“Dog sitting, huh?”
“It’s not what you think.” I pasted on my most innocent smile as I widened my eyes in what I hoped read angelic, while Romeo sat beside me barking excitedly. “I can explain.”
“Oh, I’m sure you can.”
For the second time during our interaction, the corners of Hud’s mouth twitched, and in that moment I’d never been so happy that my prayers had not been answered. Rear-ending Hud’s cruiser and not some random sheriff’s might just be my actual get-out-of-jail-free card.
Not to mention, regardless of what the outcome was from this debacle, I would be addressing the moment we’d just had. I might have to wait until someone posted bail for me, but there was no way a little incarceration was going to side-line me from following up on the first sliver of hope I might be able to get the one thing that I’d wanted since I hit puberty.
A no-holds-barred, wild night with Hudson Reed.
Chapter 2
Hudson
“The trouble with trouble is it starts out as fun.”
~ Loretta Reed
Never a dull moment. Not when Harmony Briggs was around. I watched the wheels turning behind her gorgeous emerald eyes as she worked to come up with her next move. She’d landed in it and she knew it.
A smile was trying to spread on my face, but I fought to maintain a stoic expression. The only way I was going to get through this with my dignity intact was to hide the fact that I found her so damn entertaining—just like I needed to hide the fact that I found her smart, funny, beautiful, sexy, and tempting as hell.
For longer than I cared to think about, I’d had to conceal, ignore, and suppress how I felt about the auburn-haired, green-eyed beauty that was busy scheming her way out of this situation that God only knew how she’d gotten in.
I’d buried my feelings deep. So deep, in fact, that for a while, I thought I might’ve actually gotten over them. Maybe the intense emotions she inspired in me were just a blazing flame that had burned out—a passing phase. But lately it seemed that every time I turned around, Harmony was there, and every time I laid eyes on her, those feelings rose to the surface hotter than ever.
Just this week, I’d seen her twice at the Spoon, which wasn’t so unusual since it was the only diner in town. Then there’d been three sightings at the Pit Stop gas station. Monday, I ran into her at Sugar Rush, the bakery owned by her best friend and very pregnant sister-in-law, Destiny. Wednesday she’d been at The Flower Pot when I’d accompanied my mom to pick out flowers for my parents’ thirtieth anniversary party, which was coming up in a few weeks. I hadn’t been much help, but Harmony being Harmony had no problem butting in and giving her opinion. Loretta Reed was a lot of things, but crafty was not one of them—hence bringing her son to help her pick out flowers. She’d had no problem accepting Harmony’s help though, and appreciating it.
And last night I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off of her as she’d two-stepped with Brady Calhoun all night at the Tipsy Cow. Again, it was the only bar in Wishing Well and it was a Friday night. Still.
And now, as much as I hated to admit it, I was relieved to have gotten the call over the radio. Not that I was really looking forward to cleaning up the mess that she’d made. I’d like to be clear, I definitely was not looking forward to that. But the interruption had stopped me from doing something stupid, like leaning into the car and finally giving into my deepest desires in the form of a kiss that wouldn’t just claim her, it would brand her as mine.
“This whole thing is just a huge misunderstanding.” Her vivid eyes sparkled as she took a deep breath. “This morning when I woke up and saw that it was storming, I jumped in my car to go check on Romeo because I know how scared he gets. When I got to the douchebag’s—who was supposed to be taking care of him—duplex, I knocked on the door and didn’t hear any barking. So, I checked the back and Romeo wasn’t there.
“That’s when Mrs. MacDougal, the nosey-busy-body next door neighbor, told me that she’d called the police when Romeo was barking all night. When they responded to the noise complaint, somehow Romeo got out and animal control picked him up.
“So I went to the pound and found him. But the evil troll working there said the dog was microchipped and they’d contacted the owner. And that until they heard back they couldn’t release him to me. I tried to explain that they might not hear back from Tim for at least a day or two because he’s out of the country working with Doctors Without Borders and that Romeo couldn’t stay at the shelter because he was scared of thunder, which is why he’d escaped in the first place—so, I asked again if I could take him with me.
