by E A Price
Branch and Mira clasped hands and in unison – because that’s what disgustingly happy couples did – they said, “We’re engaged.”
This was met with congratulations, and proclamations of happiness and much ribbing from Harlan. Temp certainly didn’t have to fake that - she was incredibly pleased for her younger sister. Mira deserved someone to make her happy, and while Temp was still annoyed at Branch for temporarily breaking her sister’s heart, she couldn’t deny that he made her very happy.
There were hugs and kisses – she kissed and hugged Mira, then she kissed and hugged Branch, she almost kissed and hugged the waiter and then dazedly, she found herself in Harlan’s arms. His lips brushed over hers and she gasped at the sweetness, at the warmth and familiarity of his touch. She wanted to melt into his arms, wanted to curl into his body and purr in satisfaction.
Instead, she stomped on his foot and with a muttered curse, he dropped his arms. Mira and Branch hadn’t noticed; thankfully, they were too wrapped up in each other for that.
She mumbled something about going to the bathroom and she made her escape. Her well-ordered world seemed to be crashing around her, and she wasn’t altogether unhappy about it.
Eleven
After leaving the bathroom, Temp found her husband waiting for her in the bar area. Finally, he had taken the hint that they needed to talk!
He was leaning against the bar and chatting idly with the maître-d. She was giggling girlishly while Harlan spoke to her. Clearly he was telling her an amusing story. Or maybe it wasn’t that amusing and she was just behaving coquettishly. Temp immediately hated her. It wasn’t jealousy. Nope, no way it could be – they weren’t really married. She was just annoyed that the woman was neglecting her duties.
Harlan chuckled at something she said and as he looked up, he caught sight of Temp. Temp noticed testily that his expression dimmed, though maybe that was because she was scowling at him.
He excused himself from the girl, who looked mightily disappointed.
“Tempest,” he drawled.
She ignored the quiver he voice elicited. “Did you know that we’re practically related?”
Harlan barked with laughter and his expression returned to amused again. “We are not related.”
“My sister and your brother…”
“Are dating,” he chuckled. “Well, getting married, and even if they are married that still wouldn’t make us related in any way, shape or form.”
Temp was slightly mollified. She was overreacting just a little. “Well, yes, okay, but did you know about our… connection?”
“Ah…” He hesitated for a shade too long.
“You did!” she hissed.
“I may have found out after we met,” he said straightforwardly, “but I didn’t see that it was a big deal.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
Harlan rolled his massive shoulders. He was certainly a big guy, though he moved with the effortless ease of a cat. “I didn’t want you to think it was weird – my brother, your sister.”
“And you really wanted to get me in the sack that badly,” she said wryly.
“No, I really wanted to spend time with you.” His smile turned devilish. “The getting you in the sack thing was a happy bonus.”
“Ugh.” Though, she wouldn’t deny a little girlish glee on hearing that.
“Obviously, I didn’t plan on the whole marriage thing.”
Temp gave him a deadpan look. “No one plans to get married while drunk off their asses.”
“I bet our siblings wouldn’t exactly be thrilled to find out we got married before them,” he mused. “The situation may be a little tricky.”
“A little?” she scoffed. “Have you talked to your lawyer friend?”
“I was going to but he’s also Branch’s friend and the moment I tell him, he’ll tell Branch. I need to speak to someone who won’t blab.”
“This is worse than I thought. I don’t want Mira to find out about this.”
Harlan arched an eyebrow. “You want to keep me your dirty little secret.”
“Sure,” she muttered.
“Your dirty, dirty boytoy.”
Temp pursed her lips. “That’s enough. Look, we need to get this sorted.”
“We will. I don’t want to be married any more than you do.” He smiled. “No offence.”
“None taken. The last thing in the world I want is to be married to anyone – not just you. No offence.”
“None taken, and they,” he gestured back toward the dining room, “don’t need to know what happened between us. It’s nobody’s business but ours.”
