got caught up in work twice this week, and she didn’t come over because she left the lab a little late. If we were living together, I’d still see her when she got home.” I wasn’t about to tell Harlow what to do. Sometimes I had to stay later at the office, too, but it would nice if we still saw each other, even if it was later in the evening.
“I get it,” Hudson commiserated. “I guess I’d feel the same way if I didn’t see Taylor’s smiling face at the end of the day. Why don’t you just ask her why she’s hesitating?’
I shrugged. “I guess I want it to be her decision, and I don’t want to pressure her into it. She knows how I feel. I’ve made it pretty damn obvious.”
“I don’t really see the point of having a woman around all the time,” Cooper grumbled. “Isn’t it enough to get laid occasionally and call it good.”
“No!” Hudson and I said in unison.
Cooper shook his head. “Both of you are pathetic,” he answered disgustedly. “You might as well just jump off the cliff and ask Harlow to marry you—like Hudson did with Taylor.”
“I’ve had the ring in my pocket for three weeks now,” I confessed. “If I can’t get her to live with me, I hardly think she’ll say yes to a wedding proposal.”
“It is kind of strange that she doesn’t even want to talk about you two living together,” Hudson said. “She had absolutely no problem making it clear to the reporters that the days of them chasing you on your one-and-done dates were over. Harlow made it pretty evident you two were committed. It was brilliant when she told them that you two liked quiet nights at home with the dogs. By the time she was done, I think all of their eyes were glazed over with boredom.”
I snickered. “She knew exactly what to say to make them lose interest. She even offered to let them follow us on a quiet bike ride around the island. All of them politely refused so they could go find a good scandal instead.”
Hudson nodded. “The interest doesn’t last long when they can’t smell any blood in the water. Harlow made your life as a couple sound even more boring than Taylor did.”
Harlow and I hadn’t needed to worry about being followed around by reporters for weeks now. Not that I was complaining. I’d forgotten how nice it was to go somewhere with a woman and not be hounded by the press. I had Harlow’s deft handling of the press to thank for that.
As much as she’d dreaded dealing with them, she’d done a damn good job of getting them off our ass.
Maybe too good since she’d had no problem going back to her apartment once they weren’t around anymore.
“Be patient, Jax,” Hudson advised. “Harlow has always been self-reliant. I have to admit that I was in awe of the way she set up the weather data station at Last Hope Headquarters. Having our info that accurate and precise may have literally saved lives on that rescue two weeks ago. She’s a damn good fit for Last Hope.”
“I’ll ask her to marry me, eventually. I’m just waiting for the right time,” I said.
Maybe like… the moment she gives me the slightest clue that she’ll accept.
“Great,” Cooper said irascibly. “Now I’ll have both of my brothers acting like they’ve lost their damn minds all the time.”
“Don’t be an asshole, Coop,” Hudson said as he folded his arms over his chest. “Why don’t you finally just tell us what happened with Fiona and stop making all of our lives miserable.”
“Nothing happened,” he answered stiffly. “It’s not that unusual for two people to discover that their relationship isn’t working.”
“Is that how it happened?” I asked skeptically.
“How else would it happen?” he asked vaguely. “We were just…incompatible.”
“And it took you eight or nine months to figure that out?” Hudson pressed. “Come on, Coop. Did she dump you?”
“If you want to put it that way, I suppose so,” he mumbled irritably.
“She either did or she didn’t,” I pointed out. “This isn’t one of those gray areas you hate so much.”
With Cooper, everything had to have a tidy and logical conclusion.
“She fell in love and married someone else. One of the Appleton heirs, I think. I didn’t bother finding out which one,” Cooper said drily. “Happy now?”
“Hell, no,” I said in a disgusted tone. “Both of the Appleton heirs are total idiots. They were mean