“The Wicked Witch of the West said under no circumstances would she be releasing him to me until she heard from his owner. She didn’t care that he was scared and informed me that they were closing in thirty minutes and wouldn’t be open again to the public until Monday morning and I could come back and check on Romeo’s status then. He was going to be alone. All weekend. When it’s thundering.”
Harmony’s face scrunched and she held her hands up, in a so-there-you-have-it motion. Like what she’d told me had just explained everything. It hadn’t. Nothing she’d said had answered the question as to why she now had possession of the dog.
“And then what happened?” I prompted.
“Then, I did what any decent human being would do. I waited for Cruella De Vil to leave and I rescued Romeo.”
Shit. I’d really hoped that I wouldn’t have to deal with Blanche, the woman that Harmony had so colorfully nicknamed. She might not be as horrible as Cruella De Vil or the Wicked Witch of the West, but she was definitely a cougar with a capital C. Her advances weren’t subtle or tasteful; they were raunchy and uncomfortable. Any time I had to interact with her was torture, so being in the position of needing a favor from her was going to be cruel and unusual punishment.
But it wasn’t like I had any choice in the matter. If I didn’t step in, there was a very good chance that she would press charges against Harmony, and no way in hell would I let that happen.
As I stood, silently contemplating my next move, Harmony grew increasingly agitated. Since she wasn’t really the ‘suffer in silence’ type, I heard all about it.
“Oh, come on, Hud. I could not leave him there for two days! The poor baby was terrified! Isn’t there a heart under that badge?”
She might think this was an open and shut case, but I needed more information. “His owner left him in his backyard while he was out of the country?”
“No. Tim left him with his friend Chad, who’s an ER doctor at Valley Parish where Tim did his residency. But Chad’s schedule is crazy, and he’s never home.”
I always trusted my instincts. My life and others’ lives depended on them being right and, knock on wood, so far they always had been. So, when they were telling me that there was more to this story than Harmony just checking on a friend’s dog, I knew there was.
“Why didn’t Tim leave him with you?”
She rolled her eyes and waved her hand in a dismissive movement. “We were kind of seeing each other before he left and it just…didn’t work out. I offered to keep him, begged even, but he said no. Because, like most men, he has the maturity of a two-year-old.”
Harmony only dated guys who lived outside Wishing Well city limits. I’d always assumed that was out of necessity, since she had eight older brothers who wouldn’t have made life easy for any guy sniffing around their baby sister. I’d witnessed her independent spirit tested on more than one occasion thanks to her well-meaning but slightly overprotective siblings. But Harmony was nothing if not resourceful. She may have been able to keep her extra-curricular activities under her familial radar, but I’d been clocking it since she was sixteen years old, and it had driven me crazy.
I’d never really subscribed to the keep-your-friends-close-and-your-enemies-closer logic, but in this case I always wanted, no needed, to know who in the hell she was seeing. If I didn’t, my mind wandered down roads it had no place
going whenever I thought about Harmony’s love life.
As I stared down into Harmony’s emerald eyes I saw a flash of white as a lightning bolt reflected in her black irises. Automatically I started counting in my head: One, two, three, four, five, six. A booming crack exploded and Romeo squealed like a stuffed pig before jumping onto Harmony’s lap. She instantly wrapped her arms around the dog and held him tightly as she assured him that everything would be okay.
“See.” She huffed at me with the fierce look of a lion protecting her cub.
For safety purposes, the side of the road was not the place that we needed to be having this conversation. I pressed the radio and turned my head. “I need a tow out on I-thirty-five east between mile marker twenty-eight and thirty.”
When dispatch copied I turned my attention back to Harmony. “Get out and bring him with you.”
“Hudson Jasper Reed! You have lost your ever-lovin’ mind if you think you are going to arrest me!” she cried in outrage. “I had to save him!”
