9. Harper

Chapter 9

Harper

Gutted? My house needs to be gutted. I was almost there, but I pulled over when Miles called. I don’t know why I thought I could just get him to leave and not help. I’m obviously not really thinking things through today.

After he left his house, I called two of my other friends, Bridget and Daphne, to see if I could stay with one of them or if they knew of somewhere I could stay while my house was being renovated. They both said I could stay with them, but if my house is being gutted it’s going to be months. I can’t impose on anyone for that long.

My fear of staying with Miles isn’t because I think he will be inappropriate or push for something I don’t want. I’m afraid because I don’t know how I will keep my hands off him. Just thinking about this morning makes me want to be back in his arms and see what happens next. But history has taught me that romantic love is fleeting, and I can’t lose him.

I text my book club group chat and ask if they can help me pack up my house. All four quickly agree to come over. You know your friends are the real deal if they will drop everything they are doing to help you pack up your soaking wet house.

Daphne is on my way, so I offer to pick her up. Not to avoid finding myself alone with Miles and having to talk to him about this morning. I’m just being nice because she’s doing me a favor.

I pull up in front of her house and she climbs into the passenger seat. “I know what you’re doing and I’m only letting you get away with it because you’ve had a stressful twenty-four hours.”

I try to play innocent, but I’ve never been good at it. “No idea what you mean.”

“Uh, huh. Did you decide if you wanna stay at my place?” she asks rather slyly.

“I don’t know. It’s going to take a long time for my house to be renovated and I don’t want to interrupt anyone’s life for that long. I might see about a rental. I bet that I could get a three-month lease or something. Everyone seems to forget that I work from home. I hardly ever leave. No one wants to spend that much time with me.”

“Miles does.”

“Shut up.”

Daphne laughs as we pull up to my house. We park the car and before I can get the keys out of the ignition, Miles is there opening my door.

“Hey, Harps.”

I jump at his voice. “You scared the shit out of me, Miles.”

“Sorry.” He reaches in to help me out of the car and like a glutton for punishment, I let him. I start to fall right back into his arms, but a forced cough from the other side of the car stops me in my tracks.

“Hi, Daphne,” Miles grunts. He’s usually very friendly to everyone, but I think he recognizes her for what she is right now. A shield.

“Hey, Miles, having a good day?”

I roll my eyes at her. He’s gonna know that I’ve talked to everyone about what happened between us and want to know what I’ve said.

“Parts of it have been amazing, but I hate that Harper’s house is in such bad shape.”

Daphne has the shame to look at least a little guilty for goading Miles. “Yeah, I am sick that Harper is going through all this with her house. It sucks. I told her she could come stay with me and I know several of the other book club girlies told her the same thing.”

Miles’s eyes shoot to mine. “I thought we agreed this morning you were going to stay with me if I let you do the dishes.” His smile traps me for a minute as I relive what happened immediately after we made that “deal.”

“That was before…” I trail off for a second, but then I continue in a different direction. “It’s just I work from home, and it looks like I’ll be out of my house longer than you originally thought. I’m thinking maybe I could find a place to rent or something like that.”

“I don’t care how long you stay with me, Harper, and you can use my office. Hell, turn it into your office.”

He stares intently into my eyes and I feel something inside me shift. “Okay, Miles. I’ll stay at your house.”

I look around for Daphne, but she’s not there. “She went inside the house, sweetheart,” he says, stepping so close our bodies touch. He places one hand on my hip and the other finds its way into my hair. “Is this okay?” he whispers as his lips are almost touching mine.

I nod and the last millimeter between our lips disappears. This kiss is more intense than the one we shared earlier, more desperate, but quickly over.

“I want to talk about all of this later tonight, okay?” Miles says in a low voice. “I think if we are going to live in the same house, whether we do more of that or not, we need to have a conversation about what it means.” He steps away and grabs my hand in his large, rough one. As we walk up to the house, he looks back over his shoulder with a wink and says, “And just so you know, I vote for doing a lot more of that.”

I laugh and try to think of a good comeback, but several cars drive up and distract both of us. Miles’s brothers, Wilder and Hunter, get out of one car and my book club girlies, Celia, Bridget, and Effie, get out of the other.

I pull my hand away from Miles, who does not look pleased about it, but I’m not ready to broadcast whatever this is or isn’t to the world. And if one St. James sibling sees something it’s going to make its way to the whole family.

Wilder and Hunter both come over and give me quick hugs.

Hunter says, “I’m so sorry this happened, Harper. How is Titan handling everything?” Of course, the veterinarian would be concerned with my pet.

“He’s okay. He gets spoiled at Miles’s house, so he thinks he’s on a special vacation right now. Yesterday, when I came home and he was trapped on the table because of the water was a different story. He was not a happy dog then.”

“I’m sure he wasn’t. If you want me to check him out, let me know.”

“If he starts acting weird, I definitely will.”

I turn to my girls who are huddling together whispering to each other. Probably about Miles and I kissing, because I would bet a thousand dollars that Daphne was watching from wherever she went when she disappeared.

Miles tells me he’s taking his brothers inside to show them what’s going on in the house and I walk over to my friends.

“So…” Celia starts, “I heard that something happened between you and a certain St. James.”

“Yes, Hunter and I ran off and got married. I’m pregnant with triplets. I hope you’ll be very happy for us.”

“Ha, ha, ha.” Daphne fake laughs. “I saw you k-i-s-s-i-n-g.”

My face feels warm. “Yes, okay, we kissed again. I agreed to stay at his house and we’re going to talk about what the kissing may or may not mean.”

“Wait, again?” Bridget asks.

“They kissed this morning,” Daphne says.

Effie whispers, “The St. James brothers are watching us from the door. We should probably go inside and stop gossiping.”

We all turn to look, and sure enough all three men are staring at us with varying degrees of smiles on their faces. Miles is looking straight at me with what can only be described as desire in his eyes. I’ve never seen that look on his face, but I could get used to seeing it aimed my way.