When you ran home to get me and we got back to that house, Gavin was almost high with excitement. For him it was all about the challenge, overcoming all obstacles, throwing himself into a new battle. For Levi, it was all about Beaker.”

“What?” I felt emotional again and had no idea why.

“He saw exactly what needed to be done, and he made Gavin do it his way. When we got there, he was ordering Gavin around like someone twice his age. He was just as headstrong as Gavin, but he didn’t do it for the challenge. He did it for the dog, because the dog mattered to him. He wasn’t going to let the dog die.”

I frowned. “So I’m Gavin in this comparison, getting bossed around by Levi? Or am I the dog?”

She smiled at me, in a kind of poignant amusement. “Just think about it.”

She left me to my room then and, with nothing else to do, I did think about it.

***

I finally left the house that evening. Just to go to the store, but since it was the first outing I’d made in days, it seemed momentous.

I felt a little better, now that I’d made the decision to keep what I knew about the accident silenced. Like I could finally move on. So, on my way back from the store, I got the sudden urge to do something productive. I drove over to the newspaper offices to pick up some notes for a story I’d left on my desk, after having scrawled them on a notepad there.

I could go two ways to get to the office from the store. Both were about the same distance.

One way passed Levi’s apartment building.

I ended up taking that route, without even consciously thinking it through. I certainly wasn’t going to stop and say “hello,” and I could hardly expect him to be outside the building at exactly the time I passed by, but something still compelled me to look over when I drove by his building.

He wasn’t in the parking lot. Obviously. Nor was he hanging out his window with a banner that said, “Harper, I’m here! Thanks for driving by.”

He was probably sitting in front of his television or hanging out with friends.

Or maybe on a date.

He was young, hot, virile, and eligible. Nothing was holding him back.

Whatever we’d been to each other had never been serious. And whatever it had been was now over.

It was just over.

I’d just been crying a little while ago, so it didn’t take much to push me into it again. For some reason the idea of Levi being out of my life for good now burned in my eyes, tightened in my throat, shook in my shoulders.

Stopped at a traffic light a few blocks from his apartment building, I cried for a few seconds. I kept telling myself there was no reason for it, but the mental pep talk doesn’t really work when you’re emotionally battered.

Maybe it had been short-lived. Maybe it had just been sex. Maybe I was a fool for ever thinking it could be anything more.

But it had felt real, and now it was gone.

It felt like too much was gone.

After a minute, I turned my head when a car drove up next to me to wait at the light too.

I froze when I saw Levi in his dark pickup truck. It was like my reflections had magically conjured his presence.

He’d seen me too. He must have recognized my car, even as he was pulling up beside me. He still needed to shave—just as he had when I’d seen him without warning in my parents’ kitchen. In the streetlights and the light from his dashboard, his eyes were eerily dark.

He looked tired. Battered. Exactly as I felt.

We stared at each other for a long stretch of time, and I couldn’t look away. Something shuddered in the space between us where our gazes met. It was loss and understanding and resignation and regret and resentment. All of them at once.

Then I literally jumped when a car honked from behind me, and I turned forward to see that the light was green.

I started off immediately, flushing from my emotional response to seeing Levi.

There were things that happened that you wish hadn’t occurred. There were people you lost that you wish you’d been able to keep. That was life. Everything that was wrong in the world couldn’t always be fixed.

No use to get hung up on it. I had a job I loved, and that was something I could pour myself into. I needed to focus on that right now.

Gavin was gone, and he wasn’t coming back. Not even uncovering answers could change that. Levi was gone, and he wasn’t coming back. Brooding about what I was missing wouldn’t accomplish anything at all.

I’d go get my notes. Start to work on a new story.

I could be me again—just a little wiser now.

I made it to the office, let myself in, grabbed my notes, and was back in the parking lot, heading to my car, in no time flat.

The parking lot had been empty when I’d arrived, as was expected at this time of night. But there was another car now parked next to mine. A small, inexpensive import. Red. It was vaguely familiar, but I had no idea why.

When Gina got out of the driver’s side as I approached, I realized why the car had seemed familiar.

“Hey, Gina,” I greeted her, smiling but feeling a little disoriented by her sudden appearance. “What are you doing here?”

“I saw your car.”

“Okay.” I frowned, walking over to the far side of my car so I could have a conversation with her since she seemed to want one. “How is everything going?”

“Why do you have someone investigating me?”

I blinked. “What are you talking about?”

“This afternoon. Someone started asking people about me. Why did you do it?” Gina had always been kind of weird and needy, but her expression was different now than usual. She looked tense, on edge, and there was something almost wild in her eyes, visible even in the dim light.

There weren’t a lot of lights in the parking lot.

“I didn’t do anything. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I kept my voice natural, but my heartbeat had started to pick up. There was no definite reason for feeling nervous. Just that Gina wasn’t acting like normal, and it was sending out weird vibes.

“Don’t lie to me.” Her voice got a little louder, and she took a step closer to me. “You’ve always hated me.”

I almost sputtered in surprise. “I’ve never hated you. Where is this coming from?”

“You’ve always resented my relationship with Gavin. You’ve always hated me for taking him away from you.”

I stared blindly, my heart racing now. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t reasonable. This wasn’t normal behavior. But it took me so by surprise that I could barely process it, much less think of a way to handle it.

My first instinct was to say that Gina didn’t have it in her to take Gavin away from me, but fortunately, I curbed that instinct before the words came out. “I’ve never resented you. I promise, Gina.” I started walking around my car, deciding that ending this weird conversation was the best option. “I’m kind of in a hurry tonight, but maybe we can get together later this week. Have lunch or something. And work this out.”

I’d almost made it to my door when Gina was suddenly right in front of me. She stepped in toward me, trapping me against the car. “What are you planning?” she demanded, her voice almost shrill. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’ve been up to. Trashing Gavin’s memory and making it all about you. Talking about him on the news as if he loved you more than me.”

I gaped, unable to say anything through my astonishment.

“I’m not going to let you trash him so you can spread your legs for his best friend!”

Okay, the astonishment cleared enough for me to be terrified. This wasn’t the Gina I’d always known. This Gina was quite clearly unhinged. She’d always been a little obsessed with Gavin, and that obsession must have taken a new form after his death.

All this clicked in my mind in the three seconds it took me to figure out what I needed to do.

I pushed her away and clicked my car unlocked. I had the door open when she grabbed me and pulled me away from the car.

She literally pulled me away. She’s about six inches taller than me and is no lightweight. I stumbled and managed to right myself, but then she grabbed my arm and twisted.

I had just never been exposed to physical violence before, and the shock of it was almost as strong as the pain. But I reacted immediately, instinctively. I pulled back my free arm and levered it up in a sharp jab. It didn’t connect perfectly, kind of glancing off her jaw since she was moving, but it was enough.

She made a huff of sound at the impact and loosened her hold on my arm.

I pulled away immediately and kicked out with my right leg in a kickboxing move I’d practiced hundreds of time.

It didn’t go exactly as I’d practiced. In fact, I pulled a muscle in my inner thigh so painfully my eyes blurred. But the blow sent her backward, falling onto the ground on her butt.

I scrabbled toward the car, wanting only to get inside with the door closed and locked. I’d actually gotten my hand on the door when Gina screeched, “Stop!” from behind me.

