by Evie Nichole
Derek’s heavy sigh turned to fog in front of him. He wiggled his shoulders and stood on his own feet in an attempt to keep them warm. It didn’t work. He passed the time by trying to think up a way he could get back into the position he had been forced to abandon. Everything he came up with would probably result in Harbour waking up and deciding to go to her own bed. He huffed when Jareth headed towards the bushes for the eighth time.
“If you don’t hurry up, I’m locking you outside, fur ball.”
Jareth lifted his head, his nose twitching as he scented the air. He turned his head and fixed his gaze on a point that was shrouded by the light fog. For a long moment, the dog stood frozen, his attention unwavering. Derek edged a little further onto the patio and searched the mist. The street lights brightened the air but didn’t penetrate the cloud that hung over the town. Light rain continued to fall, a slight drizzle that chilled his shoulders and kept the ground under his feet sodden.
The scruff of Jareth’s neck began to rise. His lips peeled back to expose his fangs, a deep growl rumbling out of his throat. Derek continued to search, but couldn’t catch sight of what had disturbed the dog.
“Come on, Jareth,” Derek coaxed. “In the house.”
Jareth lowered on his haunches, his paws stretched out and braced. Still, all Derek could see was mist and emptiness. The dog’s growls grew into sharp snaps that dripped saliva from his jaws. His breath burst out in a thick mist.
“Jareth,” Derek said a little louder.
He hovered between ordering the dog back into the house and wondering if he had been trained to attack. His hands itched for something to latch onto. Something solid that would fit in his palm and allow him to feel like he had a measure of control.
In one fluid motion, Jareth straightened, snorted, and trotted back to Derek with his tail lazily wagging. His now-damp fur brushed against Derek’s leg as he curled around him and disappeared into the house. Derek looked between the mist and the front door, his brow furrowing.
“What the hell was that about?”
He whirled around as the floodlight flicked on, drenching him in a blinding light. Lifting a hand to block it, he squinted into the glare. Harbour shuffled out, the blanket wrapped around her like a cloak. Sleep clung to her, making her words slow and lax.
“Derek?”
Three steps and he was in front of her, pressing in to have her shuffle back.
“What are you doing?” she asked as Derek closed and locked the door.
“Just letting Jareth out.”
“Oh,” she yawned. “Thanks.”
“Not a problem.”
She watched him for a long moment, her eyes glazed and hooded. “Is something wrong?”
“Your dog is messing with me.”
The laugh that escaped her melded into another jaw cracking yawn. “He’ll do that.”
Whatever reply Derek might have made dissolved when Harbour pulled the blanket up higher around her face. Sleepy and ruffled was actually a very good look on her. How many more times would he get to see her like this? He took a second to try and memorize each aspect.
“Do you want to watch another movie?” The slight trace of need that sparked through his words shocked him. But all he wanted right now was to curl back up on the couch with her beside him. “I’ll even let you choose.”
“How gracious of you.”
“I’m a giver.”
She shook her head, a small smile attempting to pull at her lips.
“I’m going to bed.”
His chest clenched at her words, a silly little response that he tried to push away.
“You sure?”
“You can watch one.” Harbour patted his chest with two solid thumps, barely able to keep her eyes open.
“It’s not as fun without you getting scared.”
“I was not scared.”
“If you say so.” His playful smirk didn’t provoke a reaction.
“Babe, it’s three in the morning. I’m going to bed. We can watch another one tomorrow.”
“You know that bed’s going to be freezing, right?”
She winced and barely suppressed a groan. As if to fend off the very idea, she fluffed up her blanket and shuffled on her feet.
“I can keep you warm.”
Shock snapped through him as Harbour rolled her eyes, thumped him again, and mumbled, “Turn the lights off before you come up.”
She shuffled towards the stairs, a moving bundle of blankets, and disappeared from view. Jareth followed her, tail wagging. A bubbled of contentment rose up within Derek. It was a lot harder to keep from running around the house than he had anticipated. Barely keeping to a normal pace, he turned off all the lights and took the stairs two at a time.
Chapter Sixteen
A dense fog hung over Nowhere, muting the light and making it impossible to tell the time of day. Still, Derek was certain that it was far too early for Harbour to get up. Even as she squirmed into his warmth she continued with token protests.
“Take the day off,” he grumbled as he held her against his chest.
“I have tours.”
“It’s too foggy. Nothing will be running.”
Not releasing his grip, he rolled them onto their sides. Their legs tangled together and the scent of Harbour’s hair filled his head, a sweet scent that had him pressing his nose against her crown.
“I have work to do.”
“I’m your boss. Take the day off.”
“You’re a client, not my boss.”
He smiled, grabbed the comforter, and pulled it over both of their heads. The light took on a honeyed hue as it filtered through the feather-filled blanket. There was only warmth and the gentle rhythm of their soft breathing. A flutter rippled through him when her fingers curled into the front of his shirt.
“Five more minutes.”
“Or,” he said, “We could stay here, nice and cozy. Order in food. Watch a movie. Sleep.”
With a yawn, she melted against him. “That is tempting.”
