“I’ll think about it. Add it to my list.”
“You never did tell me how the boat trip went.”
“It was wet and dreary, and I’ve never met a man with so much hair coming out of his ears.”
His laugh cut through the burble of music and conversation surrounding them, the only reminder that it had ever been there at all.
She was closing the gap between them, but so was he. Like every sentence was tugging them into one another. If she was smart, she would have let go. Getting involved with her new landlord, a man who was very clearly anti-relationships, was a recipe for disaster, especially so soon after her break-up.
But he edged closer still. “Captain Angus is an interesting character, isn’t he?”
“He can name every tree within a five-mile radius, and not just by species. I didn’t even know that was a thing. The tall redwood outside Raindrop Café? It’s called Janet.”
Another laugh, this one thundering with its intensity. She couldn’t help but join in, electricity sparking through her when he twined his fingers with hers. “Oh, aye. He’s very serious about giving them all names. What was the fir opposite the ferry dock called, again?”
“Douglas, obviously.”
“Obviously.” He shook his head, glancing down at their tangled hands. “She’s a wee bampot, by the way.”
“Who, Janet? That’s not very nice.”
“No…” He licked his lips, jaw ticking with tension. “Your ex. She’s out of her mind if she thinks she can find a woman like you somewhere else.”
White-hot flames seared through her veins, from the crown of her head to the tip of her toes. She didn’t know what to say. Was afraid that saying anything would drive him away and all of this would turn out to be a delusion. Something she’d dreamed up in the loneliness of the cabin.
She wanted to kiss him. Wanted to show him just what sort of woman she could be when the right person set her alight.
And that’s what he was doing. She hadn’t expected to feel like this so soon after the break-up, but she wasn’t complaining. Maybe she’d needed the reminder that shecouldfeel like this for someone other than Kenzie.
Reality came back to her in a harsh, icy draught. He pulled away as Eiley returned to the table none the wiser with menus in hand. It was like watching a roller shutter door slam down. One minute, he had been hers. The next, he was nobody’s. Unreadable, unreachable.
Harper tried to shake it off, pretending to listen as he and Eiley began to talk about something else, but inside, those flames that burned a moment ago turned to ashes.
What was she doing, catching feelings for a near-stranger in the middle of nowhere?
More importantly, what washedoing letting her?
13
In the end, Harper was grateful for the lift back. She absolutely would have got lost in the woods – again – without any light to guide her way. As they pulled up outside the cabin, she snuggled deeper into the passenger seat, feeling too comfortable in the earthy warmth of Fraser’s truck to want to face the cold. Still, a gentle buzz hummed inside her. It had been a good day. Her first good day in a long time. She may not have written a bestseller yet, but she’d kept her promises to herself, without beating herself up, and she’d even received more than eighty likes on her latest Instagram post – a rain-spotted, windswept selfie on the boat.
“Tired?” he asked as he shut off the engine, leaving them in a thick quiet, broken only by the chirping of birds in the trees.
She nodded, unable to keep from smiling. “It wasn’t a bad day, in the end.”
“See? Belbarrow isn’t all rain and mud after all.”
“No, it isn’t.” Certainly not with him around. He was one great big surprise. She hadn’t prepared for it, for him, but here he was beside her,hands resting on the steering wheel and eyes settled firmly on her… like they belonged there.
She still couldn’t work out if he wanted her the way she wanted him, but now, just sitting in his presence, her atoms buzzed, from the hairs on her arms to her tightly wound core. She would need her vibrator tonight, that was for sure – and she didn’t care if it made her think of him. She was already thinking of him. Constantly.
He rubbed his lower lip with his thumb as though deliberating something. “You know, I, er…”
“Yeah?” she murmured, unwilling to let him trail off and leave the unspoken words hanging in the air between them.
He offered a half-grimace, half-smile. “I enjoy your company, is all.”
“I thought I was a pain in your neck,” she accused, unable to reign in her smugness.