When someone screeches at you like that, you can’t help but look behind to see why.

I glanced over my shoulder, still grappling with the door, and then I jerked to a halt.

Gina had a gun, and she was aiming it directly at me.

So I froze.

Maybe, theoretically, I could have gotten into the seat, closed and locked the door, and driven away without getting shot. But a pointed gun will generally stop you from taking such risks.

I stood completely still, my hand still clenched on the door, and I gazed at the muzzle.

I don’t know anything about guns, so I have no idea what kind it was. I had to assume it was loaded, and that was all that mattered to me.

“What do you want?” I asked breathlessly, trying to sort through the chaotic jumble in my head to figure out the best strategy for dealing with this.

“I want Gavin back.” Her voice was cold and uncontrolled both. Somehow.

“So do I,” I admitted. “So do I.”

“He was mine. He wanted to be with me. And you always stood in the way.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” I sounded far more reasonable than I felt. My voice was hoarse but wasn’t panicky, the way I felt.

“I mean—” She stopped abruptly when my phone rang from the pocket of my sweatshirt.

I pulled out the phone automatically and saw it was Levi calling. I had no idea why he’d be calling me, but I desperately wanted him to be here right now.

“Don’t answer it!” she exclaimed.

“I’m not. I’m just silencing it.” I didn’t silence the phone. I connected the call and slid it back in my pocket. Then I said, a little more loudly, “I think we could talk about this better if you’d put away the gun. We can go upstairs to my office if you want to talk somewhere other than this parking lot.”

I felt strangely better, knowing Levi might be able to hear what I said.

“I’m not stupid,” Gina said. “You can’t trick me. Gavin never saw the truth about you.”

“What truth?”

“That you didn’t want him to be happy. That you wanted to keep him away from me.”

“How did I ever keep you away from him?” I tried to stay calm since I knew I needed to stall as long as possible, but I hurt all over and my heart was pounding so violently I was afraid it would crack my chest.

“I know what you did. I would ask him to hang out with me, and he’d always say he was doing something with you. He had almost no time at home as it was, and then you kept him all to yourself, when you knew I was the only woman he loved.”

There was no arguing with irrationality like this, so I just said whatever I could to keep her happy. “I know he loved you. He talked about you all the time.”

Her eyes widened. “He did?” She sounded so young, so needy.

“Yes. He did. He loved you more than anything. You were always the first in his heart.”

She sniffed and wiped at her eye with one hand, but the other never wavered with the gun. “I knew it. I knew it. He pretended… but I knew it.”

“He loved you. And I know he’d want you to have his journal. He kept all his private thoughts about you in it. Do you want it?”

If Levi had heard the first things I’d said, then surely he’d be on his way over here now. He hadn’t been more than a few minutes away when I’d seen him earlier.

Damned obstinate man. Hovering whenever I didn’t want him there and then absent when I really needed him.

Typical Levi.

“A journal?” She sniffed again and wiped at her nose with the back of her hand.

“Yeah. It’s at the house. We can head over there, and I can give it to you.”

She looked like she might be wavering, and I started to get hopeful.

Maybe too hopeful. “If you can just put away the gun, then I can—”

“No,” she interrupted sharply. “I know you’re always trying to trick me.”

“I’ve never tried—”

“You have too! Now get into my car.”

I looked over at her little red car, and I knew I was never going to get in. If I did, I would never get out. I knew it. “Let’s take my car,” I said, mostly just stalling and trying to think of something to do. “It will be better—”

“No! Get into my car right now!”

“Where are we going?”

“None of your business. Just do what I say.”

I walked slowly around my car toward hers. She was right behind me, the gun still pointed.

I knew one thing for sure. There was no way in hell I was going to get into her car.

And Levi wasn’t going to come.

So I did the only thing left to do. I swung around without warning, using my bag as a weapon. I clobbered her with it, knocking her gun hand down in the process.

She screamed in fury, and I raced back for my car.

I was on the far side when I heard the shot. I threw myself on the pavement just as I heard a second gunshot. My hands and knees burned from being all scraped up, but I didn’t think I’d been hit since nothing hurt enough for that.

I panted on the ground, momentarily hidden by the car. But she was just on the other side, and she’d obviously gotten control of her gun again.

I’d jumped to my feet, thinking vaguely about tackling her when I heard a different sound.

A car.

Tires squealed as a pickup barreled into the parking lot, and I looked over just as it lurched to a stop just a few feet away.

It was like a miracle. Levi was there—looking urgent and angry and determined and sexy and tired somehow.

He swung his door open and jumped out before the vehicle seemed to have fully stopped. Then he was on Gina, grabbing her gun, holding her arms so he was completely in control of her.

She might be a lot bigger than me, but he was bigger than her.

And he’d come when I needed him after all.

“Are you okay?” he demanded, holding Gina easily as she swore at him fiercely and struggled. “Harper, talk to me. Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” My throat was raw, and there was blood on my hands and knees from the fall, and I felt like my knees would buckle where I stood. Plus the ankle I’d twisted last week was still kind of hurting.

And Gina was mentally unbalanced, but no one had known it until tonight.

“Shut up,” he bit out—to Gina. Then his dark eyes raked over me, searching for damage. “Harper, are you really okay?”

I supported myself on the side of the car since I really didn’t think I could stay standing. “We should call the police.”

“I already did, on my way over. They’ll be here any minute.”

“Okay.”

Gina was fighting him now so wildly that he was having to struggle to keep hold of her without physically harming her. “Be still,” he demanded in an authoritative voice that brooked no argument.

She went limp and started to cry.

I sighed, deciding that now—finally—it was really over.

It was mostly over, but the aftermath took a really long time. The police did come, including Randy, who kept saying I’d done a great job handling it. They asked me a bunch of questions, and then an ambulance came, although there was absolutely no reason for one. They patched me up and said I’d be fine.

I didn’t feel fine. I wanted to just go home and forget this whole mess had ever happened, but I wasn’t allowed to go home yet.

Levi and I had to go the police station to file reports and answer more questions.

So it was more than an hour later when I was sitting in the station beside Levi. I was so exhausted by this time that I was limp, and I didn’t pull away when he put his arm around me.

It didn’t feel intimate or affectionate. It felt strong and supportive, and that was what I needed.

We hadn’t said anything to each other. Not really. Not since the police had arrived.

“Thanks for coming,” I said after a while since I really did appreciate it and felt like it needed to be said.

“What else would I do?”

I didn’t know how to answer that.

“I was calling because I’d gotten a PI to look into Gina and he uncovered all kinds of shit. I was trying to warn you.” He gave a bitter huff. “Not quite soon enough.”

“Better late than never. I had no idea she was so on the edge mentally.”

“I think it was only recently that she crossed the line. She was the one doing the death threats, you know.”

“Yeah.” I relaxed against him, his body warm and hard and him.

He didn’t say anything else, so I assumed the conversation was over. It was fine. This was as close as we were ever going to get.

Then he asked without warning, “So what did you find out in DC?”

“What makes you think I found out anything?”

“Just a guess.”

“I found out a few things.”

“And?”

“And nothing. I’m not doing anything with it.”

I thought my response must have surprised him because I felt his body tighten briefly. “Why?”

“Do I owe you an answer to that question?”

“Maybe not. But I want to know anyway.”