“Then stay. Be my hot water bottle.”
She tried to suppress her laughter but he felt the vibration against his chest. It was a sensation he quite liked.
“That would be irresponsible,” she mumbled.
“And we all know you’re not that.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Derek kept his mouth closed and spread his hands against her back. She was still quick to pick up on what was left unsaid.
“Are you still going on about me swimming out to get the boats?”
“It just seemed dangerous.”
“I knew what I was doing,” she said. “I had spotters. It was on the incoming tide, and I had dry clothes to change into. It wasn’t like I was the Collins sisters.”
“Who?”
She shuffled until they comfortably shared the same pillow.
“You remember them. It happened about six months before you moved. Maybe eight? They were tourists that went out in a canoe during the night.”
“Right.” Feeling a sudden chill, he pulled her closer. “They drowned.”
“Hypothermia would have got them first, poor things. The sad part is that they probably thought they were safe in the harbor.”
“I never understood why they didn’t swim to the shore.”
“Spoken like a city boy.” She gave him a half-hearted thump against his chest. “There’s a big rip near the hotel they were staying at. With both of them in a canoe it wouldn’t have been a problem, but swimming against it is a nightmare. And in water that cold.”
He remembered too vividly what the cold could do, how it froze his limbs and held him solid. Without thought, he held Harbour a little tighter.
“They were doomed the second they went in.”
“If someone had been there to pull them out, they would have been fine,” she said.
It felt like a metal band had snaked around his chest and it tightened with every word. “Why didn’t they get b
ack into the canoe?”
“Probably didn’t know how. It’s not as easy as it looks, especially when it’s dark and cold.” In an obvious attempt to lighten his mood, she added with a smile, “Not that you would know that, you’ve never used anything that didn’t have a motor.”
“I like going fast,” he smiled. “Besides, everyone liked my dad’s speedboat.”
“I hated that thing.”
“Liar.”
“You kept scaring the whales,” she shot back. “And you, Ron, and Phil were the last people who should have had a speedboat.”
“Why?”
“Because you were all stupid.”
“How?” he challenged.
“You guys once played chicken with a rock.”
He chuckled at the memory. They had totalled Phil’s boat that day, so had started sneaking Derek’s dad’s boat instead. Somehow they thought the bigger and significantly faster boat would be easier to handle. After Ron had proven that to be very inaccurate, Derek had kept to being the sole driver.
“They were drunk.”
“Oh, well, that makes everything different. Please, let the drunk man drive the speed boat. What could go wrong?”
“We were admittedly young and reckless.”
“Otherwise known as stupid.”
“You win.” Derek closed his eyes. “Ron was stupid.”
“Only Ron?”
“Yes, okay. Both Ron and Phil were stupid.”
“Where are you on that list?”
Instead of responding, Derek pretending to be asleep. There was no way Harbour would believe it, but he intended to later count it as winning the argument. He smiled as he imagined just how Harbour would react, face all red and twisted up as she swallowed both annoyance and laughter. The band around his chest loosened slightly.
Time drifted in a long procession of tranquil moments. For the first time in perhaps years, Derek wasn’t tired, but he had no desire to get up. He liked it here. Liked the way Harbour fitted against his chest, the way she held onto his shirt to subtly press her knuckles against his stomach. There was even an allure to the way she hooked her toes against the back of his ankle like he wouldn’t notice the chill.
In a split second, Jareth leapt onto the bed, inserted his paws into the non-existent space between them, and promptly lay down, forcing them to either separate or get squashed under his impressive bulk. Harbour was faster to get her side of the blanket down, mostly because she didn’t have a large dog keeping it pinned in place. She actually had the nerve to pet Jareth, as if she was happy he was there.
“It’s okay,” Derek heard her practically coo. “We’re getting up.”
“We are?”
“Well, we could have slept in longer,” she said thoughtfully, “If we didn’t have some wood to take care of.”
He gave a sly smile. “You move fast.”
A blush quickly took her cheeks. “I meant the bathroom door.”
Folding an arm under his head, Derek made sure flex just a bit. “That’s less fun.”
As much as she tried, she couldn’t pull off intimidating while the blush lingered. “Get up.”
“You’re going to have to talk a little nicer to me if you want that.”
“I am going to destroy you.”
“Never pegged you for kinky.” He couldn’t resist adding a wink.
With a groan and a sharper blush, Harbour leapt out of the bed and headed for the door. As she left, muttering under her breath, Derek couldn’t decide if he had just won or lost.
***
It had been so much easier when they were teenagers. Back then Derek was just ‘good-looking’, irritating, and infuriating. Easy enough for Harbour to label him a handsome jerk and be done with it. But now, something had shifted and it was getting harder to ignore the fact that she had missed him. Had missed his so-called games, his jokes and teasing and, deep down, she had actually missed being the center of his attention.
And, as she wandered through the aisles of the hardware store, Harbour was faced with a new self-discovery. She didn’t like it when people tried to force his attention away.
