by Blue Kincaid
Sheridan grinned. “He wants to love you? Make him work for it, baby girl. And maybe prove to you he can love all of you.”
* * * * *
Harry had never met a whirlwind until an auburn-haired, green-eyed amazon burst through his front door dragging a rather reluctant and anxious-looking December behind her. He knew her immediately.
“You must be Jeremy’s Sheridan.”
The beauty plucked the cashmere hat off her head and shook it free of snowflakes all over his pristine foyer, eyes dancing with amusement. “Is that what I am, do you think?”
Now that she mentioned it…“Actually, maybe it’s the other way around.” Harry couldn’t help but be curious about what kind of relationship she and his friend had. Sheridan didn’t exactly seem the submissive type. “May I help you?”
What he wanted was to ask her to leave and drag December upstairs to kiss her and make love to her until she forgot all about ever wanting to leave him. But he couldn’t win her with sex. Not sex, nor scene, nor any show of dominance would help him. He didn’t know what would.
“December, love, sit tight for a minute. I think I need to talk to your man here alone.”
December’s eyes widened. “Oh no. Sheridan, I don’t think that’s…”
Harry liked the sound of ‘your man’ too much to be bothered by this stranger ordering him around in his own home. He flashed December a grin and followed her friend without a word. As the study door clicked shut, he crossed his arms, turning to face Sheridan. “Well. You’re not at all what I expected.”
“Really? Because you’re exactly what I expected.” Her emerald eyes scanned him head to toe and he felt a little like a bug under a microscope. With Sheridan as the scientist. “You love her, I hear.”
At that, he finally did bristle. She noticed it.
“I get it. Personal, right? Well, I’m going to help you, Harry, so try to let all that pride of yours not be the focus for five seconds. She loves you, too, you know.”
It was like being punched in the face when you were expecting a soft kiss. Out of nowhere and so unexpected he couldn’t really grasp the words for a few long heartbeats. Finally, he frowned. “No, I didn’t know, actually.”
Sheridan sighed. “Well, you’re going to have to be more clever than this, Harry, if you want to win.”
“Win? Is she a prize to be won?”
She gave him a scathing look. “Are you serious? She’s the Stanley fucking Cup.”
He got the idea. “So why are you helping me? She’s your best friend, shouldn’t you be on her side?”
Sheridan looked him square in the eye. “I am. That’s why I’m helping you. Am I wrong?”
“No.” Harry liked her very much. Jeremy had his hands full and next time Harry saw him, he’d have to dig a little deeper into what the deal actually was between them. For now, he was more worried about his own relationship, such as it was, with December. “How can you help?” He didn’t think Sheridan meant telling December what a nice guy he was or something ordinary like that.
“You’re going to Kentucky for the New Year.”
Harry blinked. That was not what he’d expected at all. “I’m…what?”
Sheridan gave him another of those scathing, impatient looks. Like she was dealing with an idiot child. He couldn’t help but laugh a little, holding up his hands in supplication.
“Don’t bite my head off, okay? But why am I going to Kentucky?”
“Because that’s where December is going. And that’s where her family is. That’s where the real her is. If you want to prove to her you love her, not this idealized version of her she presents to all her clients, then you need to know the real her and still love her after the fact.” She stalked closer, one finger poking his chest. “If you don’t think you can do that, then I’m taking her back to California and you won’t be seeing her again. Don’t you dare hurt her by giving her false hope.” Her eyes saddened. “And whatever she’s told you about there being no hope or this being pointless…it’s bullshit. She hopes. She hopes more than anyone I know and if you’re not able to follow through then tell me now so I can be there when the fallout happens.”
Harry’s throat tightened at the idea of hurting December in any way. Never. He shook his head. “It’s not false hope. I love her, Sheridan.”
She looked satisfied. “Good. Then take this chance to prove it. I don’t know how and I can’t give you a road map to her heart, but if you’re meant to have it, well…go get it. It lives in Kentucky.”
