The Summer of Us: A Romance Anthology

by AJ Matthews

“So what was wrong with your car?” He asked pulling away from the curb.

  “Something about the caliper seizing which ruined the wheel bearing. Then again all of those could be made up words and I’d have no idea.”

  Riley snorted. “No, they’re real. What did they charge you?” She raised an eyebrow. “Zoey seemed to think I’m going to be pissed when I hear, out with it.” She sighed and told him the price. About two hundred dollars more than it should have been. “Fuck,” he barked out.

  “So she was right? You’re pissed?”

  “She was right.”

  They made the half an hour trip talking about work mostly. Harper wanted to know what got him interested in mechanics and asked about his time in the military. While he tried to understand her job.

  “So, you do what now?” He asked causing her to giggle.

  “Cyber security. Basically, I’m a computer nerd who makes sure all of our banking information or anything sensitive really, is nice and safe. Oh, I have a medical client as well. Since the country has switched to electronic medical records it’s really important.”

  Riley couldn’t think of a single word to say in return. He could only use a computer in the basic ways.

  “Don’t worry about it,” she said with another laugh. “Like I said, I’m a computer nerd.”

  Riley snorted a response. If she was a nerd then he wished there’d been more nerdy girls in his high school.

  They got to the shop, got her car which also earned the mechanic a hard glare from Riley. The guy noticed and he swallowed hard more than once when Harper handed her credit card over to pay for the repairs. Riley didn’t say a word. He stood two steps behind her with his arms crossed over his chest trying to look as intimidating as possible. At one point, the guy glanced back at him three times which caused Harper to turn to look at him too. She got this kind of half smile and shook her head.

  “Were you trying to make the guy crap his pants?” She asked as they walked toward her car in the lot.

  “Maybe a little.”

  “It probably worked. I think he ran to the bathroom to puke out of fear. What was the problem?”

  “He overcharged you and I hate it when mechanics do that because it makes me think of Zoey and how out in the world she’d be with this stuff if she didn’t have me.”

  “Or Wyatt.”

  Riley clenched his jaw then narrowed his eyes at her.

  “Sorry,” she said with a smile holding her hands in front of her in surrender. “Thanks for the ride," she said climbing into her car, keeping her feet hanging out the door toward him.

  “Yeah.” He took a breath. “I’m going to follow you back. Make sure everything is all right.”

  He turned and walked away without waiting for an answer. If he didn’t, her face being at waist level would make him think things he shouldn’t be thinking.

  Knowing Riley drove right behind her the entire way had a twofold effect on Harper. The first, she knew she’d be safe with him around. The second, his closeness caused a constant swirl of desire in her stomach. Kind of like butterflies mixed with a roller coaster. Harper thought that hooking up with Zoey’s brother might be a fun way to pass the summer and, to be honest, a much-needed release of sexual energy. But now, clearly, she wanted more and needed to dive in to find out if that’s what he wanted to. Especially now that she’d be moving to town.

  She hadn’t even told Zoey yet, which she’d planned to do when they went to get her car. Instead, she’d have to let her know tonight. She already accepted the position with the firm and would give her notice to her current employer in the morning. Two more weeks and she’d be in a position that would, hopefully, be a better fit closer to her best friend.

  Riley and Zoey were a lot alike. Caring and real and someone with the inherent ability to make a person want to be around them. The fact that he was sexy as hell didn’t hurt one bit. When she got back to the apartment, she didn’t pull up right in front of the building, instead choosing to park in front of Wyatt’s mom’s house. Left more room for the others.

  “Everything look good?” She asked.

  “As far as I can tell. But next time, call me or Wyatt. We’ll bring it into the shop and you won’t get ripped off.”

  “Yes, sir,” she said with a smile and a salute. “Want a beer? I feel like I owe you for taking me…out there to get my car.” Harper tried not to cringe at how that may have sounded. But Riley’s slow smile made her forget any embarrassment that might come out.

