Pretend You're Mine: A Small Town Love Story Read online

  “Will do. Will do. It was nice to meet you, Harper. If you get sick of hanging out with this soldier, just give me a call.”

  “Will do, Carl.” Harper laughed.

  “Don’t encourage him,” Luke said as Carl weaved his way past them.

  “So, soldier?” Harper turned back to Luke.

  “Captain in the Army National Guard Brat,” Sophie said, plopping down an overflowing plate of nachos and a pile of napkins.

  Luke eyed his sister and said nothing.

  Hmm. Military. That ranked right up there with firefighters and cowboys in the noble and sexy profession category. Was there nothing that wasn’t scorching hot about this man?

  Harper glanced around the bar that was getting more crowded by the minute. It seemed like everyone was talking to everyone else at the same time. No one was alone, even if they arrived that way. Greetings and hands rose up from all corners of the room.

  “I’m getting the feeling that this is a very small town and I’m the only stranger here,” Harper ventured.

  “Don’t bother feeling like a stranger. It won’t last,” Luke warned. “See that woman over there in the Easter Bunny sweatshirt?”

  Harper spotted her gabbing it up by the jukebox.

  “That’s Georgia Rae. She’s probably already plotting on how to corner you and extract your life story.”

  Harper laughed and sampled a cheesy nacho.

  “And that,” Luke said, gesturing at a gray mustached man by the pool table, “is my Uncle Stu. I guarantee he already called my dad to tell him that I’m at the bar with the girl who took down Glenn Underhill. And see how Sophie keeps checking her phone? That’s my mom texting her to find out what you look like.”

  “Wow. I should probably get out of here before they invite me to Sunday dinner,” Harper laughed.

  Luke’s phone on the bar buzzed. He glanced at the screen and grimaced. “Too late.”

  “Very funny.” Harper rolled her eyes and took a sip of beer.

  He held up his phone for her to see.

  Ask your friend if she can bring a pie to dinner Sunday.

  She choked, slapping a hand over her mouth. “This can’t be real. I’m still in the parking lot unconscious, aren’t I?”

  Luke laughed and put a solid, warm hand on her back. “You wish.”

  Click.

  Harper glanced up to see Sophie holding her phone extended towards them.

  “Soph.” Luke’s voice held the sharp edge of a warning.

  Sophie smiled innocently. “What? Oops, gotta go. Order’s up.”

  “Did she just take a picture of us?”

  Luke grabbed his beer. The spot on her shoulder where he had touched her still felt tingly.

  She put her head in her hands, until she bumped her cheek and remembered the bruise. “I feel like I’m in some alternate reality. I’m not even supposed to be here.”

  “Where are you supposed to be?”

  “Fremont.”

  “You’re a long way from Fremont.”

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “Harper, Fremont is four hours west of here.”

  “Son of a bitch. I was going the wrong way.” She leaned forward and covered her eyes with her hands.

  “Everything okay, here?” Sophie reappeared. “What did you do now, Luke?”

  “It’s not him, it’s me.” Harper’s voice was muffled by her hands.

  “She was supposed to be in Fremont tonight,” Luke supplied.

  “Well, that’s not going to happen, Harp. Fremont’s four hours away.”

  “I know that now,” Harper groaned into her hands.

  Sophie started to laugh and Harper dropped her hands. “I’m glad you find my life so amusing.”

  It only made her laugh harder. “This is ridiculous. Does stuff like this happen to you all the time?”

  “Stuff like what?” Luke asked.

  Harper dropped her head to the bar, while Sophie gave Luke the brief details of her situation, mercifully leaving out any mention of the delivery girl.

  “You left your house with nothing but car keys and then drove for hours in the wrong direction?” It was Luke’s turn to swipe a hand over his face and sigh. “So where are you staying tonight?”

  Harper sat up and took a mournful swallow of beer. “I don’t know. The plan was to message Hannah on Facebook for a ride. But that’s when I thought I was only ten minutes away from her.”

  “Maybe someone here tonight is heading in that direction and can get you part way there?” Sophie suggested.

