Harper didn’t think twice about opening the front door. She should have known better. She was just having too much fun with Zach that she didn’t even think to check the peephole.

There, on the other side of the door, was Bryan, and he looked nothing short of pissed. The minute her eyes rested on the familiar slump of his shoulders as he leaned on her doorstep, the way he rested his weight on his left leg, popping out his right hip, the way his brown hair constantly fell into his face, she reached for her door in order to close it. He was too quick, however, and he lifted up his left arm and prevented the door from closing.

“Wait, wait, wait, Harp,” he said. “I wanted to talk to you about something” – he cut himself off as his eyes took in her appearance. Harper didn’t care that she looked absolutely wretched. She didn’t care that she was in a large plaid shirt and yoga pants or that her hair was frizzy and hadn’t been washed in three days or that her face was dry, with dried snot just above her lips. However, Bryan looking at her at all, regardless of how she looked, was something that caused her skin to crawl. She hated when he looked at her, especially with longing. “You look sick.”

“I am,” she said quickly, pushing into the door to a close, “so I’ll talk to you later. Don’t want to get you sick.”

Bryan maintained his grip on the door, pushing back against her. “Are you okay?” he asked. “Is there anything you need?”

“To be honest, Bryan, I want to be by myself,” she replied. She didn’t struggle against Bryan, knowing it would be futile. Instead, her mind started thinking about ways to get rid of him before Zach got out of the kitchen. Her eyes narrowed and it was easy to look pissed when she had a head full of snot. “What do you want, Bryan?”

“I need to talk to you about something important, Harp,” he said, his tone snagging a rough edge with each word. His eyes narrowed and he used more of his strength to open the door even wider. Without warning, he placed a folded newspaper against her chest. “Are you dating Zachary Ryan?”

“What?” Harper asked, completely baffled. He dropped his hand and she caught the newspaper by clutching it to her chest as he pushed his way in, taking care not to physically touch Harper in any way. “Why would you even ask that?”

Bryan gave her a look – the same look that crawled underneath her skin years ago. It was condescending and infuriating and it made her feel like an idiot. Every time he used it on her, she had this irresistible urge to slap it off of his face.

“Don’t play dumb, Harp,” he said, his voice dry. “You know. I know. All of Arizona knows about you and Zach. There’s photographic evidence. I didn’t realize you were a puck slut, though. Maybe that’s why we didn’t work. Because I’m not a hockey player.”

“We didn’t work because you’re a hypocritical asshole who can’t take responsibility for his own actions,” Harper said before she could stop herself. Her eyes widened when she finished, but she didn’t regret saying what she had to say.

She was almost afraid to look at Bryan for his reaction. Almost. But she stood her ground and she did not look away, even as his cold eyes flashed with anger, and he clenched his teeth together so hard that his jaw popped. She watched as he squeezed his long fingers into tight, white-knuckled fists and tried to contain his rage.

Harper swallowed, recognizing that reaction. Her entire body seized up, like it was prepared to take whatever punishment he was going to give her. But her eyes remained on him, despite the familiarity of his anger, despite her fear. She still had a long way to recovery, but this was something she had never been able to accomplish before.

“What did you say?” he asked in a tightly controlled voice.

Bryan was different, too. Usually, he would already be yelling at her or retaliating by calling her all sorts of terrible things. That might have meant something to her back when they were dating. Now, however, she didn’t particularly care what sort of person he was and who he was becoming. She didn’t care about him at all.

“Did she stutter?”

And there was Zach, pressed against her back, towering over her and offering any and all the protection she could ask for. She felt small standing by him, and somehow, stronger. Like he would be there for her, through the good times and the bad times.

Bryan didn’t take his eyes off Harper. “So it’s true,” he said, his voice flat. “You are a puck slut.”

Before Harper could even process what was happening, Zach took a step forward. In one fluid motion, he pushed her behind him as a way to shield her from Bryan’s gaze and punched Bryan square in the face. Bryan grunted and his head snapped back. He almost hit his head smack on the wall behind him.

“Get up.” Zach stalked over to him and pulled Bryan up by his shirt and forced him to stand on his two feet. “If you ever come back here, you ever try to contact Harper again, you’ll have more problems than a black eye. I don’t want you to even say her name. You are done. Do you get me?”

“I’m done?” Bryan asked, taking a step back, out of Zach’s tight grip. “I’m done? You’re a professional athlete and you just assaulted a member of the general public. You’re done. You are going to be sorry. Both of you.”

