It Was Always You (Harpers Ridge Book 1)

by Ann Carver

  This produced a laugh from her. “Why lumber?”

  “Because I tried tools earlier, but they’re dirty. Screwdriver, Hammer, nail. Seriously, a man must have been hard up when he named tools and hardware.” Then when Harper started to laugh, he put his mouth to hers and kissed her so she knew she was amazing.

  When they came up for air from their kiss, she cuddled into him. She’d always done that since she’d stayed with him, but he liked it a whole lot more now. He thought briefly about a future with Harper, but he didn’t get that far because he was fast asleep.

  The bed was empty when Joe woke. It didn’t really surprise him, but a little part of him hoped that Harper was there. It was only noon and he wished like hell he could sleep longer, but one, he was already awake and he’d never be able to fall back asleep and two, he promised Vinny he’d help with the roof.

  He showered, dressed and found Harper had left him a plate of biscuits and gravy with a side of bacon. He was falling in love with her cooking and could easily get used to it. After eating, he rinsed his plate and headed out to Harper’s place.

  On the way to the block house, he stopped and bought lunch for Harper and Vinny. He also stopped at the hardware store to check on his grandpa. He wasn’t working alone, but he felt as if he hadn’t been around so much since Harper had come to town. His grandpa bossed him around a bit and finally booted him out, telling him he was hovering over him.

  When he pulled into the driveway, Vinny was on the roof and there was no sign of Harper. Her truck was there, so she must be doing something in the house…which made sense. He yelled up to Vinny about lunch as he held up the bag, then he walked into the house to find Harper painting the living room. She was on a ladder with her butt dancing back and forth. No doubt to the crazy music she listened too.

  Walking up behind her, he really couldn’t help himself. He reached up and smacked her fine ass. Not hard. She screamed and teetered on the ladder as her feet scrambled until Joe steadied it. He’d have been A-okay if she fell into his arms, but he didn’t want the gallon of paint all over the floor.

  She pulled out her earbuds and glared at him. “You scared me half to death,” she seethed at him.

  He smiled at her. “I bet I can make it all better,” he said as he held up the bag and waved it in front of her. “Food.”

  Her eyes widened and her luscious tongue sneaked out of her mouth and licked her lips. That’s when he knew he hit the jackpot. She grabbed the bag for him and walked out onto the porch.

  “Hey,” Joe called after her. “Some of that is for Vinny,” he said.

  “If he’s lucky,” she said teasingly.

  Vinny came around the corner and eyed the bag of food. “I heard that, Harper,” he teased her as he sat next to Joe and rifled through the bag of food. “Guess I’m lucky,” he said pulling out a burger and fries.

  Joe told Vinny he’d help him after he ate and turned his attention to Harper who was eating her burger with mustard at the corner of her mouth. He wanted to lean over and lick it right off that spot…and lick other spots. She never looked over at him, which he was thankful for, because he enjoyed just watching her. He knew she took food seriously and he wasn’t about to interrupt it.

  When she finally licked around her lips after eating everything right down to the stray fry in the bottom of the bag, she looked at Joe. “What?”

  He didn’t want to tell her what he was thinking. That he wanted to take her in the house and have a repeat of what they did this morning. “Tell me what you did today.”

  “Well, as you can see, Sherlock, I was painting the living room, but before that, I painted the bathroom. I’m thinking about adding a backsplash in the kitchen. What do you think?”

  “I think if that’s what you want, then go for it. I can help if you want,” he offered even though he’d never done it before.

  She laughed. “I looked it up on YouTube. It doesn’t look that difficult.”

  “That’s my girl,” he said very proud of her.

  She slid him a look that was unreadable. “I’m not your girl,” she said quietly. Turning away from him, she stood and as she walked back into the house, she mumbled, “Thanks for lunch”.

  What the hell was that all about? He was just about to find out when Vinny asked, “Trouble in paradise?”

  Joe shook his head. “Apparently.”

