She Loves Me

by Foster, Melissa

  As she walked out of the room, Harley pushed himself up on one foot and shoved his jeans down to his knees; then he sank down to the couch.

  “You can shower down—” Piper stopped cold, looked at him sitting in his boxer briefs, and frowned.

  “That’s not the response I was hoping for,” he teased.

  Her eyes narrowed. “Why aren’t you putting those shorts on?”

  “I need help getting my jeans off.” He pointed to his ankle. “My ankle and foot look like Fred Flintstone’s. Sprained ankle. Ring a bell?”

  “Fine.” She came around the couch and held out her hand. “Give me your good foot.”

  He lifted his leg, which caused him to lift both, since his jeans were at his knees. Piper looked at his feet; then her eyes drifted up his legs to his crotch, and his cock twitched. She scowled, her eyes flicking up to his.

  “You were looking. It’s your fault,” he said through a laugh.

  “I wasn’t looking—”

  He scoffed.

  “I didn’t mean to! It was right there!” She pointed at his crotch and then waved her hands. “I was trying to figure out the best way to get your pants off without hurting your ankle!”

  He chuckled.

  Jiggs looked at Piper.

  “Shut up,” she snapped. She pushed the coffee table back and sat on the floor, gently guiding his pants down his legs. “You okay?” she asked as she maneuvered the stiff denim over his sore ankle.

  “Yeah. I’m digging this view.”

  She scowled, mumbled something about jackass, and finished taking off his jeans. She put his shorts over his feet and pulled them up to his knees. “You can do the rest.” She stood up and said, “You can’t take another dose of pain meds until three o’clock. Do you want me to set an alarm on your phone?”

  He hiked his shorts up, using one foot for leverage. “No. I’m sure I’ll wake up if it hurts.” His eyelids were so heavy, he had doubts about anything waking him up once he allowed them to slam shut. “Take my extra keys so you can get in tomorrow morning. In case you’re early or we’re still asleep.”

  “Okay. I need you to stay standing up for one sec.” She spread the sheet on the couch, and as he sat down, she said, “The instructions said to stay ahead of the pain. Are you sure you don’t want me to set an alarm?”

  “I can handle pain.”

  She helped him prop his ankle on the other end of the couch, then put the pillow behind his head and handed him the blanket. She moved the coffee table closer to the couch, got a bottle of water from the fridge, and put it with the pill bottle on the table.

  Jiggs whimpered, the leash still hanging from his mouth.

  She crouched in front of the pup and petted his head. “I know, Jiggs. I’ve got you.”

  As she hooked Jiggs’s leash on his collar, Harley thought about Piper walking down his secluded road. “Piper, he can skip his walk.”

  “No he can’t. Daddy spoiled him. He can’t pee without a walk, remember?”

  “Then just walk him down to the water so I can see you from the deck.” He sat up, and she put her hand on his shoulder, pushing him back against the pillow.

  “I’m a big girl, Harley, and I’ve got this ferocious dog to keep me safe. Your job is to get better, not tell me what to do. I’ve lived in Sweetwater all my life and nobody’s ever attacked me. I think I can handle walking your dog.”

  “Damn it, Piper. Why are you so stubborn?”

  She shrugged. “Part of my charm, I guess.” She opened the door, then pointed to him and said, “I will walk him down by the water, but if you get up from that couch, I will not come back to help you tomorrow. Close your eyes and chill, okay? I promise not to get raped or pillaged.”

  Piper made her way down to the water, trying not to think about Harley. The trouble was, she couldn’t stop thinking about him in those damn boxer briefs. She tried to shift her thoughts to work, but they kept circling back to Harley—his laugh, the heated look in his eyes when she was taking off his jeans, his thick thighs, and that enticing package pressed against his thin cotton boxer briefs. She didn’t know what was worse, that she was thinking about all those things or that he suddenly had unnecessary protective instincts. She walked along the edge of the grass, waiting for Jiggs to do his business, and gazed out at Harley’s dock. The dock was built in a U shape around the covered slip where he kept his cabin cruiser. She and their friends had helped him build the slip when he’d first bought the place about a year after he’d moved back to Sweetwater. They’d had fun working with their friends that weekend, and swimming in the lake when they were done each day. She gazed past the slip at the moonlight glistening off the inky water, and her mind traveled back to the horrible night all those years ago when Marshall had broken her heart and Harley had found her at the end of the dock at the marina.