I considered that for a while and decided there was no reason not to tell him. “No good would come from bringing this out. To me or anyone else. I don’t want to do something… something big like that for no other reason than trying to resurrect a corpse. I just don’t want to do that.”

I heard him release a long breath. “Yeah.”

And that was it. We didn’t say anything else.

***

Two weeks later, things should have felt normal again. Gina had been arrested and was getting professional help. I was back at work and looking for another cause that needed my attention, something I could commit to that would genuinely accomplish good in the world. And the scratches on my hands and knees were mostly healed, as was the pulled muscle in my leg and my twisted ankle.

And I missed Levi. More than I could have imagined.

I hadn’t talked to him since that night. If he’d called me, I’m sure I wouldn’t have hung up on him, but he didn’t call. He knew as well as I did that we had no future—not between us.

He lived a life he could perfectly control, never letting himself be vulnerable or open, never trusting someone with his heart. Even his apartment testified to this. Stark and barren and impersonal.

And I lived a life that refused to be controlled.

Those two lives could never come together.

So the fact that I was still thinking about him, worrying about him, wanting him—both emotionally and physically—was ludicrous.

But there it was. And I couldn’t talk myself out of it.

I was walking out of the coffee shop with a coffee for me and a chai latte for Jack when I nearly collided with Levi on the sidewalk.

He obviously wasn’t working on the project site nearby. He was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, but he didn’t appear to have been doing manual labor.

He was walking a dog. A smallish terrier.

I was so astonished I stared down at the dog.

When my eyes lifted at last, I saw him giving me a searching, almost questioning look.

“Whose dog is that?” I blurted out, without even a greeting.

“Mine.” He made a motion with his hand, and the dog moved closer to his heel.

“You got a dog?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“He was a stray.”

That didn’t answer the question. I couldn’t believe he would have adopted a dog. It didn’t seem Levi-like at all, and I had no idea what would explain the change. “Oh,” I finally said.

His searching eyes and familiar face were too troubling, too confusing. I lowered my eyes and mumbled, “I better get going. I’ll see you around.”

So I moved on physically, walking away from him. But I definitely didn’t move on mentally. I kept thinking about him, wondering why he’d decided to commit to a dog, wondering why he’d made such a change.

Maybe he was settling into his life here. But that didn’t mean anything had changed about his feelings for me or the possibility of our ever being together.

So there was no reason—absolutely no reason—for my heart to flutter like it was.

Damned heart. Always fluttering when there was no call for it.

Twelve

Levi

Spike tilted his head and looked at me like I was crazy. I was beginning to think I was. Sitting out on the front steps of my apartment building, I waited for the furniture delivery. I had slept all of three hours in the past three days as I put all my energy into getting the place painted before the furniture arrived.

It was time.

It was something that Harper had said over a month ago, and she had been right. I wasn’t really living. I wasn’t really getting involved. I was alive, but I was simply going through the motions.

Not anymore.

This may not have been the life that I’d imagined for myself, but this was the life that I was given, and unlike Gavin, I had the opportunity to actually live it. To have a future. I’d be the world’s biggest jackass to let it all pass me by while I hid myself away and pouted because things didn’t go like I’d planned.

I heard the truck approaching and stood up. My clothes were covered in paint, and when I looked down at Spike, I noticed more than one spot of blue on him. “Sorry, Bud,” I told him with a shrug as I jogged down the steps to meet the truck.

I was signing paperwork and talking to the movers when I saw a vehicle slowing down on the street.

Harper.

Her windows were rolled up, but I could see her expression pretty clearly through them. Shock. Her jaw was open, and her eyes went wide before narrowing.

I loved that look.

“Excuse me,” I said to the movers before walking over to the car. Behind me, Spike barked. “Stay,” I commanded over my shoulder and gave him a stern look before closing the distance between myself and the side of Harper’s car. She rolled down the window, and I leaned in. “Hey.”

“Hi,” she said a little distractedly. “What’s going on? Someone moving into the building?” I nodded. “Anyone you know?”

“Yeah. Me.”

She gave me the same look Spike had given me a few minutes earlier. “I figured it was time to stop living out of boxes.” I tried to sound casual, as if I’d thought of this all on my own.

Leaning in a little closer, Harper sniffed the air and made a face. “Is that paint I smell?”

I nodded. “I figured a fresh coat of paint couldn’t hurt.” I heard the sliding door of the delivery truck open and glanced over my shoulder to see the crew stepping up the ramp to start unloading. I took one last, long look at Harper and smiled. For the first time in a long time, I felt at peace. “I better go. I need to direct traffic and make sure Spike doesn’t get in the way.”

“Spike?” she asked in confusion.

I motioned over my shoulder to where Spike was sitting. “My dog.”

“That’s a pretty big name for such a little dog,” she said with a hint of a smile.

“I figured it would be good for his Napoleon complex. No need to emphasize his unfortunate size.”

“So being small is unfortunate?”

I couldn’t help but smile. Would she forever make everything a debate? “Some of the best things in life come in small packages,” I said as I straightened and then ducked back down and looked into the car. “Or so I’ve been told.”

Without another word, I turned and walked back over to the truck and called out for Spike. Together we stood to the side and let the crew get the first load of furniture off the truck. The need to chase after her was so strong that I almost forgot about the furniture.

“Hey, Mister,” one of the movers called out. “Can you get that door for us?”

And just like that my focus was back.

There would be time for chasing. Later.

****

“Are you sure about this? Do you need me to stay and lend a hand?”

One of the things I loved most about my dad was that he always wanted to help but still left the decision up to me. I had to get some practice on how he did that. It would definitely come in handy. “Thanks, but I think I’ve got this one.” I smiled at him, feeling like I was close to him again. “That is, if you think you can trust me.”

“Levi, there isn’t a person alive that I trust more.” He took one last look at the building in front of us and put a strong, reassuring hand on my shoulder. “I know you’re going to do something great.” And with that, he turned and walked back to his truck and drove away.

I was glad for the vote of confidence, but the reality was I was scared shitless. The run-down building had been an eyesore in town for more than a decade, and here I was, volunteering my time and energy to renovate it and turn it into a homeless shelter. It had never been the construction business I was opposed to. It was the sense of not making a difference.

Transforming this old building was going to make a difference.

My father’s company had donated most of the supplies. The community had held a fund-raiser. Hell, even Sebastian and his family had made a substantial donation to it.

The local newspaper was sending a reporter to cover the ground-breaking.

As if on cue, emerging through the small crowd of onlookers and volunteers, Harper appeared. She was reading her notes and almost walked right into me. When she stopped and looked up, her mouth formed a perfect O. “Levi? What are you doing here?”

I chuckled. “Didn’t you do your research?” I watched as she bristled at what she considered to be an insult.

“Well… I…” she began.

“Easy there, Scoop. I’m just kidding.” I waved to several people walking by before returning my attention to Harper. “I’m heading up this project.”

She looked at me quizzically. “But… I don’t understand. There was no mention of your father’s company doing this.”

“His company isn’t doing this. I am.” I crossed my arms across my chest and let that statement sink in.

“So you have your own construction company now?”

I shook my head. “No. I have a need to do something productive. This building has been rotting away for far too long, and there’s a need for it. I figured, why not do something about it?”