“And the lawyer you talk to,” she added.
“And the lawyer,” he agreed.
“And Heather who I already left a voicemail for.”
“And your friend, Heather.”
“Plus the priest who married us and also everyone at the bar we were drinking at when we decided to get married. I have this recollection of standing on a table and announcing to everyone that we were getting married. They were very supportive.”
“I don’t remember that.”
“You were in the bathroom.”
“Okay, well, other than the divorce lawyer, your friend Heather, the priest and probably half of Chicago, what happened will remain a secret. It’s only for us to know.”
Temp smiled at him. Honestly, it wasn’t a funny situation – marriage was a serious matter, and given all the bad marriages she had witnessed (the majority of them being her father’s) it wasn’t something she took lightly. When Harlan wasn’t around, yeah, she really did worry about the whole thing, and curse herself for her recklessness. But when he was around, she couldn’t help but feel at ease. He was just like that – he was an easy person to be around. He was very unlike Branch who… Her thoughts halted as something clicked.
“Wait, does this mean you’re a reindeer too?”
“Yes.”
“Wow,” she exclaimed staring in front of her. “I had sex with a reindeer!”
A couple of people walking past gave her a funny look, and tried their best not to walk too close to her. Harlan smirked.
“Oh, shut up,” she muttered, though she couldn’t help the bubble of laughter that escaped. “C’mon, we better go before they wonder where we are.”
“Oh, I’m sure they’ve found something to occupy themselves.”
Temp didn’t doubt that, but she wanted to get back in there before she and Harlan found something to occupy theirselves.
*
Harlan flicked his eyes over at Tempest. She was staring at her coffee, moodily perhaps. He wasn’t sure he was a very good judge of her emotions yet so he couldn’t say. Moody just sprang to mind because that’s how he was feeling.
The rest of dinner involved Branch and Mira teasing him over his love life. The smug, soon-to-be-married couple had no problem joshing him over his previous girlfriends, talking about how many girlfriends he’d had, suggesting he was serial dater – and all in front of Tempest. She hadn’t seemed particularly pleased to listen to it, and no matter how many times he growled at his brother, they would not stop. He didn’t growl at Mira directly – as annoyed as he was, he wasn’t quite suicidal. He just didn’t like the idea of Tempest somehow thinking less of him. He hadn’t done anything wrong, but he just didn’t want her to think he was a womanizer. Perhaps he was, but Tempest didn’t need to know.
He was just glad neither of them mentioned Corinne. Actually, he wasn’t sure Mira knew about her. His brother was not a sensitive guy, but even he didn’t take the subject of Corinne lightly.
Mira and Branch had already left. Mira was tired and Branch said he wanted to get her to bed. Branch than growled at Harlan before he could comment on that.
Harlan paid the check, which his brother had been happy to stick him with – a small payback for all the times when Harlan’s parties had become a little too wild and Branch had to fork out money for repairs. Like when he and a former girlfrie
nd were renting a villa in Miami and his girlfriend’s brother decided to steal a backhoe and put in a pool for them. After a little joy ride through the neighborhood, the damages had been quite extensive, and that was before he even started on the pool.
“Dinner tomorrow night?”
The question leaped out of his mouth before he could stop it. He hadn’t intended to ask it, but he couldn’t deny that he enjoyed spending time with Tempest. Being around her was just so natural, and he rather liked it, and he found the idea that the only communication they may have in future was through their lawyer and at his brother’s wedding very disheartening.
Temp looked up in surprise. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
He probably should just leave it at that.
“Why not?”
But, of course he didn’t.
“Well, your brother is marrying my sister.”
“So, we’re already married,” he said as he helped her into her coat. Temp whipped her head back to scowl at him and he laughed at her mean little face.
“It’s just dinner,” he said, “and I can update you about our situation.”
“Well, I guess…”
“Harlan!”
