by Jacie Floyd
“I don’t know why I came here,” Nathan complained as he doused his salad with dressing. “You’re not paying a bit of attention to me.”
“Of course I am. I made your favorite dinner, I bought the ingredients for Midori Sours—next up in your Bartender’s Guide—we discussed your latest heartbreak, your next crush, gossiped about our friends, and examined your latest wardrobe hits and misses. What else would you like me to do? Cut your hair?”
His hand flew to the nape of his neck. “Are you saying I need a trim?”
“No, I’m saying you’re perfect just the way you are. There’s nothing more I can do to enhance your image.”
He put down his fork and rested his chin on his fists. “You find me boring.”
She mimicked his pose. “Not in the least.”
“You’re thinking about the Hot Doc.”
She wished she could deny it. “He has dropped into my thoughts a time or two.”
Unable to ignore his food for long, Nathan resumed eating. “What are you going to do about him?”
Harper nibbled a breadstick. “I’m going to keep on the way I have been until something else happens.”
“Like what, sweet thing?”
“Like some gossipy biddy finds out and creates a stink, or he loses interest in me, or leaves town, or I get seriously tired of being his dirty little secret, find my backbone, and break it off with him.”
“I don’t like your choices.” Nathan filled the wine glass she’d been ignoring and handed it to her.
Tipping a salute in his direction, she sipped. “That’s why I’m hanging in there with what I’ve got.”
“You’re not his dirty little secret, you know.”
Nice of him to attempt making her feel better, but she didn’t agree with his opinion. “It sure feels like it.”
“He explained his reason for not acknowledging you. It’s not because he has a significant other he’s cheating on, he’s not ashamed of you, and it’s not just about the sex.”
“And you can tell this how? By the way he had his tongue down my throat and his hands on my ass?”
“Those were excellent clues, but I saw the way he looked at you. That man’s crazy for you.”
“His is not!” She put her glass down with a thump. “Is he?”
“No one’s ever looked at me the way he was looking at you. Believe me, I’d sell my soul for just one minute of that kind of devotion.”
“Really?” Considering the possibility, a little glow started to build in her heart and fill her whole body with hope. And then she remembered. How he felt about her wouldn’t make a bit of difference. He was leaving. Leaving Sunnyside. Leaving her. However crazy he might be about her, he wasn’t crazy enough about her to stay. “I don’t think so. But eat up. I have a hankering for tequila. We’ll go to what passes for a bar and stay until they close the place down.”
“Will that be ten o’clock?”
“At least ten. Maybe even eleven or twelve o’clock.” She hoped that would be long enough to drown her sorrows.
The Lucky Dog was dark and crowded and went eerily silent when Harper and Nathan stepped through the door, except for a song on the jukebox in the corner. Nathan probably thought the attention was due to his personal magnificence, and maybe it was. But it was more likely a reaction to strangers in their midst. Or to Harper unexpectedly showing up at their local watering hole.
The bar was full of mostly men. Not Harper’s favorite species, at the moment. A few of them were with clingy women. One table was filled with a group of females giving off a ladies-night-out vibe. A couple of televisions were tuned to baseball games and held the attention of beer drinkers seated at the long bar. The jukebox blared country music to fit the jeans and boots of most of the clientele. Definitely a redneck bar, not an urban dance club like Nathan most often frequented. He and Harper claimed the only two open spots at the bar.
A muscular bartender with an earring and impressive ink tossed a dishtowel over his shoulder and paused in front of them. “What’ll you have?”
“The lady wants tequila. Make it Patron.” Nathan batted his eyes at the sexy local. “I’ll have whatever you’ve got on tap. In a clean glass, of course.”
“What? You want me to wash a glass just for you, pretty boy? That’ll be extra.”
“Whatever it costs.”
When he came back with the drinks and sloshed them on the bar, Nathan grabbed hold of his wrist. “What’s going on?” He pointed to the back room, where most of the crowd and noise was congregated. “Darts?”
The bartender looked at Nathan’s hand and shook it off, but a definite sizzle created a cloud of snap, crackle, and pop in the air around them. Leave it to Nathan to home in on the only gay guy in the room. “Friday-night tournament. You want in? Twenty bucks.”
“Sure, sugar, sign me up. You want in, too, Harper?”
“No, I want to just sit here and drink.” “Why don’t you stay here with me?” This wasn’t Nathan’s usual kind of bar. Straight, for one thing.
“It’ll be better if we get to know the locals. Let’s go size up my competition. You come, too. It will be better if we stick together.”
Against all her good judgment, she tossed back her tequila shot, ordered another, and waded through the crowd with him.
Two hours later, Nathan had cleaned up at darts, drank half a dozen beers, solicited the bartender’s phone number, and was on the verge of being named Favorite Newcomer of the Month. An imaginary honor Harper couldn’t even claim in her wildest dreams. But now she was getting spill-over friendliness from some of the locals based on Nathan’s popularity. Go figure.
While she slumped in her seat, wishing her friend would come back to their table so they could leave, Zach came into the bar with his brother and Brady. Half the customers in the place called out his name or a greeting as he looked around for a place to sit. Zach pulled up short when he spotted Harper, seemed to realize he was staring, and turned to grab a seat at the bar.