“You?” she asked with disbelief. “You’re going to transform this building all by yourself?”

I motioned to the crowd of people milling about. “Me and about fifty volunteers. It’s not going to happen overnight, but I’m overseeing the project, and I’m thankful to each and every one of these people who are willing to give up their Saturday to help out.” I nodded toward the notepad in her hand. “Aren’t you going to write any of this down?”

Harper looked at me blankly for a moment, and just when the fog seemed to clear and she had pen poised to paper, one of the volunteers walked over. “Actually,” I began, “why don’t you talk to Mike here.” I nudged the man in front of me. “He’s been working with me on the plans and would probably make for a better interview than me.” She looked ready to argue, but I turned and walked away and called out that we were ready to get started.

***

My entire body ached from head to toe. There was something to be said for how gratifying demolition could be, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt like a son of a bitch. It took four full days to get the entire building down to the studs and cleaned out, and now as I sat on my new sofa on a Tuesday night, all I could think was that I must be getting old.

I never used to hurt like this from a little labor.

I leaned my head back against the cushions and kept a tight grip on the beer in my hand. Spike let out a little whine beside me, and I groaned. “Didn’t we just go out?” He whined again. Peering out of one eye, I looked at my watch and noticed that it had been an hour since our walk. “Damn it, Spike,” I grumbled, forcing myself to stand up. “I’m going to have to limit your water intake at this rate.”

He giddily danced around me. Although I wanted to remind him that we were guys and guys don’t dance, I couldn’t help but smile. The damned dog had worked his way into my life and into my heart and made the place feel a little more like a home. It was a good feeling to have someone waiting at home to greet me at the door. “Come on,” I said as I reached for his leash and hooked up his harness.

Our usual route had us turning to the right when we came out of the building and going around the block. It wasn’t a particularly long walk, but tonight it felt like a damn mile. My legs were killing me, I was starving, and I needed about twenty-four hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Spike pranced along and christened just about every tree that we came to. As we finally made our way back to the front of the building, I stopped. There, sitting on the front steps, was Harper.

My heart rate kicked up more than it should have at the sight of her, and I suddenly felt a bit more alive than I had just minutes ago. She stood as we approached. She was wearing a flowery sundress with a white sweater, and in her hands she held a plant.

“Hi,” I said as Spike and I came to a stop in front of her.

“Hi,” she said, her smile warm and bright and welcoming.

I drank in the sight of her. With our history, it seemed safer to stay silent. The minute I opened my mouth, I tended to piss her off. Unfortunately, my curiosity got the better of me. “What brings you by?”

She held out the plant. “A housewarming present.”

I quirked a brow at her. “A what?”

True to form, she rolled her eyes, but this time she did it with a smile. “A housewarming present,” she repeated. “It’s a gift for your new place.”

Now I was confused. “But my place isn’t new. I’ve lived here for months.”

“True, but it seems like you finally decided to move in.”

I remembered our conversation from the day my furniture arrived. “Would you like to come up?” I didn’t want her to get the wrong idea. “You know, to see the new furniture and all, I mean.”

Her smile deepened. “Sure. Why not?”

During the entire exchange, Spike had sat there like a little gentleman. It was almost unnerving. It was as if he was aware that this was possibly an important moment. I tugged slightly on his leash, opened the door to the building for Harper, and followed her inside and up to my apartment.

I felt oddly nervous. Would she like it? Did I do it right? I unlocked the door and once again followed her inside. She stopped about three feet in and seemed to look everywhere at once. I wanted to ask what she saw and had to bite my tongue to keep from speaking.

“Wow,” she finally said.

Wow? Wow? What did that mean? Wow, this is great. Or, wow, what was he thinking? “Do you like it?” I finally asked, hating how needy I sounded.

“Oh, Levi,” she said in awe, walking farther into the apartment. “It’s incredible. I can’t believe what you did with the place.”

At the time, it didn’t seem so bad, but once I started splashing paint on the walls, I realized how bleak it had been before. Now with warm color, the place felt homey. The furniture wasn’t simply functional, it was big and comfortable. Spike was particularly fond of the throw pillows on the couch and liked to use them as chew toys.

Obedience school was definitely in our future.

“It’s just some paint,” I said, feeling oddly self-conscious.

Harper turned to me, the plant still in her hands. “No, it’s more than that,” she said. “It’s totally transformed, like someone really lives here.” She looked around the room and placed the plant on the windowsill before coming back to stand in front of me.

“Thanks for the plant,” I said, busying myself with unhooking Spike’s leash and harness before standing and shoving my hands in my pockets to keep from reaching out and touching her.

“Thanks for inviting me up to see the place,” she said and then chewed her bottom lip. I wanted to do that for her. She took a step forward, and we were practically toe-to-toe. “And thank you for being there for me. With Gina.”

I shrugged. “We’ve already covered that, Harper. You don’t need to thank me.”

Looking down at the floor, she seemed to fidget. Her hands gripped at the skirt of her dress as she looked back up at me. “I’m sorry that I didn’t realize you were trying to help.”

“When?”

“All the times. Ever since you came home, you’ve tried to look out for me. Yeah, you should have been less pushy about it and tried to respect my wishes, but I still should have known what you were doing. I should have trusted you. Trusted your instincts.”

“I definitely could have gone about it all with less attitude,” I admitted, glad to get the words said at last. “I should have respected your feelings more and not gone behind your back. I’m sorry if I made you feel like you couldn’t take care of yourself.”

We stood and stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity. “Obviously, I couldn’t do everything on my own,” she said at last. “I know that Gavin would be thankful that you were there for me. He always considered you his brother, and I really do appreciate that you wanted to be there for me when he couldn’t.”

Unable to help myself, I reached out and gently cupped her cheek. “I wanted to be there for you… because of you. I may have tried at first to tell myself that I was doing it for Gavin, that you were just a duty to me. But the truth is, Harper, I wanted to be there for you. I wanted to take care of you.”

She took a shaky breath. “Oh.”

My fingers caressed her face, and I let out a breath when she leaned into my hand. “I still want to take care of you.” The admission slipped out before I could stop it, and Harper’s eyes went wide.

“I’m not in danger anymore.”

With my free arm, I pulled her flush against me. “That’s not why I want to take care of you,” I said gruffly. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

“I don’t only want to be there if there’s danger. I want to be there to laugh with you, to hear about your day and about your causes.” She tried to pull away at that last one, but I held her tight. “You showed me all that I was missing in my life, and now I want to share my life with you. Am I too late?”

She shook her head, her eyes looking suspiciously emotional. “No. I was afraid that I was too late.”

“How?” I asked. “How would that even be possible?”

“I kept pushing you away, and then you seemed to be moving forward with your life. Without me.”

“Sweetheart,” I said, leaning my forehead against hers, “I was just making sure I had my shit together before coming for you. You deserve someone who can take care of you and who is willing to work alongside you. I finally feel like I can do that. You deserve to have a man who knows how to give you the space you need to be who you are.”

“I really wanted you to be that man, Levi,” she said softly and melted against me.

She felt so good in my arms that I felt like I finally had honestly and truly come home.

“I am, Harper,” I said and tucked a finger under her chin to force her to meet my gaze. “I am.” And then I was done talking— I was more of a man of action. I bent my head toward hers and brushed my lips against hers.