  Luke shook his head. “We’re not putting her in a car with some half-lit stranger.”

  “What do you think cab fare would be to Fremont?”

  “Soph, be realistic. Besides, why not just give her gas money?”

  “I’ll just sleep in my car,” Harper decided. It wouldn’t be the first time for that either.

  “So you sleep in your car. Then what?” Luke asked.

  “I’ll message Hannah and beg her to pick me up in the morning.”

  “Here,” Sophie slid her phone to Harper. “Log in and message her.” She hurried away to grab a refill for a customer.

  Sensing salvation, Harper pounced on the phone.

  She keyed in her login and went to Hannah’s page. “Crap! Hannah’s husband surprised her with a weekend away at a cabin in freaking West Virginia.”

  “So giving you gas money to get there is a moot point. Hmmm, if only you could stay overnight with someone. Hmmm.” Sophie arched an eyebrow at Luke.

  Harper leaned back on the stool and tilted her head up. “I will figure this out. I will figure this out.”

  Sophie leaned over the bar. “Hey, what about Mickey?”

  “For Christ’s sake.” Luke slammed his beer down.

  “He’s got an empty house now that his girlfriend moved out. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind an overnight guest,” Sophie chirped.

  Harper narrowed her eyes.

  “His girlfriend moved out because he got arrested for shoplifting at the liquor store,” Luke growled.

  “I thought it was because he’s banging Sherri from the bank,” Sophie interjected.

  “Then why would you even suggest him?” Luke pressed his fingers to his temple.

  “I’d let you stay at my place, Harp, but you’d have to sleep on a lumpy chair and probably wake up to a screaming, sticky-fingered 3-year-old,” Sophie said, pouring a pint from the tap.

  “What happened to your couch?”

  “Josh spilled a juice box on it and then Bitzy decided to eat the whole cushion. She could sleep on half a couch. But no juice boxes allowed.”

  Harper hoped “Bitzy” was a dog.

  Luke shook his head and Harper could see his jaw tighten.

  “So your plan is to sleep in your car and your plan is to send her to sleep with a cheating alcoholic shoplifter?”

  “Hey, at least we’re brainstorming here. You’re just shooting down ideas. I hate when you play devil’s advocate,” Sophie pouted.

  Luke sighed again and looked down at the bar. “You can stay with me tonight, and tomorrow I’ll drive you back to your place to get your stuff.”

  Sophie turned away, but not before Harper saw the cat-that-ate-the-canary grin on her face. “Oh, no. I couldn’t. I don’t want to inconvenience anyone,” Harper blurted, her eyes suddenly wide.

  Luke looked at her. “I’ll be more inconvenienced if you sleep in the damn parking lot. Besides, I promised the doc I’d bring you by in the morning so she can get a couple of quick X-rays if you were still in town.”

  “Well, why didn’t you just say so?” Sophie asked in feigned exasperation.

  Luke shot her a look and she shut up.

  “Thank you, Luke. You really don’t have to. I should have to suffer the consequences of being an idiot. Then maybe I’d learn.”

  He smiled down at the bar and she saw the dimple wink into existence.

  “I think you’ve already had a rough enough da
y.” He turned back to her again. “Are you okay if we stay ’til closing?”

  “Of course.” She nodded.

  What was it about those eyes? Maybe it was the shadow in them. Harper felt a pull every time she spotted it. He was quiet, clearly not at all inclined to talk about himself. Definitely not like Ted the Dick. But the way he observed what was happening around him made her think there wasn’t much that he missed.

  “So what’s your story Luke? I mean, I feel like I should know more about you if we’re going to have a sleepover.”

  “No story.” He scratched the back of his head.

  “Uh-huh. Yeah. Sure.” She raised her eyebrows and drank deeply from her beer.

  He laughed again.

  “My name is Luke. I’ve lived here my whole life. I’m in construction and the National Guard. And Sophie’s my sister.”

  “That’s all you’ve got?” Harper elbowed him.

  “What else do you need?”