She’d had just enough tequila to take the reaction as a personal snub. Remembering she might be mad at him to begin with, she muscled her way over to the bar and purposely leaned into him while she called the bartender over. “Another round.”
Zach’s hand stroked leisurely down her side when she teetered his way just a bit. “Hey, Chicago. Slumming with the locals? I’ve never seen you in here before.”
Tempted to claim the seat beside him or climb into his lap or challenge him to a game of darts or shock him out of his comfort zone by planting a big wet kiss on that sexy mouth, she remembered in time that any kind of PDA was out of bounds. Cordial and casual or stuck up and aloof were the only responses available to her. “Came for a drink with my friend.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “How much have you had to drink already?”
She lifted her hands and shrugged. “Not too much.”
“You don’t usually drink.” A casual comment, but she could hear some underlying concern.
She lowered her voice. “I think my boyfriend is ashamed of me.”
Shoulders stiffening, Zach glanced around. “You have a boyfriend?”
“Not really.” She pushed her bottom lip out in what she hoped was a sexy pout. “I’m just a convenience. He comes over to have sex and never takes me anywhere. What does that sound like to you?”
“Maybe he prefers to keep you all to himself.”
“Yeah, maybe that’s it.” She’d forgotten how alcohol unleashed her sarcastic tendencies.
Picking up her next tequila shot and Nathan’s beer, she turned to flounce away from Zach, but her heel caught on the barstool, and she went flying. Or she would have if Saint Zachary hadn’t caught her before she hit the floor.
“You need some fresh air.” His arms were wrapped around her from behind and she wiggled her butt against his groin. His responding growl might have been frustration, enjoyment, or a warning. “You want to get Nathan so we can get out of here? I’ll walk home with you guys.”
Nathan and the bartender had their heads together in a tense conversation at the end of the bar. She hated to interrupt. “I’ll text him.”
Digging her phone out of her purse, she had to squint to text him about her departure and asked if he was staying or going. He read the message, looked over, shook his head, and then tipped it at the hunky earring guy standing next to him.
“Let’s go. He’s set.”
“What’s he going to do? Stay here and drink without you?”
“He’s hooked up with the bartender. Or hopes to.”
Zach’s eyes didn’t exactly bug out of his head, but they sure opened wide as he turned to observe the two men. “With Wayne? Are you kidding me?”
“No, why? Is he taken?”
“No, but he’s not…” His words stopped flowing as the light bulb in his head went on. “Hmm. Maybe he is.”
“People see what they want to see.” She repeated the words he’d used about Kate. “Even the almighty town doctor.”
Harper marched out of the bar with her head buzzing and the floor tilting a little bit. Zach stopped for a word with his brother and Brady then hurried to follow her.
“Not so almighty.” He caught up with her on the other side of the street. “Everyone makes mistakes.”
“What mistake have you made?”
“I made you feel bad, and I didn’t intend to.” His hand at the small of her back guided her around a fire hydrant that jumped in her way. “You know I’m not ashamed of you, right?”
The hand felt so good she wished he would drop it lower, but of course, he wouldn’t. Anyone could be watching. “I know that most of the time, but tonight I forgot.”
“What would it take to convince you?” He walked beside her, in-step with her tipsy shuffle, no longer touching her except to reach out every once in a while to help her balance. “I’m a pretty good convincer.”
“Yeah, I remember.” What would she like him to do that would be within the scope of their agreement? That wouldn’t tip off the whole town that they were sleeping together? That looked friendly on the surface, not sexual. “Can we occasionally accidentally run into one another at lunch or dinner and share a meal in public?”
“We can do that.”
That was easy. “Maybe we can go somewhere together. Out of town.”
“That would take some planning, babe, but it’s possible. Anything else?”
She tried to look up at him, but there was a big old moon looming behind his head, casting his face in darkness. And he was kind of swaying from side to side. Or maybe that was her. “I’m sure I’ll think of something.”
He bumped her shoulder with his, but had to grab her by the waist when she started tilting sideways. “See that wasn’t so hard was it?”
“No.” Her annoyance diminished, and she started to feel friendlier toward him again. After all, she’d signed up for this relationship. Nobody had held a gun to her head. She shouldn’t be mad at him for not realizing her feelings were changing. And that was just it. Her feelings about him were changing. Well, damn. Absolutely no getting out of this deal now without getting her heart broken.
They’d reached her house. She sat down on the front steps, under the streetlight, in full view of anyone who wanted to look. And as she knew from her brief time in Sunnyside, everyone wanted to look.
“Do you want to come in?”
“Love to, but I don’t want to have to take my third cold shower of the day. For some reason, this isn’t my lucky day.”
“Maybe Sunday will be your lucky day.”
He groaned. “That’s two whole days from now.”
“Yeah, but I got the feeling you didn’t want to be here when Nathan was.”
Standing on her sidewalk with his hands in his pockets, he studied his shoes. Mostly, his face was in shadow, but she could almost hear him think. “What do you have planned for tomorrow?”