  A chill ran down her spine with the painful memories she rarely allowed herself to think about. She’d felt Harley’s presence behind her on that cold, dark night before he’d made a sound. When she’d looked over her shoulder and he’d seen her tears, his face had gone from concern to rage. She was used to her older brother, Ben, protecting her and getting angry on her behalf, but not Harley. She’d been mortified that he’d seen her like that, and in the space of a second that mortification had brought the harsh realization that there were things in life nobody could protect her from. That realization had shocked and momentarily paralyzed her with fear. But the embarrassment of Marshall’s brother seeing how badly Marshall had broken her had propelled her to her feet, giving her the strength and determination to protect her heart at all costs, and she’d never looked back.

  As she gazed out at the water, she wondered what Harley might have said to her then if she’d given him the chance. Would he have given her sage advice? Tried to make her feel better about herself and feel safe, as he did with his nieces? Or would he have just been like most college-aged guys and not known what to do?

  Jiggs nudged her with his nose, and she realized she’d zoned out.

  Irritated with herself, she said, “Sorry, Jiggs. Let’s get out of here.” The faster the better. She was obviously losing her mind, doing so much thinking about Harley. As they made their way up the steps to the deck and around to the front door, she told herself she was just out of sorts because of the way Harley was acting, and because he was hurt.

  And maybe also a little bit because she was bothered by some of the things that Harley and the guys at work had said. Harley had said that not every person needed a soft touch, but Piper didn’t believe that. Maybe guys like Mike didn’t, because he’d be with a dude if he had a vagina. But guys like Harley definitely needed, or liked, a softer touch. Darren’s voice whispered through her mind as she climbed the porch steps. My girl is always hanging on my every word and giving me foot rubs. I just can’t see you doing those things.

  “Neither can I,” she muttered as she walked inside. Harley was sacked out, head back, mouth wide open, one arm hanging off the sofa. The blanket was on the floor beside him. Her heart squeezed, and she told herself to ignore it as she crouched beside Jiggs and whispered, “Your daddy is sleeping.” She unhooked his leash but held on to his collar. “You need to be really gentle with him tonight, okay? No jumping.”

  Jiggs cocked his head. She swore Harley must have taught him that look and exactly when to use it. She scratched Jiggs’s head the way Harley had and said, “How about if I make you a doggy bed beside the couch? Okay?”

  She held on to his collar just in case he got the urge to snuggle his daddy as she pushed the coffee table closer to the end of the couch where Harley’s head was. Then she took the cushions from the armchairs and love seat and spread them out on the floor by the other end of the couch.

  “I can’t believe a spoiled dog like you doesn’t have a doggy bed,” she whispered. Why would you? You probably sleep on his bed every night.

  She led Jiggs up on the cushions and whispered, “Stay.” Then she picked up the bl
anket and spread it over Harley, tucking it between him and the back of the couch. She gazed down at him and pulled the blanket over his chest, letting her hand linger there, feeling his heart beat against her palm. Harley Dutch, what are you doing to me?

  He shifted, and she snapped her hand away, feeling like she’d been caught with it in a cookie jar as his eyes fluttered open and his lips curved up.

  “You know I love you, right, Pipe?” he said groggily.

  She swallowed hard, knowing it was the medication talking, and stood stock-still as his eyes closed. She exhaled with relief.

  Those pain pills were going to kill her before Harley even had a chance to heal. She just knew it.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  THERE WERE THINGS Piper had always counted on, like her family having her back, work bringing more satisfaction than any man ever had, and her younger sister Willow’s baked goods making everything in life seem better. She was exhausted after staying up all night wondering why she’d been attracted to Harley, and as she climbed from her truck and headed for the back door to the bakery, she was counting on the promise the baked goods held.