A young woman careened into him, and he was ashamed to say he staggered a little. She wasn’t heavy, but more like she possessed the characteristics of a tornado.
He caught the annoyance on Temp’s face before the woman currently crawling all over him came up for air.
“Harlan, you bad boy, you never call me anymore!”
The bad boy comment gave him awful flashbacks to his grandmother and that warranted a momentary shiver, but this young woman was someone he had briefly dated the previous summer. They met when she sold him a snow cone and well, they enjoyed some no-strings-attached time together before she returned to college in Florida.
“Lara, it’s nice to see you again,” he said politely, while trying to shuck her off him. She was certainly a nice and spirited young woman, but he really didn’t want to be her personal jungle gym.
She clambered down beaming. “You too! Guess what? I’m engaged!” Lara flashed her ring finger at him, in what was nearly a rude gesture. “I’m here with my fiancé and parents.”
She waved at three people sporting disapproving expressions – the fiancé in particular looked less than pleased that she knew Harlan in a more than casual way.
“Congratulations,” he said, “I’m here with…”
He groaned as he belatedly looked around and saw that Tempest had disappeared. His reindeer hooted in irritation.
“I have to go. Congratulations,” he mumbled as he hurried away.
He caught up to Tempest outside, frantically trying to hail a cab.
“Tempest, that wasn’t…”
“Oh, I’m sure it’s none of my business,” she said primly, waving her arm rather erratically. If anything it was scaring the cab drivers away.
“Then why did you run away?” he asked teasingly.
Tempest gave him a mildly affronted look. “I didn’t run away. I had plenty of time to finish putting on my coat and stroll away while you were fondling that young woman.”
Harlan chuckled softly. “There was no fondling. She is just a rather excitable ex-girlfriend. She was just saying hello.”
Tempest sniffed. “I have exes too but I don’t jump on them.”
“Glad to hear it,” he said seriously. That kind of behavior was fine for Lara, but it was unacceptable for Tempest. “She may have been a little overenthusiastic, but she just wanted to say hello and tell me she’s getting married.”
“She is?”
“Yes, her fiancé all but shook his fist at me as I was leaving.”
“Oh.” Tempest deflated a little.
“I’m not dating anyone right now.”
She looked at him in mild disbelief, and he considered that he may have to kill his brother tomorrow. He loved him and he was his alpha and best friend, but yeah, Harlan wanted to kill him for filling Tempest in on his dating history.
“I’m not either,” she mumbled to his relief. “Not that it really matters, I mean, we’re not dating.”
“No, we’re married.”
Tempest glowered at him for a moment before the tension seemed to leave her body and she chuckled. “I shouldn’t think this way, but the situation is kind of funny.”
She laughed and it was a soft, rich sound that echoed through his body.
“Maybe a little,” he agreed.
A twist of her hair had freed itself from the constrictive bun. It curled away from her head, tickling her neck. He had such an urge to coil it around his fingers.
Tempest looked at him almost nervously, her tongue flickered out of her mouth and wet her bottom lip. For a moment he thought she knew the direction of his thoughts. He wouldn’t deny she was attractive. Couldn’t deny he was attracted to her. He didn’t want to be married to anyone, but he certainly enjoyed having an excuse to be near her.
The air crackled between them. Harlan stared at her lips, wanting to capture them, wanting to taste her sweetness. If she didn’t say something sensible soon, he would as well. He shouldn’t, but he would.
“This is a really weird situation.”
“It is, but we can be… friends, can’t we? While we get this sorted out.”
“Yes,” she agreed breathlessly, “Friends.”
*
Temp snuggled against his shoulder and Harlan wrapped his arm around her a little tighter. As she slept, her breath fanned over his chest.
This time they didn’t even have alcohol as an excuse. He knew they shouldn’t be doing this. Knew it because their situation was already complicated enough, but he couldn’t stop himself. Couldn’t have, even if he wanted to.