  “What did you do this time?” he asked.

  “Hell if I know,” he said standing to go after Harper. “Did she say anything to you?”

  Vinny shook his head and Joe walked into the house to find Harper. It didn’t take long. She was back on the ladder with earbuds in and her butt swinging back and forth again. He knew there was no use calling out to her, so he walked over to her and pulled her earbuds out.

  “What the hell,” Harper snapped at him. “What was that for?”

  He raised a brow at her. She knew exactly what it was for, but he knew she wouldn’t give in easily. “Why did you say you weren’t my girl?”

  She jerked her earbuds out of his hand. “Because I’m not.”

  It was just an expression he used. He hadn’t meant anything by it, but after he said it, he liked the thought of her being his girl. After all, they agreed to be exclusive. “Are you someone else’s girl?”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “I told you I wouldn’t be with anyone else while we do our…thing.”

  Wanting to laugh at her, he didn’t because he knew it would make her mad. “Then why can’t you be my girl?”

  Harper sighed and gave him a look. He knew the look. The just-because look. “Can you just not push me on this?” she asked quietly. “It’s new and I’m still worried about the whole friend thing.”

  The friend thing. Yes, they’d been friends for a long time, but he’d always had feelings for Harper. He never told her and now wasn’t the time to tell her either. When she was in the mood to be defiant, nothing was going to get through to her.

  “Sure, I won’t push you.” He sighed hoping she knew his disappoint as he looked around the house. She’d done a great job painting. He’d have never thought, in a million years, she’d being doing so much to this house.

  “Thank you, now get out of here so I can get back to work,” she giggled as she turned back toward the ladder. Turning back quickly, she added, “Oh, Lila and some friends are going whitewater rafting soon. Do you want to go?”

  It felt as if the air was sucked right out of his lungs. The hair on his arms stood on end as the room started closing in on him. Whitewater rafting? Hell no! He wasn’t going there…ever!

  He didn’t want to give way to anything being wrong, but he had to get out of there. “No, I’m good. I’ll probably have to work anyways.” He turned and walked out the door even though he wanted to bolt out.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Harper wondered why Joey acted so strangely about whitewater rafting. They’d gone a couple times together as teens and she’d been plenty of other times as well. It was safe enough. As long as you weren’t an idiot. She shrugged a shoulder and went back to painting. She couldn’t wait to get it done.

  A few hours later, when the living room and stairway was painted, Harper decided to go out and see how the guys were doing. When she walked outside, she shaded her eyes from the sun. September was winding down and the autumn was her favorite season, but today was sunny and hot.

  She walked around to the backside of the house and then moved back so she could find the duo. She found them…sitting on the roof, not doing a damn thing.

  With hands on her hips and sass on her tongue, she yelled, “So this is what I pay for?”

  Joey held up a bottle of water and shook it. “Water break, Ms. Sassy Pants,” he said to her and then took a long chug of it.

  That’s when Harper noticed the lack of shirts the guys were wearing…or not wearing. Vinny was tanned, probably because he’d been doing construction all summer. Joey was a cream color. And, he should be, considering he works third
shift and sleeps during the day.

  But that’s not what caught Harpers attention. Nope, it was the lust worthy muscles that had her attention. She licked her lips, wishing it was all that skin she was licking. Sure, she’d been naked with Joey, but admiring from afar was great too.

  Harper blinked when water splashed on her legs. She was disappointed that the thought of licking some luscious skin was disrupted. Looking down at her legs and seeing a water bottle, she cursed.

  “Earth to Harper,” Joey said with a chuckle. “What’s got you in a daze?”

  “Um,” she said and then closed her mouth. She wasn’t about to tell him. Especially with Vinny there, but oh, how she wished she could take Joey inside and do what she wanted to do. She shook the thoughts away. She shouldn’t be thinking about those things right now.

  “You okay, Harper?” Joey asked with concern in his eyes.