  “Sure, Harper.”

  He followed her upstairs and dropped onto the couch while she grabbed their drinks then joined him.

  “So which is better?” He asked. Harper turned to him, face pinched together. She had no idea what he was talking about. “Here or where you live?”

  “Oh.” She thought about how to best answer that question. “Well, at home I sleep in a bed and not on a pullout.” Riley snorted. “But here. I have sort of friends there but not like Zoey. And it really isn’t home. This kind of feels like it.”

  “What about where your parents are?”

  She started shaking her head before he finished. “I love my parents but we’re not close. We could live in the same town and still not see each other more than a handful of times every year. We are an email family. Maybe a text now and again. Not everybody has your family, Riley.”

  Harper watched him think about what she said. His fingers reached out and touched the hair hanging in her ponytail but it didn’t look like he did it on purpose. Or rather she didn’t think he meant to do it. Yet he didn’t stop. The intensity behind those deep blue eyes held on to her while his fingers moved carefully until they stopped at the elastic band holding her red hair back. With a tug, he released her hair over her shoulders. She licked her lips when she dropped her gaze from his eyes to his mouth then back again. She wanted him to kiss her. But then it occurred to her that she’d never in her life waited for someone else to make the first move. She wasn’t made that way.

  Instead of waiting any longer, Harper leaned in slowly, cautiously waiting for a reaction from him but Riley didn’t move. She took that as a green light.

  When her lips touched his softly, she took in a sharp breath. She melted even more than the first time. And then he responded. Riley took over that kiss, taking it deeper, making her feel it in her toes and igniting excitement in her stomach like Christmas morning. A gift she wanted to unwrap. But his tongue touching hers turned Christmas morning into the Fourth of July. Harper pushed up on her knees to push into him even more. Their lips moved in a frenzied rush, trying to taste and nibble each other. Until something loud crashed through the door making them fly apart like shrapnel.

  Riley tensed beside her at first but his muscles released and tensed again once they realized who came through the door.

  Zoey and Wyatt were wrapped up in each other, lips moving the way Harper and Riley’s had been, that the couple on the couch went unnoticed. At first.

  “How much of this am I going to have to witness?” Riley asked, his voice hard.

  It worked. The happy couple pulled apart in shock. Harper slapped a hand over her mouth to mute the giggle she couldn’t control.

  “Shit,” Zoey gasped wiping the back of her hand against her mouth. “What are you doing here?”

  “You asked me to take her to get her car, remember?”

  Harper volleyed her head back and forth like she was watching a tennis match.

  “But why are you here?”

  “I offered him a beer to say thank you for taking me.” Harper gave her friend a half grin which made Zoey roll her eyes. They knew each other well enough to know what the other was thinking without saying it.

  “Gross,” Zoey said with a sigh.

  “Ok, if beer is gross, what the fuck is what I just witnessed?” Riley asked.

  Wyatt snorted behind Zoey then folded his arms in front of him with a sigh.

  “Well,” Wyatt said with a smile. Harper already knew this w
ould be good. She spent plenty of time with Wyatt to get a feel for his sense of humor. “When a man and a woman love each other very, very much—”

  Riley threw his hand in the air at the same time he said, “Stop.”

  Everyone but Riley laughed.

  “I’m going to go,” he said as he started pushing himself off the couch.

  “No, don’t.” Harper grabbed his arm to stop him. He could have pushed through it, she knew that. “We can all hang out.” She licked her lips then looked to Zoey who stood there with a cocky little smile on her face. She knew Harper really well. Riley needed to be handled with kid gloves if Harper had any chance of becoming something more to him. This was kid gloves. The four of them together.

  “Yeah. Let’s watch a movie or something,” Zoey offered, grabbing the remote off the coffee table and started scrolling through the OnDemand movies. After another second, Zoey sat on the couch next to Harper followed by Wyatt copping a squat on the floor in front of her.

