It Was Always You (Harpers Ridge Book 1)

by Ann Carver

  “They knew how much you loved them,” Joe said truthfully and not just to make her feel better.

  Harper snickered. “I wouldn’t go that far. I didn’t know how to love anyone,” she said as if it was a common thing. “Still don’t,” she said with a mouth full of pizza.

  That bothered Joe. How could she think she didn’t know how to love anyone? He knew she loved the Mitchell’s, she just showed it differently. He made a mental note to help her realize that it was possible for her to love.

  When he looked up at her, she was giving him the look of death. “No, Joey,” she scolded him.

  “No, what?” he asked, having no clue what she was talking about.

  “I don’t need to be fixed. My love button…or whatever, isn’t broken,” she said sternly. “It’s nonexistent.”

  She was always going to see him as a fixer. True, he wanted to help her, but that was who he was. She was wrong, of course, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. She’d string him up by his balls and he didn’t want that. He was quite fond of them.

  So, instead of pissing her off more, he smiled and said, “Why would I want to fix you? You’re perfect just the way you are.”

  The brow raised on her face. She tried not to smile, but the corners of her lips slightly turned up. And that produced a smile from him. Another blow-out diverted, he thought to himself.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Joe woke the next morning very satisfied. After working on the roof all day with Vinny, he and Harper had gone home and had some wild fun in bed. And, if that wasn’t good enough, they’d done it again early in the morning. He could really get used to it.

  When he walked into the kitchen, Harper was only wearing his t-shirt and it didn’t cover her sweet ass all the way. She startled when he cupped those sweet cheeks, but when she realized it was him, she leaned back into him so he could get his fill.

  “Mm, smells good. What is it?” he asked as he slid his hands around to the front of her.

  She gasped and shivered. “Um, scrambled -,” she said but stopped when his hands dipped lower.

  He leaned into her and kissed her neck. “Scrambled what?” he asked, teasing her.

  She opened her mouth to answer, but he slid a finger over her tender spot. She gasped again and then moaned when he rubbed her up and down. Both her hands went to the side of the stove as she bent her knees to give him better access.

  Joe nibbled on her neck as his hand kept busy. He reached around with his other hand and teased her perky nipple. Damn, he really could get used to this every day. “What was that?” he teased her softly.

  “Um,” she said, writhing under his hands.

  He knew he was being a dirty bastard, but every time she opened her mouth to answer, he rubbed her just the right way, making it impossible for her to answer. He asked her again and when she tried to answer, he slid a finger inside of her.

  She gripped the sides of the stove even more as she groaned and grinded down on his hand. Then, she cried out when he pinched her nipple between his thumb and finger, then pulled on it, driving her wild.

  And, at that point, he couldn’t take anymore. He needed to replace his finger with his very hard erection. He spun her around and pulled her away from the hot stove to his hot body. Picking her up, he spun her around and set her on the table, gently pushing her flat on it. He pushed her legs apart and filled the space with himself and then he thrust into her.

  “Oh, yes,” she cried out when he pumped into her. She reached down, grabbed his hands, and brought them to her breasts.

  Oh, yeah, he could definitely get used to this. He palmed her breasts and when he gently pinched and pulled on them, she screamed out in pleasure. He was close to his release, but he didn’t want to go before her, so with one hand still teasing her breasts, he took the other and slid his thumb over her hot, tender spot.

  When she screamed her release, and her insides clamped around his erection, he was lost. His orgasm came hard and he could barely stand as he continued to thrust into her, drawing out both of their releases.

  Sprawled out on Joey’s table, Harper was absolutely sated. Between last night, the early morning, and now, she could die one happy woman. Joey had brought her to erotic orgasms like she’d never felt. She had a brief moment wondering what it’d be like to only be with him for the rest of her life.

  But then she had to shift her thoughts to saving her life. The smoke alarm had gone off and as she sat up on the table, she panicked, thinking she had to run out of Joey’s apartment, buck-ass naked.

  “I got it,” Joey said as he grabbed the pan on the stove and tossed it into the sink.