  As she pulled open the door, country music and the scent of sugary goodness wafted out of the kitchen, easing her tension. The counters were covered with cooling racks filled with baked goods. The work space in the middle of the kitchen was littered with bowls and baking accouterments. Willow stood at the counter across the room with her back to Piper, talking on her cell phone. Her thick blond hair hung in a pretty braid down her back. A sense of comfort embraced Piper. She had breakfast with Willow several times most weeks before work, and today it was exactly what she needed to remind herself of her own reality. What she felt last night for Harley wasn’t reality. It was guilt, or empathy for his being hurt. But it wasn’t real.

  Willow turned and held up a finger, listening to whoever was on the phone. She looked cute in cutoffs and a long-sleeved shirt. She had a body like Marilyn Monroe and was the curviest of her sisters, while Piper had a body more like Kristen Bell before she had babies.

  Willow mouthed, I’ll be right off. Then she turned around and continued working at the counter. She spoke so softly into the phone, Piper couldn’t make out anything she said. There was a time when Piper had wished for all the things her sisters had that she didn’t, like Willow’s voluptuous body and overly peppy outlook, Talia’s height and academic prowess, and Bridgette’s sweet, patient demeanor and ability to talk anyone off a ledge. But those desires had waned around the same time Piper had realized she needed to be in control of her own well-being. She’d not only accepted her thin straight hair, narrow, boyish hips, small breasts, and enjoyment of working with her hands, but she’d embraced them all. She imagined it was easier to be taken seriously when men weren’t ogling her body and trying her patience. She liked things just as they were.

  Or at least she had until her siblings had each fallen in love, leaving Piper as the last unspoken-for Dalton. She told herself she wanted it that way, but her crew’s comments had drudged up the insecurities she’d been trying to ignore. The time with Harley had magnified all of it, leaving her even more confused.

  Willow ended her call and spun around with a plate of baked goods in her hands. She arrived at the bakery most mornings between four thirty and five o’clock to start baking for the day. “Bridgette texted and said you SOS’d her, needing advice about Harley and his nieces, so I made you all your favorites.” She put the plate on the counter between them and pushed it across to Piper.

  Piper tried not to drool over the pastries: a Boston cream doughnut, a cinnamon roll, and a chocolate croissant with powdered sugar on top. “You’re a goddess!” She grabbed the doughnut and took a big bite. Sweet chocolate and creamy custard melted in her mouth as Bridgette came through the door.

  “Sorry I’m late.” She put her purse on a chair and said, “I see Willow hooked you up. I texted Talia, Aurelia, and Remi last night, but Talia and Aurelia were both slammed this morning, and Remi and Mason left for the city last night.”

  “I don’t need the cavalry. I just need a little advice.” Piper took another bite of the doughnut, then carried the plate of goodies to her usual spot on the counter and hoisted herself up to sit on it.

  Bridgette walked around the kitchen eyeing the freshly made goodies and said, “Your text said to get my ass to the bakery in the morning because you needed girlie advice. I figured the more the better.”

  It dawned on Piper that she hadn’t told Bridgette why she needed advice. “Willow, how’d you know I wanted to talk about Harley and the girls?”

  Willow and Bridgette exchanged a look that told Piper her sisters had a secret, and that annoyed the shit out of her.

  “Someone better start talking, because I’m in no mood to be fucked with.” Piper buried her irritation in another bite of sugary goodness.

  “Bodhi’s mother told him that Mom told her that Harley’s mother said you picked up Harley from the hospital and you were helping him with the girls,” Bridgette explained.

  “Sweetwater gossip at its finest.” Piper finished her doughnut and picked up the cinnamon bun. Some aspects of small-town life sucked, but there was nowhere else Piper would want to be than near her family. “Did she also tell you that she gave Harley a picture of the two of us dancing at Ben’s wedding? He’s got the damn thing on his refrigerator.”

  Willow laughed. “You know Mom. She loves to make people happy. She made healing lotions for Delaney after she got the news about having cancer, hoping they would help, and last weekend she made a love potion for Doris Pilcheck.”

