Page 79 of Wilde Secrets

She practically bounced the entire way back to Logan, throwing her arms around his neck and squealing in excitement.

“I did it!”

He chuckled, his arms wrapping around her. “You did. I’m so proud of you, princess.”

She smiled so wide her cheeks hurt. It had been so long, she’d forgotten how good it had felt to sing like that.

“You’re going to do amazing.”

She pulled back, her smile dropping and an eyebrow quirked. “At what?” She laughed, but it sounded forced even to her ears.

Logan cleared his throat. “I mean, there’s nothing holding you back from performing now, is there?”

Harper’s arms slid from his neck, the bubble of happiness bursting and a flood of uncertainty making her stomach tighten.

He was right. For so long she’d told herself that writing songs for Isla was the only way her work would ever be heard. Because she couldn’t perform.

But what if that wasn’t true?

She really needed to talk to her sister.

ChapterTwenty-Six

Logan

The sunlight broke through the trees, spilling through the gauzy curtains of his bedroom and dancing in dappled patterns across Harper’s face as she lay sleeping. Her body was tucked against his, her head resting on his chest, and Logan had been watching her sleep since before dawn.

It was early, but he’d hardly slept. He kept replaying the previous night. How Harper’s voice had quickly brought every person in the room to stunned silence. He’d been unable to look away. It was one thing to hear her working out her own songs, and quite another to hear her stun an entire bar full of people. People had walked out of the main bar and onto the outdoor deck to listen. And when she’d finished, the applause had been deafening.

Logan brushed his fingers through her silky hair as she slept. He’d tried to ignore the passing time. Tried to ignore that she would be leaving, hoping in some way that she’d decide to stay.

But after last night there was no chance of that. Cape Wilde was too small a place for someone like Harper. She needed to fly, and he wasn’t going to hold her back.

So he wouldn’t tell her how he felt. He’d let her go, watch her leave and then get back to his solitary life. It would be enough.

It had been enough before, so surely it would be enough again?

He tried to ignore the niggle of doubt that twisted inside him, souring his mood.

Sighing, he curled himself around Harper and hugged her to his chest as if he could keep her next to his heart forever.

“I love you, Harper.” His voice was so soft it was barely audible, and she didn’t stir. He smiled sadly and dropped a kiss to her head, closing his eyes as the scent of her shampoo drifted around him.

“Hmm?” Harper stirred next to him.

His heart thumped so hard he was surprised it didn’t burst from his chest. Had she heard him?

Logan had been brave his whole life. He’d helped put his family back together after first the death of his youngest brother, then again after the death of his father.

He’d been there when Mason had come back from deployment after deployment a little less the brother he’d known and a little more the hardened, scowling man he’d turned into. He’d driven back and forth each weekend to Boston to visit Mason in the veteran’s hospital when he’d been sent home, damaged and bitter.

He’d stayed in Cape Wilde so his siblings could leave and chase their dreams.

Mason to serve his country.

Rowan to travel and learn from his mentors.

Cassie to go to college.

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