Page 13 of Shattered
I shook my head. "I've sorted it with Lizzy."
"Right," He pulled his hand from his pocket and tapped the frame twice with his knuckles. "Thanks for dinner."
"Thanks for the help today."
Again our gazes locked setting off my pulse at breakneck speed. There was a slight shift in his body, and for a second I thought he was going to lean down and press his lips to mine.
He didn't.
I heard his small sigh when he raked his long fingers through his hair. "Sweet dreams, Sugar." With that, he turned and hopped down the porch steps. I closed the door but couldn't resist watching him leave through my window. Finally, when he was out of sight, I let out a long breath. Yeah, there was no way my dreams were going to be sweet tonight.
"Well, you look like a dog's breakfast."
I looked up from Harper's engine to find Brett holding two coffees with a knowing grin on his face. As usual, his light hair was combed back and the scruff on his face neatly trimmed.
"It's woman troubles, isn't it?" Brett continued, offering one coffee to me. Reaching behind me I pulled the old rag from my back pocket and wiped my hands. Only after I'd taken a long swallow of the hot liquid did I speak.
"I'm just tired." Not offering any more than that, I walked to the back of the workshop knowing my friend would be close behind. I grabbed one of the chairs, swung it around and straddled it. With my arms balancing on the back of the chair I stared at the cement floor while Brett pulled up a seat next to me.
"You forget, I know you better than anyone else does. Wanna talk about it?"
If there was anyone I could talk to, it was Brett. We'd met when both of us were at the lowest points in our lives and have been as close as brothers since. So the fact that I didn't want to talk to Brett about Harper was perplexing.
Silence stretched between us, and I did not doubt that Brett was giving me space to work through what was bothering me. The thing was, no matter how I looked at it, I was screwed.
After leaving Harper's the night before, I'd slept for shit. I couldn't close my eyes without seeing her and her little boy. I'd spent just an evening with them, and already I wanted more.
"Look, man," Brett's voice sliced through my thoughts. "Maybe you need a good old-fashioned lay. It'd be a good way to get whatever's bothering you out of your system."
"I had dinner with Harper last night," I announced, downright ignoring Brett's suggestion.
"Uh…okay. I didn't know things were progressing."
I aimed my frown at the floor. "They're not."
"That's good." Brett let out an audible sigh of relief.
Lightning-fast my head snapped up, and I glared at my friend. "Good? How's that good?"
"She seems like a nice enough person, but man, she's got a kid. That's some serious baggage right there. You don't wanna be messing around with a single mom. She's probably on the lookout for someone to play daddy to her boy."
Anger started to bubble in my veins. "Harper isn't like that."
"Yeah? How do you know, Logan?"
The truth was, I didn't know. But something in my gut told me that she wasn't. Besides, if that was what she was after she'd have acted on what we'd both felt last night.
"You need to mind your damn business." Done with the conversation, I pushed to my feet and stomped up the stairs against the wall that led to my little office. Irritation and anger had me shutting the door with a loud slam before I dropped my body onto my leather sofa.
My reaction to what Brett had said was alarming, to say the least. I knew nothing about this woman, and yet I was prepared to defend her. The funny thing was I'd do it again. There was just something about Harper that spoke to some broken part of my soul.
Two sharp knocks against my door, had me squeezing my lids tightly together. Whatever else Brett had to say, I didn't want to hear it. "Piss off."
Whoever was at the door totally ignored me and entered the office anyway. "What's crawled up your ass?"
A loud groan escaped my lips before I swung my legs off the couch and settled into a seated position. By that time Chase had already made himself comfortable by parking his ass on my desk.
"What are you doing here?"
