He knew it was her before her name even hit his ears.
Harper’s gaze was caught by something on the other side of the room as she joined the group, her head turned away on that slender neck of hers. A neck that was exposed.
He spotted the cluster of freckles that were under her left ear. Freckles he’d kissed more than once. Freckles he’d know anywhere.
Harper was here.
He’d found her.
Chapter Eight
Found…Again
It was one of those slow motion moments, like when Liam had first seen Harper at the bar, where everyone and everything disappeared besides them. As her head turned to face them, his heart started beating out of his chest and he stopped breathing.
And then those violet eyes were on him, going wide as she choked on her drink. She coughed, covering her mouth.
“Are you okay?” the blond with curls asked, turning around.
The sound of someone else’s voice so close brought Liam back to the room filled with people and the reality of the situation.
It had been six weeks since he’d seen her. Six weeks of thinking he’d never see her again. Six weeks of being out of his mind, and here she was. Standing in front of him.
“I’m fine,” Harper said when she caught her breath. “Just swallowed wrong.”
“This is my wife Mel,” Bennett said, introducing the new guests to the circle. “And our friend Harper Laurence.”
Harper Laurence.
“And these are Logan’s parents, Dustin and Edie James,” Bennett continued with introductions. “His sister, Adele, and his brother, Liam.”
The shock in Harper’s eyes was giving way to something else that he wasn’t quite sure of. Where he was pretty sure he hadn’t breathed since he saw her, he thought she was about to hyperventilate.
“Liam James,” she whispered.
Ahh, so she’d just figured it out.
“You want an autograph?” Well, he’d apparently found his breath and his voice. But he couldn’t help himself.
“Liam!” his mother gasped. “Don’t be impertinent.”
“Don’t worry, Mom, Harper and I know each other.” He tilted his head to the side as he looked at her, the smile on his face not one of amusement. “We met a few weeks ago.”
This time it was Mel choking on her drink, coughing hard as she tried to catch her breath. He knew the look in her eyes had nothing to do with him being a singer. Apparently Harper had mentioned him, and that weekend, to her friend.
Liam didn’t have to look at his brother or his sister to know that the two of them were playing a tennis match, looking between him and the woman in the blue dress. He couldn’t bring himself to look away from her again, afraid that if he did she’d disappear.
“You look magnificent as ever, Harper.” His eyes dipped, taking in the rest of her. Her mouth was painted a deep red, and her black hair was up, all piled on top of her head. She was wearing a form-fitting midnight blue dress and those damn bronze strappy heels she’d had on the second night…the last night…the night she’d knelt down on the floor between his legs wearing nothing but those heels and lace.
A blush started to creep up her chest, maybe because the word magnificent had her thinking about his mouth on her breasts. Or her completely naked underneath him. He knew that’s what it made him think of.
“Holy shit,” Logan whispered low enough for only Liam to hear, but even at that volume he could clearly hear the surprise in his brother’s voice.
Well, he could just join the fucking club.
“Small world, isn’t it?” he asked.
“You two know each other?” Abby looked between the two of them, and then her eyes went wide. Apparently she knew a little something about the situation, too. Liam wondered for a brief second if Logan had mentioned something or if she’d heard about it from Harper herself.
Then he realized he didn’t care. He didn’t care who knew what. All he cared about was the fact that she was here.
What he didn’t know was how he felt about it. Yeah he was angry, there was no doubt about that, but a sense of relief was running through him, too. And then there was the need to touch her. He wanted so much to grab her and pull her close. Take her mouth again because it felt like forever since he’d gotten to taste her.
“When did you guys meet?” Bennett asked, looking a little bewildered. He obviously didn’t know what was going on, and the only other people in his boat were the two boys, and Liam’s parents.
“In Nashville,” Harper answered.
“I had no idea you knew Abby or Logan,” Liam said.
“We met through Abby’s best friend Paige. She lives in our hometown and is married to one of our very close friends.” Mel was speaking now, probably trying to take some of the attention off her friend. It didn’t work. The majority of the eyes in that circle were on Harper. “We’ve known Abby for years.”
“Well, isn’t that fascinating?” Edie asked, and there was something in her tone that made it clear she was picking up on the tension as well. She might not know what had happened, but she did know her son, and Liam was hiding nothing. He couldn’t.
“Yup, fascinating.” He downed the last of his bourbon.
“Where are you guys from?” Dustin asked.
“Mirabelle, Florida,” Bennett answered. “It’s a tiny town on the beach about three and a half hours west of here.”
“And the world just keeps getting smaller,” Adele said.
“No kidding.” Harper tipped back the last of her drink.
She’d barely finished it when a waiter came up, taking the empty glasses from the group. Not a second later there was another waiter, offering up some filled glasses.
“No, thank you.” Harper shook her head. “Actually, I need to get some air. Liam, do you have a second?”