So he was going to Kentucky.
* * * * *
“You’re going to hate it.”
Harry glanced down at December as they filed off the plane. “I won’t.”
“There aren’t any fancy restaurants and the closest thing to a five star hotel is the Best Western off the highway.” He thought he saw her lips twitch, probably at the idea of him staying in a budget inn off the highway.
“You seem to think I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. You are very much mistaken. I’ll be fine.” He bent and brushed a kiss to the tender skin behind her ear. “I’m getting more time with you, love. I’ll be more than fine.”
She cut him a look that said ‘Don’t get too comfy’, but it was too late for that, Harry thought. Ever since she and Jeremy’s girl, Sheridan, had showed up at his house and explained their plan…well, he suspected it was more Sheridan’s plan than anything, because December had looked, and still looked, like she didn’t know why she’d agreed to this.
A week in Kentucky. New Year’s with December’s family, in her hometown. For him – a chance to know the woman behind the submission, for her – a chance to prove to him he wouldn’t love her outside the playroom, once she dropped some of those walls.
She couldn’t be more wrong and Harry was going to very much enjoy spending the next five days proving that to her. Also, meeting her family, which he hoped would prove helpful because he could charm a mother like nobody’s business and didn’t all mothers want their little girls to find the right man? Harry hoped for allies in his quest to make December see they were right for each other.
Once they’d gathered their bags, Harry led the way out of the main entrance to the airport, then stopped, glancing around. He looked back over his shoulder at December. “I suppose you ought to be in charge while we’re here. These are your stomping grounds, after all.” He lifted one brow. “Where to now?”
She hesitated, then let out a sigh, as if resigning herself. Not the most ego-stroking thing, to have the woman you love resign herself to your company for the next week, but she wasn’t ignoring him or leaving him to his own devices in the middle of West Virginia, so good news there.
“My brother is coming to pick me up. Us up.” She peered up and down the covered drop off area, gaze sweeping the line of parked cars and shuttle buses and cabs. “And he’s late, as usual.” She met Harry’s eyes. “Do you mind giving him a few minutes, see if he’ll show up?”
Harry shook his head. “Not at all.” Anything that gave him more time with December alone. For all that they’d spent the last three weeks on very intimate terms, Harry still felt as though he didn’t know her nearly as well as he should and he wanted to change that. So he reached out to take the handle of her suitcase and rolled their luggage down the walk a ways to a less crowded area and sat down on the bench there, patting the spot beside him.
She rolled her eyes a little, but smiled as she sank down. “You know this is all ridiculous. It’s not going to change anything.”
Harry had decided to be as upbeat about it as possible. One of them being defeatist was more than enough. “Well, then, you don’t have anything to worry about and can just relax and enjoy your unexpectedly early trip home to see your family.”
He wished she would relax. He didn’t want to ruin her trip home or make her or her family uncomfortable. She’d told them he was a friend who didn’t have anywhere to spend New Year’s so when she’d decided on a ‘spur of the
moment’ trip, she’d asked him along. Harry didn’t much care for the pitiful sounding backstory, but it meant more time with her so he couldn’t mind but so much. When she’d walked out of the club – run, more like – he’d been afraid he’d never see her again. So when she and Sheridan had shown up two days later with Sheridan’s plan in hand – he’d have agreed to spending the next five days in the middle of the Sahara if it meant spending it with her.
She shook her head with a small smile. “You know, when I took this job you were supposed to be a shy, maybe meek sort of guy who needed a confidence boost.”
Harry laughed. “And you ended up with me. Poor girl, I’m sorry about that.”
He liked how she laughed even though she was hesitant about everything. As though she couldn’t help enjoying being with him even when she would rather she didn’t. Harry thought that was definitely a positive thing.
“I’ll live, I think.” She shrugged. “I don’t know. You’re a conundrum, Harry. How are you so sure of some things but so unsure of others?”