  Harper thrust her hands on her hips again. “I was going to order pizza, but since you threw water on me, you can starve,” she said full of pissiness. But she was just joking.

  Vinny raised his hand as if he was in school. “Hey, I didn’t throw the water. I like pizza,” he said as if pizza was the ticket to happiness.

  “Fine, I’ll get pizza for you and me. Joey can starve.”

  Joey’s shoulders sank. “It’s Joe, and I was only getting your attention,” he said defending why he did what he did. “And, I like pizza too.”

  “Well, I like men who get to work, Joey!” she said as she walked back toward the house without looking at them. She was just messing with the guys, but she didn’t let them know it.

  She went back inside and started measuring the windows to buy curtains, now that the painting was done. She labeled each room on her paper and wrote the dimensions down. Once that was done, she went to the kitchen and looked at the cabinets. They were old, but she’d been watching enough home improvement videos on YouTube, and knew she could make them look nice.

  The paper was getting full, but she made a note to strip the cupboards, buy some paint and put new handles on them. Then, she leaned against the counter and looked at what had all been done in a short amount of time. Never in a million years had she thought she’d be able to do so much herself.

  Harper fished out her phone and ordered pizza to be delivered. It was the least she could do for the guys. They’d been working for hours in the hot sun to help her out. Sure, she was paying them. Well, at least Vinny. It made her wonder if Joey was getting something out of the deal. She hoped so. If not, she’d find a way to pay him back.

  Walking into the living room, she thought about various colors of carpet she could have laid down. The most practical would be a neutral color, but Harper was anything but neutral. Maybe blue. She loved the color blue because it was the color of the sky and the night sky harbored the stars that she loved.

  She pulled out her paper and wrote down blue under living room and shoved it back in her pocket. The next room she would be working on would be the upstairs bathroom. The one without a toilet. She’d bought one and went to her truck to retrieve it.

  Sliding it to the edge of the truck, Harper realized how heavy it was going to be. But she was strong and independent. She wrapped her arms around the bottom bowl and slowly slid it off the tailgate. It slipped and she quickly put her leg under it and caught it with her knee. A groan of mistake slipped out, but she’d already started, and dammit, she was going to finish.

  Like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, she trudged that damn toilet into the house. The front stairs were the worst, and now she was facing the flight of stairs going up. She knew she should ask for help, but she wasn’t going to. Nope, anything a man can do, she can do at least equal. She hoped.

  She’d barely gotten the toilet up to the landing before the pizza guy knocked on the door and said, “Hello? Anyone here?”

  “I’m here,” Harper yelled down the stairs and scooted around the toilet that was blacking the stairs. When she reached the bottom, she found the pizza guy looking around the living room. “Um, hi,” she said to him.

  “Oh, hey,” he said as he continued to look around.

  She was confused why this guy was so interested in the block house. “Uh, do you want a tour?” she asked him.

  “What?” the guy said as he turned around, quickly. “Oh, sorry. Here’s your pizza,” he said as he pulled it out of a bag.

  Harper gave him cash and told him to keep the change. She took the pizzas and put them on the counter in the kitchen. When she came back, the pizza guy was still looking around the house. She stood in the hallway, wondering if she should yell for Joey and Vinny.

  The guy noticed her watching him and he sharply stood straight. “I’m sorry, this place looks so different,” he said as he pointed around.

  Harper didn’t recognize him, but she didn’t really talk to a lot of people when she’d been a teen. “Did we go to school together?” she asked him, interested in who he was.

  He shook his head. “I don’t think so. But, I stayed here for a couple of weeks before going to a permanent foster home.”

  This got her attention and she walked toward him. She hadn’t remembered him, but if he’d been here for only two weeks, she wouldn’t. It wasn’t often that the Mitchell’s would take in transit foster kids, but when in a pinch, they’d help out.

  “When did you stay here?” Harper asked with some excitement.

  The guys pulled his pizza ball cap off and scratched his head. “About five years ago,” he said.

