Breaking Clear (Full Hearts Series Book 3) Read online

  “No, no. I couldn’t ask you to come back. I think I can finish it myself. I feel so terrible. Let me at least give you a ride to the hospital?”

  * * *

  A few minutes later, Harper stood on the front sidewalk as Gordon got into his car, insisting he didn’t need a ride. “I’m just going to sneak in and try to fix it without anyone noticing. Then I have a dinner at my brother’s house. It’s my sister-in-law’s birthday.”

  “Okay, well, call me later to let me know how you’re doing, or if you need anything.”

  “Sounds good.” He smiled at her. “Maybe we could go out sometime, somewhere without hammers.”

  Harper managed a laugh. “I’d like that.”

  She watched him drive off before wandering back into the yard. Plunking herself down into a wicker chair, she sipped the beer he had brought as she stared at the unfinished ramp. She finally decided to call Megan and filled her in on the day’s events.

  “That sucks. Is he going to come back to help you?” Megan asked.

  “No, I think I might be able to finish it myself. We’re on step twelve of sixteen. The rest can’t be that hard.”

  “Hmm. Well, when you’re done, come here for supper. I haven’t seen you in a week now and that is just unacceptable.”

  “Has it been that long? That is unacceptable. I’ll get some wine on my way over. Should be there in about three hours.”

  “Supper’s in two hours,” Megan informed her.

  “I’ll be there in two hours.”

  Harper got back to work, her enthusiasm renewed. She now had a nice evening to look forward to after she finished. She could do this.

  An hour later, she dropped the instructions onto the kitchen table, having just had a quiet tantrum in her yard. When she had finally managed to get the ramp completed, she realized that it was the wrong ramp for the doorway. The screen door swung out, meaning that she should have bought the other kit. Now she couldn’t get in or out of the house through the back door.

  * * *

  Evan had watched from his kitchen window as Harper had her tantrum in the backyard. A smile crossed his lips as she scrunched up the instructions and tossed them to the ground. Why did he find her so damn adorable as she was kicking the deck with a vengeance?

  He had noticed that the ramp was going to end up a few inches too high for the door before he went inside to shower but he hadn’t said anything. He understood Harper well enough to know she would have refused his help after the way they had left things. He sighed to himself, wishing things were different between them. The past two weeks had been agony for him. He couldn’t get her off his mind no matter what he did. He’d stayed at work late every evening, hoping to avoid her. They couldn’t be an item, no matter how badly he wanted her. It would never work. If he could take back what had happened between them, he would. It had been a mistake. Every raw, delicious second of it. He was only going to end up hurting her if she didn’t hurt him first. And he cared far too much for her to let that happen. Not to mention how strong his feelings for her were after only one night together. Too strong. He had never wanted a woman the way he wanted her, and sleeping with her hadn’t helped put an end to his longing. It had only made it much, much worse.

  Seeing her today with that other guy had gutted him in a way he hadn’t expected. From bits of the conversation he’d overheard, it sounded like the guy was a doctor, or maybe that was some role play thing they had. He shook his head as though to expel the thought from his mind. When that idiot had hammered his own thumb, Evan went into the house, unable to wipe the smirk off his face. After a few minutes of laughing to himself, he realized it was lucky that Harper hadn’t gotten hurt by accident.

  He knew he shouldn’t have been keeping an eye on them in the first place. It was none of his business, and he knew he was partially responsible for her having moved the board. But he just couldn’t tear himself away; his desire to be there in case she needed him stopped him from walking away. The longer he watched them together, the more his insides churned with regret and jealousy. He was aware of how ridiculous it was to feel upset at the thought of Harper with another man, but when it came to Harper, Evan was realizing he was far from logical.