My body no longer ached from the work I’d been doing. In fact, I was anxious to spend the rest of the night showing Harper all the ways that I was the man for her.

Thirteen

Harper

I’d overslept, so I rushed through drying my hair.

I was pulling on my bra and panties in the bathroom when I heard Levi talking in the bedroom.

I listened and realized he was talking to someone about his project on the homeless shelter. It seemed kind of early to be calling someone about flooring, but his hours were never regular.

I smiled as I listened since he sounded so intent and professional.

He was good at his job, and I knew how committed he was to this project. It made me happy since it gave him a channel for all his drive and energy and purpose.

I just hoped he’d be able to find something long-term after this project was over. Working for his father just wouldn’t do it.

After I put my underwear on, I stepped out from the bathroom to get my clothes and saw that Levi was sitting on the edge of the bed, still wearing nothing but his underwear as he had his conversation about flooring.

His profile looked so serious and focused as he spoke, and his chest so gorgeous and masculine that I stopped and just stared at him for a moment.

I experienced a surge of almost possessive satisfaction as I watched. He was just so amazing. I’d never met another man like him.

Plus he looked scrumptious without a shirt on.

Impulsively, as soon as he hung up, I ran for the bed and tackled him from the side.

He grunted in surprise, dropped the phone, and got pushed down onto the bed with the force of my tackle. Almost immediately, however, he used his strength to turn me over so I was sprawled out on my back and he was on top of me.

He gave me an exaggerated frown. “What did I do to deserve that?”

I couldn’t help but beam up at him. “You were just too adorable to resist.”

“Sitting there on the phone? What was adorable about that?”

“It just was. Plus you didn’t have a shirt on.”

“So my naked chest prompts unmotivated assaults?” His eyes had been warm, but now they grew even hotter as he gazed down on me.

“Yes. Girls would do it all the time if you went around without a shirt. It’s just that adorable.”

“Is it really?” He leaned down to kiss me, surprisingly gentle for the teasing tone of the conversation.

“Well,” I said breathlessly when he pulled his lips away, “I adore it.”

He kissed me again, and this time I wrapped my arms around his neck and arched up into his weight. We’d been dating now for a few months, but every day I seemed to want him more. He broke the kiss just enough to murmur against my mouth, “What else do you adore?”

“That’s a shameless plea for more compliments.”

He pushed his pelvis into mine, and I could feel he was starting to get hard. “So you aren’t going to give me any more?”

“I adore your shoulders too,” I admitted, running my palms over the broad breadth of them and then sliding down the length of his spine. “And your back. Very yummy.”

He rewarded this piece of honesty with another kiss, this one longer and deeper. His tongue stroked the inside of my lips, the roof of my mouth, and the line of my tongue until I was flushed and squirming. “And what else do you adore?”

I slid my hands down to his waistband and then underneath so I could palm the curve of his tight ass. “I adore this.” I squeezed him hard. “No man should have such an irresistible butt.”

He chuckled and kissed me again. This time, when he finally broke away, I was rocking up into him and wrapping my leg around his hips.

“Anything else you adore?” he asked, his voice a little thicker now.

I squeezed my hand between our bodies until I could wrap my fingers around his erection, which had been growing against me for the past few minutes. “I might adore this most of all.”

He gave me a wicked grin. “That’s what I thought.”

“So are you going to do anything with it?”

“I thought you were running late for work.”

“I am. But maybe you can be really quick.”

Levi laughed again, warm and fond, and then let out a hoarse huff as I played with the tip of his shaft. I loved that I could please him so much, that I could see each sensation he felt in his expression.

After a minute, he took my hands in his and raised them above my head, stretching my body out taut beneath him. His eyes were like dark, smoldering embers as he raked his gaze up and down the length of me. I was still wearing my little pink bra and panty set, but I felt completely naked, completely exposed, completely known beneath his gaze. “Don’t you want to hear what I adore?” he asked, gravel in his voice.

I was breathing fast and shallow, so aroused I could hardly hold myself still. It was not at all how I would have expected to spend a Friday morning, but I wasn’t about to complain. “Yes. What do you adore?”

He lifted a hand to my mouth and gently stroked my lips with his fingertips. “I love these.”

The little caress was tender but strangely erotic. After a minute, I was clenching my fingers in the bedding, trying to keep my hands up where he’d placed them earlier. My arousal was pulsing, but I managed not to grind up against his hips.

“And I love this spot here,” he murmured, moving his fingers away from my mouth at last. He trailed them down to the hollow of my neck, where my pulse was fluttering wildly. He stroked my throat with the same light caress, focusing on the sensitive spot just at the base until I was tossing my head back and forth from growing need.

After a long minute of delicious torture, he trailed his fingers down to my breasts, still confined in the satin of my bra. He ran one finger up over the curve of one and then down to the cleft between them. And then back up along the other. I pushed up toward his touch, but it was never anything but a delicate sensation. “I particularly love these. And I love how these tighten when I touch them.” As evidence of this, he adjusted his hand so he could roll one thumb over the nipple, stimulating nerve endings that shot right down between my legs.

I gasped and arched up. I knew my nipple tightened obediently as soon as he fondled it, even through my bra.

“Look at that,” he said hoarsely. “Beautiful.”

“What else do you love?” I panted, dying for him to relieve the ache of arousal. I still managed to hold my arms up above my head, but I couldn’t keep from clawing at the covers.

Levi seemed to be enjoying my debauched state since his hot eyes kept raking up and down over my face and body. He was almost smiling as one finger trailed down the middle of my belly until it reached the satin of my panties.

He stroked my clit, very lightly, over the fabric. “I love this.” When he intensified the pressure just slightly, I made a choked sound of pleasure and bucked up toward his hand. “I love how out of control it makes you.”

I was out of control. I whimpered and tried to push up against his fingers, but the touch was always too light to bring relief.

“I love to see you this way,” he murmured.

“I need to come so bad,” I begged, my eyes nearly rolling back in my head at the delicious torment of his featherlight touch. “Levi, please.”

In response to my words, he slipped his hand beneath the fabric of my panties and lowered his face to take one of my breasts in his mouth over my bra. “And I love,” he murmured over my breast, “how you totally come apart for me when I pleasure two of my favorite spots at once.”

He suckled my nipple through my bra and slipped two fingers inside me, and it took only a minute for me to do exactly what he said. I completely came apart. I fumbled for purchase in the bedding as I rocked through a hard orgasm.

“Beautiful,” he murmured, smiling as he raised his head. “I love how responsive you are. How easily you come for me.”

The truth was I loved it too—I’d never come so quickly for any other man—but I couldn’t let him sound quite so arrogant. I was gasping in the aftermath of my climax, but I manage to find enough of my wit to frown and ask, “You’re not really saying I’m easy, are you?”

“Never.” His smile broadened. Then he adjusted his fingers inside me—I was very wet and tight after my orgasm—and pushed them up against my g-spot. I gasped at the sensation and then gasped again when he lowered his mouth again to give my sensitized nipple a little tug with his teeth.

Another climax sliced through me so quickly I cried out loudly in surprise and pleasure both.

“You’re not easy at all,” he said with grin.

I was so overwhelmed with two hard orgasms in a row that I was limp and breathless, muttering out a series of sounds that vaguely resembled, “Oh God.”