“Are you threatening me?” Zach asked, squaring his shoulders. Bryan had never been slight by any means, but standing next to Zach made him look small. It delighted Harper to see him be the smaller person in a tense situation. He couldn’t use his size to intimidate her anymore.

Bryan did not flinch but Harper noticed his body tense as Zach took a step towards him. And then another.

“Get out,” Zach repeated. He reached behind Zach and thrust open the door. He didn’t push Bryan out but Harper knew Zach would do what was necessary to get Bryan out of the house. “Get out and don’t come back.”

Bryan looked to Harper, his eyes filled with more rage than she had ever seen before. He didn’t have to tell her anything; she knew what he said. Bryan was going to make them pay for this, both of them, in whatever way he could. Maybe she could figure out how to get another restraining order and add Zach as a protected person.

When Bryan was finally gone, Zach closed and locked the door. He turned, his eyes still hard and cold, his body still rigid and tense. Harper bit her tongue. She wanted to apologize. She wanted to make Zach forget everything he went through because there was no way any sane person would want to be with her, with someone who had Bryan as baggage.

But then his eyes found her, and they softened, and before Harper realized what was happening, he swept her in his arms and pressed her against his chest. He started murmuring things in her hair, things she couldn’t quite hear but at least understood the sentiment. She allowed herself to close her eyes and fall into his arms, and before she knew it, she could hear his heartbeat in his chest, against her ear. It was strong and steady, and the repetition caused her to relax and slowly drift off to sleep.

* * *

When she woke up, Harper couldn’t tell if it was day or not. To be honest, she didn’t particularly care. Zach’s arms were around her waist and her head was on his chest and they were wrapped up in the sheets on her bed.

She felt herself smile at the sight of him, his head on her pillows, his dark blond hair messy and all over the place (somehow despite its shortness). She couldn’t stop staring at him, at the way his nostrils flared as he softly snored, at the slight gap between his lips. He looked vulnerable, completely comfortable with her in her bed in her home. She was positive it wasn’t the mansions he was used to since skyrocketing to NHL fame and she supposed that it endeared him to her even more. That regardless of the wealth he accumulated, he still looked natural in a small bedroom.

“You think too loud,” Zach mumbled, keeping his eyes closed as though he were still sleeping. “I can feel you staring at me.”

Harper felt her cheeks turn pink, but she smiled and said, “I like looking at pretty things.”

Zach’s lips turned up. “You think I’m pretty?” he asked, somewhat surprised.

“I wouldn’t be with you if you weren’t,” she said. “You don’t have a great personality.”

Without warning, Zach flipped her on her back and proceeded to tickle her sides. Harper started laughing out loud, a bark of a laugh that shook her to the bones.

“Please,” she managed to get out. “Stop!”

“I didn’t know you were ticklish, Harper,” Zach said as he continued his onslaught on her. “Why didn’t you mention that to me? How dare you keep this integral piece of information from me! Do you think I’d use it against you like I’m doing right now?”

Harper tried wiggling out of his grip, but it was too tight. Her legs started pushing out and if Zach wasn’t careful, she was going to kick him.

“Please,” she managed to get out again.

“All right, all right,” he said, “since you asked so nicely.”

Harper smiled once he relented, and wrapped her arms around him as he pulled her closer to him. “Thank you,” she said after a comfortable moment of silence. “For what you did with the whole Bryan thing. You shouldn’t have had to see that.”

“That’s the thing, Harp,” he murmured to her, eyes on her like she was a sunset or something else just as unique and glorious. “I want to see the messy bits of your past. I want to know all about you. That’s what being in a relationship is all about.”

“So we’re in a relationship, then?” she asked, her lips turning up.

Zach nodded. “I thought you knew,” he said. “But you shouldn’t be embarrassed. Not about your past. I’m not going to judge you.” He sat up slowly. “I would like to see that paper he gave you, though. I hadn’t realized people had taken pictures of us.”

“I didn’t think people in Arizona would even know who you were,” Harper murmured.

“Ouch,” Zach said, pulling on his shirt. Harper watched his muscles ripple as he moved, and the simple white v-neck clung to his body like it was a second skin,

“You know what I mean,” Harper said, standing.

“I don’t, actually,” he said. “Come on. Let’s go check them out. I left the paper on the table before taking you to bed.”

“Thanks for that, too,” Harper murmured, suddenly shy.

“You don’t have to thank me, Harper,” he told her and kissed her cheek. “I would do anything for you.”

Harper was silent because she wasn’t sure how to respond. But she did know she believed him.