“No. Yes. Hell, I don’t have a clue. I’ve treated her badly, Chad. She won’t want me now.”
“How do you know that? And would you sit your ass down? You’re gonna wear holes in my rug.”
Harper plunked on the couch. She’s not the woman you thought she was. The voice echoed in his head.
How often he’d heard that voice. He’d been so wrong. She was that woman. She was strong, so strong, to have lived with her alcoholic mother, to finish school when she’d been kicked out of the house, to do what she had to do to make a living. She’d never asked another soul for anything. And she was ethical. She hadn’t been satisfied to merely have her photos taken down. She’d wanted to protect the other girls as well.
He was in love. Probably had been since that first night.
“I love her,” he said quietly.
Chad sat down across from him in an armchair. “Do you? Or is that you just can’t resist another damsel in distress?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s kind of your MO, ain’t it?”
Harper cocked his head, confused. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Chad.”
“When your father died, you became the man of the family. You and you alone were the one he trusted with news of his illness. He didn’t tell Catie or Angie. At that point, you began taking care of your mom and of Angie. You’d always taken care of little Catie. Well, now Catie has me. She doesn’t need you looking after her anymore. Angie has Rafe. And even your mother is falling in love again. Or for the first time, near as I can tell, with your Uncle Jeff. And here you are, used to taking care of all the women in your family, with suddenly no one to take care of. Enter Miss Cross. Never mind how sweet, beautiful, and downright hot she is. She’s got something else you just can’t resist, Harp.”
“And that is?”
“She needs you.”
Harper paused. Could Chad possibly have a clue? He did seem to have a propensity for taking care of women—his sisters, his mother, now Amber.
But he cared for his sisters and his mother. They were special to him. His father had taught him to care for those he loved. To man up when necessary.
It wasn’t that they were damsels in distress. His sisters and his mother were all strong women.
And so was Amber.
Yes, he wanted to take care of her, but that wasn’t all.
He loved her. He was knee-deep hopelessly in love with Amber Cross.
“I’m aging here,” Chad said.
“You’re wrong.” Harper shook his head. “I’m not trying to rescue Amber. At least not just for the sake of rescuing her.” He cleared his throat. “I love her, man.”
A wide grin spread across Chad’s face. “Then go get her, Harp.”
Harper did a double take. “What? You want me to go get her? You believe I love her?”
“Sure I do. It’s written all over your lovesick puppy dog face.”
“Then what was all the crap about ‘are you sure you’re not just into her because she’s some damsel in distress?’”
“I was playing the devil’s advocate, you moron. Didn’t they teach you that stuff at that highfalutin law school you went to?”
Harper let out a loud sigh. “I ought to let you have it, McCray.”
“But you won’t, because if you mess up my pretty face your baby sister’ll never speak to you again.”
“True that.” Harper laughed.
“So what are you standin’ here for? Go get her.”