It Was Always You (Harpers Ridge Book 1)

by Ann Carver

  Joe walked downstairs and out to the front porch. He didn’t want to leave because he knew she’d be pissed and he’d get hell for it later, but he wasn’t going to continue kissing her, no matter how much it reminded him of when he’d loved her. He didn’t love her anymore, but he knew he had to protect his heart.

  He heard her come down the stairs slowly. He wasn’t sure if she was going to be angry, sad, or mad. It was a toss-up between any of them. Not turning toward her, he just stood out looking over the front yard.

  “You leaving?” she said only slightly pissed.

  “Do you want me to?” he responded.

  “Whatever you want,” she said to him in the same voice and walked back into the house.

  Joe took a few minutes before going back in the house. When he rounded the corner to the kitchen, he saw Harper on a step-ladder. Her hips were jutting side to side and her lips were moving, but she wasn’t singing. She was lip syncing to her music again as she pulled down wallpaper.

  He groaned and tapped her on the hip.

  Looking down at him she said, “What?” loudly.

  For the life of him, he didn’t know why people spoke loudly when they had earbuds in. “What do you want me to do?”

  She held her hand up to her ear, cupping it, and mouthing the words, “I can’t hear you.” Then she turned and went back to pulling down the paper.

  He began to get frustrated. Why did she have to play these games? He reached up and pulled the earbud out of her ear. “Harper?”

  She turned and glared down at him. “What the hell?”

  With a clenched jaw, he said through gritted teeth, “What do you want me to do?”

  “I wanted you to kiss me back,” she said full of pissiness.

  “Harper,” he growled, grinding his teeth further.

  “What? It wouldn’t have changed who we are. Or at least who I thought we were,” she said condescendingly.

  There was no way he was ever going to understand this woman. They were miles apart from the kids they used to be. Frustrated, he spit back, “Why would you even want to kiss?”

  Harper narrowed her fiery eyes at him. She opened her mouth to say something but then closed it. She yanked up her earbud and pushed it back in her ear, turning back toward the wallpaper. This time instead of lip syncing, she was actually singing…or rapping.

  The thought of walking out was right there. He hated when she got pissy, but ultimately, he was the one that stuck around for more. He lightly smacked her on the hip and yanked her earbud out again. “Harper?” he yelled.

  “What?” she screamed at him.

  He took a deep breath and exhaled. “Why?” he repeated.

  She turned back to the wall paper and started ripping it off. “Because kissing feels good. You were happy. I was happy. I wanted my lips to feel happy.”

  Her voice had calmed and softened. Plus, it was a great feat that she hadn’t pushed her earbuds back in. He felt bad, but if she knew he felt bad for her, she’d spit fire on him.

  He had no idea what to say to that, so he opted for the truth. “Okay, I like kissing too, but we’re friends, Harper. Nothing else. We’ve always been friends and hopefully always will be.”

  “Aye, Aye, Captain,” she said with a salute and turned back to the paper.

  “Harper, don’t be that way. Look, I’m not saying it wasn’t good. I’m just saying I don’t want to ruin our friendship,” he said trying to get her to understand. He knew it’d be so much simpler to walk away, but it was Harper. He couldn’t turn his back on her.

  She looked at him sharply. “You didn’t say that when I jumped your bones in high school.”

  Joe closed his eyes and pressed his palms to his temples. “You’re impossible, Harper. I don’t even know why I torture myself.” He turned in circles not knowing what to do.

  After circling the kitchen several times, he walked right out the front door. He was beyond pissed and confused. Why did she drive him absolutely insane? All he wanted was his friend back. Was that so hard?

  When he reached his truck, he heard her yell to him. He turned around, against his initial thought to get in his truck and drive away, never looking back. He didn’t say anything. He waited for her to say something.

  “You can go get some food,” she said with half pissy attitude and half humor.

