It Was Always You (Harpers Ridge Book 1)

by Ann Carver

  “Harper!” Lily called out and then came around the table and gave her a hug. “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you’re back in Harpers Ridge.”

  She hugged her friend and winced at the comment. It seems like everyone in town had rehearsed that line because it was almost the first thing people said to her. “Yeah, they dragged me back, kicking and screaming,” she said with a laugh.

  Lily stumbled a bit and then found her footing as she balanced her drink. “Lila says you’re going whitewater rafting with us.”

  She nodded. “Yup, when exactly are we going?” she asked, having almost forgotten about it.

  “This weekend,” Lily said as she held her balance by placing her hand on Harper’s shoulder.

  Harper let out a sigh. She really wanted to work at the block house. If she had any chance of getting it done by Halloween, she would need every day. However, she’d already promised to go and didn’t want to back out on catching up with her friends. She’d already missed out on a lot of things by leaving Harpers Ridge and not returning for so long.

  “Great,” she said, hoping she sounded truthful. “Can’t wait. But, I’m sorry I can’t hang out tonight. I’m exhausted and I only came down to get some take out, but we’ll catch up this weekend for sure.”

  Lila and Lily gave her a hug and did their best to try to get her to stay, but she had no desire to hang out at the bar. A camp outing will be different. There will be a lot less people and a lot less noise.

  Harper ordered her food and fifteen minutes later, she was out the door, heading back to Joey’s apartment. She drove down the dark roads and enjoyed the occasional street lights coming and going. In Hagerstown, it was never dark. Some parts of the city never went to sleep, so this was a nice change. As a kid, she’d hated it, but now it was growing on her.

  When she arrived back at the apartment, she turned the television on and ate her cheeseburger and fries in front of it. Having cable television was great. It’d been so long since she was able to watch anything she wanted.

  After cleaning up the take out, she sat and pulled out a blank piece of paper and began making a list of what she needed to do for the rafting trip. Then she went back to her block house list and made adjustments. If she was losing a couple of days, she needed to work extra hard to make up for lost time.

  Her muscles began to ache. She looked up some YouTube videos for Yoga poses that worked wonderfully to ease her aching muscles. She went on to watch a few more videos of outdoor Halloween decorations. She made a few notes on her list and then made her way to Joey’s bed.

  She crawled in and inhaled the scent of him. It was crazy how much she wished he was there with her. She didn’t know how long she could wait for his burn to heal. But then a smile slid across her face as she remembered just how he could satisfy her without his impressive manhood. However good it was, she still wanted all of him.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Joe got to work early and completed the mountain of paperwork that had piled up. He swore he was the only one who did it. It had to be done and he didn’t mind, too much, doing it as long as he could be uninterrupted while doing so.

  A few hours later, when the paperwork had been all done, he and Dylan made their first run to the highway where there was a car accident involving a deer. Unfortunately, it was that time of year when the deer were on the move a lot and they’d most likely get a deer call every night.

  He’d been working with Dylan since he’d made Rebecca mad at him. She still hadn’t talked to him since he’d fucked up. He’d tried, plenty of times, to apologize, but she hadn’t taken any of his calls or returned any messages. So, he did the only thing he knew. He gave her time.

  The accident had been a bad one. The driver had been speeding and swerved into a tree. The car was wrapped around the large trunk with a shattered windshield. The driver hadn’t had his seatbelt on but, luckily, the airbag worked as it should. He didn’t exactly walk away, but a broken leg and stitches to his forehead was better than the alternative.

  They no sooner got back to the station when the next call came in. Mrs. Fargle couldn’t find her cat again. Joe asked her to look in several different places to ensure Tom-Cat was indeed missing before they responded to her house.

  As they pulled into the driveway, Dylan grunted. “Are we really out here to look for a cat?” he asked.

  Joe grumbled. “Yes, you know as well as I do, if we don’t find her cat, she’ll call the station, relentlessly.

  Dylan only grunted again as they exited the vehicle. Mrs. Fargle met them outside in a frantic state, claiming she’d looked everywhere and Tom-Cat was gone.

  Joe assured her that they would find him and went about looking throughout the yard with flashlights. Joe looked in the tree, bushes, and under Mrs. Fargle’s car. Dylan went around to the back of the house to scope things out back there.

  When the yard was confirmed cat-free, they moved inside the house. Dylan searched the living room while Joe went to the bedrooms down the hallway. He’d looked under the beds, closets, and every corner possible. He checked the bathroom on the way to the kitchen where Dylan had met him.

  It didn’t take long to find Tom-Cat. He was happily perched on top of the refrigerator, watching them. Joe sighed, reached up and grabbed the cat. He pulled him down and handed him over to Mrs. Fargle who had a smile a mile wide. She quite possibly had a tear of happiness in her eye.

  Clearly Mrs. Fargle hadn’t been able to find her cat on top of the refrigerator because she’s four feet eight, at most. Joe reminded himself to get Mrs. Fargle a footstool so when she called the next time, he could ask her to use it to look on top of the fridge.

  During the rest of his shift, they’d been called out twice more. There was another deer accident which was much more minor than the earlier call. The last call had been an elderly woman with shortness of breath. Joe and Dylan had stabilized her and rushed her to the hospital.