  Riley didn’t move from beside Harper. Now seemed as good a time as any to announce her news.

  “So…I accepted a job here.”

  “What?” Zoey gasped then smiled widely. “The interview last week?”

  “Yeah. The second one. It’s pretty perfect.” She glanced at Riley who hadn’t moved a muscle. “I’m giving my two weeks tomorrow. Which means…you’ll be rid of me for a few days but also, I need to find an apartment.”

  “You know you can stay here as long as you need to,” Wyatt offered.

  “But still get my own place as soon as possible, right?” Harper giggled.

  “I mean…I wouldn’t complain.” Zoey pushed his shoulder hard but not enough to actually hurt him.

  Chapter Seven

  Holy shit. Harper accepted a job in town and would be around. All. The. Time. Every excuse Riley gave himself as to why even attempting a relationship with her fizzled. Drifted away and no longer existed. So, the question became, did he even want a relationship with her?

  Did he want a relationship at all?

  For days he could only think about Harper. And if he was going to throw his hat into that particular ring, why not her? He winced. That sounded bad even to him. He meant she was kind of perfect for him, why not try it? See if a relationship could be feasible.

  Then he thought about Wyatt. Apparently, the guy had been pining for Zoey most of his life but stayed away for the same reason Riley avoided any relationship. Then he stayed away because of Zoey being Riley’s sister. But now…the two of them couldn’t be happier. He’d never seen Wyatt more at peace than since he got with Zoey.

  That might be what Riley wanted.

  Not giving himself any more time to think about it, Riley grabbed his cell phone and called Harper.

  “Hello?” Her surprised voice answered on the second ring.

  “Hey,” he said back. Smooth. Then silence. Silence long enough it started to get weird until Harper’s laugh broke through.

  “Is there something you need, Riley?”

  The sound of his name on her lips caused an instant reaction from his dick.

  “Uh…I’m heading over to the grill for lunch and wanted to see if you were hungry?”

  “I could eat,” she said right back.

  “Meet me there in ten?”

  “See you then.”

  Harper disconnected before he said goodbye. Riley shook his head, slipped his phone into his front pocket then grabbed his keys and left the shop.

  Harper already sat at a table in the corner when he got to the grill. His eyes knew where to look when he walked in the door without him making the choice to look.

  “Hey,” she said with a huge grin. He couldn’t help but smile back.

  “Hi.”

  After placing their order, Harper watched him with expectant eyes. Brows raised, lips pinched together. Still, he took a big drink from the glass of water in front of him before starting any conversation.

  “Thank for inviting me to lunch,” she said. The way she said it, the tone of her voice told him she didn’t understand why he’d invited her or what he was up to.

  “Just thought you might want to get out.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “So, you were thinking about me.”

  The corner of his mouth turned up. Then it fell right back down and sighed.

  “What are we doing here, Riley?”

  “Uh…lunch.”

  She rolled her eyes at him.

  “Duh. No. I mean, what are we doing here?”

  He swallowed hard. Since he hadn’t thought this far in advance, he didn’t have anything to say.

  “Listen. Why don’t we go out? Like on a regular date. You remember dates, right?”

  He tried not to smile. He failed. “Vaguely.”

  Riley started eating but Harper didn’t touch her food.

  “The way I see it, there’s something here. Maybe it turns out to be nothing but I don’t think that’s the case.” Harper wet her lips and took a breath. “Unless you don’t like me in that way, which is fine. Say that. We can leave things at random hookup and friends because I am going to be living here, Riley. And I don’t want anything to be weird because Zoey is my best friend and I’m not willing to lose that.”

  “You talk a lot.”

  “That isn’t news to either of us,” she countered. “So, what do you say? A movie. My treat. Tonight or tomorrow would work best for me unless you say you just want to be friends.”

  “Why tonight or tomorrow?” He asked.