  “How about arrest warrants? Bodies buried in the backyard? Unusual fetishes?”

  He leaned in. Close. And could smell his soap. Something with a little spice.

  She could feel his breath on her face. Harper parted her lips. Her breath caught.

  “Define ‘unusual’.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  The evening passed in a blur of townsfolk greetings — Georgia Rae did make her appearance — beer and bar food. Harper felt slightly buzzed and incredibly exhausted as she stood with Luke watching Sophie lock the front doors. She stifled a yawn. It was 2 a.m., way past her bedtime. And her face was starting to throb again.

  “Thanks again for hanging out,” Sophie said, as they crossed the lot.

  “Have a good night, Soph,” Luke said, opening the car door for her.

  “You too, big brother. Night, Harper! I hope I’ll see you again.”

  Harper waved with her good arm and yawned her good-bye, “Thanks for everything, Sophie.”

  “Better get her home before she falls asleep standing up, Luke.”

  He tapped the roof of her car and waved as she pulled out. “Ready to go?” he asked Harper.

  She nodded, crossing her arms against the spring night’s chill. They were alone. And they would be for the next several hours. Harper wondered if she would lay awake all night on his couch thinking about him being so near … and presumably naked. Men like Luke didn’t sleep in pajamas.

  “We’re over here,” he said, pointing to a dark gray pickup at the back of the lot. “Need anything out of your car?”

  “No, I’m good.” The only thing in her car was her old coffee from the morning.

  They started walking together and Harper rubbed her arms.

  “Cold?” he asked.

  She nodded and felt a tingle exactly halfway between comfort and lust ignite as Luke draped his arm over her shoulder and pulled her in. The heat coming off his body instantly warmed her bare skin and she didn’t resist the urge to snuggle a little closer.

  He opened the passenger door for her and she levered herself up and onto the seat trying not to wince as her aching body slid across the leather.

  Luke slid into the driver’s seat and started the truck. He pushed a button and Harper instantly felt heat under her ass. Seat warmers! He hung a left out of the parking lot and in just a few minutes they were pulling into the driveway of a tidy brick three-story with a sprawling front porch. Harper blinked through tired eyes. “You live here?”

  He glanced out of the windshield at the house. “Yep.”

  “I expected something different. Like a bachelor pad apartment. Do you have roommates?” A girlfriend? A wife and four kids?

  “Nope. Just me.” He smiled, a quick, heart-tickling grin. “Come on.”

  The wide-planked porch was deep, wrapping around to the far side of the house. There was no furniture, but Harper could just imagine a porch swing and hanging baskets blooming with color.

  Luke unlocked the front door and held it open for her.

  She stepped over the threshold and waited while he flipped on the lights. The foyer opened directly to a wide-banister staircase. A pair of doorways mirrored each other from opposite walls leading into darkened rooms. Above the dark wainscoting, the walls were covered with ornate wallpaper with roses and hummingbirds.

  “You don’t really live here, do you?”

  Luke tossed his keys on a skinny table just inside the door. The only piece of furniture visible to Harper. He raised an eyebrow. “What makes you say that?”

  She trailed a finger over a paper rose. “No reason.” Harper poked her head into the room on the right. From the streetlights outside she could just make out an ornate sofa with wooden arms opposite a flat screen on sawhorses. The rest of the room was empty.

  “Did you just move in?”

  “Not really.” He looked sheepish. “I’ve been here a couple of years.”

  “Seriously?”

  “I’ve been busy.”

  “Where did you get that couch?” She gestured at the carved wooden monstrosity with its lumpy red velour cushions.

  “It was my grandmother’s.”

  “Oh, thank God. I thought you went flea marketing one day and thought that looked like the perfect place to watch TV evangelists.”

  He cracked a smile. “This was my grandmother’s house. I bought it when she passed away.”

  “Were you close?”

  “As close as you can be to a crazy Italian grandmother who chases you with a wooden spoon. Most of the furniture that’s here is hers.”

  “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of it,” Harper observed.

  “I keep meaning to get more, but I’ve been —”

  “Busy,” she finished it for him.

