Harper

 

I stayed on the freezing cold shoreline, ignoring the sharp shale pebbles as they dug into my back, and stared into the slate gray sky as if it held some sort of explanation for what the hell had just happened.

Gray was going to kiss me. He was about to kiss me, and then suddenly he ran away like I'd frightened him and went splashing back into a freezing cold lake. Was I high instead of drunk? Had I just imagined that connection? Had he just gotten too frustrated about what a pussy I was being, by just lying there and waiting for him to kiss me? I should've closed the distance myself. But then Cal would have seen, and for some reason thinking about Cal seeing me kiss Gray was worse than my brother seeing me kiss Gray. Because if I kissed Gray in front of Cal, then I wouldn't get a chance to kiss Cal either because they were best friends and they would never stand in each other's way. The last thing I wanted to do was get rid of my chance to kiss Cal too.

I wanted to kiss them both, somehow, at the same time so that one would never have to be jealous of the other.

But who was I kidding?

I wanted to kiss them both, somehow, at the same time, for me.

The steel gray sky had an answer for me all right. I was in love with two men at the same exact time. What the hell is wrong with me? Who the hell does that?"

I pushed myself up onto my elbows, feeling the cold wet of the muddy shoreline seep into my jacket. "Hey," I heard a voice say. "Up and at 'em."

I blinked, confused, to see that Gray had reappeared, teeth chattering and shivering, but standing over me with his hand outstretched like nothing had just happened. "Come on, I got you," he urged.

I extended my hand, and he jerked me upright like I weighed nothing more then a ragdoll. "Thanks," I muttered, still confused as anything.

He pressed up against my side. "You can repay me by putting your arm around me. I'm fucking freezing."

"That's because you went running back into the lake." I pointed out."

He nodded. "I did, didn't I," he said, but didn't elaborate further.

I swear he was walking deliberately slowly back to Cal's pick-up. Cal and my brother were watching from the back, when suddenly Cal shook his head and jumped down to meet us. "Are you trying to do impressions of ice sculptures out here?" he asked. "Come on, we can go warm-up at my dad's bar," he said as he casually slung his arm over my other shoulder.

My heart, which had been hovering somewhere down around my knees, suddenly leapt back up again. I was between them again, just like I had been last night. And even though my brother was standing right there, watching us like this was all some sort of innocent horseplay, I was distinctly aware of the throbbing ache between my legs. Being between them. Between them, the thought set my whole body on fire. The chill that had set in as I lay looking at the sky fled instantly once I was stuck between Cal and Gray. I was dizzy, my head spinning, so I didn't even notice the blonde blur until it came rushing up beside me.

"You're an asshole!" Brynn shouted, socking her brother in the shoulder.

Cal staggered backwards, which made me stumble, which made Gray shake free and lurch forward to grab the towel again.

Cal stood rubbing his shoulder. "What the hell was that for?" he asked his sister.

Brynn pointed. "Making Grayson do that. What the hell are you doing?"

Cal shrugged. "He's a big boy, he can make his own decisions."

"Hey Brynn!" Rett called, nonsensically.

Brynn flicked her eyes over to my brother, and then rushed up and socked him in the shoulder too. But instead of rubbing his shoulder, he just grinned. "You're supposed to take care of the slow and simple-minded," she chastised Rett.

"Hey! I'm standing right here!" Gray protested.

"I see that. Put a damn shirt on, It's twenty-nine degrees out here." Brynn sighed.

I watched Grey reach over and grab his sweatshirt and put it on. As his sculpted torso disappeared, I felt a pang of something that could only be regret. My brother was saying something to Brynn that seemed to calm her down, and together they walked towards her car. I watched them, wondering what the hell they were talking about, but Gray moved into my line of sight. "What are you doing the rest of today, Harper?"

"I have a job to do," Cal piped up.

"I wasn't asking you," Gray said jovially. "Is your name Harper?"

Cal narrowed his eyes. "I'm leading backcountry tours now," he said, grinning at me.

I nodded. "I saw your storefront on Main Street. That was a smart idea."

"Yeah, it's picking up a few cold calls here and there. Today some tourists up from Philadelphia. I leading them on a backcountry excursion up the Falls."

"Excuse me, I believe I was asking the lady if she had plans," Gray said. He turned to me. "I don't have a job," he shrugged. "But the good news about that is that it means I can goof off.”

As I watched, a heavy moment passed between Cal and Gray, where they both looked at each other, and then looked away and I had no idea what the hell was going on until Gray suddenly broke the silence. "I hear the Falls are completely frozen-over because it's been so damn ass cold."

I clapped my hands together. "Oh I love when that happens! But it's kind of early in the season isn't it?"

"Global warming or climate change or whatever, getting more extreme around here."

"Oh great, you mean winters are gonna suck even harder here?" I wondered.

"Probably," he shrugged. "But may as well take advantage of it. You want to go see?"

I nodded. "I'd love to," I said. But when I saw the expression on Cal's face, I wondered if I'd just made a big mistake.