  The burning smell was awful and the thin layer of smoke lingered until Joey took a towel and waved it away from the smoke detector. He was naked too and watching his body move as he waved the towel made her girly parts excited again. His fine ass had a slight jiggle and she wanted to pinch it.

  So, she did.

  But, apparently, it wasn’t a good thing to do because it startled him and he jumped forward. Which wouldn’t have been a problem if he had clothes on and the stove wasn’t scorching hot. But, he was naked and the stove was scorching hot and he burned his most treasured body part.

  Joey groaned in pain as he went to the ground, clutching his crown jewels.

  “Oh my god! I’m so sorry,” she said as she frantically bent down to him. She reached down and moved his hand to look at how bad it was, but he groaned in pain, again. “Oh shit, I’m so sorry,” she said again.

  When she reached down to look again, he grabbed her wrist. “Don’t,” he grunted. “Just don’t,” he repeated as sweat broke out on his forehead.

  This was all her fault and she wanted to help him, but it seemed like everything she did ended up hurting him more. “What can I do to help?” she asked as she moved back from him.

  He took a few deep breaths and finally said, “Just move back so I can get up.”

  She knew he was in pain. That particular area of the body is very sensitive and she’d just made him burn it. She watched as he first went on all fours and then to his knees. He clutched the counter to help pull himself up. Twisting and straining her neck, she tried to see the damage, but he kept it covered with one of his hands.

  When he finally stood, he was wobbly, but he walked down the hall and into his bedroom. She followed behind after a few minutes. She wanted to give him time. Time for what, she didn’t know, but it felt like the right thing to do.

  As she rounded the corner to the bedroom, she saw Joey laying on the bed with his legs hanging over the end. He was still clutching his manhood.

  “Joey, let me see,” she said gently.

  “No,” he growled.

  “Come on, I need to see how bad it is so I can get something for you,” she said even though she had no clue what to do with a burned penis. This is one of those things that she’d never heard of happening…ever!

  “Dammit, Harper, No!”

  He was being a stubborn ass. She put her hands to her hips and huffed. “Damnit, Joey, I said I was sorry, not let me see so I can figure something out,” she yelled at him.

  Joey made a strange noise, but he moved his hand away, and she moved closer to look. “Don’t touch it,” he said, almost begging.

  “I won’t,” she said as she got closer, “unless I have to.”

  Joey exhaled loudly and in a panicky voice, said, “For the love of the stars, Harper, don’t fucking touch it.”

  “Quit being a girl,” she spat at him, getting annoyed with his whiny behavior. Harper got close enough to him and saw the angry, red mark along his tender skin. It was about an inch long, but thankfully there were no blisters. “It’s not too bad, looks like a rugburn. You’ll be fine.”

  “Fine? I’ll be fine?” he yelled and then coughed. “Oh, shit that hurt,” he said through gritted teeth. “Harper, the man’s second brain is the most sensitive part of his body. It doesn’t take much to hurt it and it just got burned by four-h
undred-degree metal. I will not be fine for a while.”

  She knew it was the most sensitive part and she got even more annoyed by his pissiness. “Whatever,” she said as she went to the closet for clothes, then added, “little girl.”

  After getting dressed, she went to the bathroom and rummaged through his medicine cabinet. She returned to the bedroom with some antibiotic ointment. “I’m going to put this on it,” she said as she moved toward him.

  He lifted his head and sweat rolled down his face. “You’re not touching me,” he said seriously with a pale face.

  She gave him a look to get real. “Well, if you can move faster than me, then by all means. Otherwise, suck it up buttercup, and spread ‘em,” she said with a sinister smile.

  He fell back to the bed and quite possibly let out a sob. She still thought he was being a baby, but she was, after all, trying to help him. She put a little ointment on the tip of her finger and, as gentle as she could, she put it on the red mark.

  Joey moaned and groaned and she was pretty sure he definitely was crying, but she knew better than to let him know that she knew. After all, men have prides bigger than Texas.