  “Anyway, there’s only one bed, so you can take that and I’ll take the couch.”

  Horrified, Harper stared at the unwelcoming lines of the couch. “Absolutely not. I’m not putting you out of your own bed.”

  “Well, you’re not sleeping on the couch.”

  “Neither are you,” Harper insisted.

  “What do you suggest?”

  She paused weighing the options. “We are two exhausted adults who probably have a reasonable amount of self-control. Can we both sleep in the bed?”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” His hands were out of his pockets now and cruising over the back of his head. He was nervous and Harper thought it was adorable.

  “Why not?”

  “We don’t know each other and …” he trailed off and Harper scented victory.

  “I think I can trust you can control your hormones and not jump me in the middle of the night,” she teased.

  “It’s not my hormones that I’m worried about.”

  She smacked him in the chest. The very solid, warm chest. Maybe he had a point.

  ***

  The only furniture on the second floor was in the master bedroom. A four-poster queen-sized bed dominated one wall opposite an ornately carved dresser.

  “Grandma’s?” Harper lightly grasped one of the mahogany posts at the foot of the bed.

  Luke nodded, hands back in his pockets.

  “It’s nice.” Staring at his bed was suddenly making Harper feel a little shy.

  “I can still sleep on the couch if you’d be more comfortable.” He jerked a thumb towards the hallway.

  “Don’t be ridiculous. That thing looks like it would put your ass to sleep if you sat down long enough to tie your shoes. We’re adults. This doesn’t have to be awkward, right?”

  Instead of answering, he turned and opened one of the dresser drawers.

  “Here.” Luke held out a plain white t-shirt. “You can sleep in this.”

  It was soft to the touch and obviously well worn. By him.

  “Thanks.” She took it, careful to only touch the shirt.

  “You can change in there,” he gestured towards the connecting bathroom. “I’m going to go lock up.”

  “Okay, thanks.” They stared at each ot
her for another minute. “This is awkward, isn’t it?” Harper blurted out.

  Luke smiled. “A little.”

  “It’s just for one night.” She wasn’t sure if she was trying to reassure him or herself.

  “Right.”

  “And we’re adults.”

  “It would appear so.”

  “We’re just being silly,” Harper reasoned. “It’s just sleep.”

  She could see his dimple again. At least he was amused. She nodded finally. “Okay, I’m going to go change.”

  In the bathroom, she splashed cold water on her face, careful to gently dry the bruised side. She didn’t even look at the rest of her body. Judging from how sore everything was, it was probably just as purple as her face.

  It was a good thing this wasn’t some “first time” with someone like Luke. She wasn’t at her best — maybe even hovering near her worst. And if she was going to have a first time with someone like Luke she’d want it to be perfect.

  She rolled her eyes and tugged the t-shirt over her head and down her torso. It was ridiculous to be newly homeless and jobless and more concerned with the what-ifs of imaginary sex with the sculpted captain. She wondered what he looked like in uniform.

  “Pull yourself together,” she muttered. “It’s one platonic night of sleep.”

  She ran a hand over the cotton and took a moment to be grateful for remembering to wear underwear today.

  Harper tugged the neck of the shirt up to her nose and breathed deeply. It smelled like him. And she was about to crawl into a bed that smelled like him … with him. She hoped she could control herself in her sleep.

  She was standing at the foot of the bed, fidgeting, when he came back upstairs.

  “Everything okay?” he asked, opening a dresser drawer.

  “Oh, yeah. I just didn’t know if you had a side,” she said, playing with the hem of the shirt.

  He suddenly seemed very interested in the contents of the drawer. “A side?”

  “Of the bed. Do you sleep on a side?”

  He glanced back up. “I usually sleep in the middle. So you can take your pick.”

  “Oh, thanks.”

  Luke grabbed a pair of pajama pants. “I’ll be back.”

  As soon as the bathroom door closed, Harper gratefully flopped onto the bed and burrowed under the covers. She would just hug the edge and he wouldn’t even know she was there. No inconvenience at all.