But what did it matter? She wanted him, he wanted her and neither of them wanted a relationship. Where was the harm?
Harlan ran his free hand over his face. He wasn’t sure why, but he knew there was a distinct chance he was going to hell.
Twelve
“So, what have you been up to? Anything interesting?”
Alarm belted through Temp. “Nothing! Why? What have you heard?”
Did everybody know about her and Harlan? That not only was she jumping into bed with a stranger that she was actually married to him?! Her lunch with Candace had taken a worrying turn.
Candace gave her a somewhat concerned look. “I haven’t heard anything, is everything okay?”
Temp relaxed and forced a smile. “Yes, yes, sorry, I’m just a bit… overworked at the moment. But everything’s normal in Camp Tempest. Ha ha.”
Though, she realized that wasn’t a very normal thing to say.
Candace smiled and folded her napkin. She’d refolded it five times, and Temp had the feeling that Candace was nervous, almost worried that Temp wouldn’t like her. She didn’t know why Candace would feel like that, her dad certainly never cared what Temp thought of his previous wives. Temp’s opinion meant very little to him.
Temp looked down at her menu blushing slightly. No, she hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary, except marrying a total stranger, having sex all night long, and then upon realizing what a mistake they had made, taking him back to her place again for another marathon night of sex.
She didn’t know what she was thinking the previous evening. She probably wasn’t thinking at all. That little, plaintive voice in her head that usually stopped her from doing crazy things – like bungee jumping off a bridge or ordering seafood at a steakhouse – just wasn’t there anymore. It was quiet, silent for once, and it was a little disorienting.
She hadn’t been drunk or anything like that when she asked Harlan back to her place, she just wanted to spend the night with him. Just wanted to be near him.
“So,” said Candace, “tell me about the charity you run. Your father’s told me about it – how proud he is of you.”
Temp almost choked on her coke. Yeah, she said something like that at the party and she still
didn’t believe it. Since when was he proud?
“But what made you start it?”
Temp put the drink down in case Candace came out with any other alarming nuggets.
“Well, it was just an idea I batted around in college.” Temp had done a lot of charity work since she was a teenager. When she was a kid, she never felt like she was wanted. But when she helped out, fundraising or organizing events – anything really – she felt like she was needed, and it kind of filled a hole.
“It really started when a friend of mine was struggling to raise funds to pay her daughter’s medical bills. So a group of us started fundraising to support her so she wouldn’t have to drop out of college. Then other parents struggling asked for help, and it kind of grew and grew, and it was kind of inevitable that this is what I would do when I finished college.” Temp giggled. “Well, my degree in nineteenth-century poetry wasn’t really going anywhere.”
Not least because she was absolutely sick of the sight of poetry at the end of her course.
“How wonderful.”
Temp flushed. “I didn’t do it alone, though. I mean, without my trust fund I couldn’t have done it – so really it’s down to my grandparents’ generosity. Plus, Heather helped me a lot, and at the time I had a boyfriend who was working at a PR firm, so that really got the ball rolling. Plus, my grandfather had wealthy friends – I hit all of them up for money.” They were more than happy to fork out for their late friend’s cute granddaughter.
“You’re being modest.”
Temp shrugged. “I’m lucky, I love what I do, and I get to work with people I like and often make them happy.”
Candace gave her a rueful look. “That sounds nice. Being a divorce lawyer certainly has its ups and downs. Sometimes they’re happy, sometimes not so much. I hope after the wedding to cut back on my workload, in fact, I’m considering taking early retirement.”
Temp smiled and realized that it wasn’t forced. She actually did like Candace. The woman was easy to like, she was warm and calm and interested in actually listening to what Temp had to say, and everything Temp wished her own mother would be. Lord, she hoped her dad didn’t break her heart too hard. Though, as a divorce lawyer, she must have a steel edge somewhere inside – divorce can be messy. That immediately made her think of Harlan and their own impending divorce.
