What this told him was that she was not serious with this wanker. One thing was clear: this was a first date. They obviously hadn’t even kissed until she put on that little show for him. He was shocked she’d described it in such tepid terms. This was all good news. It gave Noah some breathing room, a chance to figure out a strategy to win Harper back.
Chapter Six
Harper closed the door as quickly as possible behind her. She didn’t want to risk Noah racing after her right into this man’s house. She wouldn’t put it past him. She looked up and made a quick assessment of the place. Cute. Bright, cheery, beachy, with blond wood furniture, aqua-and-white-striped lounge chairs, and a sunny-yellow sofa. Only at the beach could you get away with a sofa that looked like a giant lemon.
She would argue, though, that the décor in here fit far more with what a woman would choose than a man. But who knew? Maybe his sister decorated it for him. Or his mother. Ugh, hope he isn’t a mama’s boy. That would be bad. Oh, but it could be a rental, in which case who knew who decorated it? Maybe he bought it, lock, stock, and barrel. But a closer look showed it wasn’t beat up enough to be a rental. No dings in the drywall. No scuffs on the hardwoods. The furniture looked like it came from that expensive home goods store on the beach road not far from her place. No one would buy nice things from there only to let renters beat the crap out of it.
“I’ve got a bar set up in the living room. And let me see if I can find the cat,” Danny said. For a minute she was so lost in thought she’d forgotten about him. At least she was pondering home décor and not dirty, rotten ex-boyfriends who looked so damned handsome she wanted to scream. Ugh, Noah did look amazing, didn’t he? Sort of rugged. The scruff of beard growth on his face looked delicious. And she didn’t want to stare—at least not when he might have been looking—but when she’d glanced carefully in the rearview mirror, those almond-shaped hazel eyes she’d loved so much were reflected in it. His dark hair was shorter, but it still curled in wild waves at the nape of his neck. Which was someplace she used to love to bury her fingers; it felt like sinking your toes into a thick new carpet. “Any of those sound good to you?”
Oh crap. He said something she totally missed. She shook her head to erase those thoughts and instead smiled at him, devoting her full attention. “I’m sorry, I was so caught up in admiring your lovely home that I missed what you said.”
He waved dismissively. “It’s all good. I’ve got beer, wine, bourbon, tequila, Baileys, milk, orange juice. What sounds good?”
Harper scrunched her nose. “Definitely not milk. I mean maybe if you had some fresh-baked cookies. But then again, do you have some Kahlua? I could take a little of that with milk.” She licked her lips and then wished she could unlick them—it felt too suggestive. Not that she hadn’t already been Forward Franny with that kiss she planted on him in the car. Oy. What was she thinking? It was so outside of her personality to do that! Clearly she’d gotten rusty with so many years of neglect. She’d become the Tin Man of Sexual Inactivity. She didn’t even know the proper protocol for kissing a near stranger. She blanched. Danny. Danny was actually a near stranger. Well, she’d spent several hours—enjoyable hours—with him tonight, but did she know him? For all she knew, he could be a serial killer and she wouldn’t even realize it.
How awful would that be? After all this time, she finds a guy she thinks she could have some fun with and instead he ends up being like a psycho clown or something, one of those men who lures women with the promise of White Russians and beach views. Dressed in a clown costume, big red wig, blue-and-white polka-dotted one-piece get-up, large red shoes. And a gleaming butcher’s knife.
Oh for goodness’ sake: the man wasn’t dressed in a clown costume. She was being ridiculous. He was a perfectly nice man offering her a drink. A nightcap, now that she thought of it. Which was such an odd thing to call it. So retro. No one said that word anymore, did they? Oh well, maybe he was old-fashioned that way.