  “All better,” she said as she rubbed his leg and then left to go to the block house.

  Joe laid on the bed after Harper left, wondering if death would be better than a burned penis. He didn’t think long for the answer. Yes! Yes, death would be better. How could Harper dismiss it as a little rugburn? What did she know about the most sensitive part of a man?

  To top things off, he had to work in the afternoon at the hardware shop and then a shift at the EMT station. He also wanted to help Harper at the block house, but perhaps today was not the day to take on so much. Because of his burnt body part.

  After lying on the bed, naked, for over an hour, Dylan had called wanting him to play a quick game of basketball, but he declined after reluctantly telling him what happened and made him swear to secrecy. There was no way he was jumping around in his condition. Instead he opted for a nap before going to the hardware store.

  When he entered the store, he grandpa raised a brow to him. “What’s wrong with you, boy?” he asked as he pointed his finger at him.

  Joe looked down at his very loose, gym shorts. “What do you mean?” he asked his grandpa.

  “You’ve never came to the store wearing shorts. Where’s your jeans?” he asked as if he was annoyed with him.

  Joe sighed and shrugged his shoulders. “It’s, uh, hot today, so I decided to wear jeans.”

  His grandpa shook his head and walked away. Joe went into the stock room to find a job that required the least amount of bodily movement. After all, it’d taken him twenty minutes to carefully pack his junk into a pair of underwear. He preferred boxers, but he wasn’t about to go free today.

  When he found that a shipment of electrical items had come in, he sat down to price them. Things were going along well until his grandpa asked him to move some shelves around on the sales floor. He wasn’t about to tell his grandpa he wouldn’t, or couldn’t do it, so he sucked it up and did the work for him…breaking out in sweat.

  Harper wondered if Joey would show up to help today. He’d mentioned he needed to spend some time at the hardware store and then had a shift at the EMT station at night. She hoped he’d stop by, but the likelihood wasn’t so great. So, she busied herself with more projects she learned from YouTube.

  She was able to take down all the cupboard doors and get them painted. While they were drying, she took measurements of the counters. She wasn’t initially going to do anything with the Formica counters, but she decided she wanted to upgrade to granite. She remembered how Mrs. Mitchell always took pride in her kitchen. She’d taught Harper how to cook in that very kitchen, so it was sort of like a tribute to her.

  When Harper was cleaning up for the night, Lila stopped by. She gave her a tour of the house and told her the rest of the plans she had for the place. Lila gave a few suggestions for decorations, which Harper was thankful for because she wasn’t much of a decorator.

  “Lily will be home tomorrow and we plan on whitewater rafting next weekend,” she said with excitement.

  “That’s great,” Harper said as they took a seat on the front steps to the house. “It’s been a long time since we’ve all been together again for a trip.”

  Lila nodded with a big smile. “How could I forget? I tried so hard to lose my virginity to Donovan Holt.” She sighed and her shoulders dropped. “But he’d only had eyes for Barbara. Ugh, she was dreadful, wasn’t she?”

  Barbara had been friends with Cindy and was equally as bitchy. If guys thought they didn’t have a chance with Cindy, they went after Barbara. Donovan hadn’t been interested in Cindy, but he was puppy-dog, in love with Barbara.

  “He was blind,” Harper told her friend. “She was as big of a bitch as Cindy was. I don’t know how either one of them got boyfriends.”

  Lila shrugged another shoulder. “Oh well, that was a long time ago. They divorced a few years back, but as far as I know, he hasn’t dated anyone since.” She sighed again. “I just wish he’d give me the time of day. Why are men so stupid?”

  “No clue,” she said as she rested back on her hands thinking about Joey being a crybaby over his little burn.

  “Didn’t you hook up with Tristan on our last rafting trip? Now there was another hot guy. If I didn’t have the hots for clean-cut, business man, Donovan, I’d for sure be after scruffy, lumberjack kind of guy that Tristan is,” Lila said closing her eyes as if dreaming about him.