He laughed out loud and pulled his hand out of my panties, slipping the two wet fingers into his mouth and sucking. When he’d finished, he said, “And I love how I can make you feel so good you lose the power of speech… every once in a while.”

When I regained my senses again, I scowled at him, feigning an annoyance I didn’t at all feel. “Arrogant ass.”

“You know you love my arrogant ass.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, and I moved my hands at last, reaching up to pull him down on top of me. “I do love your arrogant ass.”

He kissed me hard, and I fumbled at his underwear until I’d freed his erection. Then I was spreading my legs for him, and he was moving aside my panties, and he was all the way inside me, and it was so good I was gasping even more.

He took me hard and fast, unleashing his own need in a way that made both of us grunt and pant. I was clawing at his back and ass, and he was shaking the bed with the force of his thrusts. I felt the pressure of another climax tightening inside me, and I bucked my hips up toward his thrusts to chase it.

Then he let out a hoarse groan as he jerked a few times against me. I knew he was close, so I writhed against him, sobbing out as my orgasm broke just before his.

We were both loud and uncontrolled as we gave in to the pleasure, and I pulled him down on top of me afterward, loving how his body started to soften, how he pressed little kisses against my mouth, my neck, my cheek.

“I’m going to be late,” I said at last, running my hands down the long line of his back.

“I think that was worth it.”

“Oh, yeah.” I was still breathless and flushed deeply red. My body felt deliciously relaxed, deliciously sated. I kind of wanted to go right to sleep after such a satisfying round of lovemaking and briefly considered calling in sick. “Hell, yeah.”

“Just don’t tell Jack the reason for your lateness.”

“Never.” I giggled as I thought about it. “I’m sorry, boss, but my boyfriend needed an ego fix, so he inflicted erotic torture on me until I came to three screaming orgasms.”

“I’m not sure you were really screaming for any but the last one.” He gave me one more little kiss. “I’ll work on that. Next time, you’ll definitely scream with each one.”

“I can’t wait.”

I was about to push him away since I needed to clean up a bit before dressing and going to work. But his face softened as he gazed down on me and he murmured, “Sweetheart, just so it’s clear. There’s nothing easy about you.”

I was so full of feeling I could hardly contain it. “Same to you. I guess that’s why we’re a perfect match.”

***

That afternoon, I was at my desk, trying to finish up a story on a restoration of a Main Street project that the mayor was advocating, while waiting on hold endlessly on a call for another story.

I finished the Main Street story and still had the phone tucked under my ear when Jack came over. He’d been low-key for most of the week, but something must have stressed him out since the morning since his sleeves were rolled up past his elbows for the first time in several days.

“What are you working on?” he demanded.

“Trying to get someone to talk to me.” I sighed and lowered the phone. “I know there’s dirty business going on in the state legislature, but no one wants to talk to me.”

“Well, you can hardly blame them.”

I ignored this since I knew it wasn’t personal. “I’ll find someone. I might have a new lead, so I’m going to drive out there on Monday.”

“I know corruption in the state legislature is juicy, but you can’t get caught up in it and forget about everything. I need that Main Street story in less than an hour, so hang up until it’s done.”

“It’s already done,” I told him, smiling in pleased satisfaction that I’d predicted his demand and gotten in ahead of him.

He frowned. “I haven’t seen anything.”

“I just now submitted it. Like, when you were walking over here.”

“Oh. Good.” His expression relaxed. “Good. So see what you can find out on the corruption story. What are you waiting for?”

“I’m on it.” I grinned at him, lifting the phone back to my ear. Still on hold. No surprise.

He turned away. Then stopped and glanced back at me. “You’re doing good, kid.”

I felt another wave of satisfaction as I gave him a cheesy thumbs-up sign.

As he walked away, I saw him start to roll back down his sleeves.

***

I called Levi as I drove home after work. It had been a good day, and I wanted to tell him about it. But I was tired, and when I got in the car, I was hit with a familiar kind of poignancy.

I suddenly knew exactly what I wanted to do that night.

Levi would probably still be working, but I called anyway, on the off-chance he’d have his phone on him and be able to talk.

He’d been working really hard lately—for his father and on the homeless shelter. Working hard was good, but I’d started pushing him a little, hoping he’d consider some other options, something else that he could feel was really him.

He hadn’t come up with anything yet, but I knew he was thinking about it.

He answered just as I was about to hang up.

“Hey, baby.” he greeted me. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just kind of…” I trailed off, not sure how to explain my mood. It wasn’t bad or sad or anxious in any way. I just wanted to hear his voice.

He waited a moment and then, when I didn’t finish, prompted, “Just kind of what?”

“I don’t know. When will you be done for the day?”

“We’ve got another thirty or forty minutes. Don’t make anything for dinner. I’ve got something else in mind.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Nothing you need to know.” His voice was almost teasing, but it made me frown anyway.

“I do kind of need to know since, you know, it involves me.”

“You’ll know when you need to know.” His voice was a little less warm.

“I’d like to know now.”

“I’ve made plans for us.” He sounded overly patient, as if he were trying not to get annoyed with me. “Can we leave it at that?”

“You know I don’t like you taking over and deciding things for both of us. I already had something else I wanted to do tonight.”

“What did you want to do?”

“What does it matter? What matters is—” I broke off the words, fighting against the long-standing resistance to being controlled in any way. I knew Levi better than that by now. If he wasn’t telling me something he’d planned for us, there was a good reason—like he’d planned some sort of romantic evening. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t be all snippy. Your plans were probably good.”

“No, it’s fine.” His tone sounded different now—more like him when he was being serious. “They were good plans. I was going to surprise you. But if there’s something else you wanted to do—”

“It’s okay. My thing can be done anytime.”

“What was your thing?”

I sighed, feeling that swell of poignancy again. “I was thinking about going to visit Gavin’s grave. I’ve just been… missing him.”

He paused for a minute. “Then let’s do that. I’d like to do it too. That is, if I’m invited.”

“Of course you’re invited. I was hoping you’d come. But what about your surprise romantic plans?”

“What makes you think my plans were romantic?”

“Oh.” I gave a little laugh. “I just assumed…”

“Uh-huh. I can just imagine all the sappy scenarios you were envisioning. Don’t get your hopes up, princess.”

“Well, after this morning, you’re not going to get laid tonight, so I hope you weren’t planning some sexual escapade.” I made sure he could tell I was teasing from my tone. “I’m sexed out for the day.”

“I bet I could make you change your mind about that.”

I was absolutely positive he could make me change my mind about that, but I wasn’t about to admit it.

“But seriously,” he went on. “Let’s do Gavin’s grave tonight. I’ll change my nonromantic, nonsexual-escapade plans for tomorrow.”

I swallowed over a swell of affection and appreciation for this man. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I’m sure.”

“Thank you.”

“Save it up for tomorrow. You can thank me extra special then.”

***

A couple of hours later, we were standing together next to Gavin’s grave.

The sun had just set, so the graveyard was dark, lit by the cool light of a nearly full moon and a sky full of stars.

Levi wrapped an arm around me, and I leaned against him. I wiped a few tears away, but the grief wasn’t overwhelming. It lingered in my heart like a memory.

“He loved you,” Levi said after we’d stood in silence for a long time. “He loved you like crazy. If he bossed you around, it was only because he loved you.”