Suddenly, she hoped he was old-fashioned in some other ways as well. Please, dear God, don’t have him jonesing to get into my pants tonight. Upon further reflection, she didn’t want her first sexual experience since Noah to be with a complete—or nearly so—stranger. Even if he did make a fine nightcap. She had to be a little bit more discerning than that. Although she’d been through a hell of a dry spell. Like Moses-and-the-Israelites-parched-in-the-desert dry spell. Which was crazy. How could it have been that long since she’d had sexual relations with a man? Relations. That was a weird one too. What did her mother sometimes call it? Sexual congress. Harper always pictured bald, paunchy men in the US Capitol gaveling in a meeting whenever she said that. Though for real, there were enough scandals in that place over the years, perhaps it was a fitting term.
Oh goodness. Her mind had taken to wandering like a lost child in the woods. This was not uncommon for Harper when she was frazzled. And she was frazzled. Because she was unexpectedly hornier than a Cape buffalo, but she feared it wasn’t the man before her who had stirred up a hornet’s nest worth of buzzing in her nether regions. It was like that part of her had woken up from the damned dead upon seeing he-who-shall-not-be-thought-of for fear it might trigger some kind of spontaneous-combustion orgasm in her. She was a veritable sexual Rapunzel, dead to the world for ages and then poof! come and get it! Chuck wagon’s ready! Although she certainly found use for her battery-operated “mystery date” several times a week, she’d pretty much had her legs clamped tight for far too long, and now all of a sudden, she was like a damned sexual volcano, about to burst right out of her lava chambers—if that’s what you’d call it.
Breathe, Harper. Breathe.
She fanned her face, feeling desperately flustered.
“Sorry, can’t seem to find the cat anywhere,” Danny said, handing her a drink. It felt refreshingly cold, so she pressed it to her cheek. “You warm? I can open the sliding glass door.” He walked over to the door, which led to a screened-in porch. She followed him.
“I know it’s chilly outside, but I did get hot for some reason, so this would be great to cool down for a minute.”
There was a breakfast table on the porch with two chairs and a porch swing, so she sat at the table to avoid having to figure out what she was supposed to do here. She was as nervous as a kid on the first day of school. Except this might end in flesh-to-flesh contact and the exchange of bodily fluids. Not quite the same.
She was grateful for the sound of crashing waves along the shoreline—it filled the conversational void she seemed incapable of pouring herself into.
“Bottoms up.” Danny nodded and tipped his glass to hers.
“Cheers,” she said, taking a bit more of a swig than intended. She licked the residual Kahlua from her lips and nearly smacked herself for doing that. Again with the tongue action. “I’m sorry for that weirdly awkward scene in the Uber back there.”
He sat down opposite her. “It’s fine. I figured there must’ve been something there, but it’s not my business.”
She rubbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. “And about that boyfriend comment…” She made air quotes around the boyfriend. What a dingbat she was, claiming they were dating. Way to kill the chance of a second date.
He shook his head. “Again, I’m sure you had your reasons.”
She nodded. “It sort of took me by surprise, is all. Suffice it to say I hadn’t seen him in a long time.”
He pointed his finger at her and then toward the door, as if Noah was still right on the other side of it, sitting in his car, waiting. “You two had a thing?”
She nodded, pursing her lips. “You could say that.” She didn’t want to get into the details. “Let’s leave it at things ended badly.”
He reached his hand across the table and rested it over hers. “I’m sorry, Harper. I can’t imagine how someone would ever want to hurt you like that.”
She heaved a sigh. Neither could she. That was the problem.
&nb
sp; “It’s complicated,” she said. She took a look at her watch. It was late. The bloom was off the rose for this date tonight. To make matters worse, the cat wasn’t even here. Maybe another night would be better. Under the circumstances, Harper couldn’t see even having an innocent little make-out session with the guy. It would feel disingenuous. Not that she wasn’t interested, but now her mind was polluted with too many thoughts: about seeing Noah again after all this time. About all that they’d been through together. About how he betrayed her. And about how crazy horny he made her feel even when he infuriated her, like he had right now. Damn him. Ruined everything by leaving and now he was ruining everything by showing up unannounced.