  The news saddened Harper, but she wasn’t exactly sure why. She’d been gone, so they never crossed paths. She wondered what he thought about his time here. “Did you like it here?” she asked, hoping to find out.

  A smile crossed his face. “Yeah, I did. I would have loved to stay here, but they’d already placed me somewhere. But, the family they placed me with were out of the country, on business, and I needed a place to stay until they got back.

  Harper couldn’t help but smile. That sounded like the Mitchell’s. If only she could have seen how good they were when she’d lived here…when they were still alive. “Did the family work out?” she asked.

  His smile didn’t fade. “It did. They were gone a lot, on business, but I stayed there the remainder of my time in foster care, so that was good. I’d been bounced around since I was four years old.”

  She smiled. “I’m glad it worked out.” She pointed around the room. “As you can see, I’m in the process of fixing it up.”

  He nodded. “I’d heard they passed. I even went to the funeral. They were definitely well loved in the community.” He looked around again before settling on her. “Did you stay here?”

  She nodded when she heard Joey and Vinny come in the back door. She turned her head and smiled when they walked down the hall toward her. Then she turned back to the pizza guy. “I grew up here. The Mitchell’s were my foster parents,” she said and then sighed.

  “Everything okay, babe,” Joey said as he put his arm around her waist.

  Harper turned her head and gave him a bewildered look. “Babe?” she asked as her hands went to her hip and elbowed Joey in the process.

  Joey shrugged his shoulder and said, “Who’s this?”

  The pizza guy looked at his watch and said, “Oh, man, I gotta go. I’m late for my other delivery.” When he reached the door, he turned around and said, “I’m glad you’re fixing this place up. The Mitchell’s did great things for lost kids. Enjoy your pizza,” he said with a wave and then walked out.

  Lost kids? That was an interesting choice of words, Harper thought. She shrugged out of Joey’s grasp and went to the door. She pushed it open and hollered after the pizza guy. “What do you mean by lost kids?” she asked.

  The pizza guy turned around. “You know, lost. Kids that are lost until people like the Mitchell’s found them.” Then he got into his car and drove off.

  Joe had let the whitewater rafting trip go. It was something he just couldn’t think about right now
. Working hard on the roof had helped. He knew Harper had a past and he couldn’t change it, so from here on out, he needed to move forward.

  That was until he walked in and saw her leaning against the wall in the hallway. At first, he was mesmerized by her curvy hips and a glimpse of her breasts from the view he had. But then, he heard her talking to a guy and he got pissed. Maybe not even pissed, but worried that she wasn’t holding up to her end of the monogamous relationship they’d agreed upon.

  So, he figured he’d do the natural possessive thing. He wrapped his arm around her waist and called her babe. She clearly did not like it. And, to make things worse, she was only talking to the damn pizza guy.

  He met her at the door and put his arm around her waist again. “Everything okay, Harper?” he asked, because she looked a little perplexed.

  She thrust her hip into his and glared at him, making his arm fall from her hips. “Don’t you mean, babe?” she said with an angry glare.

  Yeah, there was the pissy Harper.

  “Sorry,” he said moving away from her, giving her space. “Thanks for getting pizza,” he said hoping like hell he could change the subject, and her mood.

  She softened and he exhaled in relief.

  “The pizza guy stayed here, with the Mitchell’s, for a couple of weeks,” she said happily as they walked into the kitchen.

  “Really? You remember him?” Joe asked without any jealous tendencies. Harper had never expressed interest in liking or sleeping with any fellow foster kids in the Mitchell’s house. She considered them all brothers and sisters even though she didn’t get close with any of them.

  She shook her head as she grabbed a slice of pizza. “No, he was here a couple of years after I left,” she said as her face saddened. But she recovered quickly when she said, “But he said he liked it here. He liked the Mitchell’s.”

  “Everyone did,” Joe said and then bit into his pizza.

  Harpers face drooped again. “Yeah, I wished I’d given…more,” she said and then sighed.