“In one piece, as you can see.” He stood with his arms spread wide and the action made him look even bigger in his down-filled winter coat. He gave her a crooked smile that sent her pulse picking up. God, he was a gorgeous man. “I never got a chance to thank you for what you did for me.”
Harper looked away. She’d spent most of her time since that night trying to forget what had happened and she didn’t want to be reminded of it. “I didn’t do that much.”
She shifted uncomfortably on one foot and shifted her bags a little.
“Look at me, making you stand here talking while you’re carrying those heavy bags.” He reached out and grasped the handles of both bags. “Let me take them for you.”
With some reluctance Harper let them go. She didn’t want to be rude, especially since Josh had always been so nice to her the last time she’d been to town. But he did funny things to her libido and she made her want to forget why she wasn’t in the market for a relationship.
“Thank you.” It was all she said as they set off down the street.
“Where are you staying?”
“At the apartment above the bookstore. I’m going to be here for a little, just long enough for Lana to find someone to help out at the store.” Maybe if she made it clear that she wasn’t going to be sticking around, she would convince him and herself that friendly was about all she could do with him.
“Did she tell you her big new?”
She looked at him sharply for a second, wondering how he could know what Lana had told her. Then she remembered the Josh was Ben’s brother, so of course he would know that there was going to be a new addition to his family.
“Yeah, she told me when she got here. She seems over the moon about it.” She turned her head to face forward as they walked together down the street.
“You don't approve?” He paused in the middle of the sidewalk and she took a few steps away before she stopped too. She really needed to work on her poker face. She hoped that she hadn’t offended him because she needed to remember that it was his brother that Lana was having a baby with.
“It’s not up to me to approve or disapprove. She just told me today and needless to say it was unexpected news.” She looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “Are you telling me that it didn’t like something coming from out of the blue when Ben told you?”
“I see your point. I was definitely a shock when he told me.” He resumed walking down the street and she fell into step beside him. “I do know that Lana makes my brother happier than I’ve ever seen him, so they must be doing something right.”
“I know, it’s the same with Lana, so maybe we should be happy for them and leave it at that.” Harper's stomach took the opportunity of silence between them to rumble. Josh chuckled as he walked beside her and a puzzled frown crossed her face. How had he hear it? He must have some sort of super hearing.
“I think I should stop lollygagging and get you home so you can have something to eat.” His large strides ate the distance between where they were and the bookshop and Harper scrambled to keep up.
Once they got to the locked door beside the bookstore Harper reached for the bags of grocery, grateful that her interacting with her was at an end. It wasn't that Josh was unpleasant to be around, quite the opposite. But her attraction with him made it impossible to not want something more with him, and she knew that wasn't in the cards.
He held the bags away and shook his head. “Nope. I’m not going to make you carry these bags up a flight of stairs when I’m around. Just unlock the door and hold it open and I’ll carry them to your door. It’s the least I can do considering you’ve done so much for me.”
She thought about arguing, but the smile he gave her told her that she wouldn't win if she tried. And she had to admit that it was nice having someone else lug around groceries.
She unlocked the door and held it open for him. As he passed her she got a whiff of his aftershave and her stomach clenched. Crap, he smelled as good as he looked. With an internal prayer for strength from temptation, she followed him up the stairs and tried to ignore the way his butt filled out his well-worn jeans.
As quickly as was polite she unlocked the door and reached for the bags again.
“You mean you aren’t going to invite me in for dinner?”
“Oh, well…” She searched her mind for a polite way to turn him down. There was no way she could sit with him in that apartment and be able to keep the distance that she needed to. To her surprise, Josh threw his head back and laughed, revealing his even white teeth.
“I’m kidding, Harper. I’m not so rude to invite myself over for dinner.” He held the bags out to her and she took them gratefully. As she grasped the handles, she froze when his big hand covered hers.
She swallowed hard as her eyes flew up to meet his and a serious look crossed his face.
“I meant what I said before. I owe you my life, and I’d like to repay you. How about I show you around town tomorrow, maybe would go get something to eat after we’re done.” His eyes were warm and she couldn't tear her eyes away from them. “I promise I won’t get shot this time.”
She knew he was joking, but his statement was as effective as a bucket of icy water being thrown over her. It was a big reminder of why she could say yes.
“I appreciate the offer but I don't know how busy I’m going to be helping Lana.” She quickly maneuvered so that her back was to him and she shifted the bags to one hand as she unlocked the door. She turned her head to look back at him, and he looked at her with a puzzled look on her face. “Thanks for your help with the groceries. See you around.”
She didn’t wait for him to say anything more before she walked into the apartment and quickly closed the door behind her. The bags fell from her hands and hit the floor with a thunk as she sagged against the door. She listened carefully until she heard the sound of his booted footfalls moving away from the door.