Part of her wanted to sleep with Danny and get it over with. Just be done with that thing looming over her head like a ghost. Oh, crap. Having sex with a cute date should never be viewed as an albatross. And it wasn’t. She’d love to have sex with him. Or at least make out with him. Maybe some heavy petting. Heavy petting? She was starting to sound like a sex-ed class in middle school. What she meant was to have his hands on her private parts in a way that would make her feel the way she felt when Noah had done that.
She combed her fingers through her hair as she took another swig of her drink. Danny’s fingers started to walk up her wrist, along her arm. She instinctually wanted to swat at his hand as if it was a mosquito. Ugh. That is not the proper response when an incredibly handsome, kind, eligible man is trying to show you he’s interested in you.
Harper squeezed her eyes tightly. “No—I mean Danny. I know this is super lame of me, but I think I need to get back home. Can we maybe pick up where we left off another night? I had such a great time with you, but this sort of derailed me a little bit. I’d be much better company once I splash some water on my face, get a good night’s sleep, and forget all about that whole car ride.”
He frowned. “You sure?”
She nodded. “I’m sorry. We had such fun tonight. And I really would love to see you again.”
He stood up. “Let me at least take you home.”
She shook her head. “No. Please, I’m so good with taking an Uber back.” She already had her phone on the table and opened the app to call for a ride. “No sense in your going back out in this weather.”
“But I’m happy to.”
She held up her hands in protest. “No, seriously. I insist. I will be fine. It’s a quick ride home.” She glanced at her phone. “See? Says my ride will be here in one minute.”
She walked back into the house, took her drink to the sink, and poured the remainder down the drain, rinsing the cup and loading it into the dishwasher. She could at least be a considerate houseguest, albeit a fleeting one.
“Thank you, Danny, for such a lovely evening.” She reached up and gave him a chaste peck on the cheek.
“Can I call you?”
She smiled. “Absolutely. I’d like that.”
With that, she slipped outside into the driving rain, and to her chagrin, into the same damned Subaru Outback she’d exited less than an hour ago.
Chapter Seven
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Harper said as she sat down in the back seat. It was obvious she had no intention of sitting next to Noah. “I should get out of this damned vehicle this minute. Except it’s dumping out.” She glared at him, hard. “Are you stalking me or something?”
Technically, no. But he had hung out in the same area in the hopes that she’d have a change of heart and leave before she did something foolish with that baboon. Not that she gave him any indication she’d do something so fortuitous for him. Based on her responses earlier, he’d almost have expected her to have a rousing round of revenge sex with the twit so she could throw it back at him.
“I can’t exactly stalk you while I’m driving, can I?” he said. “I happened to be nearby. Not too many of us driving tonight. It’s late and the weather sucks. I was the sole survivor I guess.”
“Well, you’re lucky it’s such a stormy night, or I’d demand you let me out on the side of the road.”
“In what universe would you ever expect me to allow that to happen, Harper?” he smiled into the mirror. He might have been a dick for leaving the way he did, but when they were together, he was the most attentive, considerate boyfriend going.
“To be honest, I don’t know what to expect from you. Fact is, I used to expect something from you, and voilà, that was shot to hell in the blink of an eye. For all I know, you might choose to drop me on the side of the road. Wouldn’t that be fitting?”
“Go on, Harps. Get it all out. Beat me up. I can take it. I deserve it. In fact, give me your best shot.”
“You know what? I can give you a bad Uber rating.” She punched the seat. “Then you won’t bother me anymore.”
“But you’re not malicious.”
“I could be if I wanted to be.”
“Why would you want to be?”
“Because you’re a jerk.”
“Two wrongs don’t make a right, Harper.”
“Oh, so you admit you were wrong, then?”
He heaved a sigh. A quick glance at his GPS showed they were pulling up to her home.
“Your place?” He nodded toward a cute little gingerbread cottage tucked away on a less-developed stretch of Ocean Road. It appeared to be a new house, with other new homes in midconstruction all around her place.
“Yep,” she said.
“Nice.” He nodded. “Had it long?”