“I know.” I looked up at Levi, loving him—his strength, his passion, his courage. And his tender heart. “He loved you too.”

Levi was quiet for a moment before he admitted, “I miss him.”

“Me too.”

He leaned down to kiss me.

“I think he’d be glad we’re together,” I said, wrapping both my arms around him.

“No, he wouldn’t. He would beat me up if I even thought about touching you.”

I giggled. “He would have gotten over that. Then he’d be happy.”

“I hope so.”

After a few minutes, by mutual agreement, we turned to walk away from the quiet grave. “Thank you for changing your plans,” I said as I climbed in the car.

“Of course. Just be preparing yourself for the night of your life tomorrow.”

“I’m prepared. I’m expecting champagne and oysters and rose petals and candlelight.”

He snorted. “You’ll get cheap beer and like it. What kind of a man do you think you’re screwing?”

I laughed, the weight of poignancy from earlier disappearing completely. I reached over to cup his face with one hand, and I knew he saw the deep feeling in my eyes because his face transformed with a similar softness for just a moment.

Then he cleared his throat and started the car. “Since you’ve obviously forgotten, I’ll have to remind you what kind of man you’re screwing just as soon as we get home.”

“Dream on, buddy. I already told you I’m all sexed out for today, and you’re not getting laid tonight.”

He gave me a smug smile. “We’ll see.”

So I like to believe I’m a woman of principle, and I would never cave to an arrogant man, no matter how hot he happened to be.

But occasionally an exception had to be made.

Levi did end up getting laid that night after all.

Epilogue

Levi

“Another round?” I asked.

Everyone spoke up in agreement, so I motioned to the waitress to bring over another pitcher of beer before relaxing back in my seat, looking at the three guys who would always be my best friends.

“So how’s Harper doing?” Sebastian asked.

I couldn’t help the smile that crept across my face. “She’s good.”

“Aw, would you look at that,” Cole said as he reached over and slapped me on the shoulder. “I think he’s blushing. Isn’t he cute?”

I wanted to tell him to shut up, but the truth was, ever since Harper had shown up at my place with the plant, I couldn’t seem to stop smiling. Life was good, and I didn’t doubt for one second that I was blushing. Just thinking about Harper and how we’d been reconnecting with one another was more than enough reason to blush.

“Leave him alone,” Declan said. “It’s obvious that he’s having a moment. Chicks do that kind of thing.”

They all broke out in laughter, and even I joined in. Yeah, I was having a moment, and I was okay with it. I planned on having a lot more moments with Harper. A lifetime of them. A fresh pitcher appeared, and Sebastian did the honors of refilling everyone’s mugs.

“How’s the building going?” he asked.

I took a drink before answering. “It’s going great. We were fortunate that there weren’t any structural issues, and all the drywall is up, and the painters start on Monday. If everything keeps going at this pace, we’ll be having a ribbon cutting in about three weeks.”

“That’s great,” Seb said. “Really. I’m glad that you found something you’re enjoying.”

“Other than Harper,” Cole added with a laugh.

I almost reached over the table to deck him, but I chose to take the high road. “Yeah, doing the building has definitely been good. But you know what? It’s not something I see myself doing long-term.”

“So what are you going to do?” Declan asked.

It was something that had been niggling at the back of my mind for a little while now, something Harper had kept wanting me to think about. I hadn’t discussed it with the guys yet, and I was waiting for a night just like this to present it. “Actually, I was thinking of how good it felt when I was helping Harper.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Cole said with a snicker.

“Not like that, you ass. I mean that it was kind of invigorating to figure out the mystery behind it all—the investigating, the protection, knowing that I could help someone that way.”

This time there were no snide comments. Declan leaned forward on the table. “What are you saying?”

I shrugged. “I realize that Harper was a unique case. She’s Gavin’s sister, and the situation just sort of landed in my lap. I didn’t come back here to be a PI or a bodyguard, but that’s what I ended up doing. And I think that I did a pretty good job at it.” I looked over at Sebastian. “I think we worked well together.”

Seb nodded. “So what are you thinking? That you want to start some sort of security agency or something?”

I looked at the three of them. It was exactly what I was thinking. “I do. I think that we could be good at it. We could all be good at it.”

Cole made a face. “You mean the four of us?”

“Absolutely. I think we’re all at a point in our lives when we’re looking to do something with our training, something with a purpose. I think we’d be good at this. We’d all bring something to the table.” I took another swallow of beer. “What do you think?”

Declan ran a hand over his face. “How would we possibly get started? I mean, you said it yourself, the situation with Harper just sort of happened. How would we find clients?”

I looked over at Sebastian, who met my gaze with a knowing look. He said, “I think I might have a connection or two that could get us started. I might also be able to dig up the start-up costs.”

“I don’t know,” Declan said. “It seems kind of iffy. What if we never get a case?”

“What if we get more than one?” I asked. “I’m not saying we should all give up our day jobs right away, but I think we should consider it. What do you say?”

We looked at each other for a minute. Then, just like I remember doing as a kid, I put my hand out in the middle of the table. Sebastian placed his on top of mine and Cole on top of his.

“Oh, what the hell,” Declan said as he slapped his hand on the top of the pile. “Let’s do this stupid thing.”

Three months ago, I’d been a man without purpose, with no hope for the future. Things weren’t all perfect now. There were still questions about the accident that caused Gavin’s death that lingered in my mind sometimes—waiting for an answer. But something important had transformed about my world.

I had Harper at home now. And as I sat there and clinked glasses in a toast with my friends, I realized my future was suddenly brimming with possibilities.

I couldn’t wait to get started.

Excerpt from Protecting the Enemy

I had the best night of my life when I was nineteen years old. I thought so then, and twelve years later, still nothing had ever matched it.

It was the first time I had sex with Ali.

We’d been together for a couple of months—not exactly dating but hanging out all the time. We’d been going to school together since she started at Benington Prep as a Freshman. My father was the school’s biggest donor, and one of the ways he contributed was through the Maxwell Scholarship for worthy students who couldn’t afford Benington’s tuition.

Ali was a Maxwell Scholarship student.

At first, I only talked to her occasionally. I was a year ahead of her, and she wasn’t in my circle of friends. Then we had Russian history together when I was a Senior and everything changed. We sat beside each other for months. Then we started studying together at the library or outside around campus. By the time I graduated, I had no interest in any girl except her.

So that summer I kept calling her, asking her to hang out.

No one really dated in high school. Kids just hung out or hooked up or declared themselves boyfriend and girlfriend. So there was nothing strange about our spending so much time together without ever having an official date. My feelings for her were new to me—different from anything I’d felt for girls before—and I was nervous about labeling it or maybe getting an answer from her that would crush me.

I was nineteen, and I was stupid in a lot of ways, although nothing I’d ever done was as stupid as what I did at the end of that summer.

One Friday I took Ali out to a horse farm in northern Virginia, about an hour outside of D.C. The farm was owned by the family of a buddy of mine, and Ali had mentioned she loved horses. We had a great time, exploring the property and admiring the horses. Then we ended up having a picnic on a blanket under a tree, out of sight of the house, stables, and outbuildings.

