Chapter Thirteen

Noah was beat. He’d been up since early prepping the Smuggler’s Inn for a wedding that would be held there this weekend. He hadn’t made it to bed till almost three in the morning after picking up fare after fare. There had been a concert in the huge outdoor amphitheater about twenty-five minutes away, so he made some good money at least.

He wasn’t up for getting together with a surfer friend he’d made, Spencer Willoughby, for drinks as promised weeks earlier when it had sounded like such a great idea. By now most of the friends Noah had grown up with had moved elsewhere. He was kind of lonely, so he wanted to connect with either other friends or new people. Matt had Katie—and Tyler, that cute little nug who’d stolen his uncle’s heart instantly. His mom was gone. He was alone at the inn except for two sweet retired ladies who helped with the cooking and cleaning. And his lifestyle didn’t lend itself to meeting new people much. Unless you counted the transient guests who stayed at the inn.

Things were starting to feel dire. Maybe he was going to have to sign up for one of those online dating sites. Although he knew deep down he wasn’t going to do that. There was only one person he wanted to date: a green-eyed girl whose heart he inadvertently broke on the way to finding his way in life. The woman who was now collateral damage in his journey to self-discovery, which seemed so damned mercenary. He wished he’d gotten Harper’s number; he wanted so much to talk to her. Granted he knew where she lived now, but he also didn’t want to stalk her—that would be particularly creepy. He needed to let things unfold organically. She knew he was here now. She knew that in no uncertain terms he was back. And wanted her, desperately so. In some ways, the ball was now in her court, yet it killed him that maybe she had no intention of picking up that ball and running with it.

He checked the clock on the dashboard of his car: he had a good twenty minutes until Spencer would be here. He might as well go in and sit at the bar, catch up on sports highlights. Beat sitting in a cold car, especially now that it was getting dark so early. Winter seemed like it was looming with shorter days and chilly nights.

He entered the martini bar—weird place for two dudes to meet up, he thought—and lumbered over to the leathered granite bar. It was early enough that not many people were there yet. A cluster of three young women sat at the far end of the bar, heads together in conversation. Then he noticed a familiar tumble of chestnut hair, several seats away. Attached to a luscious body with a form-fitting baby pink fuzzy sweater. Sitting alone at the bar.

He tried to maintain his cool as he wandered toward her and pulled up a barstool. “I wish I could think of a clever pickup line, but all that is coming to my head is offering you a nightcap.” He grinned.

She rolled her eyes. “Honestly, Noah. Did you attach some kind of homing device to me? Maybe a GPS tracker in my purse?”

“If only I’d thought of that. But I’ll take that under advisement.” He winked. “Mind if I sit down?”

She glanced at the chair he’d already parked himself on. “Looks as if that’s a moot point.”

“Yeah, well, I’m hoping you don’t call the bouncer to evict me.” He glanced around. “Although this place is too high end to have a bouncer.” He tapped the bar to motion to the bartender, then turned to Harper. “So tell me. What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?”

“And you thought nightcap was cliché?” She took a slip of her cosmo. “If you must know, I’m meeting Danny here for drinks.”

“Danny, eh? I knew a guy once in kindergarten named Danny. He ate flies.”

She pursed her lips in a pout. “Ha. Ha. So funny I forgot to laugh.”

“You sure you want to meet up with this guy? It could be the very same fly-eating marauder from my childhood days.”

She tipped her head down and threw him a look. “You’re forgetting that you and I were in kindergarten together, Noah. That was Danny Finkelstein. He’s a professional chef now.”

Noah clapped at the irony. “That’s wonderful,” he said. “His discerning palate was evident at an early age.”

He glanced over at the entryway as he saw the door opening. Dammit. Mr. Wonderful, Nightcap Danny, was heading their way, but then he diverted toward the restrooms.

“Hey, listen, uh, Harper. I was hoping you’d share your number with me. Maybe sometime we could get together and talk.”

She lifted her brow. “I think we’re all talked out, don’t you?”

He shook his head. “Oh baby, you haven’t yet seen the type of conversation I’m capable of.”

“Really? Noah? Can’t we let it all go?”

“You mean what happened between us last week didn’t affect you the same way it affected me?” And boy had it affected him. He’d had to rub one out twice a day since then.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You don’t want to talk about it? Or you don’t want to talk?”

She pursed her lips. “Neither.”

“Aha!” he said, punctuating the air with his pointer finger. “So that means it did affect you. Can I be honest with you?”

“Something tells me you’re going to be one way or another.”

“I’m getting hard thinking about it. You?”

“Uh, no, I can assure you I’m not getting hard.”

“But are you getting wet? Have you touched yourself while replaying it in your head? I bet you have.”

“You do realize that you dumped me, like an eternity ago, right? And that under the circumstances, your line of questioning seems rather impertinent.”

“If I thought for a second you weren’t as hot for me as I am for you I’d let this drop, Harps. But I could tell by the pulse in your throat, the pace of your breath, the moan as you came. You know as well as I do that we’ve got unfinished business. Why don’t we stop wasting time, dispense with the formalities, and get to it already?”

“Harper!” Noah turned to see McDickhead standing there, looking coifed and impeccably stylish.

He nodded at Noah. “Uber driver guy?”

“One and the same,” Harper said. “He was just talking about something. Was it hardball?”

The guy squinted at her trying to get in on the conversation. Conveniently Spencer arrived right in time.

“Ah, Spencer, I want you to meet—” He pointed toward Harper’s date.

“Danny,” the prick said, extending his hand.

The two exchanged pleasantries while Noah leaned over and whispered into Harper’s ear. “Hardball, eh? In fact I was about to tell you how hard I am right now being next to you. And unfortunately you’re leaving me with a bad case of blue balls. Because all I want is to bury my hard cock inside of you again.”

Harper was midswig when she heard that line and choked as the drink went down.

“Yes, right,” she said with a surprisingly straight face. “I’ll keep that under advisement for sure.”

He extended his hand to shake hers. “Harper. Great to see you again.” He dragged his thumb along her palm suggestively before pulling his hand away and nodding toward her date. “Danny. Take good care of the lady.”

He smiled a far too toothsome grin. “I have every intention of doing so.”

Noah tried hard to suppress the growl that was fighting to escape his throat. He’d have to make sure ole Danny boy didn’t take too good care of Harper.