“Farmers market in the morning. Poke around the shops on the square in the afternoon, I guess. Maybe bingo tomorrow night.”
“Why don’t we go on a picnic? You, me, and Nathan? We can swim at Bert’s private lake out near Live! Nude! Girls! Just the three of us. Or we can get a group together. Might help you to get to know my friends better, and we’d be able to spend time together in a public setting.”
“Really? You’d do that?”
“I haven’t taken a day off since the Fourth of July, and you’re feeling neglected. You’re right. We never do anything together that doesn’t involve sneaking around or having sex. Which I’m totally into, but this will be fun, too.”
“It does sound like fun.”
“Then it’s a date. Kind of. See you tomorrow, gorgeous.” He leaned over and touched his fingers to her cheek, pretending to brush something off it. “Consider yourself kissed.”
She smiled and stuck her tongue out at him. “Consider yourself Frenched.”
Chapter Nineteen
Having been a hit with the town, Nathan left for Chicago on Sunday with promises to return in a few weeks. As soon as the sun set, Zach sneaked into Harper’s house and set about making up for all of Friday’s interruptions. Hot, hard, and fast the first time. Long, erotic, and sensual set the tone for the second round. But now Harper luxuriated in the joy of lying naked in his arms with the fan oscillating overhead, trying to get her breath back, lower her heart rate, and collect her thoughts.
After the picnic on Saturday, Zach had been at the hospital most of the night. Exhausted, he was ready to doze off when an idea she wanted to run by him popped into her head.
She elbowed him in the ribs. “Remember when you came to the library the other day and Myrna was there?”
He pulled her close and nuzzled her hair but barely roused. “Sleeping,” he mumbled.
Harper tugged on his ear and continued anyway. “I noticed she had this really cool tote bag, and that was unusual because, let’s face it, Myrna doesn’t have really cool anything.”
Finally accepting that she wanted to talk, Zach opened his eyes. “Right. I’ll alert the media. Myrna Hopper owns a really cool bag.” A huge yawn nearly cracked his jaw. “And that interests us how?”
“The design looked familiar even though I couldn’t place it at first.” She tossed back the covers to get up and get her phone.
“Where are you going? Come back to bed.”
“But then it dawned on me where I’d seen something similar.” Returning to sit on the edge of the mattress, she thumbed through pictures on her cell. “It looked like this.” She held the phone up for him to see.
He squinted. “What is it?”
“One of the graffiti scenes painted in the reading room at the library.”
He took the phone from her and studied the screen. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. And guess who the artist is?”
“Who?” He turned onto his side, and the sheet slipped below his hips, momentarily distracting her.
“Bennie! Myrna’s brother!”
Yawning again, he scratched his scalp and sent his hair standing on end. A surprisingly good look for him. “And what do you want to about it?”
“Tell Jimbo that Bennie was one of the library vandals.”
“You said yourself that a lot of graffiti is considered a form of street art in Chicago.”
“Well, yes, but Bennie vandalized the library. It’s not the same thing.”
“How is it different?”
She gaped at him. “Are you defending him?”
“No. What he did was wrong, but it would be hard to make him understand that. And what good would putting him in jail do? Life’s hard enough for him already without adding on a criminal record.”
“So that makes it all right?”
He reached out to pull her down beside him. “Think of To Kill a Mockingbird. Think of Boo Radley.”
“Are you kidding me? You’re using my namesake author to argue against me?”
“It’s a relatable comparison from one of your favorite b
ooks. Why cause harm to someone who never meant you any harm?”
“By harming the library, he did mean harm to me.”
“His one and only allegiance is to Myrna. He knew she had lost her job. He didn’t know who specifically was to blame so, in some convoluted way, he blamed the building. He didn’t even know you then.”
“And you know this how?”
“Jimbo’s already talked to him about it.”
Well, that hurt. Placed directly in the class of outsider again. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You had plenty of other stuff to worry about.”
“And you didn’t think I’d understand your Boo Radley analogy.”
“You were pretty upset when you saw what had happened in the library.”
“Even I realized the graffiti was the least of the destruction compared to what Whitherford and McMahon were responsible for. Even though you want to protect Bennie, I think it’s wrong to let this go.”
“What would you have us do? The town won’t want to press charges. If you and Andrew Berkman want to, we can’t stop you. But what about this? You think about a fair punishment for him. And then we’ll make sure it’s enforced. Outside of official channels.”
That was a handy little plan. A little too handy. She eyed him suspiciously. “That probably violates about five or ten state and local laws, you know. Did you already have that idea in your back pocket in case I found out about Bennie’s involvement?”
“You’re smart. I assumed you’d figure it out sooner or later. It’s a solution that seems fair to me, but the choice is up to you.”
“What about Whitherford and McMahon? Are you going to protect them with the Boo Radley rule, too?”
“No. Those two asshats acted with criminal intent to defraud the city. Now that Whitherford’s been brought back from Florida, Jimbo will throw the book at them.”
“Good to know you don’t try to channel your inner-Atticus in every instance.” Shaking her head, she turned her back to him, feeling more like an outsider than ever.
She didn’t plan to speak to him again that night, but when his hands began skimming her body, speaking became secondary.