Harry tilted his head in question. “Why are you so confident you can be everything any man needs and yet find it so hard to believe what I feel for you is real?”
“Touché.” She didn’t answer his question, though. He supposed he hadn’t really answered hers, either.
But then a loud honk from what might be the largest pickup truck Harry had ever seen nixed any further chance at conversation. A grinning brown-haired cowboy type leaned across the front seat and peered at them through the open passenger window. “Need a ride, losers?”
December rolled her eyes. “And this is my delightful baby brother. Don’t be so rude, Harley.”
Harley? He could not wait to meet her mother, especially. Who named children after months of the year and motorcycles and pickled vegetables and was responsible for the most amazing woman he’d ever met. He had a feeling he was going to love this bunch as much as he did December.
Harry watched the rolling hills whisk by outside the window of the giant pickup truck while December and Harley bickered and insulted each other as siblings do up front. He’d ended up wedged in the backseat along with the luggage. Her brother had given him a smirk that said “You’re sleeping with my sister, be glad all I’m doing is making you uncomfortable for the ride, not castrating you.” Harry read him loud and clear. Harley was eighteen and all redneck bravado and love for his sister and Harry didn’t begrudge him the need to protect her.
“So it’s not really its own town, then?” Harry interrupted, as they passed the city limits sign for Ashland. “It’s sort of like DC, a metro area and it’s all sort of lumped together with Huntington and…what’s the other one?”
“Ironton, across the river in Ohio. And yes, kind of like DC in that respect.”
“I imagine it’s nothing like DC in about every other way.”
“You have no idea.”
“Neither do you, Miss California.” Harley glanced over at his sister. “Coming back for a couple of days every so often doesn’t make you an expert on the Tri-State, you know.”
Harry sensed a touch of bitterness there. Whether because Harley missed his sister or envied that she’d gotten away from their small-ish town or what, he didn’t know. But whatever the cause, December clearly felt bad because she softened and ruffled his hair affectionately.
“I know, sorry, kiddo.”
“Yeah, yeah. Mom’s gonna guilt you, fyi.”
December smiled faintly, glancing back at Harry. “I expected as much. Let’s drop Harry off at the hotel first. Give him a chance to decompress before we subject him to the North family madness.”
“No need. I’d love to meet your family.”
The look she cast him said she wasn’t very pleased he hadn’t taken the out she’d offered. Well, he didn’t want one. He wanted to prove to her he could – and would – love her no matter what. No matter who she was, no matter what it was about her and her real life she thought would to put him off. Sheridan had made it very clear this was his shot. She hadn’t said the words, “One chance only, buddy, don’t fuck this up,” but she might as well have.
He had no plans to fuck anything up.
Harley grinned and glanced at him in the rearview, as if maybe he didn’t so much want to nail Harry’s balls to his truck bed as much as he had a few minutes ago. “You might do okay here, City.”
“Thanks, Country, I’ll take that as a compliment.” he threw back.
December laughed, a sound Harry still couldn’t get enough of. The woman had the ability to hit every single one of his buttons without even trying. A woman who laughed easily and laughed often was something of a weakness. She’d been that from the beginning.
“It is one.” She smiled fondly at her brother. “Harley doesn’t like the guys I…bring home.” She hesitated mid-sentence as if unsure how to categorize him.
The young man shrugged. “Not like you bring home many.” Silence fell abruptly, like a ton of bricks on them hung in the air for a second. Harry wondered why, and also why suddenly December looked as though she would duct tape her brother’s mouth closed if she could. Then he realized.
She’d brought someone else home. Jealousy reared up in him, though he tried not to let it. He had no right to be jealous. Just because she’d voluntarily brought home some other man to meet her family. Someone she hadn’t had to be bullied into giving a chance to. What had happened to that lucky man? Had he squandered such a gift? Harry wondered if – like Katie was Harry’s heavy burden to bear – if this mystery man was December’s. Was he why she resisted the idea of more with Harry so strongly?