  He wanted to gouge his eyes out. How did she do that? Go from angry to happy in point five seconds. He certainly wasn’t ever going to understand her. Ever! Then he realized that was why they were friends and he liked her so much. She wasn’t predictable. Sure, she frustrated the hell out of him, but they were friends. He wanted to be friends.

  Laughing to himself, he said, “Sure, I’ll get some food, but you still have to cook me dinner tonight.”

  “Whatever, just hurry up,” she said trying to be pissy, but he knew better.

  When he returned with food, they ate outside, on the tailgate of his truck. They talked about things they were going to work on next and what lied ahead in the near future. He liked that she had determination. She was focused and excited about being back in Harpers Ridge and making something of the block house.

  After eating, they worked on tearing out the carpet while they still had daylight. Neither had wanted to work by flashlight, and there was no rush. They cut the carpet in strips, rolled them up and tied them, then put them in the trash container she’d rented. She was certainly going to need it with the amount of work that needed to be done on the house.

  “Well, that’s the last of it,” he told Harper as he brushed his hands off. He looked at her as she brushed her jeans off. She had a dirt smudge on her face, scratches from carpet staples on her arm, and a tear in her shirt where she snagged it on a nail from the exposed wall in the hallway. One thing had changed about her, he thought to himself. She was more beautiful.

  She looked around at the sun setting. “Yeah, darkness is falling upon us,” she said.

  “You ready to get out of here?” he asked.

  She turned and looked him in the eyes. “Yeah, thanks for your help. I’m sure this isn’t how you wanted to spend your day off.”

  No, he hadn’t. He would normally have slept all day, but when she sneaked out of bed, he had awoken. He was restless the rest of the morning and when he was unable to fall back asleep he got up with one thing on his mind. Help Harper find her self-worth. He didn’t accomplish that, but he worked on it and he’d continue to do so. Because they were friends and he loved her as such.

  “It’s exactly how I wanted to spend it,” he said with a smile on his face.

  “Liar,” she said. “I’ll race you home.”

  She didn’t wait for his response. She jumped in her truck and started it up. She was down the driveway before he was even in his truck. He shook his head and laughed.

  When he got to his apartment she was already in the kitchen cooking. She told him to take a shower and dinner would be done when he got out.

  She was so bossy.

  He did as he was told and as promised, the dinner was done when he returned to the kitchen. They sat and ate Asian chicken salad. Normally he wouldn’t be satisfied with salad, but she’d been kind enough to load his salad with lots of chicken.

  When Harper yawned, for the fifth time, he took her plate and told her to shower. He knew she was tired and a warm shower would relax her muscles after working so hard. To his surprise, she didn’t put up a fight. She took clothes out of her suitcase, which was stored in the corner of the living room, and took a shower.

  Joe was already laid out on the couch, with an extra pillow and blankets, when Harper finished. She tossed her dirty clothes next to her suitcase then walked over to him and held her hand out.

  “What?” Joe asked, looking up at how beautiful her wet hair clung to her neck.

  “I’m not kicking you out of your bed,” she said.

  “You’re not kicking me out,” he said with a smile. “I’m used to being up all night. I’m going to watc
h TV so you can have my room to sleep.”

  “Liar,” she said with a smirk. “You didn’t get enough sleep and with all the work you did, you’re just as exhausted as I am. Now get your ass up and let’s go to bed.”

  Joe hesitated. The thought of his bed did sound good. The thought of Harper cuddled up next to him on his bed sounded even better.

  “Come on. I promise not to make my lips happy…or yours,” she teased.

  He slid her a look. But he really liked the idea of making happy lips. But he couldn’t go there.

  “Come on,” she said with more persistence. “We’ve fallen asleep together a thousand times. Nothing’s changed.”

  Joe took her hand and let her lead him down the hall for a second time. They climbed into bed and fell asleep the same way they’d done the previous night.

  Chapter Six

  Sometime in the middle of the night, Harper woke up. She quietly exited the bed and raided the fridge for a snack. She was always hungry. Hitting the jackpot with leftover Asian chicken salad, she grabbed the container along with a soda and plopped on the couch to watch television.