His instincts were at war with each other. Part of him really wanted to be the arrogant bastard he knew was in there and not give her anything she wanted. She hadn’t given him the courtesy, so why should he give it to her?
But that part of him was small in comparison to what the rest of him was screaming for…to get her alone and get some answers.
“Sure.” He nodded his head, finding that he wouldn’t have been able to say no, pissed or not.
Harper gave a friendly smile to the group, one that he knew took everything in her to achieve. She reached out as she turned, grabbing Mel’s forearm and squeezing tight before she let go, her hand shaking.
* * *
So, that just happened.
The last three minutes weren’t really processing fast enough. Harper was in shock, so unbelievably unprepared for seeing Liam. And not only that, but meeting his entire family.
It’s lovely to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. James. And oh, by the way, I’m carrying your grandchild.
Her step faltered at the words that echoed in her head, and she stumbled a little bit. A hand was suddenly at her side, another at the small of her back. And just like that she had the sure and steady weight of Liam’s palms on her body, his fingers gently pressing into her and holding her firm.
“You okay?” His mouth was at her ear and she turned instinctively to look at him.
He was so close. Those green-gold eyes of his focused on hers, eyes that hadn’t hid anything from her before. But now…now she couldn’t decipher them to save her life. There was a hardness to them she didn’t recognize.
Hardness she had no doubt put there.
“Harper?”
Just the sound of her name on his lips had her back in that cabin, no one but him and her. Nothing but the feel of his hands on her skin, his mouth at her ear as he moved inside her.
Making love to him had been so real. So raw and bare, everything stripped away besides the two of them.
But that was gone now.
“I’m fine,” she forced herself to say before she turned away from him.
She had no idea how she was going to get through this. She wasn’t ready,
was supposed to have the rest of the weekend to figure things out, and then even after that there still should’ve been more time until she was doing this. Until she was face-to-face with him and telling him…telling him that she was going to have his child.
There was supposed to be more time.
But she’d known the second she’d seen him there wasn’t going to be any more waiting. She couldn’t do it. Couldn’t possibly be around him for any length of time and not have him know the truth. And she wouldn’t be able to walk away without telling him, either.
He deserved to know and she wasn’t going to be a coward. Not this time around. She was going to bite the bullet, ready or not.
His hand didn’t move from the small of her back as he came up next to her and guided her through the crowded room. His hands on her body were killing her, splitting her heart in two. But she didn’t want him to stop, because it was probably going to be the last time he ever touched her like this.
The familiar ache she’d known for the last few weeks settled over her, and her chest tightened for about the eighty-sixth time since she’d seen him. The second they were outside and away from the crowd, his hand disappeared from her body.
Oh, look at that, her chest tightened for the eighty-seventh time.
The ballroom of the Brogan-Meyers Hotel was located on the roof of the building, which just so happened to be the thirtieth floor. There were a few people out on the terrace that ran around the floor, and Harper kept walking until no one was near them.
She went to the railing before she stopped and turned to look at him. Somehow she managed to speak first. “I had no idea you were going to be here.”
“Funnily enough, I guessed that.” His eyes moved over her face, like he was seeing her for the first time. Like he didn’t know her. And at the end of it all, they didn’t know each other…not really.
Case in point, he was Liam James.
The country musician. The country musician whose albums she had. The country musician who wrote the songs “It Ain’t Me, It’s You”; “Buckle Up”; and “Mother Trucker.” Songs that she’d sang along to quite loudly more times than she could possibly count.
She knew his music, so how was it possible that she hadn’t made the connection? She’d even had her own private show.
Maybe it was because when he was around her she couldn’t think straight to save her life. Maybe that was the reason.
“I owe you an explanation.” She started to run her hands up and down her bare arms.
The sun had only gone down about an hour ago, the temperature dropping to the mid-seventies. It was still warm, even with the breeze coming from the water, but it didn’t matter, she suddenly found herself very cold.
“You mean for leaving and not saying good-bye?”
“Yes.” She nodded slowly. “For that.”
“By all means.” He gestured to the space between them. “The floor is yours.”
Her mouth went dry and she regretted downing the last of her ginger ale. “I’ve thought about this more times than I can count. Gone over what to say to you. But now that you’re here, and I’m looking at you, none of it seems right. I don’t know where to start…I didn’t expect it to be this hard.”
“Did you think it was going to be easy?”
“No…” She shook her head. “No, I didn’t think it was going to be anywhere near easy. Nothing about you has been easy. Not from the moment I met you. I couldn’t in my wildest dreams have imagined you. Couldn’t have predicted that weekend. What it was like to be with you. It was unreal. Everything that happened…I don’t even know how to describe it.”
“But it was real, Harper.” He took a step toward her, closing the gap between them. “And you walked away.”
“I was scared.”
“That’s a bullshit excuse. Everyone gets scared.” She couldn’t help but flinch at the harshness of his words. “You don’t think it freaked me out?” he asked, taking another step toward her, their shoes almost touching.