  Sixteen

  The next morning, Harper made her way around the house to the back, glad that she had remembered to prop the back gate open the day before so she could get in. She cursed to herself as she prepared to take apart the ramp. Stopping in her tracks, she saw that the ramp had been modified. It now sat flush under the door. She walked on it, finding it much sturdier than she had left it. Opening the screen door, she discovered that she was now able to use the entrance again. Smiling to herself, she looked at Evan’s house. He must have come over while she was at Megan’s. She would have to find a way to thank him. Hurrying to the front yard, she saw that his truck was gone. Grabbing her purse, she set off for the store.

  Several hours later, through the open window, she heard his truck pull up. She had spent the afternoon cooking up a storm. She had made crab-stuffed mushroom caps, salad and roasted root vegetables, and had barbecued a chicken. Dessert would be pastries from Ernest’s. She quickly threw on some lip gloss and checked her hair before rushing out the front door and making her way over to his truck. As she walked, she hoped that her wraparound dress didn’t seem like overkill. Evan glanced at her as he opened the door, holding his large lunch kit as he stepped down from his truck. Boots climbed out and bounded over to her, rubbing up against her leg.

  “Thank you,” Harper said, smiling up at Evan as she rubbed her hands over the dog’s ears.

  “For what?” He locked up his truck and tapped his leg with his hand to call Boots back to him.

  “For fixing the ramp. I’m assuming it was you.”

  “I didn’t do it for you. I did it for your dad.” His voice was cool and he seemed to be avoiding eye contact with her as he walked to his front door.

  Following him, she continued. “Well, even so, it’s a huge load off my mind. I wasn’t sure if I could fix it. I thought I’d be at it all day. Instead I had time to cook a nice dinner to show my appreciation.”

  He stopped, one foot on the bottom step. Turning to her, he shrugged. “No thanks. Maybe that guy you had over yesterday is hungry. You should call him. You two seemed to be hitting it off.”

  Harper’s face burned with humiliation. “He’s my dad’s doctor. He called and offered to help. It’s not like we’re an item or something.”

  “A guy doesn’t offer to come over and help you out unless he wants the ‘or something.’”

  She fixed him with a glare. “It’s not like that. Well, at least not for me. He’s just a really nice guy who wanted to help me out.”

  “That’s not what it looked like to me. But it really doesn’t matter what I think. You and I are just friends, remember?”

  “For a friend, you seemed overly interested in what was happening on the other side of the fence yesterday.” She jammed her fist against her hip, looking completely unconvinced.

  “Only because I was pretty sure one of you was going to get hurt, with numbnuts there working the power tools.”

  “Numbnuts?” Her eyes flew open. “You are jealous.”

  “Of course I didn’t like seeing you flirting with some other guy, not after what happened between us. Not after you told me you need to be on your own! But don’t let that stop you, Harper. Go on and look for your fun wherever you can find it.” His words cut through the air like a knife.

  “Oh, I will. Believe me!” she returned with a look of pure venom. “And since you obviously won’t be able to handle it, you better keep your blinds shut from now on.” She turned on her heel and stormed back into her house, slamming the door behind her.

  Harper paced around the kitchen, angrily clearing his unused dishes and wine glass before serving herself the entire plate of stuffed mushrooms. “Fuck. Him.” She poured herself a very full glass of chilled white wine, gulping back half of the cool liqu
id then immediately topping it up. “I don’t need that shit. I have enough to deal with around here.”

  She fanned out the cloth napkin she had bought earlier that day and placed it on her lap before slicing into a mushroom cap and taking a bite. “Your loss, Evan. This is absolutely delicious!”

  By the time she had finished the mushrooms, she was halfway through the bottle of wine. A knock at the front door interrupted her angry muttering. Her footsteps were heavy, slapping against the wood floor as she made her way to the front entrance. Her best scowl in place, she swung open the door. There he was, fresh from the shower, looking and smelling thoroughly delicious. “What?” she asked, internally ordering her body not to respond to how unbelievably sexy he was. Lick. Damn it! Stop that, body!

  “I’m here for supper,” he said simply. “I realized you do owe me. That was a hell of a job last night, undoing the mess you two made. And I’m hungry, so I’m going to eat.”