“I can’t believe we only have another month before school starts again,” Ali said after we’d eaten. She leaned back, stretching out on her back on the blanket. She wore a little skirt in a soft material that she smoothed down around her thighs. Her legs were tanned and slim, and they made my body tighten with appreciation.

So did the shape of her breasts beneath her top and the way she was smiling up at me, her dark hair spread out beneath her.

I stretched out beside her on my side, propping my head on my hand. “I’ve got to start college.”

“Since you have a ton of college credits already, it shouldn’t be too hard for you, I’d think.” She was still smiling up at me, making me smile back.

“I don’t think it will be hard. I’m just not very excited about it. It will be a bunch of boring business courses, since so many of my high school classes counted toward the core requirements.”

I had so many college credits from the accelerated coursework at Benington that I was coming into college with three semesters worth of credits. I could jump right into my business major and probably graduate in two years if I took a lot of classes each semester.

“So take something other than business courses,” Ali said. “What are you interested in?”

I gave a little shrug. “I don’t even know. And what does it matter, since my whole life is mapped out? College. MBA. Work for my father. Taking over the business when he dies.”

She was frowning now. “You could do something else if you wanted. Couldn’t you?”

“Not really. That’s not the way my life works.”

Ali was looking concerned, like she didn’t like this fact of my existence. “But Sebastian—”

“It’s really fine, Ali. It’s not a bad life. A lot of people would kill for a life like mine. So I’ll go to college and be a good boy.”

“You should do something else, if that’s what you want to do. You’re not just your father’s son. You’re not just your family. You’re Sebastian.”

I stared at her for a long time, hearing the words, processing the thought for what might have been the first time in my life.

She must have seen something in my eyes that made her self-conscious because she dropped her eyes again. “And I for one think Sebastian is a pretty good guy.”

My heart jumped. It literally jumped. “And I think Ali is pretty good too. Are you going to miss me being at Benington?”

“Of course I will.” Her brown eyes were so soft, so warm, that they caused another clench in my chest. “Even if you never talked to me much, I always looked for you in the halls.”

“Did you?”

Her eyelashes fluttered down. “Yes. I did. I guess you’re so used to girls staring at you that you never noticed I was too.”

“Girls don’t stare at me.”

“Yes, they do! You know that, don’t you?”

“Maybe just because they know who my father is.” All my life, I’d been known only as my father’s son. Sebastian, the only son of the rich, powerful, influential John Maxwell. That fact had defined my life since I was born.

“No, it’s not that.” She’d slanted a shy look at me that made my heart pound in my chest. “It’s because you’re… you.”

I couldn’t help but touch her. I reached out to brush a strand of hair back from her face. “Because I’m me?”

“Yes, because you’re you. And there’s no one as amazing as you, Sebastian.” Her voice was soft, slightly wobbly. I knew it had been a risk for her to say so.

And nothing had ever made me feel so good, so valuable, so worthwhile. I couldn’t hold back anymore. I leaned over to press a soft kiss on her lips.

I heard her breath hitch. Then her hand lifted to tentatively touch my hair. That small response did something crazy to my body. I was throbbing now—with feeling, with desire, with everything.

I kissed her again, and this time she kissed me in return, wrapping one of her arms around my neck.

We kept kissing until we couldn’t stop, and we had sex right there on the blanket, completely secluded by the surrounding trees and the darkening of the sky at sunset.

I’d had sex for the first time at fifteen, but Ali was a virgin. I tried to be careful, since I knew she was nervous as much as excited, and I was pretty sure she enjoyed it too. Maybe not as much as I did, but still…

I was so overwhelmed with feeling at claiming her as mine that I was dazed afterwards, blurry, barely able to speak.

We lay together in each other’s arms as our breathing slowed down and our bodies relaxed, and finally Ali pressed a little kiss on my chest. “Sebastian,” she whispered.

She didn’t say anything else. Just my name. But it felt like a declaration of feelings—feelings that went as deep as mine did for her.

I knew I loved her then. I knew there was no other woman who could ever be mine the way she was.

Maybe it was an overdramatic conclusion, prompted by the best sex I’d ever had and the limited experiences of a nineteen-year-old boy.

But so many years later, the conclusion continued to be true.

No other woman was ever mine the way Ali was that night.

***

You can find out more about Protecting the Enemy (and the entire series) here.

About Samantha Chase

New York Times and USA Today Bestseller/contemporary romance writer Samantha Chase released her debut novel, Jordan's Return, in November 2011. Although she waited until she was in her 40's to publish for the first time, writing has been a lifelong passion. Her motivation to take that step was her students: teaching creative writing to elementary age students all the way up through high school and encouraging those students to follow their writing dreams gave Samantha the confidence to take that step as well.

When she's not working on a new story, she spends her time reading contemporary romances, blogging, playing way too many games of Scrabble on Facebook and spending time with her husband of 25 years and their two sons in North Carolina.  For more information visit her website at www.chasing-romance.com.

Books by Samantha Chase

Jordan’s Return

The Christmas Cottage

Ever After

Catering to the CEO

In the Eye of the Storm

Wait for Me

Trust in Me

Stay With Me

A Touch of Heaven

Mistletoe Between Friends

The Snowflake Inn

The Baby Arrangement

Baby, I’m Yours

Baby, Be Mine

Exclusive

Moonlight in Winter Park

Duty Bound

Honor Bound

Forever Bound

Home Bound

The Wedding Season

Return to You

Meant for You

I’ll Be There

Made for Us

Live, Love & Babies Trilogy

Love Walks In

Christmas in Silver Bell Falls

Waiting for Midnight

Always My Girl

Website:www.chasing-romance.com

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About Noelle Adams

Noelle handwrote her first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and currently resides in Virginia, where she writes full time, reads any book she can get her hands on, and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.

She loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and focus on writing contemporary romances. For more information, please check out her website: noelle-adams.com.

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Books by Noelle Adams

Tea for Two Series

Falling for her Brother’s Best Friend

Winning her Brother’s Best Friend

Seducing her Brother’s Best Friend

Balm in Gilead Series

Relinquish

Surrender

Retreat

Rothman Royals Series

A Princess Next Door

A Princess for a Bride

A Princess in Waiting

Christmas with a Prince

Preston’s Mill Series (co-written with Samantha Chase)

Roommating

Speed Dating

Complicating

Eden Manor Series

One Week with her Rival

One Week with her (Ex) Stepbrother

One Week with her Husband

Christmas at Eden Manor

Beaufort Brides Series

Hired Bride

Substitute Bride

Accidental Bride

Heirs of Damon Series

Seducing the Enemy

Playing the Playboy

Engaging the Boss

Stripping the Billionaire

Willow Park Series

Married for Christmas

A Baby for Easter

A Family for Christmas

Reconciled for Easter

Home for Christmas

One Night Novellas

One Night with her Best Friend

One Night in the Ice Storm

One Night with her Bodyguard

One Night with her Boss

One Night with her Roommate

One Night with the Best Man

The Protectors Series (co-written with Samantha Chase)

Duty Bound

Honor Bound

Forever Bound

Home Bound

Standalones

A Negotiated Marriage

Listed

Bittersweet

Missing

Revival

Holiday Heat

Salvation

Excavated

Overexposed

Road Tripping

Chasing Jane

Late Fall

Fooling Around

Married by Contract

Trophy Wife

Bay Song