He was only about an inch or two taller than her with her heels on, but she still had to tilt her head back to look up into his face. His expression was fierce, his eyes so intense that she was desperate to look away, but she couldn’t. Not for the life of her.
“You don’t think it was scary for me, too? That’s never happened to me before. Meeting someone, and having this…I don’t even know what it was, but it was something powerful. Something real.” He reached out, his hands landing on hers and stopping her palms from constantly moving up and down her arms.
Her next breath was sharp, the contact of his skin on hers overwhelming her beyond anything else. How was it possible to miss something so much? Something she’d only known for such a short amount of time?
“You think a single second of it was easy for me?”
“No.” The word fell from her mouth on a whisper.
“And then you were gone.” His hands disappeared from her body and he took a step back from her. “Dammit,” he all but shouted as he turned away from her, his hands going to his hair as he walked a few steps to the side. He leaned against the half wall that ran around the balcony, resting his forearms on the top and looking out to the city below them.
She came up next to him, placing her palms flat on the concrete wall. She watched the twinkling lights of the cars and buildings below them for a few moments before she spoke. “It wasn’t easy you know. Leaving you.”
He turned at her words, his hair falling across his forehead and into his eyes. She wanted to reach over and push it back.
Not appropriate.
She pressed her hands down onto the concrete, the grit digging into her skin. “It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”
“Yet you did it anyway. Why?”
“I thought it was safer.”
“Safer?”
“Liam, I’d just gotten out of the most serious relationship that I’d been in. Ever. Brad, my ex, he broke me. I’m not over-exaggerating, either. He really did, and that was after being with him for a year and a half. I knew you for less than forty-eight hours, and somehow you had more of that power than he did.” Her throat tightened, the corner of her eyes prickling as tears started to brim. “I’ve never done anything like that before.” She tried not to wince as her voice cracked on the last word.
God no, you are not doing this. Pull yourself together and do not cry.
He straightened, turning toward her and focusing on her face. “I know. You don’t go home with men you just met.” He repeated her words from that morning after. The first time she’d tried to leave.
“But it isn’t just that, Liam. I don’t sleep with guys on a first date, or the fifth date, or the twelfth date. It takes a lot of time for me to get to that point. But with you, there was no time. It just…happened. And it’s never been like that before…the sex I mean, because that wasn’t just sex. That was something else entirely. Especially that last time…it…it terrified me. So I ran.” She blinked, and the prickling in her eyes turned to a burn, the tears falling. “I’m sorry, Liam. I really am,” she said as she reached up and wiped at her cheeks, running her fingers under her eyes. “I don’t think I’ve regretted a decision more in my life.”
“Yet you didn’t do anything to fix it.”
“Would you believe me if I told you I was going to? I think I’ve stared at your number on my phone, my finger hovering over the Dial button, almost every night since I left.”
“So you do still have my number.” His breath came out on an aggravated sigh as he shook his head. “Do you have any idea how incredibly frustrating the last few weeks have been? After meeting you, I’ve second-guessed everything. I can understand you being scared. And I might be able to understand you running. But what I can’t understand is that after all this time you still have done nothing, even though you’ve regretted your decision. So no, I don’t know if I believe you, Harper. I don’t know if I believe you were really going to do anything.”
; “I deserve that.”
The full ramifications of the whole situation didn’t hit home until that moment. Okay sure, she wasn’t expecting him to get over everything that had happened and just forgive her for walking out. She wasn’t that delusional.
In the end though, not only was this man the father of her child, but she was most definitely in love with him. And now he might not want anything to do with her.
What had she done?
He turned away from her again, bracing his hands on the wall as he dropped his head between his shoulders and looked down at the city. “I don’t know what to do with any of this. Where to go from here.”
“I don’t, either. But…but there’s something else you should know…something that you need to know,” she amended.
He straightened, pulling his head up and looking at her. “And what’s that?”
“Liam, I…” The words caught in her throat.
Say it, Harper.
Say. It.
Tell him now.
NOW!
“I’m pregnant.”
For a moment nothing was registering on his face. It was blank, frozen, like the rest of him. He’d even stopped breathing.
Harper just stood there, not sure of what to do or say, waiting for him to speak first.
“W-what was that?” he finally asked.
“I’m pregnant,” she repeated. “With your child.”
“But we used condoms. Lots of them.”
“Apparently they didn’t work.”
“And you aren’t on birth control?” His tone was accusatory, like she’d planned it.
“Seriously? You’re blaming me for this?”
“I’m not blaming you. It’s just…normally there are backup plans in place.”
“Well, there weren’t.”
“And you’re sure it’s mine?”
She flinched at the question. “Wow, we really don’t know each other, do we?”
“It’s a fair question.”
“You’re wrong about that. Nothing about this entire thing is fair.” Try as she might she couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice.
Unsung Page 11