Derek knew next to nothing about home repair and didn’t seem all that interested in learning, so he had wondered off the second they entered the store. She didn’t mind that. It was easier to find everything they would need without a seven-foot wall of muscles tripping her up like an excitable puppy.
Derek had a good sense of awareness. It never took him more than a few seconds to sense someone watching him. Each time she looked his way, he met her gaze with raised eyebrows as if perpetually asking if they could go yet.
In all likelihood, knowing when he was being watched was a skill honed by years of paranoia. Harbour had to remind herself that he didn’t really want to spend time with her. It was just that his trust issues didn’t leave many other options. She didn’t want him to live like that, with the constant sense of being hunted. She wanted him to make friends, to be comfortable with people again, but every time someone approached him she still felt an unsettling pang of annoyance. Maybe it was because not one of them was looking to be his friend. And they all weren’t shy in showing their intentions.
Even Derek’s glare wasn’t enough to deter the braver ones from venturing closer. Or blatantly flirting. Or touching him. Each woman, she noticed, seemed to have a fascination with Derek’s arms. They cupped his biceps and slid their fingers to the crook of his elbow. Derek was steadily growing more vocal in his rejections but there were still those that ignored them and continued trail their fingers along. Those were the ones that made Harbour clench her teeth until her jaw ached.
The situations probably wouldn’t have ground on her nerves so much if Piper hadn’t already started her winter job here, something she always did to have an income outside of tourist season. Already bored, Piper followed Harbour around the store, constantly updating her on the numerous people hitting on Derek. Why couldn’t she just let her ignore it and shop in peace?
“And there goes our newest contestant; thanks for playing.”
“Is there any chance that you will stop talking?”
“No,” Piper smiled. “Why are you so wound up?”
Harbour shrugged one shoulder as she contemplated two different brands of door hinges. “I’m not anything.”
“You were in a good mood when you came in.”
Harbour tried hard not to think about the reason why. It felt too much like opening up a door when she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what was on the other side.
“Oh,” Piper chirped. “It looks like we have a new contestant on the ‘let’s get into Derek’s pants’ show.”
Harbour tossed one of the hinges back onto the metal shelf. The loud clatter of metal against metal was oddly satisfying. She purposefully moved to the few tubs of wall putty on offer. It just so happened that they were in the same direction as Derek, so it was unavoidable that she caught a glimpse of him.
She hadn’t even noticed Megan enter the store. It seemed like every time she blinked, Megan was there, pressing into Derek’s personal space and flipping her hair. Harbour didn’t take her eyes off of Megan as she snatched up the nearest tub of putty.
Derek frowned, his eyes sharp, but it didn’t have any effect. Oblivious to his discomfort, Megan laughed and ran her fingertips along the line of her neck like a damn invitation. Harbour bit her lips into a painful line and clenched her hand around the putty jar. Then Megan slipped a hand behind Derek. His eyes went wide as his hips jerked.
She had groped him.
The realization hit Harbour like a physical blow and she was moving before the shock had worn off. She didn’t hear the items she had been holding hit the shelves. It didn’t even register that she had thrown them. All that existed was the hopeless look on Derek’s face and Megan’s sly grin.
The smile remained on Megan’s face right up until Harbour twisted a hand into Megan’s coat and yanked. The second she staggered back, Harbour slipped into the s
pace, forcing the other woman to keep her distance and keep her hands off of Derek.
“Are you crazy?” Megan snapped.
“You touch him again and I will show you crazy.” The words rolled out of Harbour’s throat on a deep growl.
“What is your problem?”
“You grabbed him.”
Megan quickly regained her composure and drew herself to full height. She was a few inches taller than Harbour and she took full advantage of it now, tilting her head back just enough to look down her nose at Harbour.
“I didn’t hear him complaining.”
“I didn’t hear him consenting,” Harbour snapped back.
Harbour’s fists clenched until her knuckles cracked as she watched Megan roll her eyes.
“We were just flirting.”
“No, you were crossing a line.”
They had gained the attention of everyone within the store and the attention pushed through rage pumping through her veins. It was enough to make her shift on her feet, unsure if she had just completely overreacted. But then Megan looked over her shoulder and winked at Derek and her hackles rose with a vengeance.
“Jealousy isn’t a good look on you,” Megan said. She met Derek’s eyes as she added. “It’s a little sad.”
“Why don’t we just settle this now? Derek.” Harbour didn’t turn around to face him; she knew he was listening. Everyone in the store was listening. “Do you want to get it on with Megan?”
The answer was short and clear. “No.”
“Well, there you have it.”
Megan’s eyes narrowed on Harbour, anger twisting her face even as her face reddened.
“Should we ask him about you?”
The question caught Harbour off-guard and she couldn’t hide her flinch. “What?”
“Oh, Derek.” Megan made a show of turning her voice both mocking and sweet. “Do you want to get it on with Harbour?”
Harbour’s stomach lurched as she fought the urge to spin around and tell him not to justify the question with an answer. Megan had just grabbed an unconsenting person, how was she even allowed to ask questions? She opened her mouth, anger boiling in the pit of her stomach, but Derek spoke first.