Blowing out a slow breath, she straightened up and picked up her grocery bags. She felt bad for turning him down. He was a nice guy, and his company had been very pleasant during their walk on the night of the shooting. It would be so easy to slip into conversation with him, to look at him and forget why she needed to harden her heart.
But she needed to make her heart hard, because there was no other alternative. Her relationship with Jack had taught her every lesson she’d never wanted to learn about love and there was no way she was going to go through anything like that again. She was here to help her best friend, and that was all she was going to do while she was here.
But it sure was nice seeing him again, alive and well. That was something she would never be able to say about Jack.
23
Josh
That was one of the most interesting encounters he’d had in a long time. A puzzled frown pulled Josh’s brows together as he drove toward Shadowbrook. He searched his mind over and over to try to figure out where he’d gone wrong with Harper.
When he’d seen her walking down the street with her hands full, he couldn't believe his luck. He had thought for sure that he would never see her again. But there she was, bundled up in a coat with her long blond braid hanging over one shoulder. And he couldn't stop himself from calling out to her. From the moment he’d seen her when she’d been in town the first time he’d been drawn to her, and not in the way that he was usually curious about humans. There was something about her that felt right whenever he was with her.
Now if he could only figure out where he’d fucked up when he asked her out, then maybe he wouldn’t be stupid enough to do it again. Everything seemed to be going fine, at least until he’d made the joke about not getting shot again. Then her face had gone pale, and it was like she closed herself off from him.
As he pulled up in front of Shadowbrook, he cursed himself. Of course, she wouldn't want to be reminded of the trauma of that night. He’d seen it on her face when he’d thanked her. Why had he been so dumb to bring it up. He should have kept his mouth shut and thought of
something else to say to break the ice with her.
“Way to go, idiot. Nothing like a reminder of one of the scariest experiences of her life.” Josh slammed the door of his truck and strode toward the house. The next time he saw her he wasn’t going to say a word about the shooting. There was no sense in reminding her of that night.
Unless that wasn’t what had prompted her to reject him. He froze in his tracks in front of the door to the house. She and Lana were very close. Had Lana shared with her the truth about Ben’s nature and that was what prompted her to brush him off? Now that he thought about it, she had seemed a little standoffish when he started talking to her too.
He walked into the house and made a beeline toward the great room. Once he was there, the only person in the room was Eloise, whose dark eyes seemed to devour him. Of course she had started looking at him that way about six months ago, and he knew that sooner or later he was going to have to deal with it. But hopefully not tonight.
“Have you seen Lana?”
Her mouth gave a sour twist. “Do I look like her keeper? I’m sure she is somewhere with your brother.”
“Thanks, you’re a lot of help.” Josh turned away and walked out of the great room and toward the huge staircase that swept up to the second floor. He shouldn't be surprised by Eloise’s attitude, since it was one shared by most of the pack. It seemed simple enough for the wolves to coexist with the humans in town, but it was a different matter entirely to have a human living in the house. He hoped that they got over themselves soon, because that pack had bigger things to worry about than a small human woman being in love with their Alpha.
But thankfully dealing with that would be his brother’s problem. Josh would support him in any way he could, short of becoming Alpha himself, but it was up to Ben to show the pack that Lana was no threat to them.
When Josh got up to the second floor, he went down the hall, passed his room and into the set of rooms that his brother shared with his mate. His status as Alpha granted him what amounted to a small apartment inside the house, and as he raised his hand to knock on the door he hoped that he wasn’t interrupting anything that might be going on between his brother and Lana. He wanted to talk to Lana about Harper, and he didn’t want to have to deal with an ugly Ben to do it.
Ben opened the door with a scowl on his face, which cleared once he saw that it was Josh on the other side of the door. At least he was fully dressed, and over Ben’s shoulder, he could see Lana sitting on the sofa with her feet curled up under her.
“What’s happening?” Ben searched his face as if he was trying to see what was wrong. Josh supposed it was understandable, since he usually gave his brother his privacy and only sought him out in his office or the great room.
“Everything’s cool. I was hoping I could speak to Lana.”
Ben’s eyebrows climbed to his forehead, as if that was the last thing he was expecting to hear come out of his brother’s mouth. He seemed frozen in place, as if he wasn’t sure how to respond.
Lana laughed from behind him and got up off the couch. She came to stand beside Ben and wrap her hand around his bicep. “This is the part where you say ‘come in Josh’ and move to the side.”
She tugged him out of Josh’s way and Josh smiled at her as he stepped inside their apartment. He looked at Ben, wondering how well it was going to go over when he asked to speak with Lana alone. Lana seemed to know that was what he wanted, because she turned to Ben, raised on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “I think he would like to speak with me in private.”
Ben’s eyes flew to Josh. “What the hell for?”
Josh rolled his eyes. “I want to convince her to finally come to her senses and run away with me. It’s private, dumbass. I need some advice that I can only get from a woman. Unless you want to engage in girl talk.”