  Their mother made organic fragrances, shampoos, body washes, soaps, and lotions and sold them in stores around town. But she was best known for the love potions she claimed to put in some of her wares. She swore she was responsible for at least half of the love connections in town.

  “Doris is seventy-five years old,” Piper said.

  “And still in her prime, according to Mom.” Willow glanced at Bridgette, who was still pondering the sweets, and said, “You need to actually pick one up and eat it. Despite how it looks when Piper scarfs them down, they won’t leap into your mouth.”

  “I have another ten pounds to lose, so I’m just going to get drunk on their delicious aromas and savor the sight of them. I’m carrying five pounds here.” Bridgette patted her butt in her pretty floral dress and said, “And five pounds here.” She grabbed her boobs.

  Piper rolled her eyes. “You look great and Bodhi adores you, so choose one and eat the damn thing already.”

  “That’s easy for you to say. You can eat anything and not gain a pound,” Bridgette said.

  “Which translates to there’s no natural way for me to grow bigger breasts or a rounder ass.” Piper took another bite.

  “You don’t get it.” Bridgette leaned her hip on the counter and said, “Being pregnant with Emerson changed my whole body even worse than when I was pregnant with Louie. I have all this loose skin on my stomach, more stretch marks that I swear look like road maps, and my boobs are starting to look like an old lady’s.”

  “Whatever. You have a beautiful baby girl and you see things about your body no one else does. You’re still hot, Bridge. Own those curves,” Piper encouraged her.

  Bridgette looked at Willow.

  “Don’t look at me. I’m on team eat-the-sweets,” Willow said. She went to the other end of the counter and began frosting a cake. “I’m also on team give-me-all-the-details, so spill, Pipe. What’s up with you and Harley? Why do you need advice?”

  She finished a bite of the cinnamon bun, trying to figure out if she should lead with Jolie or Harley. Jolie was easier, so she skipped right over the hot, confusing one and said, “I need advice about Jolie. She’s in that sullen, eye-rolling, preteen stage, and I’m worried about her because of everything her mom is going through. I think she should talk to someone, but I’m not sure it’s really mine or Harley’s place to ask a teacher or counselor to talk to her. Sophie, on t
he other hand, is her normal happy-go-lucky self. I think that’s good, but what do I know? I deal with grown men who have more testosterone than emotions. What would you guys do?”

  “That’s a tough one,” Bridgette said, looking longingly at the cake Willow was frosting. “Did you tell Delaney?”

  “With everything Delaney is going through, Harley doesn’t want to worry her. On one hand I think he’s right. But on the other, what if he’s wrong?”

  Willow looked up from the cake and said, “Have you or Harley tried to talk to Jolie?”

  “Harley said he did, and I tried last night a little, but you guys know I’m not great at tiptoeing around subjects.” Except for right now, as she avoided talking about Harley. “I’m afraid I’ll say something too harsh.”

  “You’re great with Louie and Emerson,” Bridgette pointed out.

  “You’re not harsh with kids, Pipe; you’re direct. There’s a difference.” Willow finished frosting the cake and handed Bridgette the spatula. “And you’re not fat. So happy licking.”

  Piper smirked. “That’s what Bodhi says.”

  “Don’t tell Bodhi this,” Bridgette said with a mischievous grin, “but this tastes way better than that.”

  They all laughed.

  “That’s why you need to put the frosting on Bodhi,” Piper suggested.

  “Or whipped cream. Mm.” Willow pulled a tray of croissants out of the oven.

  Piper finished her cinnamon bun and said, “Or the icing Will puts on the cinnamon buns. Anything sugary would make it better.” Her mind tiptoed back to Harley sitting on the couch in those tight boxer briefs. He probably wasn’t into icing the spatula, but every guy was into having a woman lick it clean.

  “Don’t drool over there,” Willow teased.

  Piper realized she was licking her lips and staring off into space. She shook her head to clear her mind, but Harley was lodged there, and he refused to budge.

  “Geez, what were you fantasizing about?” Bridgette asked.