“Listen, Noah. I’m gonna be honest with you.” She wiped her lips with her thumb and forefinger and reached for her purse, about to get out of the car. “There’s no sense in small talk between the two of us. To be truthful, I’ve got zero fucks to give to you. And you’ve only got yourself to blame. You had the hammer and the bag of nails and you willfully pounded them right on into that coffin, destroying everything we had. So, sorry. Not sorry.”
Noah frowned and opened his door.
“What are you doing?” she said as she opened her own door.
“I’m going to walk you up to your door like a gentleman.”
He shut his door and took a step to catch up to her, placing his hand along the base of her spine, ushering her forward. She swatted at him. “I’m perfectly capable of walking to my own home, thanks.”
“Look, Harper. I understand that you’re angry with me. And you’re entitled to be. But I have a responsibility to be sure that you get home safe and sound. So please, let me walk you to your door.”
“I can assure you I’ve never had an Uber driver extend this service to me before, so I’m pretty sure it’s not in the driver’s handbook.”
“Consider it a kind gesture from a friend.”
She shook her head. “Dude, you gave up the opportunity to be my friend when you turned tail and ran without an explanation. So no. You and I”—she pointed at him and then at herself, shaking her head—“we’re not friends. You’re only someone I used to love.”
She fumbled for her key, and it took long enough that he planted himself right up behind her as she pulled the fob out of her messy purse and slid the key in the deadbolt, giving it a turn. But it jammed instead.
“Dammit,” she said, jiggling the thing to no avail.
Noah stood behind her, arms crossed, a sly smile on his face, trying not to look smug as she fought with the key. She frowned at him. “I think I can figure out how to work the key to my own house.”
He shrugged. “Have at it.”
She twisted and tugged on the key while more expletives erupted from those gorgeous lips of hers. God, he’d love to hear her saying those things while he was buried deep inside of her. He loved dirty talk and no one could talk dirty like Harper Landry. He could feel his pants growing tighter merely thinking about that.
At last he reached over and placed his hand on top of hers, calming her tense fingers, and he pressed the key a little deeper into the lock, then gave it an easy turn. “Sometimes you have
to press in a little deeper.” And yeah, he meant it both ways.
She shrieked at him in obvious frustration. “Goddammit, Noah.”
He twisted the knob and opened the door, following so closely behind Harper she couldn’t even slam the door on him, which he suspected she was inclined to do.
“Is that the thanks I get for ensuring you aren’t stuck outside in the rain all night?” He was pressed up against her from behind, and could practically feel her body humming in response. He knew she wanted him as much as he wanted her.
“I don’t owe you any thanks, Noah Gunderson. I owe you a swift kick in the—” Noah leaned over and nuzzled her neck, right in that spot she once loved so much. They used to joke that her Achilles heel was in her neck—the minute Noah got her there, she was putty in his hands. He placed soft kisses interspersed with the tiniest licks beneath her ear, and her breath came harder as he reached around and unbuttoned her coat, allowing him to slide his hands up over her breasts.
“This is not what I want,” she said, but her hesitant response was as if she was turning down a decadent dessert because she’d decided to diet but didn’t truly mean it. “Because I hate you, Noah.”
Noah slid his hands to the V-neck edge of her dress, deftly slipping his fingers beneath to the edge of her bra until he found her nipples and pinched them, hard. Harper moaned, loudly. It was the moan of a woman on the edge. He hoped for his sake it wasn’t the edge of wanting to throttle him.
He groaned as he moved his lips up to her ear, swirling his tongue along the edge of it and inward. His cock had grown harder still in his pants, and he thrust softly against her ass, letting her know what she did to him. That she could arouse him in no time flat as if time hadn’t passed since they last did this. He skirted one hand along her dress, tugging it up and sliding beneath the silky layers, following her thigh till he reached the lower edge of her panties. Slipping his fingers beneath, he savored her sharp intake of breath as she gasped when his fingers came in contact with her intimate flesh. He found her wet and warm center and stroked his fingers along her lips, like he’d done so many times, swirling her juices and then sliding first one finger, then another inside of her. Fuck, he wanted to be inside her so badly he was not going to last.
Falling for Mr. Wrong Page 3