Damn. She really was cuter than a cupcake when she was spittin’ mad. Seeing her good and pissed was one of my all-time favorite things in this world. The wild look in her eyes, the flush that rushed up her olive skin, her breath coming in short pants…it was hotter than hell. She was so alive, so filled with passion. Sometimes I even riled her up on purpose, because apparently I’m a masochist. But this time had been completely unintentional. Either way, I couldn’t let her see how her reaction affected me.
“I’m not arresting you…yet. But you can’t drive. Not with him in this state. It’s not safe. I’m taking you home.” Straightening, I took a step back so that she would have room to exit.
Her eyes narrowed. “What about Romeo?”
I knew what the right thing to do was. I needed to return the dog to the animal shelter. It was my civic duty. I’d sworn an oath to uphold the law. But all that meant jack shit when I saw the bottom lip on Harmony’s mouth quiver and her eyes glisten with unshed tears.
Without running it by my head my mouth opened all on its own. “He can stay with you until we get this worked out.”
“Woohoo!” she whooped as she threw the door open. Romeo jumped out of the car and Harmony jumped into my arms. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
On pure instinct I caught her and immediately regretted it. The starch fabric of my uniform and even my utility belt were no match for the heat of her supple curves. She molded against me like my Tempur-Pedic mattress. And even though I knew better, my fingers tightened around her hips as she nuzzled against my neck. I closed my eyes as the sweet sensation of her breath fanned my skin.
For years I’d maintained an ironclad control when it came to Harmony Briggs. But every second that passed, I felt it slipping like a greased pig. The harder I tried to hold onto it, the faster it shot out of my grasp. My body wanted things that my heart and mind knew were off limits, but I wasn’t sure how much longer I could rein in the primal desires that only Harmony Briggs inspired in me.
Thankfully, before I did something that I couldn’t take back, thunder cracked and Romeo howled with fear. In the blink of an eye Harmony was out of my arms and comforting her four legged friend. I watched in awe as she cuddled him, and talked in a soft, comforting tone. An image of her holding a baby, our baby, as she rocked her, popped into my head like an Internet ad. And just like a computer virus, I couldn’t seem to delete the sucker. Instead, more pictures filled my head.
Harmony Briggs was a lot of things. Smart. Sexy. Fearless. Loyal. Strong-willed. Funny. But nurturing wasn’t really her thing. All her life, she’d made it crystal clear that having a ring on her finger and being barefoot and pregnant was her equivalent of hell on earth. And I’d been raised to take people at their word. Maybe other men thought they could change Harmony. Tame her. Tempt her to the domestic side. But I knew better. She was a force of nature; just like the lightning that flared in the skies.
That was why I’d always kept my distance. Nothing could ever happen between the two of us, because as strong as her feelings against marriage and a family were, that’s how strong mine were for it. Being married, having kids—that’s what I wanted in my life. There was no way to bridge the gap between such polar opposite life goals. If we tried, I knew that it would undoubtedly destroy one or both of us. I’d seen it happen before. Out of all the married couples I knew, there were only a handful that were actually happy. Ironically enough, both mine and Harmony’s parents were among them. But the rest were not living in wedded bliss. The ones that settled or thought they could change their spouse were miserable. I would never let Harmony suffer that fate.
I needed to remember that. The only problem was, Harmony was kryptonite to my memory, my will, and worst of all…my heart.
Chapter 3
Harmony
“If you burn your seat, you have to sit on the blister.”
~ Loretta Reed
“He didn’t speak to me the entire ride home. Not one word. I kept trying to make small talk but the only response I got was indiscernible grunts.”
“Right, but what did you expect?” Destiny shifted in the booth, looking about as uncomfortable as I would expect a two-week-overdue woman to look.
Cara’s shoulders lifted slightly as she gently pointed out, “He is kind of the strong, silent type.”