  Harper scowled at him. “What? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

  “You taking back the offer? Because if you are, it really seems like you didn’t actually make dinner to thank me at all. It would mean that you had some other motive.” He let himself in, kicking off his flip-flops and crossing the living room to the kitchen.

  Harper stood, her mouth hanging open as he stormed past her. Recovering herself, she stalked after him. “No ulterior motives here, so come on in so I can thank you!” she snapped, getting out his place setting again. After pouring his wine, she scooped a large helping of vegetables and tore a leg and thigh off the chicken for him as he seated himself at the table. Slamming the plate down in front of him, she served salad into two bowls before getting her own plate prepared.

  “You missed the crab-stuffed mushrooms. They were fucking amazing, so I ate them all,” she barked.

  “I hate mushrooms,” he replied curtly, “so I guess I just saved myself a whole lot of pretending.” He ripped a piece off the French loaf she had set down and slapped some butter on it before shoving it into his mouth.

  The meal was spent in a furious silence, both of them eating quickly and sucking back wine like it was going out of style.

  He stabbed a vegetable with his fork and held it up. “What is this?” he asked, his voice oozing irritation.

  “It’s rutabaga.” Harper over-pronounced the word, sounding sarcastic.

  “Well, excuse me for not having spent half my life eating at fancy restaurants in New York City.”

  “You’ve got a lot bigger things to excuse yourself for,” she quipped, stabbing some spinach with her fork.

  He ignored her jab and continued to eat. “This chicken is delicious.” It was more of an accusation than a compliment.

  “I know. I’m actually an excellent cook.” She narrowed her eyes at him.

  Cleaning his plate, he dropped his fork, put his napkin on the table, took one last swig of wine and then stood up. “Consider us even.”

  “Oh, believe me, I will.” She stood and cleared both of their plates, all but tossing them into the sink, as if to rid herself of the evidence of her previous gratitude. Turning, she gave him a glare. “Thank you for fixing the ramp. It’s much better than before!” she yelled.

  He nodded his head quickly in outright irritation. “I know! You can actually open the door now, which is kind of why they were invented in the first place!”

  She thrust the bag of pastries at him. “Here’s your dessert. You’ve been paid. You can go now.”

  “Oh, I know I can go. I can do whatever I want!” He glared at her, standing close enough to touch her.

  “Yeah, well, you can’t do whatever you want here, so you better get going,” she shouted, poking him in the chest to emphasize her point.

  “Don’t poke me. I don’t like that.”

  “I don’t really care what you like, Evan Donovan.” She poked him again a couple of times for good measure.

  He grabbed her wrist to stop her, yanking her to him and kissing her hard on the lips. The gasp in her throat was cut short by his tongue thrusting into her mouth with a vengeance. Harper’s hands went to his hair of their own accord, gripping the short waves and pulling him into her forcefully. Dropping the bag of pastries, Evan’s hands moved straight to her ass, grabbing it roughly.

  He pulled back for a minute, his eyes full of lust. “You’re a fucking pain in the ass, Young.” He crushed her mouth with his before she could snap back at him.

  Harper’s body heated up at his touch. Every fibre of her being was ablaze with an angry lust. Tugging at the sash holding her dress together, Evan pushed the fabric aside, clearly annoyed by the second tie inside, which left half of her body still covered. Yanking at it, he glanced at her cotton candy–pink bra and panties before he crossed his arms in front of his body and pulled his shirt over his head and off. Clawing at his jeans, Harper tugged the button fly open and yanked his pants down, along with his underwear. He stepped out of them, leaving himself completely nude. Glaring at her, he gripped her waist and lifted her onto the counter, moving her panties aside with his fingers as she grabbed the muscles on his back and kissed him wildly. Thrusting his fingers inside her, he found her wet. She moaned loudly, exciting them both even more. His other hand pulled down her bra, revealing her already-hard nipples waiting for his mouth. Sucking on them forcefully, he could feel her tighten around his fingers and he wanted that same sensation around his cock instead. Replacing his fingers with his thick length, he rammed himself into her, causing them both to cry out with intense pleasure. Lifting her off the counter, he held her up, rubbing her up and down on himself urgently with his strong hands. They were fucking hard now, taking out their anger on each other, and they weren’t going to stop until they were drained of any hint of it.