  “That’s the question you have?” Harper sighed. “Because on Friday I am renting a moving truck to go pack up my things back home. Zoey said she’d go with me. Wyatt has to work.”

  Riley leaned his elbows on the table. “You found a place?”

  She nodded. “And it’s not that far from your place. Please don’t think I’m being a stalker. It’s a cute little house. I’m going to rent it for at least a year. Make sure this job pans out before I put down more permanent roots.”

  “The one on Pine?” She nodded. “That’s a nice place.”

  “I know. Completely updated, too. And it has an extra room I can use as an office since I’ll be able to work from home a lot if I want to.”

  “Sounds perfect.”

  “It is. Now can you answer my question?”

  “Which question?”

  “Riley.” She cocked her head to the side.

  “Oh. Right. Movie. Yeah. I can go tonight. But my treat.”

  About to argue, he held a hand up to stop her. He wasn’t negotiating that part and he wasn’t going to let her try to argue it. Then he realized he hadn’t thought about the ramifications of going on a date with Harper. Actually, he hadn’t thought about it at all. He answered on instinct.

  “Zoey,” Harper called as soon as she got through the apartment door.

  Her friend came scurrying out of the bedroom, holding her button down top together in a fist.

  “What’s wrong?” Her eyes searched Harper for signs of injury.

  “Nothing. Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

  “It’s fine. What?”

  “I have a date tonight.” Zoey smiled. “With your brother.”

  “How’d that happen?”

  “I asked. He said yes.”

  “Wow.” She thought for a moment. “That’s kind of a surprise.”

  “Right. So I will be gone. Hopefully the whole night.” Harper winked causing Zoey to scrunch up her nose. “And I should be out of here by the weekend.”

  “Thank you, Jesus,” Wyatt called from the bedroom.

  “You hush now,” Zoey called back with a wide grin. “He doesn’t mean it.”

  “Yes he does,” Harper said at the same time Wyatt called out, “Yes, I do.”

  “Keep it in your pants for an hour and I’ll get out of here,” Harper called back.

  “Sorry. It’s already out of my pants.”

  Harper visibly cringed. “I didn’t need that kno
wledge,” she said to a laughing Zoey.

  As promised, an hour later, she left the apartment again. Course, the happy couple didn’t actually wait an hour to continue what they’d started before she came home but Harper didn’t care. She still had a few hours before she’d meet Riley at his house but there were a few things she wanted to do.

  First, she picked up the keys to her new house from the landlord. She’d already signed the lease and put down her deposit but the owner wanted to do a complete clean-up before she could move in. He put down new carpet, painted (though she could choose to paint with whatever colors she wanted) and polished the tile floors. Not to mention made sure there were no repairs that needed to be made. Mr. Birmingham also gave her the name and number of the high school kid he used for lawn care and shoveling in the winter in case she wanted to hire him too. She did.

  Harper loved the idea of having a house instead of an apartment but no desire to do the outdoor maintenance necessary.

  When she walked into her new place, it smelled of cleaner and new carpet and made her smile. This was hers and only ten minutes from Zoey and, though she didn’t want to acknowledge it, couldn't help but think that she could get to Riley’s in about five minutes. He would be close. She wasn’t sure how she’d feel about that if things didn’t work out between them. She knew she’d be a grown up but Harper hadn’t wanted to be with a guy long-term this much since college. It was somewhat off-putting.

  As she walked through the house she made notes on her phone of things she’d need to buy. Her apartment was a lot smaller than the house. She’d need some new furniture not to mention the basics like groceries and light bulbs.

  She’d spent enough time planning her new life that she didn’t realize she was already late for her date with Riley. Out the door, she started her car before she got all the way in and roared toward his place.

  “I’m sorry,” she said when he opened the door.

  “You’re only five minutes late.”

  “I know. But I want things to go right and I should’ve been on time. I’m never late.” She stepped into his kitchen while he shoved his phone and wallet into his pocket.