“Whatever.” My friends might be right, but that wasn’t the point. I continued on with the story undeterred. “When he pulled up in front of my house, I was done trying to play nice, so I grabbed my purse and Romeo and was out of the truck before he’d even come to a complete stop. When I got to my front door he rolled down his window and said, and I quote” I paused as I dipped my chin down and lowered my voice in my best Hudson Reed impression, “‘Don’t leave town.’”
When he’d said those three words, my entire body had gone up in flames of desire like it was dry brush and his voice was a cigarette butt. I conveniently withheld that small piece of information from my two best friends.
Even before he’d donned a badge, Hudson had possessed that whole domineering air of authority thing. Ever since I could remember, people listened and obeyed when he spoke. He’d been the captain of every basketball and football team that he’d ever been on, including Pee Wee and Little League. And it didn’t stop there. The subject was a hot topic amongst the female population of Wishing Well and every girl that Hud dated blushed like a virgin in a strip club whenever the subject of whether or not his authoritarian demeanor translated behind closed doors.
Which was, I had to admit, one of the reasons why I’d offered myself up like I was a steak dinner and Hud was a man on death row. It was the summer before I left for college, and I’d wanted my first time to be with someone who knew how to take charge. Who knew what they were doing. Unfortunately, instead of devouring me like I’d expected, Hud had politely refused my advances. For some reason, that had pissed me off even more than if he’d just laughed at me.
It also made me want him even more than I already had. Since I was two, I’d only wanted to play with the toys my brothers were playing with—but once they’d give one to me, I’d get bored. My entire family teased me about only wanting things I couldn’t have.
“He actually said that?” Destiny’s eyes widened in disbelief as she lifted her almost-empty virgin piña colada and sipped the remaining contents through the pink straw. The slurping sound snapped me out of my Hud haze.
Cara’s brows knitted together. “Where did he think you were going to go?”
“Right!?” My arms flew up in frustration. “Did he really think that I was going to go all Harrison Ford in The Fugitive?”
“Actually, Harrison Ford was innocent,” Cara pointed out.
“I’m innocent!” I cried in indignant outrage.
“I seriously doubt that.” Bryson winked at me as he approached our booth tucked in the back corner of The Tipsy Cow. “Can I get you ladies another round?”
“Yes,” Cara, Destiny, and I all responded.
Tonight was most likely going to be the last girl’s night out we were going to have for a while. Destiny was overdue, and once the baby came there was a very good chance it would be months before we were able to get together again.
With a nod and a grin that showcased the deep dimple in his right cheek, he headed behind the bar to make our drinks. We all watched in silent appreciation as Bryson moved with the sleek, sexy grace of a predatory jungle cat. He flipped bottles in the air, spun them around his arm and wrists, putting on a show for the patrons seated in front of him. The corded muscles in his arms were a piece of art. But they only received the bronze medal in his sex appeal Olympics. The silver went to his jet-black hair, blue eyes, and chiseled jaw. The gold had to go to his panty-melting brogue, thanks to the fact that he was first generation.
His parents had migrated from Ireland when he was only five. They both spoke with such thick accents that whenever they got mad, happy, or had a pint of Guinness in them, it was impossible to understand them.
For Bryson, there was only a hint of his Irish accent normally, but when he said “darlin’” there wasn’t a woman within earshot who wasn’t reduced to a puddle of lust.
With a sigh, Cara shook her head slowly. “I really thought that if anyone was going to get you to break your cardinal rule and be the water that flooded your dry spell, it would be Bryson.”
“So did I.” Tearing my eyes away from the show our favorite bartender was putting on, I faced my friends. “Believe me, I wanted him to be the one more than anyone.”
For the past year and a half I’d abstained from any sextra-curricular activities. Which was completely out of character for me. I enjoyed sex. A lot.
I hadn’t let the fact that the first time I’d tried to put some giddy in my up, I’d been rejected before I’d even gotten on the horse. That didn’t stop me from getting back in the saddle again. And thankfully, Hudson Reed had been the one and only man that had ever turned down the chance to go for a ride.
Discovering Harmony (Wishing Well, Texas #3) Page 2