  “You can be kind of an asshole,” she hissed.

  “You have a talent for bringing that out in me,” he answered, rocking his hips forward and pulling her onto him, pushing himself in deeper than either had thought possible.

  “Oh fuck,” she whispered, not wanting to allow him to pleasure her like this. She wanted only to torture him with her body, to make him miss her, but what he was doing was serving to drive her crazy instead. She was powerless to stop the orgasm that was building in her. As he slammed himself into her again, it hit, causing the wind to leave her body and her mind to go blank. There was nothing in her but pleasure from her head to her toes as she gripped him powerfully with her legs and dug her nails into his back. She could feel him empty himself into her, both throbbing together as they let go.

  When it was long over, he returned her to the counter so he could wrap his arms around her back now, pressing his forehead to hers as he recovered. “I don’t care. I don’t fucking care what happens. We are doing this again and again until we get this out of our systems. And don’t try to give me some bullshit line that you don’t want this.”

  Harper smirked at his words, then her face grew serious. “Okay. You win. I want this. But you have to promise me something. You’ll never expect more than what I can give. You’ll never even think to ask for more.”

  Their eyes met, and in that moment, their hearts were revealed to each other. Both hurt. Both scared. Both needing. Both hiding. And agreeing to hide together.

  “I promise. I’ll never ask you for more than you can give.”

  Seventeen

  The next two weeks passed in a sex haze, both exhilarating and exhausting, as the pair started each morning in Evan’s bed. Harper had a slightly uncomfortable conversation with Gordon to explain why she wasn’t going to be going out with him anytime soon. He handled it well and made a joke about her giving him a call when things ended with the “new guy.” Roy had gotten a spot at the Rosewood Rehab Clinic and had been settled in for over a week now, much to everyone’s relief. He was finally on the fast track to recovering and there was every reason to be optimistic about the outcome.

  Two days of solid rain found Harper and Evan together almost twe
nty-four hours a day, making love, cooking meals, laughing together, leaving the house only long enough for Harper to visit her dad while Evan ran to the supermarket or for takeout. No clients were scheduled for Harper at the Fashion Forward offices, so she had no other obligations. Other than that brief time out of the house, the two hid away from the world—and it was the most delectable of fantasies. Evan could see she had trouble relaxing and would pull her back to bed when she started to get up to try to get something done.

  “You need this, Harper. It’s good for you to learn to slow down. You can’t go Mach ten your whole life.”

  “But we can’t just lie here all day. Seriously. We’re like a couple of sloths. We need to be productive. Accomplish something.”

  Flipping himself so he was on top of her, he planted a firm kiss on her lips. “How about we accomplish another simultaneous orgasm?”

  Thirty minutes later, Evan collapsed onto the bed in a sweaty heap. “Wow. Where did you learn that?” he asked, sounding thoroughly impressed. “On second thought, don’t answer that.”

  “I just made that up now,” Harper replied. “Until a few minutes ago, I had no idea I could do any of that.”

  “This is a serious problem. If you keep doing stuff like that, I’m never going to get you out of my system.”

  Harper lifted her head and gave him a lingering kiss. “That”—kiss—“is not”—kiss—“my serious problem.” With that, she let her head flop back onto her pillow, feeling her heart still beating quickly in her chest. The morning sun streamed in from its already high angle in the sky.

  “I should have left for the site two hours ago. I need to get caught up.”

  “I thought it was Sunday.”

  “All that rain has me so far behind I’m going to have to put in sixteens all week to get back on track.”