  It’d been years since Harper could afford cable TV and she planned on taking advantage of Joey’s generosity. She watched reruns of SNL and loved every single minute of it. A couple of hours later, her eyes began to get heavy. She put in her earbuds and flipped through until she found Macklemore and turned it up.

  Harper was thoroughly enjoying her dream of a naked, badass bad boy with looks so hot her fingers singed when she touched his rock-hard abs when she was violently ripped to reality by some hideous noise.

  Begging to fall back asleep and finish her dream, she took the pillow and placed it over her head and that’s when she realized her earbuds weren’t in anymore. Well, at least one of them.

  “Harper,” the hideous sound came again.

  “Five more minutes please. He’s so hot!” she yelled out.

  “Christ!”

  Harper opened her eyes wide and flung the pillow off her head. “Joey?” she shrieked.

  His arms were crossed over his chest and his brow raised. “Not who you were expecting?” he asked and then winced. “Never mind,” he said quickly. “I don’t want to know.”

  It’d been a long time since Harper had any action. Her body was defying her. Tricking her with sexy dreams. When she gave up sex a year ago, she hadn’t craved it, until now. Why now? She wanted to stay focused on the block house. When she got it done, then she’d find herself a willing victim to relieve her tension.

  “What? I was dreaming. You never dream?” she spat at him. A damn good dream too, but she didn’t need to disclose that information.

  He groaned and walked into the kitchen ignoring her.

  She flung the blankets off herself and stomped after him. “Oh no you don’t. Don’t you walk away from me. I asked you a question.”

  Joey turned and glared at her, but she stared him down. She wasn’t going to budge. She could be just as stubborn as he was. Even more so, and he knew it. When he didn’t budge, she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes more.

  “Fuck,” he said finally caving. “Yes, I dream. But that,” he pointed to the couch and shook his finger, “was not dreaming. That was having sex. With what, I don’t know. I’m not sure I want to know.”

  Dropping her arms to her side, she laughed at him. “Like you’ve never had a wet dream.”

  He winced. “Damnit, I said I didn’t want to know.”

  “No, you said you weren’t sure if you wanted to know. So, I made up your mind for you.” She turned toward the fridge. “Now, what’s for breakfast?”

  “I don’t have time to eat. I have to go work with my grandpa,” Joe said as he pulled on his ball cap. “You can have these.”

  When Harper turned around, she was expecting to see Joey holding something nutritious. Like an apple. She hated apples. But to her surprise, he was holding a package of powdered donuts. She snatched them out of his hands, ripped open the package and groaned as soon as the powder touched her tongue.

  Joe shook his head. “I’ve got to get out of here before you have an orgasm.”

  She looked up at him and without thinking, she said, “You could help with that.” Damnit. She hadn’t meant to say it. She was always quick with the comebacks that it just came out.

  “No,” he said firmly.

  His expression darkened. He was not amused and Harper felt like an ass. She knew Joey wasn’t interested in her like that. Not even to relieve tension. The one time they’d slept together, the next day he acted like it never happened.

  Harper moved closer and put a hand on his arm, but when he looked down, she knew it was unwelcome. She quickly moved her hand back. “I didn’t mean that. You know how I am. It just comes out before I think.”

  “Yeah,” he said uncomfortably. “Hey, I have to go to the hardware store. I’ll catch you later.” And with that, he walked out the door.

  “You’re an idiot, Harper,” she said, in disgust, to herself. She hated that she had to apologize for her actions. She hated that Joey had changed so much. Where was the fun-loving guy she had so much in common with?

  She shrugged her shoulders then sat at the table and devoured the donuts. She stopped chewing suddenly and looked at the package. He bought her donuts. Twice. He didn’t hate her. Far from it, if he remembered her love of powdered donuts. Plus, he went out of his way to get them. What was going on with him? She didn’t know, but she was going to figure it out.