  “What?” Harper looked at her like she was crazy. “No way. He’s Joey’s brother.”

  “Yeah, his brother. You too seemed awful cozy,” she said with a sinister smile. “Are you sure? You took sneaked of for a long walk in the woods and then you stayed the night in his tent.”

  Harper remembered that night very well. They had all just graduated and Joey’s brothers, Tristan and Andy, had come back for his graduation. It was a large group of twenty or so that had gone whitewater rafting for the weekend. She had hoped that Joey would ask her to stay in Harpers Ridge that night. She’d finally, after many years, realized that Joey was the one she trusted the most and wondered if she could finally be with someone forever.

  Harper had purposely forgotten her tent so Joey would invite her into his tent. She wanted to be with him and hopefully he’d confess that he wanted her too. When Joey treated her like the plague and she couldn’t ever find time to be alone with him, Tristan stepped in and offered his tent.

  Sure, they went for a long walk in the woods, but all she could talk about was Joey. And, that night in the tent, Tristan was a true gentleman, just as he’d always been. He didn’t understand why Joey was being a butthead, but he didn’t offer any suggestions either.

  Harper didn’t want to tell her friend that she had hoped it was Joey’s tent she’d stayed in that night. She never wanted to tell anyone. “No, he’s like a brother,” she said, playing it off as to not make her suspicious. “I’d never do anything with Joey’s brothers.”

  Lila raised a brow. “So, not with his brothers, but with Joe?” Then she waggled her brows up and down.

  It was impossible not to laugh. “We hooked up, once, in high school.”

  “And what about now? You’re living at his place, right?” she asked.

  The smile didn’t fade away. “We’re…trying something,” she said reluctantly.

  Lila laughed and nudged her. “Shit, you’re not trying anything, you’re jumping his bones, aren’t you?”

  Harper slid her friend a look, but it was quickly replaced with a smile. “Maybe,” she said with a chuckle.

  Chapter Eighteen

  After working at the hardware store, Joe went home and tried not to cry through a shower when hot, soapy water ran down his beloved body. He managed to get into his work uniform and drive to work…barely!

  Bobby was talking to Rebecca as she sat in the chair with her feet up on the desk. Bobby had been trying to g
et with Rebecca before Joe and her had dated. It hadn’t stopped him, knowing his friend was dating her, but Rebecca hadn’t strayed toward Bobby. She’d strayed toward someone else.

  Rebecca looked up and a smile immediately filled her face. A little laugh escaped as she tried to keep it in, but it hadn’t worked. Bobby, who was leaning over, whispering in her ear looked up and grinned.

  The bastard was still trying to hook up with her and she was married now. Joe put his stuff in his locker and went to his desk. He didn’t want to see those two flirting with each other. She was married…she shouldn’t be doing that kind of stuff. Bobby knew she was married and he shouldn’t be doing it either.

  A couple of minutes later, Bobby and Rebecca peeked around the corner. Joe tried to ignore them, but their giggling was annoying and made it impossible. He shouldn’t care what they do with each other. They weren’t his problem.

  Bobby came around the corner and plopped down on the black, leather couch. “So, I hear you have some erectile dysfunction going on…meaning a burnt boner.”

  Rebecca hid around the corner laughing obnoxiously while Bobby sat on the edge of the couch with his elbows on his knees as if waiting for a good story. Joe cursed Dylan for breaking the bro code. He knew he should have never told him.

  “Fuck you,” he said, not looking up from the paper he’d been staring at. “Your shift is over, you can leave now.”

  Bobby laughed and Rebecca was still laughing around the corner. “This is a much more interesting story than going home,” he laughed through the entire sentence.

  Joe looked up at Bobby. “Well, I’m sure the asshole told you the whole story, so I don’t need to. Just leave me alone.”

  With more laughter, Bobby nodded his head. “Heard you had red on the table. Damn, I should have asked her out before you did.”

  Joe stood and growled, ready to punch Bobby in the face, again. But Bobby stood and put his hands up. “Calm down,” he said calmly. “I’m just kidding.”