by Maggie Wells
How was he to know she’d finally give in? The timing was…fucked up.
He wanted to argue, but Brooke was right, and he damn well knew it. He left without a whisper or a warning. How could he ever explain one rash decision? He sincerely doubted “because I panicked” was going to wash with Brooke. It definitely wouldn’t fly with Delaney. But it was the best, most honest answer he had.
He’d screwed the woman he’d pursued harder than Tommy Lee Jones going after Harrison Ford, then slipped out of her bed, got on a plane, and stayed away. All because finally having her freaked his freak.
“I know it was a mistake, but I had to go.”
Brooke blinked, apparently shocked he was going to put up even the most token defense. “You had to go? Cade Construction is hurting so bad you had to take a consulting gig on the other side of the country to keep it afloat?”
“No, I had to go because I had a contract.” Falling back a step, Harley opted to deflect attention to the man standing behind the feisty blonde. “Brian’s the one who hooked it all up.”
Brian raised both hands to stop the accusations from flying, then pointed a finger directly at Harley. “And that’s where I call bullshit. My agent mentioned the show, I mentioned your name. Everything else was all you, bub. Man up. You ran away.”
Harley stared incredulously at the guy who was once the biggest nerd their nerd-infested prep school had ever produced. Brian Dalton might have packed a little muscle onto his once gangly frame, but Harley was pretty sure he could snap the guy in half if he put his mind to it. “Bub? Did you just tell me to man up?”
“I’m saying no one forced you to take the job.” Brian snorted then lifted his own beer bottle. “I sure as shit didn’t tell you to ditch Laney to do it. Why the hell would you do that?”
Tired of being interrogated by two people who meant absolutely nothing to him, Harley held both palms out as he took another step back. “You know what? It’s none of your damn business.”
“The hell it isn’t.”
Harley stiffened as he caught the same thread of steel in Brooke’s voice he’d heard in Delaney’s.
“She cried. I’ve watched my best friend cry more tears in the past six months than I even knew she had in her.” He opened his mouth, but she stopped him with a gentle squeeze of his arm. “Now, because I can’t stand to watch any of God’s living creatures suffer....” Behind her, Brian snorted, but her focus was locked entirely on him. “...I will tell you, you caused only one or two of those tears, and knowing Laney, they were the pissed off kind. But I didn’t like it. You made my friend cry, Harley Cade, and the only reason I’m allowing you to keep both of your balls is because I saw the look on your face when she walked away.”
His eyes narrowed. “What look?”
“The one that said you’re back and you’re gonna go get her,” Brooke answered.
He didn’t have a chance to confirm or deny her assertion. In a flash, Brooke’s pageant-girl smile was in place once more and Brian’s fingers laced tightly through hers. “Don’t mess it up this time,” she called over her shoulder as they turned away. “Big guy like you’d look pretty funny singing soprano.”
He stared after the two brainiest kids in school as they ambled away from the bad boy of Mobile Bay as if they’d exchanged greetings following Sunday services rather than threatened his family jewels.
Harley smiled and shook his head. Damn, it was good to be home. And Brooke was right. He was back, and it was time to grab the life he’d been gunning for since he’d first seen Delaney Tarrington.
Meet the Author
Maggie Wells is a deep-down dirty girl with a weakness for hot heroes and happy endings. By day she is buried in spreadsheets, but at night she pens tales of people tangling up the sheets. Fueled by supertankers of Diet Coke, Maggie juggles fictional romance and the real deal by keeping her slow-talking Southern gentleman constantly amused and their two children mildly embarrassed. For more please visit
www.maggie-wells.com.