He didn’t get any more hints, as Harley fell silent and the loud twang of country music filled the cab of the truck. Oh yes, there was a story there, an important one. Harry determined he’d have to find out what the story was and how it played into what happened between himself and December.
But for the time being, he wanted to meet her family, all of them.
Chapter Fourteen
What a nightmare. Despite a few weak protests that surely Harry must want to unwind at the hotel – why couldn’t he act like the hour long flight from DC to Huntington was so taxing he needed to recover? – December finally decided Harry wasn’t changing his mind and sighed.
“Fine. Be stubborn. Honestly, you shouldn’t put so much stock in what Sheridan says. She’s not exactly the clairvoyant type, you know. More the ‘still hung-over at nine am from the night before’ type.”
He seemed unfazed. “And yet she’s your very best friend in the world. I think I’ll take the chance she knows you well enough.”
December rolled her eyes and turned to face the front of the truck. Fine, so he was going to be stubborn. She didn’t know why she was being so snippy. Other than the fact that she’d had zero say in any of what had happened in the last twenty-four hours. Somewhere between California and Washington DC Sheridan had turned into a bright eyed romantic who had this foolish idea that maybe Harry really was…what? The One? God, it was so stupid.
And now he and her brother seemed to have come to a truce and were chatting like old buddies about country music. What on Earth did Harry Everett know about country music?
Quite a lot, it turned out. By the time they turned down the long dirt drive to her parents’ house, the two of them were discussing the pros and cons of rockabilly versus swamp-pop. Had she fallen into some kind of alternate universe here?
“Momma’s in the kitchen making chicken and biscuits. Daddy said I’m to bring Harry round back to meet him first.”
Oh good god. “Absolutely not. He’s probably got a shotgun, acting like he’s ever shot anything bigger than a duck. No. Harry, come inside with me,” she insisted as Harley pulled his truck to a stop in front of the house.
“He’s gonna be mad,” Harley warned.
“Not compared to me if you don’t shush your mouth and tell him he’s not going to scare my friend on the first day he’s here. Now go tell him to put that
gun away and come give me all the hugs he owes me.” She couldn’t help but smile. When Rick West had married her momma, he’d taken those vows serious as a heart attack, and she and Harley had become his kids every bit as much as little Olive. It was hard to be mad at him for being a little over-protective.
She climbed out of the truck and yanked open the extended cab door, gesturing to Harry. “Well, come on. Let’s get this over with.”
Harry climbed out and glanced at the house, then at Harley, then toward the corner of the house leading around back. “Actually, I think I’m going to go say hello to your father first.”
December wanted to throw her hands up or maybe pull out her hair. Since when did she get no say whatsoever in anything that happened? In her job, maybe she gave away control, but dammit she liked it in her real life and this was real life.
She finally did throw up her hands. “Fine.” She waved her hand at him. “Go. Spray down the whole place with testosterone for all I care. I’m going to go glom on the baby and eat half a dozen of my momma’s biscuits. Find me when you’re done hashing out my bride price with my dad.”
Harry just smiled. “Save me a biscuit,” he whispered before stealing a kiss.
She stuck her tongue out at him as he walked away. “Not a chance. Jerkface.”
“Brat,” he tossed back over his shoulder. Ugh, why did she find him so adorable sometimes? Harley laughed at her and followed Harry.
Fine, let them go wag their dicks at each other or whatever men do when establishing a pack order. She stomped up the steps and into the house, huffing in annoyance as she yanked off her coat and gloves and then made her way through to the kitchen.
Her mother glanced up with a smile as she came in. “Baby! I heard you coming a mile away. Come here and hug me, my hands are all doughy.”
It was impossible to be mad in the presence of her mother. Scientific impossibility or something. December beelined for her and gave her a squeeze and a kiss on the cheek. “Hi momma.” Then turned and beamed. “Little darlin’!” she squealed, greeted by a matching squeal from Olive in her high chair, little face messy with jam.