  At the block house, Harper finished stripping the house of the awful floral wallpaper that had been scattered throughout. Later, she’d discovered that the drywall in an upstairs bedroom needed to be replaced on one wall. There had been indents as if someone had wrestled in the room and bounced off the wall.

  After the first swing of the sledge hammer, she felt invigorated. It gave her a new profound feeling. Like she could do anything. She flipped through her music until she found “Moma Said Knock You Out” by LL Cool J. She put it on repeat, turned it way up, and went swinging.

  Joe had called out to Harper when he got to the block house, but there was no response. He knew she was there because her truck was in the driveway. Then he heard a loud crashing noise coming from upstairs. Harper! He took the stairs two at a time until he found her.

  She was singing something about a mother getting knocked out, which he thought she was insane for the stuff she listed to. But that thought left quickly when he watched her butt swing back and forth, quickly, presumably to the beat of whatever she was listening too.

  Harper had a fine ass. Not only was it swinging, giving it just the right jiggle, she was bouncing and he thought of how her front might be jiggling too. Add in a sledge hammer and the raw visceral power she exuded, he got a hard-on.

  He told himself it was the picture of it all and not because it was Harper. He hoped. Either way, he couldn’t let her turn around and see him with a hard-on. Hardware, he said to himself. He needed to think of hardware so it’d go away.

  Screws…shit! He couldn’t think of screws. Hammer…shit! Nails…shit! Think of power tools he told himself. Drill…oh for the love of stars, he was hopeless. Why did hardware have to be so dirty? He cursed himself and turned to go back downstairs when she turned and saw him.

  Joe quickly started picking up drywall pieces and strategically placed them, covering the bulge in his pants. He was so stupid. Why of all times did this happen to him now? Harper was his friend. Nothing else.

  “Hey,” she said with a big smile. “I thought you had to work?”

  “Uh, yeah, Devin came right after school, so I took the opportunity to come help.” He looked around the room at the scattered pieces of drywall. “By the looks of it, you need it.” He looked at her and smiled.

  “Joey, have you ever done this? Look, it’s so much fun,” she said with excitement. She raised the sledge hammer which pulled on the dangling earbuds and pulled them out. Blaring music filled the room. The same music
about a mother being knocked out, but it didn’t stop Harper. She pulled the hammer back and with all her might flung it forward into the drywall…and right through to the next room.

  “Nope, I can honestly say I’ve never done that,” he said staring at the hole with laughter.

  “Oh my gosh,” she gasped and dropped the hammer. She bent slightly and looked through the hole. “Ugh, now that’s more drywall I need to fix,” she said as she pouted and sunk to the floor turning off her music.

  Joe made his way to her and sat next to her. He nudged her shoulder. “It’s okay. The hole isn’t too big. No big deal.”

  “I guess,” she shrugged. Then she got up and looked through the hole. “You know what? These are the two smallest rooms. Could I knock down the walls and make it one giant room?”

  He smiled. “These aren’t support walls, so you can do whatever you want.” He looked up at the ceiling. “Nice moon roof. I bet the stars look great at night.” Joe knew Harper loved the stars. She’d wish on falling ones all the times. Sometimes they were ridiculous, like wishing for hot fudge sundaes for dinner, but other were more serious. She once wished she could get away from who she was. At the time, Joe hadn’t understood what she meant, but now he did.

  “That’s what I’m going to do then. This’ll be my room,” she said as she sat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. “When I get this placed all fixed over, you should come over for a sleep-over. Like we always used to do.”

  Noticing her emotions coming through, thinking about their younger years, he put his arm around her. She hated when she got emotional over stuff. She’d always try to hide her face so he couldn’t look at her. That’s why she rested her head on his shoulder.

  “What would the neighbors think?” he said playfully trying to lighten the mood.

  She laughed. “Who gives a shit what they think?”

  “Not me,” he said nudging her up. “Let’s finish this wall.”

  For the next couple of hours, they tore down the wall between the two small rooms. Drywall and wood flew everywhere. Harper played her music. If that’s what you could call it. When everything was down, they cleaned up the giant mess and called it an early day.