Ben gave him a sour look as he raised his middle finger. He put his arm around Lana’s shoulder and pulled him to her, kissing her on the forehead. “I’ll be back up later.”
And with that he pulled away from her and left the apartment, closing the door behind him. Lana turned to look at Josh with expectant eyes, and now that he was alone with her he had no idea where to begin.
“Why don’t we go sit on the sofa and then we can talk about Harper.” She stepped away a little and must have seen the surprised look on his face. “That is why you’re here, isn’t it? You know Harper is in town and want to talk about it?”
“How did you know?” Was his interest in Harper that obvious? He came and joined her on the sofa and she turned her body so that she was facing him.
“What else would you want to speak with me in private about if not about her? Anything else you would want to talk about you could say in front of your brother. But Harper would be a subject you’d be reluctant to share in front of him because of how he might react.”
Lana certainly knew how the dynamic between his brother and him worked. Or maybe she just knew Ben well enough to know that he might not approve of his brother’s interest in Harper. It seemed a little hypocritical that he might do so, considering he had a human as a mate. But then Josh knew how much his brother had fought his attraction to Lana, and with what they were going through now with the pack, it might not be that strange that his brother might want to spare him the same struggle.
“Does Harper know what Ben is? What I am?” He wasn’t sure if it was a bad thing that she knew. At least the truth would be out in the open and it was something he could work with to show her that he would never hurt her. If the reason for her rejecting him was not because he was a werewolf, then that meant that there was something else about him that she didn’t like. He didn’t even want to think about that.
“I haven’t told her about any of that. Harper is only in town for a little while, to help me out and she really doesn’t need to know the truth about the residents of Shadowbrook.” So she didn’t know the truth about him, which meant that wasn’t why she had rejected him. “What’s this all about, Josh?”
“I saw Harper in town early, and talked with her. I offered to show her around town and suggested we could go for a meal after.”
“And it didn't the way you expected it to?”
That was certainly true. He had expected her to at least be open to the possibility of spending time getting to know him. “She brushed me off.”
“I’m not surprised.” Lana sighed and sank back against the sofa. “To be perfectly honest, I would have been more shocked if she’d agreed.”
What did that mean? A thought occurred to him, one that he hadn’t considered before. “Does Harper have a man in Boston?”
Could that be why she’d brushed him off? She seemed genuinely interested in getting to know him when she’d been in town before, that he didn’t think that was the case. But then a lot could have happened between when she’d been in town before and now.
“No, she isn’t seeing anyone.” Lana looked at him for a moment, as if she was choosing her words carefully. “Something happened to Harper in the past. It is not my story to tell, and if she ever wants you to know about it, she will have to be the one to tell you. All I can tell you is that if you are interested in her, you will have to go slow with her.”
Slow he could do as long as he knew that she wouldn’t shut him out completely. It would take some restraint on his part because his attraction to her made him want to spend as much time with her as he could. But if he couldn't slow himself down, he wouldn’t be spending any time with her at all. “Do you have any advice on how I should do that?”
“Be very casual when you see her. Don’t push her too hard to go out with you. Just be yourself and I’m sure she will see that you are a great guy. You’ll have to get past her defenses and the only way to do that is to act like you don’t have an agenda.”
It wasn’t exactly a blueprint for how to woo Harper, but Josh figured that it was the best he was going to get. “Okay, I’ll go as slow as she needs me to go. Thanks for talking to me about her.”
> “You’re welcome.” Lana smiled at him. “I am incredibly happy with your brother and I would like the same thing for Harper. Just don’t hurt her, or you will answer to me.”
Josh chuckled at the thought of what a small human woman like Lana could do to him, but since he had no intention of hurting Harper, he didn’t think he needed to worry about it.
“Don’t worry, the last thing I want to do is hurt her.” Josh stood up and went toward the door.
“Josh.” He turned and looked back at her. She gave him a thumbs-up sign. “Good luck.”
“Thanks.” He opened the door and walked out of the apartment. At least he didn’t have Lana working against him with Harper. It was going to be an uphill battle to get her to let him into her life without him having to take on her best friend too.
24
Josh
As he closed the door behind him, Josh looked up to see his brother leaning against the wall.
“Had enough girl talk?” Ben straightened up and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Yes, thanks.” Josh nodded his head and moved to make his way down the hall.
“Josh.” His brother’s voice halted him, and Josh sighed. It looked like Ben was not going to let him go on his way until he had his say. Josh turned around and looked at him.
“I’m not going to ask what it was that you talk about with her, since I have a pretty good idea that it was about Harper. All I’m going to say is be careful.”
“Are you trying to say that Harper is some kind of threat to us? I would have thought that you of all people would have learned that being interested in a human woman is not the end of the world as we know it.”
Firefighter Wolves Shifters (A Paranormal Romance Series Boxset) Page 11