  When Joe arrived home, he took a shower and quietly walked into his bedroom, not wanting to wake Harper. She was sprawled out on his bed again, using his pillow. He smiled and thought how beautiful she was and wished she’d allow him to be her one and only. He was hard the moment he saw her red, silky hair strewn about. She was the sexiest woman he’d ever laid eyes on.

  He climbed into bed and she instantly slid up to him and draped her arm over him. One of her earbuds had fallen out and Joe heard “Fight the power” shouted out several times. Again, he found himself shaking his head. He just didn’t understand her taste in music…or rap. Even more, he didn’t understand how she could sleep with that noise blaring in her ears.

  She was in a heavy sleep and Joe had wished she’d wake up and they could make love. He was finally at a point where he would tolerate the pain just to be inside her. He was going crazy not being able to have her. But, if she was that tired, he’d let her sleep.

  His sleep, on the other hand, didn’t come so easily. He’d been hard for a long time and the noise from her earbuds kept him, for a long time, from falling asleep. He’d heard some bizarre stuff coming from those little things, but eventually drifted asleep.

  Harper woke up next to a warm body. Joey’s body. She was spooned up tightly behind him and her arm that was over him rose and fell with his deep breathing. Carefully, she slid out of bed and dressed before making her way to the kitchen.

  On the table was a white paper bag and a note from Joey that said, “enjoy.” Harper peeked into the bag and squealed with excitement. Joey had brought her two powdered donuts. She poured herself a glass of milk, sat down and thoroughly enjoyed every bit of the donuts.

  Harper left Joey’s house and made her way to town. Rain was still in the air, but she had plenty to get done inside. She stopped at a thrift store to look for décor. She’d found ideas from YouTube on decorating cheaply. It hadn’t occurred to her to look for paintings and knick-knacks from a thrift store, but she was glad she found the idea.

  Two hours later, she walked out of the thr
ift store with enough décor to furnish the bedrooms and living room. She found paintings, mirrors, accent lamps, a fake tree, knick-knacks, baskets, vases and more.

  When she reached the block house, she got to work putting all the décor up. Even though she didn’t have beds in the rooms yet, she centered varies small tables, that would act as night stands, and strategically placed items on them. She’d mapped out where the beds were going and hung the paintings, accordingly, on the walls.

  She found great joy in decorating with all the stuff she’d found at the thrift store. Not to mention it was easy on her bank account. Even though it was dwindling, she couldn’t complain too much with her cheap finds.

  After completing the spare bedrooms upstairs, she made her way to the living room. This room would be more difficult because she couldn’t visualize exactly what she wanted until she filled it with furniture. She put up a few paintings, but didn’t bother with little tables or knick-knacks. She’d do that when she got furniture.

  The only room Harper wanted to personalize was the kitchen. It’d be a tribute to her foster mom and she wanted to buy everything new. The granite countertops were being installed tomorrow, along with the new appliances she’d finally picked out.

  Harper pulled out her phone and checked her bank account. She frowned as it was seriously draining quickly and she was worried about paying Vinny when he finished. She still needed to buy furniture for the living room, bedrooms and dining room. The spare bedrooms didn’t need anything right away, but she didn’t want anything empty. She may have to give up on that dream, though, as she stared at her account.

  She sighed heavily and decided she’d worry about it tomorrow. There wasn’t much to do on the inside until she got furniture, so she decided to go to the garage and start cleaning up.

  At the door, she pulled her hoodie over her head and made a mad dash to the garage. Once inside, she shook off the rain and looked around. Thankfully, her foster dad wasn’t a junk collector. There were paint cans, old tools, lumber, piles of newspaper, and miscellaneous debris laying around. She put in her earbuds and got busy cleaning and organizing everything.

  A couple of hours later, she pulled off her work gloves just as Joey appeared in the doorway. He looked good in his jeans and sweatshirt. With the rain, it was a chilly day, and the warm days would be few and far between.

  “Hey,” Harper said with a smile as she took in the sight of him. He was sexy and she couldn’t wait to have him in bed again.

  Joey looked around the garage and nodded. “Hi. This looks good,” he said, returning a smile to her.

  She went damp in her panties with that smile. Damn, it’d been a long time. At least it seemed like it. “What brings you out here?” she asked.

  Joey frowned. “You. Why wouldn’t I want to come see my girl?” he asked as if her questioned had hurt him.

  Harper wanted to say something about his “my girl” comment, but she wasn’t in the mood to start an argument. Besides, she was exclusive with him, so it wouldn’t hurt to let him say it if it made him happy.

  “I didn’t mean anything by it, Joey. I just thought you’d still be asleep or maybe working at the hardware store with your grandpa. You hadn’t mentioned coming out today.” She made her way to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m glad you’re here,” she said right before she put her mouth to his.

  Joey reciprocated by wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her off the ground. Harper gasped in surprise, but giggled with excitement after the initial shock. He pursued a deeper kiss by slipping in her mouth and ravaging it.

  When he set Harper down, they were both gasping for air and she was trying to crawl back up him. She wanted more and she wished they were at Joey’s, in his bed. He planted another kiss on her and then said, “I could get used to this type of welcome.”

  Harper sure could too, but she didn’t say anything. It sounded a whole lot like a commitment and she couldn’t do that. She was no good at commitments and Joey deserved better. But that was another thing to think about another time. She was enjoying her time with him…especially in bed.

  “Want to come see what I did in the house?” she asked, hoping to change the subject.

  “Of course,” he said with a smile. “Then I’ll take you out to dinner.”

  At the word “dinner”, her stomach growled. “Sounds great, I’m starving.”

  He chuckled. “No kidding.”

  Harper took him into the house and gave him a tour of the rooms she’d decorated and the plans she had for the next day. She had a lot going on tomorrow. She’d probably be busy from sun-up till sun-down. It was the last day before the rafting trip, so she was going to make up for lost time.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Joe had a hard time keeping his pants on when he’d gotten Harper home after dinner. As much as he wanted to fill her, he needed to wait till he was healed. But it was getting damn hard not to give into her. But even if he couldn’t have what he wanted, it didn’t mean he couldn’t give her orgasmic relief. And he did, more than once.

  He’d gone to work that evening wishing he didn’t have to leave. It made him hate working opposite shifts from Harper, but there wasn’t much he could do. He also wished he hadn’t neglected his grandpa and the hardware store either. The thought made him frown and he made a mental note to go there tomorrow.

  Working with Dylan was going okay, but he’d always enjoyed working with Rebecca. Even though they’d had a previous relationship and it ended badly, they understood each other and knew how to get things accomplished. They were in sync with each other. Joe found working with Dylan awkward, because they were directing each other so they weren’t in each other’s way. They’d still gotten the job done, but they didn’t know each other’s moves. Perhaps in time, because he still hadn’t heard from Rebecca.

  It didn’t take long before they were called to a multi-vehicle crash on the interstate. A tractor-trailer had overturned because another vehicle swerved in front of it to avoid a deer. The tractor-trailer had two choices. Hit the car or swerve out of the way. He’d swerved and when he’d went off the shoulder of the road, the mud sent him sliding into the ditch. With all the rain they’d gotten, it made it impossible for him to get back onto the road when he turned back toward it and ended up tipping over.

  After the vehicle had caused the tractor-trailer to go off the road, the driver over compensated for his own swerving and ended up in the opposite ditch. Both drivers were taken to the local hospital for minor cuts and scrapes for further evaluation.

  On the way back to the station, they’d found another vehicle off the road. The driver had pulled over to make a phone call and got stuck in the mud on the side of the road. Dylan and Joe pushed him out easily, but didn’t escape getting muddy themselves.

  When they were finally back to the station, there was a lull in activity. Dylan took a nap on the couch while Joe sent another apology text to Rebecca. He also completed the little bit of paperwork that was there and then decided to use the workout room.

  An hour later, his legs were burning from the hard run on the treadmill, so he hit the shower. When he’d gotten out, he wrapped a towel around his waist and made his way to the locker room.

  When he opened the door, Rebecca was leaning against the wall with her arms folded in front of her. Her eyes were narrowed and she scowled at him. But he knew her well. If she was still that pissed at him, she’d have stayed away and would most certainly not be here now.

  “Are you done being mad?” he asked as he moved to his locker to retrieve his clothes.

  She made a fake laugh and responded with a defiant, “No!”

  Joe pulled his clothes out of the locker and set them on the bench. He turned toward her and folded his own arms across his bare chest. “I’m sorry,” he said, meaning it.

  Her arms fell to her sides and she sighed. “You should be,” she replied, trying to still sound pissed off, but it didn’t work.

  “I was
being an asshole and should have been more careful with my words.” He pulled his shirt on and waited for her response, even though he knew she was going to forgive him.

  “You were being an ass,” she said.

  He raised a brow to her, waiting for the rest. “And?”

  She smoothed out the short skirt she was wearing and hesitated a bit before saying, “And I want you to stop being an ass.”

  Joe grinned. He tried to cover it up, but he couldn’t. She missed working with him as much as he missed working with her. “I will try my hardest to stop being an ass,” he said, barely able to keep the laughter from spilling out.

  Rebecca flung her hair and tilted her nose to the air. “Good, or I’ll apply for the next county over,” she said firmly.

  Knowing that wasn’t true, he nodded anyways. The next county over was a chauvinistic man’s station. Rumors had run rampant about the parties they’d had at the station and how the guys went through the woman. Rebecca had been repulsed every time she’d heard anything about them.

  “And, you owe me lunch every day for a week,” she demanded.

  He nodded again. “lunch for a week,” he repeated her demand.

  The scowl on her face was slowly turning up at the edges. “And, I get to drive all week.”

  “But-” Joe said quickly. Though she was a great EMT, she wasn’t the greatest driver and it meant that he was stuck with anybody they picked up in the back and therefore doing the inventory after any call.

  Before he could say anymore, she interrupted him. “No! I drive all week or I’m walking out of here,” she said defiantly as she crossed her arms in front of her again.

  Joe put his hands up in surrender. “Okay, lunch and